SMS Weblogs / Textually / 2005 / 01

US and UK doctors use of a Blackberry device could cause arthritis or harm tendons in the thum

The latest issue of Business

LG Telecom Ltd, the smallest of South Korea's three mobile phone operators, said Monday it will jointly offer a mobile banking service with Citigroup's local banking unit, reports Asia Time

The Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA) has claimed that 5% of Irish people could be suffering from the effects of mobile-phone radiation, reports Ireland Onlin

The identities of as many as 1,700

Just launched, ww

Max and Régine thought of me while grocery shopping in Turin, isn't that nice? and forwarded this along from a local supermarke

A really witty article written by George Simpson for Mediapos

Following South Korea's Pantech launch of what was advertised as the world's first motion-recognition mobile phone, now subway commuters could get more energetic in Japan through a new motion-sensitive mobile telephone equipped with games that will let people on the move practise their golf swings or shoot up monsters, reports the AF

The Australian Communications Authority has asked the public to get involved with creating new regulations for mobile content - especially in the area of adult content and its possible access by children, reports James Pearce for Moco New

My friend Gerrit Visser over at Smart Mobs has picked up on one of the stranger accessories for cell phones on the market - at least in our culture -, Nokia brand coffin

Some call center operators have secretly set up phone sex operations in Bangalore and Mumbai, though it's strictly against the law and call forwarding to cell phones is making it even harder for the police to nail the offenders, according to an article in India Dail

Interest in esoteric nursery gadgets is surging, fueled by the anxieties of increasingly older first-time moms and dads, report Cleveland's Plain Deale

Despite a crackdown on terror suspects, Britain stands almost alone in the West in barring phone tap evidence from being heard in cour

In a novel twist on SMS marketing, real human beings answered the phone for Madonna's promotion of her most recent album to fans, following an SMS blast to their cell phone

Viriginia becomes the first Sate to ban minors from using mobile phones while driving a car, reports Wav

IDC released preliminary numbers on mobile phone shipments and market shares for 200

Football fans can vote for their favorite Superbowl commercials by text messaging thanks to a new service announced this week by American Online, reports RCRNews Wireles

This really cute looking cell phone targeted to the 4 to 8 year-old crowd, called Baby Mo, is being removed from the French market, reports TopMobil

In Austria, on average, children receive their first mobile phone at the age of ten and a half, according to an autumn 2004 stud

Another something wonderful from near near futur

m:Track looks like a wonderful service available in India to recover a lost cell phon

Today is not a good day for text messaging! Following Pravda's alarming article, here we go again on how text messaging causes repetitive strain injur

This article is really funny (well, at least from where I sit), a must read from Russian newspaper Pravda describing "SMS dependence as serious and real disease, which exerts a very negative influence on mental abilities

This makes one stop and be grateful at how easy it is for us to recharge our cell phone

The BBC takes a look at how games on mobile phones are maturin

Why should one care about mobile phone viruses? There is clearly a profit motive, and that's all that is needed to kickstart another dubious industry, reports The Registe

Forget about cell phone jammers, here's a low tech solution to prevent SMS cheating, the honor cod

Across the poorest regions of Africa and South Asia telecoms operators are rolling out mobile phone networks and making a tidy profit, reports the BB

New mobile phone speech software is poised to improve the working lives of many blind and visually impaired users, giving them access to SMS, e-mail, Wap services, contact lists and other mobile applications, reports PhysOr

Airbus and SITA, an in-flight communications specialist, have won permission from the European Commission to create a joint venture that will enable travellers to make calls and send text messages, email and use the Internet during flights, reports Reuter

Yahoo Local users can now easily and quickly send phone numbers and addresses from the Yahoo! Local database to their cell phones or mobile devices as text messages, reports Search Engine Watc

Everyone's favorite blogger Régine and behind the scenes tech-help Max, from near near future are up for two Weblog Awards, best european blog and best computers or technology weblo

Hong Kong based Artificial Life, In

A bill to ban cell-phone use by drivers under age 18 has some surprising supporters -- some of those who would be affected, reports the Boston Glob

