T-Mobile Claims Right to Censor Text Messages

T-Mobile told a federal judge Wednesday it may pick and choose which text messages to deliver on its network in a case weighing whether wireless carriers have the same "must carry" obligations as wire-line telephone providers.

The Bellevue, Washington-based wireless service is being sued by a texting service claiming T-Mobile stopped servicing its "short code" clients after it signed up a California medical marijuana dispensary. In a court filing, T-Mobile said it had the right to pre-approve EZ Texting's clientele, which it said the New York-based texting service failed to submit for approval.

EZ Texting offers a short code service, which works like this: A church could send its schedule to a cell phone user who texted "CHURCH" to 313131. Mobile phone users only receive text messages from EZ Texting's customers upon request. Each of its clients gets their own special word.

T-Mobile, the company wrote in a filing (.pdf) in New York federal court, "has discretion to require pre-approval for any short-code marketing campaigns run on its network, and to enforce its guidelines by terminating programs for which a content provider failed to obtain the necessary approval."

Such approval is necessary, T-Mobile added, "to protect the carrier and its customers from potentially illegal, fraudulent, or offensive marketing campaigns conducted on its network."

It's the first federal case testing whether wireless providers may block text messages they don't like.

The legal flap comes as the Federal Communications Commission has been dragging its feet over clarifying the rules for wireless carriers. The FCC was asked in 2007 to announce clear rules whether wireless carriers, unlike their wireline brethren, may ban legal content they do not support. The so-called "network neutrality" issue made huge headlines last month, when Google, along with Verizon, urged Congress not to bind wireless carriers to the same rules as wireline carriers.

EZ Texting claims it will go out of business if a judge does not promptly order T-Mobile to transmit its texts. T-Mobile accounts for 15 percent of the nation's wireless subscribers.

A similar text-messaging flap occurred in 2007, but ended without litigation, when Verizon reversed itself and allowed an abortion-rights group to send text messages to its supporters.

Is the notebook dying?

Yes. You can scream all you want, but yes, the notebook is dying.

First it was the death of the netbook, and now analysts are piling on Best Buy's CEO remarks about iPad cannibalizing laptop sales by 50%.

Morgan Stanley notes that notebook's year-over-year growth has been negative for the first time ever this August. They have gone as far as saying that: "Tablet cannibalization"—chiefly by Apple's (AAPL) iPad—is at least partially responsible."

That growth is negative doesn't mean that notebooks are not selling anymore. We don't even know if the pattern will keep going on for 2011, although chances are that it will. But there is a pattern now, one that is completely new. Right now, the laptop market is not growing anymore.

In fact, growth has been steadily decreasing since March—even while new, faster, cheaper laptops have been introduced since then. The incoming September numbers show another 4% decrease. That's one of the reasons why manufacturers like Dell, Samsung, and HP are racing to get their own tablets in the market before Apple becomes unstoppable in this new computing world. If you think that HP wasn't thinking about this trend when they bought Palm, you are seriously mistaken.

The end of the laptop

So, are tablets the end of the laptop? Perhaps it is too early to tell now—even with the loud and clear numbers—but yes, yes they are. Eventually, it will happen. New computing formats have been replacing old computing formats since the beginning of the information era. Just a few years ago, some people couldn't believe the desktop market was going to become stagnant. But it did, and today many people only use laptops.

The same will happen with tablets.

Laptops will not disappear. Not now, not right away. Like the desktop, they will survive for years on different industries and enterprises. Eventually, however, I'm sure they will vanish completely except for a very few specialized niches, just like they have disappeared for many workforces who have moved from traditional computer platforms to smart phones. Gene Roddenberry was right.

So what will happen with the keyboard, you ask? I can't type on a tablet! Well, I write for a living, so I understand that concern. I know I will keep using keyboards until new input methods replace them.

But now think about the immensity of people who, unlike you and me, don't touch a keyboard at all or touch it just barely, to send "hey, see you at 5! LOL! xxxooo" mails or write Facebook messages or chat with contracted words and emoticons. Think about the majority of people who, outside their work offices, never touch and don't want to touch a keyboard. Think about the amount of the huge amount of blue collar workers who don't use computers in their work, just depend on their phones to communicate. Think about the increasing number of office workers who have moved from desktops and laptops to their smart phones. And in addition to all those, think about that big majority of consumers who don't give damn about computers.

For those people, tablets are indeed the future. Because that's really all their need in their digital lives: A way to easily get their entertainment, communicate with others, and access their memories. And as tablets evolve, connecting to cameras, camcorders, smart phones, printers and AV systems, becoming hubs rather than just the end of a chain, that future will come even sooner than expected. Full Article via [Fortune]

Disaster Recovery Tip #34

The First 72 Hours.

