Google has a new VOIP client to help improve Google Voice.
(Credit: Gizmo5)Google confirmed its intention to acquire Gizmo5, an Internet telephony company, with plans to merge the group into the Google Voice team.
The pending acquisition had been reported earlier in the week by Techcrunch but was overshadowed by the announcement of Google's third-largest acquisition to date--the $750 million AdMob deal--on the same day. Late Thursday Google confirmed that it had acquired the company, although financial terms of this deal were not disclosed.
Gizmo5 is a Web-based VoIP client that lets you make phone calls over the Internet, similar to programs like Skype. It's based, however, on an open standard called SIP that fits a little better into Google's worldview, rather than Skype's internally-developed system.
Gizmo5 works on both PCs and mobile phones, and the technology will likely be used in some way to enhance Google Voice. Google Voice isn't a VoIP client; it lets you use a single number to ring multiple phones and get voice mails transcribed into e-mail, but it does that over existing phone networks.
As Google figures out exactly what it wants to do with Gizmo5, it is suspending new sign-ups for the service, but current users will still be able use it.
Updated 10/28/09 at 11 a.m. PT with a tip about checking voice mail from your cell phone.
Setting up Google Voice voice mail online.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)On Tuesday, Google took another step toward bringing Google Voice to the masses, fulfilling the wishes of those who are curious enough to try Google's brand of visual voice mail, but either too jealous of their mobile number to give it up for a Google Voice number, or too weary to go through the hassle of training family and friends on a new number.
Google now lets you access some key features in the Google Voice service using the number you've always had, and no longer forces you to sign up for a new Google Voice phone number. How? Google Voice can now take advantage of what's called conditional call forwarding. I tried out the new feature today with success, and have some tips to share.
With Google Voice in charge of your missed calls, callers are directed to your Google Voice in-box instead of to the voice mail box that your carrier operates. There, friends can leave a message after hearing the greeting you recorded online. You, for your part, can listen to messages online or from your phone, in any order you'd like.
As promised, setup was easy for this existing Google Voice user. In the Settings menu, under the Phone tab, click "Activate Google voice mail for this phone" next to any phone that you've associated with your account. Then, select your carrier (U.S.-only for now) and dial the string of numbers and symbols you see into your phone. Then dial the number. This sets up call forwarding. While many high-end feature phones and smartphones do have separate menu settings for call forwarding, Google's method of entering the forwarding code is faster and removes the guesswork.
New users have slightly more setup involved. You'll first choose if you want to use your own number or sign up for a new Google Voice account. Then you'll need to enter your Google Account credentials or register an account before setting up your phone.
Using the conditional forwarding service is brainless; whomever calls you hears your Google Voice recording, which you can set up online. You may want to tinker in the settings to forward calls straight to voice mail, or else you could annoy callers with a full ring-through to your mobile voice mail and another ring through to the recorded number. However, leave the setting in its default mode and friends may be able to track you down on other numbers associated with your Google Voice number, if you use Google's number and not your own mobile number.
Forwarding options can cut the time it takes for a caller to get to voice mail, or maybe track you down.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)To send a call straight to voice mail, go to the Phone tab in the Settings menu of your online Google Voice account. Click Edit, then click to see advanced settings. At the bottom is a call-forwarding option that you can switch to send straight to your recording.
If you use the call forwarding option from your cell phone, checking voice mail isn't entirely straightforward. If you're forwarding to a Google Voice number, you'll need to dial your new phone number from your handset in order to get to your in-box options. This is because Google now presides over your messages, not your carrier. Google provides a separate access number for those using their own mobile numbers to access Google's visual voice mail, which you'll get when you sign up for an account.
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gDial Pro)
Back in September, we tested out a Google Voice app for Palm WebOS phones called gDial Pro. The free gDial Pro just recently updated to version 0.8.9, and is available now in Palm's App Catalog. While gDial Pro still isn't quite as integrated into the Palm Pre as Google's native Google Voice app is for Google's own Android platform, it remains a good option for Google Voice users on Palm's comeback platform.
In addition to fixing some dialing bugs, the developer made a ton of other user interface adjustments, including changing the wording in the Preferences screen to make gDial Pro a little easier for new users to set up. Web dialing, the smoother dialing option of the two, is presented as the default in an expandable, advanced-features window.
