GrandCentral Becomes Google Voice!
It's taken 21 months — almost two years — but GrandCentral ("One number for all your phones, for life") has finally gotten an upgrade (and a new name). I'm totally excited, and happy that the long-awaited upgrade (previously known as GrandCentral 2.0) is finally here. Meet Google Voice: "One number for all your calls and SMS".
New Features
Yes, Google Voice added several new features. One of the things that always, always bugged me about GrandCentral was the fact that my number couldn't receive or send text messages. Well, now it can. According to TechCrunch's expansive overview, the same technology that powers the SMS in Gmail Chat Labs experiment (known as Gateway) is used in Google Voice.
Other new features include voicemail transcription (sounds promising), very specific per-contact settings (definitely a trap for us OCD types), a completely overhauled interface (w00t! Less Flash!), conference calling (cool factor = 100), and easy dialing out via the phone interface.
I have to stop and talk about the dial-out feature. First of all, it was nearly impossible to dial out from GrandCentral unless you either had a new voicemail from the person you wanted to call (so you could press '2' after it to call them back) or had access to a Web-enabled device. Simply dialing out wasn't considered. Now, in Google Voice, there's a "press '2'" option right in the main menu! Finally!
Also, under GrandCentral's auspices, calling out was free during beta, with the shadow of paying per minute after testing was over looming in the future. Google changed that in Voice, which allows free calls anywhere in the United States. International calls are at greatly reduced rates (compared to conventional long-distance). Each new user gets a free $1.00 credit toward international calls, though I don't know if they'll keep that up once sign-ups are opened completely — it could be something just for migrating GC users.
Migration, Stranded Data, and Missing Features
Existing GrandCentral users get (or will get this weekend) a migration link at the top of their grandcentral.com inboxes, which will begin the automated migration of a GrandCentral number to Google Voice. The process was pretty painless, even smoother than the transition to the new FeedBurner system last month.
However, much data is not migrated. Most of the settings are reset, custom greetings and names must be re-recorded, old voicemails/calls/recorded calls are left behind on grandcentral.com, and contacts must be transferred manually by exporting GrandCentral's Address Book to CSV and importing it into Google Contacts. The automatic merging of imported contacts only merged about half of the duplicates in my set, and I had very few contacts to deal with. That was fortunate, because the rest of the merges had to be found and made manually.
In the future, I hope Google will provide a utility to migrate old voicemails from GrandCentral, especially if grandcentral.com is eventually shut down or redirected. Currently, the top of my GrandCentral inbox says:
Since you have migrated to the Google Voice Preview, you can now access your new messages and update your settings by logging in at google.com/voice. Feel free to continue to access grandcentral.com for your older voicemail messages. We're glad you dropped by.
That's inconvenient. But really, how often do I visit old voicemails? Not much. Besides, a lot of them were inexplicably lost... Their listings are present, but they can't be played; I'm guessing the files somehow went missing. I'm not happy about that, but... at least it hasn't happened again.
A minor annoyance is the loss of custom ringback tones, the sounds played to a caller while the phone is ringing on your end. (Google does have a suggestion to bring this back on the Google Voice Feature Suggestion page.)
Future Ideas
Of course, Google Voice is not without holes. It can't forward to numbers that require extensions (I don't need it now, but might in the future). It can't take an existing number and turn it into a Google number (which would be eminently useful, I think, for my mother).
Image via CrunchBaseThere are also no apps for iPhone or Android yet (and I don't care about Blackberry, kthx). But the feature suggest page I mentioned above has all these and more. I've suggested about 75% of the features currently on the list, including integration with Gmail and Google Talk. I'm hopeful that these and more ideas (like the two I posted on Twitter) will be implemented, and sooner rather than later.
Speaking of future ideas, Lifehacker ran a short post yesterday speculating that the reserved "Voicemail" label in Gmail is for integration with Voice. It's actually for Google Talk voicemails (GTalk has a calling feature that I almost never use because of various technological or locational constraints), but it could certainly be useful for Voice messages as well, if Gmail and Voice are ever integrated.
