Sprint and Google Voice now integrated
Google Voice users on Sprint will be elated at this piece of news – Sprint and Google have just announced a partnership that allows Sprint customers to set their existing Sprint wireless phone number as their Google Voice number. This will allow Sprint customers to use all the benefits of Google Voice without having to go through the hassle and fees associated with porting their number. Sprint is the first and only carrier that offers this service at the moment, and the service will soon be available on all CDMA phones on their network. In case you didn’t know, Google Voice is a service from Google that allows users to manage and access most of their voice based communication. I.e. users can personalize their phone lines so that calls from the boss will only ring at the office; while calls from friends will ring the home phone and their cellphones or they can make all calls ring all their phones at the same time. Google Voice can also be used to transcribe voicemails to text or even listen to them online. No date to when this will happen was announced, but it should be in the near future. Head here to find out more about Google Voice.
Do you remember the good old days of IRC and later on ICQ? I can still remember my 8 digit ICQ number, although I am quite sure that a fair number of you veterans out there do have an ICQ number that has far less digits, which is a badge of honor even until now. You could more or less see who was online among your list of friends, although there was the option to go invisible. Google has quietly rolled out a new app known as “Who’s Down”, where it will let you check out just who you would like to hang out with. How so?
For starters, when you turn on a switch that mentions you’re available and would like to do something specific (it is up to you, actually, so whether it is you carving out time to hang out at the mall or to grab a bite), then your desired status will appear with a question to invite anyone who has the same mind among your friends to join you. This status will last for three hours, and makes it easier to coordinate your desired plans with your mates.
I guess the Who’s Down app’s goal is to provide a platform where a group of friends can check out what you would like to do at a glance, as opposed to messaging one another on a group chat channel or the like. Your ego will also be protected in some way, since there is no way you can get turned down – because technically speaking, you didn’t ask anyone to join you directly. Who’s Down is available for the Android and iOS platforms.
I am quite sure that many people have already heard word concerning a Verizon-branded model of the Nexus 6 for quite some time already. Well, one can only say that the stock-powered Android phablet has been a rather difficult “creature” to spot – where even Google CFO Patrick Pichette did admit last month that they were unable to obtain enough inventory in order to cover demand for the device. The Nexus 6 can be considered to be a success in this sense, and it seems that Verizon subscribers can hope to see it arrive soon.
After all, that is what it looks like through a leaked marketing material that points to such a possibility. The label that is on the package itself did mention that it is Merchandising material from Verizon, and there was the specific phrase “Nexus 6 Launch” spotted there. True or otherwise, all that we can do is sit tight and wait.
It looks like we live in the age of speed, where delays are frowned upon on. In fact, it seems that Google too, wants to deliver near instantaneous translating with their Google Translate app on mobile devices by minimizing the amount of delay, making it feel as though it works in real-time. Word on the street has it that Google is preparing to roll out a brand new service which will be able to translate words in real-time, pretty much in the same manner as a current market solution known as Word Lens is able to do.
The update to the Android ‘Translate’ app will also be able to automatically recognize when someone is speaking another language, before going about with its translation magic to turn it into text that you can understand. The mechanics behind this app remain to be understood, but changes are one will need to have it configured to translate popular spoken languages into written text in a language of your choice, allowing it to be ever ready to see action. Anyone interested?