Planning a party this weekend? If you are, then you might want want to check out Foonz. Foonz is a new service that facilitates group calling amongst cell phones at no charge (standard provider rates still apply). The service is very straightforward. According to co-founder Randy Corke, this is how Foonz works:

In brief, you set up groups of contacts on the Foonz website (www.foonz.com) in a list that is a lot like an IM buddy list, and you include cell phone numbers. Then you can call into the Foonz service from your phone and invite one of your groups to a "group call". Foonz immediately sends a text message to the people in that group inviting them to join your call. They simply call the number in the text message and they will be joined together automatically with you and the other callers in the group. If some of the people you invite aren't able to join the call, Foonz lets you leave a message for them at the end of your call. Foonz lets only those people know there is a message waiting for them. So, it's a way to get in touch with three, four, five or more friends on the phone, immediately, with one call.

This is an interesting concept but it is tough to gauge how much mainstream traction a site like this will gain. In some cases Foonz could be very useful, such as trying to coordinate a dinner or small party. The Foonz service could be used to help scattered families keep in touch and leaving messages for multiple people all at once would also be very useful. However it seems like there could be some drawbacks. For one, the site promotes the use of text messaging as the primary means of contacting friends for calls, as it is the quickest way to reach someone. Although they are given the option to turn it off, receiving a large number of text messages inviting you to a group call could become tiresome. Nonetheless, Foonz is a cool new service that you should consider checking out. Currently in beta, the full version is expected to be released in early 2007.