SMS Weblogs / Textually / 2003 / 12

Another great find from MobileWhac

Mike Masnick comments on an article from the Christian Science Monitor on cyber-bullying, both on the Internet and by text messaging, saying parents, school teachers and administrators are finally realizing what's happening, but are not sure how to deal with i

A glut of telecom offerings is expected to inundate stock markets next year, as European and Asian governments try to exploit the industry's rebound to raise some badly needed cash, according to the WS

D

Interesting, in New Delhi, the paging industry is blaming telecoms and the government for having reduced licensing fees of cellular operators and thus contributed to the dying of their industr

Education director-general Datuk Abdul Rafie Mahat of Kuala Lumpur blamed text messaging and the Internet for the decline in English language passes in the Penilaian Menengah Rendah examination this year, according to Malaysia's New Straits Time

A 49-year-old British man was ordered Monday to undergo community rehabilitation after he admitted using cellphone text messages to seduce a 14-year-old schoolgirl into having sex with her, according to The Australia

Telecom companies around the world are boosting capacity in preparation for millions of extra text messages on New Year's Eve reports ZDNe

In Singapore, nearly nine out of every 10 cases of extramarital affairs are exposed through cellular telephone habits, private investigators and lawyers told the newspaper Streats on Monday and reported by the Khaleej Time

A Scottish council has set up a mobile text alert service to let residents know about disruption to schools because of bad weather, reports the BB

The military will use text messaging to help curb extortion by communist insurgents of candidates in the May national elections, according to the Sun Sta

According to recent reports, Japan’s National Police Agency is planning to carry out a major revision of Japan’s Road Traffic Law next year that will toughen restrictions on mobile phone use while drivin

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I'll be offline for a few days, until Monday December 2

Mobile phones now outnumber fixed lines in Africa at a higher ratio than on any other continent, says a US think tank, reports the BB

Rounding up Textually's Year in Review, this last and 10th entry focuses on six technologies or trends that emerged this year, and that should take hold in 200

Explaining why it's successful, The Daily Telegraph Australia - 411,000 copies sold daily - describes one it's interactive features which uses text messagin

Joi Ito describes a game played in Japan which originated with business cards, but then moved on to cell phones; a sort of business person's russian-roulette:

"There are three people: two players and a judg

British troops serving in Iraq will be able to listen to Queen Elizabeth II's annual Christmas broadcast on their mobile phones, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday, according to Sif

After Italy and Ireland, the «Papal Thought of the Day» delivered from His Holiness John Paul II by text messaging is now available in the UK, reports the scotsma

DoCoMo Systems Inc, a joint venture between Secom Co Ltd and NTT DoCoMo Inc, will launch this month a home security service that enables users to remotely check the settings and status of their home security systems by using Internet-capable cellular phones, according to NEAsia Online via Mobile Japa

The UK breaks another SMS monthly record with the highest daily average of text messages sent ever, in Novembe

Though 99% of the population of Hong Kong have cellphones, the latest craze sweeping the city isn't video callin

Sony Ericsson has announced the company will deploy a Trial Mobile Online Multiplayer game solution for their consumers around the globe, to offer owners of various Sony Ericsson handsets the ability to play interactive mobile games online, according to infoSync Worl

In this report from GSMBOX describing the many functions of Nokia's fashionable 7200 - available in the first half of 2004, the writer here describes in some detail, the new model's “presence function” which we heard about last month from Aloysius Choong for C/Net Asi

Ericsson Mobile Platforms has signed a license agreement with RealNetworks, where by Ericsson will integrate the media engine of the RealOne Player, the Helix DNA Client, and the RealAudio and RealVideo codecs into its platforms offering

Mobile phones group Vodafone and its US partner Verizon Wireless today unveiled the first transatlantic texting system, reports This is Londo

Vodafone has backed away from adopting Microsoft's operating system for mobile phones, declaring it "not quite ready for prime time", according to Silico

Amy Harmon's NY Times article, "Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping Tabs", paints a chilling portrait of cell-enabled surveillanc

This is the ninth post for Textually 2003 - The Year in Review, a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

The mountainous Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is getting to grips with its first mobile phone network, according to the BB

According to this entertaining article in UK's Sunday Mail, the problem of texting under the influence is so common it has been given a name; ''intexicated'

Kuala Lumpur police have received tremendous response from the public for the newly-introduced short messaging service crime-reporting method, reports the Daily Expres

Danish telecoms consultancy has said that an aggressive price war in the Danish mobile market could soon spread to other European markets, according to Electricnew

This is the eighth post for Textually 2003 - The Year in Review, a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

The car bomb which killed 12 people at Jakarat's Marriott hotel last August, was set off by a mobile phone, a suspect said at a trial yesterday, according to The Straits Time

