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Two users of iOS can avoid carriers’ SMS services by sending iMessages instead.

(Credit: Apple)

If ever a story called for the use of an emoticon, this would be the one: text messaging volume in the U.S. has declined for the first time ever, according to a new research report.

Regardless of whether the emoticon you’d assign to the story is a smiley or a sad face, it’s worth noting that after years as a growing communications medium, texting may be starting to fall victim to new market trends, at least insofar as it generates revenues for wireless carriers.

In a report looking at the U.S. mobile data market in the third quarter, Chetan Sharma wrote that although other western countries have already started to see falling revenue in the messaging segment, this was the first time that American carriers have both mirrored that revenue pattern and seen a drop in the total volume of SMS messages sent.

Sharma attributed the declines to “the rise of IP messaging” and the fact that “operators have been slow to evolve their strategies in the segment.” That means that services like Apple’s iMessage — a system that lets two iOS users send free SMS-like messages to each other — are cutting into carriers’ bottom lines.

At the same time, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks are surely taking up some of the messaging slack as younger users look for alternatives to traditional SMS. At the same time, tools like Apple’s Find My Friends may allow some people to avoid using text messaging in environments — like concerts — where the service was once the only way to locate each other.

“It might be early to say if the decline has begun or the market segment will sputter along before the decline takes place,” the report stated.

But to those paying attention, the report may not come as a surprise at all. In June 2011, the Wall Street Journal surmised that text messaging might have already peaked.

“I’m sorry, boss. I got hit in the head by a quadrocopter and won’t be able to make it in for a while.”

(Credit: Activision)

Getting a bit of a scratchy throat? You’d better plan to stay home tomorrow to fend off what’s sure to be a terrible cold. And while you’re lying around hacking up a lung, maybe you can garner the strength to play a little Call of Duty: Black Ops: 2. Your boss will never suspect that’s why you really dialed in sick.

Not until reading about a new IGN poll, that is. One in four respondents indicated plans to skip work/school tomorrow, the day the next installment of the hugely popular first-person shooter launches worldwide for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Health warning: The Call of Duty Cough is expected to be serious and widespread!

IGN, a site that covers all things gaming, invited readers to take part in the quick, four-question online survey over the course of three days last week. Nearly 10,000 IGN.com visitors answered the call, with 26 percent of respondents saying they definitely expect to feel under the weather tomorrow.

How many people actually skip school and spreadsheets for first-person shooting remains to be seen. But given the immense hype leading up to the game — it just clocked in at Amazon’s most preordered game ever, and is on pace to become GameStop’s biggest launch ever — don’t be surprised to see a few empty chairs around the cubicle farm.

Upping the excitement factor, Activision announced last week that players will be able to live-stream their Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 gameplay, audio commentary, and even Webcam footage on YouTube without any new hardware or software.

Set in the year 2025, the main story of Black Ops 2 revolves around the notion of a “21st century Cold War.” A launch trailer for the Activision title released earlier this year reveals the first fully futuristic Call of Duty, complete with armed quadrocopters and mechanized walking vehicles.

Respondents to the IGN survey said they expected to play 5.5 hours of the game on launch day alone (in between cold compresses to lower their fevers, of course). Look for a review of the game by CNET’s Jeff Bakalar this week.

The Salt Palace hosts one of the world’s most powerful networks starting today.

(Credit: Dana Sohm/Visit Salt Lake)

This weekend and next week in Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace Convention Center, there are likely to be more gigabits flying around, and at a faster amount per second, than just about anywhere else on the continent.

That’s where a cadre of volunteers from top universities, government labs, and industry have put together a sort of dream network for this year’s SC2012 Super Computing conference, beginning today in Utah. Using multiple 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) and 100Gbps circuits, SCinet links the convention center to other powerful networks around the world, including the Department of Energy’s ESnet, Internet2, and National LambdaRail.

To set up the super network, SCinet teamed with the Utah Education Network and the University of Utah to acquire access to miles of fiber optic cable in the Salt Lake metro area and into the Salt Palace.

