SMS Weblogs / Textually / 2004 / 06

The plot surrounding a takeover battle for high street UK retailer Marks and Spencer and a controversial share purchase by its chief executive Stuart Rose thickened amid reports that an impostor may have spied on his mobile telephone records, reports The Associated Pres

Verizon Wireless doesn't miss a bea

Virgin Mobile, part of entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Group empire, says it plans to make a long-awaited market debut in July, according to Reuter

An article on Insurance companies in India mentions one company called Bajaj Allianz, who launched a novel text messaging servic

John Summers, global director for managed security at Blue Bell-based Unisys, interviewed for The Philadelphia Inquirer, explains why

Mobile phones are coming to the rescue of fruit and vegetable growers looking for help to pick their crops, reports Australia's ABC New

Under a law taking effect Thursday, Washington drivers will be allowed to hold telephones only to make emergency calls, begin calls or turn their phones on or of

After 12 months of wrangling, lottery operator Million-2-1 have been given the go-ahead by the Gaming Board of Great Britain to run the first regional mobile phone lottery reports manchester new

Hoping to increase the number of watchful ears and eyes on the ground, the Tilburg police are to deploy SMS messaging to warn locals of burglars, reports DMeurop

[ From favorite Red Ferret ] Gack! SM

A Florida paper writes that, according to a study of driver distractions conducted last year for AAA, loose animal in an automobile may cause nearly as many fatalities as cell phone

The Times of India, in an article on the sex trade and the ‘genres’ of call girls operating the market today, writes that they all have one thing in common, cell phone

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has launched the Paddy Power Mobile, a new free Java-based, downloadable application to streamline betting on mobile phones for customers in both Ireland and the UK, reports MoreMobil

Reporters were ordered to surrender telephones and walkie-talkies at the offocial ceremony for the transfer of sovereignty from the

TV and text messaging are the preferred pastimes for many children on holiday rather than exercise, according to a survey by Thomson Holidays, reports the Scotsma

The Australain Government will push to have all graffiti on trains removed within 24 hours, to deprive vandals of a "perverse pleasure" in exhibiting their work, reports the Australia

Joey Sharkey for New York Times, with reader contribution, on cell phone rudenes

AlienPants is pleased to announce the launch of a new free to use premium SMS-based headline alert servic

In partnership with GasPriceWatc

Nokia said Monday it will take part in a European Commission pilot project to study the environmental impact of cellular phones, along with ways to minimize the negative effects, reports The Associated Pres

The number of GPRS handsets in the UK reached 1

Orange has launched a service that will permit GSM handsets to work on ferries crossing the English Channe

Radiation from the phones could cut the number of sperm a man has by a third, according to researchers from the University of Szeged in Hungary, reports the BB

A very interesting article from The Detroit News on China's ambivilence about new technologies - they are widespread - vs the government's tight control policie

A war over the price of SMS text messages in the Netherlands could be replicated in the UK and even lead to a fiercer division between operators that choose to target businesses and those that focus on consumers, reports Silico

A 23-year-old Singaporean woman appears to have set a world record for sending text messages over a cellphone, underlining Asia's growing obsession with cellplhone technology, reports IO

Media companies such as Walt Disney and News Corp’s Fox Entertainment Group already push entertainment and news to phones through pacts with mobile companie

Don't you just love these studies?

"What's it with men and their mobiles? "Men use their mobile phones as peacocks use their feathers and male bullfrogs use their croaks: to advertise to females their worth, status and desirability," said researchers in the journal Human Nature, which published the stud

Verizon Wireless - for the second time this year - has recalled 50,000 cell phone batteries, some of which may be counterfeit, after reports suggesting that they may cause minor fires and injuries, reports New

"One of the many paradoxes of modern technology is that gadgets meant to connect us also end up isolating us", writes Ken Belson in a wonderful article on the social impact of cell phones, in the New York Time

Bill Gates could join the ranks of bloggers, according to The Seattle Times via Pointblo