We mostly read about how text messaging has proven a god send for deaf people, but apparently, it has brought about a down side to

McDonald's restaurants in the Pacific Northwest will give away ringtones, wallpaper and coupons to wireless handsets during a Web-based promotional campaign, reports RCRnews Wireles

A phone that is both mobile and uses cheaper landline services at home is on the way, reports Peter Judge for The Guardia

KTF announced Thursday the launch of a Motion Pack service that enables users to play mobile games by shaking the phone, without manipulating a keypad, reports Seon-ju Lee for Telecoms Kore

A gold plated phone, made by LG Electronics sold at HK$38,888 ($ 4,987) in a charity auction placed in Hong Kong, reports Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Kore

An interesting new patent has been filed which rather innovatively embeds a computer mouse function inside a cellphone, according to Cellular New

Thousands of mobile phone users have been charged up to £

A well written article in Business Week on the evolution of cell phone

Surveillance of text messages and monitoring by GPS leads to drug dealers' arres

A new technology of detecting mobile phone users was developed by a local scientist, offering a new way to prevent the recurrence of exam cheating through cell phones, reports The Korea Time

ALLTEL wireless customers now can access the new mobile edition of The Wall Street Journal Online, according to a company press releas

Mobile companies could be wasting their time by incorporating radios, cameras and mp3 players into handsets, according to fresh research published today, reports Netimperativ

Fund raising by SMS has really come into it's own with the many many successful campaigns held around the world which successfully raised money for South East Asia, following the tsunami devestatio

For some workers, the desktop telephone is joining the adding machine and typewriter on the list of obsolete office equipment, reports USA Today via Techdir

A Lake Criminal Court judge found Ronnie

In what may be a sign of times to come, Twentieth Century Fox has signed a deal with Sorrent to make mobile phone games to hype movie launche

Radiation from mobile phones can be reduced to virtually zero by a simple tiny magnetic bead which costs a few pence, a government adviser says, reports BBC New

To be filed under fun fact

Nearly two billion mobile phones will be in use by the end of this yea

We've read about doctors sending text-message to their patients, reminding them to take their medecine, but this text alert monitoring system goes one step furthe

Harmless radiation cell phones for babies with unique features, will hit the Indian market in the next few months, according to Sif

The Ministry of Information and Communication of Korea announced Monday its plan to clamp down on illegal mobile spam messages, reports Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Kore

The first ever world wide charity auction by SMS has been launched by the GSM Association in aid of UNICE

An interesting article by Rebecca MacKinnon for the International Herald Tribune via Smart Mobs on how North Koreans are receiving information about the outside world, are conducting business with Chinese traders and maintain contact with Defectors now living in the South - all thanks to cell phone

Austrian authorities recently launched a new service that delivers up-to-the-minute avalanche warnings via text messaging, reports CJAD

Weekend snow slides killed at least five people - including three Canadians - and seriously injured about 10 others who strayed off-trail in Austria's Alps in search of adventure despite warnings that conditions were ripe for disaste

Because of liability fears, companies are increasingly publishing guidelines for employee cellphone use, especially when they are in the car driving to or from a business-related locatio

A proposal likely to pass the Seattle City Council in the next couple of weeks, would bar taxi drivers from talking on cell phones while passengers are in their cars, reports seattlep

Cell phones were used in the first experiment of its kind in Japan to transmit and receive sightseeing information in Kuwana reports the Daily Yomiuri, and now the experiment is taken a step further, allowing mobile users to add their comments in real time, for the benefit other tourist

The largest emission of radiation by the sun in 15 years could disrupt mobile telephone communications as well as television and radio reception, scientists have said, reports ABCNews Onlin

Consumers waiting to dial 411 to get a national directory of cellphone numbers are going to have to wait a bit longer, reports the WS

According to an article Twin Cities, sales of school mementos such as class rings are down, as teenagers prefer to spend their dollars on cell phone

A researcher at Huelva University in Spain claims to have created a version of XML that can transmit smell

