Earlier this week, Google Voice opened up to everyone in the US. The phone management app is great, but there are even cooler hacks under the hood. Here are our favorite tricks that every Google Voice user should know.

If you’re just signing up for Google Voice and wondering what it’s good for in general, we’ve previously shared our thoughts on whether Google Voice makes sense for you and how to ease the transition to your new number and system. Google Voice also offers the option to use it for voicemail only and keep your number, but you don’t get many of the SMS features touted here. Now, onto Voice’s lesser-known benefits and features:

It's not a "hidden" feature per se, but it's not made clear that you can have Google Voice email you when you get a new voicemail or text message, and that you can respond to those text messages from within your email client. Since they come from a standard txt.voice.google.com, they're also easy to filter and set alerts for. If you're a Gmail user, you can also play messages directly in Gmail and they'll be marked as played in your Voice account. (Original post)

Free internet calling service Skype is a very cheap way to call a landline from your computer. However, one major drawback is that the people you call are unlikely to recognize the caller and your number may change every time you call. However, Google Voice has set up their servers to allow you to set your Google Voice number as your Skype caller ID. Commenter downdb explains the step-by-step process, which generally involves confirming an SMS code and waiting for Skype to change your number.