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GQ Mobile to offer ads by text
Highbrow men's magazine GQ is taking the wireless plunge in a rather peculiar way- by essentially making you pay to receive advertisements through SMS. BusinessWeek is reporting that the venerable fashion rag has teamed up with content distribution specialist m-Qube to offer its four million readers "information about events, private sales, shopping nights, and giveaways" on their cellphones in the form of non-free text messages. While GQ is pushing its ads as "original content," even its own marketing director says that the venture is "a business opportunity. It isn't about editorial," which is probably not the type of marketing they teach in business school these days. When GQ Mobile goes live on the 27th readers simply need to text "GQ" to "GQMAG" to begin the advertising deluge.
UK auction site Hunt For It enables bidding, alerts via SMS
A new auction site has recently gone live in the UK that is touting the ability to bid on items and receive status alerts via SMS as its major selling points. Hunt For It is trying to offer a more attractive mobile package than eBay by allowing buyers to text in their bids and reminding them not only 10 minutes before a given auction is scheduled to end, but anytime someone outbids them, and even lets them setup keyword alerts for notification as soon as a matching item is listed. Sellers benefit too, as they can MMS pictures taken with a cameraphone directly to their listings, and they also receive a cut of the SMS proceeds anytime someone bids on their items with a text message. All this convenience doesn't come free, though- Hunt For It charges buyers one pound for each text relating to a new item and 25 pence for all other messages, on top of regular carrier fees.[Via Bayraider and Tech Digest]
Australian PO sends SMS snail mail announcements
If you've got a PO box, trekking out to check for new mail can be a real chore -- especially if you get to the post office only to discover that nobody loves you enough to write to you. So, it's good to know that the powers that be at Australia Post are now offering an SMS notification service for PO box customers. For AU$89 ($65.54) per year, the Mail2Day service will send you a text message every time you've got new mail, saving you from that long, unfulfilling trek to the empty box. Of course, the message doesn't tell you what kind of mail is waiting for you, so if you do the hike only to find that the box is stuffed with bills and catalogs, you're on your own.[Via The Red Ferret]
Mass UK SMS alert program nets first capture
A six-month-old UK program wherein police flood local residents with text messages warning them of shady characters roaming their neighborhoods has finally succeeded in catching its first perp. The $260,000 "Police Direct" system was launched by the Suffolk Police Department last August mainly to alert people of "bogus callers" known to be in the vicinity, but it was repurposed on Tuesday in the hunt for a serial church burglar whose non-secular crime wave had panicked clergy scrambling to put wine and wafers on lockdown. Police eventually caught the 43-year-old man in Brandon after one of the 6,000 members of the pilot program who received an SMS somehow recognized the culprit from what was presumably just his written description. No word on any reward for the eagle-eyed Samaritan, or even if he/she will receive a refund for the cost of the incoming text.[Via textually]
SMS-related injuries becoming more prevalant in the UK
It seems that the British aren't taking full advantage of the handy T9 predictive text entry feature on their phones, as Reuters is reporting that a record 3.8 million Brits suffered from a repetitive stress injury caused by fervent texting in the past year. Furthermore, 38% more people experienced a messaging-related RSI in 2005 than five years earlier, and 10% of the population send up to 100 texts every day. These statistics come from a survey commissioned by Virgin Mobile, who may live to regret it once they get hit with the first wave of SMS injury-related lawsuits. It looks like the souped-up XT9 couldn't have debuted at a better moment in history.[Via textually]
Generics Intrasonics emergency response system
Originally developed for interactive toys, Generics' (what a name, guys) Intrasonics is seeing a new life being repurposed as an emergency communication system for cellphones, even when cell towers are down or overloaded. When disaster strikes, cell networks obviously oft become clogged with traffic or may even crash, depending on the nature of the disaster; enter the Intrasonics Sound Link and Sync (SLS), which can send messages and instructions embedded into broadcast airwaves to any cellphone in the area -- including devices underground, in some cases. Sounds kinds good n' crazy, we know, but when you find out exactly how it's supposedly transmitted, it'll blow your mind: the data can come in acoustically over the cell's mic by way of (really) loudspeaker, which decoded by an installable app. Ok, so maybe it sounds a little fishy, but make no mistake about it, emergency communications systems are a clear and present necessity, and we're hoping someone's on the job to make it happen sooner than later.[Via textually]
Cingular teams up with Aicent to offer international MMS
