This is my dumping ground for quotes and other stuff relating to the wonderful world of digital & communications.
The American Red Cross, for example, received more than $30 million in texted contributions for Haiti relief, but it pulled in just $4.5 million that way for Japan and $1.2 million for tornadoes and other disasters in the United States last year.
By 2008, the Philippines was providing SMS-based services from 54 national government agencies. And it seems to be working. According to one survey, 87 percent of Filipinos prefer communicating with the government via SMS, compared to 11 percent with an Internet-preference.
This isn’t only a Filipino story. Governments in Kenya, South Africa, and Indonesia have launched similar services, some of which are remarkably creative. In Malaysia, flood warnings are sent by text via automatic water-level sensors. In India, citizens can check their application status for various certificates by SMS, shouldering out bribe-seeking middlemen
Swedish postal service is allowing customers to pay their postage via text message instead of stamps
the Delhi traffic police’s SMS alert service on traffic jams and diversion updates, launched three days ago, has already logged 21,240 subscribers with a majority describing it as a “world class service
Farmers in the Philippines will soon have nutrient management advice tailored specifically to their rice crops delivered to their mobile phones. Dr. Roland Buresh, part of the International Rice Research (IRRI) team, said that after responding to a series of simple questions about their rice paddy, farmers would receive an automated text reply recommending what amounts, sources, and timings of fertilizer are needed for profitable rice production in their paddy.
(In 2008) six million people were hurt crashing into lampposts, bollards and bins last year while texting and talking on their mobiles
American teenagers send an average of 10 text messages per hour they are not in school or sleeping
According to the CTIA’s semi-annual Wireless Industry Survey, there were nearly 5 billion text messages sent over wireless networks per day, totaling up to over 1.5 trillion text messages during the entire year.
solar trash cans that send text messages to city workers when they need to be emptied have been rolled out in Lodi parks, California. They can also be found in Santa Cruz, Boston and Philadelphia.
42% of US teens can send SMS text messages with their phone hidden out of view such as in their pocket or under the table said Nielsen in 2010. .. 48% of British youth were able to carry on a conversation with a parent or teacher or someone like that, while simultaneously sending SMS messages said Carphone Warehouse in 2006. There was an airline hijacking in Mexico City last August, where one of the hostages on the plane was sending updates to the outside world with her phone hidden in her pocket. Not a teenager, an adult woman. And at one point the hijacker had been holding her other arm. She continued sending messages in secret with her phone in her pocket - a Blackberry by the way - and she later illustrated this ability on Mexican TV when the hostage drama was over.
Today in Estonia you cannot pay for parking by using cash or a credit card - the only way to pay is by mobile phone, using SMS
Finnair reports that half of the passengers on its short-haul flights of its popular routes now use SMS based check-in.
SMS text messaging is used by 4 billion people and reaches the pockets of 58% of the planet. So newspapers? Eight times more people pay to send SMS text messages than pick up a daily newspaper, whether paid or free circulation. More than four times as many people send SMS text messages than have a car. Two and a half times more people send texts on their phones than own a TV set, or own a PC, or have a credit card. More than twice as many people send SMS than have access to the internet
The most famous red-texter is Bo Xilai, the party chief of Chongqing (see article). Last April he sent 13m-odd mobile-users a message bearing quotes from Mao Zedong such as “What really counts in the world is conscientiousness, and the Communist party is most particular about being conscientious.” Enthused, or more likely bemused, users relayed his missive, reported the local press, 16m times.
