Clickatell saves customers up to 20%

SMS Text messages continues to grow in the business market as well as a handy way for friends and family to keep in touch.

Clickatell was one of the first companies to make a business out of offering worldwide SMS text messaging as a business tool.

Clickatell offers cheaper SMS texting worldwide and an easy to use service that is just as simple as sending a email. As staff and workstations are continuing to become more mobile, SMS texts are a great way to communicate.

www.webitpr reports on SMS text growth in the future;

SMS volumes around the world are poised to reach 1,000 billion in 2005, and a massive 2.38 trillion in 2010, according to Portio Research’s latest report, “Mobile messaging futures, 2005 – 2010”. Indeed, the research house said that 761 billion SMS were sent in 2004 – that’s over 100 messages for every man, woman and child on the planet.

M2M: When machines talk back, it's a good thing

M2M will change the world more than most people realise. The key reason for this is that so many different industries will experience efficiency gains from M2M. A recent article on manufacturing.net looks at M2M development and which sectors will be effected the most over the next 5 years.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, interconnecting physical assets with each other and with people, is predicted to exceed $250 billion by 2010, according to Harbor Research estimates cited at the recent “M2M In Action: Strategy Summit & Networking Event” in Chicago. (No current M2M market value was provided.) Whatever the number, the enormity seems understandable, since M2M seems to incorporate residential, commercial, personal device communications, as well as multiple industrial categories, including industrial networks, wireless communications, data acquisition, monitoring, human-machine interfaces, and the related hardware, software, and services, across all industries.

True power hikers create electricity while on the trail

Electricity on the go!
The latest product to come out of the USA is a backpack that creates its on power.

If is not a lot, but sufficient to run and mp3 player, GPS, Cell phone or night vision goggles.

The chron.com said on how the backpack works;

The up-and-down motion caused by walking powers a small generator, producing electricity that can be used directly or stored in a capacitor or battery.

Big-Brother device keeps drinkers off the streets

Remote monitoring is becoming very popular. AIN has assisted in cases where remote monitoring of water ways have saved time for technicians traveling to check them.

But this is something new, remote monitoring people for drinking to save lives. Drink drive offenders are now being remotely monitored to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

indystar.com reviews the device that is being trailed in the USA

The device is called SCRAM, which stands for secure, continuous, remote alcohol-monitoring device. It includes two plastic boxes strapped to an offender's ankle. One box sniffs out any alcohol by sucking up sweat. The other has a computer that sends the information to a modem linked to the offender's phone, which sends a message to probation officials by the Internet

Colesmyer printer health monitored inside the matrix

Coles Myer have jumped on the M2M train and

allowed 300 of its printers to be analysed from one central PC to make sure each individual one has sufficient paper and the correct configuration

accoriding to an article in idm.com. The system can record the ribbon life and paper levels of each printer and send email and SMS alerts to the key staff when things need to be topped up or fixed.

SMS man: He has sent 5.25 lakh messages

An man in India is trying to make the Guiness Book of World Record for the largest number of SMS messages sent in a day.

Expressindia said that the man has been

Using his Rs 99 unlimited SMS pack, he has been sending 18,000 messages per day, with an average of 1,000 messages per hour. Deepak, who owns the 6600 Nokia mobile, sends all the 1,000 messages at one go. It takes three seconds for each message to be dispatched.

Some people must have too much time on their hands!

Mobiles to track your kids

In a news item earlier this year we have profiled hte new tracking system through the use of cell phones and gprs.

With this technology parents can now keep and eye on the whereabouts of their children.

thesun.co.uk covers the release of the product.

The KidsOK system, backed by a leading children’s charity, tracks the whereabouts of youngsters’ handsets to within 500 metres.

Parents who register for the scheme simply text a five-digit number to receive a full description and map of the location on their phone.

Police Warn Public On Two Scams

Police are warning public in Brunei of an SMS scams. Like the email scams of the last 5 years, this tries to trick people into thinking they have won a lot of money.

The police have also received information from the public regarding a scam that is being sent through the Short Messaging Service (SMS) from the Philippines.

These SMSs feature messages regarding D'PHIL CHARITY, SWEEPSTAKES and many more informing recipients that they have won a lottery draw involving a large sum of money.

These fake SMSs also inform recipients that they must send B$1,000 as an advance payment to process the `money' they have won.

Click on the link above to read more.

Your SMS can light up city roads

Who would of thought getting street lights repaired could soon be right at your finger tips. SMS the ID code of the light to have it repaired.

