sms

Vlingo is a new mobile voice service launching today. It centers around a small Java app that lets you talk into your handset to create a text message instead of using your phone's keypad. The service is its own SMS client, piggybacking off your phone to send the message, although it forgoes using your phone's native SMS app, or word dictionary. In addition to texting, Vlingo is launching with voice to text services for mobile music stores and mapping services. The maps come courtesy of Yahoo, and can be zoomed and navigated just like accessing the mobile version … Read more

I usually get up in the mornings and go to my office and turn on my desktop CPU to check the day's news, my email, etc. But before I even turn on my desktop on a given morning, the iPhone, which sits atop my office desk, will now tell me if I have new email that has come in overnight. (Note: I have to leave my iPhone outside of my room because the GSM signal interferes with my iPod/JBL music dock's speakers, making that noise--you know that noise). Being aware that I got email overnight is nice, … Read more

A city bus driver in Poland has been fired for sending $34,000 in text messages from his company cell phone.

Leszek Wojcik ran up the bill by by sending more than 38,000 SMS messages, about 1,200 a day, in an effort to win a contest, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The Slupsk city bus driver told a local radio station that he hoped to win the contest so he could buy a second car.

The cell phone was only supposed to have a $5 limit, a spokesman for the Slupsk city transportation agency told … Read more

My father's Motorola E815 from Verizon is suffering chronic SMS, or text message, spam. At first, the unwanted messages trickled in--religious messages with pictures of saints one time, pharmaceutical marketing another. Then the spam rate escalated. After one spammy text message yesterday and two this morning, Dad decided he wanted out.

"Out" in his case, and in the case of most North American mobile phone users, is as much about the phone bill as it is receiving unwanted texts. Service providers like Verizon and T-Mobile charge for inbound and outbound SMS activity, either per message, generally 10 cents to 15 cents per outgoing text message, or as part of a larger service, usually between $5 and $10 more per month depending on the plan. Data downloads cost extra too, so spam texts with image attachments ratchet up the bill. "This was becoming an expensive habit," says Dad.

The kicker, of course, is that it's not his habit.… Read more

Nothing is more jarring to Crave than an interruption to our morning routine, a time reserved for such sanctified rituals as long, hot showers and the day's first cup of coffee. That's why we think this "smart" mirror is an invention of the devil.

In addition to helping you straighten your toupee, the "+336+ SMS Mirror" acts as a remote receiver that picks up text messages streamed from a mobile phone or PDA and displays them on the shiny surface, according to Ubergizmo. (It's also worthy of Crave's odd-name category.)

Obviously perfect … Read more

California plans to launch a text messaging alert system in the next 12 to 14 months, according to a story posted Thursday on Insidethebayarea.com.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi told lawmakers at a hearing that California is working with federal officials to develop an alert system that will use SMS text messaging to disseminate emergency information. He said that the state is willing to move along without the feds in order to get the service up and running as quickly as possible, the story said.

Several universities throughout the country have already begun using text message alerts to inform students … Read more

If anything can be said of the people at SMS Technology, it's that they don't waste any time. Only two months after the appearance of their "world's smallest phone"--a Dick Tracy-style watch communicator--the Australian company has already filed for a next-generation version that some say looks like an iPhone for the wrist.

Gadgetell reports that plans for the "M500," as it's called, have been filed with the FCC and that it includes "all your basic phone functions plus SMS texting, audio, video and Bluetooth." It also alsos feature a … Read more

Google has a new telephone service in the U.S. called Voice Local Search. It's the equivalent of dialing 411, but free, really fast, and it pulls multiple listings like you'd get from a search in Google local. Mobile phone users can get listings sent to their phone via SMS, including the telephone number and full address. You can also be connected to a business for free, a great feature that got dropped from my previous favorite free 411 service 1-800-Free-411.

The entire service is controlled by computers, and the voice recognition is pretty capable. I tried confusing … Read more

Complain all you want about the sad growth of the sound-bite culture. You can't stop it. Twitter has even made sound bites a personal publishing medium. Here's my life, it says, in 139-character chunks.

And now you can get real books delivered to you via text messages. Or at least their pithiest quotes. Moka, launching today, will send you a blurb every day from your choice of self-help, business, philosophy, or religious texts.

I hate this. It takes all the heart out of a book. But wait. I love this. Because a lot of self-help books are really … Read more