Gene

According to the Hollywood Reporter, both Verizon Wireless and Sprint call games "key drivers" of their data download businesse

Bewildered festival-goers at Glastonbury 2004 have had a helping hand finding their way "home" thanks to Orange tents that lights up by text message, reports the BBC

"It is just about making it easier so you can be freer to wonder, like the text towers we have here which have become a meeting point," an Orange spokesperson told BBC News Onlin

Where strict Islamic dress codes are enforced, cell phones are proving helpful for women to warn each other of the approach of the sharia (Islamic law) polic

T Mobile Germany offers special mobile services during the Tour de France to its users, including a mobile live ticker and SMS/MMS info services, according to Telecom Paper (pay-for-subscription

Wired wrote this up in May, but it's fun reading about it agai

According to a, uh, strange Japanese National Police Agency survey, "students either arrested or taken into custody for misbehavior or suspected crimes make far more calls and send more email messages from their cell phones than their law abiding peers

Finally, an English teacher who has something nice to say about text messagin

Major European cell phone carriers Orange and T-Mobile Europe will soon require that downloadable games and other data sold to their subscribers meet quality standards set by Sun Microsystems and several major handset makers, according to New

Toshiba has developed a prototype fuel cell, about the size of a thumb, which can replace conventional batteries in an MP3 digital audio player or in wireless headsets for cell phone

The Gujarat (india) police has launched an investigation into text messages ridiculing former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, reports redif

Italy's top mobile phone group is enraging customers by blocking text messages sent from British-based rival Vodafone phones after a spat about "fake messages", according to a story in Reuter

I must have missed this in the articles related to the cell phone virus, Cabir, but according to the Prague Post, a Czech group claimed credi

ARINC and Telenor say that they will soon market new technology to allow airline passengers to use personal mobile phones aboard commercial flights, according to Cellular New

UK text messaging figures continued to climb in May 2004 to

Student Gracinia Lim has made new friends thanks to mobile phone software that alerts her to compatible people nearb

A new law aims to focus drivers attention, reports The Washington Pos

New research from Mobile Youth - a mobile telecoms consultancy - found that 700,000 (20%) of primary school children own mobile phones and that the under 10s "represent the fastest-growing segment of mobile phone ownership within Britain", reports The Guardia

Andrey Deriabin for TheFeatur

Shareholders of 14 companies, including NTT DoCoMo Inc and Sony Corp, are allowed beginning this fiscal year to exercise voting rights at general shareholders meetings using Internet-capable cell phones, according to Japan Report via Engadge

Pravda reports that on June 22, a student from the city of Chelybinsk, was sentenced to a one year probation and a fine of 3,000 roubles ($100) for sending unsolicited messages to the owners of GSM-telephone

A new generation of mobile users are becoming so emotionally attached to their phones that they cannot live without them, reports the BB

Following an earlier story today on Cellphone Marketing in Business Week, Russell Buckley from The Mobile Technology Weblog has published a free White Paper on mobile marketing and location-based marketin

From near near future, who's daily selection of articles is a pure deligh

With taxes slashed and handsets smuggled in, Sri Lanka is becoming a mobile phone paradise where even the island's prisons are awash with cell phones, reports The Sydney Morning Heral

Marc Frauenfelder comments on an amazing article in The New York Times about inmates using mobile phones in priso

An interesting post from jah's journal for TheFeatur

Mobile security company Jamanda has just delivered a comprehensive fix to the widely publicised mobile virus Cabir and made this fix available to the public via its website at ww

The number of mobile telephones in the Philippines is expected to hit 30 million by the end of this year, according to Alcatel president Philippe Germond, reports The Associated Pres

Nextel Communications has announced NextMail, a unique application that allows users to send a streaming mp3 voice message from their phone to any e-mail recipient, by simply pressing the Direct Connect button on the side of every Nextel phone, according to Daily Wireless via near near futur

