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Use Amazon's TextBuyIt

Amazon.com has just announced a new service that allows you to purchase items from them using SMS text messages. The service is called Amazon TextBuyIt.

Text an item to AMAZON (262966) and Amazon will send you a text message with the top 2 results. Reply with a 1 or 2 (indicating which item you want) and Amazon’s ordering system will call to confirm and complete the order.

You can also get more results (above the first 2) by replying with ‘m‘. Amazon will return up to 8 items. Get details on a specific item by replying with the item number, followed by a d. For example, ‘2d‘ would return details on the 2nd item.

You can search by item name, author, artists, or by ISBN/UPC code. Now, when you see a book that want you can order it from Amazon on the spot.

Very cool service.

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smsGuide

Here’s a pocket guide I made featuring most of the tips from the 16 Things SMS article from last week. It’s wallet sized. Just click it for the full size version, print it out, fold it (laminate if you want) and you’re ready to go.

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So you’ve got a phone and unlimited text messaging, but now what? There are tons of useful things you can do with SMS, if you only know how. If you want to use your cell phone to make your life easier, but don’t want to purchase a PDA phone or subscribe to a data plan, then these tips and tricks could be just what you’re looking for. . . Read On.

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The tragic death of five New York teens in a car accident–believed to have been caused by the driver sending/receiving text messages on her cell phone–has prompted lawmakers to propose a bill banning text messaging while driving.

ALBANY – The horrific deaths of five upstate teens when the SUV they were riding in slammed into a truck has pumped momentum into a measure that would prohibit New Yorkers from sending text messages when they’re behind the wheel.

“The recent tragedy in Canandaigua highlights how deadly the combination of texting and driver inexperience can be,” said Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Oyster Bay), who is co-sponsoring the proposal with Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn).

Using cell phone records, police determined the 17-year-old driver who caused the deadly wreck last month was sending and receiving text messages before the SUV she was driving rammed a tractor-trailer, killing her and four girls who had just graduated from high school.

Tests conducted on the driver after the fiery crash showed the primary cause of the accident was driver inattention due to the apparent text messaging. Alcohol was not a factor.

A recent poll of people 18 to 24 years old showed that two out of three admit to sending text messages when they drive.

Ortiz, the author of the trail-blazing New York prohibition against drivers using hand-held cell phones when they’re behind the wheel, said, “It’s a shame that it may take a tragedy like this for this bill to move forward.”

Under the proposal, those nabbed texting while driving could be hit with fines of up to $100 – the same penalty that applies now when police catch drivers gabbing on cell phones.

Does anyone besides me think this is pointless. Nearly impossible to enforce and just as hard to catch someone doing it (especially in New York), I don’t see how it could be very effective. A better approach would be to use this tragedy to educate teens on the dangers of such activity. However, the “old” person in me wonders why anyone would need educating to this fact, but that’s a rant for another day.