The increasingly high cost of text messaging has already caused a bit of a stir in Canada, and it looks like Democratic Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin is concerned with the situation in the US as well, with him now opening an inquiry to attempt to get the carriers to explain themselves. Apparently, Kohl is a bit puzzled as to why some customers are now paying 20 cents per message when they paid just 10 cents in 2005, a period that Kohl notes just happens to overlap with some consolidation in the wireless industry, when the number of national carriers shrunk from six to four. Those carriers, as you might expect, aren't saying much just yet, with Sprint only going as far as to say that it looks forward to "responding to the Senator's inquiry about the text messaging options we offer our customers and we will fully cooperate with his request," and the rest saying even less.

Ready for some excitement in the form of watching a startup squirm as it waits for its product to gain traction? Take a glance at Peek, which is churning out a dedicated handheld that handles e-mail, a few chain forwards, and more e-mails when you're done with that. At first glance, one may consider such a one-trick-pony quite ridiculous, but it's hard to say what will end up catching on these days. The biggest problem facing Peek is the pricing: it'll be $99.95 up front when it lands in Target next month, plus $19.95 per month to send unlimited e-mails over T-Mobile's network. Of course, if anyone figures out how to load Opera Mini up here, the Bulls-eye Shop won't be able to keep the shelves stocked.

[Via Silicon Alley Insider]

We've gotten a small flood of emails from readers today concerned with a certain page found in last night's leaked Zune support training manuals. The conclusion immediately drawn was that the portables would start communicating with one another via WiFi text messaging; quite the surprising revelation given the near total lack of (reasonable) text input options available in the hardware. The more likely reason why the document would outline the ability to share songs with typed-in messages with your friends? Well, it might have something to do with that Zune Social music community site Microsoft is launching alongside the new players -- you know, the one they were touting as the place where Zune users and music fans could go to meet, communicate, share tunes, create "Zune cards", etc. Still, if Microsoft wanted to do for the Zune what Apple did with the iPod touch, we wouldn't complain about the addition of a full screen browser and multi-touch interface.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

It's been quite some time since we've heard from Zipit, but the company is hitting back with a second version of its trendy Wireless Messenger. The Z2 doesn't deviate too far from the original's design, but the keyboard left a lot to be desired during our limited playtime. As expected, this handheld unit works on any WiFi network and supports AOL, Yahoo and MSN IM platforms so users can carry on multiple conversations. Furthermore, you'll find an integrated music player (dubbed MyTunez) that can play back files stored on your miniSD card or tunes streamed from the 'net, and the MyPhotoz feature lets you view photo slideshows, too. For those interested, it'll be available next month for $149.99, and if you hadn't already noticed, a host of hands-on photos are waiting below.

It turns out that cleaner air and healthier people aren't the only side effects of a "No Smoking" sign. A wide-reaching ban on smoking in enclosed places just went into effect on July 1st in the UK, and in the two weeks following, carrier Orange reported that 7.5 million more messages were sent on its network than in the two-week period the month prior. Analysts (who apparently are responsible for researching these sorts of trends) suggest a couple explanations: first, smokers freshly ousted outdoors to get their smoke on need something to do to pass the time -- out comes the phone, and, well, you know the rest. Secondly, smokers that are working on quitting as a result of the ban are turning to texting to give their fidgety, nerve-wracked fingers something to do and to seek support from friends. The behavior, which arguably didn't need a name, is being called "smexting." Looks like the money saved on cancer sticks is going straight to the carriers -- but hey, at least it's a little safer (or not).

[Via Techdirt]

Last time we checked, the true challenge in speedy texting was overcoming the numeric keypad. Just ask Ben Cook or Ang Chuang Yang -- two of the world's quickest -- about what it's like to belt out a meaningless sequence of 160 characters without even the benefit of predictive text entry to ease the task. Alas, for LG, it's hard to pimp your QWERTY-equipped VX9900 enV in a contest that requires the use of the digit keys alone -- so it bent the rules for its $25,000 texting championship held in New York City this weekend, requiring that entrants do their thing on the enV's generous (relatively speaking) full keyboard. Morgan Pozgar, a 13 year old Pennsylvanian, bested 21 year old Eli Tirosh in the final round to walk away with the crown and the $25,000 booty by accurately texting "Supercalifragilisticexpialidoucious! Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious. If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious," something Tirosh failed to do. How does it feel to have an asterisk permanently affixed next to your "World's Fastest Texter" title, Ms. Pozgar? Shall we give sprinters roller skates in the Olympics next year, too?

Brand new toys sure have been popping up everywhere of late, and now Mattel's hitting us up with another gizmo being showcased at the International Toy Fair. Presumably designed to latch onto the hard-earned dollars of paranoid mums who watch entirely too many of those "internet predator" spots, the Girl Tech IM-Me is a very restrictive wireless instant messaging system that relies on parental okays in order to operate. Aside from only allowing texts to be sent and received from parent-approved usernames, the gal can only use her purple and pink IM machine within range (read: in the house) of the USB dongle, which must be plugged into an internet connected PC. So while we still prefer PictoChat, we imagine this $64.99 device will sell like hotcakes when it lands this summer -- only to never be used by any halfway sane (and understandably rebellious) teenage daughter.

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

Although glitzy, stat-filled jerseys are certainly sufficient ways to get information off your chest (ahem), a new vibrating vest could give "body language" an entirely new meaning. Joining the air-conditioned and insulating renditions, this snazzy vest features a "tactile display" on the back, which is created by 16 small vibrating motors that are connected to an internal wireless control unit. The jacket "writes symbols and messages on its wearer's back," and while the actual writing resembles Braille more than text, it can supposedly be used to "send important commands to soldiers or firefighters, warning them of imminent danger when ordinary radios cannot be used." Commands are beamed to the vests via a wirelessly-enabled computer, and can stealthily inform platoons to stop, look in a specific direction, run, or slow down. The US Army is partially funding the research, as it hopes to investigate different ways to communicate when hand signals and / or radio transmissions aren't effective. During initial testing, results have shown nearly flawless interpretation by participants, and while we're not exactly sure when we can expect rumble-equipped gear to grace our armed forces, the problem of "excess noise from the motors" has to be quelled before hitting the battlefield.

[Via BoingBoing]