Google Call Phone is the latest Gmail feature from the search engine leader Google. The new feature enable Gmail users to make free calls on US and Canada right straight from your computer. Other countries are also available with very low calling rates. Google Call Phone is available on both PC-to-PC and PC-to-Phone calls. All you need to have are the following: a Gmail account, headset and enough credit (if you’re calling other countries outside the US and Canada). For a complete list of international call rates of Google Call Phone, click here.

Here’s how to start using the Google Call Phone and benefit from such a great Gmail messaging feature.

First, you need to sign-up for a Gmail account if you don’t have one yet — from this link. When and if you have a Gmail account already, login to your account and sign-in to Google Chat.

Once logged in to Google Chat, download and install the Google voice and video setup installer from here.

After the plugin is installed, you can now start making calls by choosing the destination country of the number you’d be calling. No need to pay for a monthly subscription to use the service (I hope it stays that way, please Google).

Below is a short comparison of the call rates of Google Call Phone and Skype for calls going to the Philippines on both landline and mobile numbers.

Skype

Google Call Phone

A short comparison of the call rates from the rest of the service providers.

Based on the above figures, is Google now grabbing the crown from Skype? What do you think?

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I know this is a bit late for this software to be posted here but I am posting it anyway for the sake of those people who didn’t know its existence. Late last year, Microsoft released its own version of anti-virus and anti-spyware program for windows, and since it’s microsoft brewed program; I believe it will work well on windows much better than any other anti-virus or anti-spyware programs which most of the time gives a lot of false positives. Above all, Microsoft Security Essentials is free; of course, you need a genuine version of windows to install it on your computer.

The following are the key features of Microsoft Security Essentials:

* Comprehensive malware protection
* Simple, free download*
* Automatic updates
* Easy to use

To download a copy and install it on your computer, just follow this link.

It’s actually great and a good sign that Microsoft is moving on providing a much secure system by developing an anti-virus software for windows, however, I am crossing my fingers if this will really work well on all windows-based systems.

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Here’s a code for fetching weather data from Google server through its undocumented weather Application Programming Interface (API) which was developed for use with iGoogle. The code below is part of the Flight Information Display System (FIDS) I’ve developed for some airline company few years ago.

Attribute VB_Name = "weatherData"
Dim xmlWeather As MSXML2.XMLHTTP60
Dim xmlWeatherResult As String
Dim xmlWeatherData As MSXML2.DOMDocument60
Dim xmlWeatherDataElement As MSXML2.IXMLDOMElement
Dim weatherCondition As String
Dim weatherTempC As String
Dim weatherTempF As String
Public destWeatherData As String

Public Function getWeatherData(wLocation As String)
    On Error Resume Next

    Set xmlWeather = New MSXML2.XMLHTTP60
        xmlWeather.open "GET", "http://www.google.com/ig/api?weather=" & Replace(wLocation, " ", "%20") & "&hl=en", False
        xmlWeather.send
        xmlWeatherResult = xmlWeather.responseXML.xml

    If InStr(1, xmlWeatherResult, "temp_c", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
        Set xmlWeatherData = New MSXML2.DOMDocument60
        xmlWeatherData.loadXML (xmlWeatherResult)

        Set xmlWeatherDataElement = xmlWeatherData.selectSingleNode("//condition")
            weatherCondition = xmlWeatherDataElement.getAttribute("data")

        Set xmlWeatherDataElement = xmlWeatherData.selectSingleNode("//temp_c")
            weatherTempC = xmlWeatherDataElement.getAttribute("data")

        Set xmlWeatherDataElement = xmlWeatherData.selectSingleNode("//temp_f")
            weatherTempF = xmlWeatherDataElement.getAttribute("data")

        If weatherTempC <> "" And weatherTempF <> "" Then
            destWeatherData = weatherTempC & "C / " & weatherTempF & "F"
        End If
    End If
End Function

This part of the code goes to your form.

Private Sub cmdFetchWeather_Click()
    If comboNewDestination.Text <> "" Then
        getWeatherData (comboNewDestination.Text & ",Philippines")

        If destWeatherData <> "" Then
            txtNewWeather.Text = destWeatherData
            destWeatherData = ""
        Else
            MsgBox "Weather data not available, Please try again later!", vbOKOnly + vbCritical, "Error Fetching Weather Data"
            txtNewWeather.Text = ""
        End If

    End If
End Sub

I’ll probably find more goodies from my old cranky drive so stay tune as I intend to post everything I’ll find useful there.

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Here’s a snippet for connecting to MySQL db server from Visual basic. I’ve found it while trying to clean up an old hard drive. It’s quite primitive but I believe still of use for someone.

Option Explicit
Public conn As ADODB.Connection
Public rs As ADODB.Recordset

Public Function myConnect(dbHost As String, dbUser As String, dbPass As String, dbName As String, dbPort As Integer) 'Connect to MySQL server

    Dim constr As String

    constr = "Provider=MSDASQL.1;Password=;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=;Extended Properties=" & Chr$(34) & "DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 5.1 Driver};DESC=;DATABASE=" & dbName & ";SERVER=" & dbHost & ";UID=" & dbUser & ";PASSWORD=" & dbPass & ";PORT=" & dbPort & ";OPTION=16387;Max Pool Size=10000;STMT=;" & Chr$(34)
    Set conn = New ADODB.Connection
    conn.Open constr

End Function

Public Function dbQuery(QueryString As String)

    Set rs = New ADODB.Recordset
    rs.Open QueryString, conn, adOpenUnspecified, adLockUnspecified

End Function

Public Function dbClose()
    If rs.State = 1 Then
        rs.Close
    End If
End Function

I will surely post more here later as I might find more goodies on this cranky drive.

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