No more DUIs, try TWD!

More and more people now days are texting while driving, and this is by far less safe than out right talking on your cell phone while driving. At least when you’re talking on your phone, you don’t have to look at the phone and make sure the correct word went into the phone - you know it did.

Text messaging distracts the drivers, and many teens admit to texting while driving (TWD). While many admit it, they also know that it isn’t safe. Some even admit to going off the road and/or getting close to getting into a wreck. So, teens, just wait for the day that police will be giving out TWD voilations!

[An article about teens texting and driving]

Don’t get charged double or triple per SMS!

A man in Finland discovered that he was sometimes getting charged double, and even sometimes triple, for a text message that he sent. He noticed it after sending a single text message under 160 characters, that his bill recorded him sending two or three messages.

The problem: His provider treats an unusual character as a seperate message. Luckily, in Finland, this character is not a common one for the language.

To read more, check out: hs.fi

New great way to find the apartment of your dreams!

TextoRent.com is a new feature that assists people in finding an apartment via SMS. The way it works is simple: There is a broker and the client (you). Your broker will send you listings via SMS as soon as they become available that meet your specifications.
This way, you won’t have to miss out on the apartment of your dreams or any good listing that you might like. You can review them briefly on your phone, or check out the listings on the web for more info.

Sounds like a pretty good idea overall, but just isn’t something I’d do. 1) it’s only limited to the New York City area, and a few other large city in the area. 2) I’d rather not be interupted at work by all these text messaging coming in.
I think this could be a big hit, so if you’re checking out apartments in the New York City area, definetly take a look at this service and review it for us.

More info @ TextoRent.com

SMS + Schools = Positive? No way!

With all of the news going around about cheating via SMS in schools as well as phones disrupting lectures, you would never have thought that something good school and text messaging would come together for something useful. Well a company in the UK did just that, and it seems to be going over quite well.

txttools or edutxt is a service with passes along reminders and messages along to students and parents for school. The systems notifies you about school closures, rearranged sporting events or trips returning late, student-teacher conferences, training, and other important dates. It also will notify you about exams, the form you have to return for that trip, or the fact that you still have to sign up for the trip.

edutxt is already used by over 170 UK colleges and schools, and the number is only on the rise. edutxt is also easy to manage, and can be sent to one person or many. The SMS technology is on the rise, and this is a great advance for the service.

txttools also has services for hospitals and businesses, as well as many other features. To check out more, go to txttools website.

Fastap or T9? Survey says - Fastap!

Ever since Fastap has been introduced in 2004, text messaging has forever changed. More and more phones are coming out with 26 keys, rather than the usual 12, and there’s a reason behind that.

As many of you know, text messaging is convenient and has quickly become a huge buzz. With individuals sending out many text messages each day, they would like an easy way than the T9 input feature from the 90’s. Well Fastap came, and stayed, and the users that text haven’t stopped. Mobile users with Fastap tend to send twice as many texts than users without Fastap.

Are you ready for ads on your mobile? Well they’re here!

40 out of 50 brand name companies surveryed by Airwide Solutions said that they plan on advertising on cell phones starting in 2008, and in five years more than half of all the companies worldwide will be advertising on cell phones.

Sprint has been one of the first to say that they will begin running banner ads on mobile screens. Amp’d Mobile also stated that they plan to place ads for Herbal Essence shampoo on it’s video demand service.

Another survey said that 58% of Americans stated that mobile ads are a nuisance and that they should be prohibited. (So does that really mean 42% don’t think that? I don’t know who could like ads period!)
Just think of the way advertising will soon be: You’ll be driving by the ice cream shop and you’ll get a text messaging say, “Large cone $1.99. Today only!” Of course you’ll want to stop in and grab one, but think of where else mobile adverting could go.

[More from SJ-R.com]

Text messages not being sent in Pakistan

Apparently on the holiday called Eid in Pakistan, SMS’s messages weren’t being received. Users were getting the message “message sending failed”, that or the message was receive hours later.

People in Pakistan are sending text messages and ecards via SMS and MMS because it is much cheaper than actually sending a card by mail (you know, the one where the guy comes and picks it up and then deliveries it). Sending an SMS or MMS is usually more reliable as well, but maybe not when the phone provider is being jammed by all of them.

I just hope this doesn’t become a normal occurance around the holidays, especially since a few are nearing.

[Story located @ thenews.com.pk]

Text or phone your parents? Either way, parents like it!

A new report out from the BBC shows that parents enjoy the response of from their child, whether it’s a text message or a phone call. The report also indicated that parents would rather talk to their children, but the child would rather text their parents? (Honestly, isn’t that common sense? No one wants to talk to their parents, especially around their friends!)

The report also showed the girls are more likely than boys to SMS their parents that they are safe, as well as use text messaging for social purposes. (I think we knew this as well.)

Parents are giving cell phones to their children earlier now than ever, but parents feel reassured knowing that their children are safe and sound.

[For more info, click here!]

Pay for parking via SMS

A transportation authority in Italy has release a great new service that enable drivers to pay for parking via an SMS message. Not only does this service allow you to pay via SMS, you can receive an alert about when your parking is going to expire.

Drivers wishing to use the services provided by Atac must provide credit card or bank account info via their website before using the service.

And yes, this is only available in Italy through Atac, but you can bet your butt that it’ll be coming soon to a parking garage near you!

[Read more here.]

Still poking at your phone to text message? Try this!