The Christchurch police of New Zealand are using text messaging to battle against shoplifting in the busy lead up to Christmas, according to an article in the Christchurch Sta

Since this summer, food giant Nestlé in partnership with French mobile operator Orange, has been selling ice cream by text messaging, in a test project involving between 300 and 400 ice cream dispensers placed in community swimming pools, shopping malls and other public place

A rapist's text messages by mobile phone led to his conviction, despite the victim's inability to remember the incident because she was out cold, according to Norway's Aftenposte

Ian Huntley's conviction for the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman was based partly on crucial mobile phone evidence - which nowadays is almost as useful to the police as fingerprints or DNA, reports the BBC

"In the last five years dozens of murderers have been convicted partly as a result of evidence about their mobile phones or those of their victims, according to the BB

This is the seventh post for Textually 2003 - The Year in Review, a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

The GSM Association (GSMA) is launching a global, multi-million pound marketing campaign next year to raise awareness of GSM and 3G services across the world, according to Mobile Toda

Mobile services and applications designed primarily for business environments are spilling into homes, according to a new IDC study reported by ZDNe

Motorola's proprietary text input system has reached version

Siemens Mobile says wants to further advance the market for walkie-talkie functionality on mobile phones (PoC: "Push-to-Talk over Cellular") and assume a lead position in this area, reports Cellular New

In the UK, anationwide crackdown on mobile phone crime is being launched with the creation of a special police unit, according to the BB

Joe Horn, the New Orleans pro football receiver who pulled out a cell phone and made a call while on national television last Sunday (cf Football player's use of cell phone during game draws penalty), has been fined $30,000 and return specialist Michael Lewis was fined $5,000 for handing him the phon

In order to stop hooligans from disrupting Sunday's football game in Cheserfield, the stadium's security staff has set up a special number fans can send information to by text message, reports Sheffield Toda

This is the sixth post for Textually 2003 - The Year in Review, a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

Cell phones in Japan will work as concert tickets, identification cards and electronic wallets in a new service by the nation's top mobile carrier, NTT DoCoMo, that uses smart card technology developed by Sony, reports Australian I

A record numbers of Australian students accessed their results through technology yesterday, according to The Ag

Euroe Electronics has a door lock that can be locked and unlocked using a cellphon

Walt Disney Internet Group has just launched Disney Mobile for Samsung phones with downloadable content, including games, graphics, ring tones, and Disney mobile greeting card

MasterCard is to roll out a new European payment system for cross-border card-to-card funds transfers via the Web and mobile channels, according to finextra news

"The new service, dubbed MoneySend, is being released to help banks comply with new EU regulations governing the costs of transferring low-value retail payments across border

"Sahaf has denied the capture of Saddam Hussein, saying the man who was arrested is the leader of the (Afghan) Taliban,’’ read a mock SMS circulated among Kuwaitis on Sunday, within minutes of his capture being announced, according to the Indian Expres

Another one for cell phone etiquette, don't talk on the phone when you're on national televisio

China will account for one-third of the world's short messages sent by mobile telephone this year, nearly a 10 per cent jump over 2002, state press reported on Monday, according to an article in Australia's AB

Britons collectively make 132 million mobile phone calls a day, according to research by BMRB who questioned 1,001 people by telephone between October 10 and 12, according to Ananov

HELLOWORLD Project came to a close in the early hours of Saturday, as the last messages flashed across the mountain Morro dois Irmaos in Rio de Janeiro, and the UN Headquarters building in New Yor

This is the fifth post for Textually 2003 - The Year in Review, a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

This is the fourth post for Textually 2003 - The Year in Review, a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

This is such a fascinating and well researched article on Africa and cell phones written by James Hall for Inter Press Servic

Merriam-Webster, publisher of dictionaries and language references, has partnered with JSmart Technologies, a wireless game and entertainment developer, to offer The New Merriam-Webster dictionary and Thesaurus on cell phones, via BREW and Java, available through most major North American operator

A Philippine woman who discovered text messages from another woman on her husband's cell phone, surgically emasculated him in his slee

A Scottish motorist aged 29 who was involved in a fatal crash while using a mobile phone was jailed for four years today, reports the The Scottsma

Picturephonin

The rapid spread of mobile communications in developing countries has had a major impact in bridging the digital divid

e-consultancy reports that The Doghouse UK has just launched a text messaging reminder and gift service available on all UK mobile network

A new content service from Vodafone and Fauna and Fora International (FFI), branded wildlive!, aims to promote conservation interest among a new generation of mobile phone and internet users, according to Infosync Worl

Asia’s three fastest growing high-tech firms all came from the online game sector this year, fueled by the region’s rapid development of high-speed phone and Internet service, according to a survey released on Thursday, according to Reuters via Mobile Media Japa

