Flame 5

Flame 5 (F5), by Nina Marquart and Richard Etter (you might remember his AwareFashion shirt that senses mobile phones) allows to notify a remote person via heat that he or she has just received an SMS. The clothing heats up depending on the personal message.

Embedded in the jacket is light-weight technology that allows the mobile device of the wearer to connect to the jacket via Bluetooth and to heat different parts of the clothing.

Today’s mobile phones use sound, vibration and light to interact with the user. Flame 5 offers mobile phones a more sensual and calm communication via heat. Heat has been chosen since it is often associated with emotional connectedness. Moreover heat can be felt unobtrusively and in the periphery of a wearer’s attention.

KDDI's au phones to accept English disaster-time messages

Japanese company KDDI Corp has just announced that its disaster-time message transmission services via the au cell phone EZweb email function will accept English messages from July 14, writes Japan Today.

The services, which became available on Jan 31 for Japanese messages, will allow au-brand cell phone users to leave messages such as "safe," "sustained damage," and "staying at home" or "staying at a shelter" as well as a short comment on the message board of the EZweb email services.

Alerting naxal `targets' through mobile phone network

In India, the beep of a mobile signalling the arrival of a text message could as well be saving a life, reports The Hindu.

"Police in Karimnagar district have begun using text messaging to alert naxalite targets about the possible movement of an action team in their respective areas and the likelihood of a strike against him. The police believe that they can save the lives of many a target through their innovative Target Alert Message Service (TAMS), launched in Karimnagar on Tuesday.

Other than these messages, the police have also prepared templates of messages on precautions to be taken by a targeted person.

"Avoid a set pattern in movement. Don't go for a walk alone. Look out for strangers" are some of the regular templates to be sent every day morning. "Raise a hue and cry if unidentified people knock on the doors. Keep chilli power ready to attack any intruder".

Naxalites are a Maoist party, named after the eastern Indian town of Naxalbari, where their movement originated in 1967. They wage a violent struggle on behalf of landless labourers and tribal people against landlords and others. The Naxalites say they are fighting oppression and exploitation to create a classless society. For more information, cf Who are the Naxalites?

US Emergency Text Alerts

emergencye.com is a free public service, notifying US citizens of an emergency by e-mail, text messaging or pager, from local, regional and national government sources. [ Unwired/cc ] For other such services offered in the US and around the world, cf:

-- USA Terror Alerts by SMS

-- Israel's Terror Text Alerts

-- Kuwait War alerts by SMS

-- Britain's City Alert Texting System (C.A.T.S.)

SMS Virus Alert

Modifications to Symantec's DeepSight will give customers an early warning of computer viruses with the ability to track the outbreaks on the Internet. And as optional Alert Service which will send alerts via e-mail, fax, voice call or SMS, according to Infoworld.

Microsoft made headline news in August, when they sent out their first critical security alert via SMS after the Blaster worm hit Australia (cf SMS alerts IT managers of "Blaster" worm's attack).

Netsurf.ch sent out SMS Virus Alerts in English and in French as early as October 2000 (cf SMS Virus Alert and SMS Alerts Sent Out) but it was discontinued in December 2002 when RedMessage (a gateway to international mobile operators) went out of business. The sending of the SMS was a fix cost to netsurf of £ 70.- a month and in the course of those two years, we sent out 22 virus alerts by SMS (only alerts of viruses that were rated medium to high risk and affected personal computers) and had over 4'000 subscribers from all over the world. We tried to find another gateway to take over and sponsor the alerts - but to no avail. Hard to believe...

NHL Real-Time Game Alerts

Hockey fans can log on to NHL on Nextel to sign up for Real-Time Game Alerts to know what's happening on ice immediately as it happens in arenas across the league.

Yahoo! UK unveils email alert service

Yahoo Mail will launch an SMS alert service for its email users based in the UK and Ireland next month. The service sends an SMS alert to a mobile user when an urgent or selected email comes into his Yahoo Mail In-box, according to Web User.

Prince William victim of smart mobbing

Poor Prince William. According to the The Guardian, he is victim of smart mobbing as a network of a 100 girls in the area send out SMS to each other whenever he is spotted, informing of his whereabouts and congregate around him.

