Let's Talk Tech
A lot of us cut the cable, and use our cell phones as our main calling solution. Republic Wireless has added a new feature to their calling plans though to help users extend their phone line to a landline. Let’s take a look! Continue reading “Republic Wireless Extend Home Review: Return of the Home Phone?”
It’s been a LONG time coming, but Google Voice users can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Not only is Voice not getting scrapped, instead it’s getting a major redesign with some long-awaited new features. Here’s a quick tour through the app which supports the only phone number you’ll ever need!
It’s been one of my most long lived frustrations with Skype. Sure I have apps that run on phones, tablets, and PC’s, but sometimes I just want to check a message from a browser. It never made much sense to me that when I would get an email alerting me to a voicemail, I couldn’t just check that voicemail from the browser I just got the email in.
Better late than never, Skype is now delivering their Skype for Web BETA plugin for everyone. Installing a little piece of software in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari will now give you a pretty complete Skype experience.
In early use it’s been a nice way to balance notifications and alerts without having to keep the Skype client running constantly in the background on my PC. We still don’t quite have the dream of just being able to log into Skype on the web from any browser to check our messages like Google Voice, but this is a nice step in the right direction.
You can catch the full Skype press release below.
A nice little touch for the holidays, Google is cutting Hangouts users a break on international calling for the rest of 2014.
If you have voice calling activated through the Hangouts dialer, the first minute of your call will be free to twenty five participating countries.
Don’t worry, you wont have to memorize which countries are free, as a little pop up will notify you of your first free minute. You can say a lot in a minute, but really, anything that can the edge off of the costs of international phone calls is always going to be appreciated.
Hit the Google Support page for the full scoop!
If you’ve been rocking the BETA, then you’re already aware of this, but it’s finally rolling out for all consumers.
If you’ve got the separate Facebook Messenger app installed, you can now call your Facebook friends over WiFi for free! The update to FB Messenger 4.0 brings this to all users alongside better support for creating chat groups and the ability to create shortcuts to specific chats on your homescreen.
Hit the update and get calling!
Facebook Messenger (Google Play)
Viber is quickly becoming one of the primary third-party competitors to services like Google Voice and Skype. Allowing users to call, text, and send voice and video messages to each other over the internet. They rolled out a service during the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, allowing people to call land lines, which became a standard part of the Viber package.
Now they’re expanding their service again, with a proper Metro app for Windows 8. This is pretty significant, as it continues their build out on being a global service. Currently supporting Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Phone, traditional Windows Desktop, and OSX. Now Windows 8 Hybrids and tablets can utilize the service without leaving the modern UI. Doubly helpful for folks using Windows RT, which can’t install third party software.
If Viber is the way you keep your family connected, it’s always nice having an additional option for how you might use that service.