New Technology Allows Callers to Avoid Unwanted Conversations

There have been times in our lives when we have had to make important phone calls that we would much rather avoid. In these instances (and in-between whispering to ourselves "please don't pick up") we anticipate the salvation that comes when hearing the beep of an answering machine, signaling that an unwanted conversation has just been avoided.

Wouldn't it be great if we could jump straight to the answering machine without having to wait out the seemingly endless ringing period? Now thanks to Slydial, unwanted phone conversations are a thing of the past. Slydial is an emergent technology that allows callers to dial a mobile phone but avoid the chance of talking to the person on the other end. The incoming call goes undetected by the recipient, who simply receives the traditional blinking light or sound that indicates that a voicemail message has been received. (Source: nytimes.com)

While Slydial may seem a bit deceitful (hey, look at the name), the concept is nothing new to techies. When you stop and think about it, text-messaging and email services offer the same means of avoiding an actual face-to-face (or at least voice-to-voice) conversation.

Still, Slydial is different because the service is using its deceitful nature to target customers. The Slydial website offers a wide range of different uses for the service, including leaving a message for a significant other who is a "talker" to avoid long conversations or calling in sick to work without having to face any follow-up questions from the boss.

Other services are also using deceit as a strong selling point for their products. One such service lets an employee running late for work add background noises resembling heavy traffic to their mobile phone call. Another service places an automated call at a predetermined time so that the recipient can leave an unwanted situation, like a boring meeting or bad date, to take an "urgent" call. (Source: iht.com)

A test version of Slydial has been available for months, but since its official release to the public more than 200,000 people have used the service. While Slydial is completely free to use, there is one catch: callers must first listen to several seconds of advertisements before accessing the voice mailbox.

Still, many agree that it's a small price to pay for never having to engage in a lengthy or otherwise unwanted phone call again.