The Idea Blog

Those of you who know me at least a bit know I’m always looking for - and trying out - new productivity tools, especially those using the latest technology. Especially, but not limited to, telephony tools.

Vonage? You bet, we tried it. Skype? Oh, yes, still use it. A lot. IM’s with audio and video enhancements? Duh! Of course. Every once in a while I even use my home phone, a common land line.

The latest gadget I’ve tried brings all my disparate phone numbers and devices under one digital roof, so to speak. GrandCentral, recently acquired by Google, is a web-based telephone management system that by all early evidence works exceptionally well.  I set-up all of my contact numbers - home, office, mobile, SkypeIn - and then, depending on my instructions, GrandCentral routes all of my calls to any of these numbers … wherever I tell it to. To any of my numbers or to all of my numbers. I can set up custom rings for the caller, custom messages by individual or type of caller, route some callers into a spam file … even listen in as someone leaves a voice message.

This is a full-featured service. Pretty cool too. So if you’re reading this and wondering how to reach me, just chuck all the phone numbers except for this one: (843) 628-5506. Call that one, and it should ring me (if I want to be, uh, rung) wherever I am. And take a look at Grand Central.