All you cool kids probably knew about these things already, but I didn't, so I will share. Direct from O, the Oprah Magazine, one of my favorite airport reads (a women's magazine with a book section! One that means it!):
- Talkster, a phone service that lets you make free international calls -- even cell phone to cell phone -- in exchange for listening to a ten-second ad. KTBB and I tried it out today, and it's a little confusing to set up, but very cool if it works long term.
- Google 411. Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and put the power of Google to work from your phone. (The ArsTechnica blog says that Microsoft's LiveSearch 411 is superior, though: 1-800-CALL-411.)
Posts
Thanks for flagging these... I've heard of Talkster and started using it during the holidays to do family group calls (those are free too) with my parents and grandparents, which worked as promised. One neat feature that I found was that while it took a few minutes to set-up the first time, after that it was really easy. I just saved the number they gave me for our group in my phone and just clicked on it to dial the next time. Saved me some serious money at Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, and got my parents and grandparents used to hearing from me and the kids (so now we are calling all the time).
ReplyDeleteAnother favorite application I've been using lately (this one wasn't featured in O - The Oprah Magazine though) is Dial Directions. It's also free. You actually dial the word d-i-r-e-c-t-i-o-n-s from your mobile phone and speak the location of where you are and where you want to go. You can even say things like "Starbucks" or "The Gap" and it will give you a choice of the closest shops. Once you confirm the destination it will text message you the directions, turn by turn. I've found myself using it a lot lately, especially when traveling.
Thanks again for the tip on Talkster (try the free group calling feature next time you want to talk with more than one person at a time) and Google 411 (another cool service).