Google Voice Overview

VentureBeat have a review of Google Voice, a new application that could bring free calls on mobile phones to the masses. The most interesting part about the application is that it has the ability to transcribe your voice messages in to text! No doubt this will have privacy implications, but it is a very interesting development nonetheless:

"The transcription is the best new feature. It transcribes every voice message into text and lists them on a page where you can read them all. The Google Voice dashboard page is integrated with your other Google apps and is accessible through your Gmail account, just like your other apps. You can choose a whole range of options in your settings: You can have the voice messages forwarded to your phone in the form of an SMS, so that you have everything on your mobile phone — you can click to listen to the original message or see the message transcribed. You can choose what exact hours a particular person can reach you at, say, your home number, and what hours they’re transferred to your cell, or directed immediately to voice mail."

Read more on it here.

Safari 4 Beta Review

Ars Technica take a look at Safari 4 beta, the latest test version of the Apple browser (for Mac and Windows). The interface is very similar to that of iTunes, but hopefully it will be less bloated:

"Headlining Apple's feature list is Top Sites, a display of thumbnails of your most frequently visited sites—perhaps more well known as the "Most Recent" home screen in Google's Chrome browser and Opera's Speed Dial (Microsoft also has a version in betas of IE8). Apple has attempted to innovate here though, by applying a pointless 3D effect to the view.

Top Sites defaults to showing 12 sites, but you can switch between larger screen shots (six only) and smaller thumbnails (20). In addition, you can permanently remove any site from being displayed or make a site sticky regardless of its status on your frequently visited list. Clicking any site will zoom and fade the viewport (the area where the page is rendered) into the browser's last-saved thumbnail, replacing it when the site has finished loading."

You can read more at Ars Technica here. Or if you are feeling lucky, download the beta from here.

Apple iTelevision

The Telegraph reports that Apple could be making the transition into the home TV market, by releasing an Apple iTelevision. After the success of the iPod and iPhone, the iTV seems like a logical step for a consumer entertainment device:

"The launch of a TV that would play films and television programmes downloaded from the internet could be the "product transition" Apple's chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, hinted at last year.
Mr Oppenheimer sparked intense debate about the company's direction when he told analysts last summer that "we've got a future product transition that I can't discuss with you today". He said the cost of developing the new product was "one of the reasons that we see gross [profit] margin being down sequentially".

Mr Munster said a move into TVs was the "only logical step for Apple" as the company shifts away from computers and into home electronics. "Apple have said they will only move into a new market in which they can 'solve a problem for consumers'," he said. 'Apple's fantastic ability to create exceptionally user-friendly products could revolutionise TVs just like the iPhone changed the mobile phone market.'"

Read More Here