Category Archives: SMS Gateways

Mobile Mania

A single device, small enough to be carried within your fist, holds the capability of keeping you connected with the rest of the world, no matter where you are. The gadget I am talking about is mobile phone, the craze of the age. There may hardly be any single electronic product that acquired as much popularity as mobile phone, within such a short span of time.

The unprecedented development in mobile phone technology and insatiable demand for it has resulted in the continuous supply of new mobile phones with latest facilities available on a basic mobile hand set. In the recent years, mobile phone makers have incorporated several trendsetting features in the phones like camera, music player, games, internet browsing and mobile emails, all at the same time.

The mobile phones not only help us to effectively communicate with our near and dear ones they also enable us to access the Internet and secure invaluable information that would enhance the quality of our lives in today’s competitive world. And they help us to keep ourselves entertained in the highly stressful times that we are living in. We could play the latest mobile games to take our mind off pressing problems or listen to our favorite music tracks to sooth our senses!

The capabilities of the latest mobile phones with facilities like email access are way beyond our wildest expectations. Emails on mobile are the quickest, easiest and the most cost effective way of sending and receiving information across the world.

These days email access is available on the mobile which allows users to real time access to their email account from their mobile, anytime and anywhere.

The pleasure of reading beautiful emails sent by your dear friend and viewing his/her images along with the text, while you are on the move is really incredible.

Imagine your mobile browser working like a web browser.

Now the Question that is baffling you is

“WHAT ABOUT THE COST OF AVAILING SUCH FACILITIES”?

The development in the field of technology has automatically solved all the problems. Nowadays free mobile email solutions allow you to own a free mobile email ID and access your emails on any basic GPRS enabled mobile phone, operational with any mobile service provider, thereby eliminates the need of buying a smartphone and extends the use of existing mobile phones. You can also create your free email ID directly from your mobile phone hence liberating you from the limits of a P.C.

The power of communicating with the world is at your finger tips. The developments in the mobile telecommunications sector, have transformed our dreams and fantasies regarding communication into a reality. It is in fact redefining the ways in which we communicate and entertain. Hopefully new developments in the field of mobile technology will enhance the power in our hands.



Source by Monika Mehra

Linking Depression and Cyber Bullying

Sexual abuse and pornography are not the only dangers you need to be concerned about when it comes to your children. In the past five years, another form of online crime has emerged, known as cyber bullying.

Picture this – your child is a victim of bullying in school. He goes home and seeks refuge from you. As a parent, you are there to give him the best advice he can get. In no time, he gets to adjust and learns to cope with it. As soon as you think the problem is solved, there he is complaining again about the same kid bullying him in school, but this time, it’s happening online.

Bullying today isn’t just limited to the schoolyard. When children go online, they may become victims of cyber bullying from other kids who know them from the neighborhood or in school. It can be done using different technological advantages including email, SMS, chat, or social networking.

What then is the immediate effect of bullying in children? According to the National Institute of Health, cyber bullying is one of the major causes of depression among children. Although depression is not a common disorder for minors, it may still consume them whenever they are subjected to very high levels of pressure, embarrassment, humility, fear, anger, and many forms of negative feelings. Therefore, there is a significant connection between cyber bullying and depression.

Whenever a child or teen is humiliated, discomfited, or blackmailed online, they are placed in a scenario where they become more vulnerable. The more they are bullied, the more they become depressed and that can result to far worse conditions like suicidal tendencies. To support this premise, the American Academy of Child and Adolescents Society tells us that suicide is among the three most common causes of death in teens and young people aged 15 – 24. If we try to find out what’s causing these young people to waste their lives, cyber bullying is definitely one of them.

Just like schoolyard bullying, it is difficult for victims to escape. Since most kids and teens depend so much on the internet, there is no way for parents to prohibit them from using it. So even though they just want to ignore those who bully them, they may find it hard to do so since online bullies will always find a way to get to a victim.

Because of this, victims will likely lose hope. The best that they can do is just pray that someday the bullying will stop. But in reality, it really won’t unless steps are made to combat it. But how?

