Google Voice- The future of Telephone? My opinons of Google:

This is an interesting development today, Google had been talking about voice for a while and finally it is here. The thing that just blows my mind is how and something like this, something so common sense has taken so long to come out. I remember talking about this when Cell phones initially came out.

Interestingly Google is forcing innovation upon the major telecommunications companies. The ability for you to have one number and they all ring at the same time. Why did no other telecommunication companies come out with a feature?

I personally feel much better with the smart people at Google having my information than the major telecoms. In this interesting and global business climate, I think Google is one of the only companies that I trust. When they say they’re going to do something, they do it. When they say my emails are only going to be read by computer to produce advertisements custom tailored for me, I’m OK with that.

I also think this technology is going to help and make it harder for telemarketers to have success!

I’m also very excited of the prospect of being able to call internationally for 2¢ per minute. I would not be surprised to see Google move towards creating their own mobile phone company (or buying one).

Their innovation in the marketplace is astonishing and it seems very few companies have the ability to compete with them. Google finds the best people available, hires them and gives them time to think. There 80/20 model is innovative. It means 80% of the time is working on projects that the company wants and 20% working on personal projects that could help the company. It is an amazing concept them seems to foster an environment of innovation.

I was a bit confused today when I was unable to send SMS’s through Google chat. This is something I usually do. I personally do not use my phone for texting. I find that I am usually in front of a computer enough of the time and appreciate the full size keyboard. Using that I can respond faster by e-mail. When I’m not near a computer, I appreciate the solace of not having to deal with text messages. I fear we are moving towards a society that does not communicate through words at least talking. You can easily misunderstand someone’s opinion if you read it, but if you hear them telling it to you definitely know what they mean. I will be honest, I have not gotten to be good at texting on the traditional phone and it is cheaper in the United States with the amount of minutes the cell phone give you to just talk. Plus it is an extra 5 bucks a month for texting!

Who is the Stig? Schumacher?

Top Gear last night apparently unveiled former formula one world champion Michael Schumacher as the show's mysterious test driver, known as "the Stig" and forever hidden beneath a white helmet and overalls.

Many media reports today took the apparent revelation at face value, including the Guardian, without questioning whether the German multi-millionaire and seven times F1 world champion would give his their spare time to test-drive cars for the BBC2 show.

While the BBC's official line today is that it would never reveal "who or what the Stig is", MediaGuardian.co.uk is surely not alone in wondering if last night's "unveiling" was merely a publicity stunt to help get the 13th series of Top Gear off to a flying start.

"It was a tongue-in-cheek piece which wasn't meant to be taken seriously," one source said. "The Stig is merely a character."

According to sources, there is no one person who is the Stig, but up to six drivers who take it in turns. Reports in January named former racer Ben Collins as the Stig, while Perry McCarthy, a former F1 driver, was the original character.

The stunt certainly succeeded in raising the profile of Top Gear, which launched its new series last night. The show has been the subject of budget cuts like other areas of the BBC and the free publicity certainly did wonders for its ratings, with the episode pulling in an average of 7.1 million viewers and a 30% share between 8pm and 9.05pm, peaking at 7.8 million for the Stig's apparent unveiling. The bumper ratings helped BBC2 to a rare all-day ratings win over ITV1.

However, last night's revelation wasn't as much of a surprise as many had been led to believe. The episode was actually filmed on Wednesday and despite presenter Jeremy Clarkson asking the audience not to reveal that Schumacher appears from under the Stig's white helmet, one person emailed several fan websites in the US which published the name, although this was apparently not picked up in the UK.

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The 3 Amigos!

How to Send SMS via Gmail

Sending SMS from Gmail

You can send SMS messages to your contacts’ mobile phones using Gmail Chat. To do so from Gmail:

1. Enter your contact’s name in the ‘Search or invite friends’ box in Chat, and select Send SMS from the box of options that appears to the right of your contact’s name. Or, if you already have a Chat window open for this contact, just click Options, and select Send SMS.
2. In the dialog box, enter a phone number in the ‘Send SMS messages to this number’ field. For now, this feature works only on United States phone numbers. If you're outside the US, you can still use it, but you won't see the SMS option in Chat until you enable it manually in the Chat settings page.
3. Click Save.
4. A Chat window appears. Just type your message as you would normally. When you hit Enter, the message will be sent to the phone number you entered.

If your contact replies, the text message response will appear as a reply in Chat. These conversations are stored in your Chat history just like regular chats (but keep in mind that you can’t go off the record while communicating via SMS).

Note: depending on which mobile plans your contacts have, they may be charged by their mobile providers for receiving text messages.


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Happy Father's Day!