Comverse targets youth

A subsidiary of Comverse Technology has been tapped to provide instant messaging technology for a new mobile phone service targeted at kids and parents, reports Newsday.

Comverse will license Comverse Mobile IM to Maryland-based Kajeet, a new pay-as-you-go cellphone service. The software uses a branded mobile interface for AOL's Mobile AIM service.

Kajeet is focused on allowing young users entertainment, customisation and communication options associated with mobile phones, without long-term contracts, activation or termination fees.

Global Mobile Technologies announced the launch of Push-It Alert, an open system that will deliver rich Internet content in real-time to any data-enabled mobile screen, according to PR Newswire.

It formats content for each phone model, through virtually any carrier, virtually anywhere in the world, using a technology that uses the mobile phone's standard data connection.

Simplifying the way that users get and view data on their mobile phone, Push-It Alert eliminates the complex steps used by other technologies by automatically pushing rich Internet content right to the screen.

Purdue University put messaging to the test. Nearly 10 000 students and faculty members agreed to receive a text message and respond as quickly as possible, says Indianapolis Star.

The test was one of the first of its kind. The results will help Purdue come up with a notification plan in case of a real campus-wide emergency.

"The general feeling was that text messaging was instant. It's not instant," said Scott Ksander, executive director of IT networks and security at Purdue. It took seven minutes to send about 10 000 messages during the test.