GMAIL

Is the hoopla around Google Voice warranted?

by alec on August 25, 2010

It might seem curmudgeonly of me to say this, but I am baffled by the attention generated by Google’s announcement that they will add voice calling to Gmail. Granted, merging the voice mail box and the email box is a very friendly move for users. Allowing an immediate follow up to an email, via voice, is also a nice usability feature. Aren’t these staples of modern day unified communications systems?

Google Voice doesn’t often show up on my radar any more. It’s not available to those of us who live north of the 49th parallel, so I don’t use it. That’s a shame. If Google Voice did supply service here, I would surely take advantage of all of its super cool features like call screening, one number, voice transcription and more. For reasons that are unclear to me, though, especially since Google offers unlimited calls to the United States and Canada, Canadians don’t have access. Maybe it’s payback for the defeat of the US Men’s Hockey Team at the Olympics? Who knows?! That’s as good a theory as any, I suppose.

These days, if I want one-click calling from within email, I turn to Skype. And perhaps that’s the reason Google is adding these features to Gmail now – Skype already has them, and word on the street is that Skype and Google are headed for a showdown.

Skype also has a global international network, that includes Canada.

So how about it, Team Google? Whaddya say?

Google Tests Out Voice Calling In Gmail (searchenginejournal.com)
It’s official: Google Voice comes to Gmail — phone booths on the way (downloadsquad.com)

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The cloud in your hand

by alec on April 14, 2009

Stacey Higginbotham’s piece on Cloud Computing emphasizes how Google is blurring the boundaries between the Cloud and local computing. The example given is GMail running on iPhone or Android, and how Google is using Webkit browsers to make the app behave as if it were running on the web.

Last night, as I left my office, a young guy from a neighboring business flagged me down and asked if he could use my phone. He had locked himself out of his office, and his keys, phone, and wallet were all inside. I handed him my N95, but he couldn’t reach anyone who’s phone number he could remember. “If only I had access to the internet”, he said. “Oh… try this”, and I handed him my iPhone.

What happened next was pretty interesting. He had never used an iPhone, and I had never used GMail on iPhone. He logged into GMail, selected the Google Docs tab, and browsed his company directory (stored in a spreadsheet), clicking on various phone numbers until he found one that answered.

It was a remarkable demonstration of Stacey’s point – that the Webkit technologies that Google is exploiting in their apps really are delivering you the internet in the palm of your hand, and blurring the difference between cloud and local computing very convincingly.

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Enterprise 2.0 Reflections: We’re onto something BIG!

June 20, 2007

The Air Canada lounge at Logan airport is a regrettably grubby little hole. It's not the sort of place one wants to spend long periods of time in. Still, as I sit here, stuffed full of expensive flavorless "cobb salad", it gives me an opportunity to reflect a little on what I've learned at the [...]

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