The usual problem parents and concerned persons encounter is the anonymity of the bully. The internet serves as a blanket to hide the identities of these perverted people and it’s kind of hard tracking them down. Eventually, victims start to develop depression by consistently worrying and thinking about the next move or attack by the bully. Their mundane and daily activities and lives become affected by the worrying and in just a short period of time, they may build up a mentality towards hurting or even killing themselves.

Cyber bullying and depression are two related concepts in the context of child safety. This is taking into consideration that children and teens are the most vulnerable group in society. If they are bombarded with ill feelings and treatment from others, they can be easily consumed by it and eventually risk their safety and lives facing it.

In conclusion, there are simple steps you can take to help protect your child. You can, for instance, make a report to your internet service provider on bullying issues. You can also report it to the authorities if death threats are being made. It may also be that you have to change all your email addresses and social media accounts (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, etc.) that the bully knows and start over fresh. We believe it is vital no matter what to help the child identify something that they are good at and focus on developing this skill in order to boost self-esteem. Finally, many parents may want to consider going online with their child, to be there when the bullying starts, in order to “face” the bully online. This will at least show your child that you are on their side and that you are fighting for them.



Source by Grant Carroll

Different Types of Sports

Football

Football is a very popular competitive team sport. The object of this game is to score more points than the other team. You can score points various ways like carrying the ball over the goal line, running with the ball over the goal line, catching a pass while standing behind the goal line and many more ways. Whoever has the most points wins the game. The ball is an oval shaped ball. The game is played on a grass field that is 360 feet by 160 feet. The field is separated by many lines for game play. Each team typically plays with 11 players each on the field.

Baseball

Another competitive team played sport is baseball. This one is played with a bat and a small hard ball. The team with the most points wins the games. Points are calculated by how many players have crossed home plate. One team bats while the other team pitches and plays outfield. After so many strikes, they switch places. The field is diamond shape and made up with grass and dirt. There are 9 players on each team.

Softball

Softball is a lot like baseball. It is played with a bat and a softer version of the baseball. Softball uses the same field as baseball does and has the same rules although softball often has additional bases called safe bases. Safe bases are so the first baseman and the runner do not collide with one another during game play. You will typically see these bases in children’s softball and women’s softball games. Points are also calculated by how many players have crossed home plate. After so many strikes, the teams switch places from outfield to batting.

Basketball

This is also a competitive team sport. Played with a large round ball and a hoop or a basket. The object of this game is to get the ball into the hoop more times than the other team. Each time the ball goes into the hoop points are scored. The value of points depends on where the player is standing when they shoot the ball into the hoop. The court is a solid flat ground with baskets or hoops on each end. There are different size courts depending on who is playing. Regulation court size is 94 feet by 50 feet.

Soccer

Soccer is a competitive team played game. This game is played with a ball that is round and big and two goal nets, one on each end of the field. The object of this game is to score more points than the other team. You score points by kicking the ball into your opponent’s goal net. You are not allowed to use any hands in this game with the exception of the goalkeeper which is the person who guards the goal net. There are 22 players on the field at one time. The field is varied in length from 50 yards to 120 yards, depending on who is playing and what regulations they are using.



Source by Ivy Johnson

Many Advantages Far Outweigh Few Disadvantages of Stored Value Cards

With a growing number of options and potential applications, the many advantages of using stored value cards (SVCs) far outweigh any potential disadvantages.

In addition to being a very useful way to pay for goods and services in advance, SVCs are a vital resource for unbanked consumers. Financial industry estimates place the number of households in the United States without a bank account at somewhere between 10 – 15 percent of the marketplace.

There are a number of reasons why some may not qualify for a bank account. Many low-income families can’t afford the monthly fees or potential overdrafts associated with low balance checking accounts. Some consumers are also denied bank accounts because of poor credit or prior bank accounts being closed due to bounced checks or other problems.

With their ability to be reloaded with funds, some SVCs can act as a virtual bank for unbanked consumers. As long as a SVC doesn’t have any additional fees for loading funds or other related account maintenance fees, there shouldn’t be an associated risk of costly overdrafts or other excessive fees. All the available funds on these feeless cards are good and can be withdrawn at any time. Some SVCs may not feature all of the fund protection features of most bank accounts, however.

There are also no currently established rules or legislation that specifically protects consumers who use SVCs at the national level. The Fed is considering expanding its Regulation E, which protects consumers using electronic funds transfer (EFT) systems, to include protections for consumers who use SVCs.