The world's

Another country, another school offering exam results by SM

A temporary ban on wireless operators from signing on new subscribers will cool the overly competitive market and prevent companies from spending heavily on marketing, enabling them to invest on network and facilities instead, an official at the Korea Communications Commission said, reports Mobilema

NTT DoCoMo plans to beat its rivals and release this summer a 3G cellular phone that also functions as an internal extension phone in the office, according to Mobile Media Japa

Mike Grenville for 160character

There is a huge market in the wealthy Gulf state for unusual mobile phone numbers and car license plates because of their value as status symbols, reports the BBC via AdMblo

Jeremy Wagstaff for Losse Wire who was at last week's CommunicAsia expo in Singapore, noticed GSM phones masquerading as desktop phones for office us

With the latest addition to Kwickee Guides visitors to London will be able to track down the best entertainment and nightlife on their mobile, reports Mike Grenville for 160character

Every once in a while we read about a school who alerts parent by SMS when their child skip's school, this article actually describes a school's system and gives feedback on it's the success, as reported by The West Australia

A prosecutor was briefly sent to jail along with the man he helped convict of manslaughter after the lawyer refused a judge's order to turn on his cell phone, according to The Miami Herald via Techdirt Wireles

It looks like you won't be asked to turn off your cell phone in movie theaters anymore if advertisers have their wa

According to News2

Auckland software firm Methods Personnel Recruitment Software is helping recruitment firms use SMS messages to communicate cheaply and discreetly with job hunters, reports New Zealand's online Stuf

Teenagers in Australia lead the world in mobile telephone use, with 45 per cent of 13 to 15-year-olds owning a mobile, according to The Taylor Nelson Sofres Asia Telecoms Index, reports The Courrier Mai

Vodafone's lucrative text promotions business is under threat from global network operators offering SMS texting into New Zealand at cut-price rates, according to Stuff

"New Zealand software developers have found they can use the internet to route SMS messages via overseas telcos and have them delivered to Vodafone NZ mobile phones for less than 8 cents a messag

Favorite Red Ferret attended the 2 day Nokia Fest and gives us a look over of all the product launche

A smart new animated messaging service for mobile phones has been launched by Glasgow-based company mixipix, reports What Cellphone moible phone new

The Age has a wonderful article on "Ask Expert" services and the fact finders on the phones, who will answer almost any question you've go

If two words could characterize the World Wide Web, they would be "openness" and "standard

Wrist-watch phones, minute handsets woven into your clothes are already on sale in Asia and you can expect to see them soon in the

This is certainly a firs

Rafat Ali has redesigned Moco News, the best blog on the block covering mobile conten

From Josh Rubin's Cool Hunting:

Mass Distraction is a thesis project from the Interaction Design Institute Ivre

The iconic video game character Pac-Man has been given a new lease of life by mobile phones, according to the BB

Competition is so fierce that Chinese phone companies are establishing VIP clubs for their favorite, high-end user

Consumers' passion for privacy in California and other Western states could signal an uphill battle for the proponents of a national cell phone directory, reports MSNB

MessageCast plans to release a test version of an alert tool aimed at bloggers that taps into Microsoft's MSN Messenger networ

Emergency alerts for everything from tornadoes to missing children and terror warnings will get out to the public through an expanded weather radio network, the government announced Thursday, according to USA Toda

Mobipay payment system via mobile phone will be extended to Spanish public transport before the end of 2004, reports near near future "Users will be able to pay for their bus, metro or tram ticket via their handset, a confirmation message will be displayed on their screen and serve as e-ticke

A service that locates lost cell phones has launched in Korea, reports Telecoms Kore

Soon cellphone owners will be able to play games with realistic three-dimensional graphics rivaling those on PC's and game consoles, reports the NY Times via The Mobile Technology Blo

With father's Day approaching, Verizon is running a campaign in the USA to get sons and daughters to teach their dads how to send an SMS, according to 160character

Former South African president Nelson Mandela is leading the field in an SMS and Internet poll to find the greatest South African ever, reports Tracy Burrows on ITWeb via E-Media Tidbit

