We’ve all come to love our smartphones and the things they can do for us. There pretty much isn’t anything a smartphone can’t do these days. The new phrase “There’s an app for that”, is pretty much right on. But with the jump in popularity of online social networking sites, coupled with geotagging, you may not realize the information you’re putting out there, and how it could be used against you.
This article from August (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/technology/personaltech/12basics.html?_r=1) gets into details about geotagging and how this information can be used. Geotagging is basically the embedding of your GPS coordinates into the picture you just took. As stated in the article, some sites (most notably Facebook) are taking measures to strip this data from posted images. But this is far from the norm in my opinion, and still doesn’t absolve us from being aware of what is going on.
Mark Mason, CEO of Mubaloo – the largest mobile application developer in the UK, said, “2011 is already proving to be the year of the tablet computer. The influence of tablets on our lives and businesses is only going to grow. Have no doubt; the tablet market is going to be huge.” According to IDC research, we can expect to see 42 million tablet sales in 2011. All Things Digital is saying tablet sales will more than triple this year compared to 2010.
The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off this week in Las Vegas. Most predict there will be 80 tablets from HP, ASUS, RIM, Toshiba, Dell, Blackberry and more. Apple’s iPad is about to be 1 year old so we may see a second generation iPad out soon but we won’t see it at the CES. Apple likes to keep new releases a surprise.
Google’s been adding services to their list of products at a very quick rate. One of their services that has recently started gaining more momentum is their Google Voice service. With other services out there like Skype, Yahoo Instant Messenger with Voice and others, Google knows it’s a good time to build this up. How did they do it? Like they normally do. They found GrandCentral, and integrated it with their Gmail service. Here are some of the published features you get with the free service:
- A single Google forwarding number to all of the user’s phones
- Unlimited free calls and SMS (text messages) within the US and Canada, up to three hours in individual length.
- Calling international phone numbers with rates starting at US$0.02 per minute
- Call screening. Announcement of callers based on their number or by an automated identification request for blocked numbers
- Listening in on someone’s recording of a voice message before taking a call (press 2 while answering, * to “pick up”)
- Blocking calls from specified numbers
- Send, receive, and store SMS online
- Answering incoming calls on any configured phone
- Call routing. Selection of phones that should ring based on calling number
- Voicemail transcripts. Reading of voicemail messages online
- Listening to voicemail online or from a phone
- Notification of voicemail messages via email or SMS
- Personalized greetings based on calling number
- Forward or downloading of voicemails
- Conference calling (press 5 when answering call)
- Call recording and online archiving (press 4 while on a call)
- Switching of phones during a call
- Viewing the web inbox from a mobile device/phone
- Customize preferences for contacts by group
- Ability to change your number for a fee
- Specifying an existing phone number instead of the Google Voice number on initial setup for use with limited functionality, such as some voicemail functions and using the voice mail system for the user’s phone number (mobile devices only).
I think it’s a great way to give out a number that you’d like to use as a boundary between you and the outside world. For example I just used it in an online classified ad to sell a car.
Go ahead and sign up and get your free number. Play with it, and use it if you think it’s a good fit for you. After all, it’s Google, so it can only get better with time, right? :)