Daily Archives: August 31, 2009

Make Free VoIP Calls from Google Voice [How To]

Posted on August 31, 2009
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Google Voice is great, but it isn’t an entirely free voice-over-internet service if you have to pay a phone bill to use it. With a few tweaks, though, you can talk to anyone on-the-cheap through Skype, or entirely for free with Gizmo.

Since we’re extremely cheap, we’ll start out with the Gizmo/Google Voice 1/2 combo, since you can use it to place and receive calls without spending a dime. If you’re particularly partial to Skype, we’ll demonstrate how you can integrate Gizmo, Voice, and Skype for cheaper Skype calls after we demonstrate how to get everything up and running with Gizmo.

What you’ll need

  • A comfortable headset: Mine’s a $30, USB-or-analog model I grabbed off the shelf at Target. If you plan to do some serious talking from in front of your monitor, read up on what works best for your ears and head.
  • Free Google Voice account: If you haven’t already requested an invite, do so now. They’re still dishing them out first-come, first-served style, and the line gets longer every time someone writes an article about the service (ahem).
  • Free Gizmo5 account: It’s a free virtual phone service that Google Voice officially supports and connects to. If you’re more of a Skype person, we’ll show you a relatively cheap solution for hooking up Gizmo to Skype.
  • Broadband net connection: Because you’re doing a good deal of data transfer and service forwarding, you’ll want a pretty good pipe for phone calls that won’t make you wish for your cell phone.

Hooking up Voice and Gizmo

Once you’ve finished signing up for Gizmo and Google Voice, head to my.gizmo5.com, and log yourself in if necessary. Hit the “My” link in the upper-right corner to get to your settings page. The first box asks you to enter your Google Voice number and turn Google Voice calling on, which you should definitely do. That routes all outbound Gizmo calls through Voice, eliminating the need to buy credits for those outbound calls.

Three rows down, under the “Account Overview” section, copy your SIP Number, which you won’t need to memorize, or even use, except this one time. Head over to Google Voice, click the Settings link, then Phones, and paste that SIP number into the “Number” field. Give your Gizmo account a name like, say, Gizmo, then set the “Phone Type” to Gizmo. By default, your Gizmo/VoIP phone will always “ring” whenever someone calls your Google Voice number from any phone. I find that to be just fine, since “ringing” that phone doesn’t really affect any of your other phones, and I don’t leave my computer on at all times with the speakers at full blast. If you only want your virtual phone to ring at certain times on certain days, go ahead and tweak those settings in Voice, then hit Save.

Got those headphones handy? Plug them in, usually through a USB port or the dual red/green mic/speakers ports on your computer. Check that the headphones are picking up sounds and that the microphone is enabled in your system’s volume settings. Want to test out your Voice/Gizmo capabilities? Head to gizmocall.com, then sign in with your Gizmo username. Hit the “Test” button for an echo test of your headset and connection. To try out an actual call, call your Google Voice number from a standard cell or landline phone you have handy, or open up Google Voice’s site in another browser tab and make a call to a phone number that won’t mind getting it.

It’s worth noting that since you’re using a VoIP service through another VoIP service’s routers, it’s fair to expect a bit of call lag. I haven’t noticed an audible difference between using Google Voice on my cellphone and through Gizmo but, then again, I’ve had seemingly worse lag experiences overall with Voice than others I’ve complained about it to. Your mileage will almost certainly vary, but if you’ve got an ultra-important phone interview for a job, consider stepping away from your headset. Otherwise, it probably works just fine for normal conversations.

Calling tools

If all went well between Voice and Gizmo, you’ve got a few options for making and receiving free calls through your headset with Voice and Gizmo:

  • The GizmoCall.com site: You can keep the page itself loaded in your browser, or click the “Open in separate window” link to keep it separate from your browsing work. When it first opens, your Flash plug-in will ask for access to your microphone and speakers, which you should grant and hit “Remember” to avoid future prompts.

    Want to reduce browser tab necessities and make Gizmo even more convenient? Check out Google Voice Tricks’ write-up on embedding Gizmo’s gadget into Gmail.

  • Gizmo software: Available for download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, Gizmo the application is very similar to Skype, sitting in the system tray and popping up an alert window when a new call is coming in. It also tracks your VoIP calling separate from your Google Voice account, which can be helpful for client billing or other purposes. If you’re planning to keep Gizmo open to accept calls, you’ll probably want to import your contacts into it to recognize callers. You can only import an Outlook-formatted file into Gizmo, but that’s one of the formats most contact managers (Google, Apple Mail, etc.) can export to.
  • Google Voice site: You’ll still need to have some kind of Gizmo notifier running to receive calls, but Google Voice’s own site is pretty handy for making calls. Load up the site (or keep it loaded as a permatab), hit “c” to make a call, type in a contact name or phone number, then select your Gizmo number as the caller. Google will ring you at Gizmo, and once you pick up, the call starts ringing through to the intended receiver.

