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 introduces a new app to its menagerie of fun, called FunChat, which blends chat, multiplayer HTML5 games, virtual currency, rewards and achievements into a realtime user experience for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android. → 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 behavior. → 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 motion. → 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 to eliminate texting while driving.” → 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 cases. → 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 collided with a freight train. Whether text messaging was the culprit or not, California train workers have now been temporarily banned from using cell phones at work. Temporarily? It’s a train, make it permanent. Many states make it illegal to text while driving, why should a train be any different? You don’t see bus drivers texting (I hope). → 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. Parents are now demanding the same level of service for monitoring their child’s progress in school. Teachers could text or email updates to parents once a month or have a site they can post updates too. I’m sure students find the idea of an RSS feed of their quiz results just thrilling! → 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 … AbcDeFghiJKlmNoPQrStuvWXy & Z! Now I know my A-B-C’s, next time won’t you text with me?" Not to take anything away from Schwarz — that phrase is definitely impressive — but the contest was only open to people with activated, full QWERTY phones made by LG. via I4U → 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 can find out why on CrunchGear. → Read More
