[real-eyes] Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone
- From: "Jose Lopez" <crunch1@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 05:12:11 -0600
Tech Update of the New York Times and Information Week
_next article
Thursday, November 23, 2006
State of the Art
Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone
By [4]DAVID POGUE
Thanksgiving, is it? Well, despite occasional headaches, technology
has also brought us plenty to be thankful for: safety, convenience and
entertainment on the go. Next time you're running late, lost or
lonely, ask yourself: aren't you grateful for your cellphone?
Actually, don't answer yet. With every passing month, cellphones are
becoming even more useful. Sure, it's nice that they let you call
people from the road. But lately, their reach has grown, thanks to
clever programmers making links between the cellular world and the
Internet.
Here, for your gratitude-generating pleasure, is a rundown of some of
the most exciting and powerful services awaiting your cellphone at
this very moment. Better yet, at the moment, they're all free.
FREE DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE By this time, it's quite clear that nobody
with a "$50 a month" calling plan actually pays only $50 a month. The
cellphone companies will do anything to puff up your bill -- like
charging you $1.50 or $2 every time you dial 411 to find a phone
number.
Try 800-FREE-411 (800-373-3411) instead. A computer or human being
looks up a number for you at no charge, once you've listened to a
20-second ad. It's a classic time-for-money swap.
Or, for an ad-free option, there is a little-known [5]Google service.
Send a text message to 46645 (that's "Google"; leave off the last E
for efficiency). In the body of the message, type what you're looking
for, like "Roger McBride 10025" or "chiropractor dallas tx." Seconds
later, you get a return message from Google, complete with the name,
address, and phone number.
FREE ANSWERS Google's 46645 text-messaging service can fetch much more
than phone numbers. It can also send you the weather report (in the
body, type, for example, "weather sacramento"), stock quotes ("amzn"),
where a movie is showing nearby (type "flushed away 44120"), what a
word means ("define schadenfreude"), driving directions ("miami fl to
60609"), unit conversions ("liters in 5 gallons"), currency
conversions ("25 usd in euros"), and so on.
Every cell carrier charges for text messages -- about 10 cents each,
unless you have a plan that includes them. But Google itself doesn't
charge for any of this. It's not only ad-free, it's free free.
If you prefer conducting your research missions by voice, call
800-555-TELL (800-555-8355). A cheerful recorded voice invites you to
say "Travel," "Traffic," "News Center," "Stock Quotes," and so on. The
system is smart enough to know your location, which pays off when you
say "Movies," "Restaurants," "Driving directions" or "Taxi." (This
service, run by Tellme Networks as a showcase for its corporate
voice-recognition technology, also lets you say "Time" when you're
setting your watch -- a blast from phone companies past.)
FREE INTERNATIONAL CALLS You can now call any of 50 countries from the
United States, free. Talk as long as you like. You pay only for a call
to the access number in Iowa, which is 712-858-8883; if you use your
cellphone on nights or weekends, even that's a free call.
There's no contract, no ads, nothing to sign up for. At the prompt,
press 1 for English. Then punch in 011, the country code and the phone
number. The call rings through immediately.
Fine print: In some countries, you can reach only landlines, not
cellphones. And in part because FuturePhone's lines have been flooded,
its success at placing calls is not, ahem, 100 percent.
But it's hard to argue with "free," which, according to the company,
it will be until at least 2010.
FREE `PINGS' Pinger is a new way to reach someone: a method that
combines the immediacy of a text message with the personality of voice
mail. (You can sign up at [6]Pinger.com.) You call one of Pinger's
access numbers, say the name of the person you're calling, and then
speak a message.
Suppose you've just pinged your sister. She receives a text message to
let her know. With one keystroke, she can hear your message -- and
with another, send a voice reply. There's no waiting to roll over to
voice mail, no listening to instructions, no outbound greetings.
Because Pinger is much faster and more direct than voice mail, it's
great for sending quick voice notes when you're driving or walking
between meetings. It's also ideal when you can't risk being stuck in a
20-minute conversation with no polite way out.
