PaulSpoerry.com

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday launched a broadband test service to help consumers clock the speed of their Internet.

Located at the site www.broadband.gov, the test is aimed at allowing consumers to compare their actual speeds with the speeds advertised by their providers. The FCC release follows an FCC meeting in September where officials said that actual speeds were estimated to lag by as much as 50 percent during busy hours. ”The FCC’s new digital tools will arm users with real-time information about their broadband connection and the agency with useful data about service across the country,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.

The FCC is also collecting information about where broadband is not available. Consumers can email the FCC at fccinfo@fcc.gov or call the FCC.

Google Voice is about giving you more control over your communications, through dozens of features — ranging from call screening to voicemail transcription to the ability to send and receive SMS by email. While we’ve heard from users that they love our growing list of features, we’re conscious of the fact that Google Voice can seem overwhelming to people trying it for the first time. So we’ve created a short video that gives an overview of what Google Voice can do.

In addition, we’ve created a set of short videos that dive into more detail about ten features of Google Voice:

1. Voicemail transcription
2. One number
3. Personalized greetings
4. International calling
5. SMS to email
6. Share voicemails
7. Block callers
8. Screen callers
9. Mobile app
10. Conference calls

The videos show why you might want to use each feature and basic instructions for getting started. And each video focuses on just one topic so you can learn about the features that matter to you.

Finally, we just launched our own YouTube channel at youtube.com/googlevoice. You can view all of the videos mentioned above in a custom video gadget we built for this channel, which will help you keep track of which videos you’ve already watched.

They’ve already released specs for a replacement for HTTP called SPDY. Now it looks as if Google is set for all out Internet takeover by replacing DNS. DNS (Domain Name Service) is used to translate the web friendly named addresses user type in their browser (like www.PaulSpoerry.com) into their machine friendly IP (Internet Protocol) numerical addresses (like 122.222.12.221).

Google Public DNS, announced on Thursday, is still in an experimental phase but will attempt to improve on existing DNS technology with faster, more efficient caching and additional security safeguards against spoofing attacks that try to dupe users into visiting malicious Web sites.

To use Google Public DNS users will have to change network settings so that their Web site requests go to the Google service instead of to their ISP. Google has set up a Web page with detailed instructions on how to do this.

“We believe that a faster DNS infrastructure could significantly improve the browsing experience for all web users. To enhance DNS speed but to also improve security and validity of results, Google Public DNS is trying a few different approaches,” wrote Prem Ramaswami, from Google’s Public DNS Team, in an official blog posting.

This is interesting and I wonder how much better than can do than OpenDNS by rolling out a new DNS infrastructure.

Images of the new ‘branded’ Google phone surfaced this week after months of rumors. This will be a branded Google phone, not one developed by the likes of HTC, that will use an even newer version of Android than that of the Droid?the only Android phone currently running 2.0. Most interesting is that this phone may use VOIP, which uses a wireless connection to the Internet for calls rather than a cellular network. For the end user this could could mean lower or even free cell phone bills (you will still pay for data).

VOIP  (Voice Over Internet Protocol) uses an Internet connection to transmit voice signals the same way emails and text messages are transmitted, and is far cheaper than using a cell phone network. Services like Skype are becoming more attractive, offering free domestic calls, no minutes to count, no roaming, and international calls at a fraction of the cost of cell phone rates, but even Skype has not been convenient enough for consumers to abandon their familiar phone service providers.

For the most part, computers have been the only hardware that was convenient to make VOIP calls. It required the caller to use a headset to both send and receive messages (or monitor mounted speaker/mic or one of the newer Wifi phones). Smartphones were the next logical device to get VOIP, and like their PC counterparts required the user to download an app and secure a wireless connection.

The Google phone may be the first smartphone designed specifically for VOIP service, and will come with all of the goodies Google has introduced this year:

1. The Android operating system in a newer version than what is currently offered on the Droid, on schedule to sell a million units before the end of the year, far ahead of analysts’ expectations.
2. Google Voice, Google’s free multi-phone number and message management application, currently available by invitation only and only in the US.
3. Google Latitude, the free app that lets friends share their locations with one another.
4. Google Maps, the free GPS app for mobile phones offering voice guided, turn-by- turn directions that could replace not only the pricier phone apps, but stand-alone GPS systems altogether.

The last piece of the puzzle is WiFi connections or hotspots. Lucky residents of Seattle, Austin, San Francisco and Atlanta have fairly reliable, complimentary WiFi coverage. And of course, if you find yourself in Beijing, the city was fully covered prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Corporate sponsored WiFi is growing: Google paid for WiFi in 45 US airports over this holiday season, offering the service free to travelers, and bit by bit companies are seeing WiFi installations as effective branding strategies.

But for now, WiFi hotspots and connections are spotty at best. Even hands- free calling on the road becomes impossible without a connection, and we can only wait for more auto manufacturers to follow General Motors who began offering the Autonet WiFi router in GM SUVs and trucks in November. At $500 for the device plus $59 a month for 5GB data service, it’s a pricy and limited solution.

Verizon offers a pocket-sized solution with MiFi, providing a wireless connection for up to five devices virtually anywhere for $60 a month with two year contract. Alternately, Google phone users may be able to purchase just a data plan from a cell phone provider, assuming providers cooperate.

The best solution would be an integrated mobile hotspot in the Google phone, activated only when an external hotspot was not detected.

The Google phone is expected as early as January 2010.

Ok so Google services rawk, the problem is their are so many of them and it’s a bit…. spread all over. Google Dashboard is a new service that shows a summary of the data stored with a Google account. You’ll soon find a link to Google Dashboard in the “personal settings” of the “my account” page. This is handy if you use a bunch of Google services like GMail, maps, docs, etc.

The dashboard lists some of the information associated with the Google services you use: your name, your email address, the number of contacts, the number of conversations in your Gmail inbox, your Google profile, the most recent entries from the web history etc. It’s a long answer to the question: “What does Google know about me?”.