Archive for the ‘MMS’ Category

SOS: Samsung helping the victims of bullying and crime.

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

I was just browsing the Carphone Warehouse site, and noticed the “Back to School” offers they have. This however wasn’t what I was interested in; it was something called SOS Messaging.

SOS messaging according to the CPH website is:
“Feeling in danger? Simply press the volume key 4 times on your phone to
discreetly alert your parents that you need help.”

Now maybe not the most interesting piece of news ever, and I certainly wouldn’t expect a lot of older people to understand how amazingly fantastic this idea is; but take it from me, this has to be one of the most enlightening pieces of information I have read in a very long time.

For example, I myself have been in a number of situations where I’ve felt seriously in danger. However, getting your phone out, making a text or call is not the easiest task to complete. Nor is it practical if say for instance you know the people you’re quite scared of may be tempted to “jack” your mobile.

To put it simply, ever been so angry or even frightened where all you do is shake? Well, try and write a text when your arms are doing an uncontrollable fit. It’s not easy, and it isn’t going to get you any help fast at all!

However it’s also the button. It doesn’t require the phone to be taken into sight. This means you may stand a lower chance of having your phone stolen off of you, or even being ridiculed for requiring assistance.

I can say having a mobile for some part does make me feel safer, but not completely. This due to the impracticalities that come with texting or calling your parents, or maybe the police if you’re in danger or someone else is. The Samsung idea completely eliminates this problem, which is not only brilliant, but hopefully a huge help.

I can say that those of days of walking home from school in fear are gone; but as we all know the sad truth is, there will be always more victims of bullying or of aggressive attacks. Yes the mobile phone is useful, but its limitations make it useless in situations such as these.

I hope other big companies follow suit with this idea; especially Sony and Nokia who have a lot of custom with the teenage market. But I also hope that more is done to educate youngsters, especially those starting high school. It’s daunting to say the least, but in our current climate of living in fear, more should be done to reassure my generation, and those younger than myself of these tools available.

A lot of time, effort and money are wasted on “talking” about the issue of bullying, and teenage crime. This though is just a waste, as not a lot is done to prevent, help or deter anyone from these activities. It is only simple measures such as the SOS Messaging which make some of the biggest differences to one’s confidence and ability to handle themselves in dangerous or worrying situations.

Never hesitate to complain… I don’t!

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

I was talking to Ewan about my phone operator Blyk; I’ve been with them since February/March, and for the most part I’ve loved the service, I mean it’s free right?

Somehow, some Blyk membercare staff have got it into their heads that shouting to me down the phone, or telling me to go to the forums, compensates as Customer Service. I beg to differ!

On quite a few occasions now I’ve had the luxury of speaking to such staff, and to be honest I’m fed up of it. Now, I should also make you aware that since June 25th I’ve been unable to open any MMS message that Blyk sends me; this naturally means my Blyk account is “inactive” resulting in my refill being delayed. I’ve been trying to get this sorted since this date, and as of yet, nothing has successfully worked. Plus, my refill which is due on Friday, will not be arriving, because Blyk are inapt.

I should also point out, that some of the Blyk Membercare team who have worked with me for the past weeks have been good, but then again, it’s their job isn’t it?

Anyway, Ewan asked me to post my complaint. For obvious reasons the name of the person I was complaining about has been deleted, and I am in the process of writing an e-mail to the CEO of Blyk, because to be honest, it’s a joke.

Hi,

I phoned up Blyk Membercare today after having troubles with my mobile phone on Blyk for nearly four weeks. I’ve been speaking to the Membercare staff for the past week trying to resolve this issue (although it took over two weeks for Blyk to respond to the vast amount of threads or concerns on the Forums). However, today I was greeted with a rather rude and loud *******.

I will expect the staff at Blyk to be aware that young people (the people you are dependent on for business), have the lowest tolerance for rudeness, customer services, and when things go wrong. I myself believe I have been very tolerant with Blyk, seeing as my problem still persists over three weeks. But, when I phone up and ask for help regarding any matter, issue, error or query, I do not expect to be shouted at down the phone.

