Recently in text Category
U.S. Cellular is now offering a text alert service "Overage Protection."Here's how U.S. Cellular's Overage Protection works:Existing and new post-pay customers can sign up by visiting a retail store, contacting customer service or accessing their account at uscellular.com. New customers who activate service on uscellular.com can also request that Overage Protection be added on to their account.
The customer decides who will receive the alerts. Once set-up is complete, the service runs nightly, calculating their usage. If a predefined threshold is reached, a text alert will be sent the next day during normal business hours.
ZoomSafer, has released a fully
original music video entitled "Little
Words" to help promote National
Teen Driver Safety Week.
"Distraction from the use of mobile phones is causingan increase in auto crashes among all age groups, especially among teens who are prolific texters," said Matt Howard, co-founder and CMO of ZoomSafer. "We've partnered with an incredibly talented recording artist and have crafted a powerful music video that people can relate to and that poses an important and straight forward question about the practice of texting and driving."
The images are more then "Little Words" because a smashed up car just isn't pretty. To view the video "continue reading."
CNN News doesn't always practice what it preaches which Jon Stewart pointed out on the Daily Show.
He starts the introduction with a "he-he-he-he-he."
Yes, texting while driving is dangerous reported CNN. But CNN also showed off the latest CNN iPhone app for traffic updates while using an iPhone in traffic.
Jon Stewart does an eye-opening rendition of what could happen with the CNN iPhone app while driving.
The "Texting While Driving Dangerous" story was reported on CNN a day after the show, showing off the iPhone CNN app with traffic updates.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Transportation to prohibit or restrict the use of unsafe electronic devices, for talking, texting and other purposes, by operators of commercial motor vehicles, such as tractor trailers, motorcoach buses, and large vans.
There have been many tragedies caused by cell phone use by commercial vehicles such as the one experienced by Elissa and Jamie Schee of Ocala, Florida, whose daughter Frances "Margay" Schee, age 13, was killed on September, 23, 2008, when a tractor trailer rammed into the back of her school bus that was stopped with its lights flashing. The truck driver's cell phone use was a contributing factor in the fiery fatal crash.
"One year and one day later, we want to express our strong support for this safety petition that is asking our federal government to finally do something to keep commercial vehicle drivers off the phone and to stay focused on the road in front of them," said Elissa Schee.
"What happened to our daughter Margay was not an isolated incident. These tragedies are increasingly occurring on our nation's roadways - and they are preventable."
In the petition is a video of bus driver texting while driving and then the bus crashes into a car in front of it.
It turns out it was VIA driver driving down Loop 410 in rush hour traffic in San Antonio Texas. The bus rammed right into an SUV being driven by Betty Jo Hummel.
"It was horrible," said Hummel. "It was the most horrific thing I've probably ever lived through." News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters showed the video to her. She was surprised the accident last June didn't kill her.
Verizon and the Advertising Council are offering a public service advertising campaign to help teens deal with "textual harassment," privacy issues and pic-pressure.
The new PSA's for Verizon
Wireless' Mobile web service, and Verizon FiOS Internet and Verizon
FiOS TV show "That's Not Cool. " It helps teens deal with digital dating abuse There's a teenager guy in a cell phone sending and receiving all kinds of text and then asks for something "Not Cool."
At the website, sock puppets and Barbie dolls discuss digital issues:
- My boyfriend texts me asking where I am all the time.
- My boyfriend wants pics.(without clothing of course.)
- A guy I'm seeing spies on social networking sites.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children NCMEC has issued a policy statement regarding sexting. The statement is a product of extensive
dialogue with leaders in the field, and was developed with the strong
involvement of the American Bar Association's Center on Children
and the Law.
The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) supprts a ban texting behind the
wheel for all drivers in all states. GHSA Members are appointed by their governors to
lead state highway safety agencies.Texting while driving is very dangerous. It is worse than drinking while driving, according to Car and Driver magazine. Several states including California have banned texting while driving. Carriers such as Verizon support a ban on texting while driving. Recently, Chicago dentists have said that texting during dental work can hinder dental care.