Now that cell phones are getting smaller and smaller, it’s getting harder and harder to hit those tiny keys. Nuance Communications has released a new software specifically for mobile phones to eliminate having to poke at your phone. It is a mobile speech platform that translates voice into text.

Not only goes it do that, but it does much more. Users can speak natural queries to find ringtones, locate the nearest Starbucks, search the Web, or dictate a complete SMS or email, and much more. This is much better than other speech programs that are available, only allowing basic queries like “Call Sarah at work”.

Ok, so this sounds pretty cool, but is it fast? The answer is yes! So how fast? Well Nuance had a competition versus Ben Cook, the worlds fastest SMSer to put it to the test. Well, the Nuance software beat Ben and other SMSers hands down. To take a look at more info about the contest, click here.

[For more info about the software, visit Nuance.com]

Email to SMS is becoming a great new service

Ever been writing an urgent email and wanting to send it to your pal, who you know isn’t near his computer and isn’t going to be for a few hours. Well the solution is here, and it looks to have a great outlook.

Recently domain and web hosting providers have been offering a new service free of charge to anyone using their primary services. One is VoxDomains.com and another is Bonphire.com, both of which seem to work the exact same way. When you are composing your email, you can choose whether you want the email to go to email only, SMS / text messaging only, or both. From there you can enter the email addresses and/or phone numbers. There’s also a function that allows users to keep the email within the 160 character limit for text messages.

[To check out more on this, take a look at VoxDomains.com and Bonphire.com]

Ever want to just scream after you’ve ‘lost’ your phone? Now the phone will scream for you!

Did you know that approximately 10,000 mobile phones are stolen every month? Perhaps you have been one of the unlucky victims of phone theft, and yes, it sucks. All of the data remaining on the phone is now in the hands of someone that wants to use it for everything he or she can. To top it off, studies show that on average, it takes 30 seconds for someone to notice that their phone is missing. Ahhh!!

Well, Synchronia has released a mobile phone software that will do just that, SCREAM! With Mobile Manager from Synchronia you can remotely turn on a scream feature, which will release an annoying and embarrassing high pitched noise from the phone. The software however can go far beyond a scream. With it you can remotely lock and wipe the data from the phone. It can also be used for business to update and remotely install software on company smartphones.

[To learn more about the software, visit Synchronia.com]

Stop waiting in line for your food! Use GoMobo and never wait!

Are you always in a rush to get to work on time, but just wish you could stop at the local coffee shop to grab a cup of their famous latte instead of your Walmart brand dirt the people from work call coffee ? Well, Mobo Systems, Inc has came out with a great service to do just that.

GoMobo is a service that allows customers to text message (SMS) their order to the restaurant before even getting to the restaurant. On top of that, when you get to the restaurant, you don’t even have to wait in line! Each participating coffee shop has an express lane just for people ordering by GoMobo!

GoMobo has made this service easier than ever. You can login online and type in your favorite orders and input your credit card information to be billed for your orders. Then when you’re in your car, you text message the GoMobo number and the message can be as short as one (yes, 1) character. That character you indicate in your message, corresponds with the favorites you indicated online, and you just enter the number.

Here’s a brief explanation of how it would work if you were to order:

1. After creating an account online and entering the information needed, you send a text message to 46626 with the message 1 (your Favorite #1).
2. The resturant will then message you back the estimated delivery or pickup time.
3. You go to the resturant (or receive it if it was a delivery), walk up to the GoMobo line and tell them the last four digits of your phone number.
4. They give you your purchase and you walk away while everyone else wonders how you got the VIP treatment.

Best of all, this service is 100% free to it’s users! No fees are charged to you ever! Unfortunately, GoMobo has restaurants located in New York only at this time, however look for this to catch on quick!

[Check out more info at GoMobo.com]

Free calls with Jajah…now also on Blackberry

Jajah is a fantastic, powerful and convenient web-activated Internet telephony solution for cell phones and landlines alike. Their service allows you to make calls across the globe at the vastly reduced prices typically associated with VoIP providers and often calls are free!

To make a call you visit Jajah.com, enter the number where you are located, then the country, area code and number of the person you wish to call and click ‘call’. Within seconds, your phone will ring, you answer and then Jajah automagically connects you to the person you wanted to call, instantly across the Interweb.

Jajah offers free calling for landlines AND cell phones within certain locations, and really cheap rates for everyone else. This is a very neat, simple VoIP solution, devoid of fancy adaptors, contracts or special software. Jajah leverages the power of the Internet to connect you with your friends and loved ones locally or on the other side of the world… Give Jajah a try. They offer a 5 minute trial for free (landline numbers only for the trial). It really is quite amazing - it just works! Registration enables more advanced features such as conference calling.

BBCalls have recently released a Jajah tool for the Blackberry addicts among us, allowing ‘free’ calls to be established from within your Blackberry.

[Full details at Jajah and BBCalls]

C-SAM innovates mobile banking and more!

A company by the name of C-SAM may have brought mobile transactions to a new level. Not only have they done what other companies have such as Paypal’s Text2Buy, but they offer many features that are not available by larger companies. With C-SAM pay your bills, send money to other mobile users, move money between bank acounts, get money order and send wire transfers, get prepaid cards and replenish them, get coupons, get tickets for more than the movies, and much more!

This isn’t the usual SMS mobile payment site, this has everything you need and more! If you love your mobile phone and hate your wallet, surely stop over at C-SAM and take a peek for yourself.

[More at C-SAM.com]