Archive for August, 2006

Mobile Phone Reminders

Monday, August 28th, 2006

rminder is an interesting new service: after registering, you can type a reminder into the web page — at the appropriate day and time, the service will call you and read the reminder. It's a simple and effective reminder service for mobile phone users. You can get up to 8 reminders per month (2 per week) for free. For $3-$9 per month, the service provides 15 to 60 monthly reminder calls. The pay service adds recurring reminders, customized reminders, and other features.

Bonus cool feature: it integrates with several calendar tools (including Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, and others) to remind you of the things that are already in your calendar app.

Try rminder

Get a “personal” call from Samuel L. Jackson

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006

This promo for the movie Snakes on a Plane will send a free personalized voice message from Samuel L. Jackson to the victim… er, friend, of your choosing. The web site asks several questions about your friend (hobby, mode of transportation, etc.) to create a personalized, automated, phone call.

Create a Snakes on a Plane phone call

Valpak VIP Grandstand Getaway Sweepstakes

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006

In the Valpak VIP Grandstand Getaway Sweepstakes phone-in sweepstakes, you can win a 3-day trip to the NASCAR race of your choosing, or one of ten $1,000 first prizes. To enter, call 1-800-595-3293. U.S. and Canadian residents over 18 may call once a day through September 8, 2006.

Conference call service

Thursday, August 17th, 2006

Need to host a large teleconference? The folks at FreeConferenceCall.com have added a new conferencing service that supports oodles of simultaneous listeners. SimpleEvent allows a conference organizer to add up to 96 speakers/panelists, while simultaneously having up to 1,000 "listen-only" participants attend a conference call. Some of the cool features include unlimited call duration, a private moderator sub-conference line, and international access. There are two versions of the service: a free one (in which callers dial a long-distance number in the U.S.) and a pay one (in which callers can use a toll-free number.)

Go to SimpleEvent

Who is Calling Me?

Friday, August 4th, 2006

Vigilante action against telemarketers! I love this.

When the phone rings and you don't recognize the caller's number on the caller ID, and caller ID says "Name Unavailable", chances are it's a telemarketer. Who Called Us is a site that pools information about those mysterious calls. Start by searching for the phone number that called you: you'll see how many other people they've called and when. Read the comments section, where other victims post what they know about the calling company, and share what you know. You'll even see a graphical map showing where that number has been calling.

There's lots of interesting info on the homepage, including the numbers that call the most and the ones with the most user comments.