Iteratively larger.
Flight of the Conchords: The Complete First and Second Seasons w/CD
If you’re anything like me, you find these guys hilarious. Mostly, it’s the accents.
Yesterday, I talked about a bunch of new stuff in the geek world. Today, another big one was announced: Google Voice is no longer just limited to invite-only. Anyone can now sign up and start using the service.
So, what is Google Voice
Short answer: It’s a virtual phone number that rings through to any number of real phone numbers. A slightly longer answer is that it is a suite of phone-related services which can be accessed and managed through a web browser or a smartphone. The features you get with google voice include Call Forwarding, Free Text Messaging, Visual Voicemail (with transcribed speech-to-text, giving you an email-like view of your voicemail messages) and very cheap International Calling.
What it isn’t
It’s not Skype. You don’t make computer-to-computer calls. This is an actual phone number that other actual phone numbers dial into. It’s just that once someone dials your google voice number, you have a bit more control over what happens. You can block numbers, send all callers to your voicemail, screen the messages, or you can forward the call to your phone and answer it (and even record the conversation at any time by dialing 4).
And this is just what I’ve discovered after a few minutes of playing with it. Which brings me to this:
I have a google voice phone number now. It’s (313) 444-4825. It’s not that I really want to be in the Detroit Area Code, but I managed to grab the only available number that spells out GIGITAL, my on-again-off-again business name (It’s on again now).
Today is the day of blog-worthy updates. Blog-worthy of course fitting somewhere slightly above trivial but well below actual importance.
Personal Update
I just returned from a 10-day trip out to the Cincinnati area with my buddy Dave. We drove out there to spend time with his baby and baby-mama, and his baby-mama’s mama and papa (I even met his baby-mama’s mama’s mama and papa). We had a whole mess of fun (boating on the lake, playing disc golf, cornholing [this, not this], going to a Reds game, eating the local deliciousness, being entertained by a ridiculously cute 4-month-old, and of course, a healthy dose of drinking), and I still managed to stay ahead of my work. That was a pretty big test for me. One of the main reasons I wanted to be self-employed was to maintain the ability to work and travel at the same time. I’m confident in my ability to keep that delicate balance in check.
Software Updates
WordPress made a big jump this week up to version 3.0. To you, the blog visitor, it doesn’t mean too much. Slightly faster load times, perhaps, but really the updates come on the admin side. Frankly, for BenMyerson.com, I probably won’t use too many of the new features, but in my work using WordPress as a Content Management System for my clients, I’ll gain huge benefits. Custom Post Types, great Menuing options, and multiple user/site support all go a long way to making WordPress my top choice for most clients’ CMS needs.
The other big news is that the brand-spankin’ new iPhone operating system (now called iOS4, since it’s also for iTouch and iPad) is out. There are tons and tons of minor additions and improvements in this update, but the big news is that iPhones now support multi-tasking of 3rd party applications. Two huge benefits of this are being able to listen to my Pandora station while performing other tasks on the phone and being able to stay logged into Skype all day. Many developers have already pushed out new versions of their apps to make the most of this update, but I’m sure we’ll see dozens of new versions hit the app store in the next few weeks.
Hardware Update
I purchased my very first Mac this past week. I’m now the proud owner of a MacBook Pro. This doesn’t mean I’ve “switched sides” or become a Steve Jobs lovin’ Apple zombie, it just means I’ve added another weapon to my development arsenal. This will allow me to develop and distribute iOS4 mobile apps as well as create full sized Mac Applications. It’s also a great tool for testing any web sites and applications I develop to make sure they look right across all platforms. I’ve used Macs before (mostly old school ones from the computer lab at Edson Elementary) but never particularly extensively. I’m still getting used to the slightly different keyboard shortcuts and the VERY different user experience (dragging an icon to a folder just doesn’t seem like software installation to me) but I’m sure I’ll grow to love it.
http://mymetsjournal.blogspot.com/2010/06/rainout-special.html
I’ve linked to My Mets Journal before, but this post shed some more light on it’s author, Joe Petruccio. Turns out he designed the Mets’ iconic 1980′s racing stripe uniforms! This is some serious Mets awesomeness on a day-night doubleheader day which should bring more Mets awesomeness.
