This has greatly improved the battery life of my phone.  My phone is now relegated to more phone-like tasks while my Xoom acts as a extremely portable device, similar in function to that if a PC.

This brings to mind the conclusion that the reason our phones battery lives are so horrible these days is because we tend to use them for everything.  If you're sitting on a train and you don't have a tablet you're probably going to pull out your mobile phone for instant entertainment.  Purchasing and using a tablet however will surmount in a significant gain of battery life for your phone, so long as you have uses for your new tablet.

No, I'm talking about reliability.  Something Google has had for a very long time, and one of the many reasons I'm such a Google fanatic.

Until recently, at least as far as I can remember, Google products that existed did not see the end of the tunnel very often.  (The question and answer service excluded).

Recently, however, Google has been trying to expand into many markets.  From what I can take away, Google wants to be the hub of information exchange on the Internet.  After all, knowing all of that powers their search - and their search powers their ads.

Recently though, several Google services have announced that they will be discontinued.  Among these: Wave, PowerMeter, and Health.

PowerMeter and Health did not see large enough adoption for Google to continue putting forth the funds for them.  To me, this is disappointing.  Being able to get this information so easily and readily through Google was really exciting.  After all: Google has the technological know-how to keep my data secure and provide at least decent user interfaces to said data.  In fact, I used Google Health - although since I don't have many issues it was currently just to store my insurance information.

Now though, these services will be disappearing.  Who is to say that other less-mainstream services won't disappear in the future?  Buzz? Voice?  Google+?  Well, there's no way that last one could disappear... right?

If I'm going to rely on Google to provide a service, I'm going to need the security of knowing that the service is going to continue to exist.  I might be asking a bit much as a free user, but its still a very important consideration.

If Google loses this trust; this security; this reliability - won't it hinder future adoption of Google's services?

Think about it.  How much has email changed in the last twenty years?  Not a lot, if any.  The most revolutionary features are GMail's labels and Gmail/Outlook's server-side email rules/filter settings.  To me, this is ridiculous.  I was born in 1991, played around on the internet when it was on dialup, and had a free Juno account when I was old enough.

Since then I'd moved through Yahoo, Hotmail, and finally rested on Gmail.  But all-in-all, everything is still pretty much the same.  It was because of this that Gabor's idea to scrap IMAP really intrigued me.  I wanted this.  Google and Microsoft had both come up with newer, proprietary synchronization standards, and creating a new, open protocol would be the way to usher in a new age of compatibility and extensible feature sets.

Since this initial bit of intrigue, I've spent some time working on protocol documentation whenever I can get a bit motivated and have some spare time to do so.  I continue to push my creativity and find new things to throw in to the protocol, ideas that wouldn't have to be there when the first part hits, but that its extensibility would make possible.  Ideas such as receiving push notifications from web services, that could also be synced to mobile devices through the protocol, or using OpenID as a base and creating a new single-login/password system that uses your email address., or even ideas such as being able to query an email server for a person's contact information, and store/update it in a syncable address book.

Once we leave the defining bounds of IMAP and proprietary protocols like Exchange, we can really start work on building something terrific that would allow a flood of innovation that email has never seen before.

Unfortunately, my voice is small - and is very largely unheard.  I can't even get Gabor, the original creator of this idea to @mention me on twitter regarding it anymore, and so I've been stuck working on it by myself.

So yes, this is a call to action, and I do so hope that you'll oblige me.  I need help revolutionizing email.  I can't do it all on my own, and the protocol being open is the important part.  I need other people's ideas, not just my own.  I need their thoughts and their knowledge.  I'm only a college student after all, and as much as I'd like to do this all by myself and use it as my claim to fame - I'd much rather just be a person that helped start and organize it and get things moving.

So please, join me in discussing my ideas, submitting your own, and if you feel like it even work on defining the protocol!

Please join the discussion on 'MSAP' at Google Groups.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas.

It booted up faster than anything ever before (except maybe resuming Windows out of sleep), and then it was slow.  Its probably because my ancient graphics card isn't supported by bloody anything these days.

