Latest SMS & Daily Text Message News

USA Sends 1.5 Trillion Texts in 2009

2010-03-28T21:21:04Z

With an average of nearly five billion text messages sent per day in the second half of last year (822 billion total, mobile phone users are proving that communication is easier through 160 characters or less. The CTIA - The Wireless Association also said that wireless subscribers are also sending more pictures and other multimedia messages also with about 24.2 billion in the last half of 2009. That is over double from 2008 with only 9.3 billion in the second half.

It looks like text messaging may begin to take over regular cell phone calls as the new preferred communication style.

Texting Addiction Leads to Surgery

2010-03-21T17:11:44Z

After sending nearly 4,000 text messages a month, teenager Annie Levitz, 16, developed carpal tunnel syndrome. She said, "I started losing feeling in my hands and they'd go numb. I'd go to pick up dishes and things and they would just fall out of my hands. It's not even good texts.It's like, Hey, hey, what's up? What's up? Not much. Just ridiculous texting. I'm now learning not to do it any more."

Doctors fitted Annie with wrist braces but she still needs cortisone injections to deal with the pain. Even after the surgery, Annie still does about 2,000 texts a month.

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TigerText: Send Texts That Don't Live Forever

2010-03-02T01:51:08Z

From TigerText.com :

When you send a regular text message, the message is sent from your phone, routed through a server, and then delivered to the recipient’s phone. The message you send will live on the receiver’s phone until the recipient decides to delete it. The text message will also reside on the cell phone company’s server for an unlimited amount of time. TigerText is different because, even though it looks and feels identical to a normal text message, the content of your message is never sent to the recipient’s phone and you control when the message is deleted from our server so you control the lifespan of the message! TigerText is currently only for use on iPhone & iPod Touch. Blackberry and Droid will be available soon.

Messages are displayed on both users (sender and receiver) phones until they are deleted from our server. All expired texts are cleared from our servers every minute of the day. Once you see the TigerText paws, you know your tracks have been covered and the message no longer stored anywhere.

TigerText is free to try (100 messages sent over 15 days) and it’s always free to read messages. iPhone users who want to send messages pay simply $1.49 per 250 messages sent per month or $2.49 a month for unlimited messages. Blackberry and Droid will be priced in a similar fashion. Once you install TigerText, you will always be able to read messages sent to you. You can upgrade again at anytime.

Iowa Senate passes text message ban

2010-02-25T01:21:04Z

The Iowa Senate has approved and passed a new bill that bans sending text messages while driving. The bill also adds penalties for reading texts while driving. E-mail and instant messaging is also part of the ban. The measure will now go to the Iowa House for further debate and will go into effect July 31st if it does pass.

There would be leniency the first year while only warnings would be issued followed by $30 tickets for infractions. If texting leads to an accident, the fines could be $1,000 along with a license suspension.

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VoxOx real-time Universal Translator for SMS, E-mail, and social media

2010-02-21T19:19:34Z

Text messaging has just become easier for us large-fingered folk. VoxOx is the first Universal Communicator Service that will manage all forms of cross-media communication for consumers. It can unify almost all communication channels such as voice, video, text, instant messaging, social media, e-mail, SMS, and even file sharing into one easy to use interface.

You can now text as fast as you chat. Use your keyboard to send text from VoxOx to mobile phones and receive reply's back to your computer. VoxOx will show your phone number instead of some randomly chosen number that no one recognizes. It is true two-way texting so maybe your friends will now respond back to you. You can also have your text messages forwarded to your mobile phone when you are away from VoxOx. The service has worldwide reach to more than 550 mobile operators and costs just $0.01 for domestic and $0.02 for international messages so it is very cheap. Incoming messages are always free. Read More

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SMS advertising

2010-02-19T23:48:59Z

Text messaging is one of the most popular forms of communication. A SMS message is quick, easy, and to the point. Somewhere between July of 08 and July of 09, mobile users sent 1.3 trillion text messages while they only made 660 billion calls. (AdAge) Volume like that has marketers scrambling to find a ways to put advertising into text messages.

Most mobile users do not want advertising in their text messages. A recent study has proved that most college age texters find advertising in their messages unwelcome. The market is still evolving and companies like MindShare can help marketers.

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6 Myths About MMS

2010-02-17T00:46:58Z

MMS or Multimedia Message Service is basically a text message with a video, picture, or audio file attached to it. MMS has now reached the billion message per month volume yet it is still widely understood by many. Here are 6 common myth's about MMS:

Myth #1: MMS Costs More Than Regular Text Messages

Myth #2: Most Phones Do Not Support MMS Video

Myth #3: You Need a Smartphone to Receive MMS Messages

Myth#4: You Need a Data Plan for MMS

Myth #5: Only Kids Send Text Messages

Myth #6: MMS is Only Big in Europe and Asia – Not in the U.S.

Google Calendar via SMS

2010-02-13T01:50:26Z

Check your Calendar via SMS
Google Calendar's SMS notification feature allows you to conveniently check your calendar when you're on the go. Just send Google Calendar a quick text message, and you'll get an SMS notification with the information you requested.

In order to use this service, you'll need to register your cell phone number in Google Calendar. Just sign in, click Settings on the top-right of the page, and go to the Mobile Setup tab. Learn more

To receive a notification with your calendar information, send a text message containing one of the following commands to the shortcode '48368' (GVENT):

'next': request your next scheduled event
'day: request all of your scheduled events for the present day
'nday': request your events scheduled for the following day
Please note:

This feature is available only in the United States at this time.
Only event information from your primary calendar will be retrieved.
Information is currently only available for events that are scheduled within 24 hours of the request.

Create a Google Calendar Event via SMS
To create an event on your primary calendar via SMS, simply send a text message containing your event's details to the shortcode "GVENT (48368)."

For example, if you send a message with something like "Shopping with Sarah at Monterey Market 5pm Saturday," Google Calendar can figure out what you mean and pop the new event into your calendar.

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Wells Fargo to offer Text Message Banking

2010-02-07T17:45:19Z

Wells Fargo is now offering text message banking so customers can retrieve account information through any mobile phone with SMS. For those who already bank online, this is just another service which can quickly give you account balances and activity without being tied to a computer.

The service is easy to use. Any of the following, preset commands can be texted to 93557 (WELLS) and you will receive a reply within a few seconds.

For example, if you'd like to request your:

Account Balance: Text BAL and you’ll receive the balance on your selected primary account. To view the balances on all your enrolled accounts, text BAL ALL.
Account Activity: Text ACT for your primary account activity; for the account activity of another account, text ACT, then leave a space, and then enter the account nickname.
ATM Locations: Text ATM along with your city and state or ZIP code to view locations near you (Ex. ATM 94109 or ATM San Francisco CA)
All Text Commands: Text COM to get the full list of available text command

The service is available to all Wells Fargo Customers, even those who do not use online banking or have an online username. The service is promised to be secure and safe.

For more information, Visit Wells Fargo.

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New Moms Get Tips From Text4Baby provided by Syniverse

2010-02-07T01:27:08Z

Syniverse Technologies, Tampa, Fla, is providing pregnant woman and new mothers with health tips free of charge. The valuable information can help mother give their child the best beginning to life. Text4Baby will provide 3 text messages every week. Content that is sent will depend on the mother's due date for prenatal care or the baby's birth date for post natal care. Women may text the word BABY to 511411 (BEBE for Spanish texts).

The messages will contain information focused on a variety of topics essential to maternal and child health, birth defect prevention, nutrition, seasonal flu, immunization, mental health, oral health and safe sleep.