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Filed under: VoIP

Filed under: Web services, Google, VoIP

Google will shut down GrandCentral on December 31

by Jay Hathaway Nov 23rd 2009

When GrandCentral evolved into Google Voice, it was only a matter of time before the old GrandCentral website went to the big page archive in the sky. Google's killing off the old, redundant site on December 31st, 2009. Why the heck is this news? After all, GrandCentral users can all upgrade to Google Voice. Well, it turns out that GrandCentral's website has something that Google Voice doesn't: your old data.

In an email to GrandCentral users, Google suggested you download anything you want to save, because it's all gone at the end of the year:
All GrandCentral accounts were upgraded to Google Voice earlier this year, but since that time, you've still been able to log-in to your GrandCentral account and listen to old messages there. You will no longer be able to log-in to your GrandCentral account after December 31. Because of this, we strongly suggest downloading any messages or contacts that you want to keep in the next 43 days.
GrandCentral was excellent while it lasted, but now it's time to move on and make way for Google Voice. Just make sure you do it before you run out of time!

Tags: google, google voice, GoogleVoice, grandcentral, phone

Filed under: Google, VoIP

It's official, Google buys Gizmo5 to provide PC to phone calls

by Brad Linder Nov 12th 2009

Gizmo5 Google
A few days ago there was a nasty rumor going around that Google had just purchased Skype competitor Gizmo5. Funny thing about rumors is that sometimes they're true. Like, for instance, this one.

Gizmo5 offers a variety of tools that let users make cheap calls from a PC to a phone, or free calls from computer to computer. Google says that Gizmo5's engineers will be joining the Google Voice team. The company isn't announcing exactly what that means in terms of new features yet. But considering Google Voice currently lets you screen, receive, and record calls, I'd be shocked if Google and Gizmo5 weren't planning to add the ability to make calls.

For now, Gizmo5 has stopped accepting new user registrations, but current customers will be able to continue using the service. The same thing happened when Google acquired GrandCentral a few years ago to create the service now known as Google Voice.

Tags: gizmo5, google, google-voice, grandcentral, voip

Filed under: Google, VoIP

Rumor: Google buys Gizmo5, expanded VoIP service coming soon?

by Brad Linder Nov 9th 2009

Gizmo5TechCrunch is reporting that Google has purchased VoIP company Gizmo5. Google has its own internet telephony service called Google Voice, which lets you route your calls to different phones, screen calls, and receive email notifications and automated transcripts of phone calls. But Google Voice doesn't let you make calls from a PC to a phone. Gizmo5 does.

If Google really has entered an agreement to acquire Gizmo5, it's a pretty safe bet that we're eventually going to see Google Voice add new features turning the service into a full-fledged Skype competitor. Gizmo already has services that let you make phone calls from a desktop client or a web site.

Gizmo5 also includes chat and video call capabilities, which would be a welcome addition to Google Voice, and which, as TechCrunch points out, would bridge the divide between Google Voice and Google Talk

Of course, right now the whole thing is just a rumor. But it's one that makes a lot of sense.

Tags: gizmo5, google, internet-telephony, voip

Filed under: News, VoIP

Skype lives on, reaches settlement with Joltid

by Brad Linder Nov 6th 2009

Skype 2.8 for Mac
A few months ago there was talk that a lawsuit could bring down the popular VoIP client Skype. That's because Skype was involved in a dispute with Joltid, a company that Skype was licensing technology from.

Today Skype announced that the company has reached a settlement with Joltid. The net result is that Skype now owns the technology and Joltid founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis will join the investor group that is in the process of buying Skype away from eBay as well as the Skype board.

If those names sound familiar, they should. Zennström and Friis were also the founders of Skype, back before eBay bought the company.

While there's a lot of backroom politics involved in the deal, here's what it means for users: Skype isn't going to close up shop anytime soon.

