Do you flirt via text message? Come on. I know you do. I’m guilty myself. A few carefully-crafted words can go a long way. It appears that the majority of cell phone users are doing it, according to a recent survey. Of 1,000 respondents age 18 to 55, 67 percent said they used text messaging to flirt. So don’t try to act like you don’t. Also, 68 percent said they used it to send a love note. If you’re in a relationship, this is standard practice. It’s an especially effective medium during work hours, when a phone call might be inappropriate.

Posted in Text Messaging on October 9th, 2008
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Last year, when a bridge collapsed in Minnesota, officials advised citizens to use SMS in case of emergency, since it puts less strain on the network. It means more data can get through, which means more people stay in contact with friends and family in a time of crisis. However, according to a recent study, you should not rely on emergency communications from third parties. Not only are systems unable to deliver a large volume of messages quickly, but such a volume might become troublesome for other voice and SMS traffic on the network.

Posted in Text Messaging on September 19th, 2008
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It’s no wonder I’ve heard more than one marketer say that they covet SMS campaigns. Many disagree with them, I know, but it’s hard to deny how ubiquitous text messaging has become. In the first half of 2008, we set a few texting records, according to VeriSign Inc. (via RCR Wireless). The company delivered 95.4 billion text messages during the period, and broke records for single-day text messaging — 648 million — and the one-hour record of 42 million.

Colin Gibbs of RCR makes sure to remind us that we could be seeing a peak in SMS in the near future, as instant messaging via data plans seems to be the future of mobile messaging.

Posted in Text Messaging on August 29th, 2008
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I’m not sure if everyone else’s high school did this, but back when I was 16 they brought a drunk driving simulator to the parking lot. It was a car rigged so they could delay the reaction time between turning the wheel and them actually turning. We had fun trying to beat the system, and flattened a good share of cones in the process. I’m not sure if the students at Hermitage High School in Virginia did something like that when they simulated distracted driving situations. Among the distractions: Text messaging.

Posted in Text Messaging on May 5th, 2008
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When I was a lad, I’d always see and hear notices for Crime Stoppers, an anonymous law enforcement tip line. “Call 1-800-CRIMESTOPPERS. No one will ask your name,” was the slogan. So it appears that people are far more willing to tip off police anonymously. But with caller ID (not to mention call recording) being what it is, a good number of people might be paranoid about leaving such tips. But what if you could text message the tip? And what if your number was encrypted, so that the text was truly anonymous? That’s what TipSoft is aiming to find out.

Posted in Text Messaging on April 30th, 2008
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It seems Samsung is in the survey business nowadays. Their latest one regards the upcoming presidential race. The idea of voting via text message has been brought up more than once. Clearly, this would increase the voter turnout. However, given the nature of the best, there’s plenty of room for abuse. This country can ill afford a situation where an election is called into question because of someone or someones tampering with the results. But according to Samsung’s survey, the abuse issue isn’t at the forefront of most people’s minds.

Posted in Text Messaging on April 22nd, 2008
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In the cellular world, spam isn’t free. On your computer, it’s a mere annoyance. But when you receive unsolicited messages on your cell phone, it costs money. So if you’re not one of the many who have text messaging bundles, you’re going to need a way to filter out these messages. But how?

Posted in Text Messaging on April 17th, 2008
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When you’re not a teenager, communicating with one is a hassle, to say the least. If you’re younger, you’re considered a lesser being and accordingly scorned. If you’re older, you’re out of touch — and that’s a nice way of putting it. Really, teenagers think that their elders are a bunch of idiots who have clearly never gone through what they’re going through. (It feels good when they finally come around, right?) Apparently, though, if you communicate via their medium of choice — that is, text messaging — they might actually be receptive. Go figure.

Posted in Text Messaging on April 16th, 2008
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It’s a pretty well-known mantra, but it’s worth repeating. When you receive a spam message, do not respond. There is nothing worse than letting a spammer know that the address they hit is correct. I’d expect to be on a thousand mailing lists after that, effectively increasing spam total. It’s much worse on cell phones, of course, because many of us get charged per message. Thankfully, this happened with Telus in Canada, where incoming texts are free. Still, to save yourself the annoyance, just ignore the spam.

