Malacanang on Monday ordered telecommunications companies to temporarily shut off cellphone signals in Quiapo and along the route of the Black Nazarene procession as part of the government’s security measure against terrorist attacks.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Nicanor Bartolome said the order will prevent alleged terrorists from communicating with each other during the procession. This can also prevent cellphones from being used as detonators on explosive devices.

The route of the Black Nazarene procession covers a large part of Manila, from Luneta to Quiapo church. The PNP have doubled the number of police personnel deployed in Quiapo from 4,000 to 8,000. There has been no indication when the cellphone signals will be restored.

The Catholic Church are urging believers to give up text messaging for Lent as well as abstain from other forms of virtual entertainment such as TV, Facebook, and iPods.

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 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]

Send Christmas text messages to your family and friends this season!

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
h?ppiness be
?t y??r d??r.
M?y
it
kn?ck
e?rly,
&
le?ve
the gift
?f 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..?

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!

On Christmas and on New Year’s eves, unlimited text and call promotions will be temporarily unavailable according to mobile telephone companies Globe Telecom, Inc. and Smart Communications.

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.

This is to help prevent their networks from overloading at a time when most Filipinos greet their friends and relatives with Christmas greetings.

“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.

A billion text messages are sent locally everyday as estimated by both Smart and Globe. This can increase during the holidays as Filipinos greet their friends and relatives.

Text Speak is the language commonly used in mobile phones. It is a way of shortening words by removing some vowels or replacing syllabes with numbers. Most people active in texting find it convenient to text in this format because it helps them save time and money. But some people find it complicated so they spell out the words instead.

Forms of Text Speak in the Philippines

Acronyms – first originated in chatrooms, then were later brought into texting. They are more popular in other countries than in the Philippines. They also have a guide list of textspeak acronyms here. Examples:

LOL – laughing out loud
BTW – by the way

Contractions - shortening a word by omitting a letter or a group of letters, especially vowels and double letters. This is easier to read because there’s no need to refer to translation aids unlike the Acronyms. The word can still be read by pronouncing the consonants without the vowels.

tmorow = tomorrow
pls = please
tnx = thanks
ppnta ako = pupunta ako (Tagalog example)
tmkbo = tumakbo (Tagalog example)
tmtkbo = tumatakbo (Tagalog example)

Phonetics – reading the letters as they are pronounced. Sometimes, numbers can be used too. A very common example would be:

C u l8r = see you later
Il b l8 = ill be late
d2 n kme = dito na kame (Tagalog example)

Special Characters using homoglyphs – substituting ordinary letters with special characters. Sometimes, combining a group of special characters are also used to project an image. This form of textspeak is usually observed in forwarded quotes. Example:

The ? (inverted exclamation) is used to replace the letter i

Luv ?snt abt g?v & tke, bt
rathr, g?v & g?v

Using alphabets with accents

N?v?r be tir?d ?f d?ing l?ttl? things for ?thers

Projecting an image

 ,???,
,?????, Caring for
??V/??a friend is
,,,)(,,, like a tree!

TxtBuff advice
Not all people who text use text speak. It is like a new language that only active texters can understand. We should learn to respect those who are not comfortable using the language. Some people love it, some people hate it. I believe that language is always evolving and we cannot do something about it. (source)

It is easy to see the evolution of languages from a simple look at the lists of new words added to the Oxford English Dictionary every year. There are always words, which a few years before, would not have been understood by anyone. Imagine this over many thousands of years and you begin to see the pattern in which languages evolve.

We can see it in our own language of English. If we look back to Old English, and the likes of Beowulf, the language is almost impossible to understand without some kind of translation aid.

The evolution of languages is a complicated and complex topic. It happens over many thousands of years, but what cannot be disputed is that language does change.

Good news to all TxtBuff readers! Copying text messages from TxtBuff to mobile phone is now made easier with barcodes! All you need is a Symbian or Windows based mobile phone with camera and Quickmark software:

1. Go to Quickmark website and install the software on your mobile phone.
2. Run the program.
   
3. Go to TxtBuff and look for your favorite text message. Scroll down to the bottom of the page until you find the barcode image.
   
