Ideas from Mark Stout

Now this is an idea I can get behind. The idea of the person next to me talking on their cell phone during a flight is repulsive.  They likely have to yell to be heard, and the coverage is likely to be spotty and frustrating (more yelling). But texting?  That would be awesome. No yelling. Buffering of messages should coverage be momentarily lost, and people can stay in touch. Heck, I text more than I call now, and I'm a boomer.  X-Gen and Millennials will likely have no issue with this. Delta announced they will offer free in flight texting!

If you are outside my area, your local school district probably has a similar ability to send you text messages alerting you of snow days.  This week's Family Tech column .

In my Family Tech column for Sunday, January 23, 2011 , I talk about how to receive text message alerts for various emergencies.  Some of the services schools use to alert parents, teaches, and students of snow days provide emails for free, but charge for text messages. I have audible notifications for emails on my phone turned off since I receive so many emails.  I do have audio notications on for text messagres, since I receive them infrequently and they always tend to have information I need to know sooner than later. It is possible to send an email to a text message : To send an email and receive it as a text message,  just replace "phonenumber" with your phone number. For example, to send an email to the text message 703-555-1212 if the cell phone that number uses Sprint, then just address the email to "7035551212@messaging.sprintpcs.com" You need to change the part that comes after the @ symbol depending on who the carrier is for the phone number you...