GrandCentral Reborn As Google Voice 206
Some anonymous person wrote in to say that Google has relaunched and rebranded GrandCentral as "Google Voice." The article says it will "revolutionize telephones. It unifies your phone numbers, transcribes your voice mail, blocks telemarketers and elevates text messages to first-class communication citizens." Sadly, the voicemail didn't integrate very nicely w/ my phone back in the day, so I guess I should give it a shot.
I was hoping (Score:4, Insightful)
Another so called "Revolution"? Yeah ok ... (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't want a revolutionary new phone - the basic idea of the telephone was got pretty much spot on in the 19th century - talk into mic , listen from earpiece. What I want is a phone service thats reliable , cheap and works in an emergency. What I DO NOT want is a phone service that gives me a friggin "select from the following options" load of BS when I lift up the receiver! I have enough of that crap when phoning help desks. As for listening in when someone leaves a message - wooooo! Someone correct me but I believe you've been able to do that with steam powered cassette based answerphones since the 1970s.
That is interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
Calling out the tinfoil hat brigade (Score:3, Insightful)
Where does the paycheck come from? (Score:5, Insightful)
*Pulling the tinfoil hat even lower over the brow now* Will Google Talk also have the ability to monitor calls made through their service for marketing info?
Yeah, it sounds like a great service, but what's the cost in privacy?
Just when I thought it was awesome.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Google Voice Basics: Requirements
Print
To use Google Voice, you just need a touch-tone phone and a Flash-enabled browser
Oh well. It was -almost- really cool.
Re:Wish they would use ANI instead of CID (Score:5, Insightful)
ANI and VOIP don't play well together because the ANI (which is accurate) will point to the POP where the VOIP system connects to the POTS.... which may be very far from the VOIP user.
But that ANI (is* accurate, in that it will lead you to the actual VOIP company that delivered the call to the POTS. From there, they have records that identify the actual source.
So while ANI+VOIP isn't good for E911, it does work well for identifying telemarketers and suing their ass.
Re:Paradox (Score:4, Insightful)
I was just thinking the same thing - Google is in many ways an engine of innovation, and they bring a lot of cash to bear on a problem. But as you suggest, the same was true of Microsoft in the late 80s and early 90s. The only real difference is attitude, and attitudes change.
As someone who makes use of Google's services, I think this is great, but I can't help but wonder whether this is ultimately stifling advancement in the field. Google doesn't NEED to innovate in voice, it just WANTS to. In some ways, that results in a better product: they take risks a small software house dares not. But they're not as committed to innovating, and they drive a lot of people out of the market. Gmail is a great service, and Google continues to do new and interesting things. But I haven't seen a single new webmail service since Gmail went live, and that's a little worrisome.
As a software developer, I used to worry that Microsoft might find my particular niche potentially profitable. Now I worry that Google might think it's cool.
Re:Video? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who wants video phones? There are really only two times that I use (or want to use) video calling:
1. Very occasionally, for remote meetings with colleagues that I know well and like, mainly because it is amusing and allows us to connect after not working side-by-side for a long time.
2. When dealing with tiny kids at a long distance.
Other than that, it's awful. I hate it for ordinary business calls because I can't read email, munch on raisins, pick my nose, stare out the window, or whatever else I'd normally do. And I've never felt like I want to see my friends when calling them.
Assuming I'm not too terribly odd in this regard, the market for video is probably limited.
Why sacrifice your privacy? (Score:2, Insightful)
Ignorance is bliss.. Sorry to wreck it for you.
Re:Can't wait (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:For how long? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's true of every service, from every company, whether its in Beta or not.
True of every SERVICE. Untrue of every PRODUCT. If I could buy or download a copy and host it on my server, then it goes away when I'm done with it, not when someone else is.
Re:Link spamming (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Just when I thought it was awesome.... (Score:1, Insightful)
Do you have a better way to display a skinnable voicemail player? HTML5 isn't quite here yet.
"Free service" ... Yeah, right... (Score:1, Insightful)
I feel sorry for all those overexcited individuals unfamiliar with the fact that there is no free lunch.
Keep in mind that google will record all your conversations and use them to improve it's speech recognition engine, which afterward will be used to collect information about you, your contacts, and your preferences, which, in turn will be used to feed you with targeted ads.
Imagine receiving a phone call from an adult shop "Hello, Mr. xxx. Do you have a minute? You know, your friends yyy and zzz have just purchased our new dild0. We currently have a promotion where you can buy the same item with 50% discount."
So, go ahead, register all your phone numbers with google so they know where to find you.
For the rest of the population -- there are VoIP services that have all or nearly all of google voice features (except maybe for those you will never need) and even more. For example, Xebba [xebba.com] offers all typical voice features plus small business oriented services (fax,IVR, conference calls) not available at google. Of course, the service is not free (well, duh!), but their prices are lower than grandcentral used to charge.
Come on, sober up, everybody. Google already serves ads on every other page you visit and they are about to upgrade the way they track your browsing behavior. Do you also want them to tap into your phone conversations?
Disclaimer: I am not associated with Xebba or any other VoIP provider.
Re:Can't wait (Score:1, Insightful)
Yeah, this whole "Internet" business is getting really creepy.
Google knows that I read Slashdot, Slashdot knows what I think of Google, Facebook knows what I think of my Programming Languages teacher, and he knows ... very little about modern programming languages to say the least.
I mean, who the fuck uses Prolog?
But I digress. Someday I want to host my own e-mail server and start getting away from all this "cloud" bullshit where I don't own my own data.
If I don't my data, I really don't own myself anymore. And it's getting annoying.
Re:Can't wait (Score:5, Insightful)
I totally agree, but I'm also looking forward to this. it's a hate-love-relationship. I really hate and abhor the fact, that there's a company out there gathering such immense amounts of data on everyone - for the company's gain, not the public's. On the flip side, I'm truly envious of the quantity, quality and accuracy of their statistical data. I love that this data will enable them all kinds of awesomely cool stuff. I hate that they're essentially using that information to exploit their users.
it starts off nice and clean with direct and targetted advertising, which by itself might actually be helpful and not bore people with ads that don't have any relevancy to them. But if we project and exaggerate their prowess, we get to a stage where google can directly and on a massive scale, manipulate markets and behaviour.
this, I'm not looking forward to.