While a wireless network for the conference will be one of SCinet’s uses, part of that massive pipe will also be set aside for the SCinet Research Sandbox (SRS), which “provides a unique opportunity for researchers to showcase disruptive network research using emerging technologies like 100Gbps circuits as well as OpenFlow technology,” according to a release from the conference.

Altogether, SCinet will deliver nearly 800Gbps in total capacity for the duration of the week-long conference. Then it will be deconstructed, leaving attendees in a state of major bandwidth withdrawal. Sorry Salt Lake, but you should probably disconnect and get outside anyway — ski season is right around the corner.

The professor

(Credit: BBC/YouTube Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

I am sure you’d watch. I am sure your kids would be fascinated.

And yet, it is not to be. The BBC will not be doing a live show in which scientists try to talk to aliens.

You might be wondering why this would be.

Thankfully, Professor Brian Cox, a celebrated particle physicist and TV presenter (and former member of the band D:Ream), revealed that Britain’s most august news source was a little scared of the kind of news it would make.

As the Daily Mail reports it, Cox wanted to point a radio telescope at Threapleton Holmes D, a planet that had been discovered by amateurs on his show.

You never know. The occupants of Threapleton Holmes D might be big fans of his show and wish to contribute.

Ah, but the BBC pooh-poohed it. Cox (I have embedded a clip of him describing a science conversation with Kate Moss) declared in a radio interview with BBC Radio 6 that the producers cited health and safety regulations.

This is BBC-speak for worrying what the aliens might say. They might swear. They might declare that the British Prime Minister was really from the Planet Kobo. It might cause panic in the streets, swoons on the stock markets.

The Mail, naturally, wanted the BBC’s official words on the subject of this monstrous revelation.

A spokesman told the Mail: “In making the series there were many lighthearted conversations, one of which was about how different organizations might react to the discovery of alien life.”

But of course. They were just kidding around.

However, anyone who has wandered along the hallways of the BBC will suspect that the bureaucracy at the Beeb (as it is locally known) simply wouldn’t be able to stand the strain.

Built by Suwon’s former mayor, Mr. Toilet House is a museum dedicated to the potty.

(Credit: Mr. Toilet House)

I’ve been to some bizarre spots in South Korea, from DMZ tunnels to a seaside park dedicated to giant penises, but a new theme park in Suwon is at the top of my must-see list: it celebrates toilets.

The Restroom Cultural Park is billed as the world’s first toilet theme park. It’s a monument to the colorful former mayor of Suwon, a man known as Mr. Toilet.

The late Sim Jae-duck was himself born in a toilet and had an affection for loos throughout his life, rigorously promoting public facilities while mayor.

Sim also founded the World Toilet Association and wrote a book entitled “Happy to Be With You, Toilet.” He died of prostate cancer in 2009.

The park opened earlier this year and is now attracting foreign interest. It features Sim’s toilet-shaped home, the Mr. Toilet House, which is now a museum dedicated to loos.

Sim’s own high-tech toilet is available to visitors. It has a transparent door that clouds over when the facilities are in use.

As seen in the BBC report below, there’s a history section reflecting on the less than pleasant Korean commodes of the past, as well as a gallery of art inspired by toilets.

There are also toilet signs from around the world, and poop-shaped souvenirs.

Suwon is indeed proud of its toilet heritage and boasts dozens of designer public restrooms that are kept as clean as possible. Every month the city holds the Cleanest Public Restroom Contest to local restaurants and other businesses.

Health, sanitation, and water conservation are important toilet issues in Suwon, and its quirky public toilets are listed as tourist attractions alongside the 18th-century Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“Humans tend to do most of their intensive thinking while sitting on a toilet,” the city muses on its website.

“As can be seen, restrooms are no longer a place to finish up urgent business and quickly leave. It has evolved into a place where you wash your hands, primp yourself, and keep your mind and body neat.”

(Via BBC News)

Extreme fundraising: ‘I am honored to be on Drew’s arm,’ marketing exec Melanie Mitchell told louisgray.com.

(Credit: Drew Olanoff)

Want more Twitter followers? Have you considered advertising by tattoo?

TechCrunch writer Drew Olanoff is selling some real estate on his body to the biggest giver. Whoever wins will get his or her Twitter handled permanently etched on the 33-year-old.

