Nokia warns the world of jealous computers

Core 77 picks up on Nokia's new JealousComputers.com|A Global warning campaign. Fun.

"All over the Internet, reports are flooding in of angry computers attacking their users. A closer look reveals they all have one thing in common: a new Nokia 95 was on the scene of each incident.

Watch the footage full of viral ads, "victim" reports, instructional videos, and opportunities for user participation.

The above image is taken from a collection of "medical pictures from a doctor's office", showing a female who's been smacked in the face with a keyboard, a seemingly rare case among a flood of laptop bite casualties."

Other Headlines From Textually Blogs

Latest headlines from around the Web:

WatchingTVOnline.net

-- An Armani Television?

-- Retro Keracolor TV sets

-- TiVo to sell trimmed down premium TV video recorder

-- Their (CNN*YouTube) Debate

-- Hong Kong Bans Japanese Second-Hand TVs

Ringtonia.com

-- Music Talent-spotting by mobile phone

Picturephoning.com

-- Nokia Extends Web Push With Twango Purchase

-- AT&T launching cell phone video service

Happy Birthday SMS

The Short Message Service Centre (SMSC), the principal application behind text messaging, celebrated its 15-year anniversary on 23 July, according to Mobile Messaging 2.0, reports ITWeb.

Acision evolved the SMSC infrastructure from a basic ‘SMSC box' to a complete next-generation, IP-based SMS architecture, centred on Acision's IP SMSC. This enables text management, a range of differentiating service scenarios and a single rack capacity of 16 000 messages per second that can grow to virtually unlimited levels.

More history, less technical: On December 3, 1992, an engineer named Neil Papworth sent the very first SMS with "MERRY CHRISTMAS" on it, to his collegeagues at Vodafone in Great Britain. But it was 7 years later that texting really took off.

Why did it take so long? Because for the first 7 years, cell phone users could only send an SMS to someone using the same operator. It wasn't until 1999 that short messages could be sent between different networks.

According to Andrew Bud, managing director of SMS transmission company mBlox, interviewed in the BBC, texting really only took off when it found its natural market — teenagers —attracted to pre-paid phones. "These pay-as-you-go users found their money went further with texting - which some networks originally neglected to charge for".

The technology was actually created by an Anglo-Dutch information technology firm called CMG, as reported in The Guardian.

According to Cor Stutterheim from CMG, "It started as a message service, allowing operators to inform all their own customers about things such as problems with the network. When we created SMS (Short Messaging Service) it was not really meant to communicate from consumer to consumer and certainly not meant to become the main channel which the younger generation would use to communicate with each other," added Stutterheim.

Samsung, Armani to Launch 'Armani Phone'

According to Telecoms Korea, Samsung Electronics is in discussions with luxury brand Giorgio Armani on jointly producing electronics items.

"We are now in talks with Armani to work together in making premium goods such as mobile phones and televisions," a Samsung spokesperson said, declining to comment further.

Though details have yet to be known, market sources say Samsung and the Italian designer brand have been in talks on the joint effort since earlier this year, and the process is in its final phase.

The sources added that Armani will not just provide designs but will also actively participate in the development of new products."

PressDisplay offers world newspapers on iPhone

Mobile PressDisplay.com from NewspaperDirect delivers the widest selection of full content newspapers to readers anywhere, anytime.

"Touting “500 newspapers from 70 countries in 37 languages,” just as they appear in print, PressDisplay.com is now available free for a month for iPhone users."

[via Crunch Gear]

Kids say e-mail is, like, soooo dead

More and more, social networks are playing a bigger role on the cell phone. In the last six to nine months, teens in the United States have taken to text messaging in numbers that rival usage in Europe and Asia. According to market research firm JupiterResearch, 80 percent of teens with cell phones regularly use text messaging. News.com reports.

According to teenagers, e-mail is for business dealings.

"If I'm talking to any friends it's through a social network," said Asheem Badshah, a teenaged president of Scriptovia.com, an essay-sharing site that launched this summer. "For me even IM died, and was replaced by text messaging. Facebook will replace e-mail for communicating with certain people."

Related:

-- E-mail is last millennium, SMS is now. - Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder — a parent, teacher or a boss — or to receive an attached file.

-- Teens turn away from e-mail - favor MySpace, IM and SMS - Statistics show that, for the first time, teen e-mail use is dropping in the -- apparently in favor of more "instant'' alternatives.

The decline of e-mail was reported in South Korea as early as 2004:

-- New Forms of Online Communication Spell End of Email Era in Korea - The perception that "email is an old and formal communication means" is rapidly spreading among them. "I use email when I send messages to elders," said a college student by the name of Park. For 22-year-old office worker Kim, "I use email only for receiving cellphone and credit card invoices."

NEC Shows Off Crazy Leather Belt Phone and Other Weirdo Concepts

Spotted on Gizmodo, a leather belt cell phone concept.

Carriers to create WiMax network across US

The FT reports that Sprint Nextel, the third largest US mobile carrier, and Clearwire are teaming up to deploy a nationwide wireless broadband network based on WiMax, the emerging 4G technology standard.

"... Mobile WiMaX technology is designed to operate more than five times faster than today’s third-generation wireless networks at lower cost."

Teen Imprisoned For Text-Messaging Death

A British teenager was sentenced to prison for causing a fatal accident by text-messaging on her cell phone while driving 70 mph on a rainy night. The Post Chronicle reports.

"Rachel Begg, 19, was sentenced to four years in prison for the death last year of Maureen Waites, 64, a grandmother who was driving to Newcastle airport to pick up a relative,

Begg, a bank worker who hoped to become an accountant, used her cell phone nine times in the 15 minutes before she rear-ended Waites' car, which spun out and hit a crash barrier, police said."

