Hack 78 Send a Paper Text Message

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Hack 78 Send a Paper Text Message

Who says that technology has taken the personality out of our communication? Use your camera phone to send messages in your own handwriting .

Regular text messaging with Short Messaging Service (SMS) lacks an element of personality. ASCII letters just don't possess the individual flair that handwritten notes convey . That personality was certainly part of the charm of passing notes in class as a child, in addition to the element of risk.

Today's camera phones don't pose much risk, but they can help you recapture the charm of handwritten notes. Say you're waiting for a plane in an airport and want to let your girlfriend know that you're thinking about her. You could send the following SMS text message: "Wish you were in the next seat! Miss you..." She would certainly appreciate that.

But if you used the camera phone to take a picture of a handwritten note, as shown in Figure 7-9, you'd put a big smile on her face.

Figure 7-9. A picture note in your own handwriting

The technique is quite easy. First, use your camera phone to take a picture of the handwritten note. Most camera phones give you the option of saving or sending right there on the spot. Find and click the Send button. You'll be prompted to address and, optionally , provide a subject for your note, as shown in Figure 7-10. Enter the destination phone number or select your friend from your contacts, hit the Send button, and your "handwritten" note is on its way.

Figure 7-10. Sending the MMS picture note

Once you start thinking about the possibilities of paper text messaging, you might even go so far as to keep a little pad of Post-it notes in your briefcase just for this purpose.

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Hack 79 Communicate in a Foreign Country

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if you don't speak the language .

A while back I ran a photo-tips contest via my weblog on the O'Reilly Network (http://www.oreillynet.com), and one of the winning entries caught my eye as a creative hack for this book.

The entrant, Phil Calvert, submitted this tip:

While traveling in Japan, I found a novel use for a digital camera. Most of the restaurants there have lifelike plastic displays of the food they serve. Since I couldn't speak Japanese, I just took a picture of what I wanted to eat and showed it to the waiter. He thought it was very funny , but I did get what I ordered.

Phil got me thinking. While traveling in a country where you don't speak or read the language, or at least not very well, why not use your camera phone for a variety of communication needs? You could even store a few standard icons in your phone's memory for when the occasion arises.

For example, a picture of a taxicab, as shown in Figure 7-11, could be quite useful when you'd like the restaurant's maitre d' to call for one to get you back to your hotel.

Figure 7-11. A handy photo of a taxi

Perhaps you could add a shot of money to ask "How much?" or an image of a plane to communicate airport , and don't forget a picture of your hotel, just in case you forget how to find it after a day's touring. The possibilities are endless. The main thing to remember is that pointing to a picture on your phone is much easier than fumbling with a language you don't know at all.

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