Category Archives: Life

Free Google Voice calls with T-Mobile myFaves

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The following violates the fine-print for the MyFaves plans and I do not suggest you break rules. As mentioned by Josiah in the comments, the following guide goes against this statement on T-Mobile’s website: “Your five numbers must be US domestic numbers and must not include … customers’ own numbers; and single numbers allowing access to 500 or more persons.”

Some quick background: I’ve been a long-time customer of T-Mobile and have been extremely happy with their service. There have been four or five of us (friends and family) on a myFaves FamilyPlan for over four years now. We have free Mobile-to-Mobile, nights and weekends, unlimited SMS, five unlimited-call myFaves contacts and 700 minutes to share. With the $6 T-Zones internet, I pay only $37/month. life is good.

But it gets better. I rarely, if ever, am forced to use our daytime minutes thanks to Google Voice (formerly, GrandCentral).

Add your Google Voice number as a Fave

fave5

It’s not crazy, you do want your own phone number as a contact. Once you add your number to your MyFaves you can receive and make calls from/to that number with no charge. But first, make sure you set your incoming calls to display your Google Voice number instead of the caller’s number (so the calls appear from your MyFave contact):

Google Voice Set Caller ID

Why is this awesome? You never use your minutes and have more than one way to complete a call:

Google Voice call

  1. Call your number, dial a number: though not very practical, when you dial your Google Voice number from one of your existing phones (added to your Voice account) you are then prompted to listen to voicemail OR press 2 to dial a call. You can then dial a number and, while you’re still on the line, Google Voice will connect the call (unlimited talk time!). Keep in mind, the receiver will see the incoming call coming from your Google Voice number.
  2. Use the web service: your Google Voice contacts are the same as those in your Gmail account. If you sync your phone’s contacts with your Google Contacts then this is a seamless integration. All of your friends’ phone numbers appear in the Google Voice dashboard and you can click to call them. You are then called (the incoming number is your Google Voice) and your friend is connected. Again, since the call was from your Voice number, no charge!
  3. Use the mobile interface: same as the web interface, you can select a contact and have Google Voice connect the call by dialing your number (incoming from your Google Voice number).
  4. iPhone app: An application called GV Mobile for the iPhoneis available in both a free and premium versions and will interface directly with your iPhone contacts. The premium version also allows you to do cool things like review your call history, incoming SMS messages (to the Voice number), and listen to voicemail. AT&T/Apple have pulled all iPhone applications for Google Voice (including an official one from Google).

Bonus: free conference calls

One thing you’ll notice about T-Mobile MyFaves is that toll and toll-free numbers can not be added as a Fave. Bummer! No free calls to customer service, conference call lines, etc. Lucky for us, there’s FreeConferenceCall.com.

FreeConferenceCall assigns you a phone number that is not a toll free dial-in (in my experience, all the numbers are area code 605). This means you can add your conference call number as a Fave, dial in, and never be charged for the call.

(or, yes, you can just connect to the conference number through Google Voice)

UPDATE: Some users have claimed that Google Voice acts as a forwarding service and you don’t need to turn on the ‘display Google Voice’ number setting in order to have your minutes counted as myFaves. This is false. I’m looking at my call records from T-Mobile and can easily identify two calls that were charged to me though they came through Google Voice number. The display number does matter. The call presentation (announcing who is calling) does not.

Making naps popular

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Ever since SXSW I’ve rethought a lot of what it is I’m doing, what my priorities are, etc. I’ve also noticed that every night I get home from work and I’m tired. Crazy huh? I also get hungry at lunch time.

But seriously, I hate getting home and not feeling motivated to do anything else. So, I’ve gone back to something I perfected in college: napping.

At the time, biphasic and polyphasic sleep were being (re)discovered online. I stopped taking naps after I started my big-boy job out of college. But now, I realize, it’d be great to take a nap and start a ‘second day’ every night.

So my schedule is as follows:

  • 08:00 AM – Wake up, go to work, etc.
  • 06:00 PM – Leave work, have dinner, etc.
  • 08:00 PM – Sleep
  • 11:00 PM – Wake up, start ‘second day’ (read, watch movies, blog, etc.)
  • 05:00 AM – Go to sleep

My body is, luckily, still used to the 80-90 minute sleep cycles so I can get away with two chunks of 3 hours and feel energized all day.

Two days in and I’ve hit the ground running. I’m pretty stoked. If you have any questions and want to try biphasic sleep / naps just leave a comment.

The Kindle looks amazing

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I had the privledge of touching a Kindle 2 at SXSW when Alex and I bumped into Brian. I learned one thing quickly: Kindle owners quickly turn into Kindle enthusiasts and evangelists.