Talk about a nerdy thing to d

The Italian communications minister has denied that there is to be a rise in the tax on mobile phonesor an increase in the country's TV licence fee, reports DMeurop

More animation content providers are exploring the wireless frontie

Looking to provide yet another way for users to tap its searchcapabilities, Ask Jeeves is developing new wireless search services to be launched this year, according to a company executive, reports PC Worl

Few Iraqi civilians want to risk being seen as informants, according to the Associated Pres

Finnish handset giant Nokia has been working on a technology called Visual Radio, which takes an existing FM signal from a radio station and enables that station to add enhancements such as information and pictures, reports the BB

In this picture, Deputy Mayor Karate Thiagarajan and other Councillors of Chennai (India), partake of fish-based dishes to allay the fear in the minds of the public that fish were not affected by the Zulican virus as was stated in the SMS messages floated around in the wake of the tsunami attac

Most popular mobile phones are relatively flat and rectangular in shape, which conveniently fits into a shirt pocket or a small handbag, reports IO

feedbeep goes beta, reports favorite Red Ferre

BMW is launching a mobile-centered campaign to promote the launch of its new 3 series, reports Adrant

Finding the right battery charger for your cellphone, digital camera, camcorder or PDA among the sea of anonymous black boxes that clutter our homes is a complete pain - as is finding a free socket when they all need charging at the same tim

As the Sundance Film Festival gets under way this weekend, dozens of companies are descending on Park City to pitch their products to filmmakers, celebrities and the public, reports Reuter

UK mobile owners continue to break records with their text messaging, with latest figures showing that 26 billion texts were sent in total in 2004, reports BB

Managers of many Pittsburg, PA area businesses have taken to posting signs asking customers to stay off cell phones while in their shops, reports News Target, commenting on an article published in post-gazett

Jewish people in North London are organising a text message SOS service after a spate of anti-Semitic attacks, reports The Times Online via Smart Mob

LG Telecom launches a service that would send New Year’s message with mobile lotteries as the lunar New Year, one of the biggest holiday seasons of Korea, is approachin

In an attempt to thwart any chance of violence during thefestival of Eid, the Pakistan government has imposed a ban on the use of cell phones and digital cameras, reports India Dail

Celcom Malaysia's

The frequent use of SMS abbreviations has affected the written language of Singapore youth, according to a study by second year Media and Communications students of the Singapore Polytechnic, reports Channel News Asi

F2T is an interactive musical installation about “argot” and its different contemporary application

Nextel Communications' youth lifestyle brand Boost Mobile is hoping to entice teens to load additional prepaid minutes onto their phones, and maybe even teach a little financial responsibility, with the introduction of the Boost Mobile Prepaid Visa Car

There were 228 million premium rate MO text messages sent in France in 2004 - up 66% on 2003, reports Mike Grenville for 160character

A very interesting post from Monique Van Dusseldorp on E-Media Tidbit

Radiation emissions absorbed by the head from using mobile phones are cut by using hands-free kits, a study says, reports the BB

Tony Blair defends new pub hours after Labour is accused of promoting binge drinking with a texting campaign, reports the BB

DaimlerChrysler's Smart claims to be the first car manufacturer in the UK, and possibly the world, to use SMS responses in its TV advertising, allowing viewers to arrange test drives, request brochures or locate dealers by sending text messages from their mobile phones, reports Just-auto-co

Not specifically related to cell phones, but interestin

Starwave Mobile and Horn Abbot Lt

Greek viewers of Public Television have donated more than 16 million Euros for the victims of the Asian earthquake during a two-days tele-marathon show, organized by the Public Television -- with the support of all Greek main television and radio channel

An ad for mobile phone ringtones and wallpaper which featured photographs of topless women covering their breasts with their hands or hair was criticised by the industry watchdog today, reports Manchester Onlin

The global mobile phone market is set to grow to 2 billion subscribers by the end of 2005, fuelled by strong demand from developing economies in Asia and Latin America, Deloitte & Touche said on Tuesday, reports USA Toda

