| Sign up for What's New Newsletter ! |
| Subscribe |
Last Update:
31.12.2000
2000 
| Index |
 p 1 Microsoft and E-mail facts, figures and software |
| p 2 Domain Names and Cyberstudies |
| p 3 Failurenalia and Dotcom Backlashes |
| p 4 CyberCrimes, Music and P2P |
| p 5 Short Messaging Services and Fun Online |
| p 6 Big Deals and Who's Online |
| What's New |
| TechNews |
| WorldNews |
| AskExperts |
| SiteSeeing |
| TravelLinx |
| Telephony |
| ScheduLinx |
| e-Commerce |
| e-Trading |
| Wise & Wired |
| Daily Quiz |
[ Headlinks ]
[ Inside/Out ]
SMS
Wireless messaging system known as SMS is almost unknown in the United States, But in Europe it's not only the continent's fastest-growing mobile service – it's also a social phenomenon. The Industry Standard.
Below are stories, facts and figures from around the Web and a few original SMS services which for the most part, can be subscribed to over the Internet.
SMS Stories, Facts and Figures
Suicide. School bullies drove a teenager to suicide in Great-Britain following anonymous calls to her mobile phone and bullying through text messages. The Register
SMS Addiction.A Scandinavian chauffeur has been booked into a clinic for SMS addiction after his habit left him sending more than 200 e-chat messages daily. The Register
Lawsuit: The New York Times, the Washington Post and other news companies sued an Internet company, GoSMS.com, for taking headline news articles from their Web sites and transmiting them to wireless phone users by SMS. NY Times
Fined for rudeness: A Scottish man was convicted for sending obscene text messages on his mobile phone. The Register
Harassment: A Norwegian has been arrested for harrassing a woman by SMS. mobiconso.com
Spreading political rumors: Filipinos are using so-called cell-phone texting to stir up political rumors, rapidly creating a community of protest in times of tumult. WSJ
Random Phone Spam: Vodafone and the data protection commissioner have joined forces in an attempt to shut down a mobile spam company, Webcom International. The two of them claim that the company is abusing the SMS service and breaking data protection rules. Not so, says Webcom - which sends out four million spam text messages a week - "we dial numbers randomly and so no rules have been broken". The Register
Mobile Marketing
Creating a Riot: A mobile marketing firm caused mayhem in the Lakeside shoping centre, Thurrock, when it sent out a text message offering a free pair of Reebok trainers to whoever turned up at a new shop with their phone. The store manager was a little overwhelmed when over 50 people turned up within four minutes, the Financial Times reported. The Register
Interactive Christmas Calender: Europolitan launched an interactive Christmas calendar for all their customers. The service is located at Europolitan's website. Calendar users have access to an SMS Christmas story series and they will receive special mobile service offers such as handset promotions, Christmas ring tones and picture messages on their handsets. Add2Phone
Some Innovative Services
Project Eagle: By early next year Project Eagle is planning to be warning people in the UK by SMS when they are at risk of being booked for speeding. BBC
Time For Sex: Mobile phone text messages saying "It's time to get into bed" and "I'm ready and waiting" may not be from a passionate partner but from an internet service alerting couples as to when they are most likely to conceive.
Celebrity Sighting. A new wireless chat group lets people fire off instant messages whenever they spot a famous person in their immediate vicinity. The service is catching with New York's cell-phone crowd. Wired
Presidential Election Alerts. Yahoo ! offered an SMS Election Alert, tracking the U.S. Presidential election results as they came in on election day - sent hourly to mobile devices. Yahoo Election News
Kick the Habit! The Swiss Federal Public Health Department is sponsoring an anti-tabacoo campaign by SMS: Yourmilestone
Take Out the Garbage. The canton of Saint Gall in Switzerland is offering an SMS reminder service so that people don't forget to take out their garbage on pick-up day. TdG
Second Hand Cars: Those in the market for a second-hand car can contact the Ministry of Transport for information on whether an odometer has been tampered with. BBC
X-Men Game: Riot-E has launched mobile games based on the X-Men - the film and the Marvel comic series - in which players issue text message commands in a fight between the mutant factions. BBC
Soothing words: Swiss religious group and social service, Seelsorge, offers SMS assistance to those with family, relationship or sexual problems, in 7 languages (call 41 76 333 00 45). Dimanche.ch
SMS Virus Alert. n/e/tsurf launched SMS Virus Alert.