Some SVCs can be used to help rebuild credit for consumers with poor credit scores. A number of SVC issuing companies advertise these “credit building” features. These companies will report positive account information on their card users to the three national credit bureaus. How much this can improve a consumer’s credit score has yet to be determined.

Other SVC advantages include overdraft protection, which is now being implemented on a number of fee-based SVCs, and cash advance capabilities, which will likely be a regular feature on many future cards.

Any company that processes employee payroll can also benefit from issuing SVCs in place of paychecks. Payroll processing cards can reduce a company’s payroll costs by up to 70 -75 percent.

There are a few potential fraud-related problems that can come from the use of SVCs. If your SVC is stolen and no ID verification is required to use the card, a thief could drain your card of funds before you know it. With signatures or PIN numbers commonly in use on many newer SVCs, the chances for fraud to occur are dwindling. You can also have the funds attached to an SVC frozen temporarily if you lose a card and need to be issued a new one. As most SVCs usually have fewer funds available than a credit or debit account, losses due to fraud are even less likely with SVCs.

As we continue our transition into a “cashless society” SVCs will continue to play an important and ever growing role in the financial marketplace of the future.



Source by John Campbell

SMS Marketing – Advantages And Disadvantages

An increasingly popular mode of marketing tool, SMS marketing enables easy communication with the consumers. With a single message being used to reach out to the entire customer base, it is cost effective and also saves time.

A rapidly growing sector, SMS marketing has emerged as a marketing tool with huge potential. Short messages of 140-160 characters in length, SMS enables messages to be sent to a large number of receivers within a few moments. It is this extent and ease of reach of the application which makes it a powerful tool for advertising and marketing of products.

Increasingly being adopted by more and more business houses as a preferred mode of marketing tool, SMS marketing has several advantages as well as disadvantages.
Advantages

Ease of Reach: Also known as mobile marketing, through this application, marketers can use a single message to communicate to their entire customer base. Instead of contacting each customer personally like in telemarketing, in mobile marketing through bulk messaging, an advertising message can be distributed to several consumers all at once.

Personal Communication: SMS has become the most popular mode of communication today with most of us using it to communicate with our friends, family and acquaintances. Unlike an email or a newsletter, nearly every message that is sent on a mobile phone is generally read by the user. Being an extremely personal mode of communication, you can establish a direct contact with your client, building on the relationship.

Economical Nature: Instead of spending millions on multiple advertising campaigns, a single message can be used to reach out to all consumers, thereby drastically cutting down on marketing costs. With SMS prices dropping, through bulk messaging thousands of text messages can be sent at wholesale prices.

Time Saving: An instant mode of communication, marketers can reach out to their customers whenever they want. As most mobile phone users keep their phones with them at all times, through quick messaging time sensitive messages can be sent and responses can also be tracked.
Disadvantages

Spam messages: Bombarding cell phone users with repeated advertising messages does more harm than good. These frequent spam messages annoy, irritate and frustrate users who develop a negative attitude towards the companies that are sending the messages which affects their brand name adversely.

Cost to recipient: Not quite your usual form of messaging, for SMS marketing mobile phone networks charge both the sender as well as the receiver of the messages. These extra charges often irritate the receivers and create a negative image of the business house sending the messages.

Limitations of Messages: With messages being limited to 140-160 characters, it becomes difficult to create an effective message within such short word limit. Moreover, additional information in the form of hyperlinks may not always be received properly by the user's phone.

There are On some The while disadvantages, yet its Extent of reach and cost Effectiveness, make the SMS Marketing a lucrative option color : as a marketing tool.



Source by Tony Dim

Carp Fishing Tackle Review: Wychwood Equinox 12K Big Pit Reel

In some Asian cultures, the carp is regarded as a sacred animal, capable of transforming itself into a dragon. If you’ve ever had one of these feisty fish on your line, I’m sure you’ll heartily concur. Although I enjoy all types of fishing, stalking the wily carp is my preferred pastime. To be equal to the task, I’m always on the lookout for carp fishing tackle to add to my collection. Here’s some information about a great, affordable reel from Wychwood, the Equinox 12K big pit carp reel.

