I am trying out a new, highly acclaimed service offered by Google called Grand Central and I think it is really awesome. I'm in the unique situation of knowing when I am going to be changing cellphones next (hint: I'm leaving the country for two years) and so this is helpful to me in more ways than the normal person, but I think it can be a very cool thing for just about anybody.Grand Central is a basically program which gives you a new forward-able phone number with advanced visual voicemail. For instance, I picked out 828-330-#### and now have that number forward to my current cellphone. When someone calls, I get the call on any phone I want (or all my phones at the same time) and then pick it up if I want to. If I don't pick it up, it goes to voicemail and I can check it on my phone, on the internet, on someone else's phone or on my PDA. Also, I have recorded individual greetings for my friends and family so they get special personalized greetings made just for them. I can change them anytime, based on our latest joke or whatever, and I think that's pretty cool. Other cool features include special Ringback tones (so you don't just hear the normal ring when you call), listening in on voicemails as people are leaving them, being notified by e-mail when someone leaves you a voicemail message and automatic spam protection and call blocking.
Although I am just starting out my testing of this new program by Google, I have a feeling it is really going to take off just like Gmail, GOOG-411 and Google Video did. Try it out for yourself or at least give me a call on my new number by pressing the button below. If your name is Jonathan, Michael, Amy, Michelle, Jessica, Elias, Leighanna, Mom, Dad, Big Nanny, Josh, Chris, Zoe, Wee, Chase, Shaw, Jimi or David you might even notice a special welcome.
