Google releases software to manage phones online

Google Inc., owner of the world's most popular search engine, is releasing software that allows users to manage their phone messages via the Web, similar to the way they handle e-mails or online calendars.

The program, called Google Voice, takes voice mails from multiple phone lines and turns them into text files, allowing users to quickly search through messages. The software is an upgrade of a product gained from Google's 2007 acquisition of GrandCentral Communications. It will be available to GrandCentral customers today, with a broader U.S. release within a few weeks.

"We don't displace the phone on your desk, or the phone in your pocket, or the phone in your home -- all we do is make them work better together," said Craig Walker, a senior product manager.

Google is developing software that pulls more offline information onto the Web, an effort to generate traffic on its site and draw users away from rivals Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.

GrandCentral, which hasn't accepted new customers since last year, introduced the initial product in late 2006.