About Big Pit Reels

Big pit reels are well suited to carp fishing because they have been designed to hold a much larger amount of line than conventional reels. For example, a big pit reel generally has nearly three times the capacity of a typical baitrunner reel. A good big pit reel will hold more than 400 metres of 15 pound test line or 380 yards of 16 pound test line. Another feature I like about this reel that it has an extra large M10 aluminium spool that reduces line memory and improves line lay with its special low friction lip. A spare aluminium spool is included with the reel. High quality big pit reels like the Equinox 12K are perfect for long range carp and beach fishing. This reel delivers the line perfectly every time.

Features of the Wychwood Equinox 12K Big Pit Reel

Unlike many reels in its class, the Wychwood Equinox has an exceptionally large number of ball bearings: 13. There’s also a roller bearing drive and a durable machined aluminium handle. The reel sports an elegant wooded torpedo grip. I appreciate the instant anti-reverse and the high speed 5.0:1 retrieve ratio. The one turn front drag has multiple discs and the D-Osc feature ensures perfect line lay by compensating for the non-linear oscillation speed of the spool. Line lay is particularly important to me because I want to avoid the problems associated with uneven line lay, such as shorter distance on casts and a lack of smoothness on drag release when fighting a fish. A uniform oscillation system functions to lay the line flat on the spool and helps the angler avoid these problems. I’ve found the D-Oscsystem on the Equinox to be durable, reliable, simple and compact. Finally, the Equinox has SMS rotor balancing. The Equinox’s smaller body gives it amazing balance, especially when I mate it with a long-range carp rod.

About Wychwood

The product developers at Wychwood all are devoted carp anglers. This means they bring a wealth of experience to the design and manufacturing process. Equinox reels are designed using CAD (computer aided design), Legendary for reliability and durability, Wychwood products are exhaustively field tested to guarantee flawless and optimal performance.

For my money, the Wychwood Equinox 12K big pit reel is a steal at £79.99, but do look for it on special for as little as £56.99. An excellent piece of carp fishing tackle!



Source by Tommy Lee Jones

Know When Your Business Needs IT Consulting Services

Businesses must ensure that only the latest technologies and software are deployed at the workplace, in order to provide quality solutions to their clients, and to be ahead of the competition. With the ever-changing technological trends in the industry, businesses find it cumbersome to adopt these technologies. Instead they can hand the entire function over to a sound IT consulting services company – who in turn will tap into their global pool of highly skilled IT professionals, who have the advantage of working in various IT environments, and have extensive experience across sectors. By providing assistance to business, IT consulting services providers free up existing resources; ensure IT transitions are smooth and problem-free; optimise key business processes; identify areas that benefit with further cost saving; build competitive advantage through IT; reduce IT complexities; provide IT strategy consultancy services, IT project management services and provide specialised programme management solutions – all of which, help the organisation achieve significant business efficiencies and cost benefits.

Choosing to work with an IT firm definitely boosts a company’s overall efficiency, which in turn decreases costs. Firms tend to look for a flexible and bespoke solution to address the client’s IT needs, thereby delivering solutions that are in tandem with the client’s goals.

The advantages listed above necessitate hiring an IT company. But how will a business know that it needs IT consultancy services?

A business may function with its existing IT architecture without knowing the benefits of such services. In order to discern the need for IT consulting services, businesses must first understand the details of their services. According to Wikipedia, ‘IT consulting is a field that focuses on advising businesses on how best to use IT to meet their business objectives. In addition to providing advice, IT consultancies often estimate, manage, implement, deploy, and administer IT systems on businesses’ behalf, known as Outsourcing’. IT consulting services firms thereby help businesses strategise and evaluate their IT functions as a whole and take the necessary steps to implement and/or deploy and then administer effective and robust IT systems in place. Businesses can seek the services of an IT firm when:

  1. IT investments regularly overshoot the set budget. Fast-paced technologies and trends warrant proper planning. When making strategic use of the allocated budget seems difficult, seeking the advice of IT consultancy services providers is imperative.
  2. A business decides to relocate or reduce staff.
  3. Projects regularly miss deadlines. Lack of specialists, complex projects and shoestring budgets lead to inefficient project management. A sound IT consulting services company designs bespoke, safe and cost-effective solutions, either full time or part time.
  4. Challenges of globalization, technical and regulatory changes arise. Business and technology management when integrated help the business survive, and therefore IT strategy consultancy is important.
  5. Programmes and projects eat into the budget. A business needs specialised programme management solutions to achieve significant cost savings. A robust IT services company provides either the co-sourcing or the outsourcing model to help businesses remain ahead of the competition, by providing tailored solutions.
  6. There is a need to change networks or when the need to shift to a new IT architecture arises.
  7. The company is in need of a robust disaster recovery plan.
  8. There are no data storage systems in place.

