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Build Your Own PBX with Asterisk
Posted by Lifehacker US Edition at 12:30 AM on August 19, 2008
If you've ever wanted more control over incoming phone calls at home or at the office, setting up a PBX system could be the solution, and Geek.com's John Rogers has a tutorial for you. He explains what a PBX is:
A PBX or "Private Branch Exchange" is like a miniature phone company/switch in your own office/house. The PBX is responsible for making sure calls are routed properly. Situation: when Joe wants to dial Suzy in the office down the hall or downstairs in the TV room, he just picks up the phone in his room/office and dials a local extension just a few digits long. [...] Also, if Joe has four teenaged kids, instead of answering their calls and acting as the house receptionist, he can just set up a menu that allows callers to dial the person they want and then needs not be disturbed.
Schedule phone calls to any phone with web site getmooh (get me out of here). The idea behind this webapp, as the name suggests, is that you can schedule a call to give yourself an excuse to get out of an awkward situation or mind-numbing meeting. You can choose from one of dozens of pre-recorded messages to play when you answer, from an angry Alec Baldwin to an absurd but probably effective instructional message that feeds you your excuse line by line. ("Repeat after me: 'Hey, how's it going? Oh no, where are you now? I'm sorry, I've got to go. My flatmate has lost his keys.'") Don't plan on using the site for pranks, though—it reads your number back at the end of each message it sends. For more phone call scheduling fun, check out 
Popular VoIP application Skype has introduced a new unlimited international calling plan for a measly $9.95/month [AU - that seems to translate to $12.95 in Aussie dollars, if I read the Skype site correctly]]. That means unlimited calls to any land-line phone in 34 supported countries, including the majority of Europe, Canada, China, and Japan. Additionally, Skype's $3/month unlimited calling plan for the US and Canada is still in play, along with a $5/month Unlimited Mexico plan. The Unlimited World plan does not cover cell phones in all areas, so you may want to verify that your international calling location of choice is covered. As always, Skype-to-Skype calls remain free.
If you liked the idea of 
Mac OS X only: The latest beta 3 release of Yahoo Messenger for Mac adds voice and voicemail capabilities a la Skype. Using Yahoo Messenger, computer to computer voice calls are free, and you can purchase a PhoneOut and/or PhoneIn account to call land line or cell phones, or receive calls on your computer, or even set up call forwarding to land lines or mobile phones. (Rates start at 1 cent/minute in the U.S.) You can also send SMS messages with Yahoo Messenger, and get free voicemail; Yahoo Messenger delivers voicemail as an email attachment to the address you specify. Skype's had all these features for Mac and PC for some time now, so Yahoo's pretty late to the game—but it's still good to have options.
