Everyday, 200 studio audiences, called as Bingoers, will play and compete against the Solo Studio contestatant. The Bingoers can win 50,000 pesos for every game, while the Solo Studio contestant can win up to 1 million pesos. Home viewers will also have a chance to play either as Home Player or Text Player and can win 200,000 pesos.

To join as texter, text

PBN <last name>,<first name>/<age>/<gender>/<address> to 2366

P2.50/txt for Globe, TM,  Smart, Talk and Text
P2/txt for Sun Cellular

This SMS rate applies to 20 countries namely: USA, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Macau, Japan, Qatar, Brunei, Guam, Hawaii, Oman, Cayman Island, Cyprus, Turkey, Northern Marianas Island, Jamaica, Bahamas & Puerto Rico.

Image souce: Promdi Tarlac

The Bishop of Modena, Benito Cocchi, said that ‘No SMS for Lent’ was an ideal way for ‘young people to detox from the virtual world and get back in touch with themselves.’

Italian laity and clergy have reacted cautiously to the proposals. Some say  abstinence should be a personal matter, and others say that people who need technology to work shouldn’t be asked to do without.

The editor of the Vatican’s official newspaper Osservatore Romano, was also dubious and said: ‘Text messages are an instrument and so by their neutral nature, they cannot be good or bad.’

‘It all depends on how you use them. If text messages are a proper way of communicating I don’t see why we should deprive ourselves of them on Good Friday or any other day.’

[source]

TxtCEB allows anyone to get updates on Cebu Pacific’s special flights and promos or book a Cebu Pacific flight through their cellphones (domestic bookings only). To start, here’s how:

For Globe, Touch Mobile subscribers, text

CEB FLIGHT or CEB HELP and send to 2982.

For Smart, Talk N’ Text and Addict Mobile subscribers, text

CEB to 2952

For Sun Cellular subscribers, text

CEB or CEB HELP and send to 2982

Then follow the SMS prompts. It only takes a minimum of 5 SMS messages to book a Cebu Pacific flight. You will be charged a minimal amount per text message received; P2.50 for Globe, Touch Mobile, Smart, Talk ‘N Text and Addict Mobile and P2.00 for Sun Cellular subscribers. Confirmed bookings cannot be paid via SMS. You still have to pay over the counter at any Cebu Pacific ticket office. You will be charged the fare confirmed by txtCEB at the date of ticket purchase.

Tests were conducted last year (Sept. 17 to Oct. 6, 2008) by NTC engineers on three cellular service operators, namely Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Sun Cellular to measure the quality of services rendered. They made 2,475 network-to-network calls per operator in 13 Metro Manila cities, as part of the tests.

Three areas were reviewed namely network accessibility (circuit switch), service accessibility (telephony), and call completion rate circuit switch (telephony), to measure the quality of service indicators.

Network accessibility (Circuit Switch). All three got perfect scores.
Globe 100%
Smart 100%
Sun 100%

Service Accessibility (Telephony). Globe got the highest mark.
Globe 97.98%
Smart 96.24%
Sun 83.02%

Call Completion Rate Circuit Switch (Telephony). Globe and Smart tied at 98.55%.
Globe 98.55%
Smart 98.55%
Sun 97.65%

Signal Strength
Smart 91.81%
Globe 86.58%
Sun 84.48%

Signal Quality
Globe 93.79%
Smart 93%
Sun 84.47%

Hand Over Success Rate
Smart 99.03%
Globe 98.27%
Sun 96.72%

Call Set-up Time (based on the 2,475 sample calls)
Globe 97.29%
Smart 95.76%
Sun 80.12%

In terms of blocked and dropped calls, a lower percentage is desirable to ensure higher quality of service and therefore, the operator with a lower percentage was given a higher ranking.

Blocked Calls (based on the 2,475 sample calls). Blocked calls are failed connection to the network due to unavailability of signal.
Globe 49 (1.99%)
Smart 93 (3.79%)
Sun 779 (17.05%)

Dropped Calls (based on the 2,475 sample calls). A call is considered dropped when the signal has been cut just a few seconds upon connection.
Globe 35 (1.42%)
Smart 35 (1.42%)
Sun 48 (1.95%)

Under the NTC’s circular on service performance standards for CMTS, the allowable drop call rate is 5 percent. NTC also noted that blocked and dropped calls are caused by network congestion and system failure.

Greetings (Text Message #182)

May the season of
“Love & Peace”
“Joy & Laughter”
“Care & Sharing”
be with you & your family
always.
MERRY
MERRY
CHRISTMAS!

Inspirational/Religious (Text Message #2532)

I pray
that
häppiness be
ät yöür döör.
Mäy
it
knöck
eärly,
&
leäve
the gift
öf GOD’s peace, love,
joy &
good health behind.
G0d blesS! Meri chrstmas!

Friendship (Text Message #168)

I’ve already
told SANTA
what i want
for CHRISTMAS,

a friend
that will stay
forever.

So if a
fat man
comes
arOund
and
trys to
wrap you
up,

please
cOoperate..Ü

Ascii (Text Message #174)

.;””;. .;””;.
()”” ‘) ‘+, ” ,+’
( ,’o’)”) “+,+”
(,,) )
Just sending a WARM HEART
to say…
Merry Christmas and Enjoy
the holiday! God Bless! :-)

Funny English (Text Message #187)

In this season of
merrymaking & endless
parties, always remember..
“thou shalt not weigh more
than thy refrigerator.”
Merry Christmas & Happy
New Year!! ;-)

Funny Tagalog (Text Message #171)

Meron ka na lamang (6) na
oras na natitira para bumili
ng regalo para kay SENDER’S NAME.