Aicent has announced that have signed a "Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) Interworking Service agreement" with Cingular, fancy talk for a bit of network sharing to allow international MMS service for Cingular customers. Aicent, which already offers GPRS data roaming to Cingular, is helping them with the MMS hookup through North & South America, Europe and Asia, and will begin implementation of the interoperability work immediately.[Via Phone Scoop]
Israeli service provider Partner goes Kosher
This isn't the first time we've heard of Kosher cellphone services, but it looks like the trend is growing. Israel's Partner Communications has joined the ranks of competitors such as MIRS, and has announced a Kosher service for Orthodox Jewish customers. No, Kosher cellphones aren't guaranteed to have mouthpieces that contain no pork or shellfish; they're simply phones that have been stripped of all those tempting multimedia offerings, including internet access and text messaging. Partner had apparently resisted offering a Kosher service, which we find kind of puzzling; with a market of as many as 1 million customers demanding a product that your competitors already provide, it seems a little meshuga not to want a piece of it, nu?
SIMCon undeletes text messages from SIM cards
Computer users have long had access to utilities that would let them undelete files that were inadvertently wiped from their hard drives. Now that power has become available to cellphone users with SIMCon, a utility that lets you search your phone's SIM card for old text messages and other deleted data. The program will run you $125, which is certainly a lot more than you'd pay for many similar programs designed for PCs, but if you need to recover the phone number of that guy who made you a job offer (or that certain someone who texted you about more personal plans), this may be the way to do it.
Hospital announces deaths by text
We can think of a lot of info we'd like to be able to get by text -- stock market updates, sports scores, even mash notes. But being notified of a relative's death by the impersonal flash of a text message across our phone's screen has got to be one of the worst uses we've heard of for SMS technology. But that, apparently, is what a hospital in Ceske Budejovice, in the Czech Republic, is doing. OK, they're not sending out text messages saying "Hi! Yr uncl is ded." But they come pretty close: the hospital sends text messages asking family members to call a special number, where they're told the actual news. Local ethics officials call the practice "absolutely inadmissible," but the hospital defends it as being a fast and modern way to communicate with relatives.
Man stabs wife over SMS coversations
A Malaysian man, angry at his wife's frequent text exchanges with "unknown individuals," decided that the most appropriate way to express his frustration was by stabbing his partner in her cheek and throat. The man then rushed his wife to a hospital Royal Tenenbaums style, but instead of owning up to his misdeed, told doctors that she was injured in a robbery. Police got the real story from hospital staff, and arrested the jealous husband soon afterwards. After witnessing this incident of domestic violence, along with the case of the woman whose boyfriend forced a cellphone down her throat, we're starting to think that maybe these family calling plans aren't as harmless as Catherine Zeta-Jones Douglas would like us to believe.[Via textually]
Avalanche Mobile launches texting monitoring software for parents
Cellular News reports that Avalanche Mobile has launched the Avalance Instant Messaging Filter (IMF), a software platform that lets parents monitor their kids' texting activities, and even suspend messaging functions during school hours or any other time they deem necessary. Parents can also whiltelist themselves or others so they can get through during downtimes -- other messages that are sent during those times are held and delivered later. According to Avalance, "the IMF is installed transparently on the existing SS7 links, allowing it to operate without interfering with existing voice and data traffic." No word yet on pricing or availability.[Via Textually.org]
57-story Disney Yeti SMS billboard in New York
We're gonna have to take a cruise up on the F train a little later today to check this piece out, but apparently Disney, (un)official proprietors of Times Square, unveiled a 57-story tall interactive SMS advertisement right in the heart of our fair city. Sent to advertise Walt Disney World's new Expedition Everest attraction, apparently you can texting 4YETI with the word "DISNEY," which will make the at building-tall giant Yeti's eyes flash all Matterhorn-style. Yup, that's it. Still, this definitely does have to take the cake as being the biggest "interactive" SMS display yet seen.[Via Textually]
Global Video Sharing trials over IMS begin
Video Sharing interoperability trials over IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), which is a UMTS implementation of SIP, launched this week bent at least initially on allowing users to send live video during a voice call. The Swedish-led GSMA-sponsored effort spans the US, Europe, and Asia and is meant to ensure future Video Sharing services function smoothly between as many devices and carriers as possible. The support cast includes the usual suspects like the GSM majors (yes, including Cingular) and manufactures such as Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, LG, Motorola, Samsung, etc. Test are expected to be completed by Q2 ’06 but it's anybody's guess when these services might go live.