A couple of new text alerts

Irish hay-fever sufferers can sign up for advance warning of pollen levels by SMS service, according to U.TV and UK National Building Society Nationwide, in a first to speed up mortgage application decisions, launches a service that tracks the applications and informs customers throughout the process by SMS (and email), reports Netimperative

SMS quotes from ADVFN

Online financial information provider Advance Financial Network (ADVFN) has launched an SMS text service for private investors. The new service will enable mobile phone users to receive price information for their chosen stocks by sending an SMS including the stock symbol to ADVFN. They will receive a text message within ten seconds detailing the stock's current price, the bid and offer price as well as the day's highs, lows and opening price. From Netimperative.

Recently another new stock quote service launched called mobiquote, offering the delivery of key financial data and business news to mobile phones, supplied by Reuters from stock exchanges and business correspondents around the world. (cf recent post in textually Stock Quotes & News Alerts by SMS).

Bidding by SMS for Elle Macpherson's body cast

Imaginative British mobile marketing company Flytxt has come up with yet another crazy SMS campaign, according to 160characters.org.

On 21st May, as part of Selfridges month long Body Craze promotion, British strollers passing by the London Department store were invited by prompts displayed in the windows, to text into a short-code and place a bid to purchase Elle Macpherson's (aka "The Bod") body cast. The text messages were charged at a premium of 50 pence, with all funds raised going to Elles charity, Ark. Details of the live auction in 160characters.org.

This is the second time Selfridge's has made headlines with random interactive SMS bidding with passers-by. Last March, art items from Britart were auctioned off. (cf Bidding for art from a Selfridges window display).

Infocannes

The city of Cannes has partenered with French mobile operator SFR to offer citizens free SMS text alerts, called «Infocannes». They will keep mobile users up to date in real time, on events and happenings around the city, according to an article in (French) Journal du Net.

Wake up Message from Pamela Anderson

Though Pamela Anderson fans may prefer a more promising good night message, the blonde bombshell is to launch a messaging service called «Celebrity Wake Up».

Pamela Anderson is the first superstar contracted with Celebrity Wakeup, a subscription based service ($7.99 a month) featuring messages from contracted celebrities, according to PRnewswise via moco.news.

USA Terror Alerts by SMS

AlertsUSA will be offering domestirc terrror alerts by SMS, "providing instant notification of domestic terror alerts, warnings and other related information issued by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice/FBI/National Infrastructure Protection Center, Department of State and a number of other related federal agencies", per an article in InfoSync, via Gizmodo.

Other countries which offer terror alerts are Israel (cf Textually.org dated April 28) and England (C.A.T.S.) (cf Textually.org dated March 18)

Stock Quotes & News Alerts by SMS

A new stock quote service called mobiquote that has taken two years to develop delivers key financial data and business news to mobile phones. News headlines and price quotes are supplied by Reutuers from stock exchanges and business correspondents around the world, reports 160characters.org.

In their own words: "The financial market monitoring system that uses SMS technology delivers regular Price Updates and News Alerts to your mobile phone. This means you can keep an eye on your portfolio while on the move, and are no longer chained to your PC. And the Breaking News option means you can receive vital often within minutes of the story breaking".

Hiring a tradesman by SMS

An Australian company specializing in building supplies and trade networks has launched a new «Trade Select» service by SMS, allowing for the searching and sourcing of tradesmen fast and easy.

"Phone or visit a website to enter a job request. From over 10,000 sub-contractors, BANGitUP contacts a minimum of ten members who meet your job criteria. If they are interested in the job, the tradesmen reply and the customer is immediately alerted via SMS or email.", according to an article in Infolink.

G8 Summit Text Alerts

Local Swiss Romande TV channel Léman Bleu, is offering Text Alerts on the G8 Summit. To subscribe, mobile users need only to send an SMS with "G8" to short code 911, to receive up to 10 messages a day at a premium rate of Sfr 0,50 (US$ 38.-) per SMS.

To unsubscribe, mobile users must send an SMS with "STOP G8" to same short code number 911.

Local daily Geneva newspaper La Tribune de Genève offers a similar SMS Text Alert service with breaking news from their reporters. Subscribers will receive up to 10 text messages a day from May 20 to June 3rd for Sfr 0,50 (US$ 38.-) per SMS. To subscribe mobile users should send TDG G8 START to short code 141. To unusubscribe, they should send TDG G8 STOP to the same number.

«Who called?» Service

Subscribers of mobile operator MTN in Africa, can now receive free SMS notification about all missed calls while their phones where not accessible, thanks to a new service dubbed 'Who called?', per an article in AllAfrica.com.

