The Blog of Brad
Posts tagged App
Adventure in App-Free Week – Day 1
Apr 11th
Remember as a kid what it was like to have “TV free week“? Where your elementary school class would collectively give up all TV, movies, and video games for a week to examine just how reliant we are on television. Well, this week I’ll be living app-free for a week; no Tweetie, no Facebook, no RSS Player, no Boxcar, no DoodleJump, no Foursquare, no 1Password Pro, no textPlus … none. Well, except for three apps — Autostitch and TrueHDR because they relate to a long-term project which I don’t want to compromise and the Rogers My Account app because I have a chronic fear of overage. Let’s see how this goes.
For immediate substitutions I’ll be using Hahlo for Twitter, the Facebook web app, and I’ve set textPlus to SMS.
textPlus, eh?
Feb 16th
textPlus Canada banner, spotted on Friday
textPlus is FINALLY available in Canada. As of last Friday, textPlus users have been able to send free text messages to Canadian wireless customers, and were notified if they were part of the beta program. Today, textPlus went public with the expanded customer base. Currently (quoting the textPlus blog post), Rogers, Telus, Bell, Fido, Virgin, Aliant, Northern Tel Mobility, SaskTel, and Telebec Mobilite are supported as of today. textPlus has implemented this switch on their servers, so you won’t have to re-download, re-signup, update, cover your iPhone in maple syrup, or anything else to take advantage of this.
Bonus: This means that all textPlus users (foreign and domestic) will be able to text Canadian phone numbers for free, and you (as a Canadian) can freely text Americans and other worldwide textPlus users. Awesome travel tip!
Also, up to 20 contacts (made of textPlus addresses and real phone numbers) can group chat. That means that if one person adds to the conversation then everyone will receive the message. *Yay* for group chatting!
Also, see the textPlus blog post to enter a contest to win textPlus gloves.
Just a bit of background: textPlus by Gogii is a free service which allows users to send text messages to cell phones, there is an app for iPhone/iPod Touch and Android which makes access to the service easier. You can sign up in app or by texting !NAME to 60611.
Sending a message from textPlus can take two paths:
1) You have the free app and are signed up; now you just enter a textPlus username, pick a contact’s phone number, or enter a phone number, up to 20 all together, and press compose. Type a message and it will be sent to the recipients for free to you (this uses data, not your text messages); the recipient(s) don’t pay for this if they have a messaging plan which includes received messages. If there are more than two people involved in the chat, all messages will be forwarded to everyone. The other people can replying to the message in their inbox. Then you will receive notification of that all in a very short period of time. The syntax is very similar to Twitter via SMS in a way.
If someone wishes to textPlus you they just text !chat to 60611, then you will receive a message asking you to add textPlus usernames and/or other numbers to the new chat session; a conversation will be started.
2) You don’t have the app/can’t get the app (using Blackberry, other phone) [see the textPlus blog 'Pro Tip' about this]
From any cellular phone, text !chat to 60611 and follow the instructions to set up a username and in the future after you’re all setup, invite other numbers to chat. Texting to 60611 and receiving messages from textPlus doesn’t cost any more than texting a domestic number.
Also, see the Revision3 show, App Judgement review textPlus.
*Remember: there isn’t a way to include textPlus in your My5 plan and requires a texting plan, unless you like overage fees.*
iPhone App To Tell You When You’re de-Friended! (from Mashable)
Jan 14th
Mashable reported it, give ‘er a try!
iPhone App Tells You When You Get Defriended on Facebook - http://bit.ly/6kNQpV
textPlus by GOGII Coming To Canada “soon”
Jan 12th
textPlus, the awesome free iPhone/Android/Driod app which provides ad-supported texting, is coming to neighbours-to-the-north “soon.” textPlus announced in their blog post almost a week ago, on the 7th, that they are looking for beta-testers; Canadians on Canadian carriers. Currently textPlus is available in the Canadian app store with an average 2 star rating. The majority of reviews are one star as the app is available and works in Canada, just not to Canadian numbers. I give all the best to GOGII in their work up to now, and to their future with us Canucks.
textPlus would be on my list of favourite iPhone apps if it worked in Canada, and it soon will. textPlus is free in the (Apple and Android) App Stores; unlimited texting with group support. Ad-supported.
Links:
- The Blog Post – “O Canada!”
- Sign up to be a beta tester here
- textPlus‘ site
- Daniel Bru‘s review of textPlus on TechCrunch
