For Mobile Information On Your Treo Look No Further Than 4Info

Last week I attended the DEMOfall 2006 conference in San Diego where some 70 technology startups demonstrated their products and services and where the ‘cream of the cream’ of technology journalists from the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, USA Today among others reported their stories. 

At DEMOfall I personally found at least a dozen companies that provided solutions which Treonauts could use.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see that where last year only two companies ‘DEMOed’ using a Treo smartphone on this occasion there were at least six times more – undoubtedly a demonstration of how our Treo continues to gain ground daily.

I will write individually about some of the startups at DEMO that impressed me the most within a Treo context during the coming weeks.  I will start today with one called 4INFO below.

We all know how useful and important it is to be able to have access to information of all sorts at your fingertips while on the go with your Treo.  However, figuring out which specific information service to use is not always obvious as the choices now include 1) on-board applications; 2) wireless web searches and/or 3) text messaging (SMS) searches. 

I have repeatedly complained that what has been missing is an information provider that could deliver a solution across all these three options plus also have a web component from which I could manage my account.  Thanks to 4INFO I have now found just such a solution which delivers all of these and more information searches:

4INFO Mobile Treo Application
4INFO has developed a small (156k) PRC file which provides 9 types of searches listed below with the added benefit that you can save your preferences (such as sports teams, stocks or local theatres so that you can more readily access these repeatedly in the future).  You can download and install the application to your Treo directly over the air (click on ‘Free 4INFO Mobile Search App’ at mobile.4info.net via your Blazer browser).

• Sports: Find scores, player stats, and schedules, for NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA, and NFL coming soon!
• Finance: Updated stock information and financial news from USA Today.
• USA TODAY News: stay up to date with news articles from each section of the newspaper.
• Weather: Find your local weather and 5 day forecast.
• Movies: Find your local theatre, movie times, movie reviews, and even directions to the theatre!
• Driving Directions: Need to find how to get there? We can help!
• Yellow pages: Find restaurants, Hot-Spots, Coffee-shops, and more in your area.
• Flight tracker: Check your flight status for arrival and departure.
• Daily Horoscopes: Know what to expect each day!

Considering that both the 4INFO service and application are free I am naturally willing to be a little bit less critical than I would be for paying versions such as Handmark Express.  Having said this, I am somewhat disappointed by the relatively poor layout of the graphics (the 11 scrolling graphics could easily have been placed on a single page and the 4INFO logo could hyperlink to the homepage) and also by the lack of built-in hyperlinking of telephone numbers to dial from within the app.  Moreover, I personally feel that 4INFO should find a graphic designer who could ‘liven’ its graphics and overall website which is currently a little dull.

4INFO Text Messaging (SMS),
4INFO Mobile Web (Treo Blazer browser) &
4INFO Web Search (PC browser)
For all three options above 4INFO provides 21 distinct types of searches listed below alongside an example search term.

SPORTS
   sports scores: packers, nfl
   fantasy sports: albert pujols
BUSINESS
   stock: quotes ibm
   wifi hotspots: wifi 94025
   package tracking: 1Z9999W99999999999
TRAVEL/LOCAL
   weather: w 10001
   yellow pages: sushi seattle
   news: n nyc
   flight status: swa 197
   hotel reservations: reserve 64137
   city search: las vegas
ENTERTAINMENT
   TV Guide: tv friends 94105
   movie showtimes: m 94025
   drink recipes: drink, shot
   price lookup: price xbox 360
   jokes: joke
   horoscopes: aries
   pickup lines: pickup
DOWNLOADS
   ringtones: ringtone 50 cent
   wallpapers: wallpaper porsche
   games: game wordjong

How to search: Text Messaging
1. Start a ‘New’ text message ‘To’ 4INFO (44636)
2. Type any of the above search terms (for example “sushi seattle” to find a sushi restaurant or deli in this city) in the body of the message
3. ‘Send’ the message and wait a few seconds to view your results

Like 3jam has recently done I might also suggest that 4INFO develop a standalone ‘SMS Starter’ application to make it easier to search without the need to memorize the various terms.

How to search: Mobile Web (Blazer browser)
1. Go to the URL mobile.4info.net or wap.4info.net
2. Type any of the above search terms (here below I used ‘m 94025’ to get theaters and movie showtimes) in the search box
3. Results will appear directly in your browser

4INFO Alerts 
While ‘pulling’ information from your Treo is certainly easy enough there is however no doubt that it’s considerably better to have the information that you want ‘pushed’ to your Treo immediately after something relevant occurs.  For this purpose 4INFO has developed its ‘Alerts’ service across nine information categories below.

• Sports Scores: Scores sent to you when game ends, between periods, or when score changes for NCAAF, NCAAB, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL and NASCAR.
• Player Stats: Player stats sent when game ends or your player makes a play.  Available for MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL.
• RSS News Feed (Beta): Use keywords to automatically send an alert when it appears in news feeds like Yahoo! and ESPN.  This is a truly innovative service that now for example allows you to send a text message to 4INFO (44636) with the word ‘treonauts’ in the subject to receive the latest titles of posts and preview a short excerpt.  You can also subscribe to the entire RSS news feed where an alert will be sent to you each time your selected news feed is updated with a new posting.
• craigslist (Beta): Receive alerts for keywords when they appear in your craigslist searches.
• Stock Quotes: Stock quotes sent at market close, open, or when your stock hits a threshold.
• Package Tracking: UPS and FEDEX package status sent when your package status changes.
• Weather: 5-day weather forecast sent daily at a time you choose.
• Horoscopes: Your horoscope sent daily at a time you choose.
• Personal Reminder: Create a personal reminder text alert.

Conclusion
I am extremely pleased and impressed by 4INFO’s extensive information search options both vertically within a particular category such as SMS with its 21 predefined search fields and horizontally with literally _all_ options covered from text messaging, mobile search, web search and a custom mobile Treo application as well as its alerts.  For now at least you won’t find a better free search service provider that offers this refreshing breadth of alternatives under one umbrella.

Treonauts always have the most concise information…