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How SMS
Works
SMS, or Short
Message Service, is the technology behind what we often
refer to as ‘text messages’ or ‘SMSes’, as well as what
allows for news alerts on cellular phones. In recent
years SMS has ballooned to over a 50 billion dollar
industry and is quickly taking the communications world
by storm.
Short Message Service actually refers to a framework
that uniquely allows computers, or in this case phones,
to communicate with each other without the need of a
central hub. With SMS, phones can find each other, send
short packets of information back and forth, and do it
all without any central computer to guide them. But
because the system does not rely upon fixed lines like a
land based telephone system does, the amount of
information that can be sent at one time is limited in
size. This depends on the language spoken, but for
English letters this typically means around 150
characters (Chinese and Japanese letters are limited to
70).
Quite recently, however, new developments in the
technology have allowed for even longer messages to be
sent. Long or Concatenated SMS is a development that
allows multiple messages to be combined to form a single
message. In effect, what happens is that your phone
actually sends out a few smaller messages and then the
receiving phone simply compiles those messages so that
for users on both ends, it appears as though the message
were cohesive. While there are some limitations, the
brilliance behind SMS is that because there is no need
for central hubs, and thus the system can be expanded
indefinitely without any concerns of it slowing down or
becoming more expensive.
The most common form of SMS is ‘texting’. This usually
takes place with a cellular phone in which individuals
use the letters behind the number pad on their phone to
spell out words and phrases and then send them out.
Because many companies charge by the word, individuals
have come up with a sort of ‘texting slang’ to cut down
on the amount of words required to convey a particular
message. For example, ‘gr8’ and ‘BTW’ mean ‘great’ and
‘by the way’. In addition, other words have just been
shortened, such as ‘lata’ to mean ‘later’. Most users
simply pick up the lingo through frequent use, and
although some slang is widely understood and used, other
shortcuts are developed within circles of friends and
family.
The major advantage of SMS is its price. The price is
typically $0.05 per message, a significant cut below
that of traditional telephony and cell phone per-minute
charges. The savings of SMS has its roots in the nature
of the technology. Short Message Service, like SIP, is
modeled on a peer to peer model and not a cog and wheel
like traditional communication systems. This means that
instead of having to route a message through a central
hub, your text goes straight from you to its
destination. This has radically cut down on the cost of
SMS implementation and led to its overwhelming
popularity throughout the world.
Short Message Service (SMS) has radically changed the
face of the communications industry. While the practice
has become quite common throughout the world, it has
only recently become popular here in the United Stats, a
growth partly predicated upon, surprisingly enough, its
featured role in the show American Idol. The fact that
‘texting’ is quickly gaining both in popularity and
recognition in the United States is not surprising
however, due to its ability to offer users a cheap,
quick, and often fun way to communicate with friends and
family.
How to Increase Your Computer Speed Fast
by: Gio Mangano
I'm sure you've come across tons of articles and even
suggestions from some of your friends on how to get your
computer to work faster. Its really not that hard to
increase your internet speed. I'm going to make it real
simple for you and you don't need to be a computer geek
to make this work. The first thing you need to remember
is to never, and I mean absolutely never download
programs especially free software without reading the
fine print. Most free computer software will bombard
your computer with spyware which will eventually bring
your internet speed to a screeching halt! If your
computer is already infected with spyware you can
download the leading spyware remover called ad-aware
which will scan your computer and remove spyware and
tracking cookies from your computer.
Another way of making your computer and internet
connection faster is by clicking on start, then run and
typing in msconfig. Go to start tab and remove any
program except your antivirus software and any other
program which you must have start when windows starts.
This tip will increase your computer start up time
dramatically!
Step number 3, and I do this almost on a daily basis is
to clean up your internet cache. Go to your control
panel which you can access from your start button and
click on internet options. Go to temporary internet
files and clear your history. I would recommend that you
also set internet history to a maximum of 2 days. Next
step is to delete your temporary internet files
including offline content. Last step is to delete
cookies. Be careful though because deleting your cookies
will also delete useful information from your computer.
You can read a how to on cookies here
www.howstuffworks.com/cookie.htm.
These steps are the basics you can take which will speed
up your internet connection immediately. I would also
recommend doing a virus check on your computer on a
weekly basis. If you don't have antivirus software, get
it! You'll be happy you did. Just one virus can wreak
havoc on your computer! Make sure you test your internet
speed whether its broadband or dial-up, before and after
you take these simple steps so you can compare if these
steps you've taken have worked. Taking these basic steps
will make you a happy surfer and will restore your faith
in the World wide web!
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