Today, our lives are spread across a growing array of digital devices, from smartphones and laptops to tablets and connected TVs. While each device tends to perform certain tasks better than others, as we use tablets to read books and shop, laptops for work-related tasks and smartphones to check the weather, stocks and email, increasingly, our devices are working together in concert and becoming… → Read More
In this season of mall-going and power-shopping, it behooves us to remember that texting and walking don’t mix. In fact, according to a study in Injury Prevention, one in three walkers will wander into crosswalks, down sidewalks, and in crowds while looking at their phones, resulting in some of the 4,000 pedestrian fatalities that occur each year. → Read More
During their lengthy careers at Google in both senior technical and product management roles, Maneesh Arora and Amit Sangani were able to geek out on products like AdSense, AdWords, and the now-defunct Google Health. Arora tells us that, while his time at Google was defined by smart people and ambitious ideas like these, in development there was often a tendency to “over engineer” without thinking… → Read More
Android users finally have a way to show up their iPhone-toting, Siri-using counterparts. With Sonalight Text by Voice, a new Y Combinator-backed startup, you can perform entirely hands-free texting. And by hands-free, I mean you don’t have to push a button, tap the screen, or perform any other actions that would require you to take your hands off the wheel. Yes, that’s right – Sonalight is… → Read More
Nielsen is reporting today that teens have more than tripled mobile data consumption and also continue to hold top spot as the most engaged mobile messaging segment.
The report states that “In the third quarter of 2011, teens age 13-17 used an average of 320 MB of data per month on their phones, increasing 256 percent over last year and growing at a rate faster than any other age group”. → Read More
FunMobility, the makers of FunMail, a picture-messaging app that organically pairs your texts with appropriate (and fun) images, FunTones, a large collection of funny ringtones, and FunMe, a suite of tools for consumers to create, share, and post their own user-generated content, is clearly striving for a particular brand message. I think it has something to do with “fun”.
Today, FunMobility… → Read More
A company called Scholastic, presumably not the book company, has released these odd texting devices that work wirelessly within 600 feet of each other. You can create a network of 24 of them and messages are truncated at 40 characters. → Read More
If you’ve seen a teenager in the last two years, then you’ve seen a teenager texting. Seriously, I can’t think of a situation in the last couple of years where I saw a teenager without a cell phone. The teenagers in my extended family send text messages seemingly all day long, every day. Now the Pew Internet and American Life project has released a pretty comprehensive analysis of teen texting… → Read More
Newsflash: Sending text messages while driving is dangerous. There’s really no safe way to send a text while behind the wheel unless you’re at a stoplight or pulled over.
And while there’s no nationwide texting ban for regular drivers, Uncle Sam has just decreed that anyone driving a large commercial truck or bus anywhere in the country can be fined up to $2,750 if caught texting while in… → Read More
Well it looks like my not-even-a-month-old new cell phone number is already out in the wild somehow. I received this unsolicited text message from a 718-area phone number, which Nicholas tells me is Brooklyn or Queens, New York (I’m in Boston). → Read More
Looks like the Obama Administration, which really ought to be focused on getting Americans like me affordable health care (unless doctors now accept World of Warcraft Gold as payment, lol!), has set its sights on eliminating the scourge of distracted driving once and for all. Case in point: Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood is holding a summit this week that has the ultimate goal of “finding ways… → Read More
This just in: the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers thinks it’s a bad idea for you to talk on your phone while driving if you’re not using a headset. They also think that you shouldn’t text while driving, because that causes you to take your eyes off the road. Well duh? → Read More
Before you watch this be warned it’s pretty graphic. I’ve seen plenty of people swerving because of texting – one guy I saw was on his old, ratty Nokia rolling from lane to lane as he texted whoever was most important in his life while traveling 75MPH on I75 in Ohio – and this PSA really shows what can, and probably will happen, in a terrible number of texting-while-driving… → Read More
