WEBVTT - Google Voice Goes Live 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.720 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:13.280 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. This podcast 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:16.120 is brought to you by Audible dot com, the internet 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:20.080 leading provider of spoken word entertainment. For a free audiobook 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.760 of your choice, go to audible podcast dot com slash 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:29.080 tech Stuff. Hello to everybody, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:30.840 My name is Chris Poulette, and I'm one of the 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.880 editors here at how stuff works dot Com. Sitting next 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.120 to me, as always, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.040 all right, So, uh, I like your voice. You seem 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:46.400 to be in good voice today. Are you coming onto me? No? Alright? Good? Um, Yeah, 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:48.720 my voice is all right today. And uh and your 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.760 your voice is always is smooth and enjoyable like my coffee? 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.720 Are you coming on to me a little bit? So, anyway, 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.600 we thought with this wonderful segue, we just go right 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:03.480 into talking about a fairly new product, at least you know, 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.760 new to us, Google Voice. Yeah, it's a it's not 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.640 really new, no, because it's it's actually an evolution of 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:13.360 an older product, which I guess we can start with yeah, 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:15.959 I think we should because I have to freely admit 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.800 my embarrassment. See a few years ago, UM, there was 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:24.960 this company called grand Central, and UH it was. It 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:29.319 was a really cool new idea for basically routing all 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.319 of your calls UH through one number to multiple numbers, 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.520 so your home phone, your cell phone, your work phone, 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.639 all through one UH phone number. And I actually got 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.280 an invitation to this closed beta and never acted on it. 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:48.720 And then then Google decides to acquire this property. And then, 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.560 of course, the way Google does with everything, it kind 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.400 of sits on it closes it off to everyone else 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:58.440 while it starts to fiddle with it. And until recently, 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:00.360 that was the way things were. If if you were 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.520 an existing Grand Central customer, you could continue to use it, 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:05.560 but if you weren't, then you had to just sit 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:07.440 around and wait and hope that Google would open it 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:09.919 up again. And that's kind of where we are now. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.200 Google has started to open it up. It's still not 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.320 wide open for the general public as of the recording 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.680 of this podcast at any rate. You have to have 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.560 an invite to get into it, but you can just 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:23.919 request and invite and eventually they'll get around to you. 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.959 Both Chris and yours. Truly, we've we've requested and invite 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.440 and and we have it. So we've been playing with 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.359 it for a little while. Yeah, they didn't even send 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:34.959 me a snarky note like, well, you didn't use the 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:36.720 last and we gave you, so what makes you think 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.680 you're gonna use this one? So thanks Google for not 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.399 rubbing it in that nice Yeah. So, the idea here 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.480 is that instead of a phone number going to a 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:51.320 specific phone or specific device, the phone number goes to 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.600 a specific person, so you can port that number wherever 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.560 you may go from now until you shuffle off. The 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.000 mortal co will essentially. Uh. The idea here being that 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:06.680 you don't have to worry about giving out someone your 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.519 work number and your mobile phone number and your home number, 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.080 and say, hey, if you can't reach me here, try 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.119 this one. If you can't, if I'm not there, try 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.119 this one. You give them this one number, and then 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.600 you have the control to say which phones ring at 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.920 what times and for which people. Yep, and uh, it's 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.800 it's got some really nifty applications to whereas you know 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:31.720 some of the things you can do with it. It's 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.639 it's pretty cool. The let's Let's let's kind of give 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.920 an example to sort of break into it. So let's 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.240 say that you have three phones. You put your home phone, 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:43.320 your mobile phone, and your work phone right all right. Now, 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.000 what you would do is, once you receive the invite 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.080 to join Google Voice, you would go in and you 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.440 would first put in your area code and try and 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.640 find a phone number for you. That would be your 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.320 Google Voice number, And this is the number you would 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.920 give out to other people. The one number you would 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:02.640 give out. You wouldn't have to give out any other 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:07.400 phone numbers to anyone else period. So you you put 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.680 in your area code, you choose whatever phone number you 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.560 you know is up there. You can try different combinations. 