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Blog Archives
Texty Sends Text Messages from Google Chrome Using Your Phone Number (and We’ve Got Beta Invites) [Downloads]
Posted on May 5, 2011
Google Voice Message Playback Comes to Gmail [Gmail]
Posted on September 9, 2009
If you’re both a Gmail and Google Voice user, you should be thrilled with the latest feature from Gmail Labs: The Google Voice Player feature embeds a voicemail player inside Gmail so you can listen to new messages directly inside Gmail.
To enable it, just hit up the Labs link in Gmail, find the Google Voice player in mail feature, click enable, and save your changes. Now not only can you read your transcribed voicemail from directly inside Gmail—you can listen to it, too. In fact, your message status will even sync to Google Voice, so if you've listened to it in Gmail, it'll show as listened to in Google Voice, too. Handy.
New in Labs: Play Google Voice messages in Gmail [Official Gmail Blog]
Inumbr Creates Temporary Disposable Phone Numbers [Privacy]
Posted on September 9, 2009
If you ever need to hand out your phone number in a public forum or, say, give your number to a stranger on Craigslist, you rarely want to give away your real number. Free service inumbr generates free, auto-expiring phone numbers.
We’ve mentioned inumbr twice before when it was called Craigsnumber and simply numbr, but it’s been renamed yet again, this time to inumbr. It’s a bit annoying that it’s constantly changing, but it’s also the only dead simple disposable phone number service we know of.
Just go to the site, pick your city, set your expiration time (one hour, one day, one week), then tell it where to forward your calls. Google Voice actually steps in and eliminates, to an extent, the need for something like this (Google Voice lets you filter and even block calls you don’t want), but the simple throw away number is nice to have under the right circumstances.
inumbr [via Hack a Day]
Generate Google Voice Speed Dial Bookmarks for Your iPhone [IPhone]
Posted on August 4, 2009
Apple may have made some poor decisions about Google Voice on the iPhone, but if you still want a bit of handy integration between your iPhone and Google Voice, the Google Voice Speed Dial Bookmarklet generator is worth a look.
Just point your phone to www.ironicsans.com/gv/, follow the instructions there (you have to do a little digging in your Voice account to get the proper credentials for the bookmarklet to work), then enter in your Google Voice code (obtained above), your iPhone number, and the number of the person you’d like to call.
At that point you’ll hit Generate, then the tool will dish out a few more instructions you’ll need to follow. Once all’s said and done, you’ll have a quick-dial bookmark in mobile Safari that you can hit to speed dial specific contacts (faster than going through the mobile GV site as it is at the moment).
Frankly, it’s pretty convoluted and hardly even useful compared to what we could get if Apple hadn’t rejected the official Google Voice app, but kudos to the author for a clever idea.
The Google Voice Speed Dial Bookmarklet Generator [Ironic Sans via Gizmodo]
3jam Is Like Google Voice with Number Portability and Skype Support [Telephony]
Posted on July 31, 2009
Google Voice has been been making a splash among early adopters, but if you’re looking for an alternative with many of the same features plus a couple of extras, take a look at 3jam.
(Click the image above for a closer look.)
3jam isn't an altogether new service—it used to be primarily a text messaging service—but its Google Voice-like features are. Like Voice, 3jam rings all your phones from one number, gives you access to your call history and SMS history, offers (visual) voicemail online, and more. Unlike Google Voice, 3jam also supports forwarding your calls to Skype, AOL, or Yahoo Messenger. It also lets you port your current number into 3jam for easy transition—something that's not (yet) available with Google Voice.
What’s more, 3jam isn’t in an invite-only beta. The catch: 3jam costs, at minimum, $5/month. That’s not terrible considering what they offer, but in light of Google Voice’s free offering, not all that many folks would be that excited at the notion of ponying up cash for 3jam. Then again, if features like Skype or IM ringing are particularly important to you (say you want to save some cell minutes), 3jam may have a leg up on Voice.
On the other hand, 3jam doesn’t currently have all of Google Voices features, like call filtering. If anyone has given it a try, let’s hear your experience with 3jam in the comments.
3jam [via TechCrunch]
GV Mobile Available for Free on Cydia [Downloads]
Posted on July 28, 2009
iPhone/iPod touch: Yesterday tech site TechCrunch reported that Apple blocked an official Google Voice app from the App Store; meanwhile, they also kicked unofficial versions (like previously mentioned GV Mobile) out the door. But you can still get GV Mobile for free.
The catch: You’ve got to be willing to jailbreak your iPhone. Why? Because Apple is demonstrating that they're perfectly happy locking out any application or tool that will improve your iPhone experience in ways that don't gel with their corporate synergy. (Yeah, we said corporate synergy—nice work, Apple.)
The developer of the recently kicked-out-of-the-App-Store GV Mobile has decided to go ahead and release GV Mobile for free rather than let his work go to waste (it should show up in Cydia sometime today or tomorrow). It's a small consolation that you can now get this unofficial app via Cydia on a jailbroken iPhone—especially since we'd really kill to see what the official Google Voice app from Apple would have looked like—but it's better than nothing. Guess that's one more reason for us to keep on jailbreaking our iPhones.
Wow [Sean Kovacs]