Last week South Korea's Samsung Electronics said it had developed a mobile phone with motion-recognition capabilities and yesterday, Pantech announced the launch of PH-S6500, a 6-axis-sensored “sport-leisure” phone harbingering the era of movement-recognition phone in the Korean marke

James Pearce for Moco News reports on a “global SMS texting, premium rate and mobile alerts services directory" called Thumbtip

TXTmob is available for those protesting President Bush's inauguration this wee

Eric Lin explains why recycling mobile phones is important, via Smart Mob

Toshiba Tuesday unveiled software that can help users access their personal computers with their mobile phone handsets, reports Cellular New

The Times Online has a great article on Any question answered (AQA), the mobile phone service which allows anyone with a British mobile to text with any question on any subject at any tim

Radicaltek-mobil

The Finish branch of the Global conservation organization WWF is using an SMS alert system to be able to respond quickly in case of an oil spillage in the Baltic Sea, reports Mike Grenville for 160character

For Muslims unable to make the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, the humble mobile phone is proving to be something of a godsen

As the Federal Communications Commission revisits rules against cellphone use on airplanes, hospitals are rethinking their own policies on the devices, reports Sarah Rubenstein for the WS

Japanese fans of SMS via cellphone-had should be prudent, warns Asah

Mobix have launched a simple way to arrange mobile phone conference calls in the UK at no extra cost

The 2buzz service allows instant collaboration for up to ten people with a mobile phon

A 21-year-old man was arrested on Sunday in Pretoria, after allegedly stabbing his brother to death in an argument about a cellphone, reports IO

High street shoppers are to face street marketing teams attempting to download promotional material to their mobile phones, warns The Guardia

Grafedia , created by John Geraci, is hyperlinked text, written by hand onto physical surfaces and linking to images, video, sound files, et

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand has found a way to keep a tab on bacterial pollution - placing salinity detectors directly beside oysters, writes New Zealand Heral

Interaction designer Kerry Bodine did a research project to find an alternative when you're in a dark or noisy environment (like a bar) and don't want to carry your mobile phone on your bod

According to The Sunday Mirror, phone companies are burrying information about the radiation levels of their handsets in a website which is so complicated it takes a computer expert more than three hours to negotiat

Police were today investigating after a mobile phone was thrown on to the pitch following a goal scored by Manchester United and England football ace Wayne Rooney, writes The Scotsma

The Guardian has an article about the cultural changes that mobile phones are generatin

In the US, Akron-Canton Airport has created a new designated free waiting area where motorists meeting passengers can wait for free - although they must remain in their vehicles at all times - until passengers call them on their cellphones to say they can be picked up outside the terminal buildin

Now that cellphone users can change their service provider while keeping their phone number, companies are adding new services to steal customers from their rivals, explains JoongAng Dail

British mobile marketing company Hypertag has launched a wearable version of its tags so far used in interactive poster advertising, reports Netimperativ

It may only be a matter of time before we will be using our shirts to charge our cellphones, writes Reuter

Big Brother creator Endemol will launch this spring the first mobile gambling games, reports New Media Ag

Spanish operator Telefónica Móviles is launching a new service that will allow subscribers to pay for vending machine snacks and drinks via their mobile phones, reports Noticiasdo

Pantech&Curitel is introducing a pendant-look mobile phon

The Mobile Feelings project, by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, studies how to communicate via virtual touch over mobile phone networks and explores the ambivalence of revealing personal information to anonymous listener

More and more businesses are asking their customers to switch off their phone while they are being attended, reports Post Gazett

A traveler hears a unique ringtone on his cell phone, checks the screen and finds a presence notification that a colleague is awaiting a plane in the same airpor

Westchester County has hired an expert on "cyberbullying" to talk to students, teachers, parents and police about young people who harass their peers with mean-spirited Web sites, text messages, cell-phone photos and other high-tech tools, writes USA Toda

In the UK, a new website has been launched to help combat mobile phone crime, informs BBC New

Two families have withdrawn their children from a school because of fears over a mobile phone mast, writes This Is Londo

New Scientist has a story on a voicemail system that labels messages according to the caller's tone of voice and could be helping people identify which messages are urgen

