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Google Voice could let you forward calls to multiple numbers that would ring at once, listen in to voicemail as it was being recorded, and bounce strangers into a confirmation stage. But it could not handle calls - until now. Google is rolling out computer-based VoIP calling over the next several days.
This update offers free VoIP calls to and from the United States and Canada, although the feature will initially be available only to U.S. Google users. Calls placed to other countries are charged at reasonably low international rates.
Before this update, you would use Google Voice more as a hub for communication with a Google Voice phone number as the entry point. The service lets you associate phone numbers with an account, and choose behavior based on Caller ID, time of day, and other factors for what happens when someone calls the Google Voice number. It also offers free U.S. text messaging, and voicemail - along with hilariously weird voicemail transcription. (A message from my wife the other day read, "We've had a knife...Mark emergency in Indiana.")
You could place calls that would ring on one of your associated numbers at the same calling rates that were announced, but you still had to have a phone nearby to make that work. (See "Google Voice Opens to All Americans," 22 June 2010.)
But because Google seemingly forgets which product is which, the site you use to make Google Voice calls is...Gmail. Yes, that's right. The Web mail app that brought you Buzz and Google Chat (audio, video, and text) now brings you phone calls. Why not within, say, Google Voice? It's hard to understand that decision. (Sure, Google Chat is found within Gmail, and activating "real" phone calls there makes sense, but not as the first and only method touse it.)
You need to install Google's voice and video plug-in to use Google Voice in Gmail. Log in to your Gmail account, click Settings, and then the Chat tab, and follow the instructions there. With that set up, you will see a "Call Phones" item in Google Chat once the firm activates the service for your account. It's adding Google Voice calling over the next few days in a rolling upgrade.
Google's new offering competes directly with Skype, which charges fees to have an inbound phone number (or more than one) associated with your Skype account, and has a fixed-rate U.S./Canada calling plan. But Skype is on the iPhone and Google Voice still remains missing there.
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Apple has released Security Update 2010-005, addressing an assortment of vulnerabilities in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard. Several of the fixes included in the update address various ways maliciously crafted files could lead to the dreaded "arbitrary code execution" that is the hallmark of many computer attacks. Mac OS X's handling of fonts, PDF files, and PNG files (the last only when accessed via PHP under Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server) was patched to block such vulnerabilities.
The update also updates ClamAV (in Leopard Server and Snow Leopard Server only) to block other potential arbitrary code execution risks. In both the server and regular editions, Mac OS X's CFNetwork framework was fixed; it could previously fall victim to "man-in-the-middle" attacks through anonymous SSL/TLS connections.
In addition, Apple updated libsecurity to prevent domain name trickery, patched Samba to prevent a buffer overflow that could allow a denial-of-service attack or arbitrary code execution, and upgraded PHP to version 5.3.2 to address multiple vulnerabilities in the popular scripting language.
Security Update 2010-005 is available via Software Update, which is generally the easiest method of acquiring it. You can also download the update directly for Leopard (211.88 MB), Leopard Server (418.92 MB), Snow Leopard (80.63 MB), and Snow Leopard Server (136.86 MB).
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