Who answers your phone while you're gone?

So, how do you deal with your phone when you're away from home?

I know that some people just let their answering system pick up calls, then they check in periodically by calling their own phone.

Others use call forwarding to direct calls to their cell phone while they're away, but invariably the first call that comes in when they get home goes to their cell and there's a mad dash to grab it... or they just forget for a day or so until they realize they aren't getting any calls on their home phone.

If any of these, or different variations apply to you, you might want to give GrandCentral a try. It's a free (yea, really free!) service that routes your incoming calls to as many phone numbers as you like. That means your calls come to your new, free phone number and ring on both your home and cell phone.

There are some very cool features that let you set up different ring tones, different answer messages, and other niceties. And you can set the system to send email, text messages, or both to announce when you get voicemail.

You need to tell your callers to use your new phone number (which you can also announce on your home answering system), and your new number can be in a completely different area of the country if you like. For instance, I live in North Carolina but I just signed up for a Beverly Hills, California phone number... and hey, there goes Hillary Swank... Call me, girl!!

Anyhow, GrandCentral may be just the answer for stabilizing your phone traffic.

Can you use your cell phone as a modem?

Getting a wireless Internet connection on the road is getting easier all the time. On my last trip I used my Cingular Blackjack phone connected to my laptop as a modem. Most of the time I was able to get a spectacular connection, equal in speed to a standard cable connection at home.

Using the Blackjack as a modem is surprisingly easy, effecient, and even cost effective. I was able to add the 'unlimited' data plan to my current contract by simply calling Cingular. Since I already had the company's MediaNet plan (an additional $20/month over the voice minutes), I changed that for the data plan for an additional $40/month. Compared to the typical WiFi day rate of about $10, that's a bargain for the month. What's even better was that I could drop my plan back to the MediaNet plan during the times I didn't need the data plan.

But I said it was easy to use the phone as a modem. That's completely true, once you have the service set up and know how to tell your phone to let your computer connect through it. Here's what I found out:

The normal way to use a cell phone as a modem is to make a connection, either by USB or Bluetooth, from your laptop to the phone. Once that's done, set up a dialer just as you would to dial the internal modem in the computer, but direct the dialing out to the cell phone. That generally required a driver installed on the laptop that knows how to connect to the phone for this purpose. It also requires that you set an option in the phone allowing it to know that it's being a modem. That method works on most phones. Thankfully it doesn't work on the Blackjack.

Why 'thankfully'? Because using the phone as a modem doesn't always allow you to use the phone to make voice calls at the same time. The method I'm using allows me to use the phone for voice calls and as an Internet conenction at the same time... very cool.

So here's the step-by-step. I don't know if this works with other phones, but I would guess that it would as long as the phone supports the InternetSharing function.

1. Connect your Blackjack via USB to your PC and get ActiveSync running. Then Explore the Blackjack.

2. Look in the Windows folder for a file named InternetSharing.

3. Copy the file (Ctl-C)

4. Paste a shortcut in the Windows/Start Menu folder.

5. Push the Start button and browse to the Internet Sharing icon. Click on it.

6. You'll see two option boxes. Select either USB or Bluetooth PAN depending on how you want to connect.

7.The other box should already read "MediaNet" with no other options. Click the Connect button.

At this point the Blackjack will disable your ActiveSync connection and in just a few seconds display the "Connected" message. It's like magic.

Let me know your results if you decide to try it out.

Weather Anywhere

Finding a local weather station in unknown parts can be a challenge... or at least it can take a couple minutes. I tried out a cute little digital weather station from Brookstone that displays a 5-day forecast according to whatever airport you're near. In fact you can select from 4 different airports if there are that many close by.

I was able to wake up wherever I was and see the local conditions as well as the forecast for the next 5 days on this nice little LCD mounted above my kitchen sink. Pressing the little button on the side (the ONLY control on the whole unit) changes the active weather station so you can pick the closest, or even the closest to where you might be going, as long as it isn't too far away.

Still Wondering Where You're Going? Just TellMe!

On the heals of Google's voice commanded 411 directory and location service , veteran cellular directory provider TellMe has made its service free and added a couple interesting twists.

As with the Google service, you can call 800-555-TELL and interact with a mechanized voice system, or you can use your cell phone text messaging service and send a request to 83556 (TELLM). But if you have the right cell phone (which I don't) you can download a program to your phone and enter your requests through it by talking rather than typing.

Since I wasn't able to download the program and try it out I'll leave that to one of you to let me know how it works. As for the text message service, it worked similarly to the Google service, but the voice operation was less (or maybe more) than Google's.

