Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Google Takeout, the recently launched "data liberation" service that lets you export files, photos and data from Google services like Picasa and Buzz, now includes support for Google Voice."

With the recent update to Google Takeout, data liberation now includes the option to export call history, voicemail messages, greetings, call recordings, phone numbers and text messages from Google Voice.

So why not take the next few minutes to export and backup your Google Voice data.

"Google Voice. Skype. VoIP-to-PSTN providers. SIP-to-SIP calls. All of these technologies and products allow you to make calls that are either free or much cheaper than on your landline. Wouldn’t it be great if you could escape the clutches of your Telco and connect your home phone to these services? A phone server like Asterisk can help you realize this dream."

In a world all a twitter with text-style messaging, it is easy to forget that many of us have voices to communicate. Us old-school people sometimes use a phone to talk to other people and while it is slow and not quite multi-tasking friendly, it can be effective. Of course, with VoIP, calling people far, far away has become really cheap and with services like Google Voice, its practically free. If you have a free weekend, some extra hardware lying around, and the urge to prove your geeky prowess, you could do worse than setting up your own home phone service.

"Whether you use them for business communication, talking to family over long distances, or just fragging your friends over the latest FPS, communication has been revolutionized by voice calling apps. Here's a look at the five most popular options for having voice conversations over the internet."

Whether it be on your desktop or your mobile device, VOIP applications are becoming more and more popular. This is a good review of some of the best. Which one is your favorite, and why?