Download Squad

Apparently, the owner of the Web site HoaxCall is unable to determine just what it is his site actually does. According to a press release, he needs help answering the following question: "Is HoaxCall.com the Latest Form of Cyber-bullying"

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Grow up.

In the release, founder Marc Waesche explains, "I created this site with the prankster in mind. I can remember doing prank calls as a child and wanted to give prank calls a high-tech makeover." Well, here's a thought. If something is funny when you're nine then chances are, it isn't when you're twenty-nine.

Here's HoaxCall's schtick. Pick a prank call scenario, then dial any phone number right from the browser. Listen as a pre-made audio clip plays for the person you've called, and wait for hilarity to ensue. The three options available at the moment are "The Annoying eBay Buyer," "You're on Air [sic]!" and "Yeah, Who's This Then?" Evidently, there are more coming soon.

Before dismissing the site entirely, I listened to two different scenarios and they were predictably bad, over-acted, and just downright silly. In fact, the "funniest" part of any call would be if someone was actually tricked into thinking they were talking to a real person other than a recording.

The only thing this Web site got right is that it won't let you dial the same number more than once every two weeks. I wasn't able to verify that claim, however. According to the FAQs HoaxCall collects phone numbers in a database and I wasn't about to offer mine up to them.

While the site is no doubt sophomoric, the most troubling thing about it is the glib references to the very serious issue of cyber-bullying. Well, that and HoaxCall's attempt to provide "an outlet for the prankster in each of us." I don't know about you, but I grew out of making prank calls right about the same time burp jokes stopped being funny.

Judging by the terrific sense of humor I see in Download Squad readers, I'd say you've grown up, too. So, who's up for some real fun?

Are you leaving work early to fly off somewhere with your sweetie? You could Tweet that to your followers on Twitter, or you could tell them, "I'm going to ? out of work early today and hop a ? to Montego Bay with my true ♥."

Adding symbols to Tweets used to involve remembering a whole bunch of keystroke combinations but thanks to TwitterKeys, created by the folks at The Next Web Blog, all you have to do now is cut and paste.

Just drag the TwitterKeys bookmarklet to your toolbar and next time you're looking for a symbol, just click the link to open the directory. Find the symbol you like, copy it (Control + C), then paste it (Control + V) into your Tweet. Pretty sweet.

Two things to note: TweetDeck users will need to change the apps defult font setting to international/utf8 in order to use TweetKeys. Also, Mac users will recognize many of these symbols from the Special Characters set found on OS X. While not all of those characters will work cleanly in Twitter, the ones selected for TwitterKeys will.

If you're social life won't be complete until you're socially connected to David Hasselhoff, I have some good news for you. Now you can sign up to be one of the Hoff's 15,000 closest friends by joining his social network HoffSpace. Woo.

Free membership on the site gets you your own home page, and access to Hasselhoff's media collection of pictures and videos (though I'm guessing not this one.) You'll also be able to read Hasselhoff's blog, shop for personalized gifts, and chat with his adoring fans worldwide. There's even a page filled with ringtones and wallpapers for your mobile phone.

I know you're probably thinking this has to be the oddest social networking site ever created. Probably not.

More on Hoffspace over at Switched.

I know your secret.

You've searched online to find out what happened to an old flame, where your best friend from college ended up, or whether there are incriminating anecdotes about your boss on the Internet. Google will get you some good results, but use the new iSearch search engine created just for locating people and you'll probably find incriminating anecdote of your best friend and your old flame. With your boss. It's that good.

Simply type in a name and approximate location (the narrower the geographic area you choose, the more finely-tuned your results will be), then let iSearch do its thing. Soon you'll get a long list of names starting with exact matches and descending to near matches. Once you find the person you're looking for, you can choose to get information on your target's friend's professional contacts on LinkedIn, what social networks they're a part of, where they turn up on blogs or in the news, and even what email addresses and domain names are associated with them.

iSearch will also perform a public records search via and give you info on known addresses, bankruptcies, arrest records, and loads of other legal documents discoverable online. You'll need to pony up some cash for those goods, though, and pay anywhere from $2.99 to $49.95 to get the real skinny.

There are already some sites out there that do people searches and spit out public record information, but few do such a thorough job of it. Honestly, after searching my own name, I felt like I'd been x-rayed. And I know another secret. You're about to go check out your name at iSearch, too. Right?

[Via Wired]