How SMS messaging is changing the world (Infographic)
Though we think of texting as just as a means of day-to-day communication, it has been utilized in developing countries in a variety of ingenious ways to improve the lives of the people there. Surprisingly, cell phones in the developing world are both cheaper and more ubiquitous than many basic services we take for granted, such as brick-and-mortar banks and, in some countries, even electricity. Entrepreneurs and social activists alike have taken advantage of this … Continue Reading
Demo: Poosh wants to help you lose weight with text messages
Can text messages really motivate you to get off the couch and into the gym? The fitness buffs behind Poosh, a new motivational SMS startup launching today, think they can.
People who sign up for the free Poosh.com service will receive one to three fitness-oriented motivational text messages on their phone every day. The messages are customized based on which of the six fitness categories you choose. Categories include Women’s Weight Loss, Men’s General Health … Continue Reading
With GroupMe’s acquisition, zero revenue companies are back in style
Group texting application GroupMe’s high-profile acquisition today by Skype could be the first indication that the zero-revenue company is back in style.
Of course, there’s a long history of companies with zero revenue being acquired. But this is one of the highest profile among such acquisitions so far this year.
The company hasn’t made a dime since its inception. It raised $10.6 million in January this year, and at the time co-founder Steve Martocci told … Continue Reading
GroupMe’s latest mobile app sports more messaging options, still rocks SMS
I have a bit of a crush on group-texting application GroupMe, which lets a bunch of phone owners jump into an ad-hoc chat room that’s powered by text messages. It’s simple, and best of all, it doesn’t use data.
The company unveiled a new version of its mobile app today, which sports some new messaging features that make it more lightweight. But while the app is powered by wireless data networks, you still get the … Continue Reading
How I survived my first E3 with technology failing left and right
This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) was loud, crowded, and reporters trying to cover the show ran into technology problems left and right.
This was my first time covering E3 with VentureBeat’s gaming guru Dean Takahashi, so I had almost no idea what to expect. Dean said that it would be pretty crazy — after all, there are more than 45,000 media professionals, analysts, retailers and game developers who regularly attend the conference in Los … Continue Reading
Textingly launches live chat tool for text campaigns
Textingly, a company that let’s businesses manage text messages to customers, today announced it has launched a live chat tool for businesses to engage with customers via text in real-time from the web.
The company officially launched last year around this time and is now claiming to help more than 6,000 local businesses manage their text message, or SMS, campaigns. Textingly, which described itself as the “MailChimp for SMS”, provides a series of features that … Continue Reading
Week in review: PlayStation Network's big outage
Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
Sony’s PlayStation Network suffers big outage — The good news is that Sony has more than 70 million registered users for its PlayStation Network online service for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. The bad news is that they’re all angry because Sony suffered an outage this week.
AT&T craps on T-Mobile, self, in … Continue Reading
How GroupMe and SMS saved 14 lost souls at Coachella
There’s simple elegance in a text message: Maybe you send an emoticon or an “I love you,” but more often than not it’s just a quick update. It’s like a Tweet, except more ubiquitous. You can’t count on people reading Twitter. With text, you most always can.
That’s why text messaging will never die. It’s short and elegant, and you can send a text to anyone. That’s a lesson I learned this weekend while stranded … Continue Reading
Noteleaf texts you quick info on the person you're about to meet with
Noteleaf, a contact information aggregator for Google’s Gmail and Calendar apps, launched a number of new features for its text-messaging notification service today.
Noteleaf’s edge is that it doesn’t require a whole lot of extra work to use the contact information aggregator, co-founder Jake Klamka said. The online service automatically imports contact information about a name when a user types it into a Google Calendar entry. Noteleaf also sends a text message to the user … Continue Reading
Group texting startup GroupMe raises $10.6M despite being a long way from revenue
GroupMe, a service that lets users start a group chat using text messages, announced today that it has raised $10.6 million in its second round of funding — but it won’t be generating any kind of revenue any time soon.
The startup lets phone owners create a single phone number for a group chat. Whenever anyone sends a text message to that number, it’s sent out to everyone else in the group. It works for … Continue Reading
Red Cross and Universal Record Database team up to break text donation record
GroupMe, a service that lets users start a group chat using text messages, announced today that it has raised $10.6 million in its second round of funding — but it won’t be generating any kind of revenue any time soon.
The startup lets phone owners create a single phone number for a group chat. Whenever anyone sends a text message to that number, it’s sent out to everyone else in the group. It works for … Continue Reading
Blue Sky Local has retailers wishing for rain
GroupMe, a service that lets users start a group chat using text messages, announced today that it has raised $10.6 million in its second round of funding — but it won’t be generating any kind of revenue any time soon.
The startup lets phone owners create a single phone number for a group chat. Whenever anyone sends a text message to that number, it’s sent out to everyone else in the group. It works for … Continue Reading
Teleflip gets $4.9M to forward your emails as text messages
GroupMe, a service that lets users start a group chat using text messages, announced today that it has raised $10.6 million in its second round of funding — but it won’t be generating any kind of revenue any time soon.
The startup lets phone owners create a single phone number for a group chat. Whenever anyone sends a text message to that number, it’s sent out to everyone else in the group. It works for … Continue Reading