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:17.440 You could even see if you can find a combination 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.640 that corresponds to a word. Yeah. You can search by word, 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.840 which is really nice. Yeah. So you know, if you 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.080 always want to, you know, your your phone number to 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.760 spell something out, you can see if that was available. Now, 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.080 of course, it's not going to be available everywhere. Not 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:31.640 every word is going to be available, and of course 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.159 they have to have the right number of letters or 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.680 else it doesn't work. But uh, once you get that, 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.400 then what Google will do is it'll it'll call you 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.599 and ask you to put in a confirmation code, a 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:49.080 two digit confirmation code two say yes, this is in 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.240 fact my phone, this is my account. Once you do that, 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:54.760 you're set. You're ready to go. You can start setting 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.680 things up and telling it which phone numbers, UM correspond 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.920 with your Google Voice account. Yeah, one of the other 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.760 other things. Before we get too much further, UM, just 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.000 like to point out that you can also choose area codes. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.640 So if you want to be someplace across the country, me, 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:11.800 you can put in a Californian code and go, oh, yeah, 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.440 I'm in l am working on my next movie. Yeah, 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:15.960 and you can totally do that as long as the 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.880 numbers available, right, Yeah, that is true. You don't necessarily 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:20.880 have to choose an area code that does correspond with 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:22.839 your specific location. If you want to be one of 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.520 those people who you know, let's call long distance, right 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.680 or yeah you know, or or you or you are, 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.200 say an aspiring screenwriter, and you don't want people to 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.000 know you're not actually in l A. Uh. There are 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.080 reasons I can think of why you would want to 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.360 mask your zip zip code, your area code. And uh, 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.240 so let's say you've got these three phone numbers that 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:49.240 you've entered into your account. Now, just if you just 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.920 had it where it would ring for all three when 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.320 everyone called you, That's exactly what would happen. Someone would 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.000 call your phone number, your Google Voice phone number, and 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.400 all three of those phones would start to ring, and 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.040 then whichever phone you picked up first, that's the that's 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.640 where the call would be rounded through. Oh, I was 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.479 just going to say that. One of the cool things 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.119 about this is say you've answered the call on your 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:17.400 home phone and you realize that you, uh, we're gonna 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.800 head out for an errand, and you went, oh, man, 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:21.480 I wish I had answered my cell phone and said 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:23.920 you can actually transfer the call. That's true while you're 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.520 in the middle of it between different different lines, which 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:28.599 I think is pretty awesome. You just hit the star 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:34.760 button and Google Voice will call you on your other phones. Meanwhile, 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.080 the phone at your desk is ringing at work, and uh, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:41.440 you pick up your cell phone extension and there's your conversation. 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.720 You can hang up your your home phone right and 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.200 just walk out the door, no interruption whatsoever. That is 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.400 a really cool feature. The other cool one is that, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:52.000 or actually there's several, but another cool one is that 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.600 you can tell your through your Google account. You can 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:59.120 tell it which phones you want to ring for specific callers. 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:00.960 So let's say it's your family and you wanted to 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.200 reach you, no matter what, you can tell him, all right, 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.920 make all three phones ring. But let's say that it's 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.440 someone at your job and you don't want to necessarily 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.080 I have your cell phone or your home phone ringing 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:14.160 every single time this person calls you. You can designate 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:18.360 so it only rings on your office phone, yep. And 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.080 you can also block calls from certain people if you 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:22.960 want to. It's very easy to do that. You can 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.080 either send it well really, you just send it straight 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.640 to boysmail, so you know, you never have to deal 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.400 with that annoying uncle who calls you in the middle 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.800 of the night to ask what was the name of 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.960 that movie that you know he really wanted on DVD 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:40.440 for Christmas but you forgot. I'm just speaking from personal experience, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.600 all right. So look, look, look, some of us just 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.960 can't bring ourselves to purchase Uncle Buck. That's all I'm saying. 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:52.520 So moving on the but yeah, and you can also 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.280 say it for for certain times, like saying, you know, 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.280 between the hours of nine am and five pm, my 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:00.560 office phone will ring, but my home phone own and 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.560 cell phone won't. That's a very nice feature, right, Uh. 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.080 And then after five pm, just my cell phone and 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:10.320 home phone, and maybe after you know, ten pm, none 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:14.360 of my phones will ring. Yeah, you can said do 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.680 not disturb, so that you're all the all the calls 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:18.520 go straight to voicemail and you don't have to worry 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:20.360 about it waking you up in the middle of the night. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.920 And uh, which is nice, you know. Sorry, go ahead. