Google Voice

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Facebook Considering Buying Skype
Facebook Considering Buying Skype

Facebook Considering Buying Skype

Meanwhile, Google holds talks with Skype for joint venture

(Newser) - Skype is suddenly the prettiest girl in school now that it’s pushed back its IPO. Google is in talks for a joint venture with the online calling company, and Facebook is considering buying it outright, sources tell Reuters . Skype is expected to rake in about $1 billion if it...

Google Voice Launches Number Porting

Users now allowed to move cell numbers to service

(Newser) - Google's Voice calling application is adding a long-promised feature: the ability to move a phone number from a cell phone to Google's service. Previously, Google Voice assigned each user a new number,making it more difficult to take advantage of its features, which include cheaper international calls and the ability...

Snooping Google Engineer Could Face Jail Time

Engineer who spied on teen chat logs may have broken federal law

(Newser) - A Google engineer who abused his access to data to snoop on teenagers' chat logs and harass them could face up to 5 years in jail if government officials decide to prosecute him. David Barksdale's spying on Google Voice and Google Talk accounts definitely wasn't "in the normal course...

Google Takes on Skype With Free Gmail Calls

Search giant rolls out email-linked phone service

(Newser) - Google took a bold stride onto Skype's turf yesterday, announcing that Gmail users will now be able to call landline and cell phones directly from their email. The company says Gmail users will be allowed to call phones in the US and Canada free for at least the rest of...

AT&T Reverses, Will Allow Skype on iPhones

(Newser) - AT&T has had a change of heart—perhaps prompted by an ongoing FCC inquiry into competition—and will now allow iPhone users to connect with Skype and other Internet phone services over its 3G wireless network. Previously, AT&T had allowed such services in only a limited capacity—through...

Apple-Google Party Ended Before FCC Waltzed In
Apple-Google Party Ended Before FCC Waltzed In
ANALYSIS

Apple-Google Party Ended Before FCC Waltzed In

Philosophical standoff led to Schmidt's ouster

(Newser) - Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s departure from the Apple board can be most directly linked to the rejection of the Voice app from the App Store, which has sparked a probe by the Federal Communications Commission, Erick Schonfeld writes for TechCrunch: “Google brought down the disapproving scrutiny of the...

Google Voice Worth More Than Beloved iPhone

(Newser) - Apple and AT&T rejected the Google Voice app for the iPhone, driving TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington to drop the mobile device entirely. Why are Apple and its carrier blocking an innovative program that has amazing call-forwarding features and transcribes voicemail into text? “Because they absolutely don’t want...

Rejection of Google iPhone App Sets Dumb Precedent

(Newser) - Apple has rejected Google’s application to distribute its Voice application through the App Store, and that shows that Apple is dead-set against innovation, Adam Pash writes on Lifehacker. The official line is that Google Voice “duplicates features already on the iPhone—namely the Phone and Messages app,”...

Too Many Phone Numbers? Google Can Help
Too Many Phone Numbers? 
Google Can Help
tech review

Too Many Phone Numbers? Google Can Help

Promising new free service handles access to all your devices

(Newser) - One phone number for home, two more for work, another for your mobile—Google Voice aims to change that. The new free service, which gives you one internet-based number that dials all your phones, "will take years to reach its full potential," but it looks promising, Hiawatha Bray...

New Google Voice Offering a 'Dutiful but Klutzy Secretary'

Features like voicemail transcription are great, but far from flawless

(Newser) - Google’s Voice feature, offered in free beta for now, bundles all your phone numbers into one “Google number,” and records, transcribes, emails, and archives voicemails, allowing you to respond via texts sent from your computer. It “has some brilliant features,” Courtney Banks writes in the...

Google Voice Buggy but Brilliant
Google Voice Buggy
but Brilliant
TECH REVIEW

Google Voice Buggy but Brilliant

Impressive new VoIP service could soon sideline Skype

(Newser) - Google's new VoIP service could be more of a "life-changing experience" than a mere Skype substitute, Larry Magid writes in CNET. Google Voice—currently only available to former GrandCentral users but expected to soon cause sleepless nights for the whole telecom industry—offers users a single number to which...

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