XT9 takes predictive text entry to the Xtreme
T9, that old friend who makes mobile messaging slightly less frustrating, has made a big resurgence at this year's 3GSM with an extreme new look and attitude. T9 developer Tegic just announced a partnership with Samsung, who will use the new XT9 system in some of their upcoming devices. XT9 takes all the magic of regular T9 and turns it up a notch by adding stylus support, next-letter prediction and regional error correction, which compensates for users with fat thumbs mashing the wrong key on tiny QWERTY keyboards. Even more exciting, Tegic announced that they are working on XT9 2.0, which will incorporate speech recognition capabilities and Chinese handwriting recognition, to complement the handful of languages and special characters already supported.
Windows Mobile gets Microsoft Office Communicator
Use Microsoft Office Communicator in the office? Use Windows Mobile? Well, here you go, people, two great tastes that taste great together: Microsoft Office Communicator's been announced for Windows Mobile, which includes secure IM and SIP VoIP telephony. We caught a gander already at Möbius last December, but Live Communication Server customers, you can keep your eyes peeled as within two months you should be able to get it for you and your team.
GSM operators plan mobile IM standard
As if text messaging didn't lead to enough repetitive stress injuries, the world's cellphone carriers now want you to start using your cellphone to IM. The GSM Association, which represents carriers from around the globe, has announced an agreement among eight major service providers, including T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange, to develop a common standard for instant messaging. No word on when the new standard, to be known as Personal IM, will be rolled out. There's also no news about whether it will interoperate with any of the IM services already used by millions of people -- and compatible with many cellphone services -- from companies such as Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft. Chances are it won't be, but we'll count on the open source community to fix that as quickly as possible.
Ericsson now provides operators backend anti-virus
Not like the industry needs yet another mobile anti-virus solution, but we have to give props to Ericsson, who's throwing down with their markedly different take on handset security. Since they're backend and infrastructure nowadays, it makes perfect sense that their AV solution would run interference against nasty bugs and spam entirely in operator environments -- so with an Ericsson AV install so you'd ideally never even have a chance to test out the efficacy of your mobile anti-virus software.[Via Cellular News
Brits crazy for wireless on trains
If you had any doubt that the British still take train travel seriously, two new mobile services targeting rail-based commuters should settle the issue. Travelers using the UK's National Rail can now get schedule info by text. Just send a message to a specific number, and you can get departure, arrival or complete itinerary information. Meanwhile, if you're waiting for a train in the London Underground, you can now relieve your boredom by getting short films delivered to your Bluetooth phone. The project was developed by Viacom's outdoor advertising division, which means it won't be long before the flicks are interrupted by or supplanted with commercials -- which might still be preferable to staring at the blank walls of the tube station at midnight.Read - Text MessagingRead - Underground
Korean students sending 100 text messages per day
Our fingers tend to cramp up after we type about three words on our cellphone's keypad, so we've got to give at least some sort of props to Korea's teenagers, who, according to the Korea Times, are clearly the texting champs of the world. A recent study found that up to 35% of Korean students are sending over 100 text messages daily, inspired by the lower cost of texting compared to voice calls, and the fact that it's easier to discreetly send text messages in class than it is to talk. Despite the lower costs, almost half of the surveyed teens said they were having financial problems due to their text addiction. Maybe they can start kicking it old school and just pass notes back and forth in class.[Via textually.org]
