Cellular phones played a key role in stopping a burglary in Brazil. A Brazilian businessman was in Germany when he received an alert on his phone that someone had entered his vacation house. He was able to view the burglar on his laptop computer via Internet-connected security cameras and alert police, who apprehended the suspect.
Virgin Mobile USA has teamed up with American Eagle Outfitters and StandUp For Kids on a program aimed at providing clothes for homeless teen-agers. The Txt2Clothe program allows cell-phone users to make clothing donations by sending a text message. One piece of clothing will be donated for each message sent. Virgin Mobile said its goal is to donate 68,405 pieces of clothing, which represents the number of calls received by the National Runaway Switchboard last year.
Parents can now keep track of their child’s school attendance with a new service provided by 123 Consultants and Clickatell. The service sends short message service text messages to parents when their children are absent from school. Parents register with their child’s school to enroll in the service. The service can be transferred to landline phones and is offered in several languages.