Availing the services of the right IT consulting services company may be a challenge. A business must choose a provider before the problems stated above get worse – and must choose a provider who is able to set in place a sound IT system in place. Therefore, a business must choose a provider who provides flexible solutions. Businesses must also remember that though they think they are able to fix small issues, the reality is that these issues must be treated at the root, and they can be properly tackled only with strategic IT solutions – only provided by an effective IT consulting services company.



Source by Ramy Krish

For Your Website To Be A Great Success It Now Needs To Have Mobility

As technology develops with rapid speed the demands for quicker, better and faster communications through converging media increase as does the need for access to information and services anytime, anywhere and in any format. This need for mobility is changing almost every feature of our personal and working lives, day-to-day lifestyles and experiences! This need is best met by companies that enable global wireless solutions for enterprises and merchants anywhere, via any access method, in any format and across any transaction channel.

This mobility is largely encountered in Mobile and Telecommunication. This can be achieved by creating mobile gateways for MNO and MVNO who want to benefit from working with a committed partner while reducing costs and at the same time engaging for the same or better level of services, translating into long term partnerships across all levels. Furthermore this can be achieved by delivering services aimed at generating revenues, improving business efficiency and proactively managing relationships with customers through personalized interaction.

These Customized Software and Applications aim to deliver customized applications via mobile apps development and mobile content development at lower costs using interactive based applications across a wide array of technologies including Microsoft.NET, JAVAPHP and CMS out there.

Using smartphones helps organizations to interact with their customers instantly thus custom mobile app development boost the functions and performances of a smartphone. For this reason companies should seek developers who are able to provide centric mobile applications for various platforms. Some such mobile applications are successfully used in GPS, Social networking, group deal sites, deals aggregator, maps, game applications, payment gateway, shopping cart etc. New technology has allowed for mobile apps developments that create applications that are extremely user-friendly and functional.

Mobile application development services are available in the following platforms:

iPhone/iPad

iPad

Android

Windows

Blackberry

Mobile content development can be used to develop all kinds of apps including business apps for asset tracking, air ticket booking, GPRS road map, vendor apps, 3D games apps, social application apps etc.

While choosing content development apps you can select the Content Management System you prefer:

WordPress Joomla

Drupal Magento Concrete5

WordPress Joomla

Drupal Magento Concrete5

Another important aspect that comes alongside mobility is Bulk SMS Text messaging; Bulk SMS enables you to send a number of SMS texts to any mobile phones worldwide, anywhere, anytime, as long as you have a PC / Tablet with Internet connections. This easy to use web-application is perfect for enterprises and executives and individuals who want an instant and hassle free alternative to mobile phone SMS sending.

It is important that the bulk SMS tool you choose has:

• User friendly interface

• No installation required

• Access from any PC with internet connection to send out SMS text

And has basic features such as:

• Group Messaging / SMS Blast

Allows you to send up to 500,000 SMS text with one click.

• Personal or Group Address Book

Equipped with unlimited entries, you can add, import, edit, delete, and manage your contacts and groups in your address book.

• Easy to Use

• Unicode Support

Text messages in multilingual characters.

• Message History

• Schedule Delivery

• Competitive Pricing



Source by John Bally

WAP-Hosting – Pros and Cons

WAP-hosting is becoming more and more popular nowadays. Probably, a lot of users have already known that WAP is good for games, tunes and pictures downloading for mobile phones. But in reality WAP-sites have already become a unique world, the entire system which is as same convenient as the WEB is.

WAP gives a lot: correspondence in chats, forums. It gives various tools: acquaintances, SMS sending, reading of your mail, news and so on. Really, WAP has already led a high-grade and developing life for a long time. However, certainly, in order to create and use your own WAP, a site should exist in the Internet. For this reason more and more corporations and the organizations have begun to appear recently. They are providers of the given hosting. WAP-hosting also can be paid and free. Let’s see what advantages WAP-hosting has.  

