mms
Latest
MMS finally comes to Apple's iPhone 3G via OS 3.0
Apple's done a decent job of implementing features that we've all been clamoring for into its forthcoming OS 3.0, and aside from copy and paste, there's probably no one single feature add bigger than this. You heard right -- multimedia messaging (MMS) is at long last coming to the iPhone 3G (sorry, first-gen iPhone owners) after years of dealing strictly with SMS. During the keynote, Apple was pretty remarkably short with details, simply noting that MMS "support" would be added. Frankly, we don't expect anything mind-blowing; it'll probably look a lot like the current SMS setup, and it'll definitely make AT&T happy when you start firing away picture messages without first subscribing to an unlimited messaging plan.Update: Apple's official PR on the subject has given us just a bit more to chew on. We're told that MMS will enable iPhone 3G users to "send and receive photos, contacts, audio files and locations with the Messages app," hinting that Apple may just smash MMS and SMS together into a single 'Messages' app in OS 3.0. Also of note, owners will also be able to "forward and delete multiple messages."
MMS finally comes to Apple's iPhone via OS 3.0
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_getting_MMS_in_upcoming_OS_3_0'; Apple's done a decent job of implementing features that we've all been clamoring for into its forthcoming OS 3.0, and aside from copy and paste, there's probably no one single feature add bigger than this. You heard right -- multimedia messaging (MMS) is at long last coming to the iPhone 3G (sorry, first-gen iPhone owners) after years of dealing strictly with SMS. During the keynote, Apple was pretty remarkably short with details, simply noting that MMS "support" would be added. Frankly, we don't expect anything mind-blowing; it'll probably look a lot like the current SMS setup, and it'll definitely make AT&T happy when you start firing away picture messages without first subscribing to an unlimited messaging plan. Update: Apple's official PR on the subject has given us just a bit more to chew on. We're told that MMS will enable iPhone 3G users to "send and receive photos, contacts, audio files and locations with the Messages app," hinting that Apple may just smash MMS and SMS together into a single 'Messages' app in OS 3.0. Also of note, owners will also be able to "forward and delete multiple messages."
Nokia issues SMS Cleaner to cure 'Curse of Silence' bug
If your Nokia S60 handset has been stricken by the oh-so-cold 'Curse of Silence,' you'll probably want to pay attention here. Nokia has just loosed the SMS Cleaner on the world, not even a full month after the aforementioned exploit arrived on the scene. The handset maker claims that the application can "clean a Nokia S60 3rd Edition (Initial or Feature Pack 1) based device, which may have received a so called 'Curse of Silence' SMS message, and thereby restricted from receiving any new SMS messages." Installation looks to be pretty straightforward, and the file itself weighs in at a shockingly light 42KB. The read link's where it's all at, so head on down and get your sure-to-be-brief download on.[Via IntoMobile]
Conceptual interface brings gesture-based data transfers to medical realm
It's pretty clear by watching the demonstration video (which is lurking in the read link, just so you know) that this stuff is still pretty preliminary, but we could definitely see it going places with the right people behind it. The Interface Database Concept was dreamed up by Alan Sien Wei Hshieh, and by utilizing a relatively simple set of Javascripts, he was able to overcome traditional platform incompatibilities that can so often hamstring medical hardware / software in day-to-day usage. The creation aims to enable "seamless and intuitive data transfer" and to "define a set of gesture and multitouch commands that will override controls and input devices that may be difficult to use on medical devices." The aforementioned vid shows off gesture-based transfers and even an accelerometer-based cross-platform transfer, both of which make you forget that we're just talking about X-rays and blood tests.[Thanks, Kara]
'Curse of Silence' exploit squelches inbound SMS/MMS to Nokia S60 devices
Here's an odd one for you. Tobias Engel of the Chaos Communication Congress has discovered a rather nasty exploit that'll cause any Nokia S60 devices running versions 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 or 3.1 to stop receiving SMS and MMS messages. The "Curse of Silence," which has been independently verified by F-Secure, is triggered by sending an SMS that begins with an email address that's at least 32 characters long. The attacker must also change the protocol identifier to internet electronic mail before sending. Devices with versions 2.8 and 3.1 lock up after 11 such messages and still have some limited receiving capabilities, while 2.6 and 3.0 devices will go completely mum after just one attack. In both cases a factory reset is required to fix it, and he says there is no other known workaround for the user. We don't imagine this being a pervasive issue, but if you've got any tech-savvy enemies or malevolent pranksters in your life, you've been warned. Video demonstration is after the break, or hit up the read link to see if your device is among those listed at risk.[Via Hack a Day]Read - Vulnerability AdvisoryRead - F-Secure Verification
Study sez Americans send twice as many text messages as Europeans, twice as prone to thumb failure
Okay, so maybe that "thumb failure" bit isn't in this particular study, but it's definitely a logical conclusion to draw, right? At any rate, a recent survey from Portio Research has found the mobile messaging market will likely bring in some $130 billion in revenues by the year's end, and that figure could climb to $224 billion by 2013. Also of note, Americans are said to send "double the number of messages that Europeans average each month," and that's despite the fact that 82% of USers never even use the service. Looking for one last tidbit to chew on? SMS was found to be the mobile messaging weapon of choice in every researched nation save for Japan, which (on the whole) relies more on mobile email than texting.[Via textually, image courtesy of JFDaily]
Mobispine pens tell all about their iPhone MMS app, doesn't exactly tell all
We've heard a few things about the Mobispine MMS app supposedly being developed for the iPhone, but the company's just answered a lot of questions, and we thought we'd give you a quick rundown. Interestingly, the app will utilize Apple's announced but delayed push notification, which Mobispine says is due "pretty soon," though carriers may use SMS notification in lieu of the service. The company says that the app will be carrier-branded, and that it will be up to them how much to charge you, the MMS-starved consumer. Mobispine says that the software will "probably" be made available through the App Store, "probably" because it's still in some vague phase of development, and has yet to be approved by Apple. Just let us know when the thing is ready, okay guys?[Thanks, Carlos]
Mobispine's iPhone MMS application... for the entire universe?
