Saturday, February 13, 2010

Agora411 and 420at420

New Kwik411s:

Agora 411
662.883.0411
twitter.com/agora411

420 at 420
910.420.0411
twitter.com/420at420

This makes five now. Too many? Probably.

Upper Valley 411

You know what to do.

vampirezim.com/411

twitter.com/uv411

603.262.3946

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Tutorial (1st edition)

Create a Gmail account
Create a Twitter account, and verify it
Go to TwitterCounter.com and click "Your twitter stats"
Scroll down and click "Add yourself. It's free."
A Twitter window will pop up, click "Allow"
That window will close itself and you'll be logged in, click the "Twittermail" tab
Copy your secret Twittermail email address
Turn off "Post an attached image to twitpic"
Find the "Twitter password" box and type it in
Turn "Send replies to my tweets to my email address" and click "Save settings"
Go back to Twitter and click "Settings" at the top, click the "Notices" tab
Make sure all options are off
Go to your Gmail account, click "Settings" at the top, click the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab
Send your Google Voice invite to your Gmail address.
You'll get an email for Google Voice. Set up the account. Make sure to get a new Google number
Log in to Google Voice, click "Settings", click the "Voicemail and SMS" tab
Make sure "Forward SMS messages to my email" is on and click "Save Changes"

Keene411 is up!

Keene411 is an SMS based version of Porc411 for Keene.

How to use sign up with Keene411:

Create a Twitter account and verify your email, or have your user name and password handy.
Text "Start" to 40404.
You'll get a text back, text your Twitter user name to 40404.
You'll get a text back, text your Twitter password to 40404.
Go to twitter.com/keene411 and click follow.
You should see a green box with two arrows and a lighter box with a phone. Click the phone (it should turn green).
Done.

To send out a Keene411, send a text message to (347) 603-0411. New York, yeah, but, at least it's got the 603, and it was free.

Is Kwik411 even necessary?

I have my doubts about the usefulness of this tool, and if there's any easier way to do it. The cost to set one up right now is one Google Voice account, and half an hour of your time.

The idea came about during John Doe's "arraignment" when we were lied to about which courtroom he was in. It's clear bureaucrats aren't going to tell the truth, so we've got to have someone in each courtroom ready to alert others. SMS is the way to go with this. My doubt is that it's really necessary to set-up this network and not just know who's in other courtrooms and text them directly.

The idea of an SMS based Porc411 has come up in conversations with people who, like myself, don't have a Smartphone. In fact my phone is almost functionally retarded. I've set myself and others up to get Porc411s via Twitter and it works out nicely. First off, I'll get a text saying that there's a new 411. Then, later, I'll get a transcribed summary of the 411. This shows demand for Porc infomation via SMS.

New 411 services are certainly not intended to replace Porc411. Since it's pretty much free, I figure it will allow for more localized 411ing. Please, let me know what you think.

Manch 411 is up!

Manch 411 is the SMS version of Porc411. Send a text to (703) 755-0411, and it will be relayed through Google Voice, TwitterMail, and Twitter to all phones set up to follow. To follow Manch411:

Create a Twitter account, and verify your email.
Text "Start" to 40404.
You'll get a text back, text your Twitter user name to 40404.
You'll get a text back, text your Twitter password to 40404.
Go to twitter.com/manch411 and click follow.
You should see a green box with two arrows and a lighter box with a phone. Click the phone (it should turn green).
Done.

Any texts sent to (703) 755-0411 will get through to your phone in seconds. There were no 603 numbers available so I went with 703, not because of the similarity though. Keene411, 420at420, and Agora411 are all coming soon, as is a tutorial on starting new Kwik411s.