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.520 I was going to talk about. Another cool feature regard 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:33.160 to voicemail is that you can actually listen into voicemail messages, 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.840 a feature which I have not successfully gotten to work, 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.520 but I've been playing with it for a few days. Um. 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.479 But you should be able to press three and um 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.040 after a call has gone to voicemail and listen in 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.240 and you go, oh wait, I need to take this call. 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:48.839 You can answer the phone. You can actually pick it 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:50.680 up like you would if you were listening on your 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:56.880 old style answering machine. And this person I'm okay with, yes, yes, exactly. Yeah. 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:58.840 You might. You might see that a call is coming 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:00.959 in from someone you thinking, well, I don't know that 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.240 I could really take this call right now, you let 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.640 it go to voicemail, you use the listening feature, which 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.760 I believe is actually trademarked. Uh. You use the listening 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.559 feature and you realize, wait, this is a really important call. 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:13.480 I do need to take this. You press the star button. 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.000 There you go. Um. Or you can just let it 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:18.640 go to voicemail and you hang up and you say, 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:22.640 I'll deal with that later. It's not important right now. Um. 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.559 It really gives you a lot of control. The thing 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.400 that I like about Google Voice when I first started 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.440 using it is that it's, uh, the layout on the 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:36.480 website is a lot like Gmail almost. Yeah. In fact, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.760 I would not be surprised if we see Google Voice 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:43.040 in Gmail integration in the foreseeable future. And I can 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:44.520 think of some reasons why, but we'll get to that 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.600 in a minute, right, But at any rate, So, the 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:50.160 nice thing is it's familiar for anyone who's used Gmail 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:52.280 or any of really any of the Google apps, because 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.840 Google Docs does have a kind of similar look as well. 0:09:55.360 --> 0:10:00.680 Um exactly. So it's it's not a brand new interface. 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.600 It's going to take you a while too, uh to learn. 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:07.720 It's actually very intuitive. And here's another cool feature. There's 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.920 an automatic transcription feature. That's one of the things that 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.880 I think would help it integrate with Gmail. Yes easily. Yes, 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.240 So someone calls you, they leave a voicemail if they 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.480 if they're calling through your Google Voice number, it's going 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:27.439 to your Google Voice voicemail and Google Voice will try 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:31.640 to transcribe this message and you'll be able to read 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.480 it through your Google Voice account. You won't have to 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.319 listen to it, which can be very helpful. But there 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.920 are a couple of caveats. Yes, the voice recognition software 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:46.360 is not perfect. Right if someone is not speaking clearly, 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.080 if they have a very heavy accent, if they're not 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.280 speaking English, if there's a lot of noise in the background, 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.640 it may not be able to transcribe the speech accurately. 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.000 And if it detects that there's enough of a inner 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:04.280 parence there, if it can't easily transcribe the the voice 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:06.800 to text, it will actually send you a message saying 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.679 that it was unable to transcribe. You'll still have the recording, 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:14.040 you just won't have the transcription. Um And I've heard 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:19.160 of people having difficulties with certain words. Uh I used 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.720 her as an example all the time on here. I 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.200 was listening to episodes recently, and I realized how often 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.720 I've mentioned her, But it's because I know a lot 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:28.920 about the kind of issue she's had with this. But 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.800 Natalie del Conti of sen It, No, she has never 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.360 seen a successful transcription of her name. It comes across 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:40.360 as Daddy or Maddie or Madeleine or you know, but 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:45.800 not Natalie, which is not an uncommon name. But so yeah, 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.760 you have certain words and and certain dialects may give 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:54.640 the transcription software a little bit of a problem. I 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:59.240 actually tried the transcription UH featured by accidents sort of. 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:01.439 I was trying to call actually I was trying to 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.680 get the listen into work, and UH. As I was 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.719 doing that, I was leaving myself a voicemail message, and 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.960 when I hung up, suddenly I got a text message 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.720 from from Google Voice with the transcription of my call, 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.000 which was basically, I wonder if I can't get this 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.200 thing to work, And it was verbatim exactly what I 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.320 had said, or at least what I remember I had said. 