texts

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled a case against a firm accused of sending 42 million bogus text messages. The texts falsely claimed recipients had won gift cards. An example of the texts, published by the FTC, reads "Dear Walmart ... shopper, your purchase last month won a $1000 Walmart Gift Card, go to www.vCardSpot.com within 24 hours to claim. (NO2cancel)." Similar messages mentioned other retailers, including Best Buy and Target. Not only were the claims completely false, but the retailers mentioned had no involvement in or knowledge of the texts. (Source: nbcnews.com ) ... (view more)

The company that conned cellphone owners into signing up for expensive data plans will now pay a $500,000 fine to the New York Attorney General's office. Game Theory LLC has also been told it must stop sending unsolicited texts. Game Theory is said ... to have sent more than 150,000 misleading texts in less than two months last summer. The texts told people that an unnamed person had a romantic crush on them and they could find out who it was by replying with the word 'yes.' It's not clear how many people replied affirmatively. While it's likely most people ignored the texts, an operation of this ... (view more)

Verizon is scrapping its existing phone plans and replacing them with completely new ones. The new options will be much simpler, and could help people who use a lot of data save a good deal of money. Under the new strategy, people using cellphones ... rather than smartphones will simply be offered a single $40 per month plan with restrictions on the number of calls and texts. That suggests Verizon expects the current trend towards upgrading to smartphones will continue, or at least that the company doesn't expect to generate much profit from customers who won't pay for mobile Internet access. For ... (view more)

Those of us who attended college know just how expensive course textbooks can be. So it's good news that students may be able to purchase much cheaper, digital editions of these required texts for their iPad tablet computers. Apple recently unveiled ... iBooks 2, software it says could revolutionize the U.S. (and perhaps global) education market. Apple has been working closely with major textbook producers, including Pearson PLC, McGraw-Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in search of a viable, digital alternative to those very expensive physical texts. Together, these three firms own roughly 90 ... (view more)