Make and Receive Calls in Gmail
Published September 13, 2010 | 
Starting last month on August 25th you can use Gmail to receive or place Google Voice calls, and as of August 26th everyone in the U.S. If you don’t see the feature yet, try logging out of Gmail and signing back in.
If you are unfamiliar with it, Google Voice allows you the ability to manage all your phone communications and more importantly, seamlessly make and receive calls on any of your existing phones. But if you don’t have your phone with you or if you’re in a place with poor cell phone reception, or you’re travelling internationally and don’t want to incur expensive roaming charges, wouldn’t it be awesome if you could use your computer to make or receive calls?
Want to learn more about the specific program functionality and details? Google Voice Blog: Making and Receiving Calls in Gmail
Google Buzz! Changing the Game!
Published February 16, 2010 | 
Google’s launch of Google Buzz (a service for sharing thoughts, multimedia, and your social media feeds with your friends utilizing Gmail as the conduit) really caught most people by surprise, simply because they weren’t expecting the potential game changer that Google Buzz is, but it didn’t take everyone long to take notice, especially after the Google Buzz posts and comments were averaging over 160,000 per hour nearly right after launching.
It was evident from beginning this was no average launch of an “oh by the way, if you have time check it out,” kind of application, and no one could have predicted it would become so popular, so fast.
Why has it grown so fast? And more importantly, what does the release of Google Buzz mean to the social media world, especially Twitter and Facebook?
Speculating as to what Google might do if it wanted to make things interesting for developers it might offer ad revenue sharing for the creation of Google Buzz apps, and start building its very own app store, specifically for the crazy mobile market. Gmail advertising is already extremely will developed, and next time you sign on to Buzz, notice that Google ads are already being placed, and by offering the ability to monetize apps with the Google Buzz structure would almost immediately pull development resources that currently are focused on Twitter, Facebook, and other mobile platforms (i.e. Android, iPhone, etc.).
The name of the game now is momentum for everyone from users to developers, to businesses both big and small that now have to keep a close eye to what is taking place on Google Buzz, especially in anticipation of methods to drive traffic, or a viral event that takes off with a life of its own, and finally to keep up with additional features that might be released in the future.
The social media landscape continues to quickly evolve, but with the release of Google Buzz it has been permanently altered, and anyone with more than just a passing interest in social media should ignore what is taking place at their own peril, which would be a huge mistake, since we are looking a real game-changer in Google Buzz.
Google Buzz Has Completely Changed the Game: Here’s How!
Simple Genius! Google Buzz!
Published February 15, 2010 | 
There is an endless steady stream of comments and thoughts about Google Buzz (Google’s new social networking platform addition to Gmail), since it was released a few days ago to much curiosity from users in the social networking universe, and with Google’s eye on the Mobile Market, look for even more tools on the horizon….
…. But will it catch on? Does the world need another news-sharing device? ….
Great Google Video! The Google Story!
Published October 29, 2009 | 
Team Altman Great Video of the Google Story!
We always like videos that tell a story and here’s is a quick look back at the Google story over the last 11 years, from Stanford to Mountain View and around the world, and featuring many different products, starting with BackRub (Search) up to Google Wave, StreetView and Chrome.
As always enjoy, share and Hard to Believe It’s Only Been 11 years!
The Buzz! Google Buzz is Now Official!
So it’s now official as Google has just announced Google Buzz, its newest push into the social media foray, and Google Buzz is easily the company’s strongest and boldest attempt to-date to build a social network. Imagine taking elements of Twitter, Yammer, Foursquare, Yelp, and other social services, and shoving them together into one package. Now imagine covering that package in a layer that looks a lot like FriendFeed. Now imagine shoving that package inside of Gmail. That’s Buzz!
Following are five key features that define Google Buzz:
- Key feature #1: Auto-following
- Key feature #2: Rich, fast sharing experience
- Key feature #3: Public and private sharing
- Key feature #4: Inbox integration
- Key feature #5: Just the good stuff
Google Buzz Aims To Social-Network Gmail Users
Google Goes Social with Google Buzz
If Google Wave is the Future, Google Buzz is the Present