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Verizon's PTT plans get unlimited messaging, too
The unlimited text, picture, and video messaging that Verizon customers on plain-vanilla plans have enjoyed for a few weeks now is moving on to spread its love to other segments of the market. Push-to-talk plans are next, with unlimited messaging running $20 above and beyond the standard plan cost -- a tad steep, yes, although it includes messaging on any network. With the new feature, individual PTT plans start at $70.
T-Mobile offers up free messaging on Mother's Day
What a better way to tell Mommy you care than with a 160-character greeting on her celly? Okay, okay, there might be a few ways, but we appreciate T-Mobile's effort nonetheless. The carrier will be offering unlimited free messaging for the entirety of Mother's Day (that's this Sunday, May 13, for the forgetful children among us), giving us all one fewer excuse to give a shout out to our mothers on their most special of days. Break out those textin' thumbs, folks![Thanks, Raymond]
KTF offers location-stamped messaging
It doesn't seem too useful at first glance, but imagine being able to text your mates with a simple "I'm here" to get your point across. Especially on a device with a numeric keypad, busting out an SMS with crossroads or landmarks can suck since predictive text systems aren't terribly skilled with proper nouns. Korea's KTF has launched what it calls "location-tracking MMS," allowing users to automatically attach zoomed in maps of their present location to outgoing multimedia messages. The carrier is also shopping around the feature for emergency use, since it's a quick and easy way for a subscriber to communicate their coordinates to rescue personnel (a la e911). With accuracy to within about 500 meters, though, you better deploy a big ol' group of rescuers.
Cellphone detector discreetly catches school cheaters
If you're in England's public school system, that pervasive and addictive SMSing between you and your buddies, girlfriends or even enemies may get you in trouble even if you are prone to being able and text ever so discreetly. Adroit Global Technology has developed (and is selling) a new device that detects cellphones hidden on kids' clothes, packs or anywhere else on the body so that instructors can rid the classroom environment of those bothersome texting devices. Each of these "cellphone detector" devices costs £150 (about $290) and the company has so far sold them to more than 20 schools in Britain. British school authorities by law can't block cellphone transmissions, but this is totally legal -- and since text cheating and other nefarious uses of SMS can change exam grades, we suspect this is going to be a pretty popular device in the headmaster crowd.[Via textually.org]
States mulling bans on driving while texting
We kind of get a kick out of possible laws that have to spell out common sense to people lacking it, so we chuckled a bit when we saw that legislators in Oregon and Washington want to pass laws against DWT, or "Driving While Texting." To those that just can't enjoy the peaceful gridlock of that daily commute, better not whip out that handset or even the beloved BlackBerry and start sending SMSs, emails, or whatever your own text-based poison may be. Considering how many distractions already plague drivers in modern vehicles, we suggest just a fave DAP with a preset playlist and leave it at that, eh?
Teacher learns a lesson: don't SMS for pot
Note to self: don't ever send an email or text message that you would not want to defend in court. Apparently, that imaginary legal and mental procedure was lost on an Oklahoma resident last year and now a Kentucky middle school teacher has similarly mis-texted. Ann Greenfield, 34, wanted to get her paws on some Mary Jane but sent a text message not to her dealer -- but to a Kentucky state trooper by accident. A mass o' cops was waiting for her when when arrived to meet up with her "dealer." We suspect this middle school teacher will probably set up a phone contact in her cellphone next time to avoid a rather embarrassing mistake -- or maybe she'll ditch the habit entirely.[Via Gearlog]
The upside-down cellphone design
Would'ja believe that you could get used to doing all that thumb-texting if your cellphone's keypad was placed above the main display? We're not sure how a patent could be filed on a handset design that places the keypad at the top and the display at the bottom, but it's been done apparently. Umm, would having part of your palm obscure the display while you would be slamming out those T9 words to your buddies or significant other? We're not sure -- but perhaps we'll see the upside down phone design soon. Or not.[via Textually.org]
NYC residents to use cellphones as line of defense
The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has announced a plan to equip the city's 911 centers with the ability to accept cameraphone images from its residents. If you see a dangerous situation, snap a picture, and send it to a 911 operator via MMS or email. Sounds good to us -- but it may not seem as cutting edge as you think. Several months ago we a mighty similar patent, but New York's system has the distinction of being... well, real. We do see a few problems with this: A) Quality of the picture, B) Convenience of taking a picture or placing a call and C) getting the perp to smile for us.[Via Cameraphone Report]
MMS exploit targets Windows Mobile 2003
What's scarier than a text message luring you into getting your PC all hosed up with virii? An MMS message that somehow manages to do the infection honors all by its lonesome, that's what. Details are now emerging on what appears to be the world's first proof of concept for an MMS virus, exploiting a weakness in the way Windows Mobile 2003 handles SMIL (Synchronized Mutlimedia Integration Language) to cause a buffer overflow -- which in turn leads to the dreaded "arbitrary code execution." The fella responsible for the exploit apparently gave Microsoft the heads-up a solid six months ago; when he never heard back, he went public with it in a big way at Berlin's Chaos Communication Congress. The good news (if you can call it that) is that it's only been tested on the i-mate PDA2K and HP iPaq h6315, both of which are approaching the tail ends of their useful shelf lives. No word on whether the vulnerability applies (or can be easily adapted to) Windows Mobile 2005, but somehow, "we hope not" simply doesn't properly express our sentiments.[Via El Reg]
Treo 750v threaded SMS / MMS app hacked for all
If you're anything like us, you've been waiting for a threaded SMS / MMS app to relieve our mobile Outlook view on messaging with Windows Mobile. Well, some dear sweet blessed soul has answered the call. Hacked directly out of a Treo 750v, which featured Palm's WinMo take on their long-lauded threaded SMS feature, now you too can have IM-like text convos with your pals with a minimum of hacking. Merely install the app, make two quick registry edits and restart your phone. (If you're down with MMS you may have to reconfigure your MMS servers.) It worked like a charm when we tested to see if it was the real deal, though we understand it doesn't work with VGA displays (i.e. the Universal.) We're definitely not vouching for the legality of this one, however.[Thanks, anonymous hero]
MMS spam: a battery-killing attack?