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.040 And then I checked my Gmail and there was another 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.480 transcription of it there, So there you go. I guess 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.280 the nice thing is it's automatic, so you're not thinking, Wow, 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.040 some human being somewhere had to listen to this incredibly 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.600 inane thing I just said and then write it down 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.080 and then email me with it. That's a job that 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.080 you don't stay in very long. So I jeez, here's 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.120 another one of those. Get the milk and the bread, 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.319 you idiot, got it. I'm actually glad that I can't 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.120 hear my own voicemails that I've sent to other people, 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:52.520 because by the time I hang up, I realized, you know, 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.840 I could have left that same message and in half 0:12:55.880 --> 0:13:00.400 the number of sentences, at at the most half than 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:02.440 the ones I actually used. And then I feel like 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.880 a complete idiot. Yeah, you should hear the podcast before 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.439 they're edited down. Yeah, they are like four and a 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.920 half hours long. Peter Jackson is an executive producer of 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:15.920 our podcasts. By the way, that is not true, so 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:20.520 Mr Jackson, please don't come after me. Another cool feature though, 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.920 Uh we're talking about transcriptions and we're talking about the voicemail. 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.959 You can record phone calls. Yes, you have a voice, 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.960 so if something. But here's the trick. You can only 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.320 you can only record incoming phone calls. You can't call 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.600 out and then record using Google Voice. They the person 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.680 has to call you on your Google Voice number and 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.800 then you can activate the the record call function. And 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:47.560 because recording calls is kind of a sticky issue legal 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:51.920 issue in several states and countries, Google Voice has an 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:58.240 automatic uh audio clue that the call is now being recorded, 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.199 and I think it actually says the call is now 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.160 being recorded, so that way the person on the other 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.800 end of the phone doesn't, you know, say something incredibly 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:12.120 incriminating and then it's recorded for all time. I assume 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:14.880 it transcribes the recordings as well, though I haven't. You 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.320 haven't checked that yet. It would be incredibly useful for 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.280 people such as journalists because occasionally we have to call 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:26.000 and and do a phone interview and uh we often 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:27.840 you know, of course, we have to record those so 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:29.960 that we have a copy of it, and then we 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:32.800 have to transcribe it, and the whole process can be 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.640 very time consuming. To boil that down into a program 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.240 where it will record it and transcribe it all automatically, 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.720 is uh, that's just very enticing to me. You can 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.960 even download the voice recording, yes, so that if you 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.800 were a journalist, uh and needed to save a copy 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:56.520 for archival purposes. You could you know, conduct your phone 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.720 interview and then download a copy and you know, put 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:01.280 it place, or you know, you could leave it on 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.680 Google because you probably have a you know, pet a 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:10.640 bite now of storage servers already, So that's pretty cool. 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:13.640 I I did send a message because there's one of 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:15.880 the neat things about Google Voice right now in the 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.360 early stages is, uh, if you if you really hunt 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:21.720 around at the different features, it'll tell you what's supported 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.520 and what isn't and if it's not supported. It gives 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:26.880 you a little button where you can say, hey, send 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:29.120 us feedback if you want this option, let us know. 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.360 And if enough people say, hey, we really could use 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.800 this option, that will will prioritize that we'll try and 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.280 implement it. So of course I did that for the 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.920 outgoing calls. If you were to make a call from 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.280 Google Voice, and you might wonder, well, how do how 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:45.160 do you make a call from Google Voice if it's 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.040 not tied to a device, Chris could tell you because 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.680 he's done it. Yeah, actually, um there is a button 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:56.480 on the main Google Voice page and it says you 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:58.440 know that you can make a call, and you go, oh, well, 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:00.280 that's kind of cool. I can use v I P 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:04.520 to make a phone call. Well no, not exactly. What 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:08.520 you need is one of your Google Voice phones. Uh, 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.040 and then you can initiate the call from the website. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:16.160 And basically it's Uh, it's kind of weird because what 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.040 it does is it dials both the recipients phone and 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.920 your Google Voice enabled phone at the same time. And 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.120 then when the two of you pick up, you're on 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.320 the phone call, but the computer. You're not actually talking 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:29.800 through the computer. No, it's kind of like an operator 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.480 the operator. First, first, the operator dials you, your phone 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.120 starts to ring, you pick it up immediately. Then the 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.800 the it starts to dial whoever you were trying to call, 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.040 and then they pick up, and now you're connected through 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.680 Google Voice. And the person who receives the call should 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:48.040 see the your Google Voice number on their color I 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:51.760 D as opposed to your cell phone's number or your 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:56.160 office phone number. That's what they should see. Well yeah, yeah, 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:58.200 and that's the point of doing this. The reason why 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.920 you would want to initiate the call from your computer 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:06.959 rather than from your phone is because it actually uses 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.040 the on the caller idea. It actually uses your Google 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.560 Voice phone number. If you call from your regular phone. 