SMS

Banking customers in Poland were hit by a version of the Zeus malware that intercepts one-time pass codes sent via SMS. On Monday the security vendor F-Secure blogged about the attack on the clients of the Polish financial institution ING. The issue was further analyzed on the website of security consultant Piotr Konieczny.

The new attack appears to be the same type found by the Spanish security company S21sec last September.

A new scam application was developed by cyber criminals to make mobile users send SMS messages to fraudsters’ premium short number. The application is disguised as an MMS service to send a Happy Valentines card to loved ones.

The malware comes as a downloadable file called "love_mms.rar" that includes a Java archive called "jimm2010.jar" and several Valentine’s Day themed pictures with Russian file names.

A mobile application to let users speak, trace or handwrite instructions to their phone instead of typing. The application was shown by Nuance who says that spoken instructions can be turned into emails, SMS text messages, Facebook and Twitter updates, web searches, instant messages or anything traditionally done by typing on a keypad or keyboard.

The FlexT9 mobile application features the possibility of tracing continuously from one letter to the next on a touchscreen keyboard without lifting one's finger between letters.

According to a forecast made by ABI Research soon femtocells will be able to improve home security, personal safety and help integrate smartphones with TVs, laptops and media players, in addition to improving cellular coverage in the home. The research agency foresees that in near future parents will trace when their children arrive home due to the femtocells that will register the presence of kids’ mobile phones and sends out SMS notifications to the parents.

Over 7 trillion SMS messages will be sent in 2011 according to the latest report by ABI Research released this week. The study on Mobile Messaging Services covers worldwide usage from about 4.2 billion mobile subscriptions. ABI notes that customers are increasingly treating SMS as something of a commodity which is explained by falling delivery costs and high competition.

Citigroup Inc has announced its partnership with the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) to enable New York City's small businesses and entrepreneurs to obtain the technical assistance and financing more easily. 

Now owners of old model mobile phones with no Internet support will be able to access online content and make transactions on the web. HP Labs India has developed a new cloud-based technology dubbed SiteonMobile that simplifies web access. Instead of directly navigating the web users may get the necessary information via SMS or IVR system.

Hackers have come to the proof of concept that a (jailbroken) iPad 3G can send SMS text messages, and work with other wireless carrier's networks. While Apple says the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G comes without a carrier lock on AT&T's network still the differences between the networks result in that user will have to do with only EDGE speeds.

One more problem is that in order to use a T-Mobile data contract on an iPad, you will have to do some DIY hackery and trim a traditional SIM card with a scissor.

Twitter announced that it's acquired their messaging infrastructure company, Cloudhopper. According to Kevin Thau, Twitter's director of mobile business development, the relationship between the two companies has been lasting for about eight months.

A study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that teens are increasingly using SMS services for communication with each other. The research reveals that over the past 18 months daily texting increased from 38% of teens texting their friends daily in 2008 to 54% of them texting daily in 2009. The average teen sends and receives 50 or more messages per day, or 1,500 per month.

The launch of new text4baby service, will let pregnant women get access to the resource for health information.

Text4baby service offers timely and expert health information through text messages to pregnant women and new moms through their babies' first year.

The US government on Tuesday banned hand-held "texting" by drivers of large commercial trucks and buses to avoid the danger of distracted driving.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement the prohibition takes effect immediately. It follows a similar ban in December for drivers of federal government vehicles.

The Mobile World Cup contest was arranged by LG in New York for 26 contestants from 13 countries last week. The grand prize for the overall performance was taken by the South Korean team while a Portuguese player set a new texting world record.

There were two competitors in each team including one who specialized in numeric keypads, the other in QWERTY. The goal of the games were to measure texting speed while the efficiency was also a priority.

GoPayforit has announced that it has launched its new mobile, small payments service to enable bloggers and content owners to more easily sell content online. The company says that "by using GoPayforit, lower priced content can now be purchased by consumers in an easier, more manageable and less time-consuming way.

Ericsson unveiled its plans to implement platform, Web PIN Opt-in, enabling consumers to buy online content such as news stories with the charge billed to their mobile phone rather than other payment methods, such as a credit card.

 Web PIN Opt-in platform is designed to solve a few problems related to selling content online. Thus, potential customers may be deterred from buying content if they don't have a credit card. Also, some customers may be uncomfortable with using a payment card online due to security issues.