Free international calling to PCVs with Google Voice

Why I gladly surrender my digital life to the Google:

I don't how theirs is a profitable business model (probably because they're collecting dividends on my soul) but somehow Google Voice provides all the services of Skype (and more) for free.

The $10.00 is for calls made from the app to outside the US, not to numbers within. See note below.

The most relevant of which is the in-state phone number that can make and receive calls, if you have internet access of course. In-state means it's a US phone number at least and, if available, in your area code. While from the volunteers point of view this is pretty much the same thing as Skype, it's from the US caller's perspective that it's much simpler. The point is people can call you from their own phones, no computer necessary for them, and you can call them, from your internet connected computer, for free.

Note: In the picture there's a conspicuous $10.00 balance on the keypad. This is if you want to make international calls where international here means to phone numbers outside the US. Again making calls to any number in the United States from Google Voice/Gmail is completely free.

How to receive calls in Gmail

In addition to being able to make and receive calls with this number, that Google seemingly gifts to you, one can get and send text messages and receive voicemails. Text messages will be viewable in the Google Voice webapp and can be forward to your Gmail account. Voicemails will also viewable/audible in the Google Voice webapp and can be transcribed (by a computer not stenographer :p ) and sent to your Gmail account. That last feature is kind of gimmicky and doesn't work too well (as my experimental study with sample size 1 shows).

I don't work for, nor am I affiliated, with the Google in anyway (I don't even use Adsense as you can plainly see); just hopefully this helps lots of people stay in closer touch with their family and friends.

P.S. This post assumes you have Gmail. If you don't sign-up is free.

P.P.S. Some might have heard the a google is a number that is equal with 1 with 100 zeros behind it. That is not correct; it is a googol that equal to 1.0 x 10¹⁰⁰ .

Camera for the trip

Bought a compact digital camera for the trip which can do in-camera stitching of photos to create panoramas like this:

A feature uniquely suited for a 2 year stay in a country with picturesque landscapes no?

Time Travel

Warning: this one will be a little philosophical and indulgent so feel free to skip it if you're like me and don't care for solipsistic bullshit.

1 week until I fly to Philadelphia and then to South Africa 2 days after that. I've gone out and bought up a gang of consumer junk over the past 2 weeks (Amazon Prime turned out to be very useful). I'm bringing more than I originally thought I would and probably more than I need (20 bars of soap?). Simultaneously I probably won't be prepared for most of the problems I'll have. The thought struck me today but it's probably just the coalescence of lots of disparate thoughts (and conversations) I've had throughout the past couple of weeks:

There will be very little infrastructure (e.g. paved roads, electrical grid, street signs).

It will be quieter (or louder).

There will be no clocks and by extension no punctuality.

There will be no grocery or department stores.

Will people be less rational?

A fun exercise is to commit to longterm memory some experience here (e.g. browsing the internet in your air-conditioned and lit room) while simultaneously imagining what the analogous activity in-country will be like. Then when you are in-country you recall that memory. It's like time travel and the only thing you need is a decent imagination!

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A few people I've told about this trip have urged me (semi-seriously) to look for investment opportunities in Uganda. At first it was an abhorrent idea but one can't help but wonder: can you emulate a business that is successful here and had it's beginnings in circumstances similar to those? For example Ford motor company provided cheap reliable motored transportation to a country that had no paved roads, street signs, and few gas stations. Not that I'm going to become Henry Uganda; it's just an example.

It's not as abhorrent an idea anymore because I realized that those magnanimous ideals that business magnates espouse here in the states are plausible there. What I mean to say is that the right business could actually contribute greatly to Uganda's GDP and therefore average standard of living. Something like cheap and reliable transportation for all would greatly increase average productivity (whatever that means). Something like cheap power for all, at least enough for house lights, would similarly enable Ugandans to be more productive and therefore garner higher wages in this quickly becoming global market.

On that note I was looking at prices for solar panels over there and a 65W panel is approximately $600 while here on Ebay I could purchase one for about $150. I imagine (based on almost no investigation) a more efficient business model could mitigate this price disparity. Either that or Ugandans are being taken advantage of. Bringing cheap power to the people; not such an opportunistic idea in the end.