A new study, called What Makes Mobile Users Tick? The Underlying Factors of Mobile Phone Usage and Purchase Criteria, confirms that mobile users perceive they derive one of the following sets of benefits from using mobile phones – safety and security, productivity and convenience, or style and statu

I will be offline for a week, but I'm leaving you in good hands, everyone's favorite blogger from near near future, Régine Debatty, is taking ove

The mobile content world is awash with smut and content aimed at the youth marke

In Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, a worker of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently received a strange SMS advertisement which said, “You can buy children according to your liking”, reports Dong

KTF announced Tuesday it would hold Korea’s first contest to find a mobile weather anchorman, reports Telecoms Kore

The Election Commission has asked political parties in Jharkhand to furnish cost details of cell phone messages sent out to woo voters during the assembly poll campaign, reports Keral

Victims of disasters will now be able to benefit from faster and more effective rescue operations, thanks to the "Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations" that came into force Saturday, 8 January 2005, following ratification by 30 countries, reports Cellular New

Donors have been warned to take care when making donations and to check how much actually goes to the caus

LG Electronics said it has developed a cell phone that can play games with realistic three-dimensional graphics at the world's fastest computing capabilities, reports the AF

I saw an ad go by:

Animals Are Victims, TooWe're saving animals hurt by the tsunam

KTF, Korea's second-largest mobile carrier, began a program for the elderly to teach them how to use abbreviated numbers, ring tones, ring back tones and mobile banking servic

Genevive Bell, a cultural anthropologist who works for chipmaker Intel, says women tend to use technology in ways that make busy days more manageable, which is why cell phones, laptops and wireless Internet access are popular, reports SignOnSanDiego

"Wireless Internet is not the only technology that women have embraced faster than men, said Mizuko Ito, a University of Southern California cultural anthropologist studying technology use in the United States and Japa

Engadget has a picture of Motorola's Bluetooth snowboarding jacke

At least five countries have begun developing an alert system using cell phone text messages, a response to the catastrophic Asian tsunami that exposed flaws in present-day early warning schemes, reports New

Comcast is set to announce an ambitious push into the phone business, promising to pose one of the biggest challenges ever to the Bell telephone giants, reports The Wall Street Journa

People already use their cellphones to read e-mail messages, take pictures and play video game

The communications giant Nokia has developed technology that turns unwanted mobile phones into a range of useful electronic gizmos, including alarm clocks, handheld games and TV remote controls, reports The Guardia

Telecoms giant BT is providing a free telephone number for families of British soldiers serving in Iraq to hear up to date information on their regiment, reports Kun

Boaters in distress are increasingly using their cellular phones to call for help, but

As hospitals around the world are relaxing cell phone rules, a group of Korean researchers argued that handsets are likely to cause wrong diagnosis in hospitals, reports Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Kore

An official report into the safety of mobile phones will warn that adults’ and children’s use of the technology is in danger of “running out of control” despite previous warnings of possible health risks, reports the Times Onlin

In high-tech South Korea, mobile phones are now keeping their owners informed of national disasters via short messaging services, reports The Korea Time

Pouring out words of motivation, hope and prayers, caring Malaysians continue to share their grief with the tsunami victims via The Star's SMS campaign, From The Heart, reports The Sta

The thousands of children orphaned, misplaced or separated from their families as a result of the tsunami disaster, should be helped to resume a normal life in their respective countries, reports the Malay Mail Onlin

The T-STRINGS mobile phone holder have just gotten a whole lot cooler, according to Camilla over at Popgadget

"According to the the folks at T-STRING, 200 people wore them in the NY Marathon providing the makers with information to help make them even bette

A new breed of mobile phones will come out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the end of January—the Islamic Saudi Mobile Phone, reports GMR News

"The first ‘Made in Saudi Arabia’ mobile phone is manufactured by KSA-based Saudi Television Manufacturing Company (STMC

Germany wants to take a leading role in setting up a system to provide early warning of tsunamis and has drawn up a plan costing an initial 40 million euros, the Research Ministry has said, reports ABCNews Onlin

