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Tag Archive for 'sms'

Girl loses virginity and tells her dad in a text message

Published
by
Kyle
on December 8, 2008
in News and Opinion
. 2 Comments

This has got to be the worst case of “friends turning on friends.” Lizzy, 18, accidentally wrote her dad a text message that she lost her virginity on a school trip on the beach. The above pic is a screen cap of the text message. The details were leaked to a Cleaveland radio station by one of Lizzy’s friends and the Inquisitr topped it off by publishing an article that calls her “mind blowingly stupid.” I feel terrible for the girl but the real problem here is with that god forsaken touchscreen iPhone. She obviously accidentally clicked the wrong number to send the message to and she’ll forever see the device as the phone that ruined her school trip.

[Via]

Mobile users are generally confused by their devices (study)

Published
by
Kyle
on November 21, 2008
in News
. 0 Comments

anger

Pew Internet and American Life Project have released a study saying 48% of the respondents to their survey said they needed help setting up their devices.

* 38% contacted user support at some time
* Men (39%) more than women (22%) are more likely to try to fix it themselves
* 29% of cellphone users had their device fail in the last year
* 23% of those cellphone users never had them fixed

I’m always surprised at the number of people who buy smartphones and other devices but don’t take the necessary time to set them up and get the most out of them. For example, at my university, I met several people with BlackBerrys who did not take the time to activate their push email. They didn’t even know they could get their email on the device other than through Google. They simply bought the phone for its QWERTY and therefore faster SMS.

[Via]

How-to turn off SMS ‘WhoCalled’ alerts on the iPhone

Published
by
Kyle
on October 23, 2008
in Opinion and Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

Customer Service

[UPDATE: The customer service "magic words" are "ask for the ‘missed called notification’ to be excluded from your package."]

I don’t mean to link bait or anything with the title, because the answer is just “call customer service“, but what an annoying feature! Here is what happens when I miss a call:

  • The phone rings, and I let it go because I’m busy with something else.
  • They leave a voicemail. I see that.
  • Then I get an SMS notification about the voicemail. Thank I know.
  • Then I get an SMS notification about the missed call. Yeah I get it!
  • Then I have all the above information copied in my logs, just in case I somehow got amnesia and forgot.

    • I’ve recently had the features turned off but I couldn’t help explaining to customer service that this sort of notification process is borderline harassment.

    iPhone SMS threading makes for amazing conversations

    Published
    by
    Kyle
    on October 17, 2008
    in Opinion
    . 0 Comments

    iPhone threaded sms

    How great is this photo? I have no idea what this person is talking about but if there was an award for Most Amazing SMS Conversation, it would win. This is the first time I’ve seen something worth posting on a tech blog from LastNightsParty. Usually it’s models who are on the verge of OD’ing on cocaine. Actually wait, this is probably no different.

    [Via lastnightsparty]

    Senator Herb Kohl gets embarrassed over SMS debate

    Published
    by
    Kyle
    on October 15, 2008
    in News
    . 0 Comments

    Senator Herb Kohl

    A while back we reported about carriers charging for incoming text messages and how it was a violation of our rights to choose what we purchase. Recently, Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, sent a letter to the CEOs of AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA regarding the issue of increased SMS costs.

    Kohl’s argument is that there has been a 10-cent increase over the last 3 years     for SMS messages and “Some industry experts contend that these increased rates do not appear to be justified by any increases in the costs associated with text messaging services, but may instead be a reflection of a decrease in competition, and an increase in market power, among your four companies.”

    A ton of class-action lawsuits have followed since the letter went public and here is the great part: It’s complete nonsense. According to every single CEO, the cost of SMS messages has dropped by more than half. Clearly, Herb is jumping on a bandwagon of angry consumers who are too lazy to do the research.

    [Via Fierce]

    Canadian minister on incoming SMS charges: “Tough luck”

    Published
    by
    Simon.Sage
    on August 14, 2008
    in Featured and News
    . 0 Comments

    Telus and Bell incoming messages

    Jim Prentice, Canadian Minister of Industry, recently met up with execs from Telus and Bell to discuss the upcoming $.15 charges on incoming SMS messages. In the end, Prentice, who had previously had serious concerns over the move by carriers has since backpedalled, and is advising unsatisfied customers to find alternatives.

    “Given these undertakings by Bell Mobility and Telus, I would encourage consumers dissatisfied with existing plans to seek alternatives. The telecommunications market in Canada is dynamic — choice is available,”

    Like who, Rogers? A single alternative isn’t exactly what you’d call choice, let alone personify a dynamic market. To be honest, it’s hardly about finding good wireless rates in Canada anymore, it’s just about finding the one who will screw you over the least. If you’re as unhappy about this as we are, the NDP party is running a petition to fight the new SMS charges. Bell’s charges have already kicked in and Telus will commence the gouging on Aug. 24.

    [Via BlackBerry Cool]

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    Bell and Telus to charge for incoming SMS