Verizon’s new ad campaign: ‘Don’t Text and Drive’ October 28, 2009
“Don’t Text and Drive.” So reads the tagline of Verizon’s latest advertising campaign aimed at preventing thoughtless drivers from putting their text messaging needs ahead of public safety. The new ad campaign will blitz television, radio, print, online, billboards and non-traditional media with words of wisdom from the first US wireless carrier to back legislation that required drivers to use hands-free mobile phone solutions when driving.Laws making it illegal to drive while tapping out a text message have already hit the books in many of the United States, but Verizon is taking it upon themselves …
Email This PostStill No Internet or SMS Allowed in China’s Muslim Region October 25, 2009
Nearly four months after deadly ethnic riots in China’s Muslim region led authorities to shut off the Internet there, local residents are still barred from sending text messages and getting online.The clampdown on telecommunication in China’s western Xinjiang province, where rioting claimed nearly 200 lives in early July, has hurt local businesses and cut residents off from many nongovernment sources of news and other information.The rioting between Uighurs, a mostly Muslim minority group native to Xinjiang, and Chinese Han, the country’s ethnic majority, also led China to block various social networking Web sites nationwide. Twitter, similar Chinese services …
Email This PostStop Texting, to Save Lives in Africa October 22, 2009
WASHINGTON- Activists asked cell phone users to stop texting for one hour on Wednesday — not to save energy or focus on the road, but to call attention to one of the deadliest and most underreported conflicts in the world. What’s the Story?The so-called “Cell Out” campaign is part of Congo Week, a series of actions being held worldwide between Oct. 18 and 24 to call attention to what many believe is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world — the ongoing war over resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).Coltan, a mineral needed for many …
Email This PostColonel Mustard Returns! October 18, 2009
Clue fans bored with Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe can now move beyond the mansion with CLUE: Secrets & Spies, an international espionage edition of the classic detective game. The mission here is not impossible and the new Clue comes with a new real-time tech twist: Hasbro says it is the first board game in the company’s history to use cellphone text-messaging in gameplay. Agent Mustard, Agent Scarlet and the rest of the colorful Clue characters are now on assignment to thwart C.L.U.E. (Criminal League for Ultimate Espionage) and take down the evil Agent Black. At the beginning of …
Email This PostNext: the pill bottle cap with a cell phone October 13, 2009
NEW YORK — “Hi! This is your aspirin bottle calling. I haven’t seen you in a while. Why don’t you come see me soon? I’m good for the heart, you know.”
That’s the spirit, if not the wording, of the calls that will come from new pill bottle caps that connect to AT&T Inc.’s wireless network.
A Cambridge, Mass.-based startup called Vitality Inc. was set to announce the pill-bottle system Thursday, saying it helps solve one of the biggest problems in medicine: that people don’t consistently take the drugs they’re prescribed.
if ($(’#story_assets’).length == 0 && $(’#assets_ad #yahoo_300×250_ipbtf div’).length == 0) { …
4.1 Billion SMS Messages Are Sent Daily October 11, 2009
The mobile industry is on a tear. The CTIA semi-annual wireless industry survey has just been released, and while numbers showing robust mobile broadband growth are no surprise, data released on consumer text messaging behavior certainly caught our attention.According to the survey, over 740 billion text messages were sent over carrier networks in the US during the first half of 2009. To put that astronomical number into perspective, it boils down to 4.1 billion SMS messages being sent daily, which is also nearly twice as many as sent during the same time period last year.
Other interesting findings include:- …
Email This PostJon Stewart Exposes CNN’s Texting and Driving Silliness October 6, 2009
Here’s the thing with CNN: There’s obviously something very wrong with them. They’re probably actually dangerous if you want to be completely honest about it. They need a cork on their fork at dinner it what I’m saying. But damn if they aren’t criminally inept in the most endearing way possible. Case in point, this piece from last night’s Daily Show about CNN’s report on the dangers of texting while driving.Click here to watch the video
Email This PostPadang. SMS sent from rubble offers hope of survivors October 4, 2009
According to Sky News, a text message was sent Friday night asking for help, from a trapped guest under the remains of the ruined Ambacan hotel. “We think there are eight people alive in there. One sent an SMS to a relative in a village, who got the text at 3pm yesterday,” said Arkamelvi Karmani, an army officer involved in the rescue operation.The official said the text message had called for help and also begged rescuers: “Be careful that the excavator doesn’t cause the building to collapse on us.”Via Textually
