Jajah adds calling and texting to iPod Tou

Internet phone company Jajah can turn the iPod Touch into an iPhone. (Download from CNET Download.com.)

The company, which competes with other low-cost Internet calling applications such as Skype, announced Thursday a new application that will allow Touch users to call and text messages using a voice over IP network instead of a carrier’s cellular network.

All that is needed to start making calls is the Jajah application, the latest version of the iPod Touch, a microphone headset, and a Wi-Fi connection. While the Jajah service can reduce calling costs up to 98 percent, the fact that it must be connected via a Wi-Fi network limits where it can be used. For this reason, it’s unlikely that the Jajah-enabled Touch would really steal business away from the iPhone, which is a full-fledged mobile phone that operates over a traditional cellular network.

Jajah plans to sell the application as a “white label” service. This means that it will license the application to wireless operators and non-wireless operators who offer it under their own brand instead of a standalone Jajah application. It’s unlikely the service will be offered for free. Instead, service providers might offer the application for $10 a month.

The application could be very useful for iPhone users too, especially those wanting to make low-cost international calls from their iPhones. But it’s not clear yet whether Apple would allow the application on its App Store, since it essentially bypasses the carrier network. Skype, which also provides free and cheap Internet calling, is not available on the App Store. That said, iPhone users can access Skype functions and users through other applications such as Fring and Truphone.

Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie.

The 240-Gigabyte iPod Has a Debut, Sort Of

By Rik Fairlie

Do you have 60,000 songs that you’d like to cram into your iPod? You are not alone.

Apple’s current iPod Classic tops out at 120 gigabytes, which the company says is good for approximately 30,000 tunes. But Rapid Repair, a firm that specializes in repairing iPods and other digital music devices, will soon enable you to upgrade your iPod to Toshiba’s new 240-gigabyte hard drive. And that should give you room for roughly 60,000 tracks.

The company will begin offering the upgrade in two to three weeks, when the brand-spanking-new drives arrive, says Aaron Vronko, service manager for Rapid Repair. Only fifth-generation iPod Video devices are compatible with the new 1.8-inch drive, however.

The price for the new drive will be $295.

A fifth-generation iPod.

Rapid Repair will upgrade the drive for you at no cost, or you can crack open your iPod and install the drive yourself. To help you out, the company has published a guide to replacing the drive on its site. “It’s not very difficult, you just need a reasonable mechanical aptitude,” Mr. Vronko says. “But if, when you were a kid, you took things apart and ended up with a lot of extra pieces when you put it back together, this might not be for you.”

Indeed, if the guide makes you queasy, you might want to just send your iPod in for a professional install. The turn-around time should be less than a week, Mr. Vronko said.

Of course, either way you do it, any hard-drive upgrade will void the warranty. Fifth-gen iPods came out in 2005, however, so you probably won’t have to worry about that.