Tags: Janus Friis, JanusFriis, lawsuit, Niklas Zennström, NiklasZennström, skype

Filed under: News, Google, VoIP

Google Voice getting ready to go global?

by Lee Mathews Nov 6th 2009

Nothing is more frustrating when reading about a hot, new app or service only to learn that it's not available in your area. Yes, geotarding sucks - there's no denying that. It's keeping most of us from getting to use awesomeness like Hulu, Spotify, and Google Voice.

In the case of the latter, however, it looks as though there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Business Week recently got a peek at a letter Google submitted to the FCC with regards to the blocking of certain rural and "red light district" phone numbers.

While the original letter included "formatting errors" and has since been replaced with a heavily redacted public version, BW's Arik Hesseldahl reports finding good news for those of you outside the US waiting for Google Voice.

Hesseldahl states that the letter reveals Google has working agreements with several "international service providers for inputs to Google Voice." At least the groundwork is in place, but there's no telling how long we'll have to wait. The letter goes on to say none of those services have launched as of yet.

So, how about it, Google? When does the rest world get to take Voice for a spin?

[via TheNextWeb]

Tags: google voice, GoogleVoice

Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, Google, VoIP

Voice Mac is a native Google Voice client for OS X

Macby Jay Hathaway Nov 5th 2009

We recently told you about an Adobe AIR-based Google Voice client with a pretty small featureset. It puts your SMS and voicemail messages close at hand on your desktop, but that's all it does.

If you're on a Mac, though, you can do a bit better. Voice Mac is a Google Voice client with a threaded SMS view, voicemail downloading, and the ability to make calls and send texts, and Address Book integration.

Voice Mac is certainly not gorgeous, but it has a ton of functionality.

There's an SMS and voicemail/call history browser, and it also has a built-in reverse phone lookup, so you can try to figure out who any mystery calls are from. If you don't use your Voice account frequently, the web interface might be fine for you, but if you're a Voice addict - especially one who uses SMS constantly - Voice Mac is worth a download.


[via Lifehacker]

Tags: google voice, GoogleVoice, sms, voicemail, voip

Filed under: Linux, Open Source, VoIP

Skype for Linux to go open source... eventually

Linuxby Brad Linder Nov 2nd 2009

Skype 2.1 beta for Linux
Skype has been providing cheap and free VoIP, chat, and video conferencing features for Windows, Mac, and Linux for years. But just because a program works on Linux doesn't mean it's open source, and the Linux client for Skype has been just as closed a platform as the Mac and Windows versions. That's not to say that developers haven't been able to build third party add-ons and tweaks for Skype. But the source code hasn't been available, which limits the ability of the open source community to really contribute to Skype for Linux.

But it looks like that's going to change. This weekend Olivier Faurax contact Skype customer support about the availability of an RPM package for installing Skype on Mandriva Linux, and he received a reply that indicated that the Linux client for Skype would be made open source in the near future.

I was a bit skeptical, since customer service folks don't always know what's going on in the minds of management, so I sent a request for more information to Skype's corporate communications office, and it turns out that yes, Skype does plan to make its Linux client open source in the future.

It's not entirely clear when the shift will take place. But it should make it much easier for third party Linux developers to ensure that there are up to date packages for Skype for a variety of popular Linux distributions including Mandriva, Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Fedora, and others. It also means that we could start seeing third party applications built around Skype code or more powerful third party plugins for Skype that enhance the application's functionality.

You can read the official statement from Skype after the break.

Read more →

Tags: open-source, skype, skype-for-linux, voip

Filed under: News, Google, VoIP

Google answers to FCC, (mostly) stops blocking numbers in Voice

by Jay Hathaway Oct 29th 2009

Looks like Apple's not the only one drawing the ire of the FCC when it comes to Google Voice. AT&T filed a complaint with the FCC, forcing Google to explain why it was blocking a bunch of rural phone numbers from its Voice system. Google's answer? Because it's really expensive!

Telephone providers are common carriers, and they're required to provide access to some phone exchanges out in the middle of nowhere. That's extremely costly to do, compared to providing the same service in a large, dense city. Google was hoping to get around paying the additional costs, so they blocked some of these more expensive numbers. While still arguing that they shouldn't have to provide service, Google just told the FCC that it's now blocking "fewer than 100 numbers" in total.