Wireless gaming has arrived in the United States, according to a new study, and will generate more than $1 billion by 2006, according to RCR Wireless New

New Zealand's Labour Party is courting Generation Txt through its "Heads Ups" project, reports the New Zealand's Herald, "to help establish a relationship with young people, using technology they were comfortable wit

This is the third post for Textually 2003 - The Year in Review, a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

This is the second post for Textually 2003 - The Year in Review, a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

Apologies for being so repetitive but the name server redirection is still not workin

Gizmodo has a new look! Nic

For the next couple of weeks, I will be posting a series of entries rounding up the most interesting mobile news (best and worst) reported this yea

An interesting article published in The Star on cell phone subscribers in China, who have been quietly leading a mobile revolutio

With the launch of dedicated entertainment phones, such as the Sharp GX-10 and Nokia 3650, providing developers with big colour screens and large memory capacities, allowing the quality of titles to evolve at a staggering pace, writes Keith Stewart for The Guardia

Mobile casino-style betting for customers with high-end phones will allow users to play against the system or other users in real tim

I found this story on what has already become one of my favorite mobile blogs, MobileWhac

Orange claims to be the first to unveil new technology which promises to end the problem of mobile phone calls cut short when a train enters a tunnel, reports Ananov

Click here for Picturephoning and Ringtoni

As of December 8, Malaysians born in 1986 have been able find out if they have been selected for national service via a short messaging service (SMS) sent to the National Service Departmen

As of this week it is possible to enter Dutch attraction park Efteling with an SMS text message based on mobile ticketing technology from LogicaCMG, according to Yahoo New

In India, the beep of a mobile signalling the arrival of a text message could as well be saving a life, reports The Hind

Kyocera Wireless said Tuesday that it has joined the growing number of manufacturers producing cell phones with a walkie-talkie feature known informally as "push to tal

The number of GSM mobile phone users in the country has doubled in the last 12 months to 2

Location-aware devices and services are emerging at the intersection of empowerment and surveillance: the same technology that could let you know if a good Chinese restaurant or old friend is in the vicinity could also betray your location to a totalitarian government, neighborhood spammers, and your vindictive ex-spous

Picturephonin

Don't forget to send your message to the world, courtesy of the HelloWorld project to be held as of tomorrow in Geneva, Wednesday December 10 until Saturday December 13, during the course of the UN's World Summit on the Information Societ

A Brazilian TV station has shocked the country by screening footage of maximum security prisoners freely smoking cannabis and using mobile phones, reports Ananov

The mobile terminal industry exceeded expectations in the third quarter of 2003, as worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 13

England's World Cup winning Rugby team knew they were in for a royal reception on their return home because Queen Elizabeth invited them to tea by text message, reports The Courrier-Mail

"Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson and c

The BBC reports on the introduction of community telephone shops by Vodacom, which is having a dramatic impact in the Cape Town area, where 40% of the people are unemployed and living conditions are cramped and crowde

Consumer electronics maker Sharp Cor

Slate has an interesting piece on cell phone jammers, picked up by Mike Masnick on Techdir

Picturephonin

A "Blind Text" dating game on an Irish an afternoon radio show - originally conceived by DJ Sonya Mac to amuse listeners stuck in home-coming traffi

Reinforcing it's drive to become a major participant in the mobile Internet, Microsoft's MSN Mobile service has launched a new 'fun' SMS based service, MagicTxt (functional intitially only on certain Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets), according to the Inquire

This article in IOL is about the the World Summit on the Information Society, opening in Geneva on Wednesday, "aiming to reduce the digital divide between rich and poo

This article in IOL is about the the World Summit on the Information Society, opening in Geneva on Wednesday, "aiming to reduce the digital divide between rich and poo

SMS Israel, a Jerusalem-based instant news provider has officially launched a subscriber service in North America, according to Israel 21

SMS services have boomed in Australia, with 4 billion messages sent every year, reports The Herald Su

Microsoft on Monday plans to introduce a “club” service for AT&T Wireless subscribers who own a Motorola cell phone running the software giant’s operating system, reports New

NTT DoCoMo has developed a test model of a cell phone that offers both its superfast third-generation mobile service and a wireless local area network Internet phone service, according to SiliconValle

By October 2003, China's cellular phone popularity had reached an average of 1

Ashley Norris for The Guardian, says Push to Talk is the mobile feature we're all going to be walkie-talking about in 200

Hey, no need to wait for Nokia's 5140, the company's first GSM push-to-talk handset scheduled to launch during the 2nd quarter of 200

According to the London Metropolitan police, about 50% of all street crime involves mobile phones, reports the BB

A regional mobile phone company in India is taking a novel approach to drive up business and help the poor at the same time, reports the BB

A new report shows that the world's leading mobile phone maker Nokia saw its market share fall for the first time in two years in western Europe during the third quarter of this year as rivals Siemens, Samsung and SonyEricsson gained ground, reports OnBusines

