Re this news story:
http://www.slyck.com/story1886_BREIN_Pirate_Bay_Does_Not_Appeal
"V 2009"... One of our new favorite shows...
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You need to know that "Google Open Source" is ~NOT~ Free Open
Source.... It's NOT about Software Freedom.... Quite the Opposite!
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According to this Chat Session... Apparently, this can be done.
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In my last article here, I explained how IMPORTANT it is to:
>> Back up all of your data contained within your Google / Gmail account, and... >> Have a "Front End" for your Own email address and your Own telephone number... ......Just In Case..... anything were to happen to your Google Account. In my last article (on http://brucewagner.posterous.com ), I describedComments [1]
This is a CRITICAL problem....
If Google / Gmail's anti-spam robots mistakenly target YOU at anyComments [2]
I found a GREAT SOLUTION to this problem... finally....
(1) Go to Best Buy and buy a MagicJack.Comments [0]
What do callers get when their call is blocked? Do they get a
recording of some sort?
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I have been using MetroPCS for about one year now, here in New York
City. I also travel all over the country with it.
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and....
Why I Changed my Phone Number 38 Times in the last 6 MonthsI've changed my phone number so many times that it's become a standing joke with my friends. At first it was, "Why did you change your phone number again?" Eventually, I would grow weary of explaining the whole boring saga again and again... putting them to sleep in the process... so I would reply, "Because it's Wednesday." Google Voice's tag line slogan, "one phone number for life" has become the joke of the year in my life. Now the new line has simply shortened to become... "What's your phone number today?"Those of you who know me well.... know.... I like to try new things. .....when it comes to technology. I am always trying new things... running them through the paces. I never take anyone's word for it. I have to TRY it myself... in the real world... in my day-to-day life... before I will give something my 'seal of approval' and say, "It is good." :) Then, I come up with new ways to use these new technologies.... new systems... combined in new ways.... that I come up with myself.It's for this reason that I've been playing with Google Voice intensively for 6 months now. I first signed up for it about 3 1/2 years ago, when it was still just a start-up not even owned by Google yet, called GrandCentral.com. But about 6 months ago I discovered a bunch of new features that Google added to it. All the features are very impressive.... especially when combined together..... Cool... and exciting. The new features can even be addicting. I loved Google Voice! I told everyone who would listen.... It's awesome!I've set up Google Voice accounts for every purpose. In all sorts of combinations... kind of like building blocks... for myself and others. Where, for example, you have two Google Voice accounts - one for business and one for personal - which both ring in on all your phones - home, cell, etc... But business only rings during certain hours, etc., etc. It's very sophisticated. And the sms text messages come in via email, and your gmail account then forwards them to your cell phone's "sms email address"... so that you get text messages, as text messages, even when you have multiple GV accounts ringing in on your cell phone... I've even bought GV invites on eBay and set up 22 accounts for one guy's business use... As you can imagine - kind of like telephone system Legos - the possibilities are endless and can become very complex. However.... After six months of monkeying around with it.... and learning all of it's idiosyncrasies.... and continuous improvement... I've decided not to use Google Voice at all..... for anything. Here's why:(1) It doesn't always work. This is very bad for any type of telephone system. You need reliability - first and foremost - no matter whether for business telephone service or personal. With all the options we have today, there is no reason to put up with a system that is not reliable. (1a) Google Voice has outages. Sometimes the entire system has simply gone down. Who ya gonna call to complain to? (1b) About 30% of the time, lately, when a call comes in through Google Voice, we can hear the caller.... but the caller cannot hear us. We end up having to call him/her back from another phone. (1c) Often, callers complain of a "bad connection", or hearing loud clicking on the line, etc. (1d) When it does work, and we have a long conversion.... after a certain amount of time (an hour?), the call is always dropped.... for no apparent reason. This happens consistently... giving the impression that it has a built-in "time limit" for conversations. (1e) There is always a noticeably long delay in hearing each other. (This is called, latency, in technical jargon.) This delay causes us to talk on top of each other... again and again... and it's very annoying, and distracting, to everyone..... and to the effectiveness of the conversation. (2) When you get locked out of your Google Account, you lose access to your own telephone number.... and it can be permanent. It's beyond your control. I probably wouldn't bring this up, if it hadn't happened to me personally. But now that it has happened to me personally AND several others I know.... on several completely separate gmail accounts.... It has truly become the deal-breaker. Gmail's own anti-spam "robots" (automated software to prevent the use of their system to send out spam) have become so virulent that