Name that Tune

An interesting and thorough article on Shazam has been published in Scientific American and picked up by both Gizmodo and Smart Mobs. A commercial music-recognition technology now available in Britain, it allows people people to identify tunes heard on the radio by simply approaching their cell phone to the speaker. Within a few minutes, they receive an SMS naming the artist and the title of the song.

But the first company (to the best of my knowledge) to offer such technology, was French company Mobiquid. Check them out!

Neighbourhood Vigilantes keep informed by SMS

A text message project aimed at bringing the crime rate down, is being extended across a UK town after proving to be a "wonderful success", according to an article in the BBC reported by SMS: Business Gets the Message. The project began as a three month trial in one police beat area in Leicestershire. Police officers sent out text messages to a number of Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators who then forward on the messages to members.

Premium SMS services for Barcelona Open

Hybrid-Advertising, in partnership with IMG and the event's sponsors, launched a series of SMS services in conjunction with the Barcelona Open - held April 19 through April 27 -, offering : betting, news and information on favorite players, real time score alerts and a novel feature, the broadcasting of encouragements sent by SMS to the tennis players, on giant light screens around the courts.

Israel's Terror Text Alerts

All Israelis live in constant worry that a terrorist bomb or shooting may have occurred and are all are hooked on the hourly radio news broacasts. According to a very interesting article by Bruce Krulwich in IDG News Service, this same worry is blazing a trail for a new range of services that send breaking news by SMS. Some offered by local newspapers, others, by new companies offering different levels of subscription (for just headlines or more detailed information). Future services could arise such as one that would send an automated "I'm OK" confirmation for people near terror events, easing the 15 minutes of panic Israelis feel after each bomb, as they attempt to reach all their relatives and friends by cellphone.

Bruce Krulwich explores the trade off subscribers are willing to make between quick response and news accuracy. News culled from police and ambulance radios, for example, can be disseminated much faster by SMS than newspapers or on-line services can respond, but runs the risk of being unconfirmed. A must read article.

Yahoo offers SMS alerts for important e-mail

Yahoo UK will be launching in May, a pay-for-text alert service in support of it's free e-mail service, to inform users when important messages arrive. Users will be able to create keywords or specify which senders are important in incoming mail, which in turn will trigger an SMS alert. According to vnunet, Yahoo recently launched a service that allows users to send SMS from their email account and receive replies in email form.

Green Time Texting Alert

GolfSmart introduces a new service allowing clubs to send members and Pay&Play golfers information on green time availability, merchandising and forthcoming events via SMS, according to 160characters.org

US Military Alerts by SMS

America Online is offering "U.S. Forces Alerts," which allow AOL members to receive war news alerts whenever particular military units they care about are covered in the news. The service is available for 76 specific units across all four U.S. military branches and relevant news updates can be delivered online or as a text message on cellphones or pagers, according to an article in the WSJ.

SARS Text Alerts

For text alerts related to SARS, check out the SMS and SARS category of textually.org

Bidding for art from a Selfridges window display

Since March 28 and for two weeks, per an article in wonderful 160characters.org, passers by strolling in front of Selfridges on Oxford Street, can bid by SMS on art objects exposed in the window, per an orignal idea from affordable-art house britart.com, who partnered on this venture with mobile marketing genius flytxt.

How does it work? Each window displays a dotmatrix sign with live updated bidding prices. An interested customer sends an SMS with his bid to a phone number displayed in the window. He then receives in return an SMS from britart.com, asking him to confirm his bid online and register his name, number and credit card. If he is outbid, he receives an SMS giving him the opportunity to bid again.

Iraq text alert service draws 11,000 users

A new text alert service from UK satellite TV channel Sky News keeping consumers up to date with the latest Iraq coverage has attracted 11,000 subscribers in the first week of the war. The alert service launched on March 19, the first day of the attacks, and is promoted via an on-screen scrolling message, as read on SMS: Business Gets the Message.

War prompts SMS Boom

"Phone messaging and email traffic has surged over the past week as people use the latest technology to vent their outrage or voice support for the military invasion of Iraq.

The BBC World Service has been inundated with thousands of text messages from mobile phone users across the globe wanting to express their views about the war".

"Suddenly text messaging appears to have moved on from personal communication to personal statement," said Nigel Chapman, the deputy director of the BBC World Service, in an interview with The Guardian

Job prospects by SMS

The Federal Government of Australia is launching a new SMS alert service for the unemployed. Resumes will be checked against available jobs and job seekers will be notified of any matches the next day by SMS, according to The Herald Sun