Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications

When a Camera Phone Makes All the Difference

Posted: 03/13/08 by Teri Rucker

Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine whose dad recently had quintuple bypass surgery. He's fine now, but family and friends around the U.S. and the world were really, really worried about him and anxious to hear how he fared.

My friend took pictures of him beforehand, saying that he always took lots of pictures of the family, even at embarrassing moments, and she knew that no matter what happened it was an important family tradition to observe.

After surgery, she e-mailed a progress report and told everyone he was doing well. That was great, but what does "doing well" REALLY mean after major surgery like that? Well, she SHOWED them by taking a picture of her dad with her wireless phone. Not long after surgery he was sitting up in bed eating lunch and looking great. She sent the e-mail and picture immediately from his bedside, which he got an extra kick out of because he could dictate the message to his friends. She sent that picture of him smiling, plastic fork held high -- across the country, to Germany, to Ethiopia -- to the great rejoicing of family and friends.

That is truly a meaningful Mobile Moment.

Here's hoping she will be taking a lot more pictures of her happy, healthy dad for years to come.

What’s Cookin

Posted: 03/11/08 by Teri Rucker

To continue to feed my cookbook-buying habit without too much guilt, I always wait to go to the book store until Borders has e-mailed its weekly coupon. Martha Stewart has a new cookie cookbook and how could I have missed owning Chez Panisse Desserts?

Today, as I was printing out the coupon, I noticed that I could get them delivered to my cell phone. That's brilliant! I'm always forgetting to print the coupon or I've left it in the pocket of my other coat or I somehow don't have it when I get to the book store. Now that I'm all signed up to get the coupons delivered to my cell phone, I won't have to decide whether to come back to the store with my coupon in hand or just pay full price. I'll have the discounts in my phone for use at any time.

Another thing I'm really excited about is my favorite cooking web site, www.101cookbooks.com, has enabled the site so recipes can be easily viewed with a wireless device. That is so handy. Now when I am at the grocery store and can't remember what I need to whip up the rustic cabbage soup that site founder Heidi Swanson has dreamed up, I can just pull out my phone and check the ingredients list. I can't tell you how many repeat trips to the grocery store this is going to save me.

I know there are many, many technologies out there that do far fancier things than look up recipes on the fly and I plan on experimenting with those services as time goes on. But the great thing about wireless is it improves life for everyone no matter their skill level or what their passions.