SMS Weblogs / Textually / 2004 / 02

Six months ago, an application that allows cell phones to morph into walkie-talkies was heralded as the next big thing in wireless telephon

Some interesting facts and figures from Nokia chief executive Jorma Ollila at 3GSM in Cannes, the industry's annual summit, reported by The FT:

Excerpts:

- There were

Nextel Communications In

"We will not take part in the funeral for freedo

A couple of days ago, E-Media Tidbits posted an enteresting story on a report in the S

Sonim and Sony Ericsson are to collaborate to integrate Push-to-Talk capability in SonyEricsson phones, based on the Push to talk over Cellular (PoC) standard, ensuring the interoperability required to create substantial subscriber adoptio

Empower Interactive have published a study they have conducted with 60 operators and 250 users and claim that a "Growing tide of mobile SPAM threatens to engulf mobile community if left unchecked", according to Mike Grenville for 160character

UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix had his mobile phone tapped whenever he was in Iraq, with the US and UK sharing any information, reports Teletex

Michigan schools are looking into policies on student cell phones and other electronic devices because of parents' concerns and because the state is lifting a long-standing ban, reports the Lansing State Journa

In February 2003, London initiated a new plan to ease traffic congestion by taxing motorists who drive into the city every da

South Korea's third-largest credit card issuer, KEB Credit Service Co, sacked a quarter of its workforce (161 employees) via text messages on Friday, after negotiations with striking unionised workers broke down, according to an article in Forbe

Mobile phones have long been a fashion item, but if the catwalk at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes is anything to go by, you'll soon be able to wear the phones - with little else beside

Chinese people sent some 1

Cell phones could soon become an unlikely teachers’ ally thanks to an Edinburgh art tutor’s brainwave, reports the scotsma

With little or not spam-sensibility, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning on launching its campaign by sending its promotional material by e-mail and text messagin

Some interesting facts and figures from infoSyncworld on i mode-users outside of Japan:

- i-mode users outside Japan exceeded two million at the end of January 2004 and continue to grow rapidl

Now that 3G mobile phones and mobile multimedia businesses are maturing in the mainstream here in Japan, eyes turn to the next stage of development: "wallet phones", according to eurotechnolog

Branded and customized handsets are becoming more and more popular, it seems, or so the marketing companies thin

Vodafone is looking to drum up extra revenues by getting business users to text more, according to The Registe

Well, if you ask me, it is, even though the press stunt by UK 3G operator 3 may reek of just that, a stun

Nine out of ten consumers are concerned about the security of their mobile device, according to a new study from security Network Associates, reports Webuse

Yeah, it is isn't that different from any other medium, reall

Microsoft Cor

Mobile community dodgebal

Mobile operators in

A nice primer on how Russians are beginning to warm up to using SMS in their daily live

Indian mobile subscribers will get deluged with political messages during the upcoming political elections in the country, according to Times of Indi

For coverage and news related to 3GSM Conference happening in Cannes from Feb 22-26, 2004, go to my coverage her

In a huge boost to the use of open-web of mobile content, Nokia has unveiled its latest Communicator, model 9500, with in-built Wi-Fi connecto

New York Times wakes up on ringtones, and so is

We're two billion messages strong, according to Mobile Data Associatio

Silico

I've always had an affinity for companies hatched directly out of Universities: Out of University of Malta comes a new startup called Textvie

British Telecom in UK has expanded its content-through-phone-booths program: it has tied up with gaming company Gameloft to distribute mobile phone games from its national network of 1,500 'Blue Box' internet kiosk

Fundraising through SMS, which is already big in UK, is now being tried in Australia, this time for cancer charity, reports Herald Su

With all the open-access revolution going on in Iran, it was only a matter of time before SMS came into the mix: Cell phones have become the latest battlefield in Iran's parliamentary elections with a brisk traffic in SMS urging voters to boycott Friday's controversial polls or turn out massivel

Kinda makes sense, doesn't i

Hey, quick: what's the newest thing spreading like wildfire: no, not ringtones, that's ol

Guess they didn't see this one coming: in Australia, a new Telstra initiative allowing text messages to be sent from public telephones is being exploited by a stalker who is sending terrifying mobile text messages to a Brisbane woma

Spam's becomng a big problem on mobile phones, according to a new report by London-based technology firm Empower Interactiv

Better believe this "Onion-style" headline: the world is going crazy textin

Well, sort

That's the initial estimates on the number of text messages send on Valentine's day in U