Some Figures
GartnerGroup's Dataquest, estimates that more than 157 million. people are using SMS as part of their wireless phone service in Europe, and that that number will grow to more than 268 million by 2002. Forbes
SMS users are currently sending as many as 15 billion messages per month. The Industry Standard Europe
According to a survey by M@gic4:
20% of Finnish women have sent naughty text messages from the sauna. The Register
15% of British women have dumped a partner via SMS. The Register
90% of of British men admitted they had lied about where they were when text messaging. The Register
5 Million SMS were sent New Year's Eve from Switzerland, causing a severe slowdown at Swisscom. On average, 2.5 million SMS are sent each day. Mobitique
Business
The major companies which provide SMS services to those companies -- portals and telcos -- that resell SMS messaging
to consumers : Red Herring
Quios
Iobox
Red Message
Myalert
Predictive Text: The Technology
Two companies offer predictive text, i.e. the ability to type an SMS without multi-tapping:
Tegic
Letterwise
Do you Speak SMS?
The new hip SMS patois: AFAIK - as far as I know, BTDT - been there, done that, CID - consider it done... More in The Register
What's Up 2Nite? : Teens sending text messages on their cellular phones are creating a new language. The Industry Standard
SMS Quiz
Test your SMS knowledge!
Fun Online
Some good times and... strange times online.
Amorios.com
An Argentinean Web designer opens a website that will provide convincing cover stories for any romantic double-dealings
Usability or Confusability?
Amazon.com put up a page tenabling surfers to determine whether theirhand/eye coordination would be up to the challenge of Getting Palm Beach County's controversial butterfly ballot right
Am I Hot or Not
In a few short weeks, Am I Hot or Not? became one of the hottest sites on the Internet. The site features photographs of ordinary people and a voting mechanism for rating attractiveness on a scale of one to 10 -- 10 is hot, one is not.
Swedish Moose Hunting
Swedes were invited to spot a Moose online
Big Brother
Various versions of Big Brother arond the world broke a number of audience viewing records. The shows broadcasted on the Net 24 hours a day, and highlights were shown on TV. The Industry Standard Europe.
Pig Brother
A take on Big Brother as Andrew Freemantle plans to show you the real thing by installing webcams to broadcast the daily lives of his pigs over the Internet 24 hours a day. Online wagering on the number of a pregnant sow might have in a liter. He has however abandoned his original scheme for an online votre to decide which pig is next to go the abattoir. (Newsweek)
The Burglar.com
A place on the Web to look for your stolen goods: "Your link to the underworld".
The Spud Server
The world's lowest power Web server, powered by potatoes.
i-Toke
A bold e-commerce move by Tim Freccia who offers a UK Web-based marijuana delivery service.
Ego-Surf
What are people most interested in? It turn out, themselves. Ego-Surf caters to their needs.
DotComGuy
His time is almost up and he will soon be able to disconnect. DotComGuy made a bet to live off the Internet alone for a year.
[ Contd... ]
Best of Chris Hiers
Editorial Cartoons
"Votations"
Wireless messaging system known as SMS is almost unknown in the United States, But in Europe it's not only the continent's fastest-growing mobile service – it's also a social phenomenon. The Industry Standard.
Below are stories, facts and figures from around the Web and a few original SMS services which for the most part, can be subscribed to over the Internet.
SMS Stories, Facts and Figures Suicide. School bullies drove a teenager to suicide in Great-Britain following anonymous calls to her mobile phone and bullying through text messages. The Register
SMS Addiction.A Scandinavian chauffeur has been booked into a clinic for SMS addiction after his habit left him sending more than 200 e-chat messages daily. The RegisterLawsuit: The New York Times, the Washington Post and other news companies sued an Internet company, GoSMS.com, for taking headline news articles from their Web sites and transmiting them to wireless phone users by SMS. NY TimesFined for rudeness: A Scottish man was convicted for sending obscene text messages on his mobile phone. The RegisterHarassment: A Norwegian has been arrested for harrassing a woman by SMS. mobiconso.comSpreading political rumors: Filipinos are using so-called cell-phone texting to stir up political rumors, rapidly creating a community of protest in times of tumult. WSJRandom Phone Spam: Vodafone and the data protection commissioner have joined forces in an attempt to shut down a mobile spam company, Webcom International. The two of them claim that the company is abusing the SMS service and breaking data protection rules. Not so, says Webcom - which sends out four million spam text messages a week - "we dial numbers randomly and so no rules have been broken". The RegisterMobile MarketingCreating a Riot: A mobile marketing firm caused mayhem in the Lakeside shoping centre, Thurrock, when it sent out a text message offering a free pair of Reebok trainers to whoever turned up at a new shop with their phone. The store manager was a little overwhelmed when over 50 people turned up within four minutes, the Financial Times reported. The RegisterInteractive Christmas Calender: Europolitan launched an interactive Christmas calendar for all their customers. The service is located at Europolitan's website. Calendar users have access to an SMS Christmas story series and they will receive special mobile service offers such as handset promotions, Christmas ring tones and picture messages on their handsets. Add2PhoneSome Innovative ServicesProject Eagle: By early next year Project Eagle is planning to be warning people in the UK by SMS when they are at risk of being booked for speeding. BBC
Time For Sex: Mobile phone text messages saying "It's time to get into bed" and "I'm ready and waiting" may not be from a passionate partner but from an internet service alerting couples as to when they are most likely to conceive.
