Obscure Mania

Using the new Google Voice service is awesome. It’s great if someone still has more than one phone, like a seperate number for their cell phone and home phone numbers. Just using it for voicemail is incredible and it’s freakin’ free.

Google Voice uses your Gmail contacts. If someone in your contacts either individually or in a group calls, you can setup different options as to what happens. Send them straight to voice mail, send your friends and family to your home phone, work contacts to your work phone and you can have a custom voice mail for every group or every contact if you want.

I can set up a voice mail for my contact to say, “Hey Paul, I’m out leave a message and I’ll call you back.” While everyone still gets the boring, “Leave your number at the tone.” message.

It does NOT cut out your mobile minutes. But if you’re on a plan that has unlimited calling to a certain number, you can add your Google Voice number and use Google Voice as your outgoing calls also. Google Voice mails are transcribed (sometimes may not be perfect), sent to your email or you can play on the web, download or forward to someone else. You have the option to record incoming calls and those will be transcribed and kept on the web in your Voice account.

Want to really block a number? Have it blocked and they get a “number has been disconnected” message. Don’t want the phone to ring late at night? Set it up to send all calls straight to voice mail or allow friends through. The best part, you can have this number for the rest of your life if you want, no matter how many times your cell, home and work numbers change.

You can look at, listen even tag your voice mail just like in Gmail. Even tag annoying calls as spam and they go directly to voice mail from now on.

Conference, add an incoming call to your current conversation, incredible call screening that will allow you to pick up, send to voice mail, listen to the voice mail as it happens and even pick up the call during the voice mail.

When you receive your invite, it took mine and my wife’s about a month to get back, you choose your number, either by numbers or letters in any area code. Of course it’s not going to give you a number that’s already taken no matter how bad you want to be able to dial your name by letters or some other combination may be taken. If you really don’t like the number you’ve chosen, you can change it later for $10.

We just changed our phone numbers and let everyone know our new numbers, I may wait awhile and I’ll send out another and change it one last time. It’s hard to believe it’s free, enjoy it while you can, there’s got to be a catch in there somewhere or someday. What ever they charge, it will be worth it.

I wish I had invites to hand out, but they’re not doing it like that for Voice. And 25 free business cards with your Google Voice number FREE.

Check the short videos about the features here – http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

I’m procrastinating getting back in the trailer and folding blankets for a new trip tomorrow morning, This is the first time in a long time I’ve had a trip back to back. I’m in Connecticut and reload in upstate NY going back west to Salt Lake City. Things are good at the moment.

With all of the new cell phones coming out, I was usually in the store the next day when I was eligible for the “free” phone upgrade. Not anymore. Cellphones have kind of peaked. They’re not getting any smaller and the features have been about the same for a couple of years. Except for Smart phones which I didn’t feel could replace my laptop and since my laptop was always with me in the truck, why spend the extra just so I could get my email a little faster? Smartphones have come down in price now and I think my free upgrade would actually be free or for very little for a Blackberry.

I’m now month to month with Verizon since my two year contract ran out and I haven’t upgraded anything. Cindy’s two years is up in September. The new Blackberry Bold is very tempting and has great reviews from almost everyone. In September we may be getting new phones and I need to look at the difference between Verizon and Sprint. Verizon service, quality and coverage has been pretty good. Sprint I think comes in second or about the same for coverage. So it may be time to switch. I may keep my laptop card Verizon only because no one gives a package deal (that I know of) so I can split services with no problem.

A Blackberry might be pretty cool. Real email everywhere, almost real browsing and the screen on the Bold is supposed to be bigger and brighter, might be worth waiting a couple of more months. It’s supposed to be at Sprint and AT&T in August and Verizon in September.

Who comes up with these names? Found some really cool services for your cellphone.

Jott

Jott is great for making notes and reminders to yourself and even notes to your friends and family. Go to Jott.com, register yourself and your cell phone. When you have that brilliant idea, you call Jott’s toll free number (866) JOTT-123 / (866) 568-8123, tell Jott who the note is for, then speak clearly. You have to speak clearly because a few minutes later, your note will be transcribed and will be listed in your Jott inbox. You can set reminders on your while your leaving your note or after wards from your Jott inbox. Your Jott is also sent to your regular email inbox or if you friend or family’s email.

You can download a crackberry app that integrates with Jott and there are other services to add feeds for news and blogs you can listen to. I’m still playing around with it, seems really cool, especially when I’m driving and I have a great idea or remember to do something I forgot that I need to do when I stop driving or when I get home.

CHACHA

Ever have a question you want to Google while you’re away from your computer? Now you can call your own personal Googling assistant. Call (800-2CHACHA), ask your question, hang up. A few minutes later your the answer to your question is sent as a text message to your phone. Ask anything at all, speak clearly, because a real person is listening and looking up the answer to your question.

Phone Your Phone

Ever lose your cellphone in your home or office and can’t find someone to call it for your? Go to Phone My Phone input your number and their system will call your phone so you can find it.