Average length of U.S. mobile calls drops as text and data use surges

CLICK to read article on Yahoo! News

"Make no mistake: As a nation, we still love talking on our cell phones. After all, a grand total of 2.26 trillion wireless minutes in 12 months —equivalent to an amazing 4-plus million years, if my math is correct — is nothing to sneeze at.

But according to the trade group that represents the nation’s wireless industry, the length of the average U.S. mobile call was just 1.67 minutes in the first half of 2010, only the second time that the average wireless chat fell below two minutes since 1993, when the CTIA began tracking these things.

The first time was in the latter half of 2009, when the average nonroaming wireless call was just 1.81 minutes. Just four years ago, the average length of a wireless chat was nearly three minutes. Interesting. (You can check out a PDF of the results right here.)

Meanwhile, U.S. mobile subscribers are texting more than ever: 1.8 trillion — yes, trillion — text messages in the past 12 months, up a good 33 percent from a year earlier, according to the CTIA.

Let’s put that in perspective, shall we? Say the average text message is about, oh, 80 characters or so (just half the 160-character limit for SMS messages), or about 16 words each (assuming the average word is five letters long). And let’s say the average, full-length book is about 100,000 words in length. Punch those numbers in, and you’ll find that as a whole, the nation’s cell phone users sent the equivalent of 288 million books via SMS in one year — a very rough estimate, no doubt, but still. Compare that with the Library of Congress, whose shelves hold a mere 21 million books.

We’re also sending a lot more picture messages: 56.3 billion between June 2009 and last June — a mere fraction of the 1.8 trillion SMS messages sent during the same period, mind you, but a figure that nearly triples CTIA results for the previous 12-month period.

Mobile data use is up, too, with U.S. wireless users sending and receiving about 161.5 billion megabytes of data in just seven months, up nearly 50 percent compared with the second half of 2009.

On the other hand, the number of mobile minutes we used in the past year — again, 2.26 trillion minutes — rose less than 1 percent compared with the total for the year-ago period (2.24 trillion minutes).

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Online Personal Trainers Give On Demand Access to Highly Motivated Clients

Online Personal Trainers Give On Demand Access to Highly Motivated Clients: "FitOrbit, leading internet-based personal training and workout and meal planning service, presents the results from its recent survey of one hundred online personal trainers. The survey asked personal trainers to evaluate effective motivational techniques for clients they train online verses in the real world.

Personal trainers indicated their online clients benefit from receiving a healthier dose of motivation and support toward meeting their fitness goals then their offline counterparts. The survey also revealed particular techniques that successfully engage clients - over the internet - to partake in regular physical activity and healthy eating in the real world.

The lack of motivation to get off the couch and break serious eating and beverage consumption habits is one of the greatest barriers to reaching personal fitness goals. Survey participants were asked about their use of specific FitOrbit features like SMS text and email notifications, in-system messaging, nudges, and plan modifications aimed to motivate clients to perform the daily fitness activities, which are suggested for them in their workout and meal plans.

In a real-world situation many clients can only reach out to their trainers when they see them for a scheduled workout session. With FitOrbit however, clients can reach out to their trainer whenever they feel the need,' says Trainer Kristy Lee Wilson

Survey participants indicated that the most popular component of their online personal training service is providing on demand access for clients, and giving them real-time feedback when they need it. Personal trainers attributed this factor to enabling the development of a more intimate relationship with their clients, which helps build trust and honesty.

“Non face-to-face methods, such as the mail and the internet, can reduce potential barriers, such as lack of access to fitness facilities and time constraints,” says lead author Bess Marcus, PhD of a research study conducted at The Miriam Hospital Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Marcus continues, “Different channels of delivery can provide equally effective results”."

http://www.fitorbit.com/

U.S. texters send 4 billion SMS messages ... a day

By Ben Patterson / Yahoo! Tech

"Twice a year, the organization representing the wireless industry puts out a bunch of facts and figures on how much we're using our phones in the U.S., and each time, I can't help but marvel at the results.

The big number this time around, according to the CTIA: In the past six months alone, Americans sent an estimated 740 billion text messages, which comes out to about 4.1 billion messages each day.

