Oh sure, Americans are adamantly against texting while driving (in theory), but that's not stopping those mischievous Gen Y-ers from getting their SMS on while behind the wheel. According to a new survey of 1,200 people conducted by Nationwide Mutual Insurance (we know, we know), a third of the Gen Y-ers admitted to "always multitasking while driving," and while the "always" bit does indeed frighten us a tad, the real juice was in the next statistic: 37-percent said they sent text messages while driving. Before you start belaboring the imprudent youth, think long and hard about your own in-car cellphone usage -- remember that time you just had to reply "y w pep plz" in order to salvage your friend's pizza order? Tsk tsk.

[Via About]

If you thought sending a SMS in order to gain entry into a public bathroom was on the weird side, get a load of this. An outlandish campaign sparked up in the UK has been sending out weekly text messages to parents in order to remind them of the need to check for head lice on their youngsters. Cleverly coined Beat the Bugs, the program led to the discovery of six cases of lice, and when polling participants at the end of the term, the majority stated that they felt more aware about treatment / prevention and that they were now checking their kids' heads at least once per week. We can hear it now: "C'mon Jimmy, time for me to look through your locks for any critters!" "Ah, bugger."

[Via Switched, image courtesy of Interior Health]

Considering the plethora of facilities that have opened just in the past few years to deal solely with individuals that have become undoubtedly addicted to video games, the internet and all things Hello Kitty (we jest, we jest), we're not surprised one iota to hear that uncontrollably texting / e-mailing could soon become "classified as an official brain illness." According to a writeup in the latest American Journal of Psychiatry, internet addiction is a common ailment "that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders." More specifically, Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, even goes so far as to argue that said phenomenon (neglecting basic drives to spend more time online) be "included in the [next edition of] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses." Until then, we wish you the best of luck convincing that creature living in your basement with a dedicated T1 line that he / she isn't alright.

[Via textually]

We had a sneaking suspicion that the lineup of unlimited plans we got wind of earlier this week was just a bit too good to be true, and sure enough, it was. Now that Verizon's Unlimited Plans have gone official right on cue, we're left with three general plans that can each have additional lines tacked on for more dough. The $99 / month Basic Plan seems to include limitless calling only (read: messaging of all types and data still cost extra), while the Select Plan ($119.99 per month) throws in messaging but still demands $1.99 per MB of data. The Premium Plan is the one that's really attractive, offering up unlimited everything (for all intents and purposes) for $139.99 per month or $269.99 for two lines. Needless to say, we're a bit let down, but you can hit up the read link for more details on what's offered.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

While those in London can use SMS to actually find a lavatory, folks passing through Western Finland will be required to bust out their handset in order to relieve themselves in select public restrooms. In an attempt to curb vandalism, the Finnish Road Administration has implemented a system along Highway 1 which requires restroom visitors to text "Open" (in Finnish, of course) in order to let themselves in. The idea is that folks will be less likely to lose their mind and graffiti up the place knowing that their mobile number is (at least temporarily) on file, but it remains to be seen if uprooters will simply take their defacing ways elsewhere or actually excrete in peace.

[Via Switched]

It probably doesn't come as much of a shock to you that plenty of texting goes down midnight-ish tonight, and naturally the carriers are gearing up for just such an onslaught. Palm isn't so optimistic about the proceedings: according to a study it commissioned in the UK with lpsos MORI, 70% of people who send messages at midnight experience a delay in delivery, with places like London experience 77% delays, and 23% of Britons waiting over six hours for their text messages to arrive. Palm suggests an IM or email might be in order, and smartphone users will have better luck getting their messages delivered over the comparably unclogged data networks. Verizon seems more excited about the prospect, expecting the 284 million text messages sent last year on its network between 12pm New Years Eve and 4am New Years Day to rise to 300 million. Telstra expects to process more than 53 million messages across Australia, and will have a "small army" of techs on hand to monitor network performance. Canadians are expected to send 50 million texts this year, according to Virgin Mobile Canada, with the average canadian sending two text messages each -- double that of last year. However and wherever you party, stay safe out there -- friends don't let friends drink and text their estranged exes.

Read - Palm study warns of delays
Read - Verizon predicts 300 million
Read - Canada doubles in texts
Read - Telstra's small army in Australia

We already knew that UK motorists caught driving while texting (or vice-versa) could face a penalty of two whole years in the slammer, but now it seems that merely talking while controlling a motor vehicle could land you in the exact same predicament. Reportedly, British drivers caught chatting on a handset or sending an SMS while on the road "could be jailed" under new guidelines that are expected to be published. In the most extreme cases, they could be tagged with "dangerous driving, which carries a two-year maximum sentence and an unlimited fine." Currently, these folks simply get slapped with an "automatic fine and three points on their license under the lesser charge of careless driving." But honestly, it's not like prison would be so bad for cellphone addicts -- after all, we hear some cells over there actually provide service.