Only marginally less hilarious than the man who ran into a tree while Twittering comes this story of a Staten Island teen who fell into a manhole while texting. Her story isn’t quite as funny because she’s suing the Department of Environmental Protection for leaving the manhole uncovered and unattended. → Read More
Reuters is reporting that text messaging may have had something to do with a recent train crash in California that killed 25 and injured 135. Cell phone records show that the train’s conductor received a text message at 4:21:03 PM, followed by the crash at 4:22:23 PM. The idea is that he got the text message, looked down to read it, and missed the trackside signal. The commuter train then… → Read More
To the girl who almost slammed into me as she was texting away on her phone while driving last week: regardless of the crazy face you made and the nasty words you mouthed through your windshield, that was your fault. California agrees with me. Just yesterday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation outlawing the reading or writing of text messages while driving. Starting… → Read More
A report recently came out that says parents and teachers are not communicating. Parents blame their busy schedules for not being able to meet with teachers.The report also said that parents know more about their bank accounts then they do about their kid’s report card. The reason for this is simple. The information about your bank account is readily available online and via text messaging. → Read More
Because looking both ways before crossing the street is harder than following laws, Illinois has introduced a bill that would ban texting in intersections. Ken Dunkin, the representative who introduced the bill, says texting in the street is no laughing matter: “This legislation is not laughable. On the surface it’s like, ‘Oh wow, what is this?’ But it’s becoming more… → Read More
Twenty-year-old Nathan Schwartz of Clyde, Ohio took home the $50,000 prize in LG’s National Texting Championship – the down and dirty battle on the QWERTY. Schwartz was able to accurately tap out a ridiculously long phrase in 60 seconds. According to LG, the winning phrase was: "Does everybody here know the alphabet? Let’s text. Here it goes …… → Read More
Some people out there are under the impression that they’re the only ones using text messages in the US. Turns out it’s become more popular than you might think, with 301 billion texts forecasted total for 2008. But the SMS’s time in the sun might be over before the zenith, as mobile IM is set to overtake it, or so the analysts say. I don’t think that’s going to happen this year, and you… → Read More
Someone sent out thousands of text messages encouraging recipients to call Mr. G. Raff and a number of other animals at the Houston Zoo. The message includes the number to the Zoo’s main switchboard. No one knows who set up the prank, but the giraffe is already set up on two dates with nice ladies from the Houston area and could be mating shortly. UPDATE – More information straight… → Read More
[photopress:1765772958_padding_protect_pedestrians.jpg,full,center] Further proving my hypothesis that Mr. Bean is not a character but just an average self-absorbed Brit, Brick Lane authorities have found themselves forced to try out padding the city’s lampposts because idiots keep walking into them whilst texting. I say let them bonk their heads. It’s the only way they’re going… → Read More
I was spoiled. The first phone that I had when this whole “texting” (as the kids call it) craze hit was a T-Mobile Sidekick, which included unlimited SMS messages with the data plan. Then somewhere along the lines, I fell off the wagon and switched to Sprint in order to get my hands on a Treo 650. Imagine my surprise when I got my first bill and found out I’d all of a sudden been… → Read More
It’s officially official: texting while driving will get you a ticket. Back when I was a kid, this wasn’t a crime, this was a hobby. Right? Right? Phoenix hands out its first citation for texting while driving [AZ Central] → Read More
Texting while driving is a sure fire way to get a ticket or get in an accident. Just being back in California this last week makes me wonder why and how I ever used my phone while driving. It’s ridiculously stupid and unsafe, but I still do it. Heh. But things may change thanks to some fancy speech solutions from Nuance. Oh, yeah, DWT means driving while texting. Watch the video and see how easy… → Read More
A recently leaked support document reveals that the Zune 2 will include an inbox where Zune Socialites can send and receive messages amongst each other, but that doesn’t necessarily entail text messages in the way we’re used to. In fact, this is all just a crock of poopoo. If you look closely at this particular slide you’ll notice that it never mentions ‘text messages’ anywhere. It does… → Read More
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