Keep this one in your "it could happen to me" file: An intimate Valentine's Day text message nearly caused a Malaysian couple to split when it landed on a wrong mobile phone numbe

So it seems Disney prefers to launch a sports-related cell phone rather than a Mickey phone, at least in

WSJ reviews

In Dubai, government services have sent out more than half a million SMS (short message service) text messages were delivered by government departments to the public, using its mDubai initiative, just three months since its launc

Not what you thin

OK, so it not the annoying Microsoft's Clippy that is back, but Siemens has launched its latest high-end GPRS-enabled mobile phone, the CX6

The London Ambulance Service has become the first in the UK to use new technology to pinpoint the location of mobile phone callers, reports the BB

Xeni Jardin, as a new contributor to TheFeatur

The Wall Street Journal has rounded up some services offering SMS reports on snow conditions for avid skiier

A new texting solution from multilingual Zi Corporation enables users to compose texts in multiple languages simultaneously, according to InfoSyncWorl

I've temporarily removed the comment section on textuall

Adventure Weather will be distributing free SMS weather reports for all on the mountains this coming Everest and Himalayan season, according to Mounteveres

By this Friday, all offers for AT &T Wireless must be mad

People are far more likely to lie when talking on the phone than when sending an email, researchers have found, according to This is Londo

ABCNews has launched a premium SMS news alert service in the USA using Telenor Mobile Interactive for the premium rate service, reports Mike Grenville for 160character

To hold the attention of his four classes aged 15-16 years, an Italian high school teacher has been trying out innovative new teaching methods by testing his students by SMS, according to Cool Tec

WAN2 SND A TXT MSG THIS VLNTINES DAY? Not only does your girlfriend/boyfriend expect you to, but USCellular is counting on it as well (good for their bottom line) - so to encourage you, they recommend some trendy text messaging phrases for this Valentine's Day:

WUBMV - Will you be my valentine? QTPI! - Cutie pie! :-* ME! - Kiss me! IWYWH - I wish you were her

A pilot scheme at Cardigan Secondary School in Great Britan uses text messaging to help pupils through their troubled teenage years, by giving advice by SMS, according to ICWale

Sex, bathing, working, shopping and exercise all come second to answering a mobile phone for almost half of Australians, according to a new survey, according to New

Motorola introduced three new models with "walkie-talkie"-like features, including a model for the European market, according to Yahoo News and The Registe

In Denmark, a GSM network operator, Sonofon shows environmental responsibility by offering to recycle used cellphone

Schoolgirl Philippa Cotton from Loreto Grammar School, Altrincham, wrote an essay on the dangers of mobile phones - and ended up meeting Tony Blair, reports Manchester Onlin

According to the Herald Sun, Australian network operator Telstra expects Valentine's day to be its busiest day for processing SMS messages after Christmas and New Yea

Nokia is promoting their handphones in Japan by selling them in a Valentine's box, along with some chocolate

Are you a parent? Have you ever wondered where your kids are? Have you been worried when they're late and afraid that something might have happened to them? PhoneConten

Mobile phone operators and handset makers are working together in an international campaign to combat mobile phone theft, according to Computer Weekl

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts in cooperation with the Filipinas Institute of Translation and the UP Institute of Creative Writing, are launching DIONATEXT, an SMS poetry writing contes

Mobitopia reports on multiple vulnerabilities in Nokia phones discovered by Mobile Security firm Pentest:

"By issuing various invalid OBEX messages to the phone's protocol handler it is possible to trigger one of several Denial of Service vulnerabilitie

Siemens has developed a prototype phone in the shape of a pen that allows you to write letters and numbers on any surface and enter the data directly, according to InfoWorl

AOL and AT&T Wireless have announced the availability of new mobile instant messaging services that streamline the wireless instant messaging (IM) experience, according to Business Wir

Nokia has admitted that some of its Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones are vulnerable to "bluesnarfing" - where an attacker could read, modify and copy a phone's address book and calendar without leaving any trace of the intrusion, according to Silico

A recent survey conducted by ICR for Cingular Wireless, purpotedly "the industry leader in wireless safety and courtesy education", brings to light how wireless daters can enhance their love lives thanks to their cell phones and publishes some uh, common sense recommendations at the approach of Valentine's Day:

According to a company press release, "with all of this wireless activity, Cingular has established some courtesy commandments for wireless behavior and dating to help people get closer to the ones they love, (