[Image courtesy of MotorTrend]

Ever wondered what it'd be like to have two birthdays in a single year? If so, just phone up, er, text SMS -- it's living the dream, baby! Apparently, the first "recorded text message" was sent from software engineer Neil Papworth to Richard Jarvis, a director at Vodafone, on December 3, 1992, which is arguably the birthday of SMS as we know it. Granted, the Short Message Service Center has been around just a hair longer, but without an official birth certificate tied to either, who are we to argue? So, here's to you (yet again), dear text messaging, but if you really try to sneak a third shindig in before the year's up, don't look to us to provide another round of hors d'oeuvres.

[Via TGDaily, image courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald]

If you've ever found yourself stuck in London with the insatiable urge to urinate in an alleyway, help is on the way. Believe it or not, a new SMS-based toilet finding service actually has the aforementioned predicament as a top priority to solve, and the Westminster City Council is hoping that people utilize the system to keep streets a bit cleaner. Cleverly dubbed SatLav, the technology enables individuals passing through London's West End to text the word "toilet" to 80097 in order to receive a (hopefully hasty) reply with details to get to the nearest public restroom. Unfortunately, the service will cost users £0.25 ($0.52) each time they use it, so we're a bit skeptical that alleyway urinators will happily cough up some coin rather than just sticking to old ways.

[Image courtesy of BBC]

Granted, it seems that we'll all be using SMS slang to condense our resumés in the not-too-distant future, but on the off chance that unadulterated English is still required in some facet of your life, the cre8txt keyboard will make things an awful lot easier. This gem plugs into one's PC via USB and actually translates texting jargon into words that Merriam-Webster would approve of, and in case that wasn't gimmicky enough, it also includes predictive text software to complete sentences before you can even think up your own endings. We still can't see such a device being worth the £49.99 ($105) asking price, but we're betting that our kids will view things differently. Oh, the humanity.

[Via ShinyShiny]

We've seen some relatively mouse-friendly attempts at a better mousetrap, but Rentokil's RADAR trap drops all the touchy-feely stuff and brings the pain action-movie-style: with infrared beams, a trick floor, and poison-gas dispensers. Mice are lured into the Rodent Activated Detection And Riddance unit by infrared beams, where the pressure sensors in the bottom of the box trigger the release of a "measured dose" of carbon dioxide, which Rentokil says is a "quick and humane" way of dealing with little Mickey. Once the deed is done, the trap fires off a text message to let you know that the rodent resistance is being dealt with, and prepares to strike again. No word on price -- Rentokil apparently only custom-installs the RADAR traps -- but availability is listed as "now."

[Via Tech Digest]

Granted, this isn't the first run-in we've seen between trains and an SMS-minded individual, but the former story certainly didn't involve a train coming into contact with a human. This time, however, an 18-year old Ohio resident managed to get carted away from a devastating collision after being struck by an oncoming locomotive. The kid apparently waited for one train to pass, but rather than double-checking for anything coming in the opposite direction, he simply forged ahead. Consequently, he was thrown 50-feet and knocked unconscious mid-sentence, but is thankfully recovering in a Cincinnati hospital.

[Via Switched]

Just days after the IBM ThinkPad threw a shindig for its 15th, now we've reason to don our party hats once more for yet another notable birthday. The mobile phone industry is celebrating the 15th year of the Short Message Service Center (SMSC), which was the "principal application behind text messaging first brought to market by Acision in 1992." Over the years, the basic SMSC box has evolved into an IP-based SMS architecture, and while early iterations had a capacity of ten messages per second, current setups can handle a nearly infinite amount (good thing, huh?). So here's to you, dear SMS, and while we certainly hope you manage to hang around another 15 years or so, how's about cooling off the perpetual price increases along the way?

[Thanks, John]

For the folks out there looking to seriously take advantage of those unlimited text messages, Acme Systems has designed the SMS FoxBox in order to give you "a compact and low cost solution to send and receive SMS messages using a commercial SIM card." The Linux-powered device includes a GSM quad-band modem, a SD / MMC memory card slot to store the messages, and a web-based interface to manage the mayhem. Acme claims that its unit can receive up to 30 incoming texts per minute, and it also touts an SQLite embedded SQL server, expandable set of gateway functions, fully customizable software, and even a pair of USB ports to store excess messages on thumb drives or external HDDs. So if you've been looking for some serious horsepower in the SMS to TCP/IP realm, you can plunk down your €750 ($1,012) and give that HTC keyboard a rest.

[Via LinuxDevices]

Granted, texting just might be bigger than Hollywood these days, but bigger than concern for one's own life? Apparently a Kawanishi woman was taking her well-being for granted during her daily route to work, as she collided with a man in a subway station whilst texting away at 8:30 in the morning. Subsequently, she plummeted a few feet down onto the subway tracks, only to be saved by a station worker who fearlessly hopped down to rescue her SMS-focused mind (and body, too) as the oncoming train screeched to a halt just 20 meters before running her over. Thankfully, the dame suffered just minor injuries in the fall, but an estimated 4,500 employees were blaming her for holding up their progress when clocking in late. Notably, there was no word on whether or not the phone was saved, or more importantly, whether or not the presumably urgent SMS ever got sent -- but considering this is the second case in a matter of days in which a human being nearly lost their life to a cellphone, we beg you: text responsibly, dear friends.

[Via TokyoMango]