Google introduces Call from Gmail, free calls to US and Canada

Google introduces Call from Gmail, free calls to US and Canada (update: impressions)

Rumors have been buzzing about since June, but Google just made it official -- the company's baking Google Voice calls right into Gmail today. Like the Google Chat text, voice and video chat integrated into the web-based email client in prior years, full phone calls will also be an option using VoIP technology from the Gizmo5 aquisition. Google's demoing the "Call from Gmail" service for us in San Francisco this morning, and it's looking like it's not free, but fairly cheap -- a product manager just called Paris for $0.02 a minute. Incoming calls pop up as a chat window in Gmail (and ring your Google Voice-equipped phones simultaneously) and you press a "Call phone" button that appears near the top of the Chat window to send an outbound call, at which point a dialer appears where you can copy and paste numbers or tap them in manually. Users can screen incoming calls or send them to voicemail with a single tap.
You'll be able to make calls to US and Canadian landlines completely free of charge, buying prepaid credits using Google Checkout for international landline calling at $0.02 a minute and a good bit more (We saw $0.19 to Spain) for calls to international mobile devices. Google will sell its own credits for the program (via Google Checkout), which should be available in a few weeks, but the Voice in Gmail service goes live today in the US and will begin rolling out to users immediately. Google's only committed to free calls to US and Canadian landlines through the end of the year, as paid international calls are the sole revenue stream here: "Our hope is we'll be able to make enough margin on international calls to keep offering it at that low price," a product manager told us. We're going to give some VoIP goodness a spin right now, check back later for impressions!

Update: Google Voice product manager Vincent Paquet confirmed that the service's newfound VoIP functionality does indeed stem from the Gizmo5 acquisition -- Call from Gmail is partially based on Gizmo5 technology, was developed by a team including Gizmo5 engineers, and resides in part on Gizmo5's backend. He wouldn't comment any more specifically on the technology than that. Also, that cherry red phone booth up top apparently isn't just for show -- Google's agreed to trial free calling booths at an airport and a pair of universities!

Update 2: We've just tested Call to Gmail and Skype side by side using the exact same setup, and found Google's service boasts surprisingly competitive voice quality to the reigning incumbent. When we called a fellow editor's iPhone 4 from a Gmail-equipped laptop, the sentences he spoke sounded much clearer than through Skype, with each individual word crisper and more recognizable even as volume and pitch sounded much the same. Unfortunately for Google, the inverse wasn't true -- Skype did a much better job canceling noise from our integrated laptop microphone in a crowded room.
The Official Google Blog 

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Google Buys Game Company Slide..

Google Buys Game Company Slide

Update: Right on schedule, Google has now formally announced its acquisition of Slide. On the company's oficial blog, David Glazer says:

For Google, the web is about people, and we’re working to develop open, transparent and interesting (and fun!) ways to allow our users to take full advantage of how technology can bring them closer to friends and family and provide useful information just for them.

Slide has already created compelling social experiences for tens of millions of people across many platforms, and we’ve already built strong social elements into products like Gmail, Docs, Blogger, Picasa and YouTube. As the Slide team joins Google, we’ll be investing even more to make Google services socially aware and expand these capabilities for our users across the web.

Original Article: TechCrunch is reporting that Google has agreed to acquire game company Slide, which makes games like SuperPoke Pets, SPP Ranch, Top Fish, SuperPocus Academy of Magic, FunSpace, Top Friends, and SuperPoke. The price? A reported $182 million.

The publication says the deal isn't supposed to be announced until Friday, so I'm guessing we'll have more details then.

Google buying a game company is not exactly a surprise. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google was in talks with three more game companies - Playdom, EA's Playfish, and Zynga.
There has been a lot made of Google's plans to take on Facebook in the social media space (beyond the company's existing products), and games have been expected to be at least one part of the strategy. An acquisition like this would appear to confirm this, as Slide's games are already present on Facebook. 

It will be interesting to see just how far Google is going to take this gaming initiative - how many acquisitions in this space the company will make. 

Tech Crunch reported earlier that Google's Vic Gundotra has taken the lead in Google's social media strategy. I suspect that Android and Goosgle TV will play heavily into the company's plans - they are certainly a couple of weapons that Facebook doesn't have.

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Google UK Chief Speaks Of Focus On Mobile, Social.........