Put another way: That's 11.7 text messages a day for every man, woman, and child in the country. (Of course, the average American teen can fire off 11 text messages in the time it takes you to read this paragraph.)

Or, how about this: An SMS has a maximum capacity of 160 characters, so let's say (for the sake of example) that your average text message is about 80 characters long. And let's assume that your average novel contains about 100,000 words, and each word has about five letters.

So ... assuming all that (and keeping in mind that my math is a little shaky), we here in the States are writing the equivalent of about 656,000 books—all via SMS—every 24 hours. At that rate, we could match the entire catalog of the entire New York Public Library system (which holds about 20.4 million books) in a little over a month. Amazing ... although whether you'd really want to read all those SMS books is another question.

In any case, if the CTIA's tally of 740 billion text messages in the past six months stays on track through the rest of the year, we'll pass 2008's total of one trillion text messages easily, ending up at nearly a trillion and a half messages for 2009 (and remember, that's just in the U.S.).

A few other facts and figures from the CTIA survey:

* The average cell phone bill in June 2009 was $49.57, up more than a buck from June 2008;
* The average length of a voice call was just 2.03 minutes, shorter than any other year since the CTIA started keeping records in 1988;
* There are about 276,610,580 wireless subscribers in the U.S., up about 14 million from last year, and more than double the number in 2002;
* The various wireless carriers (or at least the ones who reported figures to the CTIA) raked in $151.2 billion in revenue from June 2009 to June 2008—again, more than double what they made in 2002."

No texting at dinner! Parenting in the digital era

By AP: Yahoo! Tech (CLICK to read more)

"Holly Kopczynski always prided herself on raising her kids the right way, teaching them etiquette basics like saying 'please' and 'thank you.'

Then it happened.

'We were at a restaurant for my mom's birthday. I looked over and there are my daughter and my oldest son texting, holding their phones under the table,' said the mom of four in Lewiston, Idaho. 'I just came unglued. I was like, `Are you kidding? You're at your grandma's birthday party. Put those phones away now!''

We all know teens love their gadgets — more for texting than talking. But the devices are posing some new challenges for parents. How can they teach their tech-savvy kids some electronic etiquette?

So far, parents are learning on the fly, imposing new rules for their young offenders such as 'no texting at dinner.'

Beth Herina of Ringwood, N.J., made that rule two years ago because her 13-year-old son was texting friends at the dinner table. She has another rule, too: No texting on family outings.

'He can text en route but not when it is family time,' she said. 'And I ask questions about who he is texting.'

Her son Dylan may not like mom's rules, but she considers them mild. Her brother-in-law goes into his children's cell phone accounts to read their texts.

When it comes to gadgets like cell phones and computers, some kids and even some adults don't seem to consider their gadget behavior rude, said P.M. Forni, co-founder of Johns Hopkins University's Civility Initiative."

States give mixed signals on texting and driving

By Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com (CLICK to read more)

"Fiddling with your iPhone behind the wheel can get you fined across much of the nation. But many states are more than happy to tweet you with up-to-the-minute directions on how to steer clear of a traffic jam.

It is a mixed signal that some safety experts and politicians say could be dangerous.

At least 22 states that ban texting while driving offer some type of service that allows motorists to get information about traffic tie-ups, road conditions or emergencies via Twitter."

Speech-to-text the new touch for cell phones?

By msnbc.com (CLICK to read more)

"'DWD' — driving while distracted — by text messages, e-mails and phone calls is epidemic. And while no one has yet to come up with a technology that would automatically jolt a phone user from touching the device while behind the wheel, speech recognition software may play a role in reducing — but not solving — the problem.

'The trend on banning texting while driving can only help the cause for speech and voice application providers,' said William Ho, research director of wireless services at Current Analysis.

Some think that speech recognition could be the new touch for mobile devices, which have been dominated by touch-screen phones since Apple released its first iPhone more than two years ago."

VIDEO: How To Type Faster on Your iPhone

Sure, you’ve got the hottest phone on the planet, but all your friends on BlackBerrys are typing circles around you. Here’s how to even the playing field.

How To Type Faster on Your iPhone on Howcast

Send free text messages on the iPhone

Is texting bad for you?

