Target Zeros In on iPhone with "utilitainment" app

Retail store Target is pushing into new frontiers as one of the first brands to build an application for the iPhone.

The Target Gift Globe mimics the holiday tradition of the snow globe. After downloading it, users shake their iPhone, producing an on-screen snowfall that clears to reveal a gift idea from the retailer. Users can tap through to visit Target's site and buy the item or find a store nearby.

[via AdWeek]

emily | 6:59 PM | Cell Phone Apps | permalink |

American Red Cross "Text 2HELP" campaign raised $190,000

You read about text messaging campaign to raise money, but it's nice to get feedback, like here from the Red Cross, via MarketWatch.

The American Red Crosss, VeriSign Messaging and Mobile Media, a division of VeriSign, Inc. and The Wireless Foundation announced today that U.S. wireless subscribers pledged more than $190,000 since September to help the victims of disasters like Hurricane Gustav and Ike through a unique Text 2HELP campaign.

emily | 6:48 PM | SMS and Charities | permalink |

Quarter of UK population using mobile internet

A quarter of the UK's population now accesses the internet through their mobile – after a nine per cent increase in the past year. TechRadar reports.

Comscore's analysis of the year suggests that 12.9 million people, or around 25 per cent of the population, now use mobile internet – with a forecast that this growth trend will continue.

Men are still ahead in adopting mobile internet with 59 per cent of mobile internet users male. This statistic is much starker than PC internet users where the male to female ratio is 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

emily | 5:36 PM | Random Stats | permalink |

Apple names 2008's most popular iPhone apps

According to Apple' Best of 2008, games dominate the top 10 premium iPhone apps. As for the free iPhone applications, the list includes two social networking apps--Facebook and AOL's AIM--as well as two travel apps, Google Earth and Urbanspoon.

[via Fierce Mobile Content]

emily | 5:28 PM | Cell Phone Apps | permalink |

Bypass AT&T's SMS-based WiFi login with free iPhone app

Devicescape has a new (free (for now) iPhone app called Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T subscribers that removes the fuss from the telecom giant's SMS-based access system.

Easy Wi-Fi asks that you enter your iPhone's telephone number; subsequently, you click a big friendly button to log in at an AT&T location with no additional steps.

[via ars technica]

emily | 5:19 PM | Cell Phone Apps | permalink |

Surgeon saves boy's life by text

A British doctor volunteering in DR Congo used text message instructions from a colleague to perform a life-saving amputation on a boy. The BBC reports.

... The 16-year-old boy had been bitten by a hippo, his left arm had been ripped off and was badly infected and gangrenous.

Vascular surgeon David Nott knew he needed to perform a forequarter amputation, which requires the surgeon to remove the collar bone and shoulder blade.

He contacted a colleague who had performed the operation before. "I texted him and he texted back step by step instructions on how to do it," he said.

emily | 10:20 AM | News, Buzz | permalink |

«.Tel» Them Where to Find You

A new domain name, «.tel», becomes available today, and it could become a phone book for the Internet, according to Bits.

A «.tel» domain name links to the contact information of businesses, organizations and individuals. Information can include telephone numbers; links to Web sites, including a Facebook or MySpace page; e-mail addresses; instant messaging names, and, if you wish, identities for virtual games such as Xbox Live or Second Life.

Because the data is stored in the DNS, rather than on a server, when a person updates a phone number or address using their .tel account, it is automatically updated in the address books of their friends who have their .tel information stored on a smartphone or other mobile device.

emily | 9:50 AM | Domain Names | permalink |

GiftCertificates.com goes mobile with iPhone app

GiftCertificates.com has launched a Gift Card for the iPhone that enables users to browse, select, personalize and buy gift cards without having to access a web site. Internet Retailer reports.

