Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA, just announced that they are reactivating Text 2Help for the SoCal fires.

The national Text 2HELP Initiative is a partnership between The Wireless Foundation and the American Red Cross that allows customers of participating wireless carriers to send a text message to the American Red Cross and make a donation for relief efforts during a major natural disaster.

Wireless phone subscribers can send a text message to “2HELP” (24357) containing the word “GIVE” and a $5 tax-deductible donation will be made to the American Red Cross for disaster relief efforts. Donations will appear on customers’ monthly bills or be debited from a prepaid account balance.

Press Release 

We’ve all done it, pressed send on a call to a friend on the other side of the world in the middle of the night, not quite realizing it is so late/early there. More often times than not, I am the recipient of early morning calls from people who have forgotten I have moved to the west coast. A new piece of software, Time Translator attempts to fix this problem by flashing the caller the local time of the recipient before the call goes through.

I love the idea, however Time Translator bases local time on the area code, not on location of the phone. Because of that, I feel the product is sub par.

1) With number portability, people often move outside their area code. So a user like me, who has moved from NY to LA would still receive annoying early morning calls because callers would think I am 3 hours ahead of my actual time.

2) It also doesn’t take into account people who often travel. Again, someone like me who is back and forth a lot between the east and west coasts could really benefit from a service like this, but Time Translator simply doesn’t base time zones on dynamic data.

Time Translator plans to release a location based service at a later time. In an email with TT, they stated that “Until we take on this project we are counting on the fact that most people turn off their cell phones when they are asleep. Hopefully we will not have to count on that for long.”

Sources: Textually, Pocket Picks, and an email with the company.

With my new job, I now feel like I live in airports. I am often running late and rushing around… so anything to speed the travel process up would be greatly appreciated. According to the SF Chronicle airline boarding passes will be moving to my cell phone screen.

The International Air Transport Association, which represents 240 airlines, said it has taken a step toward allowing passengers to check in for flights using a bar code sent to their cell phones via e-mail or text message, making the process truly paperless.

According to the association’s plan, passengers would register their mobile phone, personal digital assistant or smart phone when buying a ticket. They would receive a text message with a bar code, or instructions to download it. The bar code would become the passenger’s boarding pass and it would be read directly from the screen of the mobile device, said the association.

U.S. carriers were among those who signed off on the standard for the bar code, but implementation of the plan in this country will require authorization by authorities including the Transportation Security Administration, which requires passengers show a photo identification and boarding pass, noted Steve Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association in Washington.

Frankly, I hope American Airlines adopts this soon. Checking in during my taxi ride to the airport could really save a lot of time, especially at LAX on the early morning flights.

A month ago my friend Ken Banks of Kiwanja launched a competition that encourages grassroots NGOs in developing countries to submit ideas on ways they could use text messaging in their work. This can be in health, human rights, the environment, activism, education or whatever. The best four entries will win laptop computers, Nokia phones, GSM modems and $1,000 in cash, courtesy of a range of sponsors which include Hewlett Packard, Nokia and Wieden+Kennedy. I think its a worth wile cause on many fronts. Visit www.ngomobile.org for more info via http://www.saidia.org/2007/09/18/ngos-going-mobile/ http://whiteafrican.com/?p=748

Technorati Tags: kiwanja, mobile, mobile, ngo