Australian have been hailed the most generous people on Earth after pledging more than $15 million for victims of the Boxing Day tsunami during a star-studded fundraising concert last night, reports the Sunday Time

Spanish TV station Antena 3 (http://ww

Realtors across the country will soon be able to use a tool that converts Web-based leads into cell phone calls, the National Association of Realtors announced today, reports Inman Real Estate New

Physicians now have a technological solution to an all too common scenario -- a cardiac patient forgets to take his heart medication and winds up in the emergency room, reports The Washington Time

An e-mail received this afternoon from Peter Caestecker, Area Manager Iberia & America

Telstra has made 2,000 Melbourne payphones SMS ready for an estimated 30,000 international visitors attending the 2005 Deaflympic Games, reports Digital Media News for Asi

Young children and teenagers in the UK are racking up huge mobile phone bills by signing up to receive 'free' ringtones and screensavers without realising the hidden costs, reports This is London

"Children are being enticed to sign up to receive the ringtones through colourful TV and magazine advertising with the promise of a free gift, typically a chart pop song, joke or screensave

Designs of Samsung Electronics’ new handsets for 2005 were leaked and posted on several websites, reports Seong-ju Lee for SKTelecom

A feature already built-in to most cellphones could be used to alert every mobile phone user in a specific region to impending disasters, such as the tsunami that devastated south east Asia on 26 December, say experts, reports New Scientis

Jasonla writes "The New York Times looks at mobile technology users who leech power from restaurant and airport outlets while on the roa

The University of Western Sydney is offering scholarships worth $2000 each to the most promising students for the extra expenses of starting their studies, reports The Sunday Mai

Internet phone company Vonage is developing a mobile phone that uses Wi-Fi technology, with the goal of providing VoIP service to the growing number of people embracing wireless broadband systems, reports Newsfacto

This is interesting, from the Sctotsman and peprhaps it is not widely know

The world's first mobile phone-controlled robot is to be launched in Japan next month, reports Ananov

Nokia is set to take Dubai’s glamorous glitterati by storm with the city’s first Fashion TV party, “Strike A Pose

KTF, Korea's second-largest mobile carrier, announced Thursday it has started receiving donation for the victims in tsunami disaster which hit the coastal areas of South Asian nations including Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lank

Text messaging technology was a valuable communication tool in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Asia, reports the BB

Three local hospitals in Shanghai announced yesterday they will begin to set up out-patient appointments, offer medical consultation and take patient complaints through cell phone short messages, reports Xinhu

Howard Rheingold's latest article for TheFeatur

America's first SMS fund raising campaig

A new service launching this week lets people’s mobile phone rule their lif

Kanu National Executive Committee members of Kenya have complained that they were being inundated with SMS via their mobile phones to vote in a particular way in the coming elections, reports All Afric

Authorities warn generous Norwegians to check exactly who is collecting money for tsunami ai

In a sickening way, the horrific death toll from the tsunamis last week was an information disaster, writes Kevin Manley for USA Today

"This is not about the well-documented lack of a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocea

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Malaysia would like to extend a helping hand to Indonesia in caring for the reported tens of thousands of children orphaned following the earthquake and tsunami in Ace

Samsung today previewed two phones that will be shown off at Consumer Electronics Show later this week, the Samsung P207 and the Samsung a89

The Czechs have come up with yet another way of raising money thanks to cell phone

Another fund raising campaign by mobile phone to help victims of the Asian Tsunami Disaster, this time by ringtone provider ZaptoPhon

Taking into account the misuse of cell phones by Rashtriay Janata Dal leader Pappu Yadav in Beur jail (he made 670 calls), the Indian Supreme Court in principle on Tuesday decided that mobile phone jammers should be installed in all jails across the country, reports Redif

Following up on an earlier post today, The Times of India reports that United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has confirmed that human traffickers are targeting the children made homeless or orphaned by the tsunami disaster in the devastated Indonesian province of Ace

Motorola said it will unveil plans this week for a line of outerwear that uses interactive cell phone and portable music technology in snowboarding jackets, in a bid to win over twentysomethings, reports USA Toda

