Last week we shared an app called Phonedeck that let users manage their phone from their desktop computer. The app was well received and made it into our popular list, but several readers pointed out some bugs and suggested there were better alternatives.

If you like the concept of controlling your phone from [...]]]>

Last week we shared an app called Phonedeck that let users manage their phone from their desktop computer. The app was well received and made it into our popular list, but several readers pointed out some bugs and suggested there were better alternatives.

If you like the concept of controlling your phone from your desktop, then you might want to check out AirDroid. It offers most of the same functionality of Phonedeck, but AirDroid has a much higher average review score of 4.8, vs the 3.9 of Phonedeck.

The AirDroid team just released a new video of their latest 1.0.5 beta, so we thought this would be a good time to share the app. We haven’t seen this latest version in the Google Play Store yet, but we expect it to drop any day now.

AirDroid SAND STUDIO PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

Another alternative is LazyDroid Web Desktop. It allows you to take the control of you mobile phone from a WiFi, mobile internet, or USB connection by using your web browser and accessing their website. LazyDroid is free to download, but the app only contains a 24 hour demo and you will have to pay up to get full access. The app and website doesn’t appear to be as well polished as AirDroid, but it has a lot of positive reviews and we thought it should be included.

LazyDroid Web Desktop iTechCon PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

Finally, we should also point out that most of these same functions can also be accomplished with Google Voice and Google Drive. Voice lets you access all your contacts, SMS, and voicemails from the web and Drive lets you easily transfer files between your mobile device and desktop computer. The whole process might not be as seamless as others, but it still gets the job done.

Feel free to try out the different solutions and let us know which you like best. How do you manager your phone from your desktop computer?

Google is no stranger to collecting your information in order to better serve you advertisements, but if a recently filed patent ever comes to life, the company will be taking it to the next level.

Google has made a fortune out of organizing information. They’ve created algorithms and catalogued the Internet. They’ve taken pictures all [...]]]>

Google is no stranger to collecting your information in order to better serve you advertisements, but if a recently filed patent ever comes to life, the company will be taking it to the next level.

Google has made a fortune out of organizing information. They’ve created algorithms and catalogued the Internet. They’ve taken pictures all over the globe and used them to create an accurate ground-level map of the world. They’ve charted the seas and skies, handed out alternatives to expensive software and created an open source operating system, just to give it away to manufacturers for free. Why? To serve you ads.

That’s how Google really makes money. Their ads are everywhere. And more often than not, they’re tailor made to the things that interest you. By looking at the things you search for and look at online, Google can serve you ads that should be of more interest to you. In theory, that’s supposed to make you click on more ads. “Oh hey, I was just searching for this type of product, and here’s an ad for one! What luck!”

Apparently, the current methods of information collection are not fast enough though. Google needs to know how to better serve you ads based on the here and now of what’s going on around you. But it’s not like Google can place some sort of monitoring device on you that would tell them if you’re stuck in the rain, right? Well, wrong.

Google has recently filed a patent titled “Advertising based on environmental conditions.” Google wants to monitor your phone calls, and listen for things to pick up on that could be of use for advertising. Like rain, so they can sell you umbrellas. Of course, it wouldn’t be a human tapping into your phone calls, filling out information on you. It would be a robot. Which makes it totally not creepy.

It doesn’t stop there though. Google would also like to analyze the pictures you take. If you take some pictures in the snow, for example, Google could send you ads for snow shovels or other snow related products.

This is absolutely terrifying.

Google released a statement on these patent filings saying that not all patents signal a future product or service. Some of the technologies patented by Google do mature into final products, while some don’t. Either way, the fine folks at Google are not only occupying themselves imagining a world where companies get to listen to your phone calls to make more money, but they see themselves playing a key roll in it.

I’ve always been creeped out by personalized advertising, but this is taking it to a whole new level. Can you imagine every one of your phone calls being monitored to serve you ads based on what’s going on around you? Would you mind if your phone sent the pictures you take to a computer, where they’re analyzed for key information on your whereabouts?

If this is the future of products like Google Voice and Instant Upload, you can count me out now.

Bonus video: Thank you Javier for pointing out the hilarious video from fake news site The Onion.

Visual voicemail is one of the top reasons I use Google Voice on my Android phone. Today Google announced that this cool feature has now been integrated directly into the call log of the native dialer. It’s nothing too groundbreaking, but it will save Google Voice users from having to jump back and forth [...]]]>

Visual voicemail is one of the top reasons I use Google Voice on my Android phone. Today Google announced that this cool feature has now been integrated directly into the call log of the native dialer. It’s nothing too groundbreaking, but it will save Google Voice users from having to jump back and forth between the call log and Google Voice app.

