Teaching an old phone new tricks

Let’s say you don’t have the latest smart phone and the data plan to go with it. And let’s say you don’t like calling 411 for phone numbers or locations. Just text a name and a ZIP code to Google at G-O-O-G-L (46645). In seconds, text messages will start hitting your phone with the phone number and address.

Text the name of a movie and a ZIP code, and showtimes as well as locations appear. Got a hankering for nearby sushi or pizza? Just type the kind of food and the ZIP. Of course, you have to pay for the text message. But it’s definitely less than the cost of directory assistance.

But that’s not all, people. Get weather reports by keying in the word “weather” and your city. Check flight arrivals and departures by typing in the word “flight” and the two-letter airline code and flight number. Type “stock” and the ticker symbol to get market quotes. Additional mobile functions include: currency conversions, sports scores, simple translations, calculators and even a dictionary. Now why is Google providing this nice app, for free? Are they collecting data? Are they still figuring out how to monetize SMS? Who knows? In the meantime, start answering questions with your phone.

UPDATE: David Pogue just wrote about a few more freebies that’ll make any cell phone smarter. Call ChaCha (800-2CHACHA), ask a question and you’ll get the answer in a text message. Dial 800-GOOG-411 and you get free directory assistance, connecting automatically. Jott is a 21st century dictaphone. After pre-registering, call 866-JOTT123 and leave a message. A transcription of your message lands in your phone’s inbox moments later. Reqall (888-9REQALL) works in a similar fashion.

London calling, Gotham answering

There’s a new way for folks in New York City and London to communicate with each other, at least through June 15. “Hardly anyone knows that a secret tunnel runs deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. In May 2008, more than a century after it was begun, the tunnel has finally been completed. An extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope has been installed at both ends which miraculously allows people to see right through the Earth from London to New York.” Well, that’s what the official Web site says. And the whole set-up has a definite 19th century, Jules Verne, retrotech look to it.


In reality, the installation is the work of artist Paul St. George with able assists from fiber-optic cable and the übercreative production company Artichoke. The official Telectroscope site describes St. George’s m.o.: “His practice as an artist has always been concerned with questioning the relationship between the viewer and what is being viewed. His work is also often associated with different realities, spectacle and viewer participation.”

The New York Times elaborates further: “Mr. St. George hopes that people will use his device in surprising ways — to hold dance-offs, say, or propose marriage via placards. (The Telectroscope has no audio component ‘because I thought then people would just stand still and use it like a telephone,’ he said.)” His production partner Artichoke is the supertalented bunch of people who produced the Sultan’s Elephant spectacular on the streets of London two summers ago. Grants from the British government and private-sector sponsorships are footing most of the bill, which is running about $787,000. Viewings are free in Brooklyn. But in London, where everything is always more expensive, it costs £1.