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T-Mobile bumping per-text rates again

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 30th 2008 at 2:13PM

Just a little over a year after going to 15 cents per message, T-Mobile's at it again, bumping the rate to 20 cents for those who go over their monthly allotment. For anyone with an unlimited messaging plan, it's obviously not an issue -- but many folks aren't, so this could end up stinging the pocketbook just a bit when it goes in effect come August 29. For what it's worth, T-Mob just seems to be responding to the 20 cent trend that's going on in the industry right now -- but it still hurts something fierce, and it's a pretty solid reminder that even casual texters are better off on a legit messaging plan these days.

[Thanks, Ryan J. and Mike]

Alltel adds messaging to My Circle

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 30th 2008 at 10:51AM

This ain't your grandpappy's My Circle. Well, actually, it pretty much is, with one small change: customers signing up for a My Circle messaging plan of $7.99 or higher on Alltel will now get unlimited messaging within their Circle, while the non-Circle bucket starts at 400 per month. The $19.99 "All Access Pass" is still available too, which rocks unlimited messaging to everyone regardless of whether they're cool enough to be in your Circle -- and it includes mobile web access, to boot. The new plans are available immediately.

NEC's "Bubble Talk" delivers micro-voicemails

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 29th 2008 at 3:02PM


Between this, voice-to-text, and text-to-voice systems, the lines between talking and texting are getting very blurred indeed. NEC used the NXTcomm show in Las Vegas to show off its "Bubble Text" technology, which is really nothing more than voice SMS -- record a quick snippet of talking, send it off, and the recipient gets a note in his or her inbox with your sonorous speech attached to it. At a high level, it's no different than attaching a sound clip to an MMS, but NEC appears to have streamlined the software to the point where setting up and sending the message is no more difficult than sending a traditional text -- and depending on your circumstances, it can actually be quite a bit easier since there's no actual texting involved. NEC claims that seven carriers have already deployed Bubble Talk, and it's in talks (bubble talks?) with several others. Follow the break for a video of Bubble Talk in action.

[Via Unwired View]

Continue reading NEC's "Bubble Talk" delivers micro-voicemails

Navizon's Mobfindr gets your phone to text home

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 29th 2008 at 2:20AM


Fiddlesticks, did you just leave your precious iPhone in the bathroom of that gas station back there? Why yes, we're pretty sure you did! If you're looking to verify that with a little more certainty, though, Navizon has just the answer. The company -- already no stranger to positioning apps for the iPhone -- has released its "Mobfindr" feature which allows you to text a key phrase to your beloved companion and have it reply with its current location. Great for finding a lost or recently-stolen phone, tracking children, or perhaps for tracking man's best friend should you decide to strap an iPhone to him in lieu of a Garmin DC 30. The feature's currently available exclusively for the iPhone, but Navizon expects BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and S60 versions in the near future. Follow the break for a look at Mobfindr getting its track on.

Continue reading Navizon's Mobfindr gets your phone to text home

Dashwire 2.0 launches, mobile finally meets web

by Sean Cooper, posted Jun 24th 2008 at 9:00AM


Digital content sharing from mobile to desktop is all the rage at every show we've been to in the last year, and frankly, we'd grown a bit tired of it. We had a chance to hook up with the gents from Dashwire in recent times and the Dashwire push and pull solution fairly blew our socks off. Of course, this has been around for a little while now, but it seems baby's all grown up and Dashwire 2.0 is set for release today. How much does all this cost and is it worth playing with? It's completely free and follow on to read more -- but by way of a hint, we're still cheering.

Continue reading Dashwire 2.0 launches, mobile finally meets web

Sprint's "Mobile Mail Work" brings corporate mail to non-PDA devices

by Sean Cooper, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 9:28AM


Tired of just how productive -- and smug -- your co-workers are with all that 'Berry mail, direct push, and instant connectivity? Sprint's about set to cover your six with its new Mobile Mail Work, a push mail solution for non-PDA handsets. Launching on the Samsung Instinct -- pictured above and mentioned no less than six times in the PR material -- it'll see you picking up your Exchange mail, works both on and off-line, and even features searchable contacts. Not too shabby, huh? The price of admission you ask? Free for all those on Everything, Talk / Message / Data share, and the Vision Pro packages, all others can hop aboard for $9.99 a month. The software will be available via Sprint's mobile web downloads, and should support 11 more sets in the coming weeks. So go on, wreck your life by tethering yourself to your office mail, we know you wanna, and now Sprint wants you to, too. Follow the read link to check the list of supported devices

Nike PhotoiD lets you create hideous shoes from the comfort of your cameraphone

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 18th 2008 at 8:29AM


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]

KTF's "Font of Your Own" service makes sending ransom notes a breeze

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 2:41PM


Gone are the days of meticulously hand-cutting and pasting letters onto sheets of spiral bound lined notepad paper. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, criminals of all skill levels should be able to boil their carefully crafted ransom notes down to an SMS, which can be received and read by the victim at their convenience. We kid, we kid -- KTF's new "Font of Your Own" service isn't actually designed to support anonymous demands for cash as far as we can tell, but will allow any user of the free service to take pictures of 33 characters with their phone to create a custom font for use in messaging. A PC-based font editor app will also be available for those hardcore font connoisseurs looking to create that perfect typeface for their next mobile communique. And no, if you're outside South Korea, you can't have this, so don't even ask.

