Revving Chrome for a Cause

Google's launched this great initiative/Chrome extension called "Chrome for a Cause," where for every tab opened (up to 250 tabs/day) Google will contribute towards charity. You can download the extension here:

http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/p/cause/

Now let's say you're in the mood to speedily log 250 tabs open, but your Ctrl+T muscles are sore. Several code solutions have popped up, including a full-on Chrome extension which automates the process.

My question: why can't this run in Javascript?

My response: Chrome for a Cause Fastest bookmarklet

Here's the code:
javascript:i=260;function addTab(){if(--i==0){clearInterval(j)}x=window.open('');x.close()}j=setInterval('addTab()',1000);void(0);

Just let it run for ~5 minutes, and you're done. You've helped provide a year's supply of clean drinking water for someone on earth.

Google Voice's Future

I was talking with a few people about Google Voice, and it seems that many people are worried about the future of Google Voice. According to a few sources, Google will be opening up GV to the public within a few weeks. There is concern that Google will make GV a pay service, making certain people (well, me) unhappy.

Here are my thought on what should happen with Google Voice.

1. Keep it free.
Seriously, Google: you've set the standard for a company which turns out free products yet makes an outrageous profit. Google bought GrandCentral in 2007 for 95 million US dollars. How can Google recoup that cost? The answer lies in looking to another product which Gogole bought but released as free: Google Earth. After Google acquired Keyhole, they were smart enough to release Google Earth as free, but they still made profit b creating advanced versions. This leads to my second thought:

2. Make a pro version.
More specifically, a business version. A quick search on Google (duh) shows that there are a few features GV does not currently have, but would not be impossible for them to add on -- for a nominal fee. If Google released a Google Voice Business Edition, they could market it the same way they sell Google Earth Pro: throw in some extra juicy pieces businesses can't live without. Some ideas include:

• There's a lot of interest in making people's pre-existing phone numbers GV numbers. If Google makes that available for some amount, people will line up for GV.
• GV does not currently support extensions (e.g. (555) 555-5555 #1234). Finish this thought for yourself.
• More than 4-way conference call support, adding and dropping callers, increased bandwidth for conference calls

I'm sure the guys over in Mountain View can churn out a few more selling points, and GV will be practically self-sufficient -- whatever GV loses can be balanced by online advertisements.

3. Team up with Skype
Google, eBay. eBay, Google. Now that you're acquainted, consider your cards. Google, you are an internet-based company with a phone proxy service which makes calling people locally, domestically, or internationally very easy and cheap, but you lack the ability to place calls directly from your computer.

eBay, you own Skype, which allows people to place calls through the internet (thank you VoIP), but your internet-to-real-world calling rates are rather steep.

Seriously, Skype and GV make natural allies. GV provides the Skype user with a phone number. When people call the GV#, it will forward to their Skype account, letting people answer their calls from their computers. conversely, when Skype people SkypeOut, Skype will run the call through GV, saving Skype and the Skype user money. Either way, it also cuts out the middle man: if eBay ad Google aren't connected, users must SkypeOut or SkypeIn, travel on the phone networks, get to GV, go onto the internet, VoIP, and go back down again to the connection. It's much more effective for everyone if the call doesn't make that extra hop.

4. Don't Team Up with Skype
...are the Skype-lovers gone? They are? Good. Google, listen: you don't need a partnership. The only thing you'd get out of Skype would be computer-phone capabilities, something you're totally capable of building on your own. eBay. Who needs 'em?

5. Be smartphone-friendly
I want to see a Google Voice iPhone app and a Google Voice Android app. You'll do even better if you can make it look seamless.

6. Weld it in with the rest of Google's products
Speaking of seamless, here are some things which would make Google Voice even more amazing:

• Google Earth, Google Maps: you have phone numbers in business info listings. If the person's logged in and is accessing the page from a computer, prompt them and ask if they wan to use GV.
• Gmail: you've already released a neat video chat feature. Merge that with GV! Add in the transcriptions, recording capabilities, etc. and you'll have a wonderful UI on your hands. Plus, can you say "call-in memos and to-do lists"?
  