[via Engadget]

Tags: att, blocked numbers, BlockedNumbers, fcc, google voice, GoogleVoice

Filed under: Google, VoIP

Google Voice (voicemail) now works with existing phone numbers

by Brad Linder Oct 27th 2009

Google Voice is a service that lets you check your voicemail on the web, receive transcripts of voicemails via email, screen calls, and give out a single number to all of your contacts that they can dial to reach you on your cell, home phone, work number, or any other phone you use.

But there's one relatively high barrier to entry. Well, two if you count the fact that it's still in private beta. But the main barrier is that while people can ring your existing number by dialing a Google Voice number, up until now it's been a one way street. They couldn't dial your cellphone number and automatically transfer into your Google Voice account. And that's meant that you probably had to maintain two or more voicemail accounts.

But now Google is taking a baby step toward number portability. When new users sign up, they have a choice of asking for a new Google Voice number or using an existing phone number.

While you won't get all of the features of Google Voice if you sign up with an existing number, you will be able to direct all of your voicemail messages to your Google Voice inbox. What this version of Google Voice doesn't offer is the ability to have all calls made to that number forwarded to multiple phones.

If you already have a Google Voice account and phone number, you can add Google voicemail to existing mobile phones from supported carriers. This doesn't appear to be an option for non-mobile phones. For instance, I have Google Voice configured to ring my SkypeIn number and I would love to consolidate my Skype and Google voicemail boxes, but there's no easy way to do that yet.

Tags: google-voice, number-portability, voicemail

Filed under: Google, VoIP, Search

Google Voice messages start showing up in search results, Google responds

by Brad Linder Oct 19th 2009

Google Voice search results
Google Voice is an internet service that lets people make, receive private phone calls. Google.com is a search engine that makes it easy for users to find just about anything stored on the internet. See how these two things might possibly not play well together?

Earlier today Boy Genius Report noticed that if you did a search for site:https://www.google.com/voice/fm/* on Google, you found a few dozen Google Voice messages. As of this afternoon you can still find those search results. Click on them and you can listen to voicemail messages or read the automated transcripts.

It turns out things weren't quite as bad as they may have looked at first. Google wasn't including all Google Voice messages in its public search index. But the company was crawling messages that users had posted publicly on the web.

But after this information became public today Google told Boy Genius Report that it would begin restricting crawling of even these messages, allowing users to post their voicemail messages on personal blogs without worrying quite so much about the whole world finding them (although if you're posting it on the internet maybe you should expect the whole world to be able to find it).

Tags: google, google-voice, privacy, voicemail

Filed under: Google, VoIP, Beta

Coming soon: Invite friends to use Google Voice

by Brad Linder Oct 13th 2009

Google Voice invite
Remember in the early days of Gmail when invites were hot property? Every new user who signed up for Google's email service got a few invitations to share with friends and the internet was flooded with invites being swapped in user forums, blog comments, and even eBay auctions.

Well, now we can relive those golden days, as Google is about to begin giving out invites to Google Voice users. Google Voice is a free service that lets you link all of your phone numbers to one number that you can give out. When someone calls that number, all of your phones will ring (or you can configure it to ring only certain phones at certain times), and if you miss a call you'll be able to check your voicemail from the web or get an automated transcript in your email.

Google Voice has been in private beta for a while now, and the only way to get in on the action was to request an invitation from the signup page and wait. Of course, users could send out invitiations to one another in the early days, back when the service was called GrandCentral and run as a separate company. But since Google purchased GrandCentral, invites have been hard to come by.

Google is rolling out the invite feature gradually. It's not in my account yet. But the company says that over the next few weeks existing users should notice a new "Invite a friend" link on the left-hand side of their inboxes.

