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The decision by British Telecom to buy internet telephony service Ribbit for $105m in 2008 drew out plenty of questions. Three years later the criticisms have come full circle, with news that the most visible part of the business is being shut down. Read More »

There may be many questions about Microsoft’s decision to buy Skype, but one thing is for sure: It can take video conferencing video calling to a whole different level, thanks to Kinect. If you watch these videos, you can easily imagine the future of video … Read More »

 
 

Google Voice has been a great tool for people to manage their communications. But it did not allow porting of existing mobile numbers, which limited its adoption. Now, Google has quietly enabled number porting for Google Voice though it comes with some hurdles. Read More »

Programmable networks could mean less downtime.

If you are one of Skype’s many users who use the service to make a living or talking to your remote users, then you are straight out of luck. The service this morning is down and the outage is impacting millions of users. Read More »

Today, Fortune writer Seth Weintraub saw that his Google Voice account linked to his Apps account and surmised the service would soon be available to all, turning Google Voice into corporate VoIP. But there’s a problem. Corporate voicemails may soon be lost in transcription. Read More »

Apple iPhone users are still waiting for an official Google Voice app, but they don’t have to wait for transcribed voicemails because Yap does that today. The free application makes it easy to read voicemails and respond to them by return call, email or text message. Read More »

After over a year in limbo, Apple has reportedly approved Google’s Voice application for the iTunes App Store, indicating that the iPhone may finally see the software. Sure you iPhone owners have lived without it forever, but Google Voice is a masterful method to manage communications. Read More »

Google Voice Co-Founder Quits, Joins Google Ventures

Craig Walker — co-founder of GrandCentral, the San Francisco-based startup that eventually became the underpinning of Google Voice — is leaving the company. Vincent Paquet, the other GrandCentral co-founder, will take over from Walker, who’s joining Google Ventures as an entrepreneur-in-residence. Read More »

All Hail the Gmail

Google today launched a new feature that allows Gmail users to use the Google Voice service. With IM, Chat, SMS and now Voice, Google is turning Gmail into a collaboration hub. And that is only the start for Gmail as a platform. Read More »

Combine App Engine with Google Voice and you’d have a powerful — and extensible — communication platform that supports both a basic set of features for ordinary users, plus the ability to build custom softswitch applications using App Engine to control them. Read More »

Twilio Launches Roll-Your-Own Google Voice

Twilio, a San Francisco-based startup that offers a platform and services to marry voice to the web world is launching OpenVBX, an open source web application that is in essence a roll-your-own Google Voice. With the app you can route calls to existing phones. Read More »

Former FCC Chair Lays Out the Limits on the Agency's Authority

Big consumer issues such as the availability of internet apps on mobile devices and metered broadband are outside FCC authority said Kevin Martin, the former FCC chairman speaking today in Seattle. He also expressed doubt that adding spectrum alone would solve the mobile bandwidth crunch. Read More »

More Must Reads

While the world was watching Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveil the iPad, voice over IP programs that use AT&T’s 3G network were finally being released for the iPhone. So far iCall and fring have 3G VoIP apps while Skype and Nimbuzz do not. Read More »

Apple and AT&T have done their very best to keep Google Voice away from iPhone users. A big raging controversy, an FCC intervention and lot of talk still didn’t help. Today all that changes — thanks to a brand new browser-based Google Voice app. Read More »

A Google executive claims the company is “just scratching the surface” with Google Voice and will move aggressively to expand the offering next year. Which means network operators must ramp up their efforts to make their pipes smarter. Read More »

BT’s Ribbit is taking on Google Voice with a cloud-based service that combines Internet voice, smart call routing and voicemail transcriptions. Like Google Voice, Ribbit Mobile allows consumers to transfer calls from an existing mobile number to Ribbit’s platform, which includes features such as routing … Read More »

About two years ago, I signed up for a service called GotVoice, which allowed me to aggregate voicemails from my residential, VoIP, PBX and wireless numbers in one place. It transcribed the voicemails for a small fee, and it delivered them as attachments to … Read More »

GVoice is a slick Adobe AIR implementation of Google Voice that, as Kevin at jkOnTheRun notes today, can run across platforms ranging from PCs to Macs to Linux systems. “In this early version, the app is exactly like the mobile version I see on my … Read More »

I just learned that Apple has approved yet another VoIP application, this time from Stockholm-based company Rebtel. You can download it from the iTunes Store. The service also works over AT&T’s 3G network, making it less necessary to have a Wi-Fi connection. But in my … Read More »

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from the board of Apple. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even … Read More »

Last week’s Google Voice fiasco, which has led to a lot of fear and loathing — in the iPhone developer community, the blog community and in the media — has finally reached a point that the Federal Communications Commission is looking to investigate the matter. In … Read More »

The fact that Google Voice apps have been banished by Apple from its App Store is a bad decision that has taken on gigantic proportions, and is drawing outrage and disgust from app developers. Many are thinking about giving up on the iPhone platform … Read More »

Updated: This morning’s tempest in the teapot involves Google Voice apps being rejected by Apple’s iPhone store. iPhone App Developer Sean Kovacs says his GV mobile app was pulled and since then several others have been rejected by Apple as well. Even Google’s … Read More »

Can Google be your phone company? The answer is yes. I came to that conclusion after I met with Vincent Paquet, co-founder of GrandCentral (a company acquired by Google) and now a member of the Google Voice team. Earlier today he stopped by our office … Read More »

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