On this day in 1706 Benjamin Franklin was born. He would become famous as a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, a printer, a philosopher, a musician, and an economist. Today, we honor Benjamin Franklin as one of our Founding Fathers whose ideas are still very much alive.

Ben Franklin’s personal ideas about economics helped to shape our country’s economy, including an idea that would become the soul of the “American Dream” – - the idea that all people are created equal and through hard work each person has the same opportunity to achieve success.

Ben used his printing skills to print paper money, helping to establish the paper currency system in America. Today, we honor Ben’s contribution to the economy every time we drop a $100 bill: Ben’s face appears on it.

It’s all about the Benjamins baby.

In partnership with Rebtel, Talkster celebrates Benjamin Franklin’s birthday today by offering callers $5 in free calls (we wanted to give you $100, but that’s just not good economics now is it? Ben was a good business man too).

Happy Birthday Ben.

Yes. It is. Trust us.

By definition, a skeptic is a person who questions or doubts facts and theories. Here at Talkster we deal with skeptics all the time. People wonder, “Can Talkster really save me money on my international calls?” Why yes, we can. That’s exactly why we’re here.

The “doubting Thomas” asks us time and time again, “how can you charge pennies a minute when my cell phone company is charging me more than a dollar a minute for international calls?” The skeptics are skeptical because our calling rates seem too good to be true. And every skeptic worth his salt knows that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Don’t be a disbeliever when it comes to Talkster and our ultra low calling rates. We can save you money, and that’s the plain truth. Give us a try. Still skeptical? Well then, to prove it to you without a shadow of a doubt, in partnership with Rebtel we’ll give $5 in free calls to all those still skeptical that they can save money on their long distance and international phone bills. You’ll see!

Oh, and in case you doubted their existence, there are skeptics groups all over the world. Check them out for yourself at http://www.freeinquiry.com/skeptic/organizations/ .

Happy New Year from all your friends at Talkster! With a fresh start and a brand new year ahead of us many of you will be making New Year’s resolutions. In our experience the best way to make sure you stick to your resolutions is to clearly state your intentions and share them with friends and family who can help encourage you and support you along the way. Encourage the people you share your resolutions with to keep you accountable!

Talkster offers you an easy way to save a buck when share your resolutions with friends and family around the world. In partnership with Rebtel, we are offering callers $5 in free credits to place ultra low cost long distance and international calls, so you can share about your resolutions, and make follow-up reminder and encouragement calls to your heart’s content!

If your New Year’s resolution was to stay more connected with friends and family around the world, Talkster has got you covered. With $5 in free calling credits, you can speak more than 2 hours to India, more than 4 hours to China and 5 hours to Mexico (based on calling rates from the US). With this promotion, you get access to 50 countries with the lowest calling rates in the industry and current Free World Dialing customers will enjoy access to new calling areas through this partnership, including Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and Pakistan.

Happy 2010 and the very best of luck with your New Year’s resolutions!

It’s that time of year again… the holiday season! Talkster loves to give the gift of gab to all our loyal customers, especially since we can save you money and help you to stay connected to friends and family all around the world.

In honor of the season we announced a new limited time promotional offer today. In partnership with Rebtel we are awarding callers $5 in free credits to place ultra low-cost long distance and international calls all around the world.

This is a limited offer for the first 10,000 people who sign up, so hurry over to www.Talkster.com to get in on the fun. Callers should use the promo code “TALKSTER” to get their $5 in free calling credit.

$5 goes a long way with these rock bottom calling rates! With $5 in free calling credits, you can talk for more than 2 hours to India, more than 4 hours to China and 5 hours to Mexico (time based on calling rates from the United States).

In addition, because we’ve partnered with Rebtel on this promotion, callers get access to 50 countries with the lowest calling rates in the industry, including new calling areas like Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and Pakistan.

We understand the holidays are the time of year when connecting with friends and family, especially those far away from home, is important to you all. We hope this special holiday offer gives you even more to celebrate.

Happiest Holidays from the whole team at Talkster!

USA Today featured Talkster this week as a way consumers can save money using technology.

In the article, “Here are 7 great freebies you’ll actually use,” USA Today CyberSpeak columnist Kim Komando recommends Talkster as a “legitimate freebie you may want to use again and again.”