Celebrity Sighting. A new wireless chat group lets people fire off instant messages whenever they spot a famous person in their immediate vicinity. The service is catching with New York's cell-phone crowd. Wired
Presidential Election Alerts. Yahoo ! offered an SMS Election Alert, tracking the U.S. Presidential election results as they came in on election day - sent hourly to mobile devices. Yahoo Election News
Kick the Habit! The Swiss Federal Public Health Department is sponsoring an anti-tabacoo campaign by SMS: Yourmilestone
Take Out the Garbage. The canton of Saint Gall in Switzerland is offering an SMS reminder service so that people don't forget to take out their garbage on pick-up day. TdG
Second Hand Cars: Those in the market for a second-hand car can contact the Ministry of Transport for information on whether an odometer has been tampered with. BBC
X-Men Game: Riot-E has launched mobile games based on the X-Men - the film and the Marvel comic series - in which players issue text message commands in a fight between the mutant factions. BBC
Soothing words: Swiss religious group and social service, Seelsorge, offers SMS assistance to those with family, relationship or sexual problems, in 7 languages (call 41 76 333 00 45). Dimanche.ch
SMS Virus Alert. n/e/tsurf launched SMS Virus Alert.
Some FiguresGartnerGroup's Dataquest, estimates that more than 157 million. people are using SMS as part of their wireless phone service in Europe, and that that number will grow to more than 268 million by 2002. Forbes
SMS users are currently sending as many as 15 billion messages per month. The Industry Standard Europe
According to a survey by M@gic4:
20% of Finnish women have sent naughty text messages from the sauna. The Register15% of British women have dumped a partner via SMS. The Register 90% of of British men admitted they had lied about where they were when text messaging. The Register5 Million SMS were sent New Year's Eve from Switzerland, causing a severe slowdown at Swisscom. On average, 2.5 million SMS are sent each day. MobitiqueBusinessThe major companies which provide SMS services to those companies -- portals and telcos -- that resell SMS messaging
to consumers : Red Herring
Quios
Iobox
Red Message
Myalert
Predictive Text: The TechnologyTwo companies offer predictive text, i.e. the ability to type an SMS without multi-tapping:
Tegic
Letterwise
Do you Speak SMS?The new hip SMS patois: AFAIK - as far as I know, BTDT - been there, done that, CID - consider it done... More in The Register
What's Up 2Nite? : Teens sending text messages on their cellular phones are creating a new language. The Industry Standard
SMS QuizTest your SMS knowledge!
Fun Online
Some good times and... strange times online.
Amorios.comAn Argentinean Web designer opens a website that will provide convincing cover stories for any romantic double-dealings
Usability or Confusability? Amazon.com put up a page tenabling surfers to determine whether theirhand/eye coordination would be up to the challenge of Getting Palm Beach County's controversial butterfly ballot right
Am I Hot or NotIn a few short weeks, Am I Hot or Not? became one of the hottest sites on the Internet. The site features photographs of ordinary people and a voting mechanism for rating attractiveness on a scale of one to 10 -- 10 is hot, one is not.
Swedish Moose HuntingSwedes were invited to spot a Moose online
Big BrotherVarious versions of Big Brother arond the world broke a number of audience viewing records. The shows broadcasted on the Net 24 hours a day, and highlights were shown on TV. The Industry Standard Europe.
Pig BrotherA take on Big Brother as Andrew Freemantle plans to show you the real thing by installing webcams to broadcast the daily lives of his pigs over the Internet 24 hours a day. Online wagering on the number of a pregnant sow might have in a liter. He has however abandoned his original scheme for an online votre to decide which pig is next to go the abattoir. (Newsweek)
The Burglar.comA place on the Web to look for your stolen goods: "Your link to the underworld".
The Spud ServerThe world's lowest power Web server, powered by potatoes.
i-TokeA bold e-commerce move by Tim Freccia who offers a UK Web-based marijuana delivery service.
Ego-SurfWhat are people most interested in? It turn out, themselves. Ego-Surf caters to their needs.
DotComGuyHis time is almost up and he will soon be able to disconnect. DotComGuy made a bet to live off the Internet alone for a year.
[ Contd... ]
Best of Chris Hiers
Editorial Cartoons
"Votations"
