Seriously Apple, what's up with the patent application bender? Over the past week, we've seen a whole gaggle of new apps, though the latest few just might be the most intriguing. In essence, Apple engineers have outlined plans to integrate object recognition, face detection / recognition, a text message filter (for the parents, you know) and a new, smarter messaging interface that could remind you of unread messages before allowing you to make a call and spout off unnecessarily. Moreover, we're told of a new voice output selection that could enable Oprah or Cookie Monster to read your turn-by-turn directions, bedtime stories or recipes. Suddenly, iPhone OS 3.0 feels so... antediluvian.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Unread messages application
Read - New messaging interface application
Read - Face detection application

Way back in the heady days of 2007, there was an iPhone without 3G data (hard to believe, we know, but trust us -- we were there). This iPhone, though revolutionary in some ways, was marred by the love-hate relationship its users suffered for missing out on some very basic features that they'd grown used to on mobiles of yore. One of those missing features, of course, was MMS -- and now, some two years later, here we are with a truly integrated MMS experience courtesy of the all-powerful hacking community. Granted, there have been MMS apps available for ages, but there's a difference: this is the same action 3G and 3GS owners are getting in conjunction with OS 3.0, which Apple curiously decided to hold back from original iPhone owners. As you might imagine, getting this going on your own phone is marginally more complicated than downloading from the App Store, so here's the question, you non-upgraders: just how badly do you want it?

[Thanks, Paul]

We're all for closing the gap between our desktop and mobile WPMs, but this might be a step in the wrong... direction (keep reading to understand why that was a miserable, unforgivable pun). HTC has filed for a patent that would have your phone determine which character you meant to type by analyzing its current tilt at the time you press a key, the idea being that a single key could be responsible for entering as many as five different letters and numbers. It seems like that'd make entering a text more like a game of Labarynth than an actually enjoyable (or efficient) process, but hey, we guess some people are really good with their wrists.

[Via pocketnow.com and wmpoweruser.com]

Most buddies like to while away the hours by, say, fishing down by the docks; maybe catch the game and put down a few brewskis. You know, standard-issue stuff. On the opposite end of the spectrum are Nick Andes and Doug Klinger -- 29 and 30, respectively -- who decided that they'd try to shatter the one-month texting record by exchanging a whopping 217,000 messages, most of which were apparently meaningless garbage like "LOL" and "hello" (why they weren't able to maintain a deep, emotionally healthy conversation for the duration of 216,000 consecutive 160-character communiques is beyond us). Both men figured they were golden since they'd added unlimited texting plans to their accounts, so imagine Andes' surprise when he received a bill in a box -- complete with $27.55 in postage -- on his doorstep. Inside he found a grand total charge of $26 grand -- and while we totally think that a Guinness record is worth $26 grand, you can imagine that a couple Joe Sixpacks from Philly had never intended to blow five figures on a bunch of "LOLs" exchanged during lunch breaks. All's well that ends well, though, and T-Mobile credited the account and is investigating how it happened; let's just hope that record gets certified now, eh?

We'll go ahead and warn you that a lot has changed since 2007, but if anything, the surge in Twitter users and the overwhelming growth in social networking would likely strengthen these findings. The Pew Internet and American Life Project has just revealed some rather interesting stats from its study of age groups and their connection to mobile technology, particularly when looking at the "Ambivalent Networkers" group. Said clump is comprised mostly of males in their late 20s, which are stereotypically connected to their handsets at all times with a smile to go with it. According to the research, however, the majority of this group agreed that "taking a break is definitely a good idea," which was around ten percentage points above the average in the other four groups. We know you're about to tweet this to your 27 year old brother-in-law, but think twice before you knowingly hurt his soul like that.

[Via ArsTechnica]

Apple's done a decent job of implementing features that we've all been clamoring for into its forthcoming OS 3.0, and aside from copy and paste, there's probably no one single feature add bigger than this. You heard right -- multimedia messaging (MMS) is at long last coming to the iPhone 3G (sorry, first-gen iPhone owners) after years of dealing strictly with SMS. During the keynote, Apple was pretty remarkably short with details, simply noting that MMS "support" would be added. Frankly, we don't expect anything mind-blowing; it'll probably look a lot like the current SMS setup, and it'll definitely make AT&T happy when you start firing away picture messages without first subscribing to an unlimited messaging plan.

Update: Apple's official PR on the subject has given us just a bit more to chew on. We're told that MMS will enable iPhone 3G users to "send and receive photos, contacts, audio files and locations with the Messages app," hinting that Apple may just smash MMS and SMS together into a single 'Messages' app in OS 3.0. Also of note, owners will also be able to "forward and delete multiple messages."

