4Info review

March 12, 2009

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A few years ago, I changed cell phone plans. I decided to save a few bucks and went with a plan that doesn’t have the internet. Not surprisingly, the inability to have sports scores at my fingertips hit me the hardest. Withdrawal set in hard.

Before long, a friend of mine made me aware of a site that sends text messages with sports scores – and tons of other alerts. This site is 4info.net. It’s a great one-stop shop for text alerts, allowing you to coordinate everything under a single ID and password. It’s also free. It is supported by advertising. There is a very short ad at the end of each message (it is a part of the main message, not a separate text message). For example, one recent messages ended with this “Romance Reading! Reply LUV”. If you are interested in the ad, you reply to the text message (your cell provider might charge you for incoming/outgoing text messages – 4info does not charge for the service). If you’re not interested in the ad, you simply ignore it. As far as advertisements go, these are pretty easy to live with.

I absolutely love the sports alerts. I get a text message at the end of every Colorado Rockies game to tell me the score. I could have opted for a message at the end of every inning, or any time the score or lead changes, but those seemed like a bit of overkill – especially considering how many runs the Rockies score (and allow). You can also configure alerts for particular players. For example, I am a big fan of Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, so I get a text message every time Tulo gets a hit. Similar options are available for other sports. This is a great tool for fantasy sports junkies. The NCAA basketball tournament is just around the corner, and 4info is great for keeping up on scores from all the game.

4info’s services go far beyond sports, though. I also get the weather forecast so that I can be ready for the mood swings that Mother Nature tends to have in the Midwest. The “on this day” alerts tells you about an important (or not-so-important) event that occurred on today’s date. The stock market alert allows you to track stocks (or indexes) and get alerts when the price goes above of below a certain price – or rises or drops more than a specific percent. The daily insult delivers a zinger that you’ll be tempted to use later in the day. Those of you who wish to acquire new superstitions can receive snippets about superstitions every day (“if you walk through a spider web without seeing it, you will soon receive money”). Want to be notified when a particular item is listed on Craiglist? It can do that. Last, but not least, fans of astrology can have their horrorscopes sent to their cell phones every day.

This is not a comprehensive list of the alerts that 4info has. I highly recommend this free service and suggest that you subscribe to it immediately. It truly does have something for everyone.

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