NYC P.I. dispenses investigative advice, information, legal marketing tips, opinions, interesting stuff... Look for the Bulletin each Monday.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Hidden Cell Phone Features & Free 411
For this week's Bulletin, we've located hidden features and free access information for you regarding cell phone use.
The 4 questions answered in today's video are:
1. What is the worldwide emergency number from a cell? (Clue: Not 911.) 2. Can you use your cell phone to unlock a locked car door? 3. How do you permanently disable your stolen or lost cell phone? 4. How can you get free 411 info?
(The video also addresses accessing more emergency power from your phone's battery but we were not able to vet this method ourselves. It may work on your cell.)
(Excuse the above shout out to Berlitz but we thought the 40-second clip was worth it!). Below are our real - and free - recommendations:
Free translation site: www.freetranslation.com. No downloading; no waiting. Conversely: written text only. (A premium "human translation" service is offered as well - but for a quick memo or if you're in a rush to get a handle on an uncomplicated foreign-language doc - this site is worth the fingertaps.
Free telephone, address and reverse searches: www.argali.com. You'll need to download the program but that's a good thing. It means it updates every time you sign on to it. And no complicated sign-ins or passwords... You simply d/l the program, a yellow ram (mountain goat?) icon lands on your desktop and you just click that when you are in search mode.
Free homeowners search: www.propertysharks.com These guys have a fairly extensive and updated archive. Lots of info aside from homeowner identification (date of sale, amount, pictures, land use...)
Free sound-editing: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Removes background noise from an audio recording quickly and easily - it's that simple. And it's cross-platform - Mac/Windows supported.
Free BNI tip:
Old Style: To obtain a forwarding address for a reluctant subject, simply write "Return Address Requested" on the lower left front of your envelope to the last known address for this person. The USPO will not forward your correspondence but rather return you new address information if available.
New: To determine the identity of a domain owner, go to www.WhoIs.com. Scroll down to WhoIs LookUp and enter the domain name. If it is not privately registered, the owner's name, address and ownership/availability dates will pop.
Also, you might recall from last week's Bulletin - www.scanr.com. scanr turns your camera phone into a scanner, copier or fax.
