By Todd Haselton |
The text message (SMS) turns 20 today, and we’d like to wish it a very happy birthday. The first text message, if you’re unaware, was sent 20 years ago today by Matti Makkonen, the “father of the SMS,” according to BBC, and it has come a…
By Todd Haselton |
Mobile operators make their money from selling data packages (43% of their revenues), unlike in the past when a lot of the revenue came from text messages. Now, it appears that the mobile messaging revenue that carriers report each quarter is beginning to plateau. A…
By Todd Haselton |
The Federal Management Emergency Agency (FEMA) is advising that anyone in the path of Hurricane Sandy use text messages or social networks, not direct phone calls, in order to stay in touch with loved ones. The agency said this approach will help people avoid and…
By Todd Haselton |
Research firm Ovum recently published a report that suggests social messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, will cost wireless carriers as much as $54 billion by 2016. That’s a staggering figure, however, and we wonder if Ovum took into consideration that carriers, such as AT&T and…
By Adriana Lee |
Scientists have launched a trial program in which sheep, rocking a specialized collar, can send out alerts when they’re being attacked by predators. Shepherding is still an honored tradition (and big business) in areas of Switzerland and France, so any help with keeping animals like…
By Adriana Lee |
There are a lot of rules governing political campaign donations, especially when you’re talking about a big chunk numbering in the millions or more. But that doesn’t mean micro contributions are overlooked. President Obama’s campaign is reportedly finishing up the final touches on agreements with…
By Brandon Russell |
Apple has responded to the SMS security flaw outed by iOS hacker pod2g on Friday, saying the company “takes security very seriously.” The exploit, which tricks users into sending messages to unknown recipients, is a result of “SMS limitations,” Apple said, reminding iPhone owners to…
By Todd Haselton |
Text spoofing: it isn’t a new concept. In fact, hackers have been taking advantage of spoofing anything from IPs and phone numbers to emails and, yes, even text messages to trick the receiving party into believing the originating source is legitimate. Get a phone call…
By Brandon Russell |
Noah K. tackles the biggest tech rumors of this week! In this episode: Apple is rumored to be launching FaceTime over cellular data in the near future – and some carriers want a piece! Also, an interesting new patent to come out of Research in…
By Adriana Lee |
Looks like modern-day smartphone users are getting pretty squeamish about talking on the phone. The latest report from Ofcom reveals that people in the UK are more likely to text than to have an actual phone conversation. According to the country’s communications industry regulator, 58 percent of people…
By Adriana Lee |
Some of us aren’t in a very LOL kind of mood until we’ve had our first hits of caffeine. And so, it naturally stands to reason that we should combine the two activities into one glorious, stupendous creation, right? Meet Textspresso, the texting espresso machine that…
By Adriana Lee |
Oy. As if flying isn’t annoying enough. Seems several flights from Branson’s Virgin Atlantic will soon be filled with the sounds of calling. The airline is outfitting several planes with onboard equipment that will enable in-air mobile calls, texts and web surfing. Those of us…
By Adriana Lee |
Listen up, telemarketers, Nigerian princes and far-flung pharmacies trying to get me to buy Viagra: You may annoy me via email, postal mail and even via Facebook, but when you start harassing me via text message, you’ve gone too far. And yet, somehow, they don’t seem…
By Mark Hearn |
Google announced on Friday that it has opened its SMS via Google+ option to a whopping 41 additional countries. Originally available to the U.S. and India, residents in Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo (DRC), Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan,…
By Brandon Russell |
Here’s one for you: A woman is walking and texting in a mall, like many of us often do, when she suddenly tumbles head first into a knee-high fountain. Because she was so focused on what was on her phone’s screen, she never saw it…
By Adriana Lee |
Could you picture a world in which your home could automatically alert you if it needs attention? One day, your house or apartment could send you texts, letting you know if a stranger has entered your home. Your oven could tweet to let you know…
By Brandon Russell |
Who doesn’t have a cell phone these days? For that matter, who isn’t aware of what a text message is? As the adoption rate of mobile technology increases, text messaging is fast becoming one of the top means of communication. While many of us don’t…
By Killian Bell |
A flaw has been discovered within Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system that allows hackers to completely disable your device’s messaging hub using nothing more than a simple text message. Once your device receives the message, either via SMS, Facebook, or Windows Messenger, it will automatically…
By Emily Price |
Today when you sent out a text message, you may want to wish the service a Happy Birthday. Today text message as we know it turns 19 years old. The first SMS message was reportedly sent on December 3, 1992 by Neil Papworth from his…
By Killian Bell |
If you’ve got a smartphone, there are hundreds of applications out there that allow you to upload photos to Twitter. But what do you use if you’re one of those people who has a good old-fashioned feature phone? How do you quickly show your friends…
By Mike Perlman |
If you haven’t heard of the SMS/MMS replacement application WhatsApp, check it out here. But I’m sure RIM employees won’t be checking out WhatsApp. In fact, RIM did appear to like it at one time, but if you try downloading it from BB App World…
By Killian Bell |
HTC has finally pushed out the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update to its Desire smartphone users, but before you rush off to download the release, there are a few limitations you should be aware of. Firstly, Gingerbread won’t be available as an over-the-air update like traditional…
By Killian Bell |
RIM’s famous BlackBerry Messenger will soon be up against the Apple’s iMessage with the launch of iOS 5 this fall, so in a bid to maintain interest in its popular messaging service, RIM has just launched BBM 6. Available to users running BlackBerry OS 4.5…
By Adriana Lee |
Do you know what happens when you mix one jailbreaker extraordinaire with an early release of the next-gen iOS software update? If you’re thinking something hackery, you’d be right. MuscleNerd, of iPhone Dev-Team, jailbroke iOS 5 within the first day it was released to developers.…