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Thumbs Up, Big Money for Teen Texting Champ

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Top 5 iPhone Features for Teenagers

by Bunee Tomlison (twitter.com/buneetomlinson)

We already know that the Phone is a terrific smartphone. So of all the features this popular Apple phone has to offer, what do you think teenagers think are "tops" in their book? NerdBoyTV asked guest blogger, Bunee Tomlinson, a sharp young teenager on Twitter, to help us figure this out.

Game Apps
The gaming system on the iPhone is a lot of fun. The app store provides an efficient and straightforward way to download games. Purchasing has never been simpler—Apple was right on the mark with this one. One great thing that even a parent could appreciate is that so many of games are free. These games can be purchased right from the iPhone device from any location where the Internet is available. Control your game by simply moving the iPhone thanks to the accelerometer built into the device. Apple provides a seemless gaming experience for all ages.

Multimedia
Apple has become known as the leader in portable music devices. The great thing is they have integrated this technology into the iPhone. The user interface is so easy-to-use—anyone could pick it up and know how to use it. The touch-screen provides a beautiful way to flip through your music. Video has also become a staple for Apple. Videos can be put onto your iPhone right from the phone. And again, video purchasing could not be easier.

If you are not fond of purchasing, you can also rent movies. Apple does have HD videos available for its customers. For the book readers out there, don't forget you can also download audiobooks. Many companies have filled the app store with a great selection of multimedia apps such as Pandora and AOL Music.

Safari
The greatest mobile browser is also available on the iPhone. Safari on the iPhone is an HTML browser that allows users to see a web page like it would appear on their computer desktop. The YouTube is available so you can easily access the millions of videos on that site. WiFi is also available making the iPhone Internet-accessible almost anywhere.

SMS & MMS
Text messaging is simply a critical part of the teen user experience for ALL cellular devices. Text messaging is popular because it provides users with a way to send messages not worthy of a phone call without using up all those precious minutes. MMS is coming—soon, sending multimedia files will be as simple to send by iPhone as text.

Social Networking
In our busy lives, making time to schedule face-to-face meetings doesn't always work. We can catch up with one another as time permits. Meeting others with similar interests is a lot easier today. Even though emails, addresses, and cell phone numbers change over time, you ALWAYS have a constant place to reach someone with social networking. There are tons of great social networking apps available in the iPhone App Store. From Twitter to Facebook, you will find a growing list of ways to stay connected with your friends using your iPhone.

Could 5 tech-addicted teens give up technology for 10 days?

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Texting may improve language skills

Texting may improve language skills : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech: "The thing I love about research studies is that, whenever someone comes out and says one thing, the next study released directly contradicts it.

Two years ago, an Irish eductation study concluded that text messaging was harming schoolchildren's English skills, noting that the kids, about 15 years old, had become 'unduly reliant on short sentences, simple tenses and a limited vocabulary.'

Now comes the flipside, with a UK university's research finding quite the opposite."

About those text message fees...

About those text message fees... : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech

"Remember when you used to pay a dime for a text message... or maybe even a nickel? And now you likely pay 20 cents a pop, coming and going. Everyone complains about text prices (unless you're on volume, per-month plan), but in the end we always assume it's part of the cost of doing business... that carriers have had to raise prices because their costs have been increasing. How else after all to explain 100 percent price inflation in the last three years?

Perplexed, Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl looked into the matter, polling the four major U.S. wireless carriers about their text message pricing policies. The result? Quite the runaround, stonewalling, and misdirection. And there's no surprise why carriers don't want to talk much about the issue: Text messages don't cost much to transmit."

CBS video site launches "social viewing" rooms

CBS video site launches "social viewing" rooms : Ben Patterson : Yahoo! Tech

"What's the fun in watching 'Survivor' by yourself? Now you can tune in—online, of course—with your pals, hurl suggestions and insults at the screen via text chat, and even answer in-line trivia questions while you watch.

That's the idea behind CBS.com's new 'social viewing rooms,' which just went live this week. Just register an avatar or pick a guest name, click on a show (choices range from 'Survivor' and the 'CSI' shows to 'The Young and the Restless,' 'How I Met Your Mother,' 'The Unit,' and 'Worst Week'), and start typing."