Cell Bytes

Popular blogging service WordPress.com has just added a new feature that lets users interact with their blogs via SMS text messaging. Only available to users in the U.S. so far.

[via Mashable]

Is Venture Beat comparing apples and oranges?

According to this blog post, the daily audience for apps that run on Apple?s iOS operating system (for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad) has now surpassed 19 million users, who spend an average of 22 minutes per day using these apps, according to one measure.

That means the audience for the iOS devices is now bigger than NBC?s Sunday Night Football and is just shy of the audience for ABC?s Dancing with the Stars.

…Some apps such as Angry Birds, which has sold more than 7 million paid copies, are similar to TV shows, with regular updates coming out just as TV shows air new episodes.

Read full article.

British cell-phone maker INQ is developing phones that make it easy for owners to use Spotify, an online music service that’s amassed millions of users in Europe. Business Week reports.

INQ’s phones are currently available in seven countries. Two of INQ’s planned smartphones will become available through AT&T in the U.S. mid-next year, three people told Bloomberg in September. The phones, which will land on store shelves in Europe next spring, will make it easier to access services from social network Facebook, as well as several other Web sites, one of the people said.

Read full article.

Street Savings, a leading innovator in mobile marketing, has released a white paper addressing a headline issue: short code shutdowns.

Recently, several companies’ short code services have been terminated for non-compliance. These service terminations and the resulting legal proceedings illustrate the risks for many small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) if they do not understand industry rules surrounding text message mobile marketing programs or the consequences of non-compliance.

The white paper, “Text Message Mobile Marketing: Risks for Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), Agents, and SMBs Involved with Non-Compliant Programs” is available at www.streetsavings.com/news.asp.

[The Green Sheet via @ChasRamer]

President Obama signed legislation Friday designed to expand access to television, the internet and various other telecommunications technologies for Americans with disabilities.

The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act is designed, among other things, to update closed captioning and video description services. It is also meant to improve the dissemination of emergency information to people with disabilities in the event of a crisis.

[via CNN]

According to The Washington Post, The Federal Communications Commission wants cellphone customers to know: It can hear you now.

Next week, the agency will unveil a proposal to address “bill shock” by requiring that carriers notify users of overcharges and sudden increases in their bills.

Read full article.

According to a survey by research group comScore’s MobiLens, only 40% of Japanese send text messages, while two-thirds of Americans and 82% of Europeans engage in short message service, or SMS. Why is this?

The Japanese just prefer to send emails. The report says 54% of Japanese send emails from their phones, compared with 28% of Americans and 19% of Europeans.

Read full article in The Wall Street Journal.

Dutch research organisation IMEC this week demonstrated a new type of wireless body area network (BAN). New Scientist reports.

Dubbed the Human++ BAN platform, the system converts IMEC’s ultra-low-power electrocardiogram sensors into wireless nodes in a short-range network, transmitting physiological data to a hub – the patient’s cellphone.

From there, the readings can be forwarded to doctors via a Wi-Fi or 3G connection. They can also be displayed on the phone or sound an alarm when things are about to go wrong, giving patients like me a chance to try to slow our heart rates and avoid an unnecessary shock.

Besides helping those already diagnosed with chronic conditions, BANs could be used by people at risk of developing medical problems.

Read full article.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announces the launch of mWomen (video link).

mWomen is about bringing together women and mobile technology to advance gender equality and global development, and as a result of that marriage, a better world for all of us.

… We are developing an innovative program that addresses the particular needs of women. For example, we are in the early stages of developing an idea we are calling Mobile Justice to help women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where sexual violence against women occurs at a horrific rate. In many parts of that country the police and court systems have disintegrated, so women who are attacked have no way to get justice. They can’t even realistically travel to the urban centers where courts have been reestablished. But these cell phones give women the ability to collect evidence and record and transmit their testimony, so women in rural areas may be able to bring justice to them.

Read full transcript of Clinton’s speech. Image from Cherie Blair Foundation.

Previously: – Tomorrow’s Youth Organization (TYO) has partnered with The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and Souktel in a project that aims to empower women entrepreneurs by supplying them with the latest mobile technologies. Link

I’ve gotten bored with concept phones, but this one caught my eye. The Nokia E-Cu by Patrick Hyland let’s you recharge in your pocket.

[via Inhabitat]