[Via Unwired View]

Verizon's RemoSync brings Direct Push email to select handsets

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 10th 2008 at 11:44AM


Hankerin' for some bona fide push email on your VZW handset, are you? If this is indeed the case, look no further than RemoSync, the latest Get It Now application that enables a handful of the carrier's handsets to get their Exchange-hosted email pushed directly to them. More specifically, those who purchase the app will be able to read, compose, reply, delete, forward, etc. emails, download Outlook contacts and view those immensely annoying calendar events. The pricing structure is quite curious, though. First off, it'll cost you $9.99 per month, and while a data plan isn't required per se, those without one will be charged $1.99 per megabyte (or "airtime") when using RemoSync. For a list of compatible mobiles, tap the read link and give that scroll wheel a few turns.

[Via PhoneScoop]

JetBlue's LiveTV unit to snatch up Verizon's Airfone network

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 9th 2008 at 8:12AM


Nary a week after JetBlue expanded its in-flight internet services on BetaBlue comes news that the airline's LiveTV unit will be picking up Verizon's Airfone network. As you can glean, the purchase is being made in order to further "develop in-flight email and internet services," and while no purchase price was disclosed by either outfit, we are told that LiveTV will receive "100 air-to-ground US communications towers and Airfone's corporate and government aviation clients on January 1st." That's nice and all, but can't we get something out of this sooner?

FEMA: don't worry about national SMS alert system, we gots it

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 5th 2008 at 12:27AM

The FCC has already given its stamp of approval on a system to modernize the US' ages-old emergency broadcast infrastructure, relying largely on voluntary participation by the nation's wireless carriers to help get the word out to their subscribers in the event of a crisis. Left open, though, was the question of exactly who would be responsible for taking the reigns at the federal level, managing the system and overseeing alerts. After some initial concern that it didn't have the necessary legal authority to manage the system durning non-emergencies, FEMA has finally taken the bull by the horns and thrown its hat in the ring to get the infrastructure in place. The agency's first responsibility will be to develop and publish a protocol for the alerts -- something it hopes to have accomplished in the next one to two months -- with public availability of the production system coming in 12 to 18 months.

T-Mobile working on advanced text blocking capability, maybe more

by Chris Ziegler, posted May 15th 2008 at 12:22PM

So we caught wind yesterday of rumors that T-Mobile was planning to offer several comprehensive levels of text and call blocking this summer, offering super-granular control over who exactly can reach your beloved handset. Options would include per-number blocking, SMS, MMS, IM, and email on an individual basis -- only free messages would still be unblockable. We contacted T-Mobile directly and got the following response: "We are working on a service we plan to launch this summer that would enable customers to block text messages (beyond what is available today)...stay tuned." In other words, yeah, it sounds like there are some more advanced options on the way. That's good news for us -- and bad news for our stalkers.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Mobilkom I-HSPA tests provide 10.1Mbps speeds, another acronym to remember

by Sean Cooper, posted May 8th 2008 at 5:50PM


Nokia Siemens Networks and Mobilkom Austria are likely celebrating some I-HSPA (Internet High Speed Packet Access) test results that rang in at a respectable 10.1Mbps during a data call. I-HSPA is essentially Nokia Siemens Networks' version of HSPA+, with both touted as bringing a flat architecture to the HSPA network by connecting the base station directly to the internet. Bottom line is when we see this on our doorstep, we're just one step closer to LTE, and its speed in comparison will rekindle warm thoughts of the first time we used HSDPA after struggling with GPRS.

Survey finds 37% of Gen Y-ers text while driving

by Darren Murph, posted May 2nd 2008 at 3:26PM


Oh sure, Americans are adamantly against texting while driving (in theory), but that's not stopping those mischievous Gen Y-ers from getting their SMS on while behind the wheel. According to a new survey of 1,200 people conducted by Nationwide Mutual Insurance (we know, we know), a third of the Gen Y-ers admitted to "always multitasking while driving," and while the "always" bit does indeed frighten us a tad, the real juice was in the next statistic: 37-percent said they sent text messages while driving. Before you start belaboring the imprudent youth, think long and hard about your own in-car cellphone usage -- remember that time you just had to reply "y w pep plz" in order to salvage your friend's pizza order? Tsk tsk.

[Via About]

AT&T reveals iPhone Text Accessibility Plan for hearing impaired

by Darren Murph, posted May 2nd 2008 at 10:56AM


Although AT&T has had a specialized plan for the deaf and hard of hearing for some time now, the iPhone has been unfortunately unable to take advantage. No longer will that be the case, as said carrier has just implemented the Text Accessibility Plan for iPhone, which provides unlimited texting, unlimited data usage, $0.40 per minute pay-per-use voice and Visual Voicemail. Granted, the iPhone TAP does cost $40 ($10 more than the vanilla TAP), but you are getting limitless texts (versus 5,000) and Visual Voicemail thrown in -- not that those inclusions really warrant the extra Hamilton. Nevertheless, those with adequate documentation can get their iPhone on the plan right now, just click the read link for details / instructions.




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