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Google has a new VOIP client to help improve Google Voice.

(Credit: Gizmo5)

Google confirmed its intention to acquire Gizmo5, an Internet telephony company, with plans to merge the group into the Google Voice team.

The pending acquisition had been reported earlier in the week by Techcrunch but was overshadowed by the announcement of Google's third-largest acquisition to date--the $750 million AdMob deal--on the same day. Late Thursday Google confirmed that it had acquired the company, although financial terms of this deal were not disclosed.

Gizmo5 is a Web-based VoIP client that lets you make phone calls over the Internet, similar to programs like Skype. It's based, however, on an open standard called SIP that fits a little better into Google's worldview, rather than Skype's internally-developed system.

Gizmo5 works on both PCs and mobile phones, and the technology will likely be used in some way to enhance Google Voice. Google Voice isn't a VoIP client; it lets you use a single number to ring multiple phones and get voice mails transcribed into e-mail, but it does that over existing phone networks.

As Google figures out exactly what it wants to do with Gizmo5, it is suspending new sign-ups for the service, but current users will still be able use it.

Last week, we shared three of our wackiest mistranscribed voice messages from Google Voice and asked you to pass along the funniest flubs from your own in-box. Your hilarious samples poured in through comments and e-mails. We've rounded up some fine specimens of voice mail meanings that were definitely lost in translation in our gallery.

Best 'worst' Google Voice transcription errors--screenshots

In defense of Google Voice, computer-aided transcription technology is still maturing. While Google Voice's engine doesn't get it right all the time--or even most of the time in our case--it's better than nothing. At the very least, it produces amusing gems like the ones in our collection.

Scroll through the comments for more choice voice-to-text slip-ups and read about a fee-based alternative visual voice mail transcription to Google Voice, BT's Ribbit, that promises to get transcriptions right and doesn't require an invitation to join.

Earlier this week, I bashed Google's visual voice mail service for its inability to transcribe my voice messages into understandable English. (OK, most of the article really focuses on a new flexibility in Google Voice, which I do like.) To be fair, poor transcription isn't all Google's fault. They're offering a free service based on a computer-aided technology that improves each year. The real problem is that machine transcription just isn't good enough.

Up until yesterday, I hadn't received more than a handful of visual voice mail message translations imbued with any meaning in my native tongue. In fact, I turned off SMS forwarding because I couldn't handle the streams of nonsensical texts that would pour in for each voice mail left. Thankfully, I won't miss the yucks stemming from mismatched voice-to-text at all, not when I can still read the messages in my online Google Voice in-box over and over again.

Do you have any favorite mistranslations produced by free computer-aided transcription engines? Share yours in the comments--or better yet, e-mail me if you'd like to take place in our anonymous gallery--and I'll share three errata from my in-box below.

The longer the message, the more creative the transcription.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

Despite its brevity, the only accurate word in this transcription is "hello."

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

That's right! You go and procure the message, people!

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

Updated 10/28/09 at 11 a.m. PT with a tip about checking voice mail from your cell phone.

Setting up Google Voice voice mail online.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

On Tuesday, Google took another step toward bringing Google Voice to the masses, fulfilling the wishes of those who are curious enough to try Google's brand of visual voice mail, but either too jealous of their mobile number to give it up for a Google Voice number, or too weary to go through the hassle of training family and friends on a new number.

Google now lets you access some key features in the Google Voice service using the number you've always had, and no longer forces you to sign up for a new Google Voice phone number. How? Google Voice can now take advantage of what's called conditional call forwarding. I tried out the new feature today with success, and have some tips to share.

With Google Voice in charge of your missed calls, callers are directed to your Google Voice in-box instead of to the voice mail box that your carrier operates. There, friends can leave a message after hearing the greeting you recorded online. You, for your part, can listen to messages online or from your phone, in any order you'd like.

As promised, setup was easy for this existing Google Voice user. In the Settings menu, under the Phone tab, click "Activate Google voice mail for this phone" next to any phone that you've associated with your account. Then, select your carrier (U.S.-only for now) and dial the string of numbers and symbols you see into your phone. Then dial the number. This sets up call forwarding. While many high-end feature phones and smartphones do have separate menu settings for call forwarding, Google's method of entering the forwarding code is faster and removes the guesswork.

New users have slightly more setup involved. You'll first choose if you want to use your own number or sign up for a new Google Voice account. Then you'll need to enter your Google Account credentials or register an account before setting up your phone.

