I consider myself a moderately effective text messager. While my training as an editor and former English teacher means that I have a hard time using alpha-numerical shortcuts like "gr8!" or "U no what I mean," I can still express myself fairly effectively and quickly.

That having been said, I must admit to a fair bit of wonder when I observe preteens on the subway, holding conversations with their fellow passengers while they somehow speed-type War and Peace-length messages to their friends. Watching their tiny thumbs vibrate with blurring speed, I feel a little bit like homo neanderthalensis observing those pesky little homo sapiens with their precious non-apelike faces and wiry body types. To put it mildly, I can feel evolution breathing down my neck.

My daughter, at three, is still too young to text message, but I can easily foresee a day in which she will conduct a rich and varied social life through the use of her cellphone. Luckily, new technologies will make it possible for me to keep tabs on her social life, ensuring that she stays away from that creep Lorie and doesn't get too friendly with the neighborhood sex offenders. Perhaps the most impressive of these programs is TextGuard; for $11.95 a month, it enables the user to read and even block all the messages that are sent or received from a particular cell phone.

I have to admit that it's a little disturbing that I will be able to purchase such impressive power for less than the price of three Big Mac value meals. In fact, when the time comes, I will probably have to do some serious soul-searching. Will I really want to oversee all of my daughter's cell-phone base communications, ensuring her safety at the cost of all her privacy? Do I really want to become Big Brother, ruthlessly controlling my little girl's private life? In my desire to be a better parent, will I become a lesser person? Most of all, does the NSA ever have massive moments of bone-shaking, existentialist doubt?

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. He always considered himself more of a Winston Smith kind of guy.

When you think of electronics, you don't normally think of the dollar store but I found five cool gadgets that impressed me, considering that each one was only a buck. Well, maybe I'm easy to impress. See what you think.

• Hand-held game system with eight different games. The games have blocky black and white graphics but it would serve to entertain a kid in the backseat of the car on a long trip and it's better than shelling out up to $130 for a Nintendo DS or $170 for a PSP.

• Folding travel clock/calculator with 16 different time zones. Okay, so our cell phones do everything but serve lunch but this is still a neat little gadget for a buck. It makes a great desk accessory.

Scrolling through Forbes' new slideshow of America's Fastest Dying Industries can easily get the mind wandering on a Big Lebowski tangent. Okay, maybe that's a stretch. But, the fact that our nation may suffer a dearth of bowling alleys and beer seems a little disconcerting.

As part of this new feature, in conjunction with AOL Small Business, Forbes lists 10 U.S. industries that will most likely see a drop in output, revenue and employment in the next four years.

According to Forbes, the industries that had the foresight to adjust to change and diversify are doing the best. "While technology is changing the face of many industries," writes the magazine's Joshua Zumbrun and Brian Wingfield, "the firms within them are often doing quite well." AT&T and Verizon, for instance, are not worried about their outdated "land lines" since their wireless subscriber numbers are surging.

After the cell phone plan I share with my sister and parents went over in both minutes and text messages for the second month in a row, I decided to look into the new plans our carrier has come out with in order to save on overages. After I started looking, I found that I could pay the same base price as I am now, but get unlimited text messaging to any carrier instead of the limited version the family had been on.

Cell phone carriers are constantly revising plans and changing prices in order to stay competitive. The only way for current customers to reap the benefits of these changes is to call and ask for the new price. If you are investigating new plans make sure you read the fine print and check over all of the changes. In our case the new plan charges for the data used to download ringtones, but this additional cost is far outweighed by the savings. You should also check with your carrier to make sure these changes won't extend your contract out past retirement.

If changing your whole plan isn't an option or won't save you any money, then check out the additional features on your account. If you haven't changed your text messaging or data plan since you first signed up, reevaluating the options available from your carrier could save you even more cash. My carrier, Verizon, has changed text messaging plans every few months for the past year. Verizon also dropped the price of their data package for many smart phones by $15, savings you won't get without taking action.

At first, I thought, "They're crazy."

Then I thought, "Yeah, crazy like a mongoose."

(I get tired of clichés.)

Sony Pictures Television just announced yesterday that it's going to be the first Hollywood studio to offer full-length movies by cell phone, the Associated Press is reporting. It won't be movies on demand; they'll play in a loop, interspersed with commercials.

Starting in May, Sony will offer a slew of popular films like Ghostbusters, Karate Kid and Roxanne--you know, starring Steve Martin. Boy, that's a great one. I always crack up when Martin's in the bar, and he does all of those nose jokes at once, and...

The next time you find yourself talking on your cell while inching through a traffic jam, ignore the finger from the driver behind you, because you might be helping traffic planners solve the congestion problem. AirSage Inc. has come up with a clever way to identify highway traffic holdups by measuring cell phone volume; more cell traffic, more car traffic. More car traffic, more congestion.

By tracking (anonymously) the amount of cell phone traffic on the Sprint network on highways in 46 U.S. cities it claims it can estimate with great accuracy the amount of congestion. It then provides this info to state departments of transportation for alternate route planning and emergency services, and to private companies for fleet management. Also among Airsage's clients are TV and radio stations.

The logical next step for AirSage is to offer drivers a service that returns this information to their cell phones, so that they can seek out a faster route to work. Perhaps such a service could help Sprint staunch the lost-subscriber bleeding.

Cell phone yakking while driving- it's not just part of the problem, it's part of the solution.

Gracias to BusinessWeek

Maybe you're a thrifty sort. Maybe you disdain the culture's love of all that is new and shiny. Or maybe you're just an early adapter (Like Gordon Gekko here on the right) who for some reason never upgraded. In other words, maybe you're one of the few Americans who still uses an analog cellphone.

Well start saving for your Blackberry now, my friends. Your days are numbered. As of February 2008, carriers will no longer be required to support old analog technology, and many will drop it altogether. Although carriers estimate that less than 1% of cell phone users actually still have an analog device, that's still upwards of a million people.

Carriers that still support analog are Verizon Wireless, Alltel and AT&T.