Using the GiftCard application on their iPhones, customers can browse brands and purchase and send physical or electronic gift cards with personalized messages using contacts from their iPhone address books. The GiftCards application also uses the iPhone`s GPS capabilities to show a retailer’s nearest store

emily | 9:45 AM | Cell Phone Apps | permalink |

Help Support AfriGadget’s Young Mobile Reporters

The Grassroots Reporting Project puts smarter mobile phones into the hands of young Africans and has them report on
AfriGadget.

So far the right people have been identified for the project, but
AfriGadgett needs to raise $500 to make it happen.

A combination of mobile phones and computers will be assigned to individuals in 10 African countries for the purpose of getting more on-the-ground reporting of stories of African ingenuity to the world. An AfriGadget editor will be in charge of identifying the best candidates for inclusion in the program. This editor will also travel to each country to train and equip the new AfriGadget reporters for the program.

Chip in!

emily | 9:21 AM | Mobile phone projects - Third World | permalink |

Sound-powered mobiles work on hot air

Imagine a mobile that never needs to be plugged in, and that recharges just by the sound of you talking.

That's just one of the advances promised by new research into piezoelectric materials from scientists at the Texas A&M University in Houston. TechRadar reports.

emily | 9:15 AM | Technology | permalink |

10,000 iPhone apps?

Apple watchers this weekend have been ruminating on the overall tally and on the counting methods following a report on 148Apps, a site that keeps tabs on iPhone applications. News.com reports.

MacRumors.com, meanwhile, quibbles with the overall number, even as it says the actual 10,000 active app mark should be reached "in the next few days".

The biggest category of iPhone apps, according to 148Apps, is games (2,333), followed by entertainment (1,122), utilities (1,015), education (737), and productivity (517). The average cost of the apps is listed at $3.12; about one-quarter are free of charge, while one is listed at $899.99.

emily | 10:06 PM | Cell Phone Apps | permalink |

Xmas iPhone apps of note

A couple of Xmas iPhone apps of note:

Christmas Advent Calendar

You've seen plenty of Advent Calendars on the store. Look no further! This is the one to buy -- filled with both classic and hip Christmas images, songs, and video, this app is sure to please all, young and old.

This app begins on December 1st and ends on December 25th. You have the option to change the year in your settings, so that you can enjoy this calendar year after year.

Christmas Tree Time

This application let's you enjoy this holiday tradition over and over again as you decorate very own Christmas tree anywhere and anytime you want.

Choose from several different Christmas trees and backgrounds. Next begin decorating your tree by adding different types of bulbs and hanging them on the tree. Then add your light streamers and choose from various tree toppers and you're done. You can even spin the tree to decorated from all sides. To start over again just shake back and forth and your decorations will fall away.

emily | 9:39 PM | Cell Phone Apps | permalink |

A Nokia Laptop in 2009?

According to Wireless Week, Nokia may enter the laptop computer market in 2009.

…We believe the likelihood of this occurring has increased, although commercial availability is unlikely for 6-9 months. Given the rise of net-books/dongles sales, convergence between high-end mobile phones and laptops, and forays by computer manufacturers (Apple, HP) into smartphones, we think it is only a matter of time before Nokia launches notebook type devices,” UBS analyst Maynard Um wrote in a report today.

No comment so far from Nokia.

emily | 7:10 PM | News, Buzz | permalink |

Tactile iPhone case concept for the visually impaired

This Silicon Touch iPhone case is used with an app store application designed for the Blind and the Visually Impaired to allow special accessibility functions like text-to-speech features and a moon type tactile alphabet keyboard.

This simple silicon case, covers all the Apple iPhone device, and with the help of the engraved bas-relief icons, keyboard and multi-touch scrolls, it gives fully access to the interface beneath.

Designer: Bruno Fosi

[via Yanko Design]

emily | 10:47 AM | Cell Phone Designs and Concepts | permalink |

Cell phones distract drivers more than passengers

Cell phone calls distract drivers far more than even the chattiest passenger and using a hands-free device does not make things better, reports Reuters.

The esearchers believe they know why -- passengers act as a second set of eyes, shutting up or sometimes even helping when they see the driver needs to make a maneuver.