Using the conditional forwarding service is brainless; whomever calls you hears your Google Voice recording, which you can set up online. You may want to tinker in the settings to forward calls straight to voice mail, or else you could annoy callers with a full ring-through to your mobile voice mail and another ring through to the recorded number. However, leave the setting in its default mode and friends may be able to track you down on other numbers associated with your Google Voice number, if you use Google's number and not your own mobile number.

Forwarding options can cut the time it takes for a caller to get to voice mail, or maybe track you down.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

To send a call straight to voice mail, go to the Phone tab in the Settings menu of your online Google Voice account. Click Edit, then click to see advanced settings. At the bottom is a call-forwarding option that you can switch to send straight to your recording.

If you use the call forwarding option from your cell phone, checking voice mail isn't entirely straightforward. If you're forwarding to a Google Voice number, you'll need to dial your new phone number from your handset in order to get to your in-box options. This is because Google now presides over your messages, not your carrier. Google provides a separate access number for those using their own mobile numbers to access Google's visual voice mail, which you'll get when you sign up for an account.

Google on Monday will begin giving users a new way to use their existing mobile phone number with parts of its Google Voice service.

No, it's not a full number port, which the company still says is coming and will eventually allow things like call screening, conference calling, or listening into a call before picking up--all with your existing number. Instead, Google is taking advantage of conditional call forwarding to let users send unanswered calls to Google's voice-mail service in place of the one provided by a user's carrier.

Once sent to Google, those voice messages are transcribed, then made available for playback and review online, or as an SMS message. Users can also take advantage of Google Voice's customized greeting service to give callers a different voice-mail greeting depending on what number they're calling from.

Google Voice users can now choose to use their own number, or take one of Google's.

(Credit: Google/CNET)

In order to use the new service, a one-time setup is required, which has both new and existing Google Voice users walk through a wizard that asks for their mobile number and what carrier they're on. It then offers up the special numeric code they have to dial to enable conditional forwarding from their handset to Google Voice.

For users who have a Google Voice number in the same account as their existing mobile phone number, it will be business as usual; Google Voice's voice-mail section will denote which number it was from. Google Voice's senior product manager, Vincent Paquet, explained to me that this system has been designed so users don't have to make any tough choices about which number they want to use. It will also allow users to sign up to Google Voice without having to register a new number.

Smartphone users with visual voice-mail services (such as the iPhone) may find that these extra features aren't enough to warrant making the switch. However, users with older handsets are likely to find Google's offer enticing since it enables them to manage voice-mails both from their phone and on the Web.

The deal is made even sweeter by the fact that all major U.S. carriers are on board, Paquet says. This may come as a surprise to some, considering that just last month, Google, Apple, and AT&T clashed quite publicly over the rejection of Google's Voice application from Apple's App Store in July. But with this new service, Google is merely playing by each carrier's rules, using a feature that's long been available as a way for users to pass on calls they cannot take. There's also some serious potential for carriers to generate extra income in SMS fees for transcribed voice-mail messages that users would have otherwise spent just a minute or so listening to from their phones.

Google Voice remains in private beta, although earlier this month Google began putting invites into the in-boxes of its users, allowing them to invite their friends.

Google will now allow Google Voice users to invite friends to the service, the company wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.

Google Voice invites in action.

(Credit: Google)

According to Google, Voice users have been requesting to "share Google Voice with friends and family." To satisfy that desire, Google will now allow users to invite up to three friends to the service. The invite-a-friend feature is being added to accounts over the next few weeks, so not all users will have the option of inviting others immediately. According to the company, the "Invite a friend" link will appear on the left side of the user's in-box.

When users want to invite a friend, they need only to input the recipient's e-mail address, add a brief message, and send it off. The recipient will receive the message and a link allowing them to sign up for Google Voice.

Google Voice, which has been in the news quite a bit lately over its inability to gain access to Apple's App Store, requires those who want to sign up for the service to submit their e-mail addresses to Google and wait to be notified that they can sign up. The invite-a-friend feature, Google reasons, gives them another opportunity to gain access to the service.

Although Google Voice users will only be able to invite three people at first, Google did say in its blog post that it will be providing more invites in the future.

(Credit: gDial Pro)

Not long ago, my colleague Rafe Needleman ranked a handful of native Google Voice applications for mobile phones, declaring Google's own Google Voice app for Android phones the winner. No big surprise there, as Google owns both the voice service and the mobile operating system, and can snugly fit the Google Voice dialing option into the native dialer. Let's throw another app into the mix, this time it's a Palm WebOS app called gDial Pro.

