Tag archive: Texting

According to an article posted by the Wall Street Journal earlier today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found that texting while driving increased from 2009 to 2010. The NHSTA performs this study each year by watching intersections and stoplights for anyone that's operating a smartphone or other handheld device to send text messages in addition to other functions like reading and typing email, watching… Read More

Received in early October 2011, Celina Aarons of Florida was ”crying and shaking” after ripping open her 43-page T-Mobile bill for the month that totaled over $200,000 in wireless charges. While Aarons wasn't directly responsible for racking up the charges, she did authorize one of her brothers to use the account during a vacation to Canada. The brother, Shamir, is legally deaf and communicates entirely through text messaging.… Read More

Announced yesterday, Ford is rolling out a software update to Ford's SYNC software that will allow text messages to be read aloud while driving the vehicle. While the system requires a compatible smartphone, users will likely hear the messages through the speakers in the car. The smartphone communicates with the software through a Bluetooth connection. This upgrade to version 3.2.2 of the software will be able to be applied to all SYNC… Read More

According to a recently released study by Pew Internet, thirty-one percent of Americans would rather communicate through texting on a mobile phone rather than speaking with someone over the same phone. Young adults are the most common group that prefers this method of communication and the average of the survey group was about 110 texts per day while the median of that group clocked in at about 50 texts per day. One in ten young adults between… Read More

According to a study released today from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, only 12 percent of smartphone owners use the device for checking into location services like Foursquare or Gowalla. Within the group of over 2,000 adults, the age group most likely to use the location services were 18 to 29 year old people. Eighteen percent of that age group used check-ins while only 2 percent of people over 50 use the service. Hispanics were… Read More

It’s been a long time coming, but cheaper alternatives might be putting the final nails in the traditional text message’s coffin. Skype’s $85 million acquisition of GroupMe only reinforced the belief that the SMS is about to become a thing of the past. You had a good run, and were inarguably addictive. But it’s starting to look like SMS was just a gateway drug for the good stuff. Sure, we have the original SMS to thank for all of the superior… Read More

It's happening again. Mobile phone bills are going up. AT&T has confirmed to Engadget, that a leaked document outlining the elimination of AT&T's $10 “Messaging 1000″ texting plan, is true. The wireless carrier is eliminating the $10 plan and will force all new subscribers into a $20 “Messaging Unlimited” plan. The Messaging 1000 plan is still available on the AT&T site at this time, but will be… Read More

Rhode Island's horny youth may need to find a new way to get their rocks off because sexting is off the menu. A new survey conduced by the University of Rhode Island has found that 56 percent of RI college students had received sexual images and 78 percent had received sexually suggestive messages on their phone, reports Science Daily. More than two-thirds of students owned up to sending sexts themselves, though in 73 percent of… Read More

In a study released by the Governors Highway Safety Association and funded by State Farm, researchers found no conclusive evidence that links hands-free cell phone usage to lowered risk of traffic accidents. Any usage of cell phones while driving increased the risk of getting into an accident, and texting while driving further increased that risk. Sixty-six percent of the participants in the study reported using a cell phone while driving… Read More

The gig is up: American cellphone users are quickly abandoning text messaging plans that make wireless companies bundles in profit, reports the Wall Street Journal. Americans sent and received over 1 trillion text messages in the second half of 2010, shows a study from wireless industry watcher CTIA. While that may sound high, it's actually only an 8.7 percent increase from the six months prior — the lowest jump to date. Until recently,… Read More

We already saw the likes of “bloggable” and “sexting” make it into the Oxford English Dictionaries (OED), and now beloved Web and SMS acronyms “OMG,” “FYI,” and “LOL” will join this lofty lexicon. The phrases have been entered into the online edition's initialisms category, and OED explains that they are “strongly associated with the language of electronic communications.” And just to make things abundantly clear, the statement about the… Read More

An online survey conducted by State Farm revealed that 19 percent of the participants admitted they browse the Internet while driving. According to the results, the perpetrators are mostly like to be using their phones for directions, using e-mail, and our favorites, “looking up/reference specific information of immediate interest” and “looking at/reading social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc).” If it’s any comfort to you (and it… Read More

It’s becoming more and more obvious how the digital age is ingrained into our lives – and our language. Today the Oxford Dictionaries Online announced it will pick up various Internet related terms, including “bloggable,” “scareware,” and “cyberbullying.” These are only a few of the recent additions, as the organization’s statement reveals that “hundreds of other new words and phrases” inspired from texting will be recognized. For instance,… Read More

Choosing a cell phone plan has never been simple, but lately every carrier seems to be claiming to have the best deals on plans and features. We're here to set the record straight. We've compared the four carriers in three separate use scenarios: an entry-level user who just walks to talk, an experienced cell phone user who wants to step up to a smartphone as cheaply as possible, and an advanced user who needs all the minutes and… Read More

So, you think you’re a big texter, huh? What have you got; 30 a day, 75, a day, 112 a day? Well, as usual, enterprise is taking it to a whole new level. As shared by our friends over at TechCrunch, GroupMe is sending out 1,000,000 texts per day. (By the way, if you’re sending 200 messages a day, congrats on making the most of your unlimited plan, but it’s likely you’re ignoring some in-person conversations.) GroupMe is a service, like… Read More