Bonus features: You can broadcast a message to a whole group at once
("Baby girl, seven pounds -- mom doing well!"), forward a message to a
third party (any cellphone carrier), or retrieve and manage your
messages on the Web.
Pinger is free until the new year. Even then, you'll get 10 or 20 free
pings a month (details aren't complete); additional pings will cost a
few cents each. Pinger says it's working to fix the biggest downside,
which is that you can't ping someone's phone (only the person's e-mail
address) until they've signed up for a free account.
FREE FUN YouMail, also in beta testing, is also dissatisfied with
traditional voice mail. Its solution, though, is a complete surgical
replacement of your carrier's voice mail system. When you sign up at
[7]youmail.com, you're instructed to reprogram your cellphone by
typing in a series of codes. When it's over, YouMail is your
voice-mail service -- not your cell carrier.
Why bother? First, because you can record a separate greeting for
everyone you know. Your boss will hear you say: "This is Casey Robin,
systems manager at Globodyne Technology. I'll get back to you
promptly. After all -- your business is our business."
Your love interest, however, will hear: "Hey there, huggalump. Miss
you. Leave me a massage."
(Hint: Don't mix them up.)
You can even treat certain callers to something called Ditchmail.
That's when they hear, "This user is currently not accepting new
messages. Goodbye!" (Disgruntled exes come to mind.)
For everyone else, you just record a generic greeting. You can also
check your messages from the Web or any phone, save memorable ones to
your computer, and forward messages to other people.
The Web site is still glitchy -- for starters, a fix for Macs is in
the works -- and switching back to your old voice mail if you don't
care for YouMail isn't exactly a one-click operation. But over all,
YouMail is fun, and it has real uses; for example, you can let your
friends know that you're away on vacation, but not people who don't
need to know.
YouMail, too, is free during its testing phase; after the new year, it
will be free if you're willing to endure ads, and a few dollars a
month otherwise. Note that YouMail isn't ideal if you have [8]Sprint,
which charges you for "conditional forwarding" -- a feature that
YouMail requires.
Frankly, it is worth a few dollars to escape the minutes-burning,
recorded instructions of cellular voice mail systems: "To leave a
message, speak at the tone. When you're finished, you may hang up ...
."
FREE PRICE COMPARISONS As you head out to the seething malls for
holiday shopping, your cellphone can do more than tell your family
you're stuck in traffic. It can also save you money.
As you inspect something you're tempted to buy, dial 888-Do-Frucall
(888-363-7822; leave off the last two L's for -- well, for now). When
prompted, plug in the bar code on the package. After a 10-second ad, a
voice is usually successful in identifying the item by name ("Luv's
Diapers Value Pack, 208 Diapers Variation -- not available used"), and
provides the prices from three sample online stores.
It's a disruptive little technology -- doomsday, really, to a "we'll
beat any price" retailer. Frankly, the whole comparison concept seems
a little unfair: How is a physical store supposed to match the prices
of online outfits with much lower expenses for rent, clerks, taxes and
so on?
Still, Frucall may let you know when you're about to make an expensive
mistake, and occasionally provide ammo for negotiating.
All right, it's a stretch to think that you'll be making free services
like these part of your official, solemn, dinnertime thanksgiving. But
it's entirely possible that they may one day get you out of a pinch or
save you a little time or money. Surely that will merit at least a
little "Hey, thanks!" in your head.
E-mail:
pogue@xxxxxxxxxxx
"PLEASE NOTE: The Missouri Bar Chief Disciplinary Counsel recommends
all Missouri lawyers notify recipients of e-mail that (1) e-mail
communication is not a secure method of communication; (2) any e-mail
that is sent to you or by you may be copied and held by various
computers it passes through as it goes from me to you or vice versa; and
(3) persons not participating in our communication may intercept our
communications by improperly accessing your computer or my computer or
even some computer unconnected to either of us which the e-mail passed
through. I am communicating to you via e-mail because you have consented
to receive communications via this medium. If you change your mind and
want future communications to be sent in a different fashion, That's just too
bad.
To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options, go to
www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes
Other related posts:
- » [real-eyes] Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone
