760-705-8888 is a Google Chat Phone calling you

With the rollout of a live domestic-call phone capability in Google Chat, everyone should expect a lot of calls from 760-705-8888 to start appearing in to their caller IDs.

760-705-8888 is the generic Google Chat Phone number all Google chat users are assigned as caller ID, and it is the same number no matter what Google account a person is calling you from.

Just remember that a call from a 760-705-8888 number may not be from the same person as the last person who called you from 760-705-8888!

Also of note, Google kept the Grand Central numbers “live” for all us original beta (alpha?) testers. So everyone who has/had a Grand Central account that was absorbed into Google Voice and is now Google Chat still has the same phone number as before, and not the generic 760-705-8888 number.

Thanks Google!

Are you getting a plugin error in Google’s new CALL PHONE link? Here’s the fix!

I was having some problems using Google Chat in my Google account through the Firefox browser. Every single time I went to the CALL PHONE link, I got the error that I needed to “please download the voice plugin to make a call”, even though I had already installed the plugin multiple times!

What was even more interesting was that the CALL PHONE feature worked in Safari. Firefox was the only one having problems with it.

Nobody on the ‘net seemed to have a solution, but after messing with the browsers for a few minutes, I think I got it.

Here’s how I got the CALL PHONE feature in Google working for me in Firefox….

  • Go to TOOLS and ADD-ONS
  • Click on PLUG INS
  • ENABLE both GOOGLE TALK NPAPI PLUGIN and GOOGLE TALK PLUGIN VIDEO ACCELERATOR
  • QUIT Firefox and relaunch it
  • CALL PHONE will work!

Here’s what you’re going to see before the fix…

Google Talk Fix


Just click on the greyed out icon and press ENABLE. Restart Firefox and you’re set.

Apparently either Firefox doesn’t enable the plugin on the initial install, or the install code from Google doesn’t hit the right switch along the way.

I also assume a similar trick will work in Internet Explorer through MANAGE ADD ONS and making sure everything with a GOOGLE prefix is enabled.

Free Wall Street Journal Audio Newscast : 800-WSJ-3916

I was reading the Wall Street Journal for lunch (yes, I’m a WSJ junkie) and found an interesting little notice on one of their financial pages.

Apparently, there’s a free Wall Stret Journal Audio Newscast Portal available for anyone to call in and listen to at 1-800-WSJ-3916 (800-975-3916). It works from any phone and is toll free.

Once the automated system picks up, you will have the following options to pick from…

  • Pressing 1 gets you the “Wall Street Journal report”, a two minute update on breaking news that’s updated twice an hour.
  • Pressing 2 gets you the “Dow Jones Money Report”, a one minute update on what is going on in the markets that’s updated every hour.
  • Pressing 3 gets you the “Whats News” headlines from the Wall Street Journal Online, and is updated three times a day.
  • Pressing 4 gets you the “Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing”, which gives all the tech stories of the day and is updated twice daily.
  • Pressing 5 gets you the “Morning Watch Stock Talk”, which reviews what is currently moving the stock market and is updated every weekday morning.
  • Pressing 6 gets you to “Your money matters”, which reviews advice on budgets and personal financial stories and is updated every weekday morning.
  • Pressing 7 gets you to “Money Markets and More”, which reviews the day ahead on wall street and is updated every weekday morning.
  • Pressing 8 gets you to “Wall Street Journal This Morning” which covers early morning news and is updated every weekday morning.

You can press the * key to go back to a previous menu at any time.

This is a pretty cool freebie!

EDIT : Newspaper Ad Scan!

WSJ Audio Newscast

Subscribe to Spin for $1 or for $7.95?

In my personal inbox this morning, I received three emails from Spin offering a discounted subscription to their magazine.

The surprising part was that every offer was sent to a different email address I have.

One offer is to subscribe for $1, two offers are to subscribe for $7.95.

Spin 00


Opening the $1 subscription email offer I see…

Spin 01


…and when I click on the link in the email, I am taken to the signup page, which shows I can get 11 issues for $1. That’s a great deal!

Spin 02


Opening either of the $7.95 subscription email offers I see…

Spin 03


…and when I click on the link in the email, I am taken to the signup page, which shows I can get 11 issues for $7.95.

Spin 04


This has to be one of the easiest decisions I’ve made this week.