Just Ask Your Cell Phone!

Yesterday, as I was browsing the Web, I stumbled across a really neat little service called 4Info.net. It allows you to send a brief text message via your cell phone and receive an immediate answer back.

For example, you can send “AA 92” (or any other flight number) and get an immediate status report back on a specific flight. Or send “m 37214” and get a listing of all the movies showing near that zip code, along with their show times. Or “w 76710” and get the weather forecast for that specific zip code.

This is only the beginning. You can check stock prices, sports scores, wifi hotspots, package tracking, drink recipes, and more. And, it’s free.

You can try it now, without even signing up for the service. Here’s how. Send a text message to “44636” (“4info”). To make it easier, I set up an address book entry on my cell phone. Type in “w” a space and your zip code. Press “send.” You should get a weather report back almost instantaneously with the current conditions and a five-day forecast.

If you register, you can customize the shortcuts. So that, for example, “w1” gives you the weather for your zip code. Or “m1” gives you the movie show times for your zip code.

You can also sign-up for text message alerts, which can be sent to you at scheduled times. Some of these are free, but you have to pay a monthly subscription fee for others. Regardless, it’s worth checking out.

Technorati Tags: telephone, sms, technology