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Sprint and Rogers connect for iMessage-like RCS texting
Nearly every major tech company has come up with their own messaging services with enhanced features and SMS is starting to look long in the tooth. But there's hope for text messaging. A newish standard (it was released in 2012) RCS (Rich Communication Services (RCS) with its improved media sending and improved group chat support is making its way onto Android phones and being support by carriers and according to Google's VP of communications products, Nick Fox. It looks like Sprint and Rogers are letting customers send RCS messages between their services.
ICYMI: Hyper directional sound guides runners
Today on In Case You Missed It: Malaysian sportswear company Ash Be Nimble has expanded their product line to include the Handbag Dyetonator, a fob-style accessory that will expel ink and smoke onto anyone who walks (or runs, or scoots) away with your bag. The Dyetonator attaches to a purse similar to a keychain and can be deployed via SMS message (so hopefully your phone wasn't in that bag...) to mark a thief for easy identification. It also contains a GPS tracker, should the culprit succeed in getting away with your pocketbook. It's still in early testing phases, and certainly isn't foolproof, but the idea of a dye pack exploding on a thief is a satisfying thought, so hopefully this will eventually make it to market.
Contact your Senator with a fax-sending bot
The rallying cry to contact your member of Congress is louder than ever these days, but actually reaching them isn't very easy. Even if they accept email, they're far more likely to acknowledge a faxed message -- but who actually has a fax machine in the 21st Century? Thankfully, you no longer need one to get your point across. A volunteer group has launched Resistbot, an automated system that turns your cellphone's text messages into faxes to your representatives and senators. Once you've offered your name and ZIP code, you just have to type in a message to send it to the appropriate officials. Your first message will go to your senators, but the bot will eventually collect info that helps you reach the House.
Google's Android texting app has a new name
Despite how common texting is, its integration on Android has always lagged slightly behind, as Google appeared to focus on other things. Sometimes it wrapped the feature into other services/apps like Google Voice and Hangouts, but lately, the main Android texting app has been getting some tweaks too. The latest one brings a new name, as it goes from Google Messenger (probably frequently confused with the bot-laden Facebook Messenger) to Android Messages.
Google Assistant can share your personal info in Allo chats
For now, Allo is the one place where regular Android users can get a taste of Google Assistant, the AI helper that's otherwise reserved for Google's own Pixel phones. You can call on it during a chat with one or more folks, and it can do a search, set reminders and even tell a joke. Google has just given it a new trick that should make it more useful -- letting you share contacts, calendar appointments and other personal info.
Android Wear 2.0 uses offline AI for its smart replies
One of the new features on Android Wear 2.0 is Smart Reply, which suggests responses to messages that you can quickly tap if you're busy doing something else. In its research blog, Google explained that the feature uses on-device machine intelligence, so it works even if you don't have an internet cloud connection. While the researchers initially thought doing that would be impossible, the "Expander" AI team saw it as a unique opportunity.
Facebook simplifies Android SMS verification
Facebook has rolled out a new system aimed to make logins easier for its users and, by extension, its ad partners. The latest developer Account Kit SDK now includes instant verification, a two factor system that lets you skip the usual drill of receiving an SMS and then entering a code. When you attempt a Facebook login for a third-party site and enter your phone number, "we attempt a match with the verified phone number listed on the person's Facebook profile," the company said in its developer blog.
T-Mobile Digits brings calls and texts to all your devices
T-Mobile is doing its Uncarrier thing again. As the carrier works on bringing its LTE network to US forces and older cars, it's also bringing the latest technology to its existing customers. The company's new Digits program lets you add multiple numbers to your phone, and then use them across all your devices. Starting today, postpaid customers can sign up to try out a beta version of the service, which the company says will launch commercially next year. Those who join the trial will need to have at least Android 5.0 or iOS 9 installed on their phones, and/or Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome on their Macs or PCs.
Cuba has been filtering texts containing political dissent
Cuba's struggles with modern telecommunications have been many. Now, it looks as though the Communist country has another problem on its hands: text message censorship. SMS sent with words including "human rights," "hunger strike" and the name of dissident José Daniel Ferrer García aren't reaching their intended recipients according to Reuters and Cuban blog 14ymedio (Spanish). The news came to light when some Cubans noticed they were being charged for messages that never were delivered.
ICYMI: Saving the ocean and ghosting on love interests
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The Burner chatbot would let a machine ghost on acquaintances you'd rather not text with anymore. So that's point one for the endtimes, zero for humanity. But this Dutch inventor should more than switch that around with a small prototype of the ocean fence that is designed to collect ocean trash passively, allowing currents to push plastic and other stuff that doesn't belong in the water into a collection fence. If it all works out, a huge, 60-mile long version of his invention will grace the Pacific Ocean within a few years and hopefully be a solution to solving the Great Pacific garbage patch. If you're into Nerf guns, you must watch this video. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Facebook Messenger's SMS push might break Android app rules (updated)
Did you think Facebook was a little too eager to have you using Messenger for SMS on your Android phone? You're not alone. Concerns are mounting that Facebook's SMS prompt might violate Google Play's policies prohibiting deceptive device settings changes. You see, the prompt offering to switch SMS to Messenger offers only a big "OK" button and a tiny "settings" button -- there's no obvious way to decline the change. You can, of course, but it's buried.
