This Ping app by the guy who made PushGmail is a mix between text messaging and instant messaging. What you need to know is that it’s free and it’s fast.
Ping is designed to look like the SMS app, and behaves much the same way. The messages you send arrive at the recipient’s screen instantly—similar to [...]

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Mobile coupons — usually text messages with discount codes sent to a cellphone — are becoming the blue-light specials for the digital age, reports The New York Times, promoting last-minute clothing sales, two-for-one entrees and cheap tickets to the theater.
“While some mobile coupons are sent directly from a retailer to a customer who has signed [...]

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A teen horror film called, TEXT tells the story of high-school senior Sarah Madison as she frantically searches for answers, after the inexplicable deaths of her best friends; each killed shortly after receiving a mysterious text message on their cell phone.
TEXT premiers at the Action on Film Festival, July 29 and is nominated for Best [...]

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Several Democratic senators are proposing new legislation that would require states to ban drivers from sending text messages and emails while operating moving vehicles. If states don’t comply with the federal mandate, they face losing up to 25% of their federal highway funds. If the legislation is passed, the transportation secretary would have six months [...]

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Today Cricket announced the Personal Communications Devices TXTM8, a messaging phone with full QWERTY keyboard and tri-band CDMA radios. The TXTM8 has Cricket’s customizable homescreen, which lets users access web content, such as the weather and news. Other features include a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, music player and support for microSD storage cards. The [...]

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Crunchgear reports on The Chalkbot, a robot project from the Livestrong Foundation for cancer awareness. Launched July 5 for the Tour de France, anyone can send the robot a text message which will be printed out in chalk on the road.
The Chalkbot in appearance is similar to an ink jet printer, except at a much [...]

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Motorola announced the iDEN Clutch i465 on May 1st. Now Sprint announces to carry the Motorola Clutch i465.
The Motorola Clutch i465 is a rugged device in a slender candy bar form factor, and the first Nextel Direct Connect messaging-centric device that brings the strength of a full QWERTY keyboard to the iDEN line. Motorola Clutch [...]

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Tens of thousands of mobile users in Bangladesh’s flood and cyclone-prone areas will now receive advance warning of an impending natural disaster through an alert on their cell phones, reports Reuters.
“… Bangladesh, with a population of around 162 million, has more than 46 million mobile phone subscribers.Syed Ashraf, communications specialist for the country’s Disaster Management [...]

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We’ve seen text messaging services and iPhone apps that guide mobile users to the nearest restroom, but this Japanese mobile phone software takes the search to another level, according to The Telegraph.
“The Check A Toilet program, created by the software company Access Co, enables mobile phone users to search for maps highlighting the nearest public [...]

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Today Motorola introduced a new iDEN phone, the full-QWERTY equipped i465 Clutch. The Clutch is semi-ruggedized and offers PTT, threaded SMS and MMS messaging, as well as POP3 email support. It has Bluetooth 1.2, VGA camera with video capture, and uses microUSB for charging and data transfer. The Clutch will become available during the second [...]

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According to Health experts, intimate, private and crucial information can be delivered to teenagers on the device that holds millions captive: their cellphones. The New York Times reports.
Programs in Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Toronto and San Francisco allow young people to text a number, select from a menu of frequently asked questions (“What 2 do if [...]

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U.S. senators Olympia Snowe from Maine and Bill Nelson from Florida have proposed an addendum to the CAN-SPAM law that would also make mobile SMS spam illegal. By enacting the law, the FCC would be granted the power to prosecute those who use SMS to spam mobile phone users. The M-SPAM Act would prohibit marketers [...]

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Some mobile stats from China Mobile via FierceMobile Content:
– China Mobile subscribers sent 607.1 billion text messages in 2008, up more than 100 billion over the operator’s 2007 SMS totals.
– According to China Mobile, its subscriber count is now closing in on the 464 million mark–in all, China boasts about 650 million mobile subscribers nationwide.

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The third iteration of iPhone software doesn’t just add features like copy and paste. There’s a lot new going on in terms of usability and interface that every non-power user will appreciate.

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Bill Gates’ charitable foundation has pledged $12.5m (£8.6m) to help the world’s poor access banking services. The BBC reports.
“Working in conjunction with the mobile phone industry, the foundation aims to help provide a basic service that local banks are unable or unwilling to give. It is thought that more than a billion people worldwide do [...]

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