Amazon is adding another feature to make life easier for Echo users, well, at least those with AT&T wireless plans: AT&T customers can now tell Alexa to send text messages. [More]
texting
Cops Disappointed That We Just Can’t Put Down Phones While Driving
By 9.2.16
For about as long as mobile phones have existed, traffic authorities have been on a campaign to get drivers to stop using them in our cars. The rise of texting over talking has made the problem even more hazardous, as communication requires at least one hand free and one eye on the screen. Cops are resorting to new tactics to catch and ticket texters, and they still aren’t deterring us. [More]
AMC: Just Kidding About That Whole Texting In Theaters Thing
By 4.15.16
Remember earlier this week, when new AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron said he was open to allowing texting during movies in some way? Yeah, that’s not gonna happen, the company announced Friday. [More]
New AMC Entertainment CEO Open To Letting People Text During Movies
By 4.14.16
In an example of the extreme lengths companies may be willing to go to in order to secure that most coveted customer, the millennial, AMC Theaters might go ahead and let people text during movies. [More]
New York Bill Would Require Drivers Involved In Crashes To Submit Phones To “Textalyzer”
By 4.12.16
Would a requirement to submit your phone to field testing to determine if you were texting or otherwise using the device before a motor vehicle crash prevent you from engaging in distracted driving? That’s the hope behind recently introduced legislation in New York and a device being dubbed a “textalyzer.” [More]
AT&T, Verizon Tell FCC That They Should Be Able To Block Texts When They Want To, For Your Own Good
By 11.25.15
Texting isn’t just the purview of teenagers. Bulk texting is a huge business. Sometimes they’re scam spam in about the same category of usefulness as emails from a wealthy Nigerian prince who doesn’t exist, granted, but sometimes they’re useful blasts from businesses or public entities that let a whole bunch of people get useful information quickly in a low-bandwidth way. But what they aren’t, quite yet, is clearly regulated. A case moving through the FCC right now, however, may change that. [More]
Pilot Flying As An American Airlines Passenger Caught On Video Texting During Takeoff
By 9.4.15
Where there are rules, there will inevitably be people who break them. But it’s still surprising when someone who’s tasked with enforcing those rules is instead doing exactly what they usually tell others not to do. That was the case for a man flying on American Airlines recently, who filmed an airline pilot traveling as a passenger on a flight from Charlotte to Tampa texting on his cellphone during takeoff. [More]
Yahoo Introduces Livetext, A Video Messaging App Without Any Audio
By 7.29.15
Skype, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber, and Facebook Messenger are just a few of the many messaging services available to consumers. That list grew by one today with the unveiling of Livetext from Yahoo. [More]
Survey Says: 30% Of People Who Admit To Tweeting While Driving Do It “All The Time”
By 5.19.15
While we’ve heard of people doing things they shouldn’t be doing while they’re driving — like playing the guitar and taking selfies, not to mention texting — it’s still shocking to look at the numbers tied to distracted driving. A new survey says the trendy thing to do behind the wheel now is using social media like Twitter, with plenty of people admitting they do it “all the time.” [More]
Survey Says Most People Know Texting While Driving Is Dangerous, Do It Anyway
By 11.5.14
Odds are, you’re not sending your friends and loved ones off to drive somewhere with a hearty, “Don’t forget to text while driving!” But even though mostly everyone knows that texting and driving a car is dangerous, a new survey shows that a whole heck of a lot of us still do it anyway. [More]
Family Getting Texts From Dead Grandma Is Ticked Phone Company Sold Her Number
By 10.16.14
Sure, the urge to talk to your loved ones after they’ve passed away is natural. But when one family start ed getting replies to texts sent to the mother and grandmother who died three years ago at age 58, they weren’t so happy to be hearing from beyond the grave. [More]
Texts From Walmart Sent To The Wrong Person Prompt Man To Confess To Murder
By 9.24.14
When most people get texts or letters meant for someone else, we either shrug it off or ask whoever it is to stop sending those mistakes. But when Walmart started texting a North Carolina man about prescriptions for someone else, he thought it meant he’d been discovered as a murderer after killing a woman 17 years ago. [More]
9% Of Americans Are Bad People, Think It’s OK To Use Phone At Movies
By 9.23.14
If you’re reading this in your office or on the train, take a second to look around you. About 1-in-10 of the people you see are horrible human beings who think it’s okay to use their phones during a movie. And if you’re reading this at the movie theater, there’s a good chance you’re one of these people. [More]
City In China Introduces Slow Lane For Texting Pedestrians
By 9.16.14
As annoying as it is to walk behind someone blindly stumbling forward while texting on their mobile device, the very idea of a slow lane designated just for that bumbling purpose might very well be even more annoying. But that’s kind of the point of a new texting lane one city in China introduced recently. [More]
Director Richard Linklater’s Tip To Deal With People Texting In Movies: A Straw To The Brain
By 7.21.14
First of all, let’s be clear: Violence is never the answer, and you should not hurt your fellow human beings. But if you don’t want director Richard Linklater to stab you in the brain with a straw, don’t text during the movies. Because he seems pretty serious. [More]
Case Of The Missing Text Messages: Apple Claims To Have Fixed iMessage Server Glitch
By 5.22.14
Apple says consumers who recently switched from iPhones to Android devices should soon be able to rest easier, after it claims to have fixed one issue that left some people unable to receive text messages from iPhone users. [More]
Can’t Call For Help? You Can Now Text 9-1-1 With An Emergency In Some Cities
By 5.15.14
Depending where you live, you’ll now be able to text 9-1-1 from your cellphone if you for some reason you can’t make that emergency phone call when you need it. The program is rolling out in certain areas now, with expansion to the rest of the country planned by the end of the year. [More]
New Apple Patent Seeks To Prevent Drivers From Texting While Behind The Wheel
By 4.22.14
Apple’s already got a patent in the works for technology to keep distracted pedestrians from hurting themselves while texting and walking, and now the company’s got its eyes on the road. Because you should too, instead of texting and driving. [More]
