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Being an international student I spend more than my fair share of time making international phone calls through Skype, which, if you haven't heard of it, is an internet based telephony service that allows you to talk to other Skype users anywhere in the world for free, or call ordinary phones from your computer to anywhere in the world, and only pay local rates. generally you save in the region of 95% compared with calling the international number directly from your phone. However, Skype does have one main flaw, and that's its requirement that you have access to a computer in order to make the calls, which isn't ideal if you are constantly on the go.

Well, along comes Jajah with a very elegant solution. Using the same technology as Skype they are also able to let you talk to other Jajah users for free, or call any phone in the world for a 95% discount, the clincher is that you don't need a computer, rather, the entire system is run through your cell phone. You download a small applet onto your phone. When you want to call someone, you use the applet to dial their number then (and here's where the magic is) Jajah calls the person on their phone, and calls you back on your cell phone, thus connecting you but completely without the need to be sitting in front of your computer! I've given the service a try, and the sound quality definitely rivals, if not beats skype, and there seems to be much less delay than one gets when using Skype.

The ethos of the service is that phones are a great way to talk to people, and no-one wants to have to deal with microphones and headsets attached to their computers. Thus, the service can be used with any phone in the world, mobile or landline. if you are using a landline phonethen you will require a computer to do the dialling. You dial a number on their website and tell it what phone to call you back on (your mobile, your landline, a random payphone...) the service then calls the number you desire and calls you back on whatever phone you specified - simple, elegant and easy to use.

As it stands, there's only one nuisance I can find with the service, and that's if you don't have the applet on your cell phone you have to go to their website to dial. It was annoying enough for me to do something about it: For Mac users, you're probably already comfortable with Widgets and how useful they are. Well, I've put together a Dashboard widget that allows you to log into the Jajah service and have the ability to dial available to you at the touch of a button:


Click the picture to download Jajah Dialer.wdgt

Give it a try, tell me what you think!

That is pretty much it. I'm free! Life is good. All that remains of the year is Sunny South Africa, a great christmas and a ridiculous new years at lake St Lucia! Hope everyone has a fantastic break!

Continuing their ongoing fine tradition of free downloadable CD's, Mercedes-Benz just released Mixed-Tape 15. Every 6 to 8 weeks they make a new CD available for download on their website, and, whilst I am still in the process of downloading this one, if their past albums are anything to go by, this should be fantastic. From their site:

"No matter whether you prefer classical, jazz, pop or electronic - all that matters in our selection is quality and uniqueness."

I'm not entirely sure what Merc gets out of this deal, but who am I to complain for getting free great music?

UPDATE: After downloading and giving it a bit of a listen I have worked out why the G-Class is on the cover of this edition - it's a little heavy on the R&B side. It's still relatively good, but not up to their usual standard. Oh well!

Tags: mixed-tape