Better Than Smoke Signals

It's time to talk about Google. I have become something of a fanboy in recent years and today I feel like sharing. I use a lot of their other products: Gmail, Blogger (obviously), Reader, Calendar, Tasks, and Documents, to name a few. The fact that they're all synchronized is a big deal to me, the systems engineer. Google doesn't provide the only such system, but theirs is a good one, especially if you're already using Gmail.

I have also recently added two new Google products to my toolbox: Google Voice and Google Wave.

Google Voice is a phone forwarding system that gives me significant control over my phone lines, voicemail, and text messages. I've had it for a few months now and I love it. It would be even more useful if I had multiple phones, but for now I just use the voicemail capabilities. I can filter calls, put up specific messages for specific callers, save voicemails to my computer (I really wish I had this capability when my dad left the Goose V-formation joke on my voicemail), and receive transcripts of each phone message as an email or a text on my phone. It's quick and easy to check (and while the transcript program isn't perfect, it's good enough for me to use to interpret the urgency and topic of the message). It's still in beta and requires an invite to get in, but those are relatively easy to come by. I've used up my invites already, so I can't get you in myself, but I know a few people who might. And I got in by requesting an invite directly from Google. Check it out if either of the following apply to you:

• You have multiple phones and want to manage when calls go to which lines. Especially useful for those of you who have poor cell reception in your house, or who can't or don't want to get cell phone calls at work.
• You like to keep old messages, but hate trying to navigate the list structure of traditional voicemail to find them again.

Others are doing similar things with voicemail. For example, Verizon now offers Visual Voicemail on their smartphones and I'm sure other companies do as well. I suspect all voicemail is going to head this direction soon.


Google Wave is billed as what email would look like if it was invented today. It's a communications/collaboration platform that acts as a sort of combination of Gmail, Google Docs, Wiki, and Instant Messaging (if none of those words mean anything to you, than you probably don't need Wave either). It's great for collaboration. Sarah and I have been doing a fair amount of our wedding planning with it. The trouble is that it's the kind of thing that is only really useful at scale. Right now it's kind of empty, although every time I sign on, I see more of my design friends have joined it (especially those still in school). This one is also still in early beta, so it has issues. They're getting better, and the promise is there, but it still needs some polish. I do have plenty of invitations available for this. If you're interested, let me know.

I realize I'm not selling it very well, but it is an excellent tool. If more of my friends were on it, I'd use it to organize our Xbox Live nights and coordinate groomsmen activities. This would have been the perfect place to organize the weekly Dinner & Game nights we used to have in DC. And, of course, I can imagine some pretty entertaining B&B conversations on here :)

Men are from Delta Halo

Video gaming is still a predominantly male pastime. In my social group, this is certainly the case. Most of the girls play one or two games, but the guys spend a far greater amount of time at it. As Penrock and I have recently discussed, this is having a curious effect on the paths of communication within our group. The girls call and email each other periodically, but the boys play together over Xbox Live on a more regular basis. Significant information is flowing through that channel faster than through the women's channel. Xbox Live has served host to such important announcements as a pregnancy, a new house, two new jobs, and an engagement (not all for the same couple).

The trouble with this particular communication channel is that it has men on either side, and as far as their wives and girlfriends are concerned, they're not conveying enough details. It is unclear as yet whether this is because the men are distracted by gunfire during the conversation, or if it's because as guys, we just don't think to ask. Regardless of the reason, it's driving the girls crazy. We get the big news first, but are completely unable to answer their questions about it when we relay it to them. The guys cannot tell them when the baby is due, what the fiance's name is, when the move will be happening, or who the new job is with..

So it's not the boradest band of communication. It does at least serve as a prompt for the ladies to call each other and retrieve further information.

I suspect this is a similar phenomenon to that experienced with poker games, sports nights, and other regular traditionally male gatherings. The difference here is that this network, thanks to Xbox Live, exists across hundreds of miles.

Hmm, maybe I better get one of those Xbx360 things for myself. It might be prudent.