Name:         MegaPhone
Version:      1.0.2
Released:     August 3, 1995
Description:  This software, bundled with Apple Telecom, is a 30-day full feature
              trial version of a screen-based telephone application.  Please refer
              to the Read Me document inside the disk image for complete details.

The enclosed file is a self-extracting archive of a Disk Copy 1440K disk image.  To use, download, double-click the downloaded file (this decompresses it), and use Disk Copy to create a disk.

Disk Copy can be found in the Utilities folder posted here.
 
From the Read Me document inside this disk image:

MegaPhone 1.0.2 Late Breaking News and Notes

First, thank you for using MegaPhone.  We hope that it will make your time on the telephone more productive and enjoyable.

Please be sure to read the manual and the information below for useful tips on using MegaPhone.  If you have any problems with MegaPhone itself, please contact technical support at +1 (408) 752-2700, on the Internet at tech@cypressres.com, or on AppleLink at CYPRESS.  If you are having problems with your GeoPort Telecom Adapter or Apple software, please contact the Apple Assistance Center directly.

Major changes and fixes in this version
¥ Error -93 when sending to PowerTalk on machine with no network:  Users not on a network that attempted to deposit voice messages into the PowerTalk In Tray would receive an error.  This is fixed.

¥ Occasional corruption of contacts file:  A contact in the contacts file would occasionally become corrupt causing problems for the entire file.  This is fixed.

¥ Speed dial list was occasionally reset:  Under some circumstances (especially if MegaDial was running from a disk other than the disk containing the system folder) the speed dial information was not saved correctly.  This is fixed.

¥ Entering 1 multiple times quickly while retrieving a voice message sometimes caused a crash:  While retrieving messages remotely, users could sometimes cause their Macintosh to crash by entering 1 to delete a message multiple times in quick succession.  This is fixed.

¥ New, Edit, and Delete buttons on Contacts window:  Buttons for creating, editing, and deleting contacts have been added to the top of the Contacts window.  This is in response to user requests for these buttons.

¥ Other minor interface problems corrected:  Various redraw and update problems under rare conditions have been corrected.

We continue to improve MegaPhone, so if you find problems or have suggestions, please pass them along to us by calling us or sending electronic mail.

 Usage Hints/Important Notes
¥ Installing MegaPhone:  To install, double click on the file named ÒInstallerÓ.  Choose the hard disk you wish to install on, then install.  After you restart your machine, you can launch MegaPhone.  Version 1.0.2 of MegaPhone is designed to work with Telephone Manager Version 2.0 or later from Apple Computer.  This version of the Telephone Manager is installed by your Apple Telecom Software Installer.  Before launching MegaPhone, please ensure that you have already installed this software from Apple Computer, Inc.

¥ If you are installing over a previous version of MegaPhone, you should not lose your preferences, contacts, voice messages, outgoing greeting, your call log, or your scheduled calls.

¥ Using MegaDial:  MegaPhone works in conjunction with MegaDial to format your phone numbers in a canonical format so that they can be dialed properly from anywhere in the world.  It also uses MegaDial to figure out the local time at any number you are calling and to look up area, country, and city codes.  However, you must configure MegaDial for all these features to work.  You can configure MegaDial by clicking the ÒConfigure MegaDialÓ button in ÒQuick PrefsÓ, by clicking the ÒLocationÓ button in the main window of MegaPhone, or by selecting the MegaDial control panel in the Control Panels folder.  MegaDial can also help you dial from your telecommunications and fax applications.  For more information on MegaDial, you can call Cypress Research at +1 (408) 752-2700.

¥ If people you talk to are complaining of an echo, you should experiment with the placement of your microphone relative to your speakers.  Because the GeoPort Telecom Adapter and some other devices MegaPhone uses provide a full duplex speaker phone, your microphone is not "cut out" while the other party is speaking.  This means that they will hear themselves talking in a way that they are not used to on a telephone conversation.  If you move your microphone farther from your speakers, this can greatly reduce this effect.  Additionally, you can place your microphone behind the plane of your speakers so that the sound will not be directed at the microphone.  This effect will be enhanced if you are in a room that does not absorb sound well.  It may take some experimenting to optimally position your microphone and speakers, but you should be able to reduce this effect to an acceptable level.

¥ If you use RAM Doubler or Virtual Memory, you may experience a buzzing or breaking up of your phone conversations.  Usually, this is only on your end of the conversation; the party you are talking to will not hear this.  If you do experience this, you should quit all other applications so more time can be given to process the sounds for your phone conversation.  At this point, there is no other fix for this problem.

¥ To set incoming call options such as the ring sound, the number of rings after which your phone should be answered with voice messaging, call saver mode, etc. you must open the Express Modem control panel.  See the Express Modem documentation for details.

¥ The call saver mode sets the number of rings after which your phone will be answered if there are new messages.  For example, if your phone is normally answered after 4 rings, but you have the call saver mode set to 2 rings, MegaPhone will answer your phone after 4 rings for the first caller to leave a message and after 2 rings for all callers after that.  More importantly, if you call in to retrieve your messages and you reach the 3rd ring, you know no one has left a message yet and can hang up, saving yourself a call charge.