Forwarding to Skype

If you’re already set up with a Skype name and lots of contacts and you’d prefer to keep Skype as your go-to VoIP app, you can get Google Voice and Gizmo to route calls to Skype for notably less money than Skype charges for its call-out service. Alternately, if you only need to make the occasional Skype call and don’t want to bother installing software and getting a user account, Gizmo and Google are available there, too.

Gizmo explains all the potential uses and ins and outs at its OpenSky page, and also lists pricing. You can make free calls to Skype names and forward your Voice/Gizmo calls to Skype for anywhere from 1-5 minutes, depending on server load—fine for quick "Call me back" or "Here's the deal" messages, but not conversations. OpenSky claims a $20/year price for basically unlimited calling of up to 2 hours per call. We don't do a lot of Skype out calling, but that seems like a pretty good deal.

Whether you're going the free short call route or paying for some OpenSky credit, setting up a Voice-to-Gizmo-to-Skype connection is fairly easy. Head to your Gizmo5 settings page again, then head to the "Forwarding Gizmo5 Calls" section. Set Gizmo to forward all calls to Skype, then fill in your Skype username. That's it—when someone rings your Voice number, if you've got Voice configured to ring you at Gizmo, then you'll actually be rung up at Skype. The last thing you'll need to do is enable Skype to accept calls from anonymous callers—kind of a pain, but necessary, because Gizmo routes your calls through different Skype names from time to time.

That’s the starting point for integrating free (or very cheap) VoIP with Google Voice, but with such open, geeky services, we’re sure there’s a lot more that can be done. Post up your questions, suggestions, and neat hacks in the comments.




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Hostel Hero iPhone Application Finds and Books Hostels in 150 Countries [Downloads]

Posted on August 31, 2009
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iPhone/iPod touch only: Not everyone can afford to stay in four star hotels when traveling, which is why hostels are a great lodging option. Hostel Hero helps you find and book hostels in 150 countries straight from your iPhone or iPod touch.

Each hostel comes with its own description (which is available in five different languages) and photos. You can also use the application’s built-in Google Maps integration to help pinpoint the location of said hostel. Clicking on a select hostel offers you more details about the facilities including the above-mentioned photos and maps. More practically, the application lets you save and view the details offline, which will no doubt come in handy for more off-the-beaten-path type vacations.

To book a hostel, select the “make a booking” tab, then scroll through and choose your destination country and then city. Once you narrow down a hostel, book your stay using the app. Fair warning: To do so requires a 10 percent deposit and a booking fee to be paid in Euros, U.S. dollars or pounds. The remaining balance is paid at the hostel.

A quick search for San Jose, Costa Rica (arriving at noon on August 31, staying two nights, one guest) netted a list of seven hostels. As expected, the app does better with more popular destination spots like Sydney, Australia and Paris, France. A second search for hostels in Yerevan, Armenia, for example, came up empty.

Check out the above video demonstration for a quick rundown.

Hostel Hero is a free download for the iPhone and iPod touch.






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Pingdom Uptime-Monitoring Service Now Offering Free Accounts [Site Tools]

Posted on August 31, 2009
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The popular web site uptime-monitoring service Pingdom is now offering free accounts.

The free account provides monitoring for a single web site, 20 SMS alerts—you can purchase more if you need them—and unlimited email alerts. If you want to monitor multiple sites and have access to the advanced features you'll still need a premium account.

Check out the Pingdom site for additional information on free and premium accounts.






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S4ve.as Makes File Sharing as Easy as Sharing a URL [Sharing]

Posted on August 31, 2009
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Need to share a file quickly and without the hassle of setting up a file server or other dedicated connection between you and the recipient? S4ve.as makes transferring a file as simple as pasting a URL.

Visit the s4ve.as web site, select a file you want to share, upload that file, and you’re given a URL. The URL is good for 24 hours from the time of creation. Anyone who visits it can download the file you’ve shared. You don’t need to be online, the file is temporarily stored on the s4ve.as servers.

S4ve.as is a free service with no restrictions on the size of the file you can upload. Have a great solution for simple file sharing? Let’s hear it in the comments.






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Folder Sharing in Google Docs

Posted on August 31, 2009
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For some reason, Google decided to release a new version of the Google Docs List API before adding the features to the interface. One of the most important new features is folder sharing.

I’ve used a Python library to test the new version of the Google Docs API and I’ve managed to share a folder. As you can see, the “play” folder from the screenshot displayed below has a new icon.


Unfortunately, the shared folder didn’t show up in the collaborator’s Google Docs interface, but he was able to find it by visiting this hidden section.


Sharing folders is more efficient than sharing a large number of files one by one and the best thing is that folders are treated just like documents. You can share folders as “read-only”, but you can also allow collaborators to add new files and to edit documents.

For now, folder sharing is only available using the Google Docs API, but it will be added to the interface very soon.

{ via Google Data APIs Blog }

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From the Tips Box: Cable Organization, Cheap DIY Materials, and Gigantic Clocks [From The Tips Box]

Posted on August 31, 2009
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Lifehacker readers show us how to organize occasionally used cables with coat hangers, where to find cheap materials for DIY projects, and how to repurpose old monitors into gigantic, easy to read clocks.