Needless to say, I quickly left it and booted back into Windows 7.  I'd love to play around with a Chromebook, and know just the everyday apps I'd use.

• imo.im - Instant Messaging.  imo allows me to connect to Skype, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Facebook, MySpace (lol), and Google Talk all from a single client.  It is by far the best multi-client I've ever used, and is constantly improving.
• Google Docs - There are very few reasons for me to use Google Docs, and if I'm lucky such reasons will become even fewer.
•  Google Voice - Text Messaging on Any Platform.  I love it.
• Cloud 9 IDE - So far the best IDE I've found.  What I really need is a free web-based IDE that allows me to work on private projects without them being Open Source.  Sometimes I have things I want to work on in secret.

Just saying.  I'd really love a Chromebook to play around on.  It might encourage me to put more apps/extensions in the WebApp Store too.  #justsayin

Now if you use Google Voice, you can use this to your advantage with the simple addition of just a few seconds to the call.

Continue Reading for Instructions on how to Outlook up to dial through Google Voice

First, you’ll want to go to your contacts and open up the Calling Dialogue.  Do this by clicking More > Call > New Call…

You should get a dialogue that looks something like:

You’ll notice immediately that it has been around for ages.  What we want, though, is “Dialing Properties.”  Once that pops up, you’ll (probably) want to create a New… location.

Name it something like “Everywhere” and give it the area code “999” or another area code that is never used.

Now that that little bit is out of the way, we can get to actually creating the dialer.  Go to the Calling Card tab and click New…

Give it a name like “Google Voice.”  For your account number, enter your ten digit Google Voice number, and for your PIN, enter.. your Pin.

Go to the Long Distance tab and enter the following rules:

1. Dial the account number.  (Button: Account Number)
2. Wait for 4 seconds. (Button: Wait for Prompt…, click “Wait for a specific length of time:” and then enter the number 4)
3. Dial * (Button: Specify Digits…, enter the asterisk)
4. Wait for 4 seconds.
5. Dial the PIN number. (Button: PIN)
6. Wait for 4 seconds.
7. Dial 2 (Button: Specify Digits…, enter the number 2)
8. Wait for 2 seconds. (Button: Wait for Prompt…, click “Wait for a specific length of time:” and then enter the number 2)
9. Dial the area code and number. (Button: Destination Number…, make sure “Dial the area code” is selected and “Dial the country/region code” is not.)
10. Dial # (Button: Specify Digits…, enter the pound sign: #)

Click OK and make sure that Google Voice (or whatever you named it) is selected as the calling card.

Click OK, OK, and then feel free to make any calls you want using your Google Voice number. 

Multimedia Messaging (MMS)

For some reason, Google Voice still lacks this functionality.  It can’t be THAT difficult, can it?  I mean, the iPhone managed to add it before Google Voice, and if you really want to compete in the mobile business, its kind of necessary to have MMS, as SMS is pretty much irrelevant now.

Not only that, but any MMS that is sent to a Google Voice number is just lost.  Couldn’t they at least be forwarded to my email address?  I don’t like the fact that I could be losing incoming messages to /dev/null, and its even more annoying having to give out two different phone numbers (one for MMS and one for SMS).

Shortcodes

It is all well and good that Google’s own shortcodes work through Google Voice, but not so fantastic that nobody else’s does.  I don’t want to be passing around two sets of phone numbers, and I’d love the ability to just set to spam a shortcode that is getting out of hand and won’t let me unsubscribe (if that ever happens).  Developers pay tons of money to set up shortcodes, so why doesn’t Google Voice support them?

API

Google Voice is a Service.  I use it with my cell, with my home phone, and with my computer.  But in order to make desktop apps or things like Google Voice for Outlook possible, an API is almost necessary.  I’ve managed to do it without one, but it still pretty much sucks.

Outlook Mobile Service

Companies charge tons of money for people to have the ability to send text messages through Microsoft Outlook.  Adding the very simplistic SOAP server to the Google Voice backend would allow anyone with Microsoft Office to send text messages, forward emails, and receive reminders and notifications for FREE, something that is usually charged 10 cents or more per message.  (Combine this with MMS as mentioned above, and it gets EVEN BETTER!)