Other notable additions include now being able to dial a number in the same U.S. area code without having to dial the area code. gDial Pro will also now alert you to new voicemails. Importantly, you can also listen to voicemail messages from within gDial Pro without first calling out to Google Voice.
You can find a full list of changes at Download.com.
Got an older iPhone or iPod touch model and been jealous of the Voice Control feature your antiquated hardware is incapable of running? Check out Vocalia (link opens in iTunes), a voice-powered launcher that's quite fast, and accurate. Just like Voice Control, it can look up a contact by name then launch a phone call, or do the same for a song from your iPod's library. It also goes a step further to let you launch your Safari bookmarks simply by speaking their name.
Vocalia lets you speak your contacts, songs, and even Web bookmarks to launch them.
(Credit: CNET)Vocalia doesn't run at a system level like Voice Control does, but it's up and ready to receive a voice command in under 10 seconds--the clear benefit here being for people who may be driving and who want to control their device without fumbling through menus. It's also a bit more customizable since you can go in and add nicknames for people you want to call, edit the phonetic spelling it's given them by default, and change the spoken language to one of the five other options including German, Spanish, and French.
As far as setup goes, Vocalia is able to slurp in your contacts and iPod library as soon as you launch it for the first time. The bookmarks on the other hand, are a little more complicated. The app can't grab them from your device due to a limitation in Apple's SDK, which means you have to download and launch a small executable file from Vocalia's site that can send your Bookmarks.html file to the iPhone/iPod. The two devices also have to be on the same Wi-Fi network.
Frankly, I don't think all that effort is worth it for syncing up your bookmarks; especially considering that you'll need to do that entire process over again if you've added new ones. In most cases it's also going to be faster just to launch Safari and find the bookmark yourself. Maybe a future version could make the whole thing a little simpler by tapping into an existing bookmark sharing service like Xmarks, or Delicious.
Vocalia is $3.99 in the App Store and works on both the iPhone and the 2G iPod Touch. As mentioned before, you'll have to have a Mac or PC on the same Wi-Fi network as your device to make use of its bookmarks feature.
See also: Midomi music search gets funding and opportunities
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gDial Pro)
Not long ago, my colleague Rafe Needleman ranked a handful of native Google Voice applications for mobile phones, declaring Google's own Google Voice app for Android phones the winner. No big surprise there, as Google owns both the voice service and the mobile operating system, and can snugly fit the Google Voice dialing option into the native dialer. Let's throw another app into the mix, this time it's a Palm WebOS app called gDial Pro.
The free gDial Pro Google Voice client has been around in a homebrew version for a while (a version you can install outside of the App Catalog environment,) and recently became available in Palm's App Catalog. It is a glossy, dark-themed app that, rather than replicate the in-box design of Google's Android app, concentrates on outgoing calls and texts, in addition to a communication history.
gDial Pro opens to a dialpad view where you can start dialing a number, select a contact from the phone's address book, or begin typing a name on the keypad to pull up Google Voice contacts. The contacts' names and numbers won't automatically transfer into the Palm's native address book (for that you're better off syncing the Palm with your Google account), but the app integrates them into WebOS's universal search.
Back in gDial Pro, a navigation ribbon on the bottom jumps you to the SMS view; the in-box where you can sort by SMS, voice mail, and missed communications; and to your favorites. We especially like the Web view, which opens the mobile online version of Google Voice so you can refer back to it from time to time.
It's true that gDial Pro doesn't have the tight integration that Google's Android app has. Like most alternatives, it requires using its own dialpad to engage the Google Voice service; otherwise, you'll be going through the carrier. However, It does, make things simpler by offering a smoother connection via the optional Web dial feature. The Web dialing feature operates over Wi-Fi or the carrier's data connection. Like dialing over a voice connection, the Web dial method also prompts Google Voice to call your phone to connect to the service, but it's less clunky. Voice dialing uses Google Voice's automated-attendant voice mail system to place calls. Unfortunately, Web dialing won't work if you're in an area with weak data signal or if you're roaming without a data agreement--in these cases, you'll have to use the alternative method to place calls with Google Voice.
While the dialer isn't as seamless as Google's Android app, gDial Pro's Google Voice client is the best choice for Palm WebOS device owners. Another free Google Voice app, p2GoogleVoice, challenges gDial Pro from both the homebrew side and from the App Catalog, but without Web dial or an in-box, it only originates calls and texts. Until Google releases an official Google Voice application for Palm WebOS, gDial Pro is your best choice.
