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http://remind101.com/

If you have never heard of Remind101, you are in for a treat! This hidden gem touts itself as a “Safe way for teacher to text message students and stay in touch with parents. Free!”

So many districts have policies in place that disallow teachers from sending text messages to students. But text messaging is probably the most effective way to get in touch with students- and in many cases, parents as well. Email is quickly becoming outdated, especially among students. This awesome site allows teachers to send out a text message to whoever opts-in to receive the text message. Here are some caveats to this free service:

• Teacher creates account and a unique code is generated
• Teacher can print a customized instruction sheet for students/parents
• Students and parents can then opt-in to see the messages sent by texting the code to the given number (will be long distance in most cases)
• The teacher sends a text message to Remind101 who then relays the message to users
• The teacher never sees the student/parent phone numbers, but can see the names of the people receiving the messages
• It’s one-way messaging: students and parents cannot send a text message back like normal text conversations
• If a student/parent doesn’t have SMS, they can opt to receive the text message via email
• Teacher can have up to 10 classes
• Teacher can schedule when text messages are to be sent
• History of teacher’s messages is kept to know what was sent and when

Imagine the possibilities for sending out reminders:

• upcoming tests
• extra-curricular events
• last-minute alerts
• links to study resources
• and lots more!

Personally, I have tried out the service with my church’s LifeGroup so I can send messages to the group throughout the week. I simply type the message and schedule it to be sent. It has been awesome!

https://www.dialmycalls.com

You know those annoying recorded messages you get as soon as you sit down to dinner? You answer to find yourself talking to a recording from a politician urging you to vote his way in the upcoming election. Or worse, it’s a debt collector giving instructions on how to save your credit rating. Now, you too, can be one of those voices!

That’s right- and yes, for free* (limited, see below)- imagine delivering a recorded message to your students, parents, or colleagues without having to call each one of them! It’s great, you gotta try it!

So it’s simple. You record your message via phone (or upload), enter contact information, decide which contacts will get the message and when. Then sit back and relax.

Features to know: Continue reading

http://www.phonemyphone.com/

Admit it! You’ve done it once or twice. You’ve faked it, haven’t you? I mean you’ve faked receiving an important call to get you out of some uncomfortable situation. It’s OK, we won’t tell anyone. As a matter of fact, we’ll help you add a layer of realism to your charade. With this handy tool, you simply enter your phone number (U.S. or Canada only) and tell it when you want it to call you- now or later!

There are lots of legitimate uses… wake-up calls, reminder calls, get you out of that boring meeting calls… whatever! Best of all, it’s free and simple!

www.slydial.com

Admit it- there have been many times when you needed to deliver a message to someone (say a parent) but you really didn’t have time for a long drawn out conversation. You know- those times when you make that call and pray for voice mail or the answering machine instead of the potentially-volatile person on the other end. Yeah, we’ve all been there. And now, our prayers for getting the call to go to voice mail directly have been answered!

The folks over at SlyDial have made it easy! Just call the SlyDial number Continue reading

http://www.google.com/goog411/

When I am out and about in the car I often need to make a phone call, but I don’t have the number with me. I can call information, but the charges on my cell phone are ridiculous! GOOG-411 can change that! GOOG-411 is a free service provide by Google to allow you to request a business (unfortunately it doesn’t have residential service included at this time) number and then it will place the call for you.

When you call 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) it will ask for the business name and then what city and state. GOOG-411 uses speech recognition to generate a list of businesses that fit the description. It usually reads the top eight listings. You can select one of those choices, or ask for more results. You can also “go back” if the choices aren’t what you were looking for. GOOG-411 can also find results based on categories if you don’t know the business name. Continue reading