The display is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The screen doesn’t look digital, its almost like it was ink printed right on the device. Let me reinforce: this thing looks amazing! It’s almost as cool as a Book (comic, Penny Arcade).

But, nay, I mustn’t buy one yet. With over a dozen books on my bookshelf (the real ones, dead-tree books) I shall wait until I finish those before I buy up yet another gadget that may-or-may-not persuade me to do more of something (I’m looking at you Nike Plus).

Update: I bought one! And the dead tree books are still on the shelf. :\

Things I learned at SXSWi 2009

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Just a few of the important lessons I’ve learned here in Austin.

  1. Sleep is precious.
  2. Housekeeping doesn’t know that.
  3. DodgeballFoursquare is fun to play.
  4. Companies: Twitter is not the secret to success (nor the end-game); you’re not Zappos.
  5. People really like BBQ in Texas.
  6. Gary Vaynerchuk is still a badass.
  7. But, other cyber celebrities like Scoble becomes less respectable (and relevant) each and every day.
  8. John Gruber talks the same way he writes: smartly (and hasn’t had to buy himself a drink in 7 years, his words).
  9. Companies: Despite the “convenience” of the internet, people still love picking up a phone and talking to a smart, capable human.
  10. Nerd conferences are the only place you’ll see lines for the men’s bathroom but not the women’s.

WordCamp Denver 2009

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There will be a few weeks of little things here and there, but, yes, it’s over. The first WordPress conference in Denver has come and gone and I survived. Thanks to Alex and Rachel for their help running the conference and doing the legwork I couldn’t get to. A big thanks to the volunteers who showed up early to help out: Mike, Mike, and Kristal. Finally, a big thanks to the speakers who came to speak.

So far, the feedback coming in is great. As always, you can’t please everybody all the time. Plus, shit happens; it’s to be expected. I don’t think we would’ve done too much differently, though. There are always trade-offs and I think we did the best we could given the circumstances.

Denver has attracted a ton of talent and interesting individuals and I hope WordCamp was a good event for them. I’ll post some thoughts and experiences over at Mind Averse when I get a few minutes.

Taxes filed, beware TurboTax

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I’m glad to have my taxes done and out of the way. This year (2008) was far simpler than 2006, or 2007. Back in college I had up to seven simultaneous jobs. The paperwork was painful. This year I’m down to two W-2s, my Roth IRA will be maxed out ($5,000 contribution limit, FYI) and life is good. Oh, and since I was such a charitable guy (donations to United Way), Colorado owes me $200. Sweet.

But, I learned one painful lesson: if you have started a return with TurboTax you cannot downgrade to a lesser version of the product. This makes some sense because you’re given “advice” with some of the advanced products. But, TurboTax will not let you start over, reset, or downgrade. You have to create a brand new account which means your prior-year returns are no longer accessible from the same account. So I can go all the way through the process of filing, up to the point of hitting ‘submit’ (and maximize deductions, receive advice, etc.) and then start over for free.

I can’t make this up, from the TurboTax FAQ:

Once you’ve started preparing your tax return with TurboTax Online, you can upgrade your TurboTax Online product to Deluxe, Home & Business or Premier to take advantage of the extra features and tax guidance available in those products. After you’ve upgraded to one of these versions, your tax information will transfer to the upgraded version automatically. However, to switch back to a lower-priced version, you’ll need to start a new return with a different User ID, as there is no option to switchback to the previous version once you have upgraded your product.

Fail.

Back from Africa, I don't have malaria

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We got back from a long vacation to Kenya for a safari. The trip was December 19th – January 9th. I had an awesome time and I now have 1,800+ pictures to go sort through. Plus another 40-50 minutes of HD video to edit, post online, etc.

But the scary part was coming back home and having flu-like symptoms. I figured “well I never get sick, what can this be” so I checked with the doctor. He did a flu test and the results came back negative. What’s left? Some random bug or malaria.

It wasn’t malaria.

But that would’ve been a pretty sweet story, eh?

Check out some of the safari highlights on Flickr and I’ll add the rest as I get some time.

Save time with TimeSvr virtual assistants

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I’ve always been a big advocate of outsourcing through the use of virtual assistants. In fact, I wrote about personal assistants back in March and had started using a service called GetFriday. I had some mixed experiences (like sending a birthday greeting when it wasn’t someone’s birthday) and decided the cost was no longer justified.

TimeSvr exceeds my expectations

Out of the blue, as I was thinking I needed to drop my assistant, I received an e-mail from the CEO of TimeSvr. He and I exchanged e-mails a bit. Let me pause and note: I was getting e-mail responses from the CEO faster than my assistant at GetFriday. I decided I needed to give TimeSvr a test run and I’m so glad I did.

