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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

f u cn rd ths thn wts th prblm?

Iain Graham writes:

Text language. Why do they do it?  What an interesting question!  Normally asked by people who have never ever sent a text, believing it to be the invention of the devil!! "Texters are vandals, doing to our language what Genghis Khan did to his neighbours eight hundred years ago" asserted Jhn (sorry) John Humphrys of Radio Four fame writing in the Daily Mail. The new 'text language' has been blamed for many things including:

Erosion of children's ability to spell,
Abandonment of all punctuation and capitalization,
Worsening marks in examinations,
Children growing up into adults who are unable to to write 'proper' English, and
Eventually, the language as a whole inevitably declining.

The interesting point to make here is that there has never been any clear evidence to support any of the above fears. This reassurance comes from the work completed by David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He should know, he has written or edited over a hundred books on the subjects of language and writing.

"The end is nigh" people say to me on receipt of yet another communication by text from one of their offspring!  Well I don't think it is!  I speak as a typical fuddy duddy and Grumpy Old Man well set in his ways and a convert, yes, a convert to sending texts as a quick and largely non-intrusive way of communicating with a whole range of different people.

I will admit that I have not, and will not change my way of sending a text, (grammatically correct, accurately spelt and punctuated) but I have no objection to those that abbreviate for the sake of cost and use emoticons for illustration and fun!  Yes, language should be fun!!

My point is this, language has to evolve and change otherwise it will die, and if the use of texts and the language used therein helps monosyllabic teenagers communicate better and more frequently, then so be it.

Communication methods are moving on at a very fast pace and in a few years time sending texts could seem as archaic a method of communication as the typewriter and the telegram do today. Whatever happens I'm fascinated by the subject and believe that with the common everyday use of texts we are seeing a demonstration of a language in evolution at a fast pace!!

g2g h2cus

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Recent Podcasts

Mobile World Congress, manufacturers, mergers and much more

Podcast - 5th March 2014

This week's programme begins with some of the biggest news stories that came out of Mobile World Congress.

Iain, James and Mark then move on to the other headlines from the past few days, including Boeing's secret agent smartphone, Apple's plans for mobile in-car entertainment, a new structure for Telefonica and new technology for mobile payments.

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Voice-enabled mCommerce with Tony Ballardie of Capito Systems

Podcast - 28th February 2014

London-based Capito Systems won a place on this year's Smart UK Project shortlist, guaranteeing them entry to Mobile World Congress 2014. And when they arrived, they won the international Barca Starta competition as well.

In this podcast we talk to CEO Tony Ballardie about the company’s 'natural language' voice control, which can be integrated into almost any mCommerce application... from gambling to ticket purchases.

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Dr Kevin Curran talks about the future of mobile technology

Podcast - 27th February 2014

Dr Kevin Curran, Reader in Computer Science at the University of Ulster, joined us during Mobile World Congress to offer his well-informed opinion about trends in mobile technology.

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Mobile World Congress 2014: an introduction

Podcast - 25th February 2014

James Rosewell and Mark Bridge report from Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona.

In this podcast they talk about all the major mobile manufacturer announcements, including Nokia's new Android-based phones and Sony's newest high-spec devices.

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James Corden at the Global Mobile Awards

Podcast - 25th February 2014

One of the highlights of Mobile World Congress is the Global Mobile Awards - and this year the event was hosted by James Corden: actor, comedian, TV presenter and one-time promoter of Windows Phone.

Here's how he introduced the ceremony, with jokes about Facebook, BlackBerry, Steve Jobs and the gestures required to control an iPhone.

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