... Lee Strayer of the University of Utah and colleagues have found in a series of experiments using driving simulators that hands-free cell phones are just as distracting as handheld models.

emily | 9:10 AM | Cell Phones while driving/flying/sailing | permalink |

SMS: Wear white on Monday

Across India, SMS are being sent asking everyone to wear 'white clothes' on Monday as a sign of solidarity with those who lost their lives in the terror attacks in Mumbai. ZeeNews reports.

"Hey Indians, we all strongly condemn the attacks in Mumbai. In order to show our solidarity to the one billion strong population of India and to mourn the large scale loss of lives, please wear white on Monday (1st December) to your work/study place. This is a nation-wide request as this is the least we can do to show that we care and also to show that we are one. Nobody can divide us. Keep up the spirit of being Indian! Spread the word."

Image from MSNBC (2006)

emily | 8:48 AM | SMS and Politics | permalink |

Voice-to-Text Sermons

An Anglican Parish Church has joined with voice-to-text company SpinVox to change the way they reach their community: by delivering sermons directly to parishioners’ email inboxes, live. Trendhunter reports.

The world’s first voice-to-text Sunday service will take place Sunday November, 30th the first Advent. It will be given by the Reverend John Kronenberg, Vicar of Hinchley Wood, Esher, Surrey, at St Christopher’s Church.

As he delivers his sermon to the congregation seated in the Church, his words will be automatically converted by SpinVox and sent directly to subscribers’ inboxes, in a matter of moments. 100 members of St Christopher’s church will receive the sermon this Sunday.

emily | 1:37 PM | SMS and Religion | permalink |

Tweeting the terror: How social media reacted to Mumbai

The minute news broke of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, India, social media sites like Twitter were inundated with a huge volume of messages. CNN reports.

With more than 6 million members worldwide, an estimated 80 messages, or "tweets," were being sent to Twitter.com via SMS every five seconds, providing eyewitness accounts and updates.

Many Twitter users also sent pleas for blood donors to make their way to specific hospitals in Mumbai where doctors were faced with low stocks and rising casualties.

Others sent information about helplines and contact numbers for those who had friends and relatives caught up in the attacks. Tweeters were also mobilized to help with transcribing a list of the dead and injured from hospitals, which were quickly posted online.

Picture from the BBC

emily | 12:43 PM | Twitter | permalink |

Nokia to Pull out of Japanese Handset Market

For global economic reasons, Nokia is pulling out of Japan. PC World reports.

Nokia said on Thursday that it will stop developing handsets for NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile, effectively ending a push that began five years ago when Nokia re-entered the Japanese market with the launch of 3G services here.

emily | 1:20 PM | News, Buzz | permalink |

Obama wants to hang on to his BlackBerry

US president-elect Barack Obama is trying to work out how he can hang on to his beloved BlackBerry once he moves into to the Oval Office next year. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

In an interview with Barbara Walters, Obama also said he was trying to keep his BlackBerry or find another way to "break through the isolation and the bubble that exists around the president".

... He said he was working with the Secret Service, lawyers and White House staff to find a solution.

"I'm negotiating to figure out how can I get information from outside of the 10 or 12 people who surround my office in the White House," he said.

"Because one of the worst things I think that could happen to a president is losing touch with what people are going through day to day."

Related: - President 2.0

emily | 8:40 AM | News, Buzz | permalink |

Twitter kills Canadian SMS updates. Can the U.S. be far behind?

Twitter is ending outbound SMS updates in Canada. In their own words:

Unexpected changes in our billing have forced us into a difficult situation with our Canadian SMS service. We can’t afford to support this service given our current arrangement with our providers (where costs have been doubling for the past several months.) As a result, effective today we are no longer delivering outbound SMS over our Canadian shortcode (21212).

According to Venture Beat, now the U.S. and India remain as the only countries with full SMS support for Twitter.

emily | 7:56 AM | Twitter | permalink |

Kaite Couric on Text Message Romance

Watch CBS Videos Online

Katie Couric on text messaging romance for CBS News.