Reaction
Despite the inconveniences, I think I'm going to like the service. It's a vast improvement upon GrandCentral; in fact, TechCrunch's Leena Rao says (in the overview mentioned above), "Google is finally bringing us the voice service that was promised back in 2006." I agree; the old GrandCentral was convenient, but Google Voice promises to be many times as useful.
Gmail Chat FAILs with Ping.fm GTalk Enabled
Image via CrunchBaseLast night, I found a chat in my Gmail account that I'd never seen. It was sent an hour after I left the public library on February 26, while I was offline, but never showed up in my Inbox. It wasn't even labeled as sent while I was offline. I was baffled completely until I realized this afternoon what I'd been doing that night at the library.
February 26 (a Thursday, the day of #snowmageddon here in Minneapolis/St. Paul) was the day I discovered that Ping.fm—my very favorite social networking tool, second only to Twitter—had added support for Google Talk statuses. Of course I had to try it out; I'm an early adopter.
So I went into my network settings on Ping.fm and added my Google Talk and AIM accounts. Next thing I know, Gmail Chat is complaining that I'm no longer invisible (I like to be invisible because it minimizes interruptions). It says I'm signed in somewhere else. That somewhere else could only be Ping.fm.
By that, I gather Ping.fm actually signs in to Google Talk and receives all chats sent to one's account, 24/7. Not only is that inconvenient (I'll continue with that in a moment), but it's a bit of a privacy hole, especially if you don't fully trust Ping.fm. And honestly, I trust a lot of websites with a lot of things, but I like my chats to stay inside Google's ecosystem, thank you.
Anyway, the fact that Ping.fm is always signed in to one's Google Talk account means that one always appears to be online, and offline chats won't work. Invisibility in Gmail Chat is also disabled. Both of these, combined with an apparent dysfunctionality (I couldn't get my GTalk status to update from Ping.fm), led me to deactivate the integration.
What I'm trying to say is, Ping.fm has a lot of work to do before I'll even consider re-adding my GTalk account to my Ping.fm networks. It doesn't work, and causes a lot of problems.
Possible Rationale for Google Talk Labs Edition
Google Blogoscoped's post about Google Talk Labs Edition just came out early this morning, and it had an interesting idea in it. Philipp thinks Google might actually be using the new client as a desktop wrapper for the existing Google Talk Gadget, removing one version of the client that needs to be maintained while still providing a desktop feel for those users who want it.
Philipp, your idea is very intriguing to me. In and of itself, it is quite insightful; the ramifications of it if true, though, wouldn't make me happy. :-/
I have been hoping that Google would release an updated client including group chat and emoticons. I was also hoping that it would keep all the current features, which it appears not to have done. File transfer and voice chat are gone from the Labs client, though there is an entry in the FAQ for the new edition that says:
Some features from the original Google Talk client are missing. What happened to them?
Google Talk, Labs Edition is an experimental release that brings some of the great features of the Google Talk Gadget to the desktop. Some features like voice calling and file transfer from the Google Talk client did not make it into this version. If you need to use voice calling or file transfer, you can download the original Google Talk client here: http://www.google.com/talk
So perhaps they will come back in a later version, hopefully along with their debut in the Web-based interfaces. Having the Gadget support voice chat should be simple enough (it's Flash-based, and Flash supports microphone/camera input), and Gmail could build on that if Google writes a library for the voice chat instead of just compiling it into the Gadget. File transfer could be a little harder; but come on, this is Google we're talking about! (Besides, I'm not a Flash developer, so I don't know all the tricks that are possible. 
What we have is an idea, from someone unconnected with Google. The coming weeks and months should provide us with an answer as to whether or not it is accurate. I hope not (sorry, Philipp)!
Google Talk Labs Edition?!
I know I've been asking about an update for the Google Talk client (not the Gadget, not Gmail Chat; the actual application that one can download and install on a PC). I've been wondering for a long time if such an update would ever be issued. Yesterday, my question was answered. Yesterday, Google released Google Talk Labs Edition.
