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I learned about this new service from LifeHacker

Keep in mind that this is for making hearing phone calls as you can use it from your mobile phone or if your computer is capable of making phone calls from the browser. It’s a useful tool to minimize wasting minutes on the cell phone and aggravation with phone menus.

Fonolo uses a patented process called “Deep Dialing”.  Fonolo works by automating the nativiation through the dreaded touch-tone menus. (”Press 1 for English…”)

Instead, you navigate a company’s phone menu visually, through a web or mobile interface.

Just click the point in the menu you need to call and fonolo will automatically dial the company, navigate to that point and then connect you to the call.

For those using Relay Services, this is a handy guide to prep you for the phone menu so that you can decide ahead of time which numbers to press for the right services.

For example, here’s what it would look like if you plan to call AOL:

Main menu

Main Menu

Hi. Thanks for calling AOL.

This call may be monitored or recorded for quality service.

[click to expand] Main Menu:

To get to the right place, just say one of these:

“Reset password,”

“Tech support,”

“Billing,”

“Sign up,” or,

“Cancellations.”

If nothing sounds right, say “It’s none of those.”

Right now, they’re limited to a small number of companies since it’s in Beta mode. Fonolo built a system that “spiders” the phone system, much like a web search engine spiders the web. Fonolo dial companies, navigate their menus and use a combination of voice recognition, signal processing and human editing to maintain a map of phone space. Since phone menus can change any time, Fonolo continually spider each company to keep the database current.

Not a bad idea to reduce your time on Relay Services (but of course a bad idea for Relay Services because that’ll mean less money for them, heh).

Fonolo

Start reading here but this is a best comment so far:

A couple of years ago, our department manager combined this training as an afternoon extension to a departmental all-hands meeting. One of my close friends is a very articulate, knowledgeable lady who is deaf. Or perhaps I should say, was deaf. She has cochlear implants that now allow her to hear.

So, we were into the second hour of the training when I noticed that she had turn her implants off and was playing solitaire on her Palm Pilot.

The instructor liked to use her as an example of someone with a “special condition”. Whenever he spoke her name, I’d give her a nudge and she’d look up, smile at the instructor and then go back to playing solitaire.

I had to suffer through the training—I’d left my Palm Pilot in my cube.

When I attended a Jewish Day School (called Yeshiva), I remember a class lesson on conversion. Rule #1 in conversion - You cannot convert to Judaism to just marry someone you love. Being Jewish is more than just a piece of paper. It means keeping kosher, attending the synagogue, educating your children in Judaism, follow the mitzvahs (as best as you can) but above all, to live in a Jewish life to the best of your beliefs. Not to say “I’m Jewish, now let’s get married, and please pass the bacon.”

This deaf lady wanted to convert to Judaism to marry someone she loved. The rabbis should’ve ruled that it’s impermissible to marry for love, and stop right there. But no, that’s not the reason why she couldn’t convert. The reason is that “those who cannot hear, cannot fulfill mitzvoth and therefore, believes rabbinical court in 2008, cannot convert to Judaism.” And that’s what this controversy is all about.

Keep in mind that I’m not ignoring or putting down the rest of the non-Orthodox in the Jewish Deaf Communities. The issue is that the ruling was made by a group of Orthodox Rabbis interpreting the Torah and the Jewish Laws their way. So I want to focus on this from their Orthodox angle.

What is an Orthodox Jew? “Orthodox Judaism has held fast to such practices as daily worship, dietary laws, intensive study of the Torah, and separation of men and women in the synagogue.” In other words, to worship daily is a Mitzvah, to study the Torah is a Mitzvah, etc. (Mitzvots is a plural form of Mitzvah). So basically the Rabbinical Court is saying that deaf Jews can’t pray, can’t study the Torah, etc. And this is not the first time they’ve ruled this way. There has been numerous rulings against the Jewish Deaf people simply because can’t do mitzvots. What’s different is that this is year 2008 and we know now that Jewish Deaf are capable of performing Mitzvots, and that the Rabbinical Court needs to be educated why this ruling is so outdated today.

The Israeli Rabbinical Court should visit Baltimore where Orthodox Rabbi Fred Friedman and Rabbi David Kastor lives.

The Israeli Rabbinical Court should visit Nefesh Dovid, the world’s only Orthodox Deaf Yeshiva High School for boys in Toronto.

The Israeli Rabbinical Court should attend the annual Melave Malka held by Beth Torah of the Deaf in Brooklyn, NY where many Orthodox Jewish Deaf gather once a year.

I personally call on Orthodox Rabbi Eliezer Liederfiend of NCSY- Our Way to immediately call the Chief Rabbinical Court to tell them not only that their reasons for their ruling is wrong, but that it is so damaging and dangerous to the Jewish Deaf Community.

The Jewish Deaf community is already facing an estimated 90%+ interfaith marriage rate. The Jewish Deaf community is facing intense pressure from the Christian Missionaries. This ruling is just adding fuel to the fires. I’m willing to bet that the Christian Missionaries are already printing copies of this article to show the next time they target a Jewish Deaf to convert. Oh yea, this will make their job a lot easier!

I don’t think the Rabbis have thought of the consequences of this ruling. And the Chief Rabbinical Court have made a mockery of Judaism, because this is just one of the many crazy and inconsiderate rulings to date. For the sake of the ENTIRE JEWISH COMMUNITY, The Chief Rabbinical Court deserved to be roundly condemned and replaced immediately!

Update: The Rabbinical Court can be enlighted right in their backyard with the Orthodox organization -   Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel’s Judaic Heritage Program for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired.

Best cartoon drawings about how USA has gotten into the subprime mess. Really simple to understand and gets right to the point.

How subprime works

Warning: swear language

Another brave Israeli soldier killed. This one is different - his parents are deaf.

At first glance, the hundreds of mourners gathered at the Ashkelon military cemetery Sunday for the funeral of Israel Defense Forces Staff Sergeant Liran Banai seemed to display both agility and morbid curiosity as they climbed every available surface in a scramble to get a good view of the proceedings next to the freshly dug grave. But then the reason became clear: Many of the mourners were deaf. They came to the funeral in a show of solidarity with Banai’s parents, Guy and Gila, both of whom are deaf, and wanted to find a spot from which they could read the lips of the eulogizers. Due to the mass of mourners in attendance, however, few succeeded.

Rest of the story…

Here’s more details of Liran Banai. He didn’t have to serve in combat because he has deaf parents, but he wanted to.