Internet Fax Service

Google Voice already has “Receive Faxes” as a “Suggest a Feature.”  Adding this and providing users on computers a way to send faxes would increase productivity and make the service even more useful to small companies and freelancers.

Keep in mind, these are just a few ways that Google could improve Google Voice, there are tons more.

What do you want to see added?

But, there is definitely one thing that could be different.  One thing that they could change the entire industry with.  And all they’d have to do is partner up with cell phone providers, and convince them to let you get an account without a phone number.

What?  What’s that Navarr?  You’re absolutely INSANE!  You can’t get a cell phone without a cell phone number?  Why would you want to?  What possible use could that be?  What would you do??

Well, if you really are asking all those questions, than shut the hell up and think for a moment.  What two things does Google own that would allow them to do something so spectacularly crazy?

Google Voice, and Gizmo5.  Gizmo5 would only be necessary if they decided to do Voice over Data, which I personally am not sure the cell phone backend is ready for – but could you imagine purchasing a Nexus One, signing in with your Google (apps?) Account, and then if you already have Google Voice it simply works?  And if you don’t it gets you started on creating an account, including choosing your own phone number (for life, although changeable).

Google would store your basic account numbers and information, and if you ever wanted a new android phone, you would simply log in.  It’d automatically use your phone number and all your other details, too.

Maybe though, just maybe Google could do this – and make actual cellular calling free, with the only thing you’re paying for being data.

If you’re a regular reader to my blog, I’m sure you read yesterday’s post about how Google Voice could gain a head in the business world.  At that time, my dream of connecting Google Voice and Outlook via OMS was far from completion, with the only work I’d managed to accomplish being a simple reading over of the related technologies.

Well, late last night a certain gear clicked in my brain, and I spent the entire night awake and coding PHP on a local XAMPP server.  But my end result was fruitful – I finished successfully coding an Outlook Mobile Service that allows the delivery of SMS through the Google Voice system.

Here is a video showing it off:

I’m not yet prepared to release the source code for this, though.  (Messy, Messy, Mess! as Double D would say).  There’s a lot in my mind about it, it took a lot of work and I’m not ready to see forks and duplicate services pop up.  (Sorry guys =S).  Be on the look out for follow up posts that describe some of the technologies I had to learn to make this possible.

Oh, also – If you’d like; Help sponsor this project (I can’t afford to make it public ATM) with either Free (VERIFIED) SSL Hosting for a subdomain of a domain I own [contact me], or the money to make it public using my current host ($62.40/yr) [donate through my host].  I would be most appreciative if you could offer either of these to get this thing up and running!

One of the nicest additions is the ability to read and reply to SMS on your computer.  I, personally, find this one of Google Voice’s best features.  Even if you don’t have a Cell Phone – you can sign up for Google Voice and now you have free texting.  What could be better?

Well, I can think of one thing – Connecting it with Outlook

Outlook has, in the last few versions, supported adding a SMS Bridge using whatever protocol it is they use in addition to a MAPI store.  It wouldn’t be very hard for Google Voice to tap into this, and provide free text messages for all Outlook Users – It would even gain a competitive edge over other service providers, in that your text messages from outlook would come from your actual phone number, and replies to them would be sent to your computer and your phones.

Now, I was going to be mean and keep this idea all to myself – but not only do I NOT have hosting with SSL (I can’t afford it~) but I don’t know anything about the various protocols I would need to know in order to make this work.

So Google, don’t you think it’s time to take the Business World by storm with your revolutionary phone service?

(PS: I would also like MMS.  Even the iPhone got it before you did, and that’s sad.)

As you can see in the above screen shot, groups on Google Wave are now getting their own icon and full contact card (as opposed to being slightly supported).

This is also going to be the first in a series of posts updating on the status of the Google Wave Preview.  This post and all subsequent posts will be hash-tagged.

#wavePreviewUpdate