[Cialug] OT: Stupid geek tricks

[Nathan C. Smith]

So you can now get Boostmobile (a pay-as-you-go phone service) phones in
Iowa.  Why would you care?  For $30.00 you can get a Motorola i415 from
Boostmobile.  for around $10.00 you can get a USB cable to connect to the
phone.  This phone runs java applications (you may already have a phone that
does this).  Then you can go to http://www.mologogo.com and sign up for a
free account.  Download their java client and upload it to the phone.  Your
phone will now report your location via GPS or cell network to the mologogo
website marking where you are every n minutes or so.  That's kind of neat.

Also, with the data cable the phone becomes a network access device.  It can
be used as a modem, or it can be directly connected to the boostmobile
network using ppp (use this 'S=2#777' instead of a phone number, no username
or password).  So for $40.00 in hardware and $.30 cents or so per day you
have it in use, you can get dial-up type connectivity to the Internet from
your laptop no matter where you go.  It's slow, but you can get web pages.
One really crazy thing, is that you can place calls on the phone while you
are on the network.

Mologogo is one of those social networking web 2.0 kinds of things.  It is
like a GPS service that tell you and your friends where you are.  Ideally,
your friends put their name in and your name in, and they can see where you
are, and if you get close it can notify you.  On the phone, it can also
display a Google-type map of your current position and local weather and
traffic conditions if you are in a city that supports it.

The phone comes with something like a $10 usage credit too.

Fun stuff.

-Nate

http://www.mologogo.com

tethered modem phone:
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1080295   
http://www.omgili.com/preview/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5tcDNjYXIuY29tL3ZidWxsZXRpbi9zaG
93dGhyZWFkLnBocD90PTc1NDUx

http://www.boostmobile.com  see also sprint/nextel stores - they resell
boost mobile.