Other free services that Kim profiles in her article include Qipit, a mobile service that lets you take pictures with your camera phone which are then converted to PDFs that you can fax or email while on the go, and JiWire, a service for locating free Wi-Fi Hotspots.

It’s great to see technology being leveraged to make consumers lives easier without costing them an arm and a leg. To connect to all of the companies behind the money saving freebies listed in the USA Today article just click here: http://www.komando.com/columns/index.aspx?id=2229

Cool enough to get us named as her Cool Site of the Day

FreeRinger, a free calling service built on the Talkster platform, was honored this week by none other than “America’s Digital Goddess,” Kim Komando herself!

Kim named FreeRinger her Cool Site of the Day. Thanks Kim, for the plug, and for sending all your readers and listeners our way to save money on their long distance and international calls.

Beyond what Kim detailed in her short review, Talkster has two other services that people looking to save a buck on international calls should know about. While FreeRinger is designed for people to place calls through their Web browser, these other Talkster built services can be used from any kind of phone.

Talkster’s Free World Dialing: The FreeRinger service is based on Talkster’s FreeWorldDialing service, which essentially turns your long distance and international phone calls into local calls. The neat thing about Free World Dialing is that you can use it from any type of phone to call any other phone (Landline, Mobile, VoIP phone, etc.). Click here to get started using Talkster’s Free World Dialing today: www.Talkster.com.

talki: The talki mobile app (currently available in Europe and Canada) delivers super cheap text and picture messaging and international calling anywhere in the world. With a built in credit and payment system, talki is not limited to the countries supported by Talkster’s Free World Dialing, giving you a highly affordable way to call or message with friends and family anywhere in the world. Visit www.talki.me to start using talki today.

Talkster is featured in the March issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.
The article is titled: 14 Solid-Gold Ways to Save…Without Giving Up Your Latte

Talkster.com lets you chat for free with people around the world for as long as you please. Enter your home or cell number and a friend’s number at the website. Talkster issues a set of local numbers you can call to connect.

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Read about Talkster on trendwatching.com:

This month, we’ll be looking at FREE LOVE, which is all about the ongoing rise of ‘free stuff’, and the brands already making the most it. Not to mention the millions of consumers who are happily getting into a free-for-all mindset. Absorb and apply!

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It’s that time of year again where if you (like me and many others I know) have family spread around the globe you figure out how you can possibly get everyone together in one place at one time or else you spend the whole holiday season driving and flying from place to place to see them all. For the record, when I have grandchildren, I expect everyone to travel to me!

Joking aside, it’s tough to get one’s entire family in one place to catch-up on all that happens while we are apart. It doesn’t matter which time of the year it is, the family news gets passed from one person to another in a series of one-on-one conversations as the phone is passed around from person to person. This year will be different though. The Talkster family is very proud to play a part in connecting families this holiday season with our “Talkster Free World Dialing” service we launched this past October. With Talkster’s Free World Dialing friends and families can set up group calls with up to five other people from around the world.

It’s really easy to use and best of all the calls are free! All you do is go to the Talkster site from your PC or mobile phone, enter the names and numbers of the people that you want in the group call and each of them is assigned a local number to call to join the conversation.

When we built Talkster’s Free World Dialing we knew it had to be easy to use, even for people who don’t have a computer. This means when it’s time to make our family group conference call, I don’t have to rely on my old Uncle to remember what time the family call is going to start. All I do is dial the local number, record a short message telling my family to all to get on the line so we can chat and Talkster does the rest. Each of my family members gets a call from Talkster where they hear my short recorded message. They hang up the phone and dial in to their local Talkster number. Once they have connected, we are joined together. We all listen to a 10-second targeted audio ad that fully subsidizes the cost of our call, and then we can talk as long as we want.

It doesn’t matter if all of my family members don’t all call into our group call at exactly the same moment. They can join at any time the call is in progress. We can talk for as long as we like and people can come and go as they please.

This year there’s less traveling needed yet my family and yours can still share their news and good wishes together. I know nothing is as nice as being there, sitting around the table together with loved ones; but Talkster is a good alternative to keep families connected when you can’t all be in the same place at the same time.

Happy Holidays to you and yours from all of us in the Talkster family.