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PureText: A faster, better way to paste plain text

When you need to paste text--and just plain text--without any fonts, pictures, or style markers, what do you do? Microsoft Word users might employ the Paste Special feature in the Edit menu. And if you're not using Word? Then you might copy the source text and paste it into Notepad, TextPad, or another top-rated text editor. Then you would copy that unformatted text and paste it to the destination document.

What bother. PureText is a scrappy clipboard app that cuts out the busy work. It assigns a hot key combination to facilitate format-free pasting from the source to the destination without you ever needing to launch an additional app or detour to Word's Edit menu. Holding down the Windows key while pressing "V" is the default setup, but users can choose from a number of other hot key options. Note though, the ALT key isn't one of them.… Read more

The iPhone on the road, part 2: en route and in transit

So this month I will have traveled more than 20,000 miles via plane, train and boats to various destinations and various time zones. The iPhone has proven adept and adaptable - so long as you activate the international roaming and data plans - which you have to do in person or via AT&T's operators before you leave the country - as my friend Max found out the hard way.

Anyway, upon landing at each airport the iPhone will find the applicable AT&T network or AT&T compatible network - oftentimes in seconds. But … Read more

Joopz does SMS messaging for Outlook

This morning Web-SMS service Joopz is launching a new Outlook plug-in that turns your desktop e-mail client into a one-stop SMS hub. Once tied into your Joopz account, you can send and receive text messages like you would e-mail. The tool also syncs up with your Outlook contacts, to let you send notes to anybody with a phone number.

The service is flouting the new plug-in as a handy way to keep in touch with friends, but for business users who use SMS to communicate with their colleagues while out on the road, this could be a handy, finger-saving tool … Read more

Is Twitter testing out mobile advertisements?

Is Twitter going to turn your mundane messages about salads, cats, and Arcade Fire concerts into revenue dollars? Signs are pointing to yes, as oddball messages appended to Twitter's microblog "tweets" indicate that the company is dabbling in text message ads. Some other folks around the tech blog world are picking up on this, and they seem to be in agreement.

Like so many things, it all started in Gotham--and, in the interest of full disclosure, it involves yours truly. On Monday morning there was a bit of New York tech-scene chit-chat over Twitter, as local entrepreneur … Read more

Click Here for crappy Google rankings

Links are the fundamental vehicle that gets us from here to there on the web. Without them, we'd have no where to go, or at least a much harder time getting there. Links are, of course, deeply important to search engines as well. In fact, links and PageRank are at the very core of Google.

Spend a little time on just about any website and it won't be long before you come across a "click here," "click this," or "more" link. You probably wouldn't trade a $20 bill for $5, yet … Read more

Study: Texting boosts young voter turnout

Text-message spam may go up this November for voter-age youth.

Turns out that young people are more likely to vote when they receive a text-message reminder, according to a new study published this month by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Michigan.

The researchers ran their test in the November 2006 election, with text reminders sent to roughly 4,000 young voters. Researchers pulled data and cell phone numbers from voter registration records at the Student PIRG's New Voters Project and Working Assets Wireless; and following the election, they matched the files to find out which registrants … Read more

Yap does voice to text for your phone

Here's a useful concept: say you're really sick of dealing with your phone's tiny keypad to type in text messages. What if you could simply say what you wanted to write down, and have the tool fill it in for you? Yap is a new service that's trying to fill that need with their new mobile phone client. It's aimed at teens, who the company claims 66% of text while driving. Yap will read off your friend's responses, meaning you don't have to pay attention to what they're writing. The service works … Read more

Can I see your iPhone? Prying eyes want to know...

One of the inherent risks of having an iPhone will necessarily mean that you will become a de facto sales rep for Apple.

It's not uncommon for co-workers, non-iPhone-laden friends or strangers asking to 'see' your iPhone. "See?" Is that the right word? No, perhaps play and fool around with your iPhone is a better description as you can plainly see an iPhone, but these people clearly want to touch it to believe it as the Apple ads direct them to do. It happens to me enough to make me feel like a roving iPhone sales rep. … Read more

Give me my credit! Apple's $100 iPhone credit arrives

And, after the week Steve Jobs promised, the $100 credit comes to fruition. And, via text. Just click this link and the rest, after entering your phone number and serial number is handled via SMS text. It's pretty fast - I got my access code within 30 seconds! Paperless (unless you want to use it at physical retail store, in which case it'll print). Slick. Now, iPod classic or Apple care? Hrmmmm.