I'm trying out something new

I got an invite from Google today to try this GrandCentral service they recently acquired.  Apparently, it lets you acquire one phone number that you can hand out to people.  Then when people call that number it will either call one or all of the phone numbers you have entered into your profile. 

One of the cool features that it seems to have is the ability to add a "Call Me" button to your blog and have it configured to either actually call you or just send them straight to voicemail.

It's in BETA but I thought it was cool enough to give a try.  So, you'll se the giant "Call Me" button on the left.

If you click it, you'll be prompted to provide a Name and a Phone Number.  Since, I have it going directly to voicemail, it's not necessary to fill in the Name field.  I'll never see that.  If I had setup the service to let the call go to one of my phones, that name box is used to announce you to me and let me take the call or send it to voicemail.  It uses Text-to-Voice technology to read the name put in the box.  But, since I'm sending you all straight to voicemail, it's a feature not used.

By default, it's set to keep your phone number private (I'll just see PRIVATE) on my side.  If for some reason you feel compelled to let me see your phone number, then you'll need to uncheck the 'Keep My Number Private' checkbox.

*** NOTE *** This is NOT a Voice-Over-IP (VoiP) service like Skype.  It will call the number you typed into the applet.  When you pickup the phone, you'll hear my voicemail notification and you can leave your message after the beep.  The call will be coming from California, so you'll want to have it call a phone where you aren't concerned about long distance charges or worried about airtime minutes.

I can also take the voicemail I get and post them back to the blog.  Either as addendum's to the post to allow ya'll voices to be heard, or I can post them as a post by themselves. 

As I said, I'm just trying this out.  The geek in me likes it.  For those people out there that have Blogger blogs, check out the "Blogger Buzz" on your dashboard, you may have gotten an invite.

I figured that those people who also run podcasts, it would be another awesome way to get voice feedback.

Technorati Tags: Google, GrandCentral, Announcements