they are disabling Gmail accounts.... sometimes temporarily - requiring you to enter a cell phone number, receive a special code by text message, in order to regain access.... sometimes permanently - requiring you to fill out a form complaining, and then just wait and hope and pray that google restores access to your account to you. Both of these events have happened to me personally, and to others I know and where I have seen it happen first-hand. When this happens, you have lost all access to all of your Google services - including Gmail, Google Voice, your Google Voice phone number, your Contacts, your Google Calendar, your Google Docs, and on and on..... ALL Google services.... associated with that account. This is one of the reasons I've changed my phone number so many times. At first, it was simply because I found a number I liked better. Then, it was because I wanted the number associated with a different Gmail account name I liked better. Then, it was because I found a structure I liked better. But finally, it was because I got locked out of my own Google / Gmail account.... more than once! So, I got to thinking. My email address (bruce@brucewagner.com) has never changed. Why? Because I have it hosted at an extremely reliable hosting service (GoDaddy), and it simply forwards all mail to whatever account I set it to (Gmail, at the moment). If anything ever happens to Gmail, or to my Gmail account specifically, I can switch where GoDaddy forwards my mail to.... within seconds. Why not do the same thing with my phone number? Because of Google's virulent anti-spam robots and their automated disabling of innocent Gmail accounts.... and Google's "No-Customer-Service-Whatsoever" policy.... It is extremely dangerous to tie your own telephone number to a Google Account. In other words, everything about Google Voice is designed for you to Stop using your existing phone numbers, and to Start using (advertising, telling your friends, family, colleagues, customers) your "new" Google Voice telephone number. The problem is..... It's extremely dangerous to do that! If / when you get locked out of your Gmail / Google account, you have just lost access and control of that phone number! .....with no real recourse. So..... as of yesterday, here is what I have done: I simply use my MagicJack number (totally reliable and very nearly free) as my "Home phone" number.... and my MetroPCS phone (totally reliable and very cheap) as my "Cell phone" number. Whenever I leave home, I press one button to enable call-forwarding from my MagicJack "Home phone" to my MetroPCS "Cell phone". That's it. Done. Friends will get exactly what they would expect.... a "home phone" and a "cell phone" for me. And of course, only the cell phone accepts text messages. I'll normally only give out my "home phone" number. Unless I text them.... then it will come from my "cell phone". As for Business phone numbers, you can buy as many MagicJacks as you want - no limit - for $1.60 per month - and call-forward them all to your one "home phone" MagicJack number. This gives you as many business phone numbers as you need (for as many businesses as you have)...... all ringing in to your super-reliable Home MagicJack phone. ...which you then forward to your super-reliable MetroPCS cell phone whenever you are out.It's Brilliant. Simple. Cheap. Excellent Sound Quality. ...and Super Reliable.
My MagicJack voicemail sends me every voicemail message, as WAV file, to my email address... so I can play it from anywhere... in addition to being able to call in to retrieve messages the normal way. Of course, when I leave I call-forward my MagicJack to my MetroPCS phone... so my MetroPCS voicemail answers, and it alerts me the normal cell phone way...
I still continue to use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other Google services... However, I am not TIED to them! If anything happens to my Google / Gmail account, I can change where my email goes within seconds (on GoDaddy.com)... And my phone number is owned and controlled by ME -- not Google! I can contact MagicJack customer service 24/7 if I were to ever have a problem. (I've never had a problem with it though.)
I actually still leave the Google Voice screen open, in another tab, just for quick access to my Contacts page. I still use Gmail / Google Voice for my Contacts (my master address book). When my phone rings, I can quickly type in the caller's phone number into the Contacts Search box, and it instantly brings up my record for that person.... complete with notes from every conversation I've had with them. It's all tied in with Gmail too.
MAKE LOCAL BACKUPS OF ALL YOUR DATA CONTAINED IN YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT
However, I do NOT count on it completely. For this reason, I have a strict WEEKLY BACKUP policy. Every week, on Saturday, I backup all of my data contained within my Google Account: My Contacts Address Book, My Gmail Filters, My Google Docs, and my Google Calendar.
Fortunately, it's easy and takes only seconds to do. Simply go to your Gmail Contacts page and click "EXPORT", then "Everyone", as a Google CSV File. It will save all of your address book as a CSV file onto your local computer's hard drive. Do the same thing to export your Gmail Filters, your Google Calendars, and also save local copies of all of your Google Docs documents.... at least Weekly. If anything were to happen to my Google / Gmail Account, I could be up and running on a new Gmail / Google Account within moments.
MagicJack is available at Best Buy (with a 30-day return policy) or at MagicJack.com and MetroPCS is available at MetroPCS.com ...
Questions? Leave 'em in the comments below, or email me: bruce@brucewagner.com
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