To help combat the rising murder and violent crimes rates, Boston’s PD has started up the "Text a Tip Program." Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said it was to be the first in the nation to combine cell phone text messaging with an anonymous police tip line and he hopes it will circumvent the street culture where talking to the police is considered taboo and punished severely.

"It’s something that is more anonymous than a telephone call where you have to have a conversation with someone," Davis said.

With this system, a person just needs to type the word "tip" into their phones and send the message to police. The sender’s identification is blocked, Davis said. Police will then "text" a message back asking for details.

Boston has already had 27 homicides this year and needs the public’s help to solve them. They have great hopes for this new system.

I just hope people are smart enough to use it.
Reuters

Are you ever sitting at your computer and suddenly realize you want to send someone a text message and then realize your cell phone is hidden in your purse in the other room? The Bluetooth Texter widget allows Mac users with Bluetooth set ups to connect to their Bluetooth phone and and send SMS messages.

All you have to do is activate your Dashboard, enter your message in the widget, select a phone number and hit send. The phone numbers in the widget’s drop-down list come straight from your address book. The phone selection list contains your favorite paired Bluetooth phones. You can download it from Happymaking Games.

Chikka Messenger allows PC and Mac users to send text messages for free, 2-way message with friends online as well as mobile phone subscribers, send and receive MMS images and add and chat with Google talk buddies. Download Chikka from its official website.