In Leicestershire mobile phone users can send a text message containing a six-digit code unique to their bus stop to a local bus compan

Increasingly local councils are seeing the benefits of mobile technology as a way of improving services and cutting red tape, reports The BB

Verizon Wireless has extended the reach of its International TXT Messaging service to 28 countries, according to Wireless Wee

Having cleared legal hurdles, Nokia hopes to start selling BlackBerry-enabled phones in the United States through carriers in the coming months as part of its offerings under its new enterprise solutions departmen

Japanese mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo said it will start selling next month a handset with smart-card electronic cash, train pass and identification card functions, reports The Associated Pres

Nokia is testing wireless mobile phone headsets powered by tiny fuel cells, the hydrogen-based energy source that could double or triple the life of portable devices with what is widely considered to be clean and efficient energy, reports the International Herald Tribun

Of all the SMS services available, this definitely ranks right up there with my favorite

It looks like the threat of a text tax is dissipating in the Philippines, according to the AF

Good mobile coverage, remote access to the intranet and e-mail to their mobile phone - this is what Swedish employees feel are most important to increase their availability during summer, reports Cellular New

Mumbai Newsline has rounded up a list of useful sms text reminders available in India:

-- Naukr

Not related to cell phones but about bloggin

You can send and receive SMS text messages from Outlook on your computer with InterSMS, a (pay-for) software that can connect you to virtually every mobile phone in the worl

The City of London is setting up a community-based secure instant messaging system to strengthen business continuity links between the public and private sectors, reports Computerweekl

Researchers from Reply-planeT, an Italian company that offers integrated communication services, and Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan, write: “The wide and growing use of mobile phones and the Internet by the general population provides important new methods for communication between doctor and patient", reports Newswis

Reply-planeT, an Italian company, is offering a system which allows physicians to send short questionnaires to patients’ mobile phones - to see how they're doin

The increasingly popular SMS contests are the subject of a public debate and study by the Islamic religious authorities in Kuala Lumpur, to determine if taking part in such competitions is prohibited by Islam, reports Asia's Straits Time

In what must have been good news for their business, antivirus companies on Monday raced to decipher the workings of the first worm to target smart phones, while saying that the current incarnation of the program poses little threat, according to New

There are rumors that the Swiss Buwal (federal office for environment, forest and landscape) and some politicians are about to demand a halt to UMTS mobile phone technology, based on a Dutch health report released last year, according to DMeurope via reports in the Swiss pres

An inspired combination of two of the most popular gadgets in recent years, mobile phones and digital cameras, resulted in an even hotter product, the camera phone, generating replacement demand across the globe, reports Reuter

Maybe five to ten years from now, in this device, you will have every single song, that's available in the worl

Barefoot Software announces the launch of it's new website as well as the first Australian swimsuit model service for Smartphone handset

The Mobile Technology Blog has the most wonderful piece on Bluejacking and on a new mobile ap, TagTex

The text tax proposal in the Philippines - to narrow the budget deficit - is creating quite a sti

The 3G Portal has pulled together 15+ of the best sources for mobile internet and 3G news, opinion and analysi

For latest news from Euro 2004, directly inside the England Camp and from the England players themselves, football fans can sign up to a new SMS service, Playertex

Samsung Fun Club has launched the Samsung Cyber Relay, a competition that celebrates this summer Olympic Games in Athen

Eight out of ten British business people are tooled up for mobile working, according to research from Vodafone, reports The Registe

Interesting, because it's so hard to keep track, from Bloomberg we learn that Nokia will be introducing 35 new cellular handsets in 2004 (fewer than the 40 projected

To make entering text on mobile phone applications ranging from calendar entries and notes to e-mail and text messaging faster and easier, Nokia today introduced a portable wireless keyboar

In a 6 month trial run, Inland Revenue New Zealand will begin text messaging parents to remind them to pay child support, reports Stuf

