Earlier this week, Google introduced a feature that lets you make VoIP phone calls to landlines and mobile phones from within your Gmail account (and iGoogle). The calling service, which is available to U.S. Gmail users, integrates with the Google Talk chat app that you can find on the left-hand sidebar in Gmail.com.
Google's "Call Phone" feature has so far made a splash, inspiring 1 million calls in its first day--even before all Gmail users received the notification that they could activate the feature.
A favorable response is good news for Google, whose last opt-out Gmail feature, Google Buzz, only incited ire and demands to make it easier to disable Google Buzz. In addition to staying in consumers' good graces, Google's VoIP service in Google Talk is a potential moneymaker for the company. It's currently free to make calls inside the U.S. and Canada; however, to make inexpensive international calls you must buy credit through Google Checkout.
Google's Gmail call feature is undoubtedly a dangling carrot that can boost Google's formidable bottom line and reinforce some of its other services. If it's heavily adopted, as we suspect its convenient placement in the in-box will warrant, the company's dominance as a trusted, go-to brand will surely continue to grow.
Watch the video below for a step-by-step tutorial on how to make calls from Gmail to get started.
Texting on your mobile phone while driving is considered risky but the same activity when performed while walking on the street in not that safe either.
There have been numerous reports in the media of pedestrians walking into traffic, tripping on steps or even running into other people just because they were busy writing a text message or replying to an email on their cell phone when the accident happened.
When you can’t stop texting while walking
Since it’s hard to convince people to change their texting habits, some developers have come up with creative mobile apps that can make texting while walking a little more safer.
These apps basically turn your phone into a transparent glass so you can see what’s happening on the other side even while you are staring at the phone screen.
How? Well, they switch on your phone’s camera and add the email /texting functions on top of the live camera feed so you can type as before and still not run into anyone on the street. The following video should give you a better idea:
The iTunes App store lists quite a few such apps for your iPhone including Type n Walk, iType2go (they have a free version as well), Email n Walk and Text Vision. The latter even offers an option to publish tweets while walking.
Android users have Road SMS but unfortunately, this app is currently only available for Samsung Galaxy S phones. If your phone is running the Bada OS, your choices are Walk n Write and Type n Walk.
I have been hunting for similar apps for other platforms like Symbian and BlackBerry but no luck so for – if you know of one, please do share in the comments.
The current breed of iDevices (specially iPhone) share an almost similar on-screen virtual keyboard and therefore, you just have to master a common set of keyboard shortcuts to type a little faster on any these devices.
As he tries to show off features of the new iPhone 4, Apple CEO Steve Jobs' Wi-Fi connection fails twice, bringing his World Wide Developers Conference keynote to an uncomfortable standstill.
The first Beta of Firefox 4 is here, and you can download it now. In this video we quickly review a few of the initial UI changes that have already landed.