We heard yesterday that Telia customers might be getting an MMS app for their iPhones, and that it was being developed by the carrier themselves, with plans to launch in the next two months. Well, today we've gotten word that Mobispine is likely the developer of said application, and that they have plans to offer it to carriers all over planet Earth. Mobispine says that the app will be branded to each particular operator, and distributed via Apple's App Store, but we don't know when all of this is going to go down. Now we'd just like to meet the caveman owner of the iPhone pictured above who needed to be told (on November 15th!) that "Obama will be our next president." [Thanks, Mike]
MMS-capabilities coming soon to a Swedish iPhone?
The oft-bemoaned lack of certain, um... capabilities of the the iPhone is forcing individual companies to take desperate measures, it seems. It's not entirely clear, but MacWorld says it's confirmed with Telia that the Swedish-Finnish carrier's developing an MMS-enabling app for the iPhone. MacWorld says the app will hit the market in the next two months, which is great news for everyone in Sweden. If you live anywhere else in the world, however, you'll just have to continue on, rueing the day you ever encountered Apple's MMS-spurning, copy and paste-hating handset.Update: Though the source is Swedish, it's entirely reasonable to believe that this'll spread across all of Telia's markets (and the world?). Thanks, commenters![Thanks, Martin]
T-Mobile's Cameo reviewed: works pretty much as advertised
Don't deny it -- you're inexplicably drawn to a digital photo frame that has its own phone number. Rather than just buying blind to see if you really dig the Cameo, however, why not pore over this here review? In testing, the device (manufactured by Parrot) was said to work practically as advertised, with just a few small quirks preventing it from receiving the highest marks. Critics were able to MMS over images from a variety of rival networks, though they did have issues making the frame accept a photo message from Sweden. Overall, however, it was noted that usability was remarkably high and that the process was easy enough for most anyone to grasp. 'Course, you should probably convince yourself you're going to use the thing quite a bit before committing to a $10 per month fee to keep the $100 frame connected, but outside of that, you ought not be too disappointed.
