Answering Service Blog | American Inbound

Scientists in Europe and the United States have found a new way to track humans comparable to the way they track animals and their movements in the wild! By looking at which towers carry an individual’s cell phone calls, scientists are able to look at the traveling habits of homo sapiens. Not surprisingly, we are a fairly boring species. The research suggests that most humans do not often roam far from home. We go to work, to the same stores, and back home again a majority of the time.

 To read more about the European research, Click Here.

To read more about Boston scientists’ research, Click Here.

Mobile instant messaging (MIM) is poised to take over SMS. MIM is very similar to SMS, in that you can send and receive text messages on your cell phone; however, MIM is capable of more flexibility.

MIM is simply an instant messaging program stored on your cell phone. Think of Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, AIM or MSN Messenger for mobiles.

MIM provides many benefits over SMS. SMS cannot store user information. When you send an SMS, you can only tell the telephone number you are texting. With MIM, configurable profiles are available. These can provide information such as names, email addresses, home addresses, or any other info the messaging service provides.

Matthew Kirk points out on Textually.org:

“Of every 100 messages - including texts, emails and picture messages - sent by users without mobile instant messaging from their mobile phone or computer, 38 are text messages. Once consumers start using mobile instant messaging, the number of texts falls to 23 per 100.”

This Sunday AT&T will be releasing a new service to transmit TV channels to your cell phone. The service will cost $15 a month and provides 10 channels for your viewing: CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go, Nickelodeon, PIX (a movie channel), and CNN Mobile Live.

Unfortunately, the service is only available for two of the newest cell phones on the market: The LG Vu, and the Samsung Access. However, they mention that other TV-ready phones will be released in the future.

It is now possible to anonymously report crime tips to the authorities. mBlox, the largest mobile network, and Anderson Software, LLC, a leader in law enforcement tip software, are teaming to provide this service on a nationwide basis.

The application is very secure and it is encrypted, which allows the investigator to have two-way correspondence while maintaining the user’s anonymity.

TipSoft is currently deployed in 16 Canadian cities and they are currently launching in 32 US cities. Service will also be available soon throughout the UK.

Diet.com has unique service for mobile phone users. Anyone with a cellphone can text a quick message containing a restaurant item to DIET1 (34381), and they will text you back with its nutritional content.

A text with the message of “mcdonalds southwest chicken salad” will give you data on its calories, fat, carbs, and protein content. It’s true that most of restaurants keep nutritional information behind the register, but many times it is inconvenient to check. When ordering take-out on the road, for instance.

Skype has released a ‘mini’ beta version of its service, this time, for cell phones. As of now you can only place outgoing calls if you live in Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Sweden, or the U.K.

Skype expects beta testing to last several months, and there is no word when all service locations will be able to receive full functionality.

Interested parties should visit Skype’s site and download the beta version of the program available for their cell phone.

Dubai: Taxi-goers in Dubai now have an alternative to manually hailing cabs. The method they’re pioneering is SMS.

They’re designing this system to help passengers who want to order a taxi when waiting on the street. The neat part is they’re installing small boards around the city with location numbers on them. When you text for a taxi, you give the dispatcher the number on the sign closest to you.  They will respond will your reservation number which you give to them upon their arrival.

Samsung is kicking it in to high gear.  They’ve developed brand new battery technology that will allow gadgets to be powered off of water.  Yes ordinary water.  Cnet has written an explanation of this high-tech wizardry on their site. 

Battery life will comprable to current lithium ion batteries.

“According to Oh Yong-soo, vice president of Samsung Electronics Mechanics’ research centre, the new battery could last for up to 10 hours, adding that based on four hours of use daily on average, the hydrogen cartridge will have to be replaced about every five days. ”
 

Well, assuming you live in South Africa.   Starting April 17, residents of Johannesburg, Cape Town, the Free State, Swellendam, and Paarl can check their traffic fines with their cellphone.

Apparently it’s as easy as texting “Register” then your ID number to 34010.  You will shortly receive a response listing all of your unpaid traffic fines. 

Very nifty.  It would be nice if we could get a similar service set up over on this side of the Atlantic.

 ”This service will no doubt go a long way towards making it more accessible and convenient for motorists to check their outstanding fines,” says Wayne Minnaar, the service’s representative spokesperson. 

VoIP can save you money on all types of telephone calls. Originally this could only be done with a computer and an internet line. However, there are several more options available now. Check Techcrunch’s list of VoIP providers for cell phones. They have also written up an excellent guide to the VoIP world. So if you haven’t heard of ViOP at all, their article is a great place to start.