Maybe this would be a good project for DevHouse Boston.

You have a cell phone. But you’re visiting family and don’t have an alarm clock with you. Why not schedule your wake-up calls via the phone?

Or suppose you remember you’ve got to start preparing lunch at 12:45. Why not have an automated reminder service call you?

This is just about the simplest possible VoiceXML service, but it’s still not done well on the web. The closest thing I’ve found is ifbyphone.com, which has basically the right services and business model but an interface that’s about 50% more cumbersome than it needs to be. They’ve taken the approach of offering as many options as possible, and thus it takes a while to find the free 10-day trial. When you call their number to schedule a reminder you have to wait through the greeting, say “wake up calls” (probably more than once), and then choose the day (say “Tuesday” or dial 1, say “Wednesday” or dial 2, etc… you can’t just say “today” or “tomorrow”) and enter or say the time. Then it asks you for your time zone, even though you entered a time zone during website registration. And finally it requires you to choose the phone number, since it’s soooo likely you’ll want to schedule a reminder call to a phone other than the one you’re using.

It should go like this:

IVR: Hello Shimon. Thank you for cal…
me: wake up calls
IVR: When should we call you?
me: today at twelve forty five
IVR: We’ll call you on Tuesday, November 21st at 12:45pm Eastern Standard Time. Hang up now to finish, or say “timezone” or “start over” to make changes. You can also say “note” to add a voice note, or “recurring” to make this a recurring reminder.
me: <click>

Blending prompts together, and allowing revision rather than requiring confirmation, reduces interaction time in half. Blend this with a simple web interface and you’ve got a self-contained, obvious product that I’d wager people wouldn’t mind paying $5/mo for.

Why not just use your cell phone’s built-in alarm or calendar? I think this would be significantly faster to use, and it would have a consistent interface across different phones. But maybe that’s not enough to make this an idea worth pursuing. I’m not sure.

→ Read the book in PDF format

When I took Physics AP in high school, I made a study guide. As we moved through the syllabus, I’d read a book chapter and review my notes from class, and add to my study guide before each test. At the end of the class, I had a 115-page document that was quite helpful in preparing for the AP exam.

The book is very terse and features lots of equations but only two diagrams. It focuses on presenting and logically connecting the most salient concepts and equations in the Physics AP C coursework, but isn’t intended to be a primary textbook. It also contains some weak jokes; I apologize for any bad writing by 17-year-old self.

I intended from the start to publish the book online, under a Free license. But in the 7 years since I took the exam, it I’ve never gotten around to it. Until now.

Presenting Physics AP in Review:

• Physics AP in Review, version 1.0, PDF (115 pages; 415K)
• Version 1.0 source code for LyX/LaTeX and .eps diagrams (98K)

The book could probably use some tidying up or, if it’s close to useful, a new maintainer who still has an interest in AP Physics. I hope it’s useful to someone!