Tag Archives: text messages

New York Times: The Fine Art of Naming a Group Chat

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New York Times: The Fine Art of Naming a Group Chat. “Mr. McLaughlin, 20, is part of so many group chats that each one has to have a name. There is a family chat (‘Wally World’), multiple friend chats (‘‘The’ group chat™’ and ‘The 4.5 horseman of the apocalypse’) and class chats (Clash, short for Clash of Clans, a game played during Critical Reading and Writing). ‘I would never have a group chat with no name and just numbers,’ he said. ‘How would you differentiate them?’ He added, ‘Leaving it blank would be like not naming a baby.'”

WIRED: How to Automatically Delete Passcode Texts on Android and iOS

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WIRED: How to Automatically Delete Passcode Texts on Android and iOS. “IT’S NOT ALWAYS easy juggling digital accounts when you’re signed up to dozens of them—or perhaps even hundreds (you know who you are). While password managers can ease some of the strain, we’re also big fans of two-factor authentication, which helps those services make sure you are who you say you are. That’s where passcodes come in.”

Northeastern Global News: New smartphone vulnerability discovered by Northeastern Ph.D. student reveals hackers could track your location

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Northeastern Global News: New smartphone vulnerability discovered by Northeastern Ph.D. student reveals hackers could track your location. “A newly discovered vulnerability in text messaging may enable attackers to trace your location, according to Northeastern Ph.D. student Evangelos Bitsikas. His research group exposed the flaw by applying a sophisticated machine-learning program to data gleaned from the relatively primitive SMS system that has driven texting in mobile phones since the early 1990s.”

The Hill: DHS inspector general confirms he deletes text messages from government phone

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The Hill: DHS inspector general confirms he deletes text messages from government phone. “The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that he routinely deletes text messages from his government phone — a possible violation of government record keeping laws.”

The Verge: Google will soon display prewritten texts people in crisis can use to ask for help

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The Verge: Google will soon display prewritten texts people in crisis can use to ask for help. “Google will soon start displaying prewritten text messages that appear when users search for suicide-related terms. These prompts are supposed to help people start a difficult conversation during a mental health crisis and were created in partnership with the International Association for Suicide Prevention.”

Mississippi Today: Gov. Bryant promised to release ‘all’ his welfare scandal-related texts. But some key ones are missing.

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Mississippi Today: Gov. Bryant promised to release ‘all’ his welfare scandal-related texts. But some key ones are missing.. “Former Gov. Phil Bryant opted Thursday to release hundreds of pages of text messages with figures in the Mississippi welfare scandal after initially fighting a subpoena against him. But several key messages between the state’s chief executive and his appointed welfare director are missing from the batch, according to a separate trove of leaked text messages obtained and possessed by Mississippi Today.”

How-To Geek: How to Print Text Messages From iPhone

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How-To Geek: How to Print Text Messages From iPhone. “iPhone text messages—including iMessage—live on your iPhone or Mac. If you want to get those messages into the real world—either for court or personal records—you’ll need to get creative. We’ll show you two ways to print text messages on iPhone.”

Engadget: FCC chair proposes rules to reduce scam robotexts

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Engadget: FCC chair proposes rules to reduce scam robotexts. “The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has proposed new rules to tackle the scourge of text message scams. If the agency’s commissioners approve the rules at a meeting in March, providers would have to block robotexts that are ‘highly likely to be illegal,’ chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.”

Penn State: New AI tool helps provide better care to pregnant women in Kenya

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Penn State: New AI tool helps provide better care to pregnant women in Kenya. “When compared to Jacaranda Health’s baseline AI model, TRIM-AI is roughly 17% more accurate at predicting high-risk medical conditions from text messages sent by new and expecting Kenyan mothers, which reduces the help-desk agents’ workload by approximately 12%. Their model also annotated messages more efficiently and accurately than human agents did.”

San Diego Union-Tribune: To reunite lost pets with their owners, the San Diego Humane Society turns to texting

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San Diego Union-Tribune: To reunite lost pets with their owners, the San Diego Humane Society turns to texting. “To help reunite thousands of pets who are lost each year with their owners, the San Diego Humane Society launched a new cell phone texting program Tuesday to give San Diegans tips on how to find their missing pets sooner. Lost2Found, a one-way communication system, provides automated texts with step-by-step instructions over a two-month period to help people know what to do as they search.”

Penn Medicine: Penn Medicine Study Finds Automated Texts Decrease Odds of Rehospitalization

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Penn Medicine: Penn Medicine Study Finds Automated Texts Decrease Odds of Rehospitalization. “…researchers saw a significant decrease in hospital readmission among patients who received automated check-in text messages from their primary care team. Specifically, the researchers found a 55 percent decline in the likelihood that these patients would need to stay at the hospital again in the next month, and a 41 percent reduction in the odds that they would need emergency care of any kind over the next 30 days.”

CNET: Swamped With Election Campaign Text Messages? Here’s How to Stop Them

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CNET: Swamped With Election Campaign Text Messages? Here’s How to Stop Them. “According to robocall blocking software company RoboKiller, Americans received 1.3 billion political campaign phone and text messages in October 2022. Fortunately, there’s a solution for the political ads bombarding your Facebook feed, mailbox or text message inbox.”

CNET: Getting Political Text Messages on Your Phone? Here’s How to Block Them

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CNET: Getting Political Text Messages on Your Phone? Here’s How to Block Them. “If you’re wondering how the organization got your number in the first place, it’s because all states allow access to voter data for election purposes — so if you’re a registered voter, your information is on file. Here’s how to stop unwanted political texts on your phone.”

Smash texting scams: How to avoid smishing attacks (Mashable)

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Mashable: Smash texting scams: How to avoid smishing attacks. “If you’ve recently received a bunch of suspicious texts from unknown numbers claiming to be USPS, your bank, or another major company asking you to resolve some sort of urgent issue, you’re not alone. Hopefully these bizarre missives tripped your shadiness alarms and you kept your link-clicking fingers at bay, because those texts aren’t legit…. But since even the savviest among us have off days or unfocused moments when a smishing scam could slip by undetected, we’ve put together a primer on how to spot and avoid them.”