According to GHSA
Chairman Vernon F. Betkey Jr., "The action by the GHSA membership is
based on the fact that texting while driving is indisputably a
distraction and a serious highway safety problem. If every state passes
a texting ban, it will send a message to the public that this dangerous
practice is unacceptable. We can begin to change the culture that has
permitted distracted driving."
Betkey noted the recent study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute influenced the GHSA membership action. That study indicated that a driver who is texting increases crash or near-crash risk by 23 times.
GHSA continues to have
concerns about enforcing text messaging bans. The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is expected to begin an
enforcement demonstration project later this year which the Association
fully supports. GHSA is hopeful that U.S. Transportation Secretary
LaHood's upcoming summit on distraction and the NHTSA demonstration
project will provide a roadmap for developing additional enforcement
strategies and countermeasures.
Okay folks, you text while driving and cause accidents. Shouldn't you give your dear dentist and break and not be texting while in the dental chair? Just think of the mistakes you will make while breathing the "happy-air." Personally, I wouldn't want my dentist to miss anything with a pick and drill in his hands.More than four out of five dentists surveyed by the Chicago Dental Society revealed that patients send and receive text messages on their cell phones while receiving dental care.
The survey was conducted between July 16th and July 25th via email and among dentists in the Chicago Dental Society's Facebook Fan Page.
In addition to the dentists who said their patients regularly text in the dental chair, 46 percent said this habit hampers their ability to provide care. The high number of dental chair texters is also surprising, given that 32 percent of the dentists indicated they have a cell phone/mobile device policy posted in a visible location in their office.
As students go back to school they are probably having sticker shock when they see the price of college text book. If you don't want to keep the text book you can rent it for about a third of the cost. One little SMS with an ISBN number could save a lot of cash.Textbook rental service, Chegg.com, has launched an SMS service and a mobile site to provide instant price quotes and instant savings to students across the country.
To use the SMS service, students text 44144, enter 'ISBN' followed by the book's ISBN number and they'll instantly receive the rental cost from Chegg.com.
The new mobile site from Chegg.com is available at m.chegg.com, allowing users to enter the book's title or ISBN number and receive the rental cost via email.
There are many applications for smartphones especially the BlackBerry and Palm Pre that help you while you are traveling. Not everyone has a global phone that will roam with you all over the world. So what can you do if you are stuck in a country with a simple prepaid (most likely Nokia phone) without an iPhone and need to know if your flight is on time?Just send a text message with the flight number to AeroStatus, they will deliver the current flight status information right to your mobile phone - instantly and free.(SMS charges will apply)
- You can choose to have automatic alerts about flight status changes sent to you.
- If there is a delay in the departure of the flight, you will receive an update with the new departure time.
- As soon as the flight departs, you will receive a message confirming the time of departure and the estimated time of arrival
- Once the flight arrives, you will receive the final update, confirming the time it landed.
They claim you can stop guessing about delays and avoid searching for internet access to check the flight time. This service can save a lot time if you are a "textual" person.
Here's how it works:
Send the flight number including all letters and digits (example: XYZ123)
by text message (SMS) to:
+44 7786 209009 or
+1 212 722-7777
Then you receive a text message back with flight status. You can also email status@aerostatus.com
The
Black Hawk Consolidated Public Safety Communications Center In Black Hawk Iowa can receive now
text messages from select wireless subscribers in the county. The call center successfully completed the text trial this past June and is now the first 9-1-1 Call Center in the country able to receive text messages directly into 9-1-1. This groundbreaking effort allows those individuals with speech and hearing impairments, or callers otherwise unable to place a voice call, to use text messaging to communicate directly with a 9-1-1 telecommunicator in an emergency.
"We are pleased that our county has become the first in the nation to successfully deploy text to 9-1-1," said Chief Thomas Jennings, chairman, Black Hawk 9-1-1 Board. "This solution not only helps better protect our speech and hearing impaired citizens but it proves how important it is for public safety to support all forms of communication."
"The state of Iowa has a long history of pioneering advancements in 9-1-1 technology as a way to enhance the safety of all of our citizens," said David Miller, administrator, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division. "We are proud to be part of this initiative to assist the speech and hearing impaired."
