It seems technology has finally conquered one of life’s timeless challenges. You know, the one where you desperately want to leave someone a voicemail, but have absolutely no desire to talk to them.

Calling a cell phone is dicey. After all, the whole idea of having a cell phone is never having to be away from your phone. You call, they answer.

So now comes Slydial, a wireless service that allows you to bypass the ringing and go straight into someone’s voice mail. Imagine the possibilities. Or if you don’t feel like using your imagination, listen to this one from the folks at Slydial:

Have your cake and eat it too
You desperately need to call your girlfriend but she is a talker and you don’t want to spend an hour on the phone with her because you would much rather watch the game with your buddies. Leave her a sweet voicemail and get a hall pass for the night.

The service is free - though you do have to listen to a brief advertisement before the system connects you to the target of your cowardice. If you don’t like ads, you can sign up for premium service and pay 15 cents a call. Or if you’re really serious, you can get unlimited calls for $4.95 a month. But that’s only for those of you who plan to average more than one sneaky call each day.

One word of warning: I just slydialed my semi-luddite neighbor - the paper’s medical reporter - with moderate success. Two of the three calls went through without a hitch. The third made her phone ring.

So you might want to give it a few trial runs before using it in a “critical” situation. Or you could learn to confront troubling situations head on. But where’s the fun in that?

I’d love to hear what people think about this? Who would you Slydial? And would you feel bad about it? Or is it a technology whose time was long overdue?