T-Mobile's CAMEO frame shows holiday snaps while you're still taking them
It's been nearly a year since Parrot announced its DF7700 GPRS-endowed picture frame, said to possess the mystical ability to pull photographs straight out of the ether. Now T-Mobile has pledged to bring Parrot's magic frame to the US as the CAMEO, a $100 device that, when coupled with a $10/month service fee, can be the recipient of picture-bearing messages. When you get bored with that feature (or that fee), there's a mini-USB port plus slots for SD/MMC cards that will enable it to accept pics in a more traditional manner. Its 7-inch screen has a 720 x 480 resolution and is surrounded by an interchangeable leather border guaranteed to look cheap in any decor -- not just those with golden mirrors astride marble mantelpieces.[Thanks, Mark]
Nike PhotoiD lets you create hideous shoes from the comfort of your cameraphone
If you get a pair of blindingly bright clown shoes in the mail a few days after a late night of drunken revelry that you don't particularly recall... well, we think we know what happened. A new service from Nike in some European countries called "PhotoiD" allows cameraphone owners to snap a picture of pretty much anything their little hearts desire, send it to a short code via MMS, and get a rendered shoe in reply that uses the picture's two most dominant colors as its highlights. If you're feeling the kicks -- 1985 Dunk hightops, if you must know -- you can even buy them, which we figure is where things really start to get interesting. Creative on Nike's part, yes, but also a danger to the good sense of shoe-wearing shutterbugs everywhere.[Via guardian.co.uk]
MMS of death: older RAZRs can be hacked with malicious JPEGs
The Zero Day Initiative has revealed that a vulnerability exists in older RAZR firmware versions that could potentially -- under very rare circumstances -- allow some baddie to execute arbitrary code on your beloved phone. Basically, you'd have to accept an MMS from someone you don't know, it'd have to contain a JPEG with a specially malformed EXIF header, and of course, you'd have to be running an outdated version of your phone's firmware. In fact, ZDI reported the problem to Moto way back in July of last year and only revealed it to the public last week, giving 'em plenty of time to cook up a fix -- which thankfully, they have. Everyone did their part here, it seems, so don't even bother trying to exploit this one, criminals of the world. You know who you are.[Via IntoMobile and CNET]
AT&T boosting pay-per-use text and MMS rates -- again
Whoa there, didn't these just go up not long ago? Indeed they did, but in the fast-paced, money-grubbing world we call home, two price bumps spaced a year apart are sadly par for the course. AT&T has started informing customers that unless they're subscribed to a messaging plan, they'll be paying 5 cents more for both text messages and picture / video messages -- now up to 20 and 30 cents per, respectively. The change takes effect March 30, so we'd recommend you either tell all your peeps to cut it out with the messaging or sign up with a package by then. Follow the break for AT&T's full manifesto.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
iPhone MMS Application released
iPhone Developer Tommy Svensson has just released an iPhone MMS application allowing you to send MMS messages with your iPhone. This app does not enable the iPhone to receive MMS, just to send it. Being an early release, you can only send images (no movies) at this time. The MMS app is not yet released via Installer. You can download a copy directly from Swirly Space and install it manually. For more information, check out this ModMyiFone thread. Thanks, Dima Kovalev.
Apple doesn't give us MMS on the iPhone, so the community does
Golly, we heart iPhone hackers. Seriously, is there anything these cats can't do? Short of magically bestowing our favorite Apple phone (see what we did there?) with 3G data, we're pretty confident that the dev community is going to end up fulfilling every last wish that Apple doesn't. A ModMyiPhone member has busted out an early release of a true, honest-to-goodness native MMS app, filling in perhaps one of the biggest gaps in the iPhone's out of the box functionality (yeah, we know you can MMS most carriers' phones via email, but it's still super annoying), and even better, it seriously looks stock from the screen shots. It's apparently still got a few issues -- and it's send-only for the moment -- but it's a great start. Keep on keepin' on, fellas!
Parrot's DF7700 MMS photo frame -- go ahead, share your creepiness
Man, if you thought drunk dialing and texting was embarrassing, just wait until Parrot releases the world's first MMS photo frame. Due before the holidays are through, the 7-inch, DF7700 display features a SIM card with dedicated call number built directly into the frame. It also touts USB and SD slots for quick image transfer as well as position and light sensors to keep photos upright and looking their best regardless of your own tragic state of disrepair. Sorry, no price or product images (that's their DF7220 up there), but we think we've captured the typical holiday break-up scenario for you above, eh?
Kam Kam Mobile Alert detects GSM calls, wags tail
We've seen this type of toy before, but never in such a plush and cute form factor. The Kam Kam Mobile Alert -- that's the cat version -- and Don Don Mobile Alert detect the GSM radio on your handset from up to five feet away when a call or message comes in. Instead of blinking or spinning, Kitty or Rover will wag its tail for 15 seconds to let you know if your ringer happens to be silent. The desktop critter has a handy spot to plonk your handset in when in use, but sadly doesn't offer a charger option. The holiday season is approaching and this would likely make a cute gift, and at $30 a pop, it shouldn't break the bank.[Via ShinyShiny]
Verizon subscribers fire off 10 billion SMS messages in June
Fingers are busy over at Verizon Wireless where it is being reported that subscribers fired off and received some 10 billion SMS messages in June -- think unlimited messaging is catching on? Another finger-mangling figure saw 200 million Multimedia Messages (MMS) sent in the same period. Those are pretty mind-numbing numbers and are allegedly up 100 percent over September 2006's 5 billion mark. We love it, so congrats Verizon typists, keep sending those missives of love, drink invites, and requests to walk dogs and we'll see if we can best that record in another few months.[Via textually.org]
Japan to use picture messaging for calorie counting
Leave it to the Japanese to be at the forefront of having the latest bleeding edge service for their customers. In the United States, we're lucky to get a calorie count of our meal when we go to our favorite restaurants. In Japan, though, all they'll need to do is snap a picture message of their meal and send it the Public Health Offices in Osaka, and ta-da -- the calorie count is give to you. Albeit, it's three days after you ate. Not exactly real-time, but at least you'll how bad you were to your body a few days back.. [Via Slashphone]