If you're a frequent Google Reader user, you know full well that user comments on blog posts do not come along for the ride. On some blog feeds, it can tell you how many user comments there are, but on others, you typically have to visit the post to know.
A new solution called GReactions has attempted to fix this by slurping up comments from around the Web that are related to the post you're looking at. When it works, it's a seamless experience.
The Firefox extension is powered by Context Voice, which does the dirty work. This service tracks related conversation in places like Twitter, Digg, Reddit, WordPress blogs, and FriendFeed. It then clumps together those bits of conversation it picks up, and orders them chronologically.
To help sort through this mess, the tool lets you filter by source. You're also given a time line, which breaks down when each comment or mention is from.
GReactions sucks in comments from a variety of sources. Here it's grabbing them from Twitter, WordPress and FriendFeed.
(Credit: CNET)In my brief testing with it installed, it was most useful with older content that had been given a chance to be passed around the Web. Newer items, especially from niche blogs, had no related discussion.
For heavy Google Reader users, this is an extension that's definitely worth installing. It doesn't actually do any of its magic until you hit the "comments" button that's added to the Google Reader interface when installed. This means it's not going to slow down the initial load of your feed, or interfere with things like Gears.
Google continues to run its own internetwork comment system on top of blog posts, which can only be seen by other Google Reader users. So short of visiting each site to see what other users are talking about, this is the next best way to quickly eyeball user discussion.
Pidgin has introduced a major update with version 2.6.0, and the current bug-fixing 2.6.1, and along with more than 100 fixes between the two comes support for Google Voice and Google Talk. If you're on Windows, though, this won't mean much--the protocol currently only works with XMPP at the moment, not the derivative protocol that Google uses. Pidgin Portable 2.6.1 is also available for USB keys.
Other changes include splitting the Yahoo protocols into two, one for Yahoo Japan, and one for the rest of the world. Both protocols in Pidgin now support SMS numbers. MSN account users now can receive voice clips and handwritten notes, and there was a major security fix for MSN pushed in version 2.5.9.
The full list of changes can be read here.
At the end of July, a small start-up called 3jam introduced a virtual phone service that takes on Google Voice. While each is a beta-phase call-forwarding service, it became clear after dozens of calls, text messages, and voice mails, that there are important differences between the two, both on paper and in real-world testing.
First, 3jam's public beta is broadly available to all takers. Google's, on the other hand, is in invitation-only closed beta. 3jam's costs an extra $5 a month to use (for a 12-month contract), and that's not including a premium SMS plan for those wishing to surpass the monthly 40-U.S.-domestic-text-message limit. However, it can port your cell phone number and has an emphasis on group communications, which we'll talk about later on. Google Voice, on the other hand, won't yet let you hang onto your cell phone number, which means friends will need to call some new digits, but it is currently free for domestic calls (international call and texting rates will still apply).
It's spelled out here in this inexhaustive features comparison chart.
| FEATURES | GOOGLE VOICE | 3JAM |
| Beta | Closed, invite-only; U.S. | Open; International |
| Cost | Free | $5/month and up |
| Keep cell number | Not yet | Yes |
| Call forwarding | Cell phones, land line, Gizmo VoIP | Cell phones, land line, one VoIP client |
| Call screening, blocking, recording, listening to a live voice mail | Yes | No |
| Customized voice mail greetings | Multiple | One |
| Initiate a cell call from the computer | Yes | No |
| Initiate SMS from the computer | Yes | Yes |
| Visual voice mail | Machine-transcribed | Machine-transcribed |
| Voice mail playback | Phone, Web, e-mail file | Phone, Web, e-mail file |
| Free SMS | Unlimited domestic | Domestic: First 40 per month |
| Group SMS | No | Yes |
| Multiple phone lines per account | No | Yes |
Does 3jam's group advantage justify the cost? Should users hold out for Google Voice?
For its part, Google Voice, which grew out of the acquisition of Grand Central, offers casual users the stronger feature set of the two, with more sophisticated calling tricks--call screening, call blocking, and listening in on a voice mail as it's being recorded. Like the visual voice mail service YouMail, it will also let you record personalized voice mail messages, but it's geared toward groups rather than individuals.
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If you're itching to try Google Voice, but haven't received one of the coveted private beta invites, a Menlo Park, Calif., company called 3jam is offering an alternative.
This week, 3jam announced an open beta of its new voice forwarding and transcription service that bears a striking resemblance to Google Voice (covered here).