4. Aim for the barcode image until it fits the guide box, and make sure the image is clear.
   vs
5. Quickmark software will automatically recognize the image and convert to its equivalent text message. (Note: Most mobile phones can decode automatically without pressing “Enter” key.)
   
6. Choose “Select”, then “Send via text message” or “Save to notes”.
   
   
   

The following were based on how often texters text and the kind of text messages they send.

1. Energetic Texters – those who are very active in texting. They make the most out of their unlimited texting packages and text under the table, in the car, under the tree, anywhere, everyday. They can talk about anything and everything under the sun. They chat, they flirt, they debate. These kinds of texters are mostly teenagers, couples, or yuppies.
2. Passive Texters – those who text only when you text them and reply only when they really have to.
3. The Forwarders – those who are fond of forwarding text messages that they feel are worth forwarding.
   1. Funny Forwarders – those who forward funny text messages.
   2. Love Forwarders – those who forward love text messages.
   3. Religious Forwarders – those who forward religious text messages.
   4. Seasonal Forwarders – those who send messages only on special occasions like christmas text messages, valentines text messages, lenten text messages.

   Tip: Send the right text messages to the right people. You wouldn’t send a Christmas text message on lent, right? Or would you send a Ramadan greeting to a Buddhist who don’t celebrate Ramadan?

4. Blog Texters – those who send text messages to tell how their day was as they would in blogging, and forward them to all their friends.
5. Extinct Texters – those who’s mobile phones have turned to beepers. They read messages, but they will reply only when they want to.
6. Marketing Texters – those who text to promote an event, a product, or a job posting. Its like its part of their job or just helping a friend to promote something.

Just so you know, I am a funny forwarder to my funny forwarder friends. I maybe an extinct texter to some people. But to the rest of my contacts, I am a passive texter.

So what kind of texter are you?

Text messaging?still remains the primary means of communication among Filipinos, even if email and instant messaging have been introduced. ?Given that almost every Filipino owns a cellphone, there’s no doubt that text messaging has become one of the most important means of communication in the Philippines.

Text messaging started when GSM cellular phones were introduced in the Philippine market. Unlike analogue-based cellular phones, GSM phones were capable of sending SMS (Short Messaging Service) messages. GSM phones were initially offered in postpaid plans bundled with free text messaging, which allowed sending of free SMS without network restrictions. As the demand for text messaging continued to increase, telecom companies have reduced the allowable free SMS?privileges?per month. The introduction of prepaid plans have popularized text messaging in the country. Prepaid text messaging was adopted quickly?by the tech-savvy teenagers and replaced older means of communication such as pagers and telephones.

The reason why text messaging was preferred more than making voice calls is because phone calls are expensive. A minute of voice call already costs 8 pesos while?a 160-character text message costs only a peso. ?One text message is enough to tell a friend you are going to be late. Sending the same text message to a group of friends is more convenient than making individual phone calls to all of them. So there are still some instances where it is more?convenient?to text than to call.

Email is another useful means of communication which people have learned to use today. Email messages can be sent across the country and around the world for free, instantly. But sending of email is limited only to those who have access to a computer and know how to use it.?Before sending an email, one has to login into a computer, connect to the internet and login to their email account. But with text messaging, all one needs to do is just type the message and press send.

IM is another tool that helped made online communication better. Most people who spend most of their time on the computer probably have IMs opened while they’re working. IMs became more popular when they were integrated into mobile phones. But the problem with using IMs on mobile phone is again, the cost. Telcos charge for every KB sent or received, that means, the longer the chat, the higher the bill. Still not cheap right? With text messaging, communicating with friends is easy without worrying about the bill. To do that, one has to have a mobile phone and buy an unlimited texting package.

Text messaging is simply the better option if you need to say something urgent, engage in a small chat, send a joke, give a short inspirational advice, or simply want to leave a reminder. This doesn’t mean that text messaging “must be the” only option. Voice calls, emails, and instant messengers are still important, each serving its own purpose. But if we are talking about the cheapest, fastest, and wireless way to communicate, it will definitely be text messaging. It’s a quick and easy way to send a message across the country, wirelessly.