I made it very clear to ******* that I had already visited the Blyk website, and that I’ve spoken to other Blyk Membercare staff over the phone regarding the issue; however she was insistently rude that I should return to the website, and that she wouldn’t help me over the phone.

I should add that this isn’t the first occasion that I’ve had a bad experience with Blyk Membercare people; and whilst on the whole my experience whilst talking to them has been good, I’m shocked to find that some of the Membercare staff believes that they have a right to be moody, agitated, or rude. I should remind you that the staff at Blyk Membercare are paid, and are answering phone because it’s their job, and they’ve chosen to do it. Therefore with that in mind, they should not be rude when talking to their customers on the phone.

I do not tolerate being spoken to in any manner that I perceive as rude, agitated, unwelcoming or harsh from anyone; this rule applies to the Blyk Membercare staff too. As I have already said, this isn’t the first occasion of rudeness, and on these occasions, I’ve forgotten about it, and did not complain; this though is the final straw. Blyk Membercare should not be directing their members to the forums (which I’ve read quite a lot about), they should listen, and when I made it clear that I had already visited to the Blyk site, and still the matter persisted, they should try and help me resolve the issue, and when the Blyk Membercare put me on hold, or mute their microphones, I do not expect them to come back on the line complaining that I’m still being rude, even though it’s obvious I’m not speaking to them.

Blyk seriously needs to sort out this matter, but as I have said numerous times in the forums you need to address a whole range of other issues too. The fact that Blyk expects to expand itself into Europe later this year, and next year is laughable. You can’t even get the basics right, or even offer the basic of services (Message Reports, outgoing MMS, Free Data included), yet somehow you can expand?

I can assure you too, I will also be passing these concerns onto the higher people behind Blyk; because I’m aware some of these issues don’t directly reflect the Memebercare, but it needs to be highlighted.

Thank you for reading this,

Samantha K.

Maybe they’ll get their bums into gear now, then again, like with everything they could just ignore it, and think nothing of the issue.

More initiative please?

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

The mobile industry is moving along quite nicely isn’t it? We have (some) great services, some brilliant ideas being made reality, and I can only assume how cool the next five years will be. But still, I want more initiative!

A couple of month’s back I was told about a new web/mobile service; and to be perfectly honest, at the time I wasn’t impressed. I thought it was a bit of a scam, and I didn’t see the possibilities for it. Recently, I’ve began to think about it a bit more; what is the future?

The website is ticket-text.com; the idea, buy tickets for gigs, concerts and the like online, receive a text with a “QR Code” – a mobile barcode for you and me. At the venue, you scan your phone and voila, you’re in. It’s simple, quick, easy, and on the website, you’re told you can have the ticket sent to you no matter how many times you like, or even have it sent two days before the gig, so you don’t loose it in your inbox!

I know this is hardly new technology here, and in fact it’s been around for a couple of years now; it’s just the potential isn’t being exploited enough.

Imagine for instance the ability to go to your local cinema, buy your ticket, and have it bluetoothed to your phone? You wouldn’t have to worry about finding the ticket when you need to leave for a toilet break, or even to replenish that popcorn you devoured during the adverts. And best of all… It’s environmentally friendly.

Have you ever thought about how much paper is wasted on cinema tickets each year? Well, to be honest, I haven’t; but in this age of loving trees, and saving wherever we can, surely this can only be the way forward.

Similarly, coupons and vouchers! More paper that need not be wasted with the mobile phone! All one would ever need is their mobile device, and we’re living cheaper, cleaner, and more greener lives.

The thing is I bet there are quite a few similar services out there, which are using innovative ideas and technology just like this. The problem is we rarely see any of it. They might go through a “beta phase”, but then cease to exist, or due to high advertising costs, struggle to get any attention whatsoever.

There are so many possibilities out there, and I’m sure there are people who have much better ideas than a paperless cinema; but it’s a start isn’t it? Plus, this doesn’t just benefit the environment, but financially we’re all better off. Paper costs money, and with the supply and demand for paper ever increasing, I can only imagine the cost slowly going up.

I want to know some of your ideas, so send them in to me at Samantha@smstextnews.com and the best will be posted next week.

Is MMS killing the postcard industry?