Don’t like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.

Keep Rarely Used Cables Organized with a Coat Hanger

Christopher sent us a picture showing how he organizes his unused cables along with this note:

I came up with a way to organize any cables you don’t use on a daily basis but want easy/organized access to when you do need them. All that is required is one metal/cardboard coat hanger!

Looks like all you need is a coat hanger and some tape or cable ties to keep everything neat. Our only concern is whether some of the cables with heavy adapters would get damaged from hanging like that.

Get Cheap DIY Project Materials at Non-Profit Shops

Photo by brewbooks

Justin chimed in to point out that there are cheap ways to get materials for projects:

I just started getting back into DIY projects and was rekindling my love for building stuff. I noticed that while almost every project on sites like Instructables would save you a ton of money versus buying something already assembled, some projects still seemed a little too expensive too justify. However, I took a trip to my neighborhood Goodwill store and I found tons and tons of materials (looking at things from an engineers point of view) that can be used for different projects. You can test electronics right in the store to make sure that they work and haggling will usually work, but bear in mind that it is a charitable organization and prices are already about $1-$10 for most things in the store.

It’s so easy to overlook some of the places to get cheap materials. Where do you go before starting a new DIY project? Garage sales? Second hand shops? Regular home improvement stores? Do you take advantage of places like the Goodwill Outlet stores which sell things by the pound?

Repurpose an Old Monitor into an Easy to Read Clock

Nathan solved a nightly problem in a clever way:

Like many people, I used to have a difficult time reading my clock at night. I tried out many different clocks, but none of them met my needs. I finally decided to make my own clock. I had an old computer and monitor lying around. I started by installing Ubuntu on the computer. I then installed dclock, a customizable digital clock, from the repositories. I ran dclock with the following options:

dclock -nobell -nomiltime -tails -noscroll -noblink -nofade -date "%a %b %d, %Y" -noalarm -seconds -bd "black" -bg "black" -fg "red" -led_off "black" &

I then toggled the full screen option for the window so that it covered the entire screen. The result was a large digital clock that I was able to read at night. This clock did not cost me anything to make, and it is much easier to read than all of the clocks I found at the stores. dclock also has support for setting an alarm for the times that I need it.

It’s probably a bit of a waste to set up and run a computer only for the clock, but let’s assume Nathan’s Ubuntu clock has some other great uses we don’t know about.

Make Fluffy Scrambled Eggs in the Microwave

Photo by avlxyz

1112 described how he makes scrambled eggs in the microwave:

I like microwave scrambled eggs because they are so easy:

  • Scramble 1-2 eggs and a bit of milk in a microwave proof bowl.
  • Put in for 30 seconds, stir and put in for another 30 seconds. Repeat until finished. Be careful it will dry out quickly if you overheat it, so the last couple cycles might be 10-15 seconds. Enjoy!

Sometimes I put a separate glass of water in the microwave to moderate the power level (since the power level control is usually a very coarse duty cycle setting.)

Clean or at least fill the bowl with water when you’re done or the egg will harden and make it difficult to clean.

Keep Information Easily Accessible with Google Voice and SMS

Angelina tells us about how she keeps information easily accessible:

I’m the kind of person who is really lazy and doesn’t like typing stuff into her phone, so when I need stuff (like addresses or reminders) I use Google Voice’s SMS function. I just copy whatever I need from my email or browser, paste it into a blank SMS for my own number, and send it along, and I’ll have it for easy reference later!

This is particularly handy for people like me, who are too broke to afford data plans.

Curb Impulse Micro Purchases with Wishlists

Matt wrote in to tell us about how his fiancée cuts down on impulse micro purchases using a method similar to one we’ve mentioned before:

Every so often I see posts about making wishlists to curb impulse spending, and these are some of my favorite hacks.

I’m not sure if it ever showed up on Lifehacker, but my fiancée showed me the neat little hack that led to this one. Whenever she wants to purchase a track or album in iTunes, she drags the clips from the iTunes store to a playlist called “Wishlist.” Every week or so, she checks out the playlist to see if she still wants whatever’s there. $.99 (or $1.29) for a single song doesn’t seem like much, but when you buy stuff without thinking about it, it really does add up. This was great for me, as I didn’t know you could actually add the snippets to a playlist, and I always wondered why iTunes didn’t have a wish list feature.

I use Things for OS X and am getting started with GTD, and I was trying to think of a way to integrate wishlists for other things I’d like to buy but don’t necessarily need. I recently made a new project called “Wishlist,” and whenever I see something I want to buy, I add it to the project as a new task with any relevant details (price, URL, reason I want it) and a due date. I typically set the due date to two weeks from the day that I add it to Things.

If it’s something that I really don’t need, chances are I won’t think about it for a while. When it shows up for review two weeks later, I can decide if I still really want it.

I’m sure this would work with any system where you review your tasks daily or weekly. Cubicle warriors are likely to have Outlook, which allows for appointments or to-dos, and there are plenty of free solutions out there for the smart phone crowd.






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