171w ago - Today SCEE's Community Team Moderator Yaster has detailed the PS3 entertainment system's new invite system for text chatting that is built into the PlayStation 3 XMB.

To use it, simply head to a Chat Room, load up a supported game and click the relevant option (for Bioshock 2, this is "Manage Invites". From there, select the empty box at the top as normal.

When you do this, though, in addition to inviting from your friends list or a new Online ID, you'll see Invite From Chat Room - click it, and the XMB will list your current Chat Rooms - pick one and it'll invite everyone in that lobby.

Currently supported games are limited to Bioshock 2, The Aliens vs Predator Demo and Call of Duty: Classic but hopefully the number of titles with this new feature will grow.

From the guide, to quote: How to invite chat room players into a (supported) game

Hot on the heels of my previous guide to "that" invite system in MW2 I now bring you something which I think a few of may not be aware of.

The PlayStation 3 firmware has a feature which allows you to invite players in your active text chat room straight into...

216w ago - Recently Sony released the latest firmware in a long series of iterative updates.

The firmware added one feature that is really worth talking about - cross game text chat. This feature is so revolutionary gamers across the globe have jumped for glee as the PSN is now more robust than Xbox Live.

Of course the only caveat to the statement above is that it is not completely true. The PSN is still lacking one of the most sought after feature - cross game 'voice' chat. This is a feature that has been available on Xbox Live for a long time.

Ironically, the one feature Xbox Live does not have PSN gets - cross game 'text' chat rooms (not to be confused with messaging). I've been playing around with the new chat room feature and to be honest it really is neat. Gamers can now keep up to three chat rooms active while playing any game. These chat rooms will continue to run in the background until you decide to shut them down. Each chat room can hold up to 15 friends as well.

This is definitely a great feature, but what about cross game 'voice' chat? There is the regular voice and video chat, but cross game 'voice' chat is glaringly missing. The option for cross game 'voice'...

268w ago - Deaf people are lobbying politicians in the UK for greater access to technology that helps them use the phone.

A mass lobby of MPs is being carried out using the same technology to which deaf people want improved access. These systems use different means to turn sign language or text into speech to support a phone conversation.

"We want to keep pace with technology," said Ruth Myers, chair of the TAG consortium that is co-ordinating the day of protests.

Lower price

The TAG consortium includes the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, the British Deaf Association, Hearing Concern, Sense, and many others.

Added Ms Myers: "We want equality in education, training, the workplace and as consumers and citizens in the information society."

The mass lobby takes place on 3 April and aims to get politicians thinking about ways to help deaf people get at the technology.

Ms Myers said many deaf people still struggled to make good use of the telephone.

She said: "They are bereft of key telephone services that could help them gain equality with the rest of society, educationally and professionally."

There are several different ways that technology can help deaf people chat via the phone:

* Captioned...

276w ago - Europe's mobile phone operators have been warned they must cut the cost of texting and internet access for users who are overseas or face regulation.

EU Commissioner Viviane Reding said firms have until 1 July to slash their so-called "roaming" charges.

A text sent while abroad can cost as much as 49 pence ($0.95) and a study found that transferring 1 megabyte (MB) of data on average costs £4.11.

Mobile phone companies say they have already begun cutting prices.

"Sending text messages or downloading other data via a mobile phone while in another EU country should not be substantially more expensive for a consumer than sending text messages or downloading data at home," Ms Reding said.

"If the industry does what it claims it can do, bringing prices down to normal, then of course, regulation will not be necessary," she added.

Price cap

The Commissioner called for "credible reductions" to fees charged to business travellers and holiday makers before the summer deadline.

She warned roaming charges of anything more than about 2 pence above domestic texting charges would be unacceptable.

Last year the EU adopted regulations proposed by the EU Commissioner that forced mobile phone companies to lower the costs of...

289w ago - Britons are now sending more than one billion text messages per week according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA).
The figure is 25% higher than a year ago and is set to shatter forecasts for how many text messages have been sent to and from handsets this year.

That weekly total is the same as the number sent during the whole of 1999. Some 4.825bn texts were sent in September 2007, equivalent to 4,000 every second.

"It has exceeded our forecasts quite significantly," said Mike Short, head of the MDA.

The total for 2007 looks set to reach 52 billion, he said. This was far in excess of the 42-48 billion the MDA previously predicted would be sent this year.

Mr Short said there were several reasons for the continuing growth. "It's convenient, comprehensive, it's on every handset and network and it is cost effective," he said.

Once despatched, a text message is stored on the mobile network until it can be delivered to its intended destination.

Companies

That effective guarantee of delivery was perfect for many messages that may not merit an entire conversation or that people did not want to trust to voicemail.

Many people were also happy to get news and updates about topics or teams they follow via text...