Send Text Messages to Any Phone with Joopz

Text messages are a great way to reach someone when a phone call won't do, but do you really have to pull out your cell phone whenever you want to send one? Not if you use Joopz, a Web-based service that enables two-way texting from inside your browser.

All you do is sign up for an account, then type your message and the cell number of the recipient. You can also broadcast a message to up to 10 phones (great for pinging, say, the members of a sales team). Any replies will come in via the Web interface, so it's not unlike instant messaging. Joopz also has an Outlook plug-in so you can text anyone in your address book.

A free basic account entitles you to 50 outbound messages per month, while a Premium account ($2.95 monthly or $19.95 per year) gives you unlimited messages, plus a desktop application and the aforementioned Outlook plug-in. Great little service, well worth a look.