What's Online

In the past I’ve created some online resources that I’ve mentioned many times: smartphonemag.com/bestsites.asp, which is a categorized listing of hundreds of the top Windows Mobile Web sites, and smartphonemag.com/mobile/mobile.asp, which is a listing of mobile portals.

I’ve recently developed a new page that lists free phone resources. In this column I present many of the services collected that are listed at smartphonemag.com/bestphoneresources.asp.

It’s amazing what’s out there: free services for getting quick information, blasting SMS text messages to groups, setting up individually tailored outgoing messages, translating voice messages to text and forwarding them to yourself or others, setting up a single phone number for your various phone services, and much more.

Free sources for quick information

There are a number of services that give you free information when you’re on the go, and you don’t need to have a data plan or surf the Internet. Instead, all you have to do is make a phone call or send a text message.

Tellme is the granddaddy of these services. Dial 800-555-TELL (8355) for news, weather, sports, stock quotes, business listings, driving directions, movie times, horoscope, and more. When you call, you’re presented with a voice menu, and you speak your selection. It works well and is very useful.

Live Search 411 (livesearch411.com) is a fairly new service from Microsoft. Dial 800-225-5411 (800-CALL 411) and say the city and state, then ask for the business or business category. Finally, say “Connect me” to be connected to the business. You can also ask for a text message with a link to a map that directs you to the business. You can also ask for the Other Services menu, which as of this writing offers weather, movie, and travel information, as well as sources of cheap gasoline. Note that Microsoft purchased Tellme last year, so Live Search 411 may essentially be the same technology. But they do seem to have different offerings and a different menu structure.

Google 411 (google.com/goog411) is similar to Live Search 411. Dial 800-466-4411 (800-GOOG-411).

Dialing DIR-ECT-IONS (dialdirections.com) lets you ask for directions to any address, store, or event. Dial 347-328-4667 (DIR-ECT-IONS) and the service will ask you for your start and destination. It then instantly texts back turn-by-turn directions.

Google SMS(google.com/sms) lets you text a query to 466453 (GOOGLE), and get a text response. You can ask questions about news, weather, sports, glossary, movies, stocks, Zip Codes, directions, maps, flights, area codes, products, airlines, translation, calculators, airports, currency conversion, and more.

After you join the Mosio mobile community (mosio.com), you can send any question via SMS to the community and up to four real people respond with an answer. The quality of responses varies, and the service works best with questions that have short, straightforward answers.

Voicemail on steroids