There are differentiating factors, though. Google Voice for instance, gives you a single central number that all your other numbers forward to--cell phone, work line, home phone, and VoIP. It employs call screening and machine-facilitated visual voice mail transcription. Using it, you can block calls, record custom greetings, and interact with SMS. You can't port your number yet, but Google hopes to offer this convenience in the future.
Google Voice is a free service that is only available in the U.S., and only then to those with invites. Previous GrandCentral users also got an automatic in, since they had joined the service before Google snatched it up.
In addition to receiving e-mailed transcriptions, 3jam stores voice mail audio and transcripts online.
(Credit: 3jam)Start-up 3jam, on the other hand, gives you the option of choosing one or more phone numbers. It, too, routes calls to VoIP, including Skype (Windows | Mac) and IM voice services such as Yahoo Messenger with Voice (Windows | Mac). Like Google's product, you can manage texts and visual voice mail messages online. Unlike Google Voice, you can preserve your original phone number by porting it over to 3jam's service. 3jam also supports voice-to-text machine transcription and SMS routing. It's a premium service and is available internationally in an open beta.
3jam has arrived at its similar competing service from a background in group text messaging. As such, it has not yet incorporated some of Google Voice's more advanced voice features, like call screening, call blocking, and listening in. It does, however, convert text messages to e-mail copy, allowing you to receive and respond to SMS messages via e-mail.
With its provision of multiple phone numbers, 3jam hopes to leverage its SMS strength by offering users the ability to text groups of people at one of those permanent group numbers--the intramural sports team, book club, fund-raising committee, and so on.
Pricing and carrier details
Whether you port your current mobile number to 3jam or get a brand-new number, 3jam is an after-market add-on service you purchase alongside your mobile and landline plan. When you port your number, your carrier will bestow a new one that you'll keep on record, but won't pass out to family or friends. Instead, they'll dial the old number (now the 3jam number) to ring you simultaneously on all lines.
3jam beta costs $4.99 with a 12-month subscription, but price is indirectly proportional to commitment. A three-month bundle costs $5.99, and you'll pay $8.99 for one month. The charge won't include texting rates, which 3jam will tack on for $5 to $20 per month.
3jam does not replace your mobile data plan.
How does it all stack up? 3jam may find it difficult to compete against the free Google Voice when Google's service opens up to all, especially if it's lacking some of Google Voice's more sophisticated screening and blocking tricks. However, its global availability, offer to keep your beloved cell phone number, and support for multiple lines will make it more attractive to some, at least until Google Voice begins operating on a global scale.
Google Voice on Android
(Credit: Google)Google is ready to bring Google Voice to a place where it really makes the most sense: the smartphone.
Android and BlackBerry owners who are also Google Voice users will be able to use the service directly on their handsets starting Wednesday, said Vincent Paquet, senior product manager for Google Voice and a co-founder of GrandCentral, the product currently known as Google Voice. Google Voice, which is expected to be available at some point Wednesday, lets users assign a single number to ring their home, work, and cell phones, and also get voice mail messages as text transcriptions.
With the new applications, Google Voice users will be able to make calls from their smartphones with their Google Voice numbers displayed on the other end of the call, alleviating a common frustration with the service, Paquet said. They'll also be able to get their transcribed voice mail inside the dedicated application rather than having to use their phone's browser to see that text.
The obvious missing piece of the puzzle--Google Voice for the iPhone--is coming but isn't quite ready, Paquet said. He said Apple and Google are working on getting an iPhone version out the door, but declined to comment on exactly what was holding up the process.
Google Voice uses a carrier's existing network to place calls: so it's not like you're getting around your monthly allotment of minutes by using the service as a voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP phone. Still, Apple has approved Skype for the iPhone, so it's a little unclear what might be the sticking point, especially since Google has been given preferential App Store treatment in the past.
Android users will be able to find the app in the Android Market or on Google's mobile site, but BlackBerry users will have to download the app from Google rather than from the BlackBerry App World.
Paquet also touched on two recent areas of interest for potential Google Voice users: number portability and open registration.
On number portability, he said it's something Google's working on but the experience isn't quite up to Google's standards for anything but carrier-to-carrier ports just yet. And regarding Google Voice's invite-only status, he said that registration has been moving smoothly since Google began sending invites to people who had signed up on a waiting list, although it doesn't seem like the service will be open without a having to file a request anytime soon.