 Google UK Chief Speaks Of Focus On Mobile, Social

In nine days' time, Google will report its second quarter financial results, and no matter how well the search giant's done, at least a few critics are sure to argue that it needs to succeed in new fields.  Matt Brittin, Managing Director of Google UK, seems to feel mobile and social are the two main candidates.
Should Google shift its focus to mobile and social?  Speak your mind in the comments section.

Google isn't exactly trailing its competitors in terms of offering mobile products and services, of course.  Android has become a fairly mainstream mobile operating system, and more and more info is starting to circulate about Chrome OS, which might function in a similar space.  Plus, it's already possible to access just about all of Google's existing products using any sort of smartphone.
Brittin hinted that Google's mobile efforts may soon overshadow its more traditional endeavors, however.

Brittin told Jonathan Sibun this weekend, "As growth in broadband starts to flatten off, we're seeing the next wave.  The big shift is to mobile internet.  Between 25pc and 30pc of consumers use their mobiles to access the internet.  But in three years' time analysts believe more people will be accessing it from their mobiles than from a desktop.  That's a massive change."

As for what he said with regards to social networking, Brittin wouldn't go so far as to confirm the existence of Google Me.  Still, he didn't deny that a new product's in the works.
Furthermore, Brittin implied that Facebook can be beat, and the UK exec even issued a reminder that one of Google's properties has already achieved some success in the field.

"Facebook is an absolute phenomenon but there are other social networks which are successful too," Brittin said.  "We've got Orkut, which is fantastically successful in India and Brazil. And Bebo is successful in other countries.  It's a phenomenon that is with us to stay.  I think what we'll see is the internet becoming more of a social place, as well as people being social within the context of social networks."
It's hard to imagine Brittin would make these points if Google didn't intend to participate in the trends.
Do you think Google can be successful on the mobile and social fronts?  Let us know by commenting below.
Ref Article:http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/07/06/google-uk-chief-speaks-of-focus-on-mobile-social
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Google Have to Do to Make You Stop Using Facebook?

What Would Google Have to Do to Make You Stop Using Facebook?

Last week, it was talk about how Facebook's "going to war" with Google. This was based on Facebook using "likes" as relevance indicators in it's search results. As some pointed out, Facebook has a long way to go when it comes to competing with Google in search. Bing stands to gain more than anyone, as far as Facebook improving its search is concerned. This week, it's all about Google "going to war" with Facebook as a social network. Just as there is little evidence to suggest that Facebook poses a serious threat to Google the search engine, there is little to support the notion that Google is a threat to Facebook the social network.

Do you consider Google a threat to Facebook? Tell us why or why not.
The discussion rippling throughout the Blogosphere was kicked off when Digg Founder Kevin Rose tweeted (the tweet has now been removed):An interesting enough post, sure, but also one that caters to much more speculation than any real facts. A popular version of the speculation is that Google will do more with its profiles. This would make sense, given that this is the central hub for one's Google account, and could be somewhat thought of as Google's version of the Facebook Wall.
Obviously Google has other social services like Buzz, Friend Connect, Orkut, Gmail, GTalk, Wave, Reader, Docs, YouTube, SideWiki, etc. As I have said numerous times in the past, Google is essentially already a social network, and these services are connected throughout a Google ID, the one that is tied to your Google Profile. It is really just a matter of how these are connected. Another way to look at it is that Google is the social network, and each product is one of the features.

Is Google going to kill Facebook with a new announcement? Probably not. While it will certainly be interesting to see what is announced (if anything), and it might be a very good product or feature, people are highly unlikely to stop using Facebook because of whatever it is. Chances are, you already use both Google and Facebook, and I seriously doubt that will stop anytime soon (at least for any reason related to this).

Eric Eldon at InsideFacebook points to comments from former Facebook executive Adam D'Angelo, who says Google's project is "not a rumor" and that there is "a large number of people working on it." Based on his comments, Google is modeling the project off of Facebook.  
Even if he says it's not a rumor, we still have to treat it as such until we hear word from Google, and we all know that Google doesn't comment on rumors. In another interesting sidestory, Matthew Papakipos, an engineer who "started and managed the Chrome OS project" is now with Facebook. One can only imagine what this means.

What would Google have to do to make you stop using Facebook? Share your thoughts here. Post comments

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Ref Article :http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/06/25/likes-mean-relevance-in-facebook-search