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[Al Degutis]

Anyone tried the Dodgeball service? It's a service to help you find friends located near you at the time you contact the service. You can "inform" your "friends" (i.e. contacts you have defined in the service) of your location and it can inform others of your whereabouts.

I read about this service in Discover magazine:
www.discover.com/issues/sep-05/departments/emerging-technology/

I got to wondering how well it would work for organizing last minute observing gatherings. Since it can send text messages to cellphones, it's more flexible than e-mail and faster than calling each individual on the phone. Unfortunately, I'm a bit too removed to be a good test candidate. Also, I'm not sure if this is a free service or not.

Dodgeball website:
www.dodgeball.com

Side note - Google acquired them in May 2005

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Al,

Thanks for the link.

I have been looking to use an SMS service for just such a notice to our Chicago Astronomer members. I have experimented in the past with some free SMS providers, but they of course want to attach their commercial along with the message, and I thought it rather tacky.

I'm going to explore this one you wrote about, but after I'm set up with my new cell phone provider, as Cingular blows chunks to the outer reaches of the Oort cloud.
If it looks cool, then I'll utilize it for instant Chicago Astronomer updates and notices...

Stay away from Cingular!!!...