tunewiki4Ever felt like getting your karaoke on but found yourself to be miles away from the nearest karaoke bar? Ever feel like singing off-key with your BFFs but found yourself to be in a totally different country? Ever go camping and suddenly feel the need to play Rock Band? Never fear, technology comes to your rescue! Mobile carriers in Thailand and USA have what they call a ‘mobile karaoke solution’, enabling users to karaoke over the phone. I kid you not. Just in case there weren’t enough people who think they’re awesome singers when they’re actually not.

Developed in collaboration by NMS Communications, Grammy Thailand and Golden Dynamics, the arrival of mobile karaoke was hailed as the future of the Idol franchise. Like a mini Rock Band, you can sing along to a song over the speakerphone and overlay the recording with your own voice. Just in case that isn’t enough, you can send the whole thing to your friends, and the song can be set as your ringtone. Or your husband’s, just to remind him of your existence everytime someone calls.

What should be less surprising to me but totally wasn’t, is that this isn’t a new application. In 2003, Nokia showcased a mobile karaoke application called air.karaoke developed by Alatto, but totally failed to make an impact on the karaoke world, despite marketing it only in Asia which should be like shooting fish in a barrel.

The next step was, of course, a TuneWiki application which allows you to do all that and then some, clearly because TuneWiki isn’t being sued enough for things like publishing lyrics online. TuneWiki is available for both iPhones and Blackberry in both paid and free versions, but sadly no version is as yet available for Symbian users. TuneWiki even lets you search for other TuneWiki users in the area, just in case you’re walking down the street and feel the need to do a duet, I guess.

So seriously, just in case you ever feel that you need to rock out at the top of your lungs while air guitaring, you totally can. But before I say goodbye to my ears and eardrums respectively, here’s a community service message: Sometimes when your family tells you that of course, dear, you have a lovely voice and you could totally be the next Mariah Carey/Jamie Foxx/Beyonce, they’re just telling you that to make you feel good and so that they can tick the box next to ‘Be A Supportive Family Member’ on their ‘Being A Good Person’ list in their head. I beg of you, listen to reason.