WAP-hosting advantages are:  

  • 24/7 technical support. Many WAP-providers give today the complete spectrum of technical services connected with the Internet WAP-sites allocation and support. Now you can be completely assured that your WAP-site will be equipped with full services of help if it is necessary. This is an important advantage of WAP-hosting.
  • Fast access to sites. Today WAP-hosting allows to receive enough high speed of sites access. Thanks to it, you can download pictures, tunes, various programs on the mobile phone quickly. Use all modern conveniences!
  • Possibility of the domain registration. One more advantage of WAP-hosting is that you can receive a domain name. Presence of such an advantage like that allows to create and add WAP-sites, also it gives possibility to organize hosting under WAP which will make the profit for you. So this advantage is worthy to keep in mind too.

And now we will talk about disadvantages of this type of hosting. Really, the difference between WAP-hosting and other types of hosting is essential. After all, WAP-hosting has been specially developed for supporting sites through mobile phones. Therefore it has the specificity which has also minuses.  

WAP-hosting Disadvantage is:  

  • Cut-down design possibilities. This is, perhaps, the most important disadvantage of WAP-sites. The matter is that even at usage of paid WAP-hosting on WAP-sites there is no possibility to use all those components HTML is rich for. That is why, for example, it is impossible to use such components as Flash, news ticker, etc. However, today this disadvantage is also minimized.

Probably, it is all what is possible to say about disadvantages. Certainly, it is possible to say that there is paid WAP-hosting, but it hardly can be perceived as a disadvantage. On the contrary, in the conditions of a modern competition among corporations-providers there are more and more new and qualitative kinds of hosting.  



Source by Alesia Arefjeva

Five Interesting iPhone Apps for Book Lovers

1. Google Books

This app provides access to more than 3 million Google eBooks on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. You can carry all your favorite books wherever you go on your mobile device. You can use the Google eBooks tore to shop for books and read them in your app. You can change the font, and get details about the book. You can also search within the book. This app offers you with offline reading mode, Night-reading mode and Voice Over support. Free preview pages are available. You can store unlimited number of books in the digital cloud. You can easily manage your library.

2. Audible

Audible.com the leading provider of digital audio books and lots more on the internet is now accessible on your iPod Touch and iPhone. This app consists of the all-embracing audio book experience ever and comprises of WiFi delivery of your Audible.com files, optimized audio book player, comprehensive listening stats and lots more. Sleep mode, bookmarking, chapter navigation, button free mode, variable narration speed and play as you download are some of the best features of this app. You can browse more than 100,000 digital audio books and lots more from Audible.com. You can earn badges and also check your own listening habits. You can also receive insider details about the author events and lots more with the Audible News feed.

3. B&N Bookstore

This is the official app of the Barnes & Noble Bookstore. It can be a very good companion for people who love books and who need quick access to the books world. You can make use of the camera of your iPhone to search and shop for more number of books, music CD’s and DVDs and also browse all other things provided in the online store. The store locator present in this app will assist you in finding the Barnes & Noble superstore present nearby you and help you see the forthcoming events and obtain directions to the B&N store.

4. Books- 23,469 Classics to Go.

You can download nearly 23,469 classic books for free of cost using this app. The developers of this app have taken all those classic books and packed them up to enable the users to download and read them with their e-Reader. All the books have high resolution covers and reviews. You can the plays of Shakespeare, autobiographies of Franklin & Carnegie, the letters of leaders, collected works of masterminds, the philosophy of Seneca & Plato. You can get them along with other books. This app is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch however it requires iOS 4.2 or higher.

5. Weird Facts 1000

You can get tons and tons of weird, cool, odd and splendid fun facts using this app. You can browse through all these weird facts and learn new things every day. You can easily impress your friends with all the fun facts. You can also email these weird facts to your friends. If you own an iPhone that runs on iOS 4.0 or higher then you can even SMS these fun facts to them. You can also paste the weird facts to Twitter or Facebook by just tapping the clipboard. This app is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and requires iOS 3.0 or higher.



Source by Ajnabii Ali