Mercury is a new daily SMS update service offered by the intensive care unit of the National University Hospital (NUH) of Singapore, named after the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, reports The Straits Time

Senator Joker Arroyo warned that he and fellow members of the so-called Wednesday Group in the Senate will oppose any Malacañang bid to tax mobile phone users for text messaging, reports inq

Australia's Premier Bob Car's government ministers and their advisers are collectively running up mobile telephone bills of nearly $1000 a day as they chatter and SMS each other about affairs of state, reports the The Daily Telegrap

Spotted on Russel Beattie's notebook, a mobile ap developped by Nokia, called TALKS, for blind users, enabling them to find out who has called in absence, to send or receive SMS, to define special ringtones as well as use the advanced features of mobile phones (managing a calender, sending a fa

Violating safety rules for talking on a cell phone while conducting a train, a subway or a taxi cab has already cost some drivers a fine or even their jo

"It's only foolishnes

The Scunthorpe Telegraph (UK) invites it's sport's page readers to send their views and comments by SM

The Italian left is crying foul after the office of the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, sent 56 million text messages to mobile telephones urging their owners to turn out to vote in tomorrow's European and local elections, reports The Guardia

In Sweden, the state uses mobile phones to communicate with the publi

With Antwerp named as World Book City in 2004, residents and visitors are being invited to create a biography of the city by SMS, reports Mike Grenville for 160character

An insightful post from The Mobile Technology Weblog via Unwire

It looks like taxing text messages might happen in the Philippine

Wireless devices pose significant security risks; vendors have focused on features, rather than security, and most users take a casual attitude toward protecting information on cell phones and other mobile device

Fans of “West Wing” TV series with Sprint wireless service will be able to participate in text messaging polls from cable channel Bravo, reports RCR Wireless New

In what it claims was simply an effort to boost turnout, the Italian government has sent millions of cell phone users text messages on voting procedures for this weekend's European and local elections, reports The Associated Pres

Net publishing firm iComic Press has launched a new technology which allows users to download interactive comic-books to their handsets and also provides the tools for artists to create and upload their own work, according to More Mobil

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a unique guidance system for mobile phones, directed and directing by voice, according to More Mobile via near near futur

SMS bug is 'a new revolutionary way to send SMSs very cheapl

Nokia has launched a consultancy service (known as PoC Enterprise Market) in all the major markets where its network business groups operate, to sample Push-to-talk services, according RCR Wireless News via near near futur

Singapore-based garment manufacturer Crocodile International, will be launching smart pants or "Radiguard' specialty trousers" for cell-phone buffs who exposed exposed to the ultra magnetic emission from the cell-phone

Yet another article on prison inmates and cell phones, this time from the Christian Science Monito

The cell phone industry is working on a directory that would, for the first time, make public many of America's 163 million wireless numbers, putting an end to the last vestige of privacy and opening the gates to crank callers and telemarketer

A new text messaging scheme is being launched to prevent assaults and rape in London cabs, reports the Walthan Fores

The Royal Ascot takes place from Tuesday June 15 to Saturday June 1

A nanny, a clergyman, mobile phone messages from God and murder are the keys to a complicated crime which has captivated Sweden since the start of the year, reports Reuter

Clarence Batan' work on text messaging and its cultural implications in the Philippines, was presented as a part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences held at the University of Manitoba, bringing together over 6,000 scholars from May 29 to June 6, reports New Winnipe

Somehow I missed this, it was posted last week in WebPro News, following Google's response to an e-mail from Engadge

The latest research into the potential health effects of mobile phones - by a New Zealand Consumers' Institute (CINZ) - have found "no convincing evidence" that they're harmful, reports Mobile Gadget News via Engadget

"Mobiles have been the subject of close scrutiny for so long, we think if the risk were anything other than absolutely minimal, consistent results would have emerged by no

Vietnam Airlines has banned a woman from flying on its planes after she attacked an attendant who tried to stop her from repeatedly using a mobile phone during a domestic flight last month, according to Reuter

