“Smexting” - a New Piece of Jargon for Smokers July 26, 2009
Some if not all bar owners have seen a drop in clients and a decrease in the incoming cash flow, with the implementation of new smoking bans. But cell phone companies are not doing all that badly.In fact, a new piece of jargon has entered the English language to describe the new phenomenon of smoking while texting.”Smexting” is defined as the action of smoking outside of a bar or any other locale, while having a smoke.The UK was most recently hit with such a ban and Orange, a British mobile carrier reported a huge increase in texting after the ban …
Email This Post14-year jail for SMS joke on Pakistani president July 21, 2009
It would seem that in Pakistan, there is nothing you need to watch out for more than making a joke about President Asif Ali Zardari by SMS (Short Messaging Service).If you mistakenly, or just for fun, share with a friend one of the hundreds of derisory jokes about the leader floating around electronically, you could get a 14-year prison sentence.Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik announced last week that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been tasked to trace SMS (or text messages) and e-mails that “slander the political leadership of the country” under the vague Cyber Crimes Act.In addition to …
Email This PostGOMOTEXT powers the LG Texting competition Facebook App July 17, 2009
U.S. National Texting Challenge by LG Texting competition is an LG’s hunt to search for the fastest sms texter. With successful live campaigns in US and Canada, the competition is now brought to Facebook in order to draw a larger audience.Are you the fastest texter? Prove it! Play the LG Texting Challenge, now on facebook. Choose from 2 texting games: Time Attack and Challenge-A-Friend. View the leaderboard to see your rank and keep playing to improve your score.Like many other SMS applications, GOMOTEXT is the SMS Shortcode and intgeration provider behind this facebook app.The app can be accessed …
Email This PostPa++ern: Embroidery by Twitter July 16, 2009
Pa++ern is a project by Japanese duo Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi that uses a special “esoteric embroidery language” to create custom embroidered t-shirts using Twitter as the control interface. The program uses sets of one character commands that instruct a sewing machine to excecute specific designs. Users can input these command codes via the Twitter micro-blogging service (@_pt), and view their results on the Pa++ern website.The creators explain:
“Perhaps trying out a conventional machine in a different or unexpected manner can become a thrilling action for adults and can make them find new ideas, and turn around the predicted …
More than 5000 Africans text message Obama July 12, 2009
President Barack Obama asked interested citizens from around the world to send comments and questions about his trip to Africa. According to IC Publications, over 5,000 Africans sent text messages to US President Barack Obama ahead of his speech in Ghana Saturday during his first visit to the continent since taking office.On America.gov you can read over 500 selected remarks and questions about the President’s visit and speech.Click here for a transcript of Obama’s speech in GhanaLike Obama’s speech from the University of Cairo, the US Department of State worked with Clickatell, a …
Email This PostFeel free to send Obama SMS July 9, 2009
US President Barack Obama has invited Kenyans to send comments and questions via short message service (SMS) ahead of his speech in Ghana on Saturday.Ghanaians, Nigerians and South Africans have also been invited to air their opinions on a broad range of issues.Mr Obama will directly answer selected SMS questions through local radio broadcasts in Africa. Those who respond early will also receive SMS highlights of his Accra speech.
Criticised Kenya
The invitation comes less than a week after President Obama criticised Kenya’s leadership over the country’s political and economic direction.
According to the US embassy in Nairobi, to send a text message …
Google’s Africa Strategy: Search And Trade Via SMS July 7, 2009
Not only does Google want to organize all the world’s information, it also wants to make all that information available to everyone in the world. For the majority of the world’s population, that means making it available on a cell phone, and not a fancy iPhone or Android with a Web browser either. I’m talking about $10 cell phones with not much more than voice and SMS capabilities. If Google can reach people, especially in developing nations, with SMS, it can reach everyone with a cell phone.In Africa, it is launching a suite of SMS services today, including Email This Post
Iran ‘lifts block on SMS texting’ July 5, 2009
Reports from Iran say that SMS text messaging services have been unblocked for the first time since disputed presidential elections.However, Iranian news agencies say there are still technical problems.Text messaging and social networks were widely used by protesters in mass rallies following the election.Defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi this week called on the government to end its interference in phone networks and the internet.Correspondents say texting has been restricted since 11 June - the day before disputed elections which saw the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.The lifting of the restrictions has been reported by a number of Iranian …
