On the Plus Side A new service can turn your cell phone into a superphone, complete with 10 different numbers and all the features of a PBX.

Just when you thought they couldn't possibly invent anything to make communicating easier or cheaper, they did--"they" being a San Mateo, California, startup called TalkPlus.

You know those great virtual PBXs from companies like Covad? How would you like to have those extended calling features on your cell phone? No, you won't need a $500 smartphone, and you won't incur those ridiculous web tolls levied by providers like Sprint. TalkPlus will work on just about any latter-day cell phone and over the most widely available voice networks.

You can assign up to 10 fully functional phone numbers and voice-mail boxes to a single cell phone--each good for incoming and outgoing calls in the area codes of your choice. Included are common phone extras like caller ID and the kind of call tracking only lately realized in the virtual PBXs of VoIP providers. TalkPlus turns your cell phone into a cellular PBX.