The Fair Trade Commission (Korea) said on Monday that it slapped fines ranging between 1 million to 7 million won on 25 spammers that violated the E-Commerce Consumer Protection Law, according to the Korea Time

This is wild, following my post yesterday about deleting over 3'000 comments on Textuall

The Re

In Malaysia, the public will soon be able to send text messages via their handphones to government departments and agencies to obtain information, according to The New Straits Time

I was wondering if someone could help m

Half of the emergency 911 centers still will not be able to track cell calls by next year’s deadline for wireless companies to outfit their phones with locator technology, according to a group that represents call center administrators, according to the AP via Review Appea

This is the first time I've come across an SMS celebration of St Patricks' Day carried out as a Marketing campaig

According to a Swiss consumer organisation, Comparis, a lack of competition enables mobile operators to overcharge consumers by 300 million Swiss Francs (appro

Lovers are being offered the chance to send specially commissioned Valentine's Day poems by text message, reports Ananov

Smart Mobs has gone mobil

Twentieth Century Fox has teamed with mobile publisher Sorrent and Verizon Wireless to launch mobile game ‘ALIENS: Unleashed’, reports Mobile Commerce World via Moco New

Long queues thronging the narrow corridors of the sprawling Abu Dhabi police departments are set to disappear as the Ministry of Interior is turning to the Internet and mobile phones to provide services to the public, according to The Gulf New

Roaming Messenger is officially in the beta test stage on Motorola's latest generation SmartPhone, the MPX 20

Eric Lin for TheFeatur

I may have misunderstood what this is all about, but first hand, it's sounds very offensiv

The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) is currently considering locking minors' mobile phones using PIN numbers or by classifications similar to those used in films to prevent access to raunchy premium-rate SMS or MMS services, according to the Courrier Mai

A new, verbal way to send messages via the GSM network that does not require users to type in a SMS is here, Swedish-based telecommunications giant Ericsson has announce

According to figures just released by Strategy Analytics, more than 516 million handsets were shipped in 2003, reports Electric News Ne

Motorola In

New York drivers hung up their cellphones for a while but are back to using hand-held models at nearly the same rate they were using them before the state banned them, an increase a study blames mostly on lack of publicity, reports the WS

A new US mail-in program by Metech International allows consumers to easily recycle old mobile phones for just the cost of postage, reducing waste and keeping environmentally harmful materials such as heavy metals from entering landfill

If you have ever tried to explain to an elderly relative how to use your mobile phone, you will understand why Mobi-Click is generating excitement with its new range of phones that work using just three buttons, reports the NZ

Politicians have taken advantage of the Chinese New Year celebration to canvas for support from voters via text messaging, by customising their seasons greetings with political connotations, according to Malaysia's Sta

Taxi and autorickshaw drivers and bus conductors could in future become mobile public call offices, according to a city inventor and technology expert,

The Philippines lead SMS use, with cell phone users sending an average 252 messages per month, according to marketing information group TN

Cell phones are becoming the latest target of electronic junk mail, with a growing number of marketers using text messages to target subscribers in Asia, reports USA Toda

ABS-CBNNews reports on the dangers of text-mongers and calls them one of the most effective and vicious economic saboteurs nowaday

The BBC has an interesting article on iTagg, a mobile domain name service launching February 9 and previously reported in Textually by Rafat Al

China Mobile is to start selling a mobile phone designed specifically for China's Turkic Muslim population, according to Cellular New

Forbes reports that Nokia has launched today a handset aimed at outdoor and sports enthousiasts with a built-in digital compass and torch, the Nokia 514

According to Mike Masnick on Techdirt, a group of technology heavyweights are expected to make an announcement on Monday about a new copy protection scheme for mobile phone

A mathematics teacher admitted in a Singapore district court to having sex with a 14-year-old student, according to IO

Rushkoff's journal published in the Featur

Experts say you should not keep a cell phone in your pocket or any area where it can contact coins or key

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the tycoon behind the easy group of companies, is planning to launch a "no frills" mobile phone service in Britain to undercut the prices of the established operators, according to The Independen

Mobilephone subscribers in 18 Arab countries have risen to more than 2

Nearly 200,000 voters have registered to vote using SMS during the last registration weekend in South Africa, reports Mike Grenville from 160character

MobileClipper is a new internet service allowing users to create personalised clips of web pages that can then be viewed on their mobile phones, reports InfoSync World via All About Mobile Lif