A cellphone thief in central China was arrested after accepting a text message offer from the owner of a free spare battery, according to io

Rocket Mobile has announced that it will work with the National Georgraphic Society to develop a wallpaper application for mobile phones that features photographic images from the Society's Image Collection, reports Cellular New

Never miss an appointment or brithday again thanks to TextPA, which allows you to queue an SMS messages to be sent at a specified time and date up to 2 years in advanc

"The mobile game is wide open," Gartner analyst Michael King sai

A youth-oriented consumer survey found that rural wireless customers between the ages of 18 and 24 could prove a more appealing target for rural telecommunications providers than their urban counterparts, reports RCR Wireless New

The Arizona AMBER alert system for child abduction notifications is expanding its distribution system so that people can receive them by e-mail and text messaging, reports KVOA news channe

BEDD is a new Bluetooth-enabled mobile social medium that allows people to meet, interact and communicate in a new way, letting their mobile phones do all the work as they go through their da

In another example of a newspaper offering a valued service by SMS, Chicago Sun-Times' film critic Roger Ebert is launching "Ebert Mobile Movie Reviews", exclusively to

Global cellphone sales rose 34% in the first quarter, research firm Gartner sai

Telenor Interactive, a wireless messaging company, is offering a new way for people of all ages to familiarize themselves with text messaging - by providing an online one step registration process which Americans should feel more comfortable with than mobile registratio

Telenor Interactive, a wireless messaging company, is offering a new way for people of all ages to familiarize themselves with text messaging - by providing an online one step registration process which Amercians should feel more comfortable with than mobile registratio

Over a hundred school in Hungary have adopted a new system that will enable parents to opt-in to receive their children's grades by text messaging, according to Voila Actualit

A Mississippi woman has filed a $15 million suit in state court, alleging a driver talking on his cell phone ran a red light and killed her husband, according to RCRNew

Cingular Wireless is giving America's youth a voice in the political process during the 2004 Presidential Election, according to a company press releas

According to an article in the New York Post, the family-run business that holds the rights to the comedic icon is to announce Tuesday at a New York trade show that it has signed an agreement to create interactive games for mobile phone

Social researcher Hugh Mackay says that younger generations were herding together like never before, using new technologies such as SMS and email chatrooms to foster tight social bonds, reports the Australian I

Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana of South Africa has been rreceiving death threats by SM

Online travel agency eBookers has launched, a flight booking service available via cell phones, reports Revolution Magazin

The Chicago Daily Herald reports on mobile services devoted to tracking employee

It seems driving and text messaging are a problem in Iran to

A mobile company has attracted the attention of the UK Government's security services with its new encryption application, reports icBirmingha

Justin Hall draws our attention to Mobile Cartoons, Mobile Notes and Moku - Poems!

First blush

new ways to scrawlwriting slowI see the skyafter my screen! Work interruptions making people sad

According to new research from The University of Surrey, demand for instant, almost constant, communication is adding to workplace stress, can cause anger among colleagues and strangers alike, and is proving to be a distraction for all, both in meetings and in public place

While drugs, along with cash and tobacco, have long been highly valued contraband, Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) officials say cell phones have joined the ranks of the most prized illicit commodities inside Texas prison cells, reports The Houston Chronicl

Bosto

A study by marketing firm IDC Australia predicted 82 per cent of Australians would own mobile phones by December 2004, according to the Herald Su

Analysys International, a domestic market research firm in Beijing, forecasts the mobile game market will reach about 600 million yuan (US$72 million) this year, the China Daily reported Saturday via China Tech New

One in four Chinese people will have a mobile phone by the end of the year, as the world's most populous country consolidates its status as the largest cell market, reports the AF

Mobile phone service was the second-lowest ranked industry — beating only cable providers among the 40 rated — in the University of Michigan’s newest customer satisfaction index, reports AFP

"And there’s more: mobile companies were the N

A Japanese subway train driver was handed a 4 month suspension from duty, for having sent an e-mail via his mobile phone while operating a train last month, according to the Mainichi Daily New

