One third of all teenagers send over 100 text messages per day is a startling bit of information.  The survey discussed here states the aforementioned and that teenage text messaging has risen sharply in recent years, with little to no explanation to the trend being evident.  If this is true, I can only wonder what this means to traditional means of communication.  Will there be someday be a society that no longer uses grammar and punctuation?  Will the art of typing on a QWERTY keyboard die?

Wondering about the accuracy of the results, I decided to conduct my own survey of the teenagers in my presence at the time.  There were 16 total, 15 boys and one girl.  They were asked to think about how may text messages they send per day, and then raise their hand if the number they sent fell in a certain range.  The results are below:

Text Messages Sent Per Day (16 Participants)

•    100 or more:  4 (25 %)
•    75 – 100:  4 (25 %)
•    50 – 75:  2 (12.5 %)
•    25 – 50:  1 (6.25 %)
•    1 – 25:  1 (6.25 %)
•    None:  4 (25 %)

Is this astonishing or the new norm?  Hit the comments below and let us know your thoughts.

Today’s Deal of the Day is SmartBunny Game Pack for Windows Mobile.  You can register the game compilation today for half the regular price.  Details are below.  You can find out more or register here.

A mobile board and puzzle game series in distinct themes. SmartBunny game series challenges and improves your reaction, dexterity, observation, memory, logical and strategic thinking skills. Enjoy, have fun, get relaxed, and get smarter. Blind Duel =========== A strategy board game in wildlife animal theme. Both sides duel against each other without revealing own chessmen to the opponent. Board formation rules and duel results give clues about the position of important chessmen. Checkers =========== Checkers (aka Draughts) is a traditional board game played on an 8�~8 board with 12 pieces on each side that may only move or capture pieces diagonally forward initially. Dig In! =========== A collapse-and-collect game in tasty fruits and vegetables theme. Collect and clear fruits and vegetables by swapping or shifting the lines. Clear as many items as possible before available moves run out! Get Edgy! =========== A timed variant of the traditional puzzle game, TetraVex. Place the tiles on the board as fast as possible by making every neighboring edge match each other. Ghost Slider =========== Classic sliding block puzzle game in OmniGSoft�fs Eternal Throne game theme. 10 puzzles available. Try to finish all of them in the least number of moves! Gomoku (ŒÜŽqŠû) =========== A popular abstract strategy board game which is also called Five-in-a-Row or Gobang. Play this classic board game by challenging the computer with your observation and strategy skills. Memory Game =========== Traditional concentration/pairs game in delicious food theme with hilarious sound effects. Want to improve your memory skills as well have fun? Try this game out! Peg Solitaire =========== A centuries-old board game. Jump over the pegs to remove them until only one is left on the board. 30 different peg layouts that can keep you busy for quite a while! Poker Mania =========== Want to sharpen your poker skill? Try Poker Mania! High scores are recorded, so try to form as many 5-card hands as possible before the board fills up! Reversi =========== An old strategy board game. Bring your observation and strategic thinking skills and challenge the computer in this classic board game. Sudoku =========== A sudoku game featuring randomly generated puzzles, user-friendly interface, easy navigation, and informative hints. SmartBunny Sudoku offers you unlimited challenges. Who Is Who? =========== Guess which bunny is hidden inside which burrow. Who is Who brings the traditional code-breaking “Bulls and Cows” game in a cute bunny theme with fun-filled sound effects and vivid animation. Features: 12 board and puzzle games in one pack.

Minimum Requirements: Windows Mobile 2000, 2002, 2003, 5, 6.x Display Dimensions 240×240, 240×320, 240×400, 320×240, 320×320, 400×240, 480×480, 480×640, 480×800, 640×480, 800×480 Operating System Pocket PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002, Pocket PC 2003, Pocket PC 2003 SE, WM5, WM6, WM6.1, WM6.5

A disturbing trend in the mobile OS wars appears to be the “dumbing down” of the smart phone, a device I’ve always envisioned as being intended for computer users with a firm grip on technology.  Let’s consider the following:

The Palm OS was heavily criticized by some for it’s simplicity and lack of advanced features.  Users couldn’t control multi-tasking applications the way they could in a Windows Mobile environment.  Users couldn’t do this, they couldn’t do that and Palm gave in, the complaining won.  The Palm OS was relegated to dinosaur status.

Enter the iPhone, making a splash in the consumer market by appealing to the masses, those both technically competent and those straight off the typewriter and rotary phone.  How did it do that… by building upon some strengths of the Palm OS along with a few snazzy graphics.  Yet, the iPhone was plagued by one or two small criticisms though; one of the bigger ones being the lack of third party application multi-tasking.  When multi-tasking was finally announced a few weeks ago, to great fanfare of the iPhone legions, we learned that it is going to be a managed multi-tasking, stripping from users the need for understanding of how the feature actually should work.  Apple’s thoughts on this:  the average user doesn’t need to be bothered with managing which applications are running.

Step back with me to when Windows Mobile was king:  multi-tasking was multi-tasking, albeit single threaded.  Users had to learn what multi-tasking in a computer environment was and how to effectively integrate it into the flow of daily activities.  Done right, and you were a dynamo of efficiency.  Done carelessly and freezes were common.  Was this Microsoft’s fault?  No.  They built an operating system that worked / works.  People just needed to (once again) learn how to use it properly.

Jump back to present day and Microsoft is introducing Windows Phone 7 with the same “dumb downed” managed multi-tasking.  Sure, they say that the phones running Windows Phone 7 will be geared towards the mass market, but what about giving people a challenge?

Just this morning my phone slowed after an action.  A couple of clicks and I was able to determine that a process had gone crazy, consuming nearly 100 percent of the CPU.  A few clicks later and all was resolved.  Do I want my phone to manage all of this for me?  No.  I want to take pride in the fact that I was able to isolate the issue and easily resolve it.  Is a disservice being done to the technologists of tomorrow by making little to no learning necessary about the technology and operating systems of today?

Today’s JAMM Store Deal of the Day is Mobiola Screen Capture for Windows Mobile.  You can register Mobiola Screen Capture for half the regular price today.  This is an interesting tool for making screenshots and/or tutorials of your phone’s screen, so you may want to check it out to see if you have a need for it.  You can find more details, download a trial or register here.

I must start off by saying that I absolutely love Zagg.com and their products.  Their Invisashield is the top screen protector in my book.  But….  It seems that Zagg is following in the footsteps of Sprint in providing a means for disposing of old electronics.  They have raised the bar though and have a calculator to show you what you should expect to receive for your electronics.

They ask you if it can make calls, is free from water damage, what condition it is in, and what accessories it has (does this sound like a reseller to you?).

On the bottom of the screen at zagg.gazelle.com there is a banner that shows what people have just received for their devices.  Being the skeptic I am about these sorts of things I Googled one of the products and saw it used for more than twice what they gave.

I also put a phone I recently sold on E-bay into their calculator and it came back about fifty dollars lower than I got at auction for it.

So if you are really itching for some cash from those old electronics, don’t think something like this is necessarily out to help you.  Wait the extra couple of days to receive your cash and sell it yourself online instead of giving it to the middle man.