11:10 PM
Whiling away the hours playing blackjack with celebrity impersonators just got easier! Check it out:

1. Say Blackjack. You start when the dealer offers your first card.
2. Say Yes for another card, or No to stay.
3. Say New Dealer to switch from the Sean Connery impersonator to country-style Blackjack with Billy Joe Bob.

Oh yeah--there's a phone number you have to dial first. (via J-Walk)

My favorite part is that it will tell you how to get to places you go every day ("Set up home and work addresses for Driving Directions.") It also promises to be the fastest way to determine whether or not you're a loser, and will tell you what time it is (so long as you already know what time zone you're in.) Kind of a mixed bag of functionality.

Over on the J-Walk, John wondered why it might be free. My guess, after reading the user agreement for the number, is that it's a harvesting service. It gathers your phone number when you call and other information (which the EULA 'obligates' you to provide truthfully) when you register. Then, even if they don't transfer you to a third party while you're on the line, it looks like you're on the hook to be called later. To my eye it looks like an even more desperate version of infone, whose B-list celebrity studded commercials clutter daytime cable.

They do have a privacy policy, but it covers them while allowing the third parties providing their funding to do whatever they like: "We neither guarantee that Service Providers will adhere to suitable privacy standards nor accept responsibility for their policies, information practices or other actions. You alone are responsible for any information that you provide to third parties." My reccomendation--don't call in the first place, unless you recognize that you're trading your personal information in return for telling Sean Connery to double down.

With the rise of no-call lists, commerce via telephone appears to be going all Eddie Haskell on us. "Glad I could help, Mrs. Cleaver. Want to buy some band candy?" Much like email, everyone will soon need to be careful to whom you give your phone number and even who they call. Sure, the EULA and privacy policy are in place, but does Joe Q. Public know any of those details (and that they are agreeing to and bound by them) when they call after seeing the number on the side of a bus?

I'm wondering if the soon-approaching era of number portability (woo hoo!) won't be accompanied or followed by an era of number disposability where the invitation to open a chain of communication with an individual expires when they cycle to a new number. It seems a distinct possibility as disposable cel phones start to hit the shelves.