An article in the New York Times looks at the dangers of text messaging while driving. The (overly?) lengthy report suggests that this growing trend is as dangerous as driving intoxicated and has already taken several lives in car accidents.
Extensive research shows the dangers of distracted driving. Studies say that drivers using phones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers, and the likelihood that they will crash is equal to that of someone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level, the point at which drivers are generally considered intoxicated. Research also shows that hands-free devices [...]

As the phone call increasingly becomes an antiquated form of communication, text, instant message and email conversations have stepped in to fill the void, enabled by the ubiquity of our digital devices. And while the distraction of one-sided eavesdropping might be a thing of the past, the NY Times wonders if these new methods of chatting are any less offensive to those not “listening” in.
Regardless of your own feelings on the matter, it appears that smartphone use – anytime, anywhere – is gaining growing acceptance within the business community. In a connected world that thrives on immediacy, the prevailing attitude [...]

The Economist, the international affairs magazine, recently established a market for subscriptions in India through a unique SMS marketing campaign.  The tiny share of The Economist in India’s news media marketplace drove the magazine’s utilization of a miniaturized mobile news update.
Every day at 11 a.m. the magazine would issue a free summary of headline news and accompanying links to a new mobile updates channel.  The snippets of interesting stories brought mobile readers to the newsstand, bringing sales up by 15%.  Over the course of the year, The Economist increased circulation in India by 39% and subscriptions by 26%.  Campaign India [...]

ThatsNotCool.com seems like a straight up humorous site at first. They have a selection of funny e-cards that can be sent to give a hint to the stalkers, over-sharers and incessant communicators in your life. But the site actually has a deeper purpose.
Unplggd reports:
ThatsNotCool.com is a public service partnership between the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), the Ad Council and the Office of Violence Against Women. They want to educate viewers on one of the pressing social issues of the time, abuse of this massive web of communication we’ve built.
The Callout Cards are meant to be a no-pressure way for [...]

In today’s hyper-connected world, news and information can come from anywhere, at any time. No longer do television, newspapers and even mainstream websites have a lock on reporting what’s happening around the globe. When reporting is as simple as sending a Twitter update, we all can be a kind of new school journalist.
A story that comes out of the recent Israeli-Palestine conflict brilliantly illustrates this state of affairs. As an Israeli ban on reporters in the Gaza strip has severely limited the amount of information coming out of the area, a series of text messages from Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert [...]

In a press release detailing the perils of texting at the wheel, SayType just announced their speech-to-text service that enables hands-free texting, email and internet search. What really caught our eye, though, was a service called “license plate messaging”. Here’s how it works:
Say “Plate” then begin with the license plate number. e.g. 7k66665, then continue with your message, you left your car door open and your lights on. To add a license plate number, or add/modify/remove contact information, visit www.whyhonk.com.
WhyHonk marks the emergence of a truly “mobile” social network. You can send a voice message to any car you see [...]