Posted in Text Messaging on March 21st, 2008
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This haven’t been going so well for T-Mobile in court lately. Late last week we learned that they’ll face a class action suit over improper billing practices. This comes after they lost an appeal to uphold their mandatory arbitration clause. Not wasting any time, another class has filed suit against the nation’s No. 4 wireless carrier. This one is over unwanted text messages and the charges associated with them.

Posted in Text Messaging on January 31st, 2008
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Yeah, like that’s a shocker. We direct you to a story in today’s Northwest Herald, in which a junior at Prairie Ridge High School shows complete ignorance of his actions. Apparently, he thinks it’s okay for kids to send text messages during class…because it causes less of a distraction. “It’s more of a convenience than anything else, and it’s not like you’re making a big disruption in class like picking up the phone or something.” It’s quotes like this that give us zero faith in the upcoming generation.

Posted in Text Messaging on October 4th, 2007
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We all hate receiving spam e-mails. They’re annoying, and they usually offer us things we wouldn’t need in a million years (we’re quite comfortable in our manhood, thank you very much). However, they’re a mere inconvenience; a check-and-delete action away from obliteration. This is not the case for text messaging spam. For anyone without one of those $10 to $20 plans that give you a block of text messages, they cost 5 or 10 cents each, depending on your provider. So why should we have to pay because of some idiots? That’s a question we feel that the wireless companies should be answering. Some have, but few have satisfactorily. Here’s what each has to say on the issue:

Posted in Consumer Issues, Text Messaging on September 18th, 2007
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We make no mistake of it: we’re avid baseball fans. During the months spanning April through October, we’re perpetually in a good mood, knowing that we can watch a game on all but two nights of the year (damned All-Star break). What does this have to do with mobile phones, you ask? Well, if you’re a fan of the Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland A’s, or Texas Rangers, you can have your tickets sent right to your cell phone via text message. Speaking from the experience of an impulse ticket buyer, this is an enormous convenience.

Posted in Text Messaging on August 13th, 2007
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Indoor smoking bans have been in effect in plenty of places in the US for quite some time now. In all that time, there hasn’t been much said about any related effects of these bans — except, of course, the number of people leaving and re-entering bars and clubs. We’re sure hand-stamping has gone up, but other than that, there haven’t been many reports to that effect. Well, a smoking ban went into effect in the UK in July, and in the first two weeks they saw a noticeable change: 7.5 million more text messages were sent than in the previous two-week period.

Posted in Text Messaging on August 9th, 2007
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When disaster strikes, the media will be there. For those of you without a TV, Internet connection, newspaper, or friends, a bridge in Minneapolis collapsed Wednesday night, leaving the city in turmoil. There was an unsurprising spike in call volume, as friends and family called one another to see if everything was all right. Imagine, though, if you were calling a loved one to see if they were affected by this tragedy, only to hear the message “current network not available.” That can only add stress to the situation.

Posted in Text Messaging on August 6th, 2007
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There was a time when spam was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Junk mail turned into telemarketing calls, which turned into mass e-mails. In all cases, it took just a few seconds to ditch that inconvenience: throw out the letter, hang up on the caller, delete the e-mail. And then came spam blockers and do-not-call lists, making it much easier for us to avoid the advertisements we wish not to see.

But then they invaded our cell phones.

Well, not by calling us — after all, that is still forbidden by the Federal Trade Commission. But some companies have taken to spamming our text message inboxes with senseless advertisements. And text messages cost money — 15 cents per message with the four major providers (Verizon, Sprint Nextel, AT&T/Cingular, and T-Mobile).

The FCC has taken action in this regard, enacting CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing), which forbids companies from sending you unsolicited commercial text messages and e-mails on your wireless phone. While that has stopped most big companies, smaller and less detectable companies continue to send spam and cost you money.

Posted in Text Messaging on June 5th, 2007
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