Google buys GrandCentral

Google announced today that it was acquiring voice communications company GrandCentral Communications for an undisclosed sum. GrandCentral offers a service that lets users integrate all of their existing phone numbers and voice mailboxes into one Web-accessible account. Users with multiple phone numbers (home, work and cell), can get one phone number that can be set to ring any and all of a user's phones, based on who's calling. The online voicemail allows users to listen to voicemails, forward them, add the caller to an address book, block a caller as spam, and more. Users can also listen to voicemails live, as they are being left and can switch a call from a mobile phone to a desk phone and back again.

Google said GrandCentral will temporarily not allow new subscribers to sign up: it will soon launch a new beta version of GrandCentral, which will be accessible by a group of first-come, first-serve testers. Existing GrandCentral subscribers will be able to continue using the service uninterrupted, however.

For more on Google's latest buy:
- read this blog post from the company