Kung nais malaman kung
ano ang kanyang kahilingan
ngayong pasko, maaring
mag text oh itawag sa mga
ss:

text SENDER’SNAME (space) tanong
(space) petsa kung kelan
ibibigay ang pamasko. At i
send ito sa 0915xxxxxxx.

Taos puso po ni SENDER’S NAME
tatangapin ang inyong mga
regalo.

Merry Christmas to you all!

In an interview, Smart Spokesman Ramon R. Isberto said a promotion that allows subscribers to make unlimited calls at night and send as many text messages as they can would not be made available from Dec. 23 to Dec. 25, and from Dec. 30 to Jan. 1.

Likewise, a similar promotion from Globe will not be made available on Dec. 24 and 25, and on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, said Froilan M. Castelo, Globe’s regulatory division head.

Both companies said this could help prevent their networks from clogging at a time when most Filipinos greet their friends and relatives with Christmas tidings.

“What we are doing is managing our network, in case there are any serious obstructions [during the holidays],” Mr. Isberto said.

“We are not taking any chances. We want to protect the network from abuse,” Mr. Castelo said. “We want to avoid any congestion. We just want to clear the airwaves,” he added.

Both telcos had estimated that around a billion text messages are sent locally everyday. This can double during the holidays as Filipinos dash to greet their friends and relatives.

Mr. Makkonen is a Finnish engineer who is credited with inventing SMS, which allows short messages to be sent between mobile phones. He proposed the idea in the 1980s while working at Finland’s telecoms authority. Billions of text messages are now sent every day.

SMS is not only for text messaging. Many have built applications around SMS that allowed it to be used, not only in communication, but also in other fields such as SMS banking, SMS voting, Globe G-Cash, Smart Money, Infotext, and other SMS services.

Other winners of The Economist’s Innovation Award were:

• Bioscience: Martin Evans, director of the school of biosciences and professor of mammalian genetics at Cardiff University, for his work in stem-cell research and the development of “knockout” mice.
• Business Process: Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia for the promotion of online public collaboration as a means of content development.
• Computing and Telecommunications: Matti Makkonen for the development of Short Message Service (SMS), or text messaging.
• Consumer Products and Services: Steve Chen and Chad Hurley of YouTube, for creating an easy way to share video.
• Energy and the Environment: Arthur Rosenfeld for his promotion of energy efficiency.
• No Boundaries: Sumio Iijima for the discovery of carbon nanotubes.
• Social and Economic Innovation: Bill Gates and Melinda Gates for developing of a philanthropic support platform.
• Corporate Innovation: Nokia for its ability to respond to social and technological trends while maintaining its position as the world’s largest handset-maker.

Plurk is similar to Twitter only that your updates (called plurks) and your friends’ are arranged in a timeline so your friends can easily view and comment on them. Plurks can be posted with qualifiers, which are one-word verbs used to represent a thought (ex. “feels”, “thinks”, “loves”, etc.). Its like an instant messenger / social networking / forum / micro-blogging service rolled into one.

An easier way to update your Plurk and Twitter is to use SMS or text messaging.

To start plurking via SMS, sign up first at phplurk.com. Then, register your PLURK account to their gateway by sending:

PREG <plurk username> <password>

To update your timeline, send either

PLURK <your update>

or

PLURK <qualifier> <your update>

Valid qualifiers:

loves, likes, shares, gives, hates, wants, wishes, has, will, asks, was, feels, thinks, says, is

mahal, ipinamamahagi, nagbibigay, kinasusuklam, gusto, naghahangad, nagtatanong, nararamdaman, iniisip, sinasabi, ay

To start twitting via SMS, sign up first at phtwitters.com. Then, register your TWITTER account to phtwitters.com, by sending:

REG <twitter username> <password>

To update your timeline, send

TWIT <your update>

To send a direct message, text

TWITD <username> <your message>

The gateway numbers to send to:

GLOBE - +63-916-4967171
SMART - +63-929-3632359
Update: SUN CELLULAR - +63-923-8852052

• Red Mobile SIM is now available on selected retail outlets for P 39.
• Prefix number is 0938. You cannot have your mobile numbers customized anymore.
• Cost of voice calls per minute, text, and MMS is P 0.50 (Red Mobile to Red Mobile)
  
• A 3G mobile phone is required. You will need to set the network settings on your 3G handset to 3G / Dual mode or UMTS mode. If you’re looking for a cheap 3G phone to use with Red Mobile, try LG KU250.

To activate your Red Mobile’s 3G / MMS settings, text

RED <handset model> to 9969

Service Rates

Voice Call

• Red Mobile to Red Mobile P0.50/min
• Red Mobile to other networks P6.50/min

SMS

• Red Mobile to Red Mobile P0.50/text
• Red Mobile to other networks P0.75/text

MMS

• Red Mobile to Red Mobile P0.50/MMS

Video Calls

• Red Mobile to Red Mobile P0.50/min
• Red Mobile to other networks P6.50/min

Mobile Internet

• WAP Browsing P7.50/15 mins

This is my Red Mobile SIM. I bought it from a small store somewhere in Alabang-Las Pinas area.