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Ed. note: When we saw that Wichita-based coder Chad Smith had automated Google Voice phone ringing with GPS, we had to ask for details. With an Android phone, a $10 app, and some web server space, here's how he pulled it off.

Besides a killer algorithm and brand-name recognition, Google's greatest strength is its speed at releasing new products. We get to play with new, cool, and ever-improving tools for free. Recently, though, we've seen that being unwitting lab subjects can kind of stink.

Google Voice may have its own mobile webapp now, but it doesn't provide notifications on your phone when you get new SMS messages. Free web service GVMax solves this problem by putting full SMS support into email and IM on your smartphone.

Google Voice hasn't been in the spotlight much since the iPhone debacle, but Google continues to pack on the features. If you're still not sure what Google Voice has to offer, here's Google's comprehensive Voice guide in video form.

A while back we highlighted a Google Voice Quick Reference cheatsheet you can keep near your phone that lays out Google Voice's voicemail menu tree so you can quickly skip to whatever action you want.

We haven't seen any official announcement, but a few eagle-eyed readers pointed out that the Google Voice web interface now allows users to send text messages to multiple recipients.To send multi-recipient SMS, just click the SMS button, start typing in recipients in the Gmail-style auto-complete box, and send away. Nothing much to it beyond that, but it's a great—and much-requested—feature addition. Thanks Joseph and Farhood!

iPhone/Palm Pre: Apple and/or AT&T don't want the Google Voice service to have its own iPhone app, and we think that stinks. Google is finally releasing the next best thing: a mobile site that basically replicates a dedicated Google Voice app.

Sure Google Voice already offers a significant improvement on your default voicemail, but they've just made it even better by speeding up voicemail access with two smart and simple improvements:

Google Chrome: Google Voice Notifier, one of the 18 extensions we loved at launch, has seen a major update. It now converts phone numbers on the web to automatic dialing links, and initiates calls and text messages from a drop-down box.