I am always on the look out for novel uses for SMS technology and a recent story from India caught my eye. It seems that HP Labs in India have developed a great way for cell phone users to access to the internet via SMS.  The SiteOnMobile program allows users of bog standard cell phones to utilize the internet by using SMS and voice commands.

What is great about this SMS -based approach is that it will open up the internet to millions of cell phone users in India who would otherwise not have access to the web.  

The market for cell phones in India is massive and SMS usage is amongst the highest in the world, so it makes great sense for HP to develop a system that will give less well off Indians the chance to make use of the internet by using their existing hardware and skills set (that is to say a cell phone and SMS).

Through the SiteOnMobile program cell phone users can send an SMS message to issue a command to perform a particular task (aka ''tasklet'') such as asking for a quote, checking a price, requesting information or booking an appointment. While the SMS-based internet access won't lead to hours of web browsing it will give many Indians affordable access to some aspects of the internet.

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Certainly there is a time when sending a text is appropriate and a time when it isn't. And it would seem that at least one young British female juror wasn't able to tell the difference.

The young woman in question was a 19 year old woman from northern England, who was on jury duty. The problems arose when the young woman sent a text message to another juror on another case whom she had just met. 

Despite the second juror responding that she couldn't discuss the case she was on, the 19 year old proceeded to send another text message which contained false rumours (overheard outside the court house) regarding the defendant in this case.

The receiver of the text message reported the text messages to the bailiffs, who then warned the judges in the two cases. The result was that both jurors were withdrawn from their allotted court cases. The 19 year old woman was also charged with contempt of court – to which she pleaded guilty and was lucky to be given an eight month suspended sentence.

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Last week I received one of the most surprising SMS messages of my life . . . it was from my grandmother! At the rip old age of 80 she has decided to join in the mobile revolution and has bought a mobile phone. What's more, she has taken to using it like a fish takes to water - including sending SMS messages.

While it makes prefect sense for my Gran to have a mobile phone so she is connected to the rest of the family while she is out and about, I was surprised to see how quickly she accepted this new technology. Of course she's had some heavy duty tuition from my sister who has shown her all the ins and outs of her new phone, as well as teaching her how to send and read SMS messages. She even knows about popular SMS emoticons such as :-).

I guess I shouldn't really be surprised by my Grandmother's use of a mobile phone for voice and SMS messages.  According to research earlier this year, mobile phone use amongst the over 65s is on the increase both in North American and in much of Europe, although voice is more popular than SMS.

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