• Google Desktop: transcriptions in archived index. 'Nuff said.
• GOOG-411: Unlikely, but it would be awesome if you could dial into your GV account through GOOG-411, and even place calls. Hooray for free calls!

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Google Voice is an excellent product. Google: keep GV free, integrate it, and blow the pants off of the telecommunications company.

My Birthday Present from Google: Google Voice!

I checked today...and I was accepted to upgrade from GrandCentral to Google Voice! I'm really excited about this service.

For those of you who don't know GrandCentral Google Voice (GV) is a service from Google which provides the user with a phone number. Other people can call that number, and it will forward to any number of your own phones, allowing you to provide one number which you can access from anywhere. On your side, GV will record your voicemails (you can view them online later or access them on your phone), and best of all you can place calls through GV. This means that you can call anywhere in the US for the cost of a local call.

By the way: it's still in private beta, so no, I can't give you an invite. Not yet, at any rate.

I'm going to review some of the features now.

Layout: 10
Google voice's layout is very similar to that of Google Reader or Gmail. It makes use of AJAX, like in Gmail -- ever notice how clicking on "New Message" doesn't refresh the page? Really, it's extremely easy to navigate, which is a big improvement over Grandcentral's slow and clunky layout.

Placing a Call (from Online): 10
Google made this stupid-proof. No matter what you're viewing on the GV page, there's a big button in the upper-left labeled Call. Click it, and you're given a spot to enter your number to call, and a number you're calling from. When you enter in the to-call number, Google provides number suggestions based on your Contacts (think Gmail's "from" address bar in a new message). you can call from either one of your pre-chosen phones or from a temporary phone (think hotel rooms). Really, it's amazing.

Placing a Call (from a Phone): 9
I recommend you add your GV# to your speed dial list on your main GV phone(s). When you call your GV#, press 2 to enter a phone number to dial. The connection is fast and easy. It would be nice to see the ability to simply speak a person's name and have Google use their speech-to-text technology (see below) to place your call automatically, and their interface is a little slow, so you sometimes have to sit through an explanation of what to do before you can actually type the number to dial.

Call Quality: 9
No matter who called whom from where using GV, the quality was fantastic, and the phone delay was about a second, which is great for a double-hop system. However, GV itself seemed to have a hard time understanding me: when I entered my name and personal greeting, the result was very poor quality. This might be because I was on a cellphone -- I'll check and get back to you.

Other Features: 10
The people over at Google are really brilliant. I have a rather old phone, so GV's extra features give my phone capabilities not dreamed up until years after my phone was shipping from China. With GV, my phone can now do up to 4-way conference calling, I can record whole phone calls (OK, that's one's kind of creepy), and I can listen in when people leave a voicemail and decide to interrupt them. I can even block unwanted callers, and they'll hear a "Number not in service" message the next time they call. Voicemails are stored online and transcribed automatically. Really, it's like Gmail audio edition.

Pricing: 10
Good news: GV is currently free, AND you get a free dollar for international calls, which gives me 50 minutes to talk to Israel. :D
Bad news: I'll be amazed if Google doesn't eventually charge for this.

Overall: 10
This is one of the greatest things Google has ever introduced. If they fix the on-phone interface, I'll run out of bad things to say. Google, I applaud this product, and look forward to using it. If you keep it free, I'll also be your best friend forever.

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One thing I'll be very interested to see will be how Google merges its work with GV with Google's mobile OS, Android. Here's my dream: Google teams up GV with the Android carriers, making the price of every call to a US number equivalent to that of a local call. Meanwhile, Google and Skype team up, allowing Skype users to use their GV#s, and people everywhere can now make much cheaper calls.

Maybe someday.

Something I Noticed a While Ago

Go to Gmail.com. Once you're there, start refreshing the page like crazy, and look at the timer telling you how much space every Gmail user has. Notice anything? This is what I see:



Does anyone know why the counter displays that?