VoIP

Google has no shortage of communication services and apps, each of them overlapping with one another in some way. Some of them haven’t been shown some love, sometimes even for years. Google Voice is perhaps the on that got the shortest end of the stick despite how useful it is. Now, however, Google seems to be preparing what might be the biggest update to the service in a long time. It is putting out a call for beta testers of its Wi-Fi and mobile data calling, a.k.a. VoIP that would, of course, overlap with other Google apps and services that offer the same functionality already.

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Google Voice, the company’s seldom mentioned VoIP service, is going to be on the receiving end of some updates soon. News of the updates first arrived via a link some users were seeing when they visited Google Voice. The link and notification encouraged users to click to see the new Google Voice, but the related web page isn’t live at this time. Having accidentally revealed its efforts, Google has since confirmed that yes, it is working on some new updates.

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T-Mobile has introduced DIGITS, a new voice over LTE feature that will allow customers to use their phone numbers on a variety of internet-connected devices. Just as well, DIGITS will allow its customers to use multiple phone numbers on a single device. At first blush, DIGITS may sound like some VOIP solutions that exist, and though there are some similarities, T-Mobile is trying to make the experience with DIGITS a little more fleshed out.

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Today Google announces the Fiber Phone, a service that uses your home internet connection to act as a landline (and your mobile device, too). Just like you had when you were a kid, but VoIP. A phone that stays at home. Or it can go with you - whatever you want. The Fiber Phone "lives in the cloud" says Google, and it'll ring at home when you're at home, or in your pocket when you're out of the house.

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The Web version of Skype has added support for calling landlines and mobile phones directly, making it a bit easier to make cheap calls from your browser. That’s not the extent of its update, though — the service has also added support for watching YouTube videos within Skype for Web, as well as adding anyone (including non-Skype users) to a Skype for Web conversation, and new notifications that appear in the browser.

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/whisper, /tell, /reply. These were the tools of communication during early online gaming. Sure you also had various channels to talk in with your guild-mates, and you still do. But these days if you want to be competitive in any way, typing is just out of the question. You've got plenty of choices for when you want to get on a headset and chat. But sometimes too many choices is a bad thing. If the game you're playing has their own built-in voice chat client, then it just makes everyone's life easier. Which is exactly why Blizzard is entering the voice chat game.

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Nucleus (the name of both the company and the product) is a new device that aims to combine the best of video calling and home intercoms with voice commands. The mini tablet can be mounted to wall or just placed on a counter or table, and be used to connect and communicate with others in just seconds, bypassing even the steps that FaceTime and Skype users must go through before getting into a call.

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Skype for Web, the browser-based version of the popular voice and video messaging service, has rolled out across the US and UK. Revealed in beta at the tail-end of last year, the web app can effectively replace the standalone Skype client, delivering the same video, audio, and IM communications only through the browser. It could be useful, Microsoft says, for those using public computers while traveling, or when you're on a different machine and haven't the time (or the inclination, frankly) to install the full software.

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There are a bunch of reasons that someone might want to record the calls that they receive over their smartphone. Many smartphones have the ability to record calls built in and there are apps out there that will allow that to happen as well. A new device has debuted called Bluewire that claims to be the world's smallest Bluetooth headset call recorder. The device looks like a normal Bluetooth headset, but it is able to record calls from up to 33-feet from your smartphone.

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For a long time, Microsoft was accused of neglecting the Skype brand, but the software giant is making amends by pushing the voice and video call service for business users. Out goes Lync, the firm's long-standing communication system for enterprises, to be replaced by Skype for Business in the first half of next year. While the change will see the core strengths of Lync maintained, it will also help blur the boundaries between what's going on in the office and general Skype users.

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Verizon and AT&T plan to switch on cross-network VoLTE calls in 2015, the two carriers have confirmed today, opening the door to first voice over LTE calls and then one day video calling and messaging. VoLTE launched on Verizon's network in September, allowing handsets like the iPhone 6 to use the data network for VoIP rather than traditional methods, with the addition of HD-quality audio too. However, for the moment, VoLTE only supports calls between subscribers on the same network, something Verizon and AT&T are planning to change.

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These days, speech recognition is a lot about Siri versus Google Now versus Cortana, but that is definitely not the only use case for the technology. We often take for granted what we are able to use our smartphones for because we are physically capable of handling them. Luckily, there are those like RogerVoice who are taking up the banner for others, especially those with hearing problems who still want to use their phones for what they are originally intended to be used for: making calls.

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