text messages

Review: Color SMS Text Message Friends adds highlights to your texts

Color SMS Text Message Friends lets you send texts in color, but your friends need to have the app installed, as well, in order to see the colorful messages. If you can convince your social circle to add it, then you might get a kick out of this application.

When you first start using Color SMS Text Message Friends, only a handful of its colors and about half of the available fonts are unlocked. If you want to use them all, you have to surrender a dollar. The app's layout is a little plain, but it does make inputting … Read more

Use Google Now to send text messages, e-mail

During Google I/O Google announced some improvements to its Google Now service. One of those improvements -- as we have already covered -- was the ability to create reminders within the app. One other feature we haven't discussed yet is the ability to send a text message or e-mail using Google Now.

Similar to the way Siri works, you're able to give a voice command to Google Now and have a message composed, complete with the recipient of your choosing (so long as they are in your contacts). After Now has filled in all of the required … Read more

Are Americans getting tired of texting?

Text messaging in the U.S. is on the decline, according to a survey (PDF) released Thursday by CTIA-The Wireless Association. The numbers of SMS text messages sent and received nationally dropped from 2.3 trillion in 2011 to 2.19 trillion in 2012.

While 2.19 trillion may seem like a colossal number and not much less than 2.3 trillion, it is still nearly a 5 percent drop. According to a report released last week by research firm Informa, one of the reasons that texting may be declining is because several chat applications -- such as Apple's … Read more

Chat apps now more popular than SMS worldwide

A handful of popular chat applications have already found a way to outpace SMS, according to new data.

Research firm Informa announced today that six of the most popular mobile chat applications, including WhatsApp, BlackBerry Messenger, Viber, Nimbuzz, Apple's iMessage, and KakaoTalk, averaged nearly 19 billion messages sent and received worldwide each day in 2012. The company estimates that 17.6 billion SMS messages were sent each day, as well.

According to GigaOm, which earlier reported on Informa's data, which was commissioned by the Financial Times, nearly 50 billion messages will be sent next year over mobile applications, … Read more

New Verizon app untethers text messages from your cell phone

If you're tired of having to tap out texts on your tiny cell phone screen or keyboard when your nearby laptop offers the ease of a full-size QWERTY keyboard, Verizon Wireless has a new app that may be just your type.

Version 4.0 of the carrier's in-house SMS app essentially divorces its text messaging service from cell phones, letting customers send and receive text and multimedia messages from Web-connected PCs and tablets running iOS or Android.

The update includes a number of new features, but perhaps the one customers will find most appealing is integrated messaging, which … Read more

FTC charges 29 in crackdown on spam text message scams

The Federal Trade Commission said today it has filed complaints against 29 people accused of sending more than 180 million spam text messages falsely promising free gift cards.

The FTC alleged in eight separate complaints that the accused tricked consumers into divulging sensitive personal information by promising free gifts or prizes, including $1,000 gift cards at major retailers. Consumers who clicked on the links were taken through a maze of Web sites that required victims to sign up for subscription services or credit cards before they could receive the "free" gifts.

Consumers were sometimes required to sign … Read more

Brolly umbrella leaves your thumbs free for texting

Perhaps someday we'll see a reboot of the 1952 Gene Kelly classic done as "Textin' in the Rain." To pull off the elaborately choreographed texting scenes, all the actors will need to be sporting Brolly umbrellas.

Let's consider how we handle umbrellas when we want to use our phones. We tuck them under armpits, fumble with them in our hands, and sometimes drop them in the process.

Brolly umbrellas are designed to keep your thumbs fancy free and at the ready for all your smartphone texting, Web searching, and e-mailing needs. Heck, you might even want them free for actually dialing and making voice calls.… Read more

Bad parking job? Text the driver through the license plate

Trying to find parking in San Francisco sometimes feels likes a car-based version of "Survivor." It's not pretty. Cars block driveways, drivers forget to curb their wheels, lights get left on, and meters run out. These are all reasons why you might want to contact a vehicle's owner. If everyone in San Francisco signed up for CurbTXT, then it would be easy to get in touch.

Drivers can sign up for CurbTXT by registering their license plates and phone numbers. A sticker on the car gives people an anonymous way to contact the driver through text … Read more

WhatsApp processes record 18B messages on New Year's Eve

WhatsApp has a message for its users -- a lot of them.

The mobile messaging service announced today that it set a personal record on New Year's Eve, processing 18 billion messages on the last day of the year. The company said it delivered 7 billion inbound messages and 11 billion outbound messages, surpassing its previous record of 10 billion messages processed in one day back in August.

On Dec 31st we had a new record day: 7B msgs inbound, 11B msgs outbound = 18 billion total messages processed in one day! Happy 2013!!!

— WhatsApp Inc. (@WhatsApp) January 2, 2013 … Read more

FCC wants texting apps like iMessage in text-to-911 plan

The Federal Communications Commission wants to require all cellular carriers and Internet-based messaging providers to support text-to-911 messages.

While the four largest U.S. wireless carriers have already signed on to the plan, the U.S. agency today proposed guidelines that would require "over the top" text messaging apps -- those capable of sending text messages to phones -- to be part of the initiative, which is expected to operational by 2014. Apps that would presumably be part of the initiative include Apple's iMessage, BlackBerry's BBM, Android's MightyText, and Saumsung's ChatOn, among others.

While … Read more