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

Is it just me or is the postal service having a rough time of it of late. First of all their main market dwindled massively when email began. Then, to top it off, Fox has just reported that MMS is killing the postcard industry.

According to the digital measurement firm comScore photo messaging climbed 60 per cent in the US and 16 per cent in Europe last year and summer holidays are apparently the reason.

60 per cent does seem a lot to blame on holiday snaps rather than the technology finally being adopted and I’ve not seen figures from postcard makers saying they’ve seen a corresponding reduction in sales. According to the release pasted onto Fox News:

As the mercury climbs in the summer months, so does the usage of photo messaging in the United States, where for the past three years, photo messaging rates have been higher than average in July and August.

“Summer vacations provide the perfect context for photo messaging, as the utility of instantly sharing a holiday moment with loved ones is undeniably compelling,” commented Mark Donovan, senior vice president, comScore Mobile Products. “The cameraphone could replace the postcard as the preferred mode to say ‘wish you were here,’ as even parents and grandparents are snapping and sending photos from their mobile devices.”

Admittedly I’m both cheap and lazy so rarely do either but a quick straw poll of friends suggest it might be true. At least they’ll arrive before you get back.

It would also be good to see the figures once new legislation comes into force to reduce the cost of sending an MMS from oversees.

BMI ditches paper plane tickets for MMS

Monday, May 26th, 2008

BMI has become the latest airline to consider ditching paper tickets for a mobile equivalent. According to the Glasgow Daily Record. The paper says the airline is trying a new system which works by sending a barcode to a passenger’s handset over MMS, which is then scanned at the boarding gate as well as when passing through airport security.

The mobile plane tickets were introduced last week in Edinburgh, with BMI set to expand the system – created by local company Real Time – to other Scottish airports including Glasgow and Aberdeen.

The Herald says that “dozens” of customers have tried the mobile boarding system since it was introduced. Dozens? Was it a slow week at BMI or is the airline not really pushing the mobile ticketing system? Surely, given that everyone carries a mobile with them at all times, it’s way more convenient to have a mobile ticket than a bit of paper that can get lost – there’s got to be more than a few dozen people willing to give the system a go.

US gets disaster warnings by SMS

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

What do people do during disasters? Turn to their mobiles, of course. The Federal Communications Commission has adopted a plan that will see mobile networks used to transmit alerts during disasters or emergencies.

The system, called the Commercial Mobile Alert Systems, will see texts sent to mobile users including, presidential alerts, imminent threat alerts and child abduction alerts and possibly in the future, video and audio messages. The system will also be set up to deliver the messages to the blind and deaf.

There are two questions here: during disasters, will the network hold up? Anyone who was in London during the 7/7 bombings will attest how impossible it was to use the network for calls, texts or anything else. So does that mean there will be a priority system set up to ensure these messages get through? And secondly, the system delivering presidential alerts. During a crisis, surely the last thing people want to see is a George Bush’s gurning mug on their mobiles?

Watch Greenpeace’s moblog coverage live from Terminal 5

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Heathrow Airport’s new terminal, ‘Terminal 5′ has been attracting a lot of attention of late, not least from environmental campaigners Greenpeace. They’re intimately acquainted with new technology and new media — here’s a good example: They’ve been using BAFTA nominated MoBlogUK’s system to deliver a blow-by-blow account of their Terminal 5 campaign today.

It’s not just pictures — but video too. Check it out here.

Vodafone unveils Otello MMS search engine

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Here’s a neat little piece of software out from Vodafone: a search engine that works by MMS. Instead of typing in your query, Vodafone’s Otello lets you take a snap with your cameraphone – of a building, for example, send it by picture message to the search engine. The results are then sent back to the user’s mobile.

Vodafone reckons that it will work regardless of cameraphone resolution or the angle, shade and lighting conditions of the photo. If Otello can’t match the pic up with any results, users can add their own suggestions to the search engine’s database.

It sounds like a clever way to get more people using MMS, rather than just taking pics and storing them on their phone. It looks like the software might still need a little tweaking: according to Reuters, Otello couldn’t recognise a picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was trying out the service at the CeBIT trade show.


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