Hasta La Gadget!

A few months back AT&T made some changes to its international data plans and today old Ma Bell is at it again. The carrier’s new text and call packages will take effect on November 16th and will offer flat rate pricing to globetrotters who often find themselves abroad. AT&T’s Europe Travel plan offers minutes in increments of 30, 80 and 200 respectively priced at $30, $60 and $120 per month, with an overage rate of $1 per minute. For customers traveling elsewhere, the company’s new Rest of World Travel setup features buckets of 15, 40 and 100 minutes of talk time also priced at $30, $60 and $120 a month, with an overage charge of $2 per additional minute. As for those who’d rather text than talk, AT&T’s newest Global Messaging plan serves up 600 text, video and picture messages for $60 per month in over 120 countries. Finally, customers who have 300MB or 800MB international data add-ons will be able to use AT&T’s WiFi International app to access up to 1GB of free WiFi data each month. Now take a breath and let all of that info marinate. Got it? Good. So, if you’re a frequent flyer trying to save some won, euros or rupees, or whatever — then be sure to check out the press release for a complete list of countries covered under these new plans.

Continue reading AT&T announces new flat rate global talk and text plans, offers options for weary travelers

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T

AT&T announces new flat rate global talk and text plans, offers options for weary travelers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s certainly at the forefront when it comes to involving text-based emergency services with mobile devices in the US, and thus it’s natural for rival AT&T to have to keep up in this department — much like with those Long Term Evolution rollouts. The good news is that AT&T has announced it’s partnering with the Tennessee administration in hopes of taking advantage of the state’s “next-generation” 911 IP infrastructure; one which has been in the works for a few years now. Naturally, the trials are limited to AT&T subscribers in The Volunteer State, and for those folks the text-to-911 process will be as self-explanatory as it sounds, with the Rethink Possible carrier taking care of all the backend work by sending such messages to emergency call services. While it’s indeed only a small chunk of the country, it’s definitely a step in the right direction — that said, only time will tell how efficient this solution can be.

Continue reading AT&T teams up with the state of Tennessee to start text-to-911 trials

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

AT&T teams up with the state of Tennessee to start text-to-911 trials originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 05:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Texting and messaging has evolved quite a bit ever since it was launched on the mobile phone scene, but this smart collar is the first time I’ve seen a way for your dog to send you text messages. While your pup won’t be able to thumb-type LOLOMGWTFBBQ, you will get a message in the event that he’s in trouble from heat exhaustion.

Rethink Toronto collaborated with the Toronto Humane Society to design the Dog Caller, and it could help your four-legged friend from peril, whether he’s at home or in your car (not that you should ever leave your dog in the car.) Thanks to the collar, a SIM card, thermistor, and LEDs, you can monitor the temperatures around your pooch remotely. The collar will send you an instant text message when the heat gets dangerous, so you can quickly get your dog out of the heat.

That’s something pretty useful, especially for breeds like bulldogs, who can easily die from heat exhaustion. The device will be available starting Spring 2013 for $20. Now somebody needs to combine the Dog Caller with this.

[via Hi Consumption]

Apparently, sheep herding is big business in some parts of Switzerland and elsewhere in the world. The problem for Swiss shepherds is that wolves are making return to the area after being gone for about 100 years. That means that their previously safe sheep are now coming under attack and being killed by wolves.

Researchers from the country have now developed a system that can monitor the heart rate of the sheep. The system has been proven to work effectively by noting increased heart rate when a wolf attacks a flock of sheep. The heart rate sensor system can be integrated with a collar that would be able to text shepherds when sheep are under attack.

The researchers expect to be able to test the new collar, which can also spray wolf repellent, sometime next year. I wonder how the system would differentiate between increased heart rate due to attacks or simply a male sheep staring at a female sheep.

[via Phys.org]

Communicating in plain text can be really tough; it just doesn’t allow the subtlety, nuance and level of emotion that humans need to understand conversations properly. If you struggle with it, the Sound-Word Index might be able to help you out. More »