Hello, thanks for checking out my website. I decided to put up a site about my freelance work and join the throngs of bloggers at the same time…just a few years behind everyone else. The plan is to talk about Macs and productivity. Too dry? Okay, some deadpan too.

YouMail is a free service that replaces your mobile phone carrier’s voicemail service, and adds some great features.

• Custom greetings for individual callers. For example, when Mum calls YouMail greets her with my recording “Hello Mum, leave us a message”. There’s a default greeting too, for everyone who doesn’t have a custom greeting.
• Check messages on the web, or have them emailed to you as an attached audio file.
• Create a list of numbers you wish to block.
• Save messages indefinitely (most carriers delete messages after a while).
• Works with your phone’s voicemail notification.

The YouMail website guides you through the setup process, which takes about five minutes, and they provide you with instructions on how to switch back to your carrier’s voicemail service.

I’ve been using the service for about a year and really like being able to check my voicemail on the web, which is very convenient since I’m on the computer most of the time, plus I save my minutes.

BluePhoneElite, by Mira Software is a Bluetooth application that interfaces with your mobile phone, providing caller ID on-screen, the ability to dial from your computer, and send text messages without pressing the 7 key four times for an ’s’.

The software has some additional features that are pretty awesome in my opinion. One is the ability to customize “proximity behaviors”. I have my MacBook set up to lock when I walk away with my phone, which is usually in my pocket. Another neat feature is the DVD player and iTunes pause feature, which pauses whatever your playing when your phone rings.

This software is not free, but worth every one of the $20 it costs. Check it out.