Jon Sarche for the Associated Press writes how more and more, text messages are being used as evidence in court case

Following a recruitment research study for the the British Royal Navy, one of the findings suggests to harness mobile phone technology by texting 'cool' images of warships to teenagers' mobile phones, according to This is Playmout

Amid a growing crisis over the cost of petrol in the UK, a website has launched to keep drivers informed of the cheapest petrol in their area, reports Webuse

The global mobile phone gaming market more than doubled in 2003 to $587 million from a year earlier and is expected to grow six-fold to $

North Korea may have banned mobile phones only 18 months after allowing them to be introduced, and reports are coming in of the already isolated country building a barbed-wire fence along its border with China to prevent smuggling, according to Canadian daily Cano

Siemens has announced a search engine function to work with all mobile Web standards, whether WAP, i-mode or UMTS, reports PCWorld via Moco New

Berlitz School of launguages is launching foreign phrase guides that can be downloaded to mobile phones, for people wanting access to languages including French, English, Spanish and Italian, according to Moco New

Prime Minister Paul Martin, and other party leaders in Canada have been sent crib shits to study SMS lingo, in preparation of a text message question and answer session with young voters to be held on Friday, according to Yahoo New

Intelligence officials use cellphone signals to track Al Qaeda operatives, and the number of mid-level arrests is rising, reports The Christian Science Monito

This is wild and the first incident of it's kind I've ever read abou

The The Red Ferret Journal found a, uh, interesting new service, called The Fugitive Finde

Phred Dvorak for the WSJ, tested a Japanese Fujitsu phone for DoCoMo with fingerprint-recognition technolog

According to the WSJ, a New Zealand mobile-phone subscriber sent an average of 2,580 text messages a day in May to protest a telecom price hik

Take the BBC quiz to test your knowledge of this ubiquitous modern accessor

In July, the Princeton Review and major mobile phone companies will roll out The Princeton Review Mobile SAT Prep, nifty technology that turns cell phones into SAT preparation tools, according to Detroit New

The three French mobile operators have decided to unite in order to fight back against the stealing of mobile phone

"Taxing text messages is not an efficient way to finance social security long term, and would be detrimental to the development of new technologies", was the response given by the Swiss Federal Council to a proposal submitted by National Councilman Alexander Bauman

The Dutch motoring organisation ANWB, and Van Dale, a prominent dictionary publisher, have launched an SMS-based service that translates between French, German, English, Spanish, and Dutch, reports DMeurope via we-make-money-not-ar

The Philippine department of Finance, unmindful of the flak it would get, is reviving its plan to tax cellular-phone text messaging, arguing that the heavily indebted government had every reason to pursue such measure, reports INQ7mone

According to the AFP, a growing number of Chinese criminals send text messages or emails with the sole purpose of hoodwinking people into parting with their mone

Raghuram Vadarevu for the Bergen Record, writes an interesting piece on police systems that send text messages to cell phone users shortly after a crime is reported - hoping the public will return the calls -- and, in doing so, help to catch criminal

Newsweek has a special report on how cell phones will soon make the PC obsolet

Gender differences are beginning to appear in the content men and women are downloading to their mobile phones, according to the BBC via Unwire

Calling a mobile phone from a fixed line in the UK will soon be cheaper thanks to a ruling by telecoms watchdog Ofcom, reports the BB

On Tuesday June 1st, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin answered questions online on several Websites (at premier-ministr

Zi Corporation will showcase its unique predictive text entry innovations at CommunicAsia2004 in Singapore later this month, including dual language text entry technology, reports Wi-Fi Technology New

Are cell phones and SMS responsible for new sex habits among American teens? Or are teens simply exercising their hormonal proclivities by any means necessary? Rushkoff ponders about this in an entertaining way in his journal in TheFeatur

Audio in games looks set to get a lot better thanks, in part, to 80s pop pioneer Thomas Dolby, reports the BB