Tags: google-voice, google-voice-invitation, private-beta, voip

Filed under: Audio, VoIP, Social Software

Vivox brings voice chat to Facebook

by Jay Hathaway Oct 9th 2009

Vivox is best known for providing voice chat services in online multiplayer games, but now they're looking to get into a different kind of social network: Facebook. By adding the VIvox Voice app and installing a browser plugin, you can use Vivox to talk to your Facebook friends. It supports up to 100 friends talking at once, so you can use it for regular calls or big announcements. People can also call into your Vivox channel by phone, so your friends without Facebook (gasp!) can get in on the action, too.

Our Download Squad test of Vivox went pretty smoothly. Firing up a channel and inviting people only takes a couple of clicks. Vivox currently only works in Firefox and IE on Intel machines, which might keep a big chunk of your friends from adopting it. On the other hand, the phone-in service works really well and doesn't keep you tethered to a computer. Vivox is definitely worth checking out if you have friends who don't want to download Skype, but do have Facebook.

Tags: facebook, vivox, voice chat, VoiceChat

Filed under: Google, VoIP

Google Voice now available in Hawaii, Alaska

by Brad Linder Oct 7th 2009

Google Voice
Google Voice is a free service that lets you route all of your phone calls through a single number, access your voicemail on the web, receive automated transcripts of your voicemails via email, and make VoIP phone calls. There are just two catches:
  1. It's still in private beta, meaning you need to request an invitation to use the service.
  2. Google Voice is only available in the US.
Up until today, that second point would have read continental US. But today Google expanded the service to include Hawaii and Alaska. Google Voice users can now make free calls to and from Hawaii and Alaska. And you can forward your Google Voice phone number to a phone in either of those two states.

It's not exactly the international rollout many people are waiting for. But it's a baby step.

Tags: alaska, google-voice, hawaii, voip

Filed under: VoIP, Web

Misplace your cellphone? This single-purpose web site can help

by Brad Linder Sep 30th 2009

Where's My Cellphone
There was a time when mobile phones were the size of a small suitcase and they were firmly tethered to automobiles. These days they're small enough to easily lose track of. If you've ever left your phone in your jacket or pants pocket, dropped it under the couch, or just pulled your hair out trying to figure out where the thing is, you've probably realized that the easiest way to locate a phone (if it's in you're house) is to dial your own number using another phone.

If you don't happen to have a second phone handy, Where's My Cell Phone can help. The web site is covered with annoying ads, but it provides one marginally useful service. If you need to make your phone ring, all you have to do is enter your number and hit the "Make it Ring" button. Your phone should start ringing a few seconds later.

Once you place a call you have to wait a few minutes before making another, so make sure to spend the 30 seconds or so that you have while your phone rings wisely.

[via TechnoSpot]

Tags: cellphone, voip, wheres-my-cellphone

Filed under: Web services, VoIP, web 2.0, Web

US Government plans to enforce Net Neutrality

by Nik Fletcher Sep 19th 2009

There's been a long-raging debate as to just whether the US Government will enforce net neutrality - 2006 saw the Internet Non-Discrimination Act proposed, in 2007 the Department of Justice announced it wouldn't be legislating net neutrality and the ISPs have openly admitted they will actively manage traffic.

However, that may soon be at an end. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FCC is set to announce new rules on Monday that mean telcos "couldn't block or slow access to legal services or sites that are a drain on their networks or offered by rivals". Even more surprisingly, the rules will also apply to mobile providers - including AT&T who've taken steps to block bandwidth-hogging iPhone applications like SlingPlayer.

Unfortunately, it's highly likely that the telcos will fight any legislation that enforces net neutrality. In particular, mobile carriers (already scared stiff by the network demands of data-intensive devices like the iPhone) will be none-too-happy that their already-saturated networks could potentially be swamped.

With the likes of Google actively campaigning in favour of neutrality - and the Obama administration intending to push through this campaign promise - there's no shortage of people in favour of ensuring this series of tubes remains free and neutral. However, with plenty at stake and deep pockets to lobby any legislation, the service providers will no doubt stall, block and vocally oppose the FCC's announcements come Monday morning .

[Via WSJ]

Read more →

Tags: FCC, Google, Net Neutrality, NetNeutrality

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