Google Turns Grandcentral Into Google Voice

I had the need to log into my Grandcentral account today and discovered that it is transitioning to Google Voice. Google Voice takes many of the great features of Grandcentral like call screening, listening in to voicemail, call blocking, sms alerts, phone routing, and call forwarding, amongst others; and adds features like voicemail transcripts, personalized greetings… per person, and conference calling.

The big announcement was made yesterday on the Google Voice Blog. Today, they posted some tips on upgrading your account from Grandcentral to Google Voice when your turn comes around. I checked and my account is not ready to upgrade. Still, I can’t help thinking that when it does it will be more awesome.

If you want a quick introduction to all the features, you can view videos that show you what the new Google Voice service will do. Here is one exciting feature of the new service involving Google 411

From what I have been able to find, Google Voice will continue to allow you to make free phone calls in the United States. They will charge low rates for international calls; I have not yet found a chart that shows those rates. According to the instructions, you’ll be able to call your Google Voice number and use it like a calling menu. It does make your calling experience a two-step process; but the benefits of this are significant.

The new Google Voice calling menu will be good for people who have a service like T-Mobile’s myFaves, Alltel’s My Circle, or Verizon’s Friends & Family. You can add your Google phone number as a favorite to send and receive calls without racking up your mobile minutes. In addition, it almost eliminates the need for a smart phone because all your calls are logged. This should allow you to save phone numbers straight to your Google Addressbook. I don’t know that you can, yet. As soon as my account can be upgraded, I will make the switch to explore all the features and think up unintended uses. Overall, I think Google Voice will ultimately be the final piece that was missing for unified communications by Google. OK, never mind; there is no fax option… yet.

BTW, you can receive updates by following Google Voice on Twitter.

Listening to Your Inner Voice

Every once in a while, I stumble across a blog post that resonates with me. Freelance Switch has a post titled “What’s Your Inner Voice Telling You?” I can say that I really identify with what Ian MacKenzie wrote. It resonated with others as well, make sure to read the comments.

Prior to my previous job, I had that same voice telling me that I had to break free. I asked my boss at the time to allow me to work part-time so that I could pursue other interests while still maintaining some steady income. We did this for a while until another job offer came up. I don’t know what possessed me to accept it. Going from part-time to full-time was not going to placate the voice. I fought that voice in all the months that I worked there until a family emergency made me realize that I was not doing what I was put on Earth to do. I resigned that same day and have been freelancing since then.

Yes, it is scary. The money isn’t as much as I was earning at the steady job yet. It will probably take me a while to make up my previous salary, but there are other benefits that bring me satisfaction. For example, writing this blog post would have been outside of the scope of my job. Keeping up with social media and marketing trends would simply be a waste of time. With freelancing, there is the benefit that I can pick and choose my clients rather than have them handed to me. I can devote time to doing things for my family rather than try to have a family life in the evenings and weekends. I don’t have to drive anywhere or buy lunch if there is no work. That alone drove me really crazy; if there is no work, I’d rather go home than have to “find” something to do or have to be present to put in my hours. There is plenty for me to do that often does not relate to what I am employed to do. As a freelancer, I have the freedom to do those things that bring value to my life and enrich it in ways that I cannot explain. I can focus on doing the task and then going on my merry way.

I felt set free when I went part-time, and it made me happy. Going against that freedom made me unhappy again. Even during these economic hard times, I feel some satisfaction in knowing that I don’t ever have to worry about losing my job because I have multiple jobs. Even when I worry that maybe there won’t be work, the voice tells me that I am doing the right thing. And then I get another job that pays a bill. When my logic tells me I’m nuts, the inner voice soothes those worries. Ever since then, opportunities to be what I was meant to be have cropped up. All I have to do is carry them to their conclusion to create the career of my dreams. Some of these are paid and some are not. What freedom to be able to choose.

Broadband Lemons to Mobile Lemonade

Broadband Lemons to Mobile Lemonade

Originally uploaded by shainelee.

You don’t necessarily have to have a big fat Internet pipe to stay connected with the world. Your phone can do plenty to keep you in touch.A few posts ago, I was lamenting the fact that I now live in an area where there is no broadband. There was supposed to be DSL on the way, but it may be a much longer time than originally expected. I got handed broadband lemons.I have since been learning how to turn my broadband lemon into mobile lemonade. Lack of broadband has actually liberated me and made my Internet use more efficient. I have, since buying my Windows Mobile phone, always looked for ways to connect. I have never, until now, completely relied on my phone for my Internet. Let me share with you some examples of how this is working out.

Efficiency

I have a laptop that I use for work. I batch my uploads and other broadband-necessary tasks for those moments when I have a wifi connection. At home, through my phone’s Internet Conection Sharing, I access light services like email and bill paying. This cuts back on unnecessary Youtube viewing, stats checking, and fantasy shopping.

Mobile Connections

Many websites are turning to the mobile phone as another screen to connect with you. More people have mobile phones than have computers. Even the most basic phones have some WAP functionality. You can use your phone for Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Pownce, Netflix, Vitalist, Google Reader, Grand Central, Amazon, Brightkite, Clipmarks, ebay, Flickr, Kyte, Wapedia, Utterli, Tumblr, and many more. Sure, they are stripped down versions, but the core functionality, connecting with people, is still there. SMS adds even another layer of connection to your mobile phone.

Voice Still Works

You’d be surprised to learn that your voice can still do quite a bit in terms of productivity. Phone calls are still quite effective. Your voice can keep notes with Jott. You can schedule Blog Talk Radio shows to create podcasts from anywhere with phone service. Finally, before there was widespread email, there was voice mail. Leave your message instead of playing phone tag. Personally, I prefer you tell me what you want in your message rather than having me call you to find out what you want. Chances are, I won’t.

