Ok, you caught me. This really isn’t a WordPress tutorial in the traditional sense, but I just had to share. I just signed up with Google’s new product, Google Voice. I’ll let you see all the details for yourself, but it’s truly amazing!
In a Nutshell
Google assigns you a phone number (you get to pick your own area code or try and spell out a word). You then attach all your other phone numbers to this number…home phone, cell phone, work phone, etc. When someone calls your Google number, you can send that call to whatever phone number (or numbers) you want. But it’s not just that folks…there are just too many features for me to list here, but I wanted to show you the one that nearly blew my mind. The Singularity is truly near.
I don’t even know off hand how I would use it but I’m sure I’ll figure something out;)
What’s the Big Deal?
This…
I called my new Google number from a land line and my cell phone rang. Pretty cool. I then declined the call so it would go to voicemail. It connected to a nice woman who informed me that I had reached the Google voicemail service and to leave a message at the tone.
[box color=yellow]I am able to setup multiple voicemail greetings for different callers or groups of callers too, but I hadn’t done that yet.[/box]
I left a voicemail message to myself and hung up. A few seconds later (yes, a few seconds) I received this text on my phone.
Pay special attention to the actual text contained within this message. That text was automatically transcribed from the voicemail I had just left seconds earlier!
After I picked my jaw up off the floor and changed my pants, I decided to continue my testing and reply to the text I received containing a transcription of my voicemail.
I then went to my Google Voice dashboard and look what I saw. Again, notice the text of the message…this was automatically transcribed in seconds!
I noticed there were a few options. I could perform some actions like “Call” and “Text”. I wonder what’s under the “more” dropdown menu?
Holy Toledo!
I clicked “Embed” and a window popped up allowing me to give the embed a caption (similar to my favorite software;)
So, without further ado, here it is! (click the little blue play button to listen)
How would you use embedded Google Voicemail(s) on Your Site?
Aside from it being technically amazing, I can see where it could also be used in more nefarious ways. What happens when a jilted lover all of a sudden has his/her voicemails shared with the entire Internet after a breakup? Or when private business information is shared?
In Case You’re Wondering…
I signed up because I didn’t want my regular phone number listed on my email newsletters. Having a phone number listed is required by the Canned Spam Act.
What do you think?
Tell me what you think in the comments below and please share this on your desired social network if you find it interesting.
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