dPI Teleconnect

Psychic Hotlines

I have a friend who believes in psychics. I am always telling him if this psychic stuff is real, why do they ask "Who may I say is calling?" when they answer the phone. My friend's comeback is always the same. Psychics don't answer their own phones. They ... Read >

Immortalized in a song

There have been scores of songs about women, from Waltzing Matilda to Sting's classic Roxanne. There have been scads of songs about cars, from Surrey with the Fringe on Top to the Beach Boys' Little Deuce Coupe. There have even been songs about animals. E... Read >

Pimp your phone

The car pulls up by me at the red light. The rear is jacked up. The wheels have spinners that twirl so it's moving even when it's standing still. Underneath the vehicle emits an eerie neon glow that makes it look like a sleek hovercraft in the twilight af... Read >

Jingle Bells

Can't decide what to get yourself this holiday? How about a new home phone? Spoil yourself. Make it a cordless. There are quite a few new ones on the market. Why not add one of these to the Christmas list? AT&T EL51209 This is a basic, cordless phone f... Read >

The Telephone to the Rescue

Used to be, if you were going through personal problems you might visit a priest. People with more money than faith would often see a shrink. Then in 1953, an English vicar had an epiphany. Why not create a "hotline" where people contemplating suicide cou... Read >

When Cell Service Vanishes

Cell phones have always had their Achilles' heel. Dead zones. Go under a bridge and like AM radio, your reception spits and sputters. "You're breaking up," the caller says. "Can you hear me now?" comes the clichéd rejoinder. This is especially great when... Read >

The Flight of the phone book

The family telephone book has always been there for us. It was a booster seat when we first moved from the high-chair to the big people's table. It was the place where we found the phone number of the girl we invited to the homecoming dance. And it was th... Read >

The Art of Voicemail

These days more and more home phones come with a built-in voicemail function. It's like having an invisible answering machine at your house. The only problem is, like the old-school answering machine, these built-in mailboxes require that most humiliating... Read >

Huh?

Are you having to ask people to repeat the things they say to you? Are you frequently amused at how you mangle messages. For instance, that handsome young man at the grocery store actually had said, "How are you today?" Not "Howard has a new toupee."  It... Read >

Putting an End to Obscene Phone Calls

We all did it when we were kids. You pick up a phone, dial random numbers and have a little fun. When you are 12 and bored, a prank phone call is like instant entertainment. The lamer the joke, the more you giggle. Unfortunately, some people never outgrow... Read >

How to Plan for an Emergency

During the Cold War, school kids had frequent "bomb drills" where they learned how to, in a calm and orderly manner, slide under their desks and put their hands over their heads. How this was going to protect us from a thermo-nuclear holocaust is anyone's... Read >