NotePage SMS, Paging and Messaging Blogs

FEMA announces that they have gone mobile (again) as Hurricane Irene threatens the East Coast and would like to share two new ways to get information about how to prepare for and recover from hurricanes and other disasters on your mobile devices:

FEMA App

Text messaging may help quiet the hum of public cellphone conversations but it may be just as vulnerable to eavesdropping.

Canadas privacy commissioner says Canadians are not doing enough to protect their mobile communication devices, such as cellphones and tablet computers.

Text Messaging Privacy

Remember the days of expensive and limiting data plans? When calling out of state cost big bucks? And forget about international calls, who had that kind of money? Oh, how things have changed…

Popular programs like Skype allows for free face-to-face calls all over the world, while cell phones have conquered national long-distance fees. The new frontier: Text messaging fees.

For now, text data plans mean customers can text their thumbs to the bone for one fixed monthly cost, while for others a $10 for 1,000 texts per month plan will do just fine. Alas, even that cost is destined to disappear. Free is the operative word, and companies are lining up to provide you with their free and unlimited texting services. The days of texting plans are numbered.

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Pharma companies in the country may be asked to install an SMS-activated system to counter fake drugs in the market. Companies will need to print a unique number on medicine strips which the buyers can SMS to the customer care for verification.

Recommendations of a task force report expected on Friday will make it mandatory for drug-manufacturing companies to have the software that will respond to text messages from consumers. Unique ID and bar-coding are the other options before the task force and will be weighed against SMS alerts, task force chairman HG Koshia told ET.

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In the era of high speed communication where a mobile phone message gets delivered to its recipient within seconds, snail mail - like postcards and inland letters - is losing out on its appeal, according to data available with the communications ministry.

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Interesting commentary on the Death of the Text Message:

The smartphone boom is a mixed blessing for wireless companies. While the devices have boosted data plan sales considerably, they are threatening to kill another revenue stream dead in its tracks: text messaging.

Dozens of smartphone applications offer free text messaging services, which allow wireless customers to send and receive texts by piggybacking on their existing data plans.

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I think more and more companies are going to take control of their own messaging, rather than relying on a third party, which bodes well for PageGate.

A U.S. military official says Washington will provide Iraqi authorities with technology to monitor and record phone calls and phone-text messages with the aim of preventing terrorist attacks, RFE-RLs Radio Free Iraq reports.

Although the technology is important in fighting against frequent terror attacks in Iraq, several politicians are concerned the equipment could be used to monitor the phone calls and messages of Iraqi politicians for political reasons. They are also worried by the fact that the technology will be controlled by the Interior Ministry.

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AT&T confirmed today that it will slim down its text-messaging service plans, offering customers either unlimited messages for a flat monthly fee, or a pay-per-text service.

The company is eliminating its middle-of-the-road option, a plan that allots customers 1,000 text messages for $10 monthly.

AT&T Simplifying Texting Plans

A new study that says 13 percent of all mobile phone users fake talking or being busy on their phones to avoid having to interact with people around them isn't such big news. I assumed the number was much higher.

Save By Cell Phones

A couple of security researchers from iSEC Partners demonstrated at the ongoing Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas how to unlock a car via merely a text message.

The researchers used a Subaru Outback to showcase their skills, and they not only managed to unlock the car, but also started the engine, all remotely.

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As much as you may like or dislike students texting, it’s here to stay and even being used more and more by adults. According to a survey of 700 students aged 12 to 17 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 85 percent of the responders reported using a form of electronic communication.  Sixty-four percent admitted using a shorthand native to texting.

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Now seeing the cars of these people being hacked may no longer be a remote possibility: two security researches have found a way to hack into mobile apps used for unlocking car doors and starting their engines.

The hackers, Don Bailey and Mathew Solnik, will deliver their findings next week at the Black Hat USA conference.

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This past Friday, sixteen year old Julie Bremnes was stuck on the tiny island of Utoya, surrounded by freezing cold water, being stalked by a mad man.  The teenager hid in the rocks on the beach for nearly two hours, listening to her friends and fellow camp goers being shot at. Terrified that at any second she and her friends would be found and killed.

And, thanks to her cellphone, she was able to be in constant contact with her mother the entire time.

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Massachusetts drivers are still sending and reading text messages, despite a statewide ban on texting behind the wheel.

Between the Sept. 30 start of the ban and the end of May, 733 citations for sending texts - about 3 per day - have been issued by police.

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It is now too common to send or receive a message like; Sir plz lemmi knw wthr u rcvd d file or nt? Or Do not 4get d mtg 2moro @the office.

Where texting has becoming acceptable way of communication, text messages like the ones above are so littered with lingo that they may be difficult to comprehend, sometimes leading to misinformation.

These types of texts are usually from personal friends and family, but now becoming a common place among workplace colleagues and superiors.

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Cache Valley law enforcement agencies are using a new software tool that allows people to share crime tips anonymously using a cellphone or Internet connection.

TipSoft - the Draper-based CrimeReports.coms newest development - allows users to send encrypted crime information to local police departments from the privacy of their home or from their cellphone.

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