Unfortunately, the new integrated visual voicemail is only supported on Android 4.0+, which means only about 2% of current devices can access it. New developer APIs available in Android 4.0 allow third-party applications to integrate with the Phone app to add their own voice messages, transcriptions, and more to the visual voicemail inbox. Carriers have begun to update more devices to Android 4.0 every week, so you could see it soon.

I’ve been using it to manage my voicemail for a couple years, but there is an odd bug on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus that keeps sending my voicemails to the carrier inbox when I ignore a call. Hopefully this recent update addresses that issue.

Just out of curiosity, how many of you use Google Voice on a regular basis?

Google Voice Google Inc. PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

At last! Google listened to us and just updated the Google Voice app (version 0.4.2.38) with two of the best features we’ve seen in a while. One of them we’ve been requesting for a long time.

Yes, my friends. We can finally send a text message to multiple recipients, simultaneously. Just keep adding those contacts [...]]]>

At last! Google listened to us and just updated the Google Voice app (version 0.4.2.38) with two of the best features we’ve seen in a while. One of them we’ve been requesting for a long time.

Yes, my friends. We can finally send a text message to multiple recipients, simultaneously. Just keep adding those contacts to the recipient box, write your message, hit “send,” and you’re good to go. It’s that simple.

To make things even better, Google has also added another feature with this update. Until now, it hasn’t been possible to listen to voicemails without an internet connection. It’s hard to find yourself without internet, but it happens. We can now ease our minds, since we’ll be able to get our voicemails even without a data connection. Google Voice can now pre-fetch voicemails, allowing you to listen to them later on while on the road (without internet).

This is nifty, but we’re most excited about multiple recipient texting. Sure, this has been something Google took a long time with, but better late than never. Right? Go ahead and update/download Google Voice if you haven’t yet. And be sure to let us know what you think. How many of you guys have been waiting for this feature to show up?

Google Voice Google Inc. PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

One of the most heavily requested features for Google Voice has undoubtedly been MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) support. The Google Voice app for Android has been tackling voice and text with ease for quite some time now, but pictures have always been an issue for the service. Thanks to a clever workaround from the Google [...]]]>

One of the most heavily requested features for Google Voice has undoubtedly been MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) support. The Google Voice app for Android has been tackling voice and text with ease for quite some time now, but pictures have always been an issue for the service. Thanks to a clever workaround from the Google Voice team, that’s becoming a thing of the past.

From now on, when someone tries to send an MMS to your Google Voice number, the MMS will be forwarded to your email. In order for this to work, you just have to follow one easy step. Log into your Google Voice account online and enable text to email forwarding in the settings. That’s it.

Right now, the official Google Voice Blog is saying that MMS to email forwarding will only work with Sprint customers. However, Life Hacker is reporting that it’s working fine for Virgin Mobile and T-Mobile customers as well. In my personal experience, that is not the case. I have a Nexus S on T-Mobile, and any picture messages I tried to send myself were stuck on “sending.” The Google Voice team says they’re working on bringing MMS forwarding to more carriers, so it shouldn’t be long before all Google Voice users can utilize the feature.

If you have service with Sprint and use Google Voice, let us know how it works for you.

The things Google manages to accomplish with voice never cease to amaze me. Today, the Google Translate app for Android has been update with an enhanced Conversation Mode that works with a total of 14 different languages.

If you haven’t tried Conversation Mode in the Google Translate app, it’s truly amazing. All you have to [...]]]>

The things Google manages to accomplish with voice never cease to amaze me. Today, the Google Translate app for Android has been update with an enhanced Conversation Mode that works with a total of 14 different languages.

If you haven’t tried Conversation Mode in the Google Translate app, it’s truly amazing. All you have to do is select the language you want your voice translated into, press the “enter Conversation Mode” banner near the bottom of the screen and say whatever it is you need translated. The Conversation Mode display looks similar to an instant message box. Bubbles of text pop up offering the the original spoken language, along with a text and audio translation. On the bottom of the screen in Conversation Mode, there’s a button you can press to speak that changes languages depending on who’s turn it is in the conversation.

In my short time with the latest version of Conversation Mode, using both Spanish and Japanese, it works great. The translated voices are really impressive. If the quality of translation and voice technology built into Google Translate is any indication of where voice commands are headed in Android, it’s going to be wild. To download the latest Google Translate for Android, just use the widget below.