Modern smartphones struggle to eke out a day or two of moderate use as it is without malicious folk tapping into your battery; sadly, researchers at UC Davis have apparently managed to do exactly that, exploiting fundamental flaws in the way most phones handle the MMS protocol to drain juice. It seems the trouble stems from "junk data" sent via MMS, which causes the phone to wake from standby, realize the data doesn't constitute a valid message, and discard it, all without any notification to the user. Rapidly repeat the process, and, well, you can see where this leads. All the attacker needs is the target phone's number, and before you know it, your battery's history (the researchers were able to do the deed at about 20 times the normal drain rate, to be exact). Their work wasn't all gloom and doom, though -- another MMS exploit allowed the wily grad students to fire off messages free of charge. Of course, with a dead battery, you won't be firing off much of anything.[Via textually.org]
Starbucks contest features image recognition via MMS
If you're looking for the most high-tech way to win a trip to Costa Rica, we think we've got your answer right here. Starbucks' Summer Pursuit game uses trivia questions sent via SMS to weed out contestants -- nothing too interesting there, but answers can be sent with a reply text or by MMSing a picture of the answer to an email address. Seems a bit dangerous to us, since we're guessing the recognition rate isn't 100% and we Americans sure do like to sue when things don't go our way -- but if it means we can snap a pic of "triple Venti extra-hot sugar-free hazelnut soy latte" instead of typing it in via T9, we're all for it.[Via textually.org]
Overcompressed bitstarved HDTV frustrates World Cup fans
It's an unfortunate but familiar circumstance for many high definition television owners, after spending a lot of money on a new HDTV, hooked up the cable/satellite/antenna and settled in to watch the big game, only to get a blurry, blocky mess. While American soccer futbot football soccer fans have commented that they "can finally see the ball" during the World Cup broadcast, Korean watchers are flooding the nations three major broadcasters with complaints that they can't see anything thats moving quickly.The broadcasters have been testing a new multicasting system, MMS to broadcast more channels within the same frequency, lowering the bitrate from 19Mbps to 13Mbps. It looks like viewers noticed the difference, with threats to sue and other complaints posted on the internet. The Korean Broadcasting Commission is going to vote tomorrow on whether to continue the MMS test or not. Korea, we've got our fingers crossed. Whether or not someone will sue ESPN for their poor color commentary during games remains to be seen.
iMind4U turns cellphones into monitoring system
We've gotta hand it to a company that dares to use not just the ubiquitous lowercase "i" in their name, but the ever irritating "4" and the consistently embittering "U" as well. Still, despite the goofy name, iMind4U looks to be a fairly useful bit of software, providing you have an extra cellphone to spare. The software, which costs £39.48 (about $75 US), will turn any MMS-capable phone into a home monitoring system, letting you grab pictures or video from its camera from any other phone able to receive MMS messages. It can even be set to detect movement and automatically send back a picture, and you can obviously control who has access to the system. Sure, there may be more practical solutions, but who are we to get hung up on practicality?
Pantech releases PG-6200 securityphone in Taiwan
Pantech has just released a new handset for the security-conscious Taiwanese citizen who also wants some pretty capable multimedia features in his/her cellphone. To keep sensitive data out of the wrong hands, the tri-band PG-6200 features a fingerprint scanner rather curiously placed right above the smudge-prone two megapixel camera lens, along with a music player that handles MP3 and AAC files from either the 20MB internal memory or a microSD card. Other nice touches include Bluetooth (no word on A2DP compatibility, though) and JAVA 2.0 so you can get your Opera Mini-on, along with the obligatory email, SMS, and MMS functionality. [Via textually]
In Mobile Assassins, cameraphones do the shooting
Students in NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program at the university's Tisch School of the Arts have just completed a hi-tech version of the game Assassins, in which players use their cameraphones to take a picture of their target and score a "hit." Designers Jennifer Chowdhury and Ran Tao will unveil the game, called Mobile Assassins, at tomorrow's annual ITP Spring Show, after which it will be available for the public to use in controlled situations such as college orientations, trade conferences, and other events where you wouldn't be getting photographed by complete strangers. To enter a game, players must first take their own photo and MMS it to the MA server, after which they are sent a picture of their first target; if the first target is successfully "assassinated" without first snapping the assassin's picture, then the next hit on the target's own list is reassigned to the assassin. This all sounds a bit complicated, so if you're ever involved in one of these tournaments, your best bet is to lock yourself in a room for most of the game, only to reemerge just in time to counter-strike the other remaining player and claim your victory.[Via picturephoning and WMMNA]
Indian politicians are texting for votes
Although we doubt the practice would go over well here in the pay-by-the-message US, Indian politicians have apparently embraced texting in a big way, using SMS as a new way to reach voters in response to a crackdown on campaigning methods. The Hindu is reporting that recent restrictions on traditional campaign signage such as wall posters and graffiti have prompted candidates for the May 8 Assembly elections to find new avenues of reaching the electorate, with many taking advantage of free SMS and MMS services to send brief slogans, issue positions, and even pictures of themselves and their party's symbol. This new tactic by politicos follows a more general Indian trend of information distribution via text message, with political parties already notifying journalists of their officials' schedules and impending press conferences by SMS.[Via textually]
