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Google Talk for Everyone

Posted by Mike Jazayeri, Product Manager, Google Talk

Last year, we launched Google Talk, a free and easy service for making voice calls and sending instant messages. It used to be that only Gmail users could use Google Talk but now anyone can sign up for Google Talk. If you haven't tried the service yet, here are 5 good reasons to give it a try: now anyone can use the service (Gmail accounts no longer required) free and crystal clear voice calls to your friends and family anywhere in the world transfer files and folders to others free voicemail messages (MEEP!) IM from your BlackBerry Just sign up, invite some friends, and you can be chatting with them in minutes. There are millions of people around the world to chat with! There are, however, still some features including chat histories and mail notifications that will only work if you sign into Google Talk with a Gmail account. Either way, we encourage you to give it a try.

Jajah Phone Service

An interesting concept in reduced rates or free calling. Put in your phone number, put in the phone number of the person you want to call. Jajah calls you, then Jajah calls the other person. USA to USA/Canada/Hong Kong/Singapore/China and other Jahjah users are free. Other rates are really low (ie, 7.5 cents to Brasil from the US.) For people that want to save money on long distance and especially those with friends/family overseas, this is a really cool idea. Has features like Google Homepage and Outlook add ins and works on Java or Symbian mobile phones. Worth checking out. My only caveat is, like some of these other great and mostly free ideas, don't get attached. I don't know how long this company will last without upping their rates or getting shut down by big telecom somehow...

Toshiba Battery Recall

After Dell and Apple, now Toshiba plans to recall 340,000 notebook computer batteries. At least some of the batteries were manufactured by Sony Corp, the report said. After the Dell and Apple recalls, Sony stated that those were the only affected ones, but this recall appears to be a different problem (or at least that's what they claim). Instead of go on fire, they stop recharging and/or run out of power. The culprits are in the Dynabook and Satellite laptops that Toshiba sold this year between March and May.

In a related story: Virgin Atlantic, Korean Air, and Qantas Airways of Australia have stopped passengers using their Dell and Apple laptops for fear of overheated laptop computer batteries. Forget catching up with email off-line or watching a movie on these airlines. U.S. airlines have not followed suit yet, that could potentially affect thousands of international travelers.

USBCell

Rechargeable batteries that charge by popping the tops off and sticking them in your USB port. Takes about 5 hours to charge. Pretty cool.

Microsoft Releases Free Accounting Software

FOXNews.com - Microsoft Releases Free Accounting Software - Small Business

With an easy integration with eBay and PayPal, this allows you to keep inventory and create invoices. I haven't given it a shot yet, but I'll download the beta and see how it goes.

Microsoft delivers 'Save as PDF' add-on

Microsoft delivers 'Save as PDF' add-on | Tech News on ZDNet

Microsoft took it out of the newest release of Office 2007, but now they have an add on to add it back. :-) Nice feature for sure, gets rid of the need for PDF995 or PDFCreator.

Microsoft OFFICIALLY launches the Zune

So I haven't been posting much Zune speculation, because there has been tons of it. Microsoft officially releases the info. Check out this blog for more info. Most interesting feature (imho): Sharing a full length track with a friend by "beaming" it to another Zune and they can listen to it up to 3 times over the next 3 days and mark it as something they want to buy online with the Zune service. Oh yeah, and it actually has WiFi which is a no brainer I think. Check it out.

Google Homepage - Now With Tabs

Anyone else notice the new "tabs" in the Google Homepage? Pretty good idea, that way you can move off those useful apps that you don't use every day, but still want to be made available quickly. A less loaded homepage means a faster loading homepage.

SlickDeals.net Beta

I am a huge SlickDeals.net fan, as I'm sure most of you are. Check out their new beta site. Some nice features, and the RSS feed seems to be better updated than the old site!

Video Production

Ok, here's my first attempt at video production.

Cyclones Win

The Iowa State Cyclones beat the Toledo Rockets 45-43 in triple overtime. The first overtime win in Cyclone history! Check out the crowd reaction in the video below:

Wikimapia

Check this site out: wikimapia.org

Pretty cool idea. Take a Google Map of the world, and let people mark and highlight key places on the map. Check out Ames, Iowa. A lot of Iowa State was marked up. I went ahead and added Becker Underwood and Cornerstone Church. :-)