Olanoff is, until November 14, raising money to help research into children’s cancers. He did it before in 2009, when the high bid and donation was $ 2,112 by Melanie Mitchell, whose handle was inked on Olanoff’s arm.

In an astonishing twist, Olanoff himself was diagnosed with cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, after that campaign.

He has been in remission for three years, but he also auctioned off his @drew Twitter handle for cancer, with the winning bid going to Drew Carey (the account is currently inactive).

Now Olanoff wants to raise more funds with another tattoo.

His inspiration is Alex Scott, a girl who was only 4 years old and suffering from neuroblastoma when she decided to raise money for cancer research by selling lemonade. She died in 2004.

“This time, the money goes right to Alex’s Lemonade Stand,” Olanoff writes. “Even if you don’t want to hop into a battle for real-estate on my body in tattoo form, every little bit counts.”

The inspiring video below describes Alex and how her brief life has affected many cancer patients, cancer survivors, and families.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation is now a registered charity with nationwide volunteers. It has raised more than $ 55 million and funded more than 250 research projects across the U.S.

“Let’s all chip in and doing something great, and I’ll end up with the most special tattoo ever,” Olanoff writes. “I hate cancer, and I’m sure you do, too. Everyone has been affected by it in some way. Am I crazy? Maybe, but YOLO.”

This Android had a meltdown.

(Credit: Baidu)

The Nexus 7 has been one of the smokin’ hot tablets of 2012, and unfortunately for one user in China, that was literally the case.

A Nexus 7 well done. (click for full size)

(Credit: Baidu)

The user posted the photo above to a forum on Baidu (China’s home-grown answer to Google), claiming that the device began smoking while plugged in and charging on its original factory charger. In the process, the guts of the tablet seem to have been totally torched.

To me — and likely anyone else who has had the experience of ruining an electrically powered product thanks to the wildly unpredictable and sometimes surging electrical grids of other countries — this sounds like an infrastructure fail. However, we have seen enough reports of malfunctioning, overheating, and even smoking device batteries to make this story plausible.

And if this anonymous user’s story is to believed (let’s be very clear — there’s no way to confirm it), Asus seems to think it’s a plausible enough story. So much so it has offered reportedly to not only replace the Nexus 7, but also hook the user up with a free set of Google Glass.

This part of the story seems a little hard to swallow to me, but if it’s true, I imagine Google doesn’t want word to get out, lest we all start torching our Nexus tablets in the hope of scoring our own pair of Google specs.

(Via Phandroid.)

All we need now is a director and some actors.

(Credit: Lucasfilm)

It looks like the next “Star Wars” movie might get completed faster than it took to construct the second Death Star.

Disney and Lucasfilm have chosen Michael Arndt to write the screenplay for “Star Wars: Episode VII,” the long-awaited follow-up to the 1983 epic “Return of the Jedi.”

For those unfamiliar with Arndt, he won an Academy Award for penning “Little Miss Sunshine” and then earned a nomination for “Toy Story 3.” In the years that followed, Arndt picked up screenwriting duties for the upcoming films “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Oblivion,” and an untitled Pixar movie.

Coincidentally (or maybe not so much), it appears Arndt often used the story arc of the original “Star Wars” movie as an inspirational teaching tool when speaking to aspiring writers. According to Vulture, several years ago Arndt spoke publicly about how George Lucas reached a Zen state with his original “Star Wars” screenplay.

“Arndt stated that if a writer could resolve the story’s arcs (internal, external, philosophical) immediately after the Moment of Despair at the climax, he or she would deliver the Insanely Great Ending and put the audience in a euphoric state,” said a 2010 Austin Film Festival attendee who attended Arndt’s talk. “The faster it could happen, the better. By [Arndt's] reckoning, George Lucas hit those three marks at the climax of ‘Star Wars’ within a space of 22 seconds.”

Vulture also reports that “Star Wars” executives want to bring back a “much older” Luke, Han, and Leia in the next movie, but no deals exist — yet. In related news, here’s a video released several days ago from Lucasfilm that features George Lucas and film producer Kathleen Kennedy discussing the development of “Star Wars: Episode VII.” The movie is set for a 2015 release.