It is most certainly not what I had in mind for an update. Far from improving existing features, the new release actually removes features. Specifically, voice chat and file transfers are gone in the Labs version. It adds group chat and enhanced emoticons like Gmail Chat and the Gadget have had for months (plus tabs, which only the Gadget has right now), but the two removed features make it no different from a standalone version of the Gadget.
What was Google's objective in releasing this new version? I have a feeling it was merely to let users know that the Google Talk client is not dead. The lack of additions to -- and in fact, removal of -- what were core features unique to the desktop client tells me, at least, that it's just a version intended to increase confidence in the continuation of the Google Talk brand.
Personally, I already use Pidgin for my IM needs. Neither file sharing nor voice chat are supported in Pidgin's Google Talk setup -- the former because of an incompatibility, the latter because Pidgin doesn't have the code to do it yet -- so I won't miss anything if I switch to the new Labs client. I don't have any friends who use the official client, either. Everyone I know on Google Talk uses either Pidgin, Finch (text-only Pidgin), Gmail Chat, or the Talk Gadget. No feature loss for me, realistically.
In principle, I would like Google to continue to expand the capabilities of Google Talk, not reduce them. It is possible to do voice chat within Flash applications, at the very least, and other Web-based IM services (like Meebo) already have audio and video chat capabilities. I would expect Google to be an industry leader in developing efficient, feature-rich applications for the Internet, and usually they deliver. (Witness Gmail, Google Reader, Google Docs, et al.) Google Talk seems to be a rare exception (along with the badly neglected Google Browser Sync Firefox extension).
Oh well, at least I have my health (and a perfectly fine means of using Google Talk without using Google Talk proper). What do you think of this new release?
Update (04/07): Philipp Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped had an idea regarding why the new client is what it is. See my take and get a link in this post.
Google Talk Actually Not Dead
Ionut says he's heard from a Google engineer that the downloadable Google Talk client will be updated sometime in the near future. We can expect a completely new version of the program, one that may (from screenshots posted on Google Operating System last year) include the ability to call phones. Supposedly that functionality has been available "since long" inside Google.
There hasn't been a Google Talk client update since it was upgraded to work with Windows Vista 14 months ago, and I've previously written about the new features introduced in Gmail Chat and the Talk Gadget not being added to the client. With this news from Ionut, though, I have renewed hope that I will soon see a reason to actually switch back to Google's client from Pidgin.
Nobody seems to have a list of new features, or even an estimated release date, but that's not unusual for Google; they seem to like keeping their release schedules private. But we will have a new version of the Google Talk client. It's just a matter of time.
Google Talk Adds “Chatback” Button Feature
It's always been frustrating how you couldn't have a Google Talk chat box on your website. Google changed that a couple days ago, when they announced Google Talk Chatback, which is a badge you put on your site that opens a special version of the Google Talk gadget. It looks interesting, and a version I could add (and considered) is shown below:
Now, the reason I'm not adding one is twofold. First, I never got very many hits from the chat box I did find (which I recently disabled because nobody used it and it just slowed down page loads). Second, it's not really any change from what I mentioned in my first point. Neither service saves histories to my Gmail account, and neither appears to support chat room type conversations, where anybody who's online can chat with everyone else on the same site.
So in short, I have no reason to add it. I may in the future, simply to pare down my list of accounts in Pidgin (and enable chatting with site visitors when I'm away from Pidgin on my PC), but I also lack the time to sit around talking to people on this site at the moment. Since it is a partial implementation of a Google Talk feature that I suggested a while back (indirectly; I asked for a Blogger chat widget), I decided to blog about it even though I won't be using it immediately. Watch my sidebar, though; I might be making some changes at some point to cut down on the amount of content over there.
New Invisibility in Gmail Chat, Unsupported by Other Google Clients
Googlers seem to be spending all their time developing the Google Talk service on the Gmail section of it. Garett Rogers (ZDNet) and Ionut Alex Chitu (Google Operating System) have so far picked up on the story.