Two new products from Sorrent, a company that develops video games for wireless devices, are not the first real-time multiplayer games for head-to-head action on cellphone

Whereas Hollywood blamed teenage girls for box office bombs this summer, because they were spreading thumbs down by text messaging as they walked out of the theater, Bollywood has a different proble

Around 18 million more text messages than normal were sent on the day England clinched victory against Australia in the Rugby World Cup final, an industry body announced today, reports Ananov

I've opened a new category in Textuall

Carlo Longino for TheFeatur

Three great new blogs on mobile phones and mobile lives:

-- All about Mobile Life

-- biTflux Blog:: Mobile

-- MobileWhackCell phones and placelessness

The cell phone has changed our sense of place more than faxes, computers, and e-mai

Another insightful article (cf previous post in Picturephonin

A new text message service launched yesterday in Sydney allows mobile phone users to receive Bible passages direct to their handsets, according to New

Something that would have surely appealed to germ-conscious Howard Hughes and Michael Jackson and sounds even weirder than the mosquito repellent cell phone!

The Korea Times via Smart Mobs reports on Crystal manufacturer Yoosung Global, announcing on Tuesday that it has developed a mobile-phone charger with a sterilization function, the first of its kind in the world, as well as lamp and air-purifying capabilitie

The market research firm IDC has released a study in which it breaks mobile users into four distinct categories, reports brighthand This was intended to help companies understand who their customers ar

Gambling services and adult content delivered via mobile phones could generate combined revenues of $

Messages has launched a colour street map service onto the Orange World portal and covering the whole U

Mobile operator 02, and Images Semantics, a mobile imaging company, have partnered to offer a themed version of Pop Idol on fotoTX

The Mobile Marketing Association trade group announced its new code of conduct for wireless advertising campaigns, a move that comes shortly after the launch of universal short codes and on the heels of a bill in Washington designed to outlaw unwanted wireless spam, reports RCR Wireles

Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon of Kuala Lumpur has urged the country's telecoms to jointly set up a text messaging system for the public to transmit information on reckless drivers and accidents to the police and the Road Transport Department, according to the The Star 

“With such a SMS in place, we can ensure that reckless drivers do not get away with murder,” he adde

The District of Columbia in July is expected to join New York and a handful of other localities that require drivers to use hands-free devices when driving and talking after a bill passed the city council Tuesday, reports RCR Wireles

Orange has launched a new online game to teach customers about the dangers of mobile phone crime, according to Ananov

Telephone technology is helping Northern Ireland farmers to assess their livestock feed supplies this winter, according to The Belfast Telegrap

Over one million players lined up for the 2003 edition of Nokia Game that concluded on November 29th, according to Mike Grenville for 160character

SMS Aid, a private company that owns an opt-in database of UK mobile phone owners, has been granted permission by the UK Inland Revenue to claim the tax rebates on donations made under the Gift Aid scheme on behalf of charities using their fundraising initiative, reports 160character

A ground-breaking three-year "two for one" cinema ticket offer was launched today by mobile phone giant Orange as part of a bid to fight back against the David Beckham-endorsed Vodafone Live service, according to Media Guardian via SMS: Business Gets the Messag

The parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler are to launch the next stage of a media alert scheme for when children are missing or abducted, according to the BB

According to Telecom Markets, several leading telecom carriers are planning to launch fixed-line MMS services in 200

A new breed of TSARs workers - Technology Savvy and Remote - has emerged in the modern business who spend as much time working at home or on the road, according to ic Birmingha

As a Christmas campaign Vodafone Spain will offers its customers calls for 1 cent per minute during December and Januar

The French telecoms regulator ART is said to be discussing the potential regulation of SMS pricing with other European regulators according to press reports this mornin

Nokia today announced new game titles for the N-Gage mobile game deck, including previously unannounced Nokia published games, according to Mobile Ma

According to an article in the BBC, "claims that a German scientist invented the telephone 15 years before Alexander Graham Bell are supported by evidence from newly surfaced archive paper

Aiming to engage the British public in shaping Labour Party policy into the next election, Tony Blair is inviting citizens to express their opinions after registering on the Big Conversation Web site or by texting their top priority to a short cod

This is not a good week for mobile phone mast

From favorite journalist Aloysius Choong, reporting for Asia CNe

A ban on using mobile phones while driving comes into force on Monday, with UK drivers facing an instant £30 fine, reports the BB

Scientists around the world are witnessong a steep fall in the population of sparrows, which coincides with the emergence of the cell-phones, according to The Hindu Business Lin

While most political observers do not expect general elections in Malaysia to be held this month, a rumour spread like wildfire last week via thousands of mobile phone text messages, according to the Straits Time