I love the GrandCentral idea and have been kind of waiting to see what kind of integration Google is going to bring to the table after they acquired them. After a long wait, we are starting to see some activity in this front.
GrandCentral has been in private beta and new account sign-ups were only done via invitations. In fact, I gave out the 10 invitations that came with my account to my readers here. We have reviewed GrandCentral here and are really taken by the idea. In short, GrandCentral gives you a telephone number than you can link to your home/work/mobile phone numbers. When someone calls your GrandCentral number, you can have it set to ring your cell/home/work phone numbers or any combination of those. You can set rules for certain numbers to go direct to voicemail and even listen to see who is calling and transfer it to voicemail if you don’t want to answer at the moment. Plus, you get the convenince of checking your voicemail via a web interface or email even when you are away from home/work.
Google is now offering GrandCentral account to their Blogger users. They are offering the WebCall feature that Blogger users can now use to add a ‘Call Me’ button to their blogs and have their readers call them. This feature has been avaialble to GrandCentral users but I think Google is trying to widen its user base by announcing it to their Blogger blogging platform users.
Even though the announcement is for Blogger users, it looks like anyone can sign for an account immediately using this link. Will you grab one?
Nice service, but I guess its available only in US? 🙁
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Nirmal.. my apologies again! I keep forgetting to mention it.. a little self-centered?? I guess very much so. 🙁
Not your fault K, there are a lot of services restricted like this. In terms of programs like Google AdSense, there’s really no good reason why they are so US-centric, but for a company that deals with telecommunications I can see the problem. They probably have to strike some kind of deal with the major carriers to get everything running smoothly.
I vaguely remember reading about this service (probably here), and it’s an awesome idea. For bloggers, I still prefer Skype, but this solution is more integrated.
That’s very true, Troy. I am starting to use it to its potential and I love it. Even if you don’t use it, it’s probably a good idea to snag a number if it’s available for your area! 😀
Nice find, K! Amazing what technology can do these days. Next up: brain implants.
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Hope, it becomes available in India too.
🙁
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The new service is quiet interesting. Hopefully soon it will be available also in Asian countries. 😉 Thanks for sharing this information to us!