It is now possible, only in Gmail at the moment, to set your status as "Invisible" like other IM services. You can see which of your contacts are online and available for chat without them knowing that you are available. That is, unless they've also discovered the new invisibility feature (in which case neither of you will see each other).
So, here's the status menu entry to turn it on:
And here's the sidebar with the function active:
Ionut at Google Operating System has also rooted out a problem with the current implementation: Using the Talk client or gadget (or other client that does not support invisibility) at the same time as Gmail chat will disable the feature until you sign out of that other client. Also, there is some question in the comments to that post as to whether Google implemented its own invisibility mode or actually implemented an XMPP specification for such a feature. Good question; I freely admit, I don't know how to make such a determination.
I do like this feature, though. I might actually keep chat turned on now. The desire for invisibility has been a very cool flame burning in me, and it never occurred to me to suggest it. I'm glad it's being implemented.
Now if only Google would update the downloadable client once in a while. I mean really! Have the source code files been destroyed or something? Are they trying to make users mad? I personally prefer to keep my chat out of the browser and in a separate program, but with all these new features and no support in the client, that's becoming less and less practical. Grr!
Update (02/26): The Offical Gmail Blog finally made its post last night, 2008-02-25.
Google Reader Shows Talk Friends’ Shared Items
Google must really want to become a giant social network. Last week (boy, am I late) they added Google Talk friends' shared items to Google Reader, meaning you don't have to subscribe to their feeds; you just get them automatically.
Of course, that means all your Google Talk contacts also get to see your shared items. And people in your friends list aren't necessarily your friends. I'm not sure how I feel about this new feature, mostly because I don't share things (I star them, as you can see in the sidebar), and none of my friends have yet discovered Google Reader. It's an interesting idea, and a good one (and from what I've seen in screenshots, well-implemented), but I don't have a use for it.
Gmail Chat Gets Talk Gadget Features, but Client Still Lacks
Once again, Google has updated Gmail. Coming just a few weeks after the much-hyped Gmail 2.0 is support for Group Chat and graphical emoticons in Gmail's chat function. It looks interesting, and I was wondering when all the innovations of the Google Talk Gadget would be brought to Gmail. I'm glad they did it.
The only thing left now is for Google to bring the features home to the Google Talk client, where the service started. Through a conversation with one of my friends, I've hashed out some possible reasons for Google's lack of updates for the client:
i80and: Anyway, their main focus is search, search, search, and the GTalk client was kind of out of bounds for them
Me: But they're actively developing the Gadget and Gmail Chat. One would think they could put a few people to work on the client they started. And the Talk homepage even has the focus back on the downloadable version. Tell me that doesn't mean something.
i80and: Maybe they're working on some killer new feature, and they want people to celebrate instead of go "Hrm, cool" when it's released
i80and: Possibly they're even porting it to Linux!
Me: I'll celebrate if they issue a security update at this point.
Me: This is what I read, BTW: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/group-chat-and-rich-emoticons-now.html
i80and: Well, I imagine the GTalk client isn't a huge priority to them. I mean, all of my non-geek friends use either the gadget or gmail
Me: You do have a point there
Me: Mine, too
The main point here is that Google is either coming up with some huge new feature for the client, or they're ignoring it because not many users actually run it. I would really like to see some updates to it, as it hasn't been updated since last fall. I'd also, for that matter, like to see them switch to standard Jabber implementations of rich text and voice chat; not being able to use another Jabber client to voice chat is irritating at best.
i80and is a Python programmer who recently learned C. We met at homeschooling classes in 2004, and have been in nearly constant contact ever since. When we're not wasting time chatting over Google's (broken) Jabber-like network, he currently works on VetClix, a veterinary management system programmed with his newly-acquired C, GTK+, and MySQL skills. He can be found on the Web at his blog, website, Twitter page, and Wikipedia userpage.
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