Earlier this month, I glued together two neat apps using parts supplied by two different VoiceXML unified communications companies. The first lets me call in to a VoXMLPHP script hosted by Tropo, which then interprets my voice commands and reads news articles using their API wrappers. The second sends SMS headlines (using Twilio’s APIs) from my favorite news sources to my not-so-smart-phone (it’s an ancient model).
Both have their place in my work schedule. Another idea that’s been taking root in this blog is crowdsourcing of public policy and moving government documents to the Internet, accessible using open-standards protocols (RSS, et. al.)
Hold these thoughts.