One of the great things about the Internet today is that some of the tools and services that are available make your life easier and enables communication that would otherwise be expensive or non existent. Basically, there are web services that are readily available that make life easier for you if you live outside of your home country. The following is short list of some of our favorite products that are custom-tailored for expats, assuming you have a Internet connection.

Grandcentral is a service that allows you to manage all of your phones with one number. In other words, if you have a cell phone, a home phone and a work phone you can use a free Grandcentral number to manage how your calls get distributed. Keep in mind that this only for US residents, but read on and we’ll reveal a great hack for you that will get you a free US phone number that anyone can call and you will receive calls directly to your computer. But first, this is what Grandcentral has to say:

GrandCentral doesn’t replace your phones; we just link them together and help them do more. How do we do that? We give people One Number…for LifeTM - a number that’s not tied to a phone or a location - but tied to you.

With GrandCentral, you can be reached with a single number, answer a call at any phone you want, seamlessly switch phones in the middle of a call, and even know whether a call is important before you take it.

Ok, so why would Grandcentral be great for expats? Just this last week Grandcentral added a new feature that will allow you to receive calls directly to your computer via the Gizmo Project. Now, you can sign up for a FREE USA phone number that you can give to anyone and then, anytime someone calls that number, you can receive that call directly to your computer via Gizmo project. I’ve tried it and it works great. This is a must for anyone who has friends and family in the USA. They can now call your local US area code an you will receive that call no matter where you are, and for FREE. Additionally, if you have business with ties to the US, Grandcentral is no brainier. So, go sign up for a Grandcentral and Gizmo account.

Gizmo Project is a Voice Over IP application that allows you to make free calls to anyone on the Gizmo network and gives you inexpensive options for long distance calls to any phone. Additionally, if you’re in the US, you can make free calls to any phone. It’s a great service, especially if you tie it to your Grandcentral account. This is how Gizmo describes their service:

Gizmo Project uses your internet connection (broadband or dial-up) to make calls to other computers. With the click of a mouse, you’re connected to friends, family, and colleagues anywhere on earth. It’s just that simple. You talk clearly. For as long as you want. For free.

And with inexpensive add-ons like Call In and Call Out, you can talk to any telephone“mobile or landline“on the planet. Any phone? Yes.

Skype, undoubtedly most of you have heard of, and probably are using. Just in case you’re not; Skype is another VOIP P2P service like Gizmo it allows you to make FREE calls between other Skype users and gives you inexpensive options for making long distance calls to any phone. Additionally Skype has a great Video feature that enables realtime video calls to any of your friends, family or co-workers that also use Skype. We have been using Skype for sometime now and are very impressed with its features.

DocumentCommand is a great service for those of you who still maintain an address in the states. DocumentCommand is a for-pay service that acts as your mail forwarding service, but with a twist. Every piece of mail that you receive gets scanned and then you login to your DC account to view each piece of mail and then instruct them to either forward the important mail directly to you, or trash the junk mail. The have very reasonably priced options and a state of the art control center to handle all of your mail. To learn more about DocumentCommand, visit their website.

Bubbleshare is hands down our favorite photo sharing website. Their FREE service allows you to upload and share all of your photos with anyone you want. They have some of the most advanced tools including voice annotation. The team here at Yourville hopes to one day have integerated photo sharing as great as Bubbleshare. Here’s an older video that explains a bit about their product.

Gmail is the best FREE email service available. Up until recently, the only way to get a Gmail account was to receive an invite from an existing user. Now, they have opened their service to everyone. You can go here to sign-up for an account. Additionally Gmail will let you POP any other emaill account that you have so that can manage all of your email with one account.

If you know of other web services that would benefit someone that lives outside of their home country, please let us know.

Well, it’s been a little over a month since Yourville.com was
launched and we’re ecstatic about our response. Our original
Yourville concept was to design and implement a website that
would bring expats in Costa Rica and expat wannabees together
in a viral community that would enable our members to stay in
touch with friends and families while they make new acquaintances
online. At this writing, we have surpassed our goals.

Here’s a breakdown of our present Yourville membership:

36.0% Live in Costa Rica
45.2% Live in the U.S.
18.8% Live in the Rest of the World

69.1% Are Male
30.9% Are Female

15.0% Are age 18-34
25.0% Are age 34-50
60.0% Are age 50-77

It seems, from our calculations, that a vast majority of our members
50 years of age and above have sought and/or or seeking a Tico/Tica
type of life in Costa Rica. It appears to be a glowing testimony to
the growing popularity of Costa Rica and its special allure and as a
final venue for the adventurous and those seeking the pura vida experience.