To help illustrate how lack of broadband has been more of a blessing than a curse, I wrote this post while walking laps around the park. I’m free!

Jott for Your Mobile Life

It appears that Jott has been busy making their service more and more functional. For a free service, they sure give you a lot. They have added more links to other useful services I thought I would share with you. The implications of Jott’s willingness to work with other sites is that it enables you to break free from a computer for simple things. You can live a very mobile lifestyle with your main weapon being your cell phone. You can use your voice, text messages, and mobile websites to get much of your work done, or at least remember to do it. I mention Jott because I love using the service. In case you are wondering, Jott transcribes your voice message and emails it to you, your friends, a group, or some service like those listed below. You speak it; and they write it down.

Services That Work With Jott

• Twitter is a messaging system that answers one question: what are you doing now? Twitter allows you to keep in touch with friends all at once easily via text messages or instant messenger.
• Yahoo Groups is a well known forum-type of service. You can Jott your replies rather than type them in.
• Jaiku is a Twitter-like service. I’m on it, but don’t use it as much.
• Zillow allows you to look up real estate estimates. I don’t use this service as it is not in my line of business. If you are in real estate, you may want to check it out and combine it with Jott.
• Blogger, as the name implies, is a blogging service. If you are already on Blogger, Jott is handy. The only drawback is that you can only record for 30 seconds. So Jott is good for very brief blog posts.
• LiveJournal is a blogging service just like Blogger.
• Tumblr is in between Twitter and a blog. It’s just a place to collect photos, short notes, and other media.
• 30 Boxes is supposed to help you get your act together. It has a calendar, to do lists, and such. I just never quite got into it. However, if you are on 30 Boxes, you now have the ability to use it via voice command through Jott.
• Recommendr is a site that is supposed to help you make informed buying decisions. I haven’t used it, but it sounds promising.
• Toodledo is another service I haven’t used. It seems like a to do list service.
• Remember the Milk another to do list service. Nothing wrong with it; I simply use another service.
• WordPress is turning out to be the champion blogging platform. You can use it like Blogger, LiveJournal, or TypePad.
• Google Calendar is a service I just linked to my Jott today. I think it promises to be a great addition as I am neck-deep in Google services.
• Sandy is a virtual assistant service, which I gather is like 30 Boxes. I signed up for it today. It looks promising, especially with Jott.
• Xpenser is another service I linked to my Jott today. I totally love the concept. Xpenser allows you to keep track of your expenses. Now with Jott, you can call in your notes and save yourself some data entry.
• Gumiyo is for mobile online classifieds. I have not looked at it, so can’t say how useful it would be. You are welcome to share your experience with them.
• Trapster seems like an interesting service. It allows you to report where speed traps are located. I rarely speed, so find this to be of limited use. However, some of you scofflaws may find it handy for sharing intelligence amongst each other.
• Mosio allows you to ask any question and have it answered by real people. Not much use for me as I know everything.
• Vitalist is one of my absolute favorite services. When I signed up with them, I was looking for a GTD system. Their implementation came the closest and is the easiest to use. Plus, it has a mobile site I can check after Jotting into my inbox.
• TypePad is another blogging service.

So What’s the Big Deal?

The big deal is that any combination of these services can be accessed via your phone. This is not quite the Star Trek computer that can do anything via voice command. It is pretty darn close. Jott started off as a service for itself. I think perhaps their direction has changed from a simple reminder service to being a gateway for mobile people to access their online accounts while out and about.

Jott can handle most of the services that these other sites offer. Jott has reminders, you can create a to-do list folder, you can create a folder for notes, you can message people by email or text message, you can even message groups of people like Twitter. Many of the things these outside services offer are already a part of the basic Jott service. What has made Jott infinitely more useful is that they link to the services listed above. This makes Jott a useful interface to our favorite services. What is more, they probably have more subscribers for that reason than simply providing a standalone service.

Geeking out with my T-Mobile Dash

I know this is a bit late to be writing about the T-Mobile Dash. In a few days, I’ll have had my phone for one year. This means that it is old technology. I only recently discovered the Voice Command feature on the phone and have been all over it ever since. It caught my interest one day when I was wearing my bluetooth headset and a voice started telling me that I had a message from somebody and read the subject to me. It freaked me out. I didn’t know it could do that. So, I poked around and learned that I could set it to read all my messages rather than just the urgent ones. While I’m driving, I occasionally take a peek at my Twitter messages. Having the phone read text messages to me as they come in saves me from that task, which theoretically makes things safer for me.

Looking around the web, I discovered that I could also issue commands to my phone to get it to do things like tell me the time, tell it to go to flight mode, find out my next appointment, and other tasks. So, the problem was that it required me to pick up my phone and press the Home button to activate the voice command. Once you do that, it’s pointless to issue a voice command as I can do the rest myself. I found a blog entry that corrects a bug on the Dash through a hack on the phone’s registry. Now, all I have to do is tap my bluetooth headset, issue a command, and listen to the response. I just made the registry edit today, so I have not had a chance to test it out.

The only thing I wish I could do is listen to my music via the bluetooth headset. If this worked, I’d buy the AAA battery powered headset to enjoy the 8 hour talk time.

UPDATE

I went and purchased the Motorola S9 headset, which lets you listen to music on your Dash using bluetooth. Apparently, there are two settings for the headset. When you have it as phone headset, you only hear through one ear. Notifications are one-eared as well. For the music connection, you get full stereo from both ears.

If you pair your headset with another device for either setting, then you have to re-pair it to your phone. Simply go to the Communication Manager, select Settings, select option 2 Bluetooth, option 1 Bluetooth, highlight your S9, then select “Set as Hands-free” or “Set as Wireless Stereo” depending on which got turned off.