It’s finally here. Google’s snazzy new phone service is slowly becoming available to one and all. Google Voice is a one-stop shop for all your phoning needs, combining all of your phone numbers into a single number and even routing all of your extra phone services to one device. The beauty of simplification has a lot of appeal for the phone-stressed time in which we live. Now, it’s available on a wider scale.

During the test phase, Google Voice was a service that only GrandCentral customers could use. GrandCentral, a shiny new toy that Google bought two years ago, was the predecessor of the new-and-improved Google Voice. Demand for the service was greater than the smallish number of GrandCentral subscribers, so Google opened the gates wider to those potential users who had requested the service before. Now, Google Voice is taking invitation requests from any and all users. The official site reads, “Google Voice is currently available for GrandCentral users only, but will be open to new users soon. In the meantime, please leave us your email address and we’ll notify you as soon as Google Voice becomes available.”

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Even if you forgot your laptop at work or your PC crashes just as you’re about to print a coupon for a late night trip to the store, you can forget your worries if you’re going to print using the new HP TouchSmart Printer.

Today in San Francisco, HP shared the news of a new addition coming to their TouchSmart technology family. Finally, a printer made for the tech-savvy generation. And it’s just a little bulky.

The TouchSmart technology has already been used in HP’s TouchSmart computers. Used in this line of printers, it will allow users to access and print from the web using only the 4.3-inch LCD touchscreen on the printer. The main web-printer relationship will stem from the HP Apps Studio, which will be built into all printers of this line. Various apps will allow users to print maps, news updates, photos from online storage sites, printable coupons, movie tickets, and more. Current partners include Google, USA Today, Coupons.com, Dreamworks, Web Sudoku, Weathernews, and Nickelodeon.
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Digital frames are popping up everywhere these days. Even my grandmother received one for her 85th birthday, right along with a pair of fuzzy, pink slippers. I’m pretty sure that even if she did know how to work it, it wouldn’t tweet. And yours probably can’t tweet, nor can it view pictures on Facebook, Flickr, or Picasa. But the new SilverFrame, the latest and greatest digital photo frame from SilverPac, can do all of the above.

This 10.1-inch touchscreen-operated digital frame is Wi-Fi enabled and actually connects with several photo-sharing social networking sites. But really, it’s more like a mini computer than it is a digital frame. Windows CE 6.0 R2 is the operating system, supporting Windows Sideshow and Live FrameIt. It is also Bluetooth-enabled, allowing users to send images directly to the frame from their mobile phones. Additionally, the SilverFrame has USB ports and a multi-card reader, just in case you’re set on uploading pictures the old fashioned way. Images can be stored on the SilverFrame’s 1GB of onboard memory, and two 1.5W speakers provide impressive stereo quality sound. The SilverFrame even comes with an IR remote control and AC adapter.
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Popularity: 9% [?]