¥ If you have Fax Terminal set to "Auto-Answer" incoming calls, there may be a brief delay when you answer a call manually with MegaPhone (e.g., by clicking the "Answer" button) while the Express Modem software listens for fax or modem tones.  If it detects these tones, the call will be handled by the appropriate fax or data software, otherwise, you will be allowed to take the call.  During this time, you will not be able to talk to the calling party.  The time period is brief enough that the calling party will most likely not notice the delay.  When you are able to talk to the calling party, MegaPhone will emit a brief chirping sound to alert you to begin talking.  In fact, for all incoming calls (whether or not you have Fax Terminal set to "Auto-Answer") MegaPhone will emit the brief chirping sound when you can talk to the calling party.  This is useful when you have MegaPhone in the background and have answered the call with the Telephone System Menu.

¥ If you have more than 400 contacts, we recommend that you not store them all in the MegaPhone contacts window and that you not auto-synchronize with your source for these contacts.  Instead, you should only store your most active contacts in the MegaPhone contacts window so that you can use Speed Dial, call counting, etc.  You should dial from your PIM for less fequently called numbers.  If you use TouchBase Pro, you can dial using the ÒDial Phone NumberÓ menu item in the ÒContactsÓ menu.  Even if this contact is not in the MegaPhone contacts window, MegaPhone will still display the name in the main window while you are talking and will enter it in the call log.  To configure this option in TouchBase Pro, ensure MegaPhone is launched, select ÒDialingÉÓ from the ÒPreferencesÓ hierarchical menu in the ÒEditÓ menu, select Ò® DialingÓ under ÒUse:Ó, click OK, select the MegaPhone running on your Macintosh from the selection dialog that is presented, click OK.  You are now configured to have TouchBase Pro use MegaPhone for dialing.  If you decide to have more than 400 contacts in MegaPhone, we recommend that you increase the preferred memory requirement to at least 2MB.

¥ Before importing any contacts, be sure you have configured MegaDial.  If you configure MegaDial after you import your contacts, each time you call a contact MegaPhone will treat it as an unknown contact because the number will not have been put in canonical format when you imported it.

¥ The call log is limited to 250 entries. After the call log has 250 entries, the next entry will replace the oldest entry in the log.  If you would like to save your call log entries, open the call log window, and select "ExportÉ" from the "File" menu to export the entries to a tab delimited text file.

¥ The number of voice messages is limited to 99. If you do not direct your messages to your PowerTalk In Tray, MegaPhone will stop taking messages once you have 99 messages.  Given that messages can take up a lot of hard drive space, it is a good idea to delete messages you no longer need.  If you want to save messages for a long time, we recommend that you drag them out of the voice messages folder and save them in another folder.  You can always rename the file after you have dragged it out of the voice messages folder and can hear the message by double clicking on the file.  You can locate your voice messages folder by opening the "Voice Messaging" panel of "Preferences" and looking at the path specified in the "Messages Folder" section.

¥ When using an AV monitor, on some Macintosh models, the sound control panel resets the sound input source to external microphone with ÒPlaythroughÓ not checked and the alert volume to maximum.  What you want in this case is for the sound input source to remain ÒAV ConnectorÓ with ÒPlaythroughÓ checked and for the volume to remain where you left it.  The best fix for this problem is to use and external microphone so the default setting will be correct.  In general, to change the sound input source, open the Sound control panel, select the ÒSound InÓ page from the popup menu, click the ÒOptionsÓ button and select the source you wish.

¥ If you record a voice messaging greeting and it appears to record but is silent, you may have your CD player selected as your sound input source.  Before recording a greeting, open the Sound control panel, select ÒSound InÓ from the popup menu, click the ÒOptionsÉÓ button, then select ÒMicrophoneÓ, ÒAV ConnectorÓ, or another appropriate choice depending on your hardware configuration.  Do not check the ÒPlaythroughÓ checkbox.  Be sure to set the source back to CD, if you want to listen to audio CDs on your Macintosh.  If you receive or place a call while you are listening to a CD, the sound input will temporarily be switched to your phone so that you can converse with the other party.  After the call, it will be switched back automatically.  However, for recording your greeting, you must switch the source yourself.

¥ The DemoDialer Tool is a telephone tool that MegaPhone installs if it cannot use the tool you have selected as your default tool.  For this version of MegaPhone, the default is the GeoPortª Telephone Tool.  The DemoDialer tool allows you to dial numbers by emitting the Touch Tone sounds through the Macintosh speaker and gives you access to various other features of MegaPhone.  However, you cannot receive incoming calls or take voice messages with this tool because it does not provide any connection to a phone line.  If MegaPhone indicates that it has switched to using this tool because an error has occurred, you may quit MegaPhone, fix the error condition, and re-start MegaPhone; it should then resume using the GeoPortª Telephone Tool.  If you need to manually change which tool is your default tool, you can do so in the General panel of Preferences.

¥ If you forget to purchase the full featured version of MegaPhone before the 30 trial period has expired, you can still call Cypress Research and purchase this option.  Once you do so, all data you entered into contacts, call log, etc. will still be available to you.  It is not deleted.

¥ For information on site-licensing MegaPhone, please contact Cypress Research at +1 (408) 752-2700.


To purchase the full featured version of MegaPhone or MegaDial:
Call 1-800-515-8111 [+1 (510) 732-3830 outside the US and Canada].

8/3/95

Copyright © 1995 Cypress Research Corporation, All Rights Reserved.