What were you doing five years ago today? If you lived in southern Florida, you may have been recovering from a Category 1 Hurricane that crossed over the state earlier in the week. But on August 27, 2005, this storm - better known as Katrina - was gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico and would devastate New Orleans on Monday, August 29th (click to see and hear the stories of a few Agility members).

Five years later, as the rebuilding continues, there’s no better time than the present to think about how best to prepare ourselves for another event of this scale. As FEMA recommends, we all need to be prepared with adequate supplies for the critical first 72 hours after a disaster. This includes operating under the assumption that utilities (phone, electricity, gas, etc.) as well as public safety (police and fire departments) may be unavailable. FEMA recommends keeping on hand: food, drinking water, a first aid kit, a working fire extinguisher, flashlights with batteries, and a weather radio. And that's just to get started.

Agility is incredibly privileged to have an expert speak on this very subject next week - Former FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison will kick off Agility’s National Preparedness Month program with a free webinar, “Can you go alone for 72 hours?” on this Wednesday, September 1st. To register, please click here.

Disaster Recovery Tip #33

Spread the word.

Last week we discussed how social media can help companies communicate with the public and customers during disasters. This week we're focusing on the internal communication benefits that social media offers through the often overlooked resource of SMS messaging.

We know that cellular networks are often crippled during a disaster by increased traffic and sometimes even physical damage to the network infrastructure. Many times the only information able to sneak through overloaded systems are small packets of data like those in text messages.

Setting up a protected Twitter account for employees and instructing them on how receive mobile updates is one way to build a free text messaging resource. Whether it's about a delayed opening due to icy roads, or that your building has burned down (GULP), a Tweet can spread the word simply and efficiently.

Another alternative is Agility's own Alert Notification System (available to Member's free with every ReadySuite package). Agility's Alert Notification system can send both SMS and email alerts at the touch of the button.

Disaster Recovery Tip #32

Speak out.

Besides revolutionizing interpersonal communication, the social media movement has found its way into businesses in a short amount of time. But how can organizations use social media when developing their disaster recovery plan?

Over the next two weeks we'll discuss some ways that you can use free online resources to improve your response during an interruption. This week we're focusing on the public relations benefits that social media can bring.

One thing your business can do immediately is to setup Facebook and/or Twitter accounts, and recommend that all employees, suppliers and even customers follow them. Why? During an interruption, a representative can send out status updates using just a mobile device, and instantaneously bring people up to speed on the operating status of the company. Last year AT&T used Twitter as their primary means of communication with the outside world during a disaster and benefited by being seen as forthcoming and more transparent to their customers. On the flipside, ignoring social media and not using it effectively has the potential to be horribly damaging to a business.

Disaster Recovery Tip #31

Keep learning.

In today's fast-paced environment, it's hard to find time for continued education. But the world of business continuity is constantly evolving and Agility strives to keep you ahead of the pack. That is why we (Agility) offer free educational webinars and other opportunities to hear and learn from some of the best in the business.

Phone lines surviving natural disater

This is not a Photoshop. It's not an optical trick. And it's not an illustration. It's just a simply great photo taken near the Linevo village, in the Volgograd region of Russia.

A wild firestorm went through the village and its surroundings, destroying 80 houses. Nobody knows what was the origin, but at least the phone lines are still working. [Igor Podgorny via English Russia]

Google Instant Search

It will take a couple days for Google Instant to be available to everyone on Google.com. Check back soon if you do not see it yet.

Try It Now

or, set Google as your homepage

Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search

seconds

Average Time to Enter a Search With Google Instant Before Google Instant

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way.

Benefits

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.

Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.

RIM Wants Billboards That Know How Fast You're Driving

You're flying down the highway at 70MPH and you notice a billboard that reads "LIFE'S BETTER WITH BBM." The next day, crawling along that same stretch during a traffic jam, the billboard enumerates a BlackBerry's many features. That's RIM's vision.

In a patent filing for "Adaptive roadside billboard system and related methods" (there's one for pedestrian billboards, too), RIM looks to make the most of those huge LED ads by making them aware of the speed at which you're passing them by. The idea, roughly: the slower you're going, the more dense the advertising they're showing.

RIM mentions several methods for tracking traffic speed near the ads, including using the GPS sensors in commuters' mobile phones, though it's still a kind of a curious idea coming from a major phone manufacturer. But I've already figured out how to beat their system: drive faster. [Unwired View] via Gizmodo.

GMail Priority Inbox

Get through your email faster

Email is great, except when there’s too much of it. Priority Inbox automatically identifies your important email and separates it out from everything else, so you can focus on what really matters.

Automatic sorting

Gmail uses a variety of signals to identify important email, including which messages you open and which you reply to.

Sections keep you organized

Incoming email gets separated into sections: important and unread, starred, and everything else. Don’t like these? Customize them.

Predictions improve over time

Over time, Priority Inbox gets better at predicting what’s important to you. You can help train it using the buttons.

Read more here.