The free gDial Pro Google Voice client has been around in a homebrew version for a while (a version you can install outside of the App Catalog environment,) and recently became available in Palm's App Catalog. It is a glossy, dark-themed app that, rather than replicate the in-box design of Google's Android app, concentrates on outgoing calls and texts, in addition to a communication history.

gDial Pro opens to a dialpad view where you can start dialing a number, select a contact from the phone's address book, or begin typing a name on the keypad to pull up Google Voice contacts. The contacts' names and numbers won't automatically transfer into the Palm's native address book (for that you're better off syncing the Palm with your Google account), but the app integrates them into WebOS's universal search.

Back in gDial Pro, a navigation ribbon on the bottom jumps you to the SMS view; the in-box where you can sort by SMS, voice mail, and missed communications; and to your favorites. We especially like the Web view, which opens the mobile online version of Google Voice so you can refer back to it from time to time.

It's true that gDial Pro doesn't have the tight integration that Google's Android app has. Like most alternatives, it requires using its own dialpad to engage the Google Voice service; otherwise, you'll be going through the carrier. However, It does, make things simpler by offering a smoother connection via the optional Web dial feature. The Web dialing feature operates over Wi-Fi or the carrier's data connection. Like dialing over a voice connection, the Web dial method also prompts Google Voice to call your phone to connect to the service, but it's less clunky. Voice dialing uses Google Voice's automated-attendant voice mail system to place calls. Unfortunately, Web dialing won't work if you're in an area with weak data signal or if you're roaming without a data agreement--in these cases, you'll have to use the alternative method to place calls with Google Voice.

While the dialer isn't as seamless as Google's Android app, gDial Pro's Google Voice client is the best choice for Palm WebOS device owners. Another free Google Voice app, p2GoogleVoice, challenges gDial Pro from both the homebrew side and from the App Catalog, but without Web dial or an in-box, it only originates calls and texts. Until Google releases an official Google Voice application for Palm WebOS, gDial Pro is your best choice.

Two new little Google Voice features just made their way into Gmail. A new option lets text messages sent to Google Voice show up as e-mail messages in Gmail. You can reply to messages from Gmail, too, which makes it a nice platform for carrying on a text message conversation.

Google Voice text messages can now be read and replied to from within Gmail.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)

Also, there's a new Labs feature in Gmail that lets you play your Google Voice voicemail messages from inside the Gmail viewer. Previously, Gmail would send you the text transcript of your message, but if you wanted to play the audio file, it would open a new browser window to do so.

The Google Voice player is now embedded in Gmail. This is a good thing, since the Gmail voicemail transcription service is woefully inaccurate.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)

Small snags: Although the features are thematically linked, they're enabled differently. The SMS feature is turned on within the Settings tab of Google Voice; the Gmail voicemail player needs to be enabled from withing the Labs tab of Gmail. Also, while receiving and replying to Google Voice SMS messages in Gmail is now easy, I didn't see how one could initiate a Google Voice SMS conversation from within Gmail even with the SMS feature turned on.

I like where this is going. I'm still not a huge fan of the Gmail user interface, but it's great to be able to see and manage e-mails, voicemails, and SMS messages all in one place. It will be interesting to see if Google Wave gets similar Universal Inbox features.

Google announced these enhancements on the Google Voice Blog (the SMS feature) and the Gmail Blog (voicemail player).

Dear readers: We are testing a new commenting system, JS-Kit's Echo, in this post. In addition to providing a more comprehensive sign-on system and real-time updating, Echo also collates comments on this story from other Web sources, such as Twitter. Check out the action at the end of the post. --Rafe

I've been a fan of Google Voice since I started using it in earnest back in March. I now give out my Google Voice number (get yours here, but be prepared to wait a bit before it arrives) more than my mobile phone or my desk phone, and even have it on my business cards now. The features are great, but what I really like is that the number is truly portable: I just point the service at whatever phone, or phones, I want to use that day and my calls arrive there.

With Google Voice apps for mobile phones, I can also make calls from cellular phones that show the Google Voice number in the Caller ID displays of the people I'm calling. That is the killer feature of this killer app. But the experience is not the same on all phones. I've tried Google Voice on four different platforms -- iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone, and PC -- and one clearly stands out above the rest.

Not surprisingly, it's Google's own mobile phone platform, Android. The iPhone has great potential, but until Apple pulls its head out of its Apps Store, it's denied to us as a Google Voice platform. You can still use Google Voice in the iPhone, sort of, via the Safari browser, as I'll explain below.

There is a Blackberry version of the Google Voice app, which is not as full-featured as the Android app, but that has certain important advantages for corporate phone users. Finally, there's the old full browser-based Web app, which is highly useful even when you've got a Google Voice-equipped mobile phone sitting on your desk.

Let's look at how the platforms stack up for Google Voice, in order from good to bad...

... Read more