texting

Perhaps someday we'll see a reboot of the 1952 Gene Kelly classic done as "Textin' in the Rain." To pull off the elaborately choreographed texting scenes, all the actors will need to be sporting Brolly umbrellas.

Let's consider how we handle umbrellas when we want to use our phones. We tuck them under armpits, fumble with them in our hands, and sometimes drop them in the process.

Brolly umbrellas are designed to keep your thumbs fancy free and at the ready for all your smartphone texting, Web searching, and e-mailing needs. Heck, you might even want them free for actually dialing and making voice calls.… Read more

The burden of being a teen never lightens. You think you've got studying cracked, when along comes dating. You think you've got dating cracked, when along come drugs.

And then there are music and clothes and gadgets to deal with. It's too much.

This might (or might not) offer some explanation as to why teens have started texting in their sleep. Yes, it's just like sleepwalking, except you can be really, really mean. LOL.… Read more

The Next Web has uncovered a bug in OS X that will crash the current application almost every time if invoked. Reportedly, in applications that support text entry fields, if you type the text "File:" followed by three forward slashes in the field to indicate a file address, then the program being used will freeze and then quit.

The bug is a problem in a core system service called Data Detectors that is responsible for handling dates and locations, part of which is a checking routine for an entered URL address. When you type information into programs that … Read more

Many programs, such as Microsoft Office, support their own interfaces for various fonts you may have installed on your Mac; however, many other programs like TextEdit and Apple's Pages use Apple's central Font panel to provide font management. This panel can usually be invoked by pressing Command-T in programs that support it, where you will be presented with a column-oriented view of font collections that you can navigate through, select, and set the size for.

While convenient for quickly selecting and setting font sizes, the Font panel also contains a number of additional features that can be applied … Read more

I have been barely able to sleep for concern about Laura Safe.

She is the radio newscaster who, last week, was so enamored of texting her lover, that she walked down some shopping mall steps and plunged into a canal.

As this happened in my hometown of Birmingham, England, I have been contacting those I still know there concerned that, perhaps, her radio voice might have become a little garbled or nervy after the escapade. … Read more

Trying to find parking in San Francisco sometimes feels likes a car-based version of "Survivor." It's not pretty. Cars block driveways, drivers forget to curb their wheels, lights get left on, and meters run out. These are all reasons why you might want to contact a vehicle's owner. If everyone in San Francisco signed up for CurbTXT, then it would be easy to get in touch.

Drivers can sign up for CurbTXT by registering their license plates and phone numbers. A sticker on the car gives people an anonymous way to contact the driver through text … Read more

Let's try and make some excuses.

She's a newscaster, so she's so used to focusing on words written down that she loses track of everything else.

She was texting her boyfriend, who is so astoundingly gorgeous that she would have walked through morning traffic in Manhattan just to send him an "LOL."

No, it's no good.

Laura Safe (this is, indeed, her real name) is the latest in the annals of people who almost did themselves permanent damage because they were too busy texting to see where they were going.

While one of the … Read more

Text messaging can add up very quickly, even if you have a plan through your phone service provider. For users in the Philippines, Chikka Text Messenger claims to offer free text messaging, but, sadly, we never made it past the Sign In page to find out how it performs.

To start, Chikka asks for access to your Contacts, which is typical of these types of apps. If you don't already have a Chikka account, you'll have to create one by using your Globe, Smart, or Sun mobile phone to register, or by entering your e-mail address. Because we … Read more

Fumbling with the small keyboard on your phone or searching for your phone when you need to text became a thing of the past with this app. Mighty Text allows you to send messages right from your computer without downloading any desktop clients. You don't have to memorize any of your friends' phone numbers, either. It's almost like having a SIM card in your PC or laptop.

The app works using your existing Google account and requires you to authorize the app on the Web. Once you do, all of your contact information, texts and calls are forwarded … Read more