Family on the Phone

Overheard on Twitter:

I know you are all so busy. It seems like we can’t go anywhere or do anything these days without multitasking. Our cell phones can be pretty handy for helping us stay on top of appointments, keeping our address book at our fingertips, allowing us to interact on the web or letting us check the news, weather, or sports scores. If you are like me though and don’t have a fancy smartphone with internet access, you might feel like you are missing out. Well, I have made a discovery which you might be interested in – Jott.

Actually, it’s a re-discovery. I first learned about Jott quite a while ago. At that time, it was a free service that basically allowed you to send memos and   calendar reminders to your e-mail inbox over the phone. It had limited usability in my opinion and I never really used it much nor had I even thought about it in a while. With all the hoopla in the media though about Google Voice, I decided to go research Jott just to see if it was still around. I must say I am quite impressed with what I found. (more…)

So many people are far too careless about leaving their cell phones lying around. Here’s a good reason not to do that.

place holder

I found this cute video today and thought some of you might appreciate it.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Do you know about Google Voice? I remember reading about it quite a while ago but forgot about it until all the recent buzz online got my attention again. It’s one of the newest of the newfangled ways to keep in touch – no matter where you are or what phone happens to be handy.

Instead of trying to completely re-invent the wheel, I’ll just let you check out the official website to learn all the details. If you already have a Google account, you can log in there and request an invitation to Google Voice. It is still in its early stages so you may have to be patient.  While you are waiting, you can find lots of info about Google Voice and various Google Voice apps for cell phones online. Here’s a video you can start with.

One important change has already been implamented in Google Voice  since this video was made. It seems you can now use an existing phone number instead of (or along with) a Google assigned number. Some of the functions are not accessible if you use an existing number however so be sure to check here for a comparison and a couple more videos.

I think this new service could prove to be very handy. How about you? If I ever get my invitation from Google, I’ll try it out and give you an update.

Conference calling has found it’s way from the corporate board meeting to the small business or home based business and even to local volunteer organizations. With easy-to-use low-cost – even free –  options now available, even the most frugal and tech challenged among us can host or participate in a conference call.

What is a conference call?

Basically, a conference call is a phone based meeting. Participants usually call in to a pre-set phone number, dial in a code and can then hear and talk to the other participants in the call. The call is usually hosted by one administrator who can set certain perimeters to the call. Some of the settings a host might make use of are opening/closing the conference room, recording the call, muting out all participants except for the main speaker, or opening lines for questions. In a typical call, all participants can chat with each other before and after the meeting but during the meeting, the lines will usually be muted so that the only one heard is the main speaker.  Sometimes, there will be a question and answer period where participants can either un-mute their lines individually or this may be done by the host in order for questions to be asked of the speaker. (more…)

I ran across this today and thought some of you might be interested. You could win the hottest new Blackberry worth over $740 or a $50 gift certificate to Crackberry.com. Even if you are not one to go in for contests, this is an opportunity to find out how to make your own ringtones with Ringtone Expressions. Find out all the details here. I would like to include a family friendly warning here. Some of the lyrics for the demo ringtones are somewhat suggestive. Please don’t even bother to listen to them if you are easily offended. The video below will show you step by step how to enter the contest.

Just thought I would share with you a cute commercial for Microsoft’s new Marketplace for Mobile. Though poking fun at themselves, this also appears to be a (good-natured?) swipe at the iphone Mobile App Store

The iphone App Store claims, “Your iphone gets better with every new app.” Is that really true?

If you need proof that there really are some completely useless iphone apps out there, just take a look at this site or this one or even this…well, you get the picture. Don’t get me wrong. I am just as much in awe of the iphone as anyone else but with over 75,000 apps available, there have to be a couple of duds right?

Microsoft is barely out of the gate with it’s Marketplace for Mobile and only time will tell if they will really be able to keep up the quality control. Personally, I’m not sure this commercial gives me a lot of confidence.

Best wishes Microsoft!

Since I have been discussing teens and cell phones this week, I thought I should address the question of how to avoid misuse or abuse of phone privileges by our teens. To be fair though, it isn’t just teenagers who can overuse their phones. I will admit to being the chatty one in our family.

Measuring out the minutes.

When you first purchase a phone for your teen, it is important to make sure they understand the rules about phone use. Make sure they know how many minutes they can use each month and how to check their usage. There is usually a way to check how many minutes have been used in the current billing cycle right from the phone. Check with your cell company to get instructions on how to do this. Depending on your phone plan, there may be times such as nights and weekends when minutes are “free” or do not count towards your usage. (more…)

Since text messaging is so popular – especially among teenagers – I thought it might be a good idea to post some information on how to save money on texting services. It is baffling to me why the cell phone companies charge such exorbitant fees for text messages. Twenty cents for each message sent and received is not unusual. That’s forty cents for every single text message that goes through the system. This is in addition to your regular service fees of course. Personally, I think this is highway robbery.

Good things often come in packages.

You are probably already aware that most (if not all) cell phone carriers offer some kind of texting package. They may offer a certain number of text messages at a discount or even a completely unlimited texting package. Depending on your needs, one of these may save you some money. For Instance, Verizon offers unlimited texting to any other Verizon customer and 250 additional text messages to anyone for about $10 a month. They also offer a completely unlimited texting package for about $20 a month. You will need to check with your cell phone provider for their plans and pricing. (more…)