A new report, by a research team in the Netherlands, is challenging the belief that e-mail and text messaging only have a negative impact on writing skills, reports Canad

Britons are expected to have sent a record 25 billion text messages during 2004, according to New

Customers of all six mobile phone carriers in Britain can make donations to disaster relief funds for the areas hit by the Asian tsunamis by sending a text message, the companies said, reports the IH

NGOs and Muslim groups claim that child traffickers are now preying on some of the estimated 50,000 orphans at refugee camps and hospitals in Aceh and neighboring North Sumatra province, reports Laksam

The frequent flyer programmes of SWISS and SN Brussels Airlines have both introduced SMS mileage vouchers, enabling airline miles to be transferred and sent as SMS text message

An Israeli company said on Monday it planned to distribute free to Asian countries hit by last week's tsunami a device it says could save lives by warning holiday-makers directly that a tidal wave is coming, reports Reuter

As early images of the Asian tsunami disaster were flashed around the world, an aircraft loaded with equipment touched down in Sri Lanka at Colombo international airpor

The Czech charity ADRA, which is raising money for tsunami victims through text messages, has been overwhelmed by the respons

Another artist complaining about the lack of respect/personal interaction from those pesky cell phone users, reports Gizmod

Global Positioning System (GPS) devices don't just tell you where you're going anymore, reports The Seattle Time

A lack of communications in Aceh was also hampering aid effort

ARC - Alert Retrieval Cache

The South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog has setp up a system allowing mobile users from tsunami affected regions to post messages to a new blog, via text messagin

Belgians sent 23,7 million SMS over New Year's Eve, setting a new record, reports DHnet (in French)UK: 150M TEXT:-) NU YR

A record 150 million text messages were sent on New Year's Day, UK mobile phone firms said, reports The Mirro

New Year’s greetings in Switzerland by mobile phone have reached a new record, with 7

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has sent a group SMS message to all Swedish mobile phone subscribers in Thailand and Sri Lank

Gerrit Visser for Smart Mobs reports on a mobile Tsunami Helpline wap sit

An SMS claiming that a "very dangerous virus" is being spread via seafood in the aftermath of Asia's devastating tsunami was branded a hoax today by the Singapore government, reports The Ag

The Italian government has temporarily waived local privacy laws and asked Italian cellphone-service providers to send a text message to about 6,500 subscribers traveling in South Asia, according to a spokeswoman for TI

Update Jan 4: Following the story that the donations were subject to deduction arising from charges levied by cellular services providers, Airtime Media Productions (AMP) said in a statement issued yesterday that the company would make up the difference, reports The Sta

Small and medium-sized mobile phone makers in Korea face huge royalties for using technologies related to the Global System for Mobile communication, or GSM, standard, reports JoongAng Dail

Trying to operate a cell phone while wearing winter gloves is difficult due to the close proximity of the keypad’s small button

The Wall Street Journal reports on SMS fund raising efforts for disaster relie

LAST UPDATE January 2

A round up of operators and companies around the world offering free or rebated phone calls and text messaging to and from the tusnami devastated countries - read about so fa

Two more SMS fund raising campaigns:

Franc

Saturday, January 01, 2005

The text message widely circulating in India warning against eating sea food, as "fish are thriving on corpses of thousands of men, women and heads of cattle which were swept away that fateful Sunday and have not been fished out ye

In Italy, which has one of the highest rates of mobile phone ownership in the world, operators made a single number available for donations and sent text or voice messages to their customers appealing to them to send one euro, according to the Associated Pres

By making it possible to share information quickly and to quickly raise large sums in relief aid, the mobile telephone has played a valuable role in the Asian seaquake disaster, reports the Associated Pres

France Telecom intervenes at French government `s request following events in Southern Asia

"As part of an initial series of actions following the events that occurred in Southern Asia, the France Telecom Group has offered to local public authorities in those countries where it operates as a mobile operator to contribute to identify Orange customers who may have been in the areas hit by the tsunami, reports Unstrun