Nothing too exceptional here, but the texters in attendance should certainly have a listen. Just a week after Rogers Wireless launched two new unlimited packs for BlackBerry users, the Canadian carrier has upgraded the $20 Value Pack (for standard handsets) to include unlimited texting, up from 2,500 previously. Like we said, nothing too incredible -- unless you've been burned of late for sending over 2,500 texts in a month.

Not sure if you've noticed, but text / video messaging has remained fairly constant while web browsing, multimedia playback and navigation applications have all steadily improved. Thankfully, The Wireless Association and its awesomely named Enhanced Messaging Action Team has a thing or two to say about that. The group has just released its Final Set of Use Cases and Call Flows for the development of Enhanced Messaging solutions, which have reportedly been agreed to by every major US carrier. This provides said carriers with "a complete set of the tools and information" that they can use to develop interoperable Enhanced Messaging products, enabling both Group Messaging and Presence functionality. The former enables "multiple users to interact with text based communication on their mobile devices, as well as support multimedia files in group communications," while the entire Enhanced Messaging platform is said to be "a presence-enabled mobile messaging service that allows for richer real-time text messaging and communications than traditional mobile messaging." Hard to say when any meaningful developments beyond this will occur, but we're clearly just years away from SMS telepathy.

[Image courtesy of Cast-Online]

After a several month-long beta, Nokia's souped-up email app -- appropriately called Email -- is getting booted out of Beta Labs and going gold as part of the Messaging suite. The company is touting that the final product includes tons of changes that came from feedback through the beta cycle, and it'll be going live first in Australia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and Venezuela -- in other words, you good folks will now be paying for the opportunity to use it. The remainder of the world gets to keep using it for free until it's commercialized in their locale -- which, if you're in the US and Nokia Music is any indication, might be a long time off.

The increasingly high cost of text messaging has already caused a bit of a stir in Canada, and it looks like Democratic Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin is concerned with the situation in the US as well, with him now opening an inquiry to attempt to get the carriers to explain themselves. Apparently, Kohl is a bit puzzled as to why some customers are now paying 20 cents per message when they paid just 10 cents in 2005, a period that Kohl notes just happens to overlap with some consolidation in the wireless industry, when the number of national carriers shrunk from six to four. Those carriers, as you might expect, aren't saying much just yet, with Sprint only going as far as to say that it looks forward to "responding to the Senator's inquiry about the text messaging options we offer our customers and we will fully cooperate with his request," and the rest saying even less.

Like Canada, Mexico's getting mobile payments, too, but these are just a bit different in two very important respects. One, this is a full-fledged service being underwritten by Telefonica, Iusacell, Citibank, and BBVA -- not just a trial. Two, unlike the NFC-based Canadian system, this one will rely on text messages to get the cash flowing. The service is expected to launch in the next few months and get backing from restaurants, stores, and taxis, all places where we can recall specific times when we would've rather kept our wallets in our pockets when the time came to pony up. Of course, considering how miserably unsuccessful mobile payments have been across North America so far (we've still got our fingers crossed that NFC is going to take off one of these days), this one could die off as quickly as it started unless it catches a break and goes big.

The normally pedestrian procedure of re-upping your minute bank just got a little more exciting for customers of Vodafone's prepaid service in the UK, where the launch of the aptly-named "Text Unlimited" promotion offers incentives for topping up. Adding £5 worth of voice over the course of the month wins you unlimited texts on weekday evenings the following month; £10 get weekends, too, and £30 leads to an unlimited playground of messaging nirvana. The service launches September 1, and Vodafone's using the opportunity to tie it in with the prepaid launch of the Sony Ericsson K770i in "Touch of Pink" and "Star Heaven Silver". Whoever thought of the names of those colors should be rewarded with at least one month of unlimited messaging, eh?

Here's something you don't hear everyday ever: an Irish air traffic controller helped guide a seriously malfunctioning plane to a safe landing via SMS. In a story that's admittedly tough to fathom, a pilot with four passengers aboard his twin-engined Piper plane lost all on board electrical power, communications and weather functions soon after he lifted off. In a effort to establish any form of contact with someone back on the ground, he phoned a controller at the Cork airport and spoke only momentarily of his troubles before losing voice signal. The quick-thinking controller decided to switch up his conversation method to texting, eventually providing sufficient details to safely guide the pilot in. Can you say "promotion?"

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of StarWars Blog]