Your mother has eyes in the back of her head. Chicago Public Schools sends parents a text message when their child is not in class or the kid's grades slip. Mayor Daley attends a demonstration. Chicago is not the only school district to use this technology. It's used in Calloway County, Kentucky. Memphis, Tennessee, and Saratoga Springs, New York, to name a few. It's not just used for monitoring your kids' grades. In San Antonio, you can also monitor the presidential propaganda that's fed to your kids! But what if you want to monitor the text messages your kids receive? Radar alerts you when a "suspicious" person texts, calls, or emails your kid.
posted by desjardins on Sep 18, 2009 - 36 comments

The mesmerizing live question feed from text118118.com shows questions from curious UK residents. The answers are always polite and reasonable complete and accurate. Sometimes you can see one person submitting the same question or a string of related questions.
posted by closetphilosopher on Nov 24, 2008 - 70 comments

Texting blamed for summer movie flops -Oh No! The good old days of 'Buying Your Gross' are gone. "No, the executives are not blaming such bombs as The Hulk, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle or Gigli on poor quality, lack of originality, or general failure to entertain. There's absolutely nothing new about that. The problem, they say, is teenagers who instant message their friends with their verdict on new films - sometimes while they are still in the cinema watching..." What's an honest marketing executive gonna do? [Via Arstechnica]
posted by kodas on Aug 20, 2003 - 35 comments

Sacrifice your mobile? Not sure if the US of A is gripped by the text epidemic sweeping Europe, but this sounds a bit different. What messages would you send? (Clean ones please!)
posted by snowgoon on Oct 15, 2001 - 15 comments

Text messaging is inspiring artists to new areas of creativity from theatre to sculpture, says the Guardian.
posted by jhiggy on Apr 20, 2001 - 4 comments

F u cn rd ths, u rnt vry kreatv. The Guardian launches what may be the world's first text messaging poetry competition. Can you stir another's soul in 160 characters or less? Top prize is £1000. You don't have to be a UK citizen to enter. Why not post your entries here before your send them out?
posted by aaron on Mar 29, 2001 - 2 comments