One of Google's continuing strengths is its spartan interface. Just that facts Ma'am. The voice system asks for your location and your request then spits back up to 8 responses. TellMe is much more conversational and only responds with the first match. I think this may be because TellMe is advertising-driven and if there's an advertiser that fits your criteria you will hear it first... but I may be wrong about that.

Either way, I like the Google interface better. But... TellMe does have a nice feature that not only sends the name, phone number, and location information to your cell phone, it also sends a map of the location. With Google's amazing mapping capabilities, I would expect this to be a feature also available from Google soon.

Internet Connection Choices - we got 'em

I was fortunate to be able to try out both Sprint and Cingular Internet connections for my laptop while on my last excursion. Both of them are based on cellular technology but both have their strengths and limitations. I'll be posting more later, but here's a quick rundown on both.

Sprint Mobile Broadband Card - Wireless Merlin S720

This card provides high speed (really!) access for a laptop computer. I found it easy to use and very reliable. Even when the signal was relatively weak I got a connection. And, no problem at all using the card with its tiny flip-up antenna inside the camper.

Cingular Blackjack phone

This do-everything phone can do double-time as a high speed modem. I was able to connect it to my laptop using the phone's included USB cable. What was particularly cool was being able to use it as a modem at the same time as I was making voice phone calls.

My tests produced nearly equal upload and download times for both devices. But the particular service available for each will depend on where you are, and will ultimately determine your connection speeds.

More on the specifics later, but the good news is that mobile Internet access is definitely here... or at least wherever your cellular service provider has a decent signal.

Mapquest on your cell?

Not everyone has (or wants) their laptop running while driving. In fact, that may even be illegal in many states, even if you're only using it as a souped up GPS system. As an alternative, do your Mapquesting before you're under way and have Mapquest send its directions to your cell phone.

To be completely accurate, Mapquest doesn't really send its maps to your cell phone. Rather, it sends a text message containing a link to the map online. In order to use the service you need to have two things:

1- the ability to receive text messages, for which you will likely be charged by your cell service provider.
2- the ability to browse the Internet from your phone. You will need a capable phone as well as an appropriate service agreement from your cell service provider.

Assuming you have all these things, give it a try. In addition to maps, you can also receive Mapquest's turn-by-turn directions in the same way.

Check Mapquest's mobile services

Backing up (not what you think)

Traveling is such joy. I do love being in different places and seeing the scenery along the way. Unfortunately automotive seating is not always the most comfortable, particularly for eight to nine hour stretches.

Driving our extended Ford Econoline van and pulling a 32 foot camper can get tense at times, especially when contending with trucks and high winds. Coupled with a relatively hard ride, my back tends to tighten up, so that at the end of the day's travel I'm lucky to be able to stand upright.

Luckily for me, the Brookstone folks (www.brookstone.com) loaned me their MiniMax Lumbar Massager. It has a 12 volt adapter that plugs into the van's outlet. It proved to be helpful at least for part of the trip but I couldn't simply leave it in place all the time... for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is that the massager is a little over two inches wide and only about eight inches high. The result of this shape is that it is easy to position wherever you want it. But its thickness means that while in place, the rest of your back is necessarily leaning forward and not up against the seat back. This makes for an awkward posture.

I was able to use the massager's remote control to change the speed, select from three settings for massage zones (both sides, center, or full), and set the duration of the massage action from a few seconds to continuous. I like the way it works, and it really does provide some relief for a tight back.

The second reason I couldn't leave the unit in place was because my wife wanted to use it. I actually think she got the better of the deal because she was able to change her seat position and put an extra pillow behind her, above the massager to support the upper part of her back.

Looking for the closest campground? Just phone Google!

Google's currently experimental Google Voice Local Search lets you find businesses over the phone. I called 1-800-GOOG-411, said the city and state I was looking in, then asked for "campgrounds." The voice on the other end of the phone listed the first 8 campgrounds in the area and offered to connect me to them. Alternatively, I could get their address and phone number and even have the information sent as a text message to my cell phone. Oh... and did I mention the service is free?

Call 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411)

Of course the service can find things other than campgrounds. It's always tough to find services and stores in unfamiliar locations. Calling Google-411 can be a lot faster and less expensive than trying to use a local 411 operator.

You can use the service to find things in places you expect to visit. For example, I know I'll be traveling to Massachusetts this Summer, so I asked Google-411 to find campgrounds in the area I'm going to visit. It gave me a list of 8 campgrounds in the area and then dialed the campground's number for me.

The service is free, but the phone call may not be, depending on what your phone service plan is. The best bet is to use a cell phone with national long distance plan.