Google Translate Google Inc. PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

Google Voice is one of the best services the Search Giant has to offer. With free texting, visual voicemail and call-forwarding on all your phones, along with cheap international calls, Google Voice has been saving us all quite a bit of cash. Not only does this service save users money, but it also provides [...]]]>

Google Voice is one of the best services the Search Giant has to offer. With free texting, visual voicemail and call-forwarding on all your phones, along with cheap international calls, Google Voice has been saving us all quite a bit of cash. Not only does this service save users money, but it also provides a convenient, multi-platform environment. Like other great services, though, Google Voice is limited to the US. Google is now looking to change this.

Google’s European Director of Business Development, Jens Redmer, made a surprise appearance at the European Pirate Summit in Cologne, Germany. After holding a Q&A session, Redmer mentioned that Google is taking “concrete work” on making Google Voice available to European nations. (And, we assume, other continents/countries, as well).

As expected, no dates or time frames were given. (Google does not tend to talk much about services/products ahead of announcements). Redmer did clarify, however, that the delay is not only due to the work it takes for Google to port the service over. It was explained that telephone services have to go through certain legal hoops, which can be a bit time-consuming.

While the service is not yet available, Martin Bryant (from The Next Web) got some good news after the session was over. Redmer told him that, while the service is not available in Europe yet, it is actually working already. Google has been “dogfooding” (internally testing) this service in the European nations. Redmer has been using it personally, and it seems like his favorite feature is the Visual Voicemail (voicemail transcription).

Since Google Voice is all set to work in Europe, the service should be coming out as soon as they go through the legal processes. This shouldn’t take too long, but you never know. When do you think this service will start hitting other countries? What other markets do you think Google is planning to release this service in? Are any of our international readers excited to check out Google Voice?

Google takes the ownership of your data very seriously. If you’ve ever taken the the time to read Google’s general privacy statement, you’ll know they have no problem admitting what kinds of data they obtain and exactly how they use it. The same can be said for all of Google’s services. Google also believes [...]]]>

Google takes the ownership of your data very seriously. If you’ve ever taken the the time to read Google’s general privacy statement, you’ll know they have no problem admitting what kinds of data they obtain and exactly how they use it. The same can be said for all of Google’s services. Google also believes that if you want to obtain your own information, you should be able to. Which is why they launched Google Takeout.

Google Takeout is simple. You over to Google.com/Takeout, sign in, and download your data. You can organize your data by service, check your previous downloads or grab an archive of everything. The information you can download with Takeout includes +1 button clicks, data from Buzz, contacts, circles, Picasa web albums, your profile information, Google+ stream data and, starting today, archived information from your Google Voice account.

Along with the ability to download voicemail messages and greetings as .mp3 files from Google Voice, you can also obtain text messages in HTML and any forwarding phone number as a vCard.

As Google and their services continue to evolve, so will Takeout. The Big G wants to make sure you always have access to your data, and adding Google Voice to the list of available services in Takeout is certainly a step in the right direction. If you’d like to see what Takeout is all about, hit up Google.com/Takeout today.

Sprint is the first [...]]]> Today Sprint announced that integrated Google Voice services were coming to all of its CDMA phones. Google Voice was previously available to Sprint customers, but now they can set their existing Sprint wireless phone number as their Google Voice number and avoid the hassle and fees associated with porting their number.

Sprint is the first carrier to offer this new integrated Google Voice experience, so I’m guessing that Google made them a special deal for agreeing to launch the Nexus S 4G.

Google reports on their blog that the integrated Google Voice features will be available soon, but it does not specify an exact launch date. They also note that once it is launched, it will be rolled out gradually to all Google Voice users.

When you enable Google Voice on your Sprint phone, you’ll get:

• One Number for all your phones – Pick the phones you want to ring (home, work, etc.) when your Sprint number is dialed, so you’ll never miss a call.
• Online Voicemail – Check your messages by phone, email, or on the web and keep them for as long as you’d like. Plus, your messages will be converted into text and sent to you via text message or email.
• Customization, control & low-priced international calling – Create and assign personalized voicemail greetings based on who’s calling you, block unwanted callers, mark telemarketers as spam and make international calls at very low rates.

To learn more, watch the video below and visit google.com/voice/sprint.

From Sprint: Google Voice makes it easy for people to manage and access most of their voice-based communication. It lets users manage up to six different devices through one phone number with intelligent call routing and advanced features like call screening, blocking and recording using the phone’s dial pad. Sprint subscribers will be able to use their Sprint number across their office, home and wireless phones, and personalize settings so calls from friends ring their wireless device and home phone, while calls from the boss only ring at the office. Google Voice users can receive transcribed voicemails and read or listen to them online. They can also read, send and search text messages and call logs online.