Expressindia.com looked into the idea to help improve the current service.

In the proposal that is awaiting approval, the traffic police have recommended a system whereby a unique ID will be painted boldly on each pole.

The complaints can be sent through SMS citing the ID number to a server that will compile the data with the help of a special software. The complaint number will be sent back automatically to the cellphone of the complainant.

It will be interesting to see if this takes off and people buy into this system. The set up of the ID tag for each post could a costly exercise.

Time management made easy

New Zealand based company ECONZ Wireless have made time management easy for people on the go.

Logging in or out, and when breaks are had is easily monitored by recording this info in cell phones.

Cell phones then connect to the internet to record this time for office staff at near real time.

The company behind Timecard, New Zealand-based ECONZ Wireless, says its target market is small companies whose repairmen, consultants, sales staff or other in-the-field employees would like to track their billable hours without resorting to excessive paperwork.

This is a good product for a company on the move to look into. Benefit to the boss, track staff and increase efficiency. Benefit to the workers, less paper work!

AIN ECAN Forum presentation notes

Phase 2 of the ECAN Water Monitoring Trial was a discussion forum on the trials. Over sixty people attended the day from many organisations including district/regional councils, irrigation companies (MICO, Rainers etc), consultants (IRRICON, URS etc), interested groups (Federated Farmers, DEXCEL, MFE etc), and sections within Environment Canterbury. We gave a 30 minute presentation to the group on datalogging and data collection. The notes from this presentation is now available to be viewed online. Click on the link above to take a look.

UK business text growth ahead of consumer growth for the first time

SMS is establishing itself as a permanent fixture in business communications around the world. Texting is now not something just friends and family do to keep in touch.

According to Mike Grenville for 160characters.org, O2 Business Trending Index finds that;

Business SMS however looks set to show more consistent and steady growth as more and more employees across the UK adopt SMS as a viable communication option.

In 2000, the Mobile Data Association found that 19 million messages were sent daily. In February 2005, that figure had reached an average of 75 million a day, a massive increase that can be attributed in part to increasing take up of SMS for business purposes.

Fingerprint reading at forefront of security

Data collection is taking place everywhere. Now what is more important than collecting data itself, is what we do with that data. That includes keeping this data secure. Passwords can be stolen or guessed and locks can be picked. Data in the wrong hands is dangerous for businesses and individuals.

Markets are now looking to biometric solutions to help protect this data. Finger print readers and eye scanners are now being introduced on PCs, doors and even being developed for cell phones.

nzherald.co.nz article said:

Some notebooks already have built-in fingerprint readers, so only the authorised user can access the data. Other computer users can take advantage of relatively inexpensive fingerprint readers which can be plugged into a USB port.

Security vendors are scrambling to create biometric pads for mobile phones, which can be packed with sensitive data.

The Battery That Truly Keeps on Going

Watch out Eveready, the battery that keeps on going for longer may be just round the corner.

A recent article on csemay.com fills us in on where the battery market may be heading. The breakthrough in long life batteries is discussed in this article, part of which can be seen below.

A direct energy conversion (DEC) cell—also called a betavoltaics-based “nuclear” battery—is not only microscopic in size, but also could run for more than a decade on the electrons generated by the natural decay of the radioactive isotope tritium. Such devices convert low levels of radiation into electricity and can have useful lives spanning several decades.

Just think of the benefits of a battery that can last for the lifetime of a device. For M2M applications this could be very useful. Remote location systems would benefit greatly from a battery of this type. This could remove the need to have solar power generation or onsite visits to charge batteries on a regular basis.

eCos finds a home in home security

Linuxdevices.com displayed the eCos Home Securer on its website as a feature article recently. Linux Devices identifies key features of the Home Securer that include the ability to:

report status, send logged data, and be configured remotely via SMS messages, data connection (the GSM can be used in modem mode), or GPRS. It features caller-ID for voice calls and can respond to requests sent within SMS messages....

Additionally, the device's built-in software includes support for analog and digital I/O interfaces, threshold settings, timers, and functional operators (IF, THEN, ELSE, and WHILE). The analog and digital ports can be used for security, environmental, lighting, moisture, and other sensor and control interfacing purposes.

Advanced Information Networks SecureSite is a package that offers similar features to that of the Home Securer. SecureSite is built into an enclosure and offers intruder notification to cell phone, remote control via cell phone and input sensor monitoring and logging. As the package is built round AIN's XE8000 SMS Controller, control of additional outputs such as door locks would also be possible.