Now this post isn’t meant to put down any other services (including the one popularized by Tim Ferriss), it’s to demonstrate how my expectations were far exceeded within my first day of use:

  • Web-based task tracking: with other services, you send an e-mail to your assistant and wait for a confirmation. TimeSvr provides you with a dashboard that shows all your tasks with and responses, updates, etc.
  • Timeliness of responses: the service has remained small to provide for better quality. Many of the other virtual assistant services have grown far larger than they could handle. I’ve found TimeSvr will get back to me in as little as an hour as opposed to a day.
  • Excellent English skills: it was very obvious to me that the assistants excel at the language. Some of my more enjoyable e-mails had been from previous assistants in broken English. I can actually talk to my assistant on the phone now, I couldn’t easily do that before.
  • Effectiveness exceeds expectations: every time I get a response from an assigned task I always think “wow, s/he’s good!”. I had to find a replacement kitchen accessory: my assistant placed calls to numerous retailers to find the part, the manufacturer, provided me with the warranty details, etc. I was floored with the level of detail I was handed.

I love assigning a task and getting a call back in an hour or two with my assistant and a customer service representative on the line. “Hello Devin, this is ______, I have ______ on the line with me and they’d like to confirm _________. Okay, thank you, Devin.” Wow. I didn’t even realize you could get someone on the phone from __________.

The best part of TimeSvr is the fact they probably don’t put themselves in the same category of services that I’ve used in the past (which were touted as the best, at the time):

We really don’t compare ourselves to anyone. We just saw a market underserved and decided to fill the void. -Zaki Mahomed, CEO

TimeSvr features

This is a company that “gets it”. They understand the web worker like myself, especially. You have various mediums to submit a task, no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

TimeSvr dashboard

  • E-mail: Sending tasks to the tasks e-mail will automatically get routed and assigned immediately. You can see these tasks appear in your dashboard.
  • Skype: Chat with the Skype account to submit a task. If you’re on instant messenger all day, why not?
  • Phone: If you’re on the road and need to cancel an appointment just pick up the phone and let them know.

And here’s one of the best features, if you’re a trusting person: complete your profile. Simply fill out your contact details, calendar credentials, authorized credit card number, shipping address, travel preferences, etc. Once you’ve provided all your details, the possibilities for easily assigning tasks open up.

If you don’t want to provide everything up front, then simply include it in the task. I’ve had insurance payments made, online subscriptions canceled. I even “lost” a gift certificate applied to my Amazon account. Within minutes my assistant found which item the certificate was applied to. I thought it had just expired… oops.

Try it for yourself

TimeSvr is far more affordable than any comparable service I’ve found out there. At $69 per month you receive unlimited basic tasks (book a flight, cancel this appointment) and up to 8 hours of extended (or complex) task time. The team is available 24/7 including holidays which exceeds most other service I’ve looked into.

I can’t recommend these guys enough. Go ahead and sign up today. You can try them out for three days, free.

My assistant wrote this post

Just joking. But I did ask them (in the form of a task) what they thought were the three best things about the service. They were “saving precious time”, “really cost effective solutions”, and “privacy control” (with explanations for each). I was impressed and agree. Sorry to disappoint but I really haven’t found anything negative to say about this group.

Trip to Boston now online

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Rachel and I took a quick trip to see friends in Boston, MA a few weeks ago. I’ve finally put the photos online. I love the various web applications out there, here’s how I used three to track my trip:

  1. DOPPLR: Used to see the ‘big picture’ when it comes to travel. I’ve had the trip listed on my travel profile for a few weeks here. Magically, dopplr matches up travel dates to my Flickr timeline to show pictures from that trip. Easily one of the cooler features.
  2. Flickr: I uploaded all my photos with the permissions set to ‘me and family only’. So, all my pictures are archived and I can go back and essentially ‘unblock’ the ones I want to share with everyone else. I don’t have a GPS-enabled SD card but I can manually geotag the location of these photos and have them show up on a map.
  3. Brightkite: Throughout the trip I would ‘check in’ at the various spots we were at. Now I can go back and look at a map view of my trip. This helps with tagging photos but is also a really cool way to visualize a trip.

So there you have it. Three nerdy sites for one cool trip.

Guide to working paperless

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I think my simplest self-imposed challenge was to: go entirely paperless at the office this month. It was so simple it’s almost laughable. I’m so confident that I met my own goal I’ve posted this a week before the end of the month. So how did I do it and how did it spill over into my personal life?

I got the right (portable) tools in place

These days we all have laptops: they’re light, portable, and can go anywhere. I’m fortunate enough to have one for both work and play.