Handheld Vs. Hands

Physical Differences
When you use a handheld cellphone while driving, certain physical actions can potentially cause an accident: dialing a number while driving, and holding the phone while talking. In either case, these actions violate the general safety guideline of keeping both hands on the steering wheel. Additionally, drivers must divert their eyes away from the road to dial a number. Conversely, a hands-free phone uses voice-activated dialing and headsets or a speaker for conversations, and seems, on first glance, to be safer because it eliminates the need to physically hold or operate the phone while driving.
Mental Aspects
Despite the conventional wisdom about hands-free cellphones, both types of phones can divert a driver's mental focus away from the road. According to research done by Ford Motors on a driving simulator, long conversations while driving make it more difficult for a driver to respond to events that occur on the road. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, states that the act of having a conversation is what causes distractions.
Hands-Free Dialing
In addition to the mentally distracting aspect of carrying on a conversation, dialing times for hands-free cellphones are actually longer than the times required to dial on handheld phones. NHTSA states that this longer dialing time negates the fact that hands-free cellphones allow drivers to keep both hands on the wheel.
Statistics
Studies are somewhat inconsistent when it comes to accident rates related to cellphones. However, studies tend to show that both types of phones cause accidents. For example, the New Jersey Department of Transportation did a study of accidents in that state from 2006 to 2008, and found that the number of accidents involving hands-free phones were only 18 percent less than those involving handheld devices. A study by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles suggests that hands-free cellphones might result in fewer accidents. It found that there were 1,170 crashes involving handheld phones from 2001 to 2006, compared to only 214 for hands-free phones. However, the difficulty in relying on such data is that it does not consider the relative percentage of drivers who use handheld or hands-free devices. Other studies tend to report on overall cellphone statistics instead of distinguishing between the two types of phones.
Laws
State laws that ban the use of cellphones while driving focus on handheld phones. At the time of publication, nine states and the District of Columbia have complete bans on handheld phones. No state prohibits use of hands-free cellphones by all users. However, novice drivers in 30 states and the District of Columbia may not use any phone while driving. A similar ban on hands-free devices applies to bus drivers in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

How to Pass the Craigslist Phone Verification

1.
Many of us have tried using a legitimate VOIP phone number to pass the Craigslist verification system. However, it is often a tiresome and unsuccessful process that only leaves us frustrated. The leading cause of our grief is Craigslist's unwillingness to accept a VOIP or other internet-based phone number. Trying to resolve the issue is not easy, as Craigslist makes it quite tricky to contact them when you are having a problem (many people use the Craigslsit online contact form without ever receiving an answer back). Yet, with the following Craigslist contact information, you can have your account up and running in no time!
2.
Cragislist.com Contact InfoToll Free Number: 1-800-664-0633
Phone Number: 415-566-6394 or 408-988-6395
Fax: 415-504-6394
President's email address: jim@craigslist.org
Mailing Address:
1381 9th Ave
San Francisco, CA 94122
3.
As soon as you call the Craigslist phone number, the automated system will announce your place in line. You'll be pleasantly surprised to find out that your hold time is very short, as many people do not possess the Craigslist contact information. Once you are transferred to a customer service rep, you'll be greeted by a pleasant person who will listen to your problem. The phone verification issue seems to be a common incident with Craigslist and the rep will be ready to manually verify your phone number right away.
4.
Depending on the rep, you may be required to call back with your phone number unblocked, so that they can see it on their caller ID display. If you placed your original call with your phone number blocked, the rep may simply choose to call you at your phone number in order to verify that it is a legitimate number.
5.
Your phone number will be manually verified in the Craigslist system -- your number will automatically be associated with the email address and Craigslist account that was denied verification through the online process. As a result, you will not have to furnish the email address that is linked to your Craigslist account. Once the manual Craigslist phone number verification is complete, you can log into your Craigslist account and start posting immediately.
6.
If you have more than one Craigslist account, such as one for personal postings and one for business postings, then you will need to call Craigslist back with a second phone number.

How to Reactivate My SafeLink Cellphone

1. Contact a SafeLink customer service representative at 800-977-3768.
2. Give the representative your name, your enrollment ID, Social Security number and date of birth.
3. Tell the representative you want to reactive your account. If the account was inactive for less than 60 days, the representative will reactivate the phone. If the account was inactive for more than 60 days, you will receive a new phone number.
4. Turn your phone on when the customer service representative tells you to. This will ensure you receive your monthly allotment of free minutes.

How to Send Free Minutes to My Phone

1. Purchase a phone card with bonus minutes. This tactic is used to promote the cell phone service and attract consumers. Phone card purchases can range from $3 to $110. You can purchase a phone card an unlimited number of times.
2. Call your service provider and report any problems you have with your phone. For your inconvenience, the service provider will often offer you free minutes.
3. Register for offers. Cell phone service providers have offers listed on their websites or in advertisements. Offers require you to fill out information, take surveys or write reviews. Requirements and usage for these offers vary.
4. Get a promotional code from your service provider. A promotional code is given to consumers to access free minutes and other offers. Promotional codes are sent to consumers by email, regular mail or in a text message.

How to Receive Text Messages Online

1. Create an account with Yahoo! Mail or Gmail. This is free and should only take a few minutes to set up. Gmail users who sign up for Google Voice (see Resources) are assigned a phone number, which they can distribute to friends and associates who can call or text this number. Meanwhile, Yahoo users can send and receive text messages via Yahoo! Messenger (see Resources).
2. Login to your Google Voice account periodically to see if you have any new text messages. Click 'Text' on left side of your screen to pull up all of your messages. If 'Text' appears in bold then you have unread messages, with the number appearing in parentheses.
3. Open your Google Voice account and proceed to 'Settings' in the top right corner of the screen. Select 'Voice settings' and click the 'Voicemail & Text' tab. Check the box next to 'Forward text messages to my email' to have the text messages sent to your default Gmail email account. Standard messaging rates will likely apply. Finally, click 'Save Changes.'

How to Enable Text Messaging in Gmail Chat

1. Sign into your Gmail account.
2. Click on 'Settings' in the upper right corner of the page then click on 'Labs.'
3. Scroll down the page until you find 'Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat.' Select 'Enable.'
4. Click on 'Inbox' at the top of the page to go back to your Gmail page.
5. Type the phone number of the person you want to text in the blank under 'Chat.' To the right of the phone number, select 'Send SMS.' Type your text message into the window that pops up in the bottom right corner. Click 'Enter' to send the text. The person you texted can text you back and you will see their response in the same window.

How to Extract Phone Numbers from a Website

1. Download, install and run ZoloPages.
2. In the software, click on the 'Surf and Collect' tab.
3. Go to the toolbar running along the top of the software window and click 'File' then 'Open a Zolo page.'
4. Click on the website you would like to extract data from. A search bar will appear within the window.
5. In the search bar, enter the same information you would enter into an online phone directory to find the phone numbers you want to extract from the website and click 'Search.'
6. Scroll through the search results using the arrow keys. Each time you see any data you want to extract, click 'Capture' in the left-hand window. When you have captured all of the relevant data, click the 'Select and Save' tab at the top of the window next to the 'Surf and Collect' tab.
7. Click the tick box next to the phone numbers you wish to extract. If you want to extract all of the phone numbers you captured, click on the 'Select' drop-down box and click 'Select all.'
8. Click on the 'Save' drop-down box and select a type of file (for example, for an Excel spreadsheet choose .XLS). Name your file if necessary and click 'Save.'