Google Voice – Technobabbles

Google Archive by category "Google Voice"

Finally: Google Voice Export Feature Released (sort of)

dgw 2011-09-07 - 19:48 2011-09-07Google, Google Voice, internet, w00t 0

It took quite a while—more than two years since —but Google Voice finally supports exporting! I’d love to think had something to do with the end product released yesterday, but I seriously doubt it. Sort of… Let’s just say, Google Takeout isn’t behaving very well. The test archive I created yesterday won’t download, and I’ve tried both Google Chrome 13 and Mozilla Firefox 3.6. The feature isn’t there yet, but I’m sure Google engineers are working on it. I’m still happy…as soon as they make it actually work.

Hypothetical Google Voice Export Format

dgw 2010-06-02 - 13:05 2010-06-11Google, Google Voice, ideas, technology 4

Google Voice was released over a year ago, and I’ve been using it as my primary phone number since switching from its predecessor, GrandCentral, which I’d used since 2006 (also as my primary phone number). 1Unfortunately, GrandCentral was notorious among many of us users for “losing” messages from before November 2007, so I have no records of my first year-or-so using the service. In the time since making the switch, I’ve seen the interface revised more than a little—the quality rating buttons for transcripts and calls are among my favorite enhancements—but despite all the new features introduced over the last…

“No Evil”: My NET10 Wireless Experiences

dgw 2010-02-24 - 09:30 2014-05-22AT&T, complaints, Google Voice, ideas, iPhone, opinion, technology 38

Update (2012-02-26): Apparently NET10 now sells SIMs for use with AT&T, T-Mobile, and unlocked GSM phones, if you’re willing to pay for the $50/month Unlimited Talk/Text/Data plan. Thanks to Anna for her comment. Last summer I began using a prepaid cell phone (an LG 300G, the cheapest, most basic model available at my purchase location) from NET10 Wireless, supposedly the “high-usage division” of TracFone. NET10’s rates are flat: 10¢ per minute (even if it’s actually one second, like any other per-minute charge) and 5¢ per text message in or out. The phone’s been very handy for some important calls and…

Google Voice App Rejections: Catalyst for Cellular Openness?

dgw 2009-08-01 - 14:23 2010-02-22Android, Apple, AT&T, FCC, Google, Google Voice, iPhone, musings, technology, tools 0

If you haven’t heard, Apple rejected Google’s official Google Voice application several weeks ago (article from this week). However, I (at least) didn’t hear the news until recently, when it became known that Apple also began pulling other Google Voice apps from its iPhone/iPod Touch App Store. TechCrunch’s sources say that AT&T was behind the bans, and I’ll believe it. Now, I’m not an Apple fanboy, but I’ve been considering getting an iPod Touch lately. One of my roommates here at Emerson’s summer program (yes I know I need to blog about that too; soon, I promise) has one, and…

GrandCentral Becomes Google Voice!

dgw 2009-03-13 - 16:44 2010-02-22Android, Gmail, Google, Google Talk, Google Voice, GrandCentral, internet, technology, tools, w00t 0

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…

Telemarketing Loopholes: FAIL

dgw 2009-01-18 - 17:30 2009-10-31GrandCentral, ideas, opinion 0

Image by elh70 via FlickrI was relaxing at home in the evening on the Monday before Thanksgiving, around 19:30, looking through a Hebrew-English dictionary to try and figure out what the song title “הלב שלנו” means in English. (I never did find the meaning of the word הלב; it seems to be conspicuously absent from both dictionaries I possess.) But an interruption was about to occur. The phone rang. Normally that would be a simple matter – just pick up the phone, read the Caller ID, and decide whether or not to answer it – but this situation was remarkable…

GrandCentral Introduces Shared Forwarding Numbers

dgw 2008-02-11 - 23:55 2011-10-30Google, GrandCentral, internet, technology, tools, w00t 0

I don’t talk about it much, but I use GrandCentral as my phone number. It works great, since I don’t actually have a cell phone or landline of my own. Google gives me a number that will “never” change (it will if they discontinue the service…) and that rings all the phones I have access to… or none at all. One peeve I had, though, is that neither of my parents could sign up for the service (if they wanted to, that is) because our house phone is in my account. That’s just changed. Apparently, the announcement was made yesterday,…

Google Confirmations: JotSpot and Gears Access, Among Others

dgw 2007-12-02 - 19:31 2015-10-29email, Gmail, Google, Google Gears, Google Sites, GrandCentral, internet, tools, w00t 0

There are several sources of information regarding statements made by Scott Johnston at a recent Google Apps presentation in Ann Arbor, and all the statements are very interesting. Among other things, Google announced (or hinted strongly at) the launch of the JotSpot wiki service, now branded Google Sites, next year; Google Gears access to Gmail and Google Calendar; offline editing of documents, spreadsheets, and presentations; integration between GrandCentral and Google Apps (“they are working on it and it is a ‘huge priority’ for them” — ZDNet); and, in the far future, videoconferencing within Google Apps. Now, I don’t know how…

Gmail Testimonial

dgw 2007-10-14 - 19:44 2007-10-14Gmail, Google, GrandCentral, internet 0

I just felt the need to write a Gmail story to send to the Gmail Team, and I’ve copied it here both for record-keeping and as a view into my online work life. When I first got into using email, I used the old USA.net email service, which was free at the time. When that moved to being fee-based only, my dad created email addresses on his hosted server for myself and my mother. We had to use email clients for those, but didn’t really get into the Yahoo! or Hotmail stuff because they weren’t really any different from Outlook/Outlook…

GrandCentral Active

dgw 2007-09-10 - 19:17 2007-09-10Google, GrandCentral, internet, technology, w00t 0

I just used a site called InviteShare to get an invitation to Google’s GrandCentral service. The site enables you to ring up to six phones from one number that will never change (unless they have a carrier problem like they did a couple weeks ago). Switch phones in the middle of a call, ListenIn™ on a voicemail, record calls… So many features! And everything’s free while the service is in beta period. I’d recommend it already. It has a few shortcomings (such as numbers disappearing from the availability list while searching and no contact integration with anything, even Gmail), but…

Category: Google Voice