AMC is considering letting people text in movie theaters
Just as AMC was starting to win customers back by replacing every old seat in its auditoriums with recliners, the company wants to destroy that good will among moviegoers. That's because CEO Adam Aron thinks letting people use their phones during a movie would be a good idea. "When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off their phone, don't ruin the movie, they hear 'please cut off your left arm above the elbow,'" Aron tells Variety. "You can't tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That's not how they live their life." Yes, he actually said that.
Global carriers adopt Google's SMS standard
Google is trying to move Android from the ancient SMS messaging system over to Rich Communication Services (RCS), and last year bought a company called Jibe Mobile to speed up the process. That appears to have paid off, as numerous global operators, including Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone have agreed to adopt the standard. RCS has often been compared to iMessage,offering features like group chat, high-res photo sharing and read receipts. Carrier adoption means that users will get "a consistent and interoperable messaging experience between all Android devices and across all operators worldwide," according to the group.
Facebook is testing SMS, multiple accounts in Messenger
Facebook has slowly beefed up its Messenger offering over the past year, with not only the ability to send payments and hail Uber rides, but also the addition of an AI-inspired personal assistant (or at least the promise of). Now it looks like Messenger will have a couple of other features added in the near future: the integration of SMS plus support for multiple accounts. It was first seen on Android Police but we've since received confirmation from Facebook that the company is indeed testing these new features.
Facebook's WhatsApp messenger hits 1 billion monthly users
Last time WhatsApp crowed about its active monthly user count, it was a zero shy of where it is now: 1 billion. The outfit says that's almost one in seven people on Earth who use Facebook's $19 billion messaging application. The announcement says not to expect much to change with this notable milestone other than forthcoming improvements to speed and security, most notably, while aiming to get the other six billion of our neighbors using the platform. Just think, if the company hadn't dropped its $1 annual subscription fee, that'd be a relatively easy billion dollars a year in income -- and we all know just how cool that much money is.
Yahoo faces class action lawsuit over text spamming
Yahoo probably isn't the first company you'd think of as a text spammer, but the courts might soon beg to differ. A judge has ruled that the internet pioneer has to face a class action lawsuit for sending Sprint customers automatic "welcome" messages when someone else pinged them on Yahoo Messenger in 2013. These were effectively small, unwanted sales pitches for Yahoo's services, according to the lawsuit -- and it doesn't help that they sometimes followed spam from another party.
End texts with a period if you want to seem like a jerk
It appears as though those among us who use proper punctuation when texting look like big jerks. A new study out of Binghamton University says that text messages appended with a period come off as kind of rude. Computer Mediated Communication (email, texting, instant messages, etc..) lacks any sort of the context clues of face to face communications methods, so to see what the period meant in terms of CMC, the researchers had a small group of undergrads rate conversations that were framed either as handwritten notes or text messages.
People tweeted their phone number and got spammed with cat facts
There are people who share their real phone numbers via a tweet. Yes, really. One programmer decided to teach those folks a lesson by spamming them with cat facts. Using phone numbers that were beamed out in public tweets, the joke included sending text messages about cats until the person tweeted at Edward Snowden "Meow, I <3 catfacts." Although Snowden isn't in on the gag, he is a bit of a feline fanatic. He was also quite forthcoming about his own Twitter faux pas. In this case, automated script pulls data from the Twitter API before blasting out the messages full of meow-based facts with an anonymous texting app. The programmer says the goal of the stunt is to teach users who are so loose with their personal details a lesson on how a more ruthless hacker might attack their mobile devices. Pretty solid way to do so, if you ask us. [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
In the App Store, love comes cheap
When you're a writer, people expect you to write. And when you're courting someone the pressure to write for them, and to do it well, is amplified. My most recent romantic conquest, a Mexican interior designer, lived in LA. He was a diehard romantic, hundreds of miles away, and despite a slight language barrier, he had a way with words that I struggled to match. He had the ability to make me melt with a single text. I, in turn, would sit for minutes at a time, wringing my heart and brain for just one drop of sweet sentiment.
Phone network security flaw lets anyone bug your calls
Remember that vulnerability in the SS7 inter-carrier network that lets hackers and spies track your cellphone virtually anywhere in the world? It's worse than you might have thought. Researchers speaking to Australia's 60 Minutes have demonstrated that it's possible for anyone to intercept phone calls and text messages through that same network. So long as the attackers have access to an SS7 portal, they can forward your conversations to an online recording device and reroute the call to its intended destination. This helps anyone bent on surveillance, of course, but it also means that a well-equipped criminal could grab your verification messages (such as the kind used in two-factor authentication) and use them before you've even seen them.