Bank to use cell phones to record money collection online

According to The Yomiuri Shimbun, Kansai Urban Banking Corp. is to introduce a new system in August that will enable employees who visit clients to collect money to issue a receipt using a mobile phone and a small printer connected to its headquarters.

"... Under the new system, a list of customers' names and amount of money to be collected are entered into software installed in the mobile phone.

When the employee receives money from the customer, he or she will report it via the mobile phone to the bank's headquarters and then print a receipt using the small printer, which also has a communication function.

The customer can confirm the transaction on the spot. "

Canadian valley aims to keep cellphone-free quiet

According to Reuters.ca, a group of residents in the valley in southeastern British Columbia have asked telephone company Telus Corp. not to build a planned cellphone tower in New Denver, a one-time mining boomtown that is now home to about 600 people.

"If Telus decides against building the system, the economic development group plans to promote the valley's "cellphone free status" as a unique reason to visit or move to the region", Bill Roberts of the Slocan Valley Economic Development Commission said."

Google Pushes for Rules to Aid Wireless Plan

If Google succeeds with federal regulators, it could change the way millions of Americans use their cellphones and how they connect to the Internet on their wireless devices, reports The New York Times.

"In the Internet giant’s view of the future, consumers would buy a wireless phone at a store, but instead of being forced to use a specific carrier, they would be free to pick any carrier they wanted. Instead of wireless carriers choosing what software goes on their phones, users would be free to put any software they want on them.

Google believes that the cost of voice calls and data connections to the Internet may be partly subsidized by advertisements brought to users by Google’s powerful online advertising machine.

There might even be a Google phone.

That vision, according to several analysts, is the reason Google said yesterday that it would bid upward of $4.6 billion for a swath of the nation’s airwaves, which are set to be auctioned by the federal government next year — as long as certain conditions are met. "

iPhone from the sand

iPhone on the beach. From Outer Banks, North Carolina.

[via boingboing]

Cisco access point at fault for Duke's wireless issues

After blaming Apple’s iPhone for its wireless networking problems, Duke University said earlier today that it hadn’t been able to pinpoint what the problem was. MacWorld reports.

"Now, it has been confirmed that a Cisco wireless access point was at fault for the networking issues."

Related: - Duke Wi-Fi Crippled by Apple iPhones

New York Senator Calls for End to Texting While Driving

Following the death of five recent high school graduates as a result of "texting while driving," Senator Carl L. Marcellino has called for the New York Legislature to pass S.3195, reports Government Technology.

"This bill would prohibit the writing, sending or reading of text messages on mobile phones while driving. The bill is carried in the Assembly by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz.

"Talking on cell phones isn't the only distraction that causes distracted driving. The explosion of text messaging has created a new problem. The recent tragedy in Canandaigua highlights how deadly the combination of texting and driver inexperience can be. We owe it to the families of these young people to pass this bill now," said Marcellino.

Previously: - Cell phone use may have been factor in crash

BBC Suspends Senior Staff Over Phoney Phone-Ins

The BBC has canceled all competitions across radio, TV, interactive and online, as the U.K.’s snowballing participation TV scandal unearthed more transgressions at the corporation. Forbes reports.

"Regulatory inquiries launched earlier this year, after channels operating phone-in or SMS contests were found to have placed fake contestants, have uncovered more and more such examples.

Now the under-pressure BBC has admitted six more shows, including charity extravaganzas Children In Need, Comic Relief and Sport Relief, also faked phone-in winners when producers posed as contestants.

Senior editorial staff have been suspended pending a review, the Guardian reports.

... TV participation through the likes of phone-ins and mobile messaging is now a common practice, but it is not just emblematic of the interactive media age - until this recent episode, it was fast becoming an important income stream."

Custom paint your iPhone

A company called Colorware offers to paint your iPhone in the color or your choice. Either send in your iPhone and wait for it to come back 8-10 business days later, or order your iPhone directly from them, in your favorite color.

[via GearLive]

CBS "Eye-lert" Will Message the Fans of Delayed Shows

CBS announced their new marketing initiative "Eye-lert". The notification plan will keep viewers conveniently up-to-date on show schedule changes through their email and cellphones. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

"Viewers can register on CBS.com, Sportsline.comor CBSNews.com to receive emails or text messages notifications if sports programs or breaking news cut into scheduled programming. Subscribers will be sent two messages: one just before primetime, and one after the new start time has been settled."

Mobile Phones And Computers Dull our Minds

A Japanese study has found that people are now becoming dependent on computers and mobile phones, resulting in our brains being understimulated, which can cause severe memory problems. AHN reports.

"The study, carried out by a team of researchers at a Japanese university, says that in today's world, people's reliance on electronic devices for even the simplest tasks is dulling our minds.

A recently released report says that in the United Kingdom, one fourth of the population doesn't know their phone numbers at home and about one third only knows and memorizes important anniversaries and birthdates.

According to the study, thanks to the increasing use of computers to store information, adults in their 50s and 60s have better memory capacity rather than people in their 30s and below, who have grown up with computers and other devices."

Nokia starts global positioning service

The Washington Post reports that Nokia launched a service which it said would cut the time a GPS-enabled cellphone takes to pinpoint its whereabouts, opening new opportunities for location-based online services.

"Nokia hopes the service, available for users of its flagship N95 phones, will cut the startup time to one minute, from up to three minutes currently. The slowness has so far hampered takeup of cellphone navigation.

Handset makers see GPS-based navigation as one of the next big value-adding offerings and even at this early stage."

Duke Wi-Fi Crippled by Apple iPhones

Some 150 iPhones have been wreaking Wi-Fi havoc on Duke University -- taking out wireless access points in inadvertent denial-of-service attacks. Newsfactor Network reports.