New Google service

Google has expanded access to its new Voice telephone service, which gives users a single telephone number and voice mail box for their home and cell phones.

The Mountain View Internet company announced Voice three months ago, but only made it available to users of its predecessor calling service, GrandCentral. Now it’s broadening the availability to people who preregistered for invitations.

The timing of a full public version is unclear.

Google Voice acts as a central hub for people to make and manage their phone calls. In addition to giving users a single number, it offers free domestic calls, paid international calls and automatic transcription of voice mails (granted, the transcription is far from perfect).

People can choose their telephone number from those that Google has made available for the service.

Sign-ups for invitations are still being accepted at www.google.com/voiceinvite.

Separately, Google has introduced City Tours, an experimental product in its Labs area that highlights walking tours of various cities, including San Francisco. Call it Google’s first foray into tourism, albeit in a very limited way.

Enter “San Francisco” into the search box and you get a map of the city onto which a circuit is plotted that includes the Civic Center, Coit Tower and Fisherman’s Wharf. In a column on the left side of the page are a list of the sites, the recommended amount of time to spend and the distance in minutes. Users can rate each site.

The service has potential, if for example, people could post photos or rate nearby restaurants. For now, it’s not possible.

Also, the suggested itineraries aren’t always on the mark. Enter “Pleasanton,” for instance, and you get a tour that goes all the way to near Fremont and back, a distance of probably 25 miles, which isn’t particularly pedestrian friendly.