A new study by AT&T found those fingers are also doing the flirting and the romancing. Sixty-eight percent of the people surveyed said they have sent love notes. The most popular message was "thinking of you." Twenty-eight percent say they send them two or three times a day.

emily | 7:50 AM | Random Stats | permalink |

txtForward SMS To Email

txtForward, software for the Blackberry and Windows Mobiles will automatically forward incoming text messages to an email address.

A new version of Electric Pocket's txtForward software tool enables users of Windows Mobile smartphones to automatically forward their text messages to any email address they specify. A BlackBerry version of txtForward was released this past Summer.

[via 160characters.org]

emily | 4:58 PM | Technology | permalink |

Indians See Mobile Phones as a Necessity in Economic Crisis

India's mobile services market continues to be buoyant, despite the global economic slowdown that has hit the Indian economy. PC World reports.

Indian users see mobile communications as a necessity, and that is the reason why sales of connections to new subscribers are not slowing down despite the economic crisis, said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner, on Wednesday.

emily | 4:50 PM | News, Buzz | permalink |

iPhone Nano

Spotted by Techradar, an iPhone Nano in China.

emily | 4:44 PM | Cell Phone Designs and Concepts | permalink |

NY MTA launches cell phone transit delay alert service

An ambitious free e-mail and text-messaging system that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York launched yesterday will allow riders to stay informed about transit delays with "near-real-time" alerts on cell phones and handheld devices, MTA officials said.Newsday reports.

The new system has the capacity to send out 1 million text messages every five minutes, giving updates about delays on commuter-rail and subway lines and traffic congestion on the MTA's bridges and in the agency's tunnels.

Riders can visit the MTA's Web site at mta.info and sign up for the system, which allows them to tailor alerts to their specific commutes and choose the times during the day when they receive the messages.

emily | 4:36 PM | New SMS Services | permalink |

Trying to Keep Cell Phones Out of Prison

A thorough article from TIME on inmates and cell phones around the world. Most of what is written has been posted over the years in this blog, but this is a great round-up in one place.

Cell-phone access can mean chaos. Brazilian officials say cell phones are used to organize and plan widespread riots that are endemic to their crowded prisons; Canadian prosecutors said a notorious drug kingpin continued business behind bars using his cell phone; and a man awaiting trial on a homicide charge in Maryland has been accused of arranging via cell phone the murder of a key witness in the case. The examples go on and on, some bordering on the absurd. The mother of a prisoner in Texas even called authorities to complain about her son's bad cell-phone reception in jail.

emily | 3:52 PM | Inmates and Cell Phones | permalink |

Brits prefer to listen to music on mobile phones

Mobile phones are more popular than CD players when it comes to listening to music, says the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). PC Advisor reports.

According to the ERA in the past two years, 44 million mobile phones that feature MP3 capability have been sold, compared to just 8 million CD players in the same period. The ERA also highlighted that between September 2007 and September 2008, 32.1 million MP3 devices were sold in the UK, 75 percent of which were mobile phones.

"Never in the history of the music business have we seen a format take off like this before. There is now no doubt that MP3 is the fastest-growing music format of all time, faster than vinyl, cassette or CD," said Russel Coultart, chairman of ERA Digital.

emily | 10:08 AM | News, Buzz | permalink |

Scientists use mobile phones to eavesdrop on koala conversations

According to the Mail Online, scientists are using mobile phones to eavesdrop on koalas in an attempt to translate what they are saying to each other.

The researchers placed mobiles in the trees of a koala territory to record the marsupials' distinctive bellows.

They hope studying the animals' mysterious communications will reveal ways to help keep up population numbers, under threat from destruction of traditional habitats.

The mobiles, charged by solar power and car batteries, are programmed to record for two minutes every half hour on St Bees Island off north-east Australia, then transmit the recordings to a computer at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.

Read more.

emily | 10:00 AM | SMS and Wildlife | permalink |