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Many of us remember when the new fangled fax machine was first called a telecopier and was going to revolutionize office communications. How far we have come since then. But with all the various waves of tech to revolutionize our offices, I think we have almost come full circle back to the lonely telephone. (You can still buy one at Amazon, of course.)

A US company called ImerjDesign has released a video (below) of a prototype dual-screen fold-out Android phone that looks pretty fabulous, to me at least. But not everyone agrees that such a device would be desirable.

What do you think? Does this look like the ultimate in mobile luxury, the inevitable future of handsets, the logical use-case for improved mobile computing power? Or does it look like it would be a too-thick, power-draining, app-starved mess? We want to know readers, and thus have embedded a poll regarding the video below asking: do you think something like this could work and be awesome?

I think I could live quite happily without the "phone" part of my mobile phone. Other than taking press briefings and calling my parents, I rarely use my iPhone for actual calls. I'd rather text or IM. But according to survey results released today, it looks like my preferred methods of communication don't match most Americans'.

A survey of 2300 adults, conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by the VOIP service Rebtel, found that Americans still overwhelmingly prefer to communicate by voice. 74% of respondents said that the phone was how they keep in touch with friends and 81% said it's their preferred method of communicating with family members.

Last fall, Twitter announced a partnership with Gnip, making the latter company the only commercial provider of the Twitter activity stream. And although the "firehose" metaphor has been beaten to death, says Gnip CEO Jud Valeski, it still holds true.

Valeski spoke today at Gluecon about the challenges of handling the firehose - what it means to process high volume, real-time data streams and to be able to do so "in a consistent and predictable manner."

Vizio, the electronics manufacturer known best for its flat-panel TVs and LCD displays will soon join its rival Samsung in becoming an Android mobile phone and tablet company, too. According to The Wall St. Journal, Vizio has announced its first mobile phone called the "Via Phone" and its first tablet computer the "Via Tablet," in advance of the annual Consumer Electronics Show's start in Las Vegas this week.

In a recent interview, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg flat-out denied earlier reports that the social networking company was building a so-called Facebook phone. "Our whole strategy is not to build any specific device or integration or anything like that. Because we're not trying to compete with Apple or the Droid or any other hardware manufacturer for that matter," Zuckerberg said.

He also denied reports that the company is building its own operating system (OS), such as one that would compete with Google's Android mobile OS, for example. However, when asked about a "Facebook-branded phone," things became a little fuzzy.

Today, a Bloomberg report may have figured out why he was hedging. According to multiple unnamed sources, Facebook is working on two "Facebook phones" with handset manufacturer INQ Mobile Ltd., the report says.

Despite all the various communication tools we have at our disposal - email, Skype, phone, video conferencing, instant messaging - nothing beats a face-to-face meeting. And when it comes to pitching to a potential investor, a face-to-face interaction is coveted and more often than not crucial.

But face-to-face meetings aren't always possible, due to timing or logistics. So can you - should you - pitch over the phone?

Fred Wilson wrote a blog post on phone pitches last week, advising entrepreneurs not to make them. He contends that "they aren't very effective. I hate taking them and almost never do. I don't think they allow the entrepreneur to show themselves very well which is the most important thing of all."

One of the first appearances of a mobile phone in a major Hollywood movie was in director Billy Wilder's 1954 Audrey Hepburn classic, "Sabrina". Today, millions of phone owners across the world could recreate "Sabrina" from start to finish from the comfort of their hand held devices. In fact, if we chose to, we could mobilize a global streaming event. But let's be honest, the last thing we want to do is sit inside story boarding a pre-existing movie. It's the summer! Get outside, grab your phone and capture some of the great moments happening around you. Below are some of our favorite mobile video services.

After more than a year in private beta, the new Web 2.0 style MyYahoo is being rolled out today to all MyYahoo users, the company says. MyYahoo is the biggest player of all web start pages and any changes made there will effect millions of mainstream users.

The best is yet to come, though, as Yahoo! also said today that MyYahoo would open up to outside developer applications in the next few months. That's among the changes we've been waiting for since the company's big announcement in April about a shift towards whole scale personalization and data portability.