Activate Google Voice From Anywhere

One day I decided to create a new shiny(?) Google account, but I immediately realized that I was not able to use Google Voice, because when the dialer window popped up, the message “Please wait while we prepare your account, this may take a minute” stayed there forever. I could dial, but I simply could not call.

This is understandable, since Google Voice currently is only available in the US. So, the solution? I have a very easy one — Find an US proxy :)

Once I switched to an US proxy to visit the Gmail page again, everything started to work! And after the initial setup was done, Google Voice remained working without the need of an US proxy.

Checkbox! For what?

Update: tombyong informed me that those checkboxes were gone about 2.5 hours after this post. Thanks, tombyong!

When I logged in my iGoogle today, I immediately spotted a change in the Gmail gadget: There is a checkbox sitting beside each Email title!

IMAGE IS MISSING, SORRY!

When I saw these checkboxes, I thought the Gmail gadget would finally add “Delete” and/or “Report Spam” features, so that I could do “More Actions” right within my iGoogle. But After searching and searching around the gadget, I couldn’t find any new feature out there…

So, what are these checkboxes for? Is it a mistake or is anything new undergoing there?