messages

What looked like an easy shortcut to earn some extra cash could now ending up costing Papa John's millions. The pizza chain is being targeted in a $250 million class-action lawsuit in which customers allege that Papa John's sent out hundreds of thousands of illegal text messages.

"After I ordered from Papa John's, my telephone started beeping with text messages advertising pizza specials," one of the plaintiffs in the case Erin Chutich said in a statement. "Papa John's never asked permission to send me text message advertisements."

Apparently, in 2010, Papa John'… Read more

If ever a story called for the use of an emoticon, this would be the one: text messaging volume in the U.S. has declined for the first time ever, according to a new research report.

Regardless of whether the emoticon you'd assign to the story is a smiley or a sad face, it's worth noting that after years as a growing communications medium, texting may be starting to fall victim to new market trends, at least insofar as it generates revenues for wireless carriers.

In a report looking at the U.S. mobile data market in the third quarter, Chetan Sharma wrote that although other western countries have already started to see falling revenue in the messaging segment, this was the first time that American carriers have both mirrored that revenue pattern and seen a drop in the total volume of SMS messages sent. … Read more

On November 6, 2012, Microsoft announced that it would be discontinuing its Windows Live Messenger client. This news falls in line with Microsoft's acquisition of Skype -- making it the company's go-to instant-message client after the first quarter of 2013. Migrating to Skype will make video calling easier, allow you to share your screen, make group calls, integrate Facebook, and add better mobile compatibility.

Looking to get a head start on merging your contact lists so you don't risk missing anyone after Messenger is retired? Just follow these quick steps:

Before getting started, you'll need to … Read more

Much like the former Xbox Live app, Xbox SmartGlass (free) gives you the Xbox 360 Dashboard experience, letting you do things like view your avatar and info, see your friends' bio and game lists, and track and compare achievements.

With this latest version of the app, you get a lot more ways to interact with your console. You now have the ability to type using your iPhone keypad rather than the old hunt-and-peck Xbox controller method; you can browse the Internet on your Xbox using your full iOS keyboard; you can play, rewind, and fast-forward videos; search the Xbox game … Read more

Apple is the latest company to feel the patent infringement pinch from a firm called Intercarrier Communications.

A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, contends that Apple's FaceTime and Messages apps violate ICC's Patent No. 6,985,748.

The patent in question refers to an "inter-carrier messaging service providing phone number only experience" and describes a method to send messages between different carriers using just a phone number.

ICC has been keeping the patent courts busy lately, according to PatentlyApple. In just the past five days, the company has … Read more

Apple's iMessage service is once again experiencing issues.

Users are reporting problems sending messages to other users, with Apple's built-in progress bar hanging in limbo.

Apple's latest support status update from 2:15 p.m. PT says that "some" users are affected, but does not go into further detail about the scale of the issue.

"We are investigating and will update the status as more information becomes available," the company said.

iMessage is Apple's proprietary messaging platform used between iOS devices, as well as Macs, replacing the need to use text messages … Read more

Yahoo Messenger Archive Decoder by eNetGuru is, as you would expect, a Windows utility for accessing and reading the content of messages and conferences on Yahoo Messenger. For Yahoo Messenger Archive Decoder to work, you must have enabled the option to save conversations within Yahoo Messenger. If that's on, then Yahoo Messenger Archive Decoder displays the conversations in a window for convenient scrolling through the contents.

Yahoo Messenger Archive Decoder installs easily. Once installed, you navigate to the location where the archives are saved and can choose any archived conversation there (each username has its own file). Click on … Read more

WhatsApp Messenger is an iOS (and other platform) messaging app that allows notifications to be pushed instantly. It doesn't require usernames or logins, using just your phone number as your unique ID. And, unlike some messenger apps, WhatsApp Messenger is always on. The download is fast and the install is easy.

WhatsApp Messenger has an pretty standard interface with a list of clients and a chat window for each ongoing chat session. A neat feature is setting up group chats and being able to share video and music with others at the same time. Since WhatsApp Messenger uses your … Read more

Facebook recently added a list of emoticons to help you express yourself a bit more than text characters permit. The full list can be used in chat or private messages, and some of the less complex ones can be used in comments on wall posts.

Trying to use any of them in a wall post that you created (not commented on) will just end up looking like this:

Using them the way Facebook intended (for now, at least), looks more like this:

Here's the full list so you can express yourself to your friends:

Do … Read more