Americans are giving an unprecedented amount of money toward Haitian earthquake relief efforts via SMS. As of this afternoon, more than $5 million has been donated via text messaging, according to Verizon Wireless .
Verizon says that within two days Americans have donated more money to the American Red Cross's relief efforts than all U.S. SMS donations in 2009.
These types of donations work when a cellular subscriber sends a text message to a specific SMS number. In the U.S., $10 is donated to the Red Cross when an SMS is transmitted to 90999, and the amount is added to the subscriber's monthly bill.
Of course, there are many ways to donate and provide other assistance via the wired Internet, as Rob Salkowitz writes.
I'd like to see more charitable organizations promote cellular-based donations as well as taking advantage of cellular for distributing information. Perhaps the Haitian disaster will help some of the laggards realize the value of cellular.
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previous posts from Alan Reiter's Wireless Web World
Beginning today, Google Offers is sponsoring free WiFi at eight US shopping malls and discounted WiFi at 16 US airports. The service is provided by Boingo Wireless, but there's a downside to the promotion.
Dunkin' Donuts has released a mobile payments application for Android and iOS devices that's similar to the Starbucks app, but with an extra feature of gifting. The Dunkin' Donuts software got me thinking about store apps versus platform mobile wallet apps.
The CTIA is changing its fall conference and exhibition to focus exclusively on enterprises. The event has evolved from giving equal weight to consumer and business issues to emphasizing business.
With the enterprise-only target, the show has changed its name from CTIA Enterprise and Applications to MobileCON. I think it would have been better to use a title like MobileCON Enterprise, rather than a generic name that doesn't highlight the business focus.
MobileCON will be held October 9-11 at the San Diego Convention Center, with pre-conference seminars and tutorials on October 8.
Google is laying off 4,000 Motorola Mobility employees, closing a third of its 94 global offices, and tightening the unit's focus on smartphones, the New York Times reports. In the medium-to-long term, this could be good for Motorola and Google, enterprises, and consumers.
A trip to South America shows me that third-world nations depend totally on mobile broadband because it's too expensive to drive wireline to all. Might we in the First World also be confronted with that issue?
Sean Smith, a US Foreign Service IT manager, gave his life in service of his country and the world. His life and death are a humbling example for all of us who work in IT.
With the advent of low-cost Web cameras and broadband network connections, home security systems have become a hot business. In addition to traditional security suppliers, like ADT, the market is attracting telcos, cable companies, and energy providers, thereby creating an area of increasing competition.
The iPhone has created a new form of the 80/20 rule, according to AT&T, which claims only 3% of iPhone users generate 40% of wireless traffic. But is that really a justification for usage caps and pricing tiers? What did AT&T think was going to happen with the iPhone pricing plan, and are they shoveling something else at us now that we're hooked?
Cellular operators, netbook manufacturers, and, of course, techies, have been eagerly awaiting a hands-on experience with Nokia's new netbook, the Booklet 3G. Reiter's got his hands on one, and tells you whether it's worth the wait.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
ITRC found that more than 600 security breaches took place in 2012. Flaws were found in some of the nation's most respected companies: Apple, Citibank, and Wells Fargo. So, it seems the bad guys are doing better than the men in the white hats.
Cisco's rumored sale of Linksys suggests we may have problem with innovation and profit at the edge of our Internet, and that could be critical to the evolution of many Internet-delivered services.
The FBI recently issued a warning to smartphone users, highlighting two mobile malware applications: Loozfan, which steals personal information, and FinFisher, which is spyware that takes over a smartphone's functions.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
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