6 ms·

Not that this is a solution for you now, but about 10-15 years ago there were a whole slew of SMS services which were super useful for those without data. Goog

Not that this is a solution for you now, but about 10-15 years ago there were a whole slew of SMS services which were super useful for those without data. Google 311 (EDIT: actually it was Google 411) let you conduct full searches, local listings, full text turn-by-turn navigation, weather, movie listings etc. You could also call a number and do an voice search that would text you back the results. Twitter, AIM, Facebook all had SMS based interfaces as well. I remember a privately run system which served up transit schedules. Was amazing to younger me to be on a bus and able to continue my AIM chats and check the bus schedule without a data plan. You could get useful services sent to your phone and not get sucked in endless feed scrolling.

whalesalad 5y ago
Texting Google in the early 2000’s was so cool. Felt like magic at the time.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago
  Seeing the web on a GPRS device was pretty cool too! It was a bit like watching an elephant perform ballet, seeing it happen at all made up for the fact it wasn't very good.
  - garciasn 5y ago
    The Hiptop / T-mobile Sidekick was a GPRS device which used a proxy to slim pages down to a manageable format for the device. I was using one in 2003 (the CSK) and it was quite the revolutionary piece of equipment for the time. I still miss its ability to multitask, notify, and switch between apps while providing a full keyboard.
nvrspyx 5y ago
I can't remember the name of it, but there was a service where you would text a question akin to a Google search and a real human would respond with the answer. If you signed up to be one of the responders (and proved your ability to find and return an accurate result quickly), they paid you like $0.01 per answer. I thought it was a neat idea back when everyone was still using dumb phones.
- sp332 5y ago
  ChaCha. It shut down in 2016.
- arthurcolle 5y ago
  KGB (Knowledge Generation Bureau) was one, and then another one took its place
- spookthesunset 5y ago
  Surely it was more than a penny a response. If each response took a minute then you’ll be making like $0.6 an hour. To make even $5 an hour you’d need to be sending a message every like 10 seconds.
a-dub 5y ago
most (all?) cell service providers also had built-in email/sms gateways... so you could build your own services that did this just by building simple email interfaces.
jll29 5y ago
We developed an SMS-based automatic question answering service deployed experimentally under the disposable brand name "myNuggets.net": https://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/203601.pdf https://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/203601.pdf Venture capitalists/UK business angels did not share our vision that the Internet's future would be mobile in 2004/5 - well before the advent of the iPhone. I had the idea for an all-automatic SMS info service when I jumped in a taxi in Edinburgh to attend a conference overseas and had left my hotel address on the kitchen table. I phoned a friend and said "Google that hotel for me, please" - and when I thanked him and hang up, I realized a human wasn't needed for many tasks like that, as they were well within the capabilities of Natural Language Processing (Information Extraction, Question Answering) even then. We were proud that the prototype engineered had a 2 s round-trip time, including Web-meta search, answer extraction and SMS-HTTP gateway calls (very expensive back then).
wwweston 5y ago
Uber as well. In fact, for the first year or so I used Uber, I never downloaded the app, just did SMS.
whateveracct 5y ago
My grandfather used SMS to get weather & sports updates for years. He still isn't on the Internet and honestly would love to still use SMS.
gunfighthacksaw 5y ago
> You could get useful services sent to your phone and not get sucked in endless feed scrolling. Technology as it should be! Do you think the browser UI dominance was marketing, convenience, something more sinister…?

whalesalad 5y ago

Texting Google in the early 2000’s was so cool. Felt like magic at the time.

BoxOfRain 5y ago
Seeing the web on a GPRS device was pretty cool too! It was a bit like watching an elephant perform ballet, seeing it happen at all made up for the fact it wasn't very good.
- garciasn 5y ago
  The Hiptop / T-mobile Sidekick was a GPRS device which used a proxy to slim pages down to a manageable format for the device. I was using one in 2003 (the CSK) and it was quite the revolutionary piece of equipment for the time. I still miss its ability to multitask, notify, and switch between apps while providing a full keyboard.

nvrspyx 5y ago

I can't remember the name of it, but there was a service where you would text a question akin to a Google search and a real human would respond with the answer. If you signed up to be one of the responders (and proved your ability to find and return an accurate result quickly), they paid you like $0.01 per answer. I thought it was a neat idea back when everyone was still using dumb phones.

sp332 5y ago
ChaCha. It shut down in 2016.
arthurcolle 5y ago
KGB (Knowledge Generation Bureau) was one, and then another one took its place
spookthesunset 5y ago
Surely it was more than a penny a response. If each response took a minute then you’ll be making like $0.6 an hour. To make even $5 an hour you’d need to be sending a message every like 10 seconds.

a-dub 5y ago

most (all?) cell service providers also had built-in email/sms gateways... so you could build your own services that did this just by building simple email interfaces.

jll29 5y ago

We developed an SMS-based automatic question answering service deployed experimentally under the disposable brand name "myNuggets.net": https://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/203601.pdf https://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/203601.pdf Venture capitalists/UK business angels did not share our vision that the Internet's future would be mobile in 2004/5 - well before the advent of the iPhone. I had the idea for an all-automatic SMS info service when I jumped in a taxi in Edinburgh to attend a conference overseas and had left my hotel address on the kitchen table. I phoned a friend and said "Google that hotel for me, please" - and when I thanked him and hang up, I realized a human wasn't needed for many tasks like that, as they were well within the capabilities of Natural Language Processing (Information Extraction, Question Answering) even then. We were proud that the prototype engineered had a 2 s round-trip time, including Web-meta search, answer extraction and SMS-HTTP gateway calls (very expensive back then).

wwweston 5y ago

Uber as well. In fact, for the first year or so I used Uber, I never downloaded the app, just did SMS.

whateveracct 5y ago

My grandfather used SMS to get weather & sports updates for years. He still isn't on the Internet and honestly would love to still use SMS.

gunfighthacksaw 5y ago

> You could get useful services sent to your phone and not get sucked in endless feed scrolling. Technology as it should be! Do you think the browser UI dominance was marketing, convenience, something more sinister…?