Their News Release Warns: It is important to note that this solution is currently only available to select wireless subscribers in Black Hawk County. Please remember that a voice call remains the best way to contact 9-1-1. Texting to 9-1-1 should only be used in situations where a voice call is not possible.
Yesterday, legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would ban texting and e-mailing while driving. The proposed legislation, called the ALERT Act, was introduced by U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and Kay Hagen (D-NC). Verizon sent out a news release to support the bill.
Verizon Wireless vice president and general counsel Steven E. Zipperstein made the following statement:
"We support federal legislation to ban texting and e-mailing while driving. This approach is a logical extension of our previous breaks with other wireless companies to support state-wide legislation banning texting and e-mailing while driving. We applaud Senator Schumer and the Senate sponsors for their leadership."
Car and Driver recently did a study and found texting while driving to be worse than drinking while driving.
According to NBCNewYork.com a teenage girl fell into a uncovered sewer while texting on Victory Boulevard on Staten Island. The girl,
Alexa Longueira, 15, received some scrapes on her arms and back after she fell into the sewer hole.The family plans to sue. The Department of Environmental Protection said that they walked away to grab some cones while Longueira plunge into sewage.
"Oh my God, it was putrid," Kim Longueira, Alexa's mother said, "One of her sneakers is still down there."
Here's the text Ms.Longueira should have been reading, "OMG! Look @ the hole in the grd, stop. Bye BFF."
There are Android, iPhone, BlackBerry apps for how to exit the subway for the fastest route, perhaps a man-hole map could come in handy.
To gauge the effect of texting while driving, Car and Driver magazine conducted road tests to determine just
how dangerous texting and driving can be. In the Car and Driver video of the test, Editor-in-Chief Eddie Alterman, said, "While you're texting and driving, time disappears. You're concentrating so hard on what you are texting, you completely ignore what is happening in front of you...You shouldn't be doing anything as complicated as texting from behind the wheel."
The web Intern, said in the video, "It's more dangerous than people realize and more dangerous than drinking. I'm guilty of texting while driving. After seeing the results of this test, it makes me think twice about doing it in the future. I will come to a complete stop before I pull the phone out next time."
Previous academic studies have shown texting while driving using simulators impairs a driver's abilities. This was the first study in an acutal car. Car and Driver also compared the results of texting to the effects of drunk driving, on the same day and under the exact same conditions.
The focus of the test was solely on the driver's reaction time. All of the driving was done in a straight line on an 11,800-foot runway. Given the prevalence of the BlackBerry, the iPhone, and other text-friendly mobile phones, the test subjects had devices with full QWERTY keypads and were familiar with text messaging. A web intern 22, armed with an iPhone, represented the younger crowd. The older demographic was covered by Editor-in-Chief, Eddie Alterman, 37.
Moore than 35% of teens admit
to cheating with cell phones, and more than half admit to using the
Internet to cheat reports a study by the The Benenson Strategy Group for Common Sense Media. Furthermore, many students don't consider their
actions to be cheating at all. The results show a need for
parents, educators, and leaders to start a national discussion on
digital ethics, notes Common Sense Media.Findings from the poll include:
- Teens with cell phones send 440 text messages a week and 110 a week while in the classroom.
- 41% of teens say that storing notes on a cell phone to access during a test is a serious cheating offense, while 23% don't think it's cheating at all.
- 45% of teens say that texting friends about answers during tests is a serious cheating offense, while 20% say it's not cheating at all.
- 76% of parents say that cell phone cheating happens at their teens' schools, but only 3% believe their own teen has ever used a cell phone to cheat.
- Nearly two-thirds of students with cell phones use them during school, regardless of school policies against it.
The third annual LG U.S. National Texting Championship, concluded with 15-year-old
The winning phrase was "Zippity Dooo Dahh Zippity Ayy ... My oh MY, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine Comin' my way ... ZippittyDooDahZippityAay! WondeRful feeling, Wonderful day!" which Moore completed flawlessly in less than 60 seconds. The contestants used the new LG enV3 phone, the newest edition in the enV family, which features a full QWERTY keypad.
"When I heard the final phrase, I got so nervous and thought how can I finish that!" said winner Moore. "But apparently, my thumbs are faster than everyone else's! I'm so excited to be this year's champion."