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.680 Suddenly your recipient may be surprised to go, wait a minute, 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.800 that's not the number I have for them. Um. And 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.440 you can actually do that yourself on the Google phone. 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:24.960 Say you're out, uh, not your Google phone, your Google 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:29.240 Voice enabled phone. Two entirely different well, not always two, 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:34.679 usually entirely different things. Exactly. If you happen to be 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.440 out and about and want to make a call on 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:38.240 your cell phone and want it to appear with your 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:41.240 Google Voice number, you dial your own Google Voice number 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:43.639 and it recognizes you as you you know, you have 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.040 to put in your pin and then when you do that, 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.560 then you um, you know, it says basically, who do 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:53.000 you want to call? And it uses that to transcribe 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.480 the number through the Google Voice system, and you know, 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:57.280 when you call already shows up, it will be from 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.800 Google Voice and not from your cell phone number or 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:03.119 your work phone or your home phone or whatever. Um. 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:05.639 So that that's how that works, And that's kind of 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.040 important to know, because otherwise people are gonna say, you know, 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.119 I've got sixteen different numbers for you, which one of 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.520 them are supposed to be using, which defeats the point. 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.320 SMS is kind of the same way. You can send 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:19.160 an SMS message from Google Voice and uh, basically it's 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.879 going to put your your Google Voice number on it. 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:25.199 But when a return message comes back, if the the 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.680 recipient replies, it's going to have a weird Google Voice 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:32.359 ish phone number attached to it, a strange number that 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.199 you've never seen, even though this may be somebody you know, 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.399 for example, spouse speaking from personal experience, you know, and 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.679 wait a minute, that's not her number. Well, as it 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.560 turns out, you need to add that number to your uh, 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:50.600 to your contacts information for that person, and then it 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.760 will show up as the right person. But that's another 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.480 weird transcription thing. And I actually got that from life Hacker, 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:01.560 which has a totally um, a very a good uh 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:05.080 introduction to how to use Google Voice, and it's you know, 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.280 written in the life Hacker style, which like, if you 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:09.119 really are going to use this service, you need to 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.520 tell people call you with this number, don't give them 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.760 any other numbers. You know, you've got to You've got 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:17.000 to embrace it or it's not gonna work. Create business 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.360 cards and this is the only number on it. Exactly 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.359 kind of thing. Yeah, if you were to call someone 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.240 with Google Voice the first time you call them you've 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.480 never called them before on this number, assuming they have 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.000 the option turned on, because they can turn it off. 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:35.359 You will encounter the call screening process and it asks 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.720 you for your name, and if you you say your name, 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.560 and that way the person receiving the call when when 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.000 you call, they'll when you first start to try and 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.000 pick up a Google voice call, you actually have to 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:49.360 go through a series of pressing buttons to do it right. 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.520 It's not just pick up the phone, so it'll say, 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.160 it'll actually give the voice that you use. He'll say, 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.840 if I were to call, you say phone call from 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.080 Jonathan Strickland, unless of course I wasn't paying attention, in 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:04.680 which case I'll be starting my message. I'm like, hey, there, 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:08.000 how's it going. Listen? I wanted to bleep, and they're like, oh, 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:12.359 that's an idiot Jonathan Strickland and uh, but that's how 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.400 it identifies the call, and from there on out, that's 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.040 the recording that's going to use to identify that person, 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.840 unless you can change it down the line. If you're 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.920 tired of hearing everyone start a voicemail message instead of 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.960 saying their name, which is apparently that happens a lot 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.040 because we're all kind of trained. We hear that beap, 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:34.000 we just go into message mode. We don't necessarily think, oh, wait, 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.560 I was just supposed to say my name. Um, I 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:38.080 had that problem with bells. You ring a bell and 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:43.480 I salivate, Yeah, alright, Pavlov. So the that's the that 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:45.240 will happen the first time anyone tries to call that 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:49.280 number if they're not in your context list already, and 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:52.879 then um, that can kind of throw you off a 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:54.840 little bit. I think I know that there are some 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:56.760 people who use Google Voice who talk about how that 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:00.600 no one has ever just said their name. In my defense, 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:02.040 the one time I did it, I was on a 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:05.439