I’ve been told by a younger co-worker that there’s a generational divide about text-messaging, and I seem to be on the yonder side of said gap. I can’t stand peering into my cellphone, aggravating my carpal tunnel with every furtive jab of the thumb. And this abbreviated lingo–the emoticons and jargon and CU L8Rs (or whatever)–is too cutesy to endure. Visitors Services Manager Jeff Hnilicka puts the cut-off at around 26, give or take: older than that, you hate SMS, younger you love it.
But as a guy who can type a zillion words a minute, a web-based solution could get me on board. Textmessage.cc is one site that allows you to send free text messages via a web interface to two dozen cellphone providers in the US and UK. It also offers a function where you can include a sidebar in your blog from which your readers can send free messages. Downside: as with everything that’s free, you have to endure an ad embedded in your message.
Although… Troika’s SMS Guerilla Projector is pretty novel use of the technology, enabling “the user to project text based SMS messages in public spaces, in streets, onto people, inside cinemas, shops, houses…”