Kate told AP:
"Let your kid text during dinner! Let your kid text during school! It pays off .Your kid could win money and publicity and a phone."
More frequently sent 4,000 texts-per-month, eight months after she got her first cell phone.
Moore won the title of texting championship after beating step sisters
Mobile consultancy, iGR's recent study on the content of consumers' text messages shows some major life situations are occurring via cell phone SMS text messages.
The survey asked respondents a series of questions regarding the purpose of text messages they sent and received in the past month.
Nine percent of U.S. consumers have sent a text intended to end a
relationship with a partner or cancel a date.Seven percent of the
consumers have received such a text message in the past month.
18 to 24 year olds are more likely to break up through a text message or to cancel a date via text than their older counterparts. Additionally, more male consumers than females reported both sending and receiving 'goodbye' messages.
However, consumers do not only use text messaging to break bad news. iGR's survey found 1 percent of U.S. consumers have proposed marriage to someone via a text message - the good news is that an equivalent number received the proposal!
One percent of women have sent a text to tell their partner that they are pregnant - all of the individuals who received texts stating that their partner was pregnant were male.
AT&T is now offering their texting phone the LG Neon a touchscreen phone with lots of features for a low-price.The green and white quick messaging LG Neon features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 2.0 megapixel camera/camcorder and access to Instant Messaging, Mobile Email, AT&T Music, and the mobile Internet. Other features include an expandable microSD memory card slot, music player, ouch dialing screen and one-touch speakerphone. The touchscreen has haptic feedback.
The LG Neon has GPRS and EDGE connectivity but no fast 3G access it is currently selling online for $79 and a $50 mail-in rebate, making it $29. New AT&T customers can use the Wireless and Mobile News' $50 off online only coupon-link with a contract makes it virtually free. Free shipping with online activation. It only requires a phone plan of at least $39 a month. That's a very good deal for a lot of phone features at a discount with the coupon.
LetsTalk.
The latest figures from VeriSign show no signs of mobile messaging slowing, its growing exponentially.
Mobile messaging volumes continue to shatter records, according to
the latest quarterly index of mobile messaging statistics compiled by
the Messaging and Mobile Media Division of VeriSign,.
During the first quarter of 2009, VeriSign, which delivers 60 percent of the text and mobile message traffic in the U.S. inter-carrier market(1), recorded a new high of nearly 84 billion messages delivered throughout the quarter. In 2008, the company successfully delivered more than 224 billion messages across its combined mobile messaging platforms.
VeriSign also delivered more than 1.06 billion SMS and MMS messages on Valentine's Day, which typically generates heavy message volume as texters exchange love notes. It was the busiest day of the quarter and the busiest Valentine's Day on record.
In Q1 2009, VeriSign's combined mobile messaging networks enabled an average of approximately 932 million messages per day. This is an 18.5 percent increase from the previous quarter and a remarkable 96 percent rise over Q1 2008. In total, VeriSign delivered 82.3 billion P2P (peer-to-peer)(2) and over 1.6 billion A2P (application-to-peer) messages in Q1 2009.
AT&T reported that more than 78 million text messages crossed its network as fans interacted with American Idol -- the highest total for any season and more than double the 78 million messages AT&T reported last year.
97 million votes were cast last Tuesday night. From that 97 million, were the 78 million generated from text messages through votes, trivia contests, and other SMS content.
Text message traffic counted in the tally includes not only text votes but also other ways fans interact with the show via text, such as answering weekly trivia questions, opting in to receive voting number reminders, submitting questions to AT&T-hosted chat sessions with outgoing contestants, and participating in AT&T's sweepstakes.
More than twice as many AT&T customers played weekly Idol Trivia via text this season versus last.
The number of AT&T customers who opted in to receive voting number reminders--a weekly text message listing all of the IDOLs and their voting numbers--was 70 percent higher than last season; fans who opted in for vote number reminders this season sent nearly twice as many text votes than did the overall voting population.
IDOL contestants lit up AT&T's ringtone leaderboard this year. At one point during the week of May 10, AMERICAN IDOL tones comprised 15 of the top 100 ringtones.
