At this point, traditional text messaging is going the way of the dinosaur. Companies such as RIM, Google, Apple and Samsung have all developed ways for their customers to send messages to each other without going through carriers. To a lesser extent, the latest generation of handheld consoles from Sony and Nintendo do the same thing. For example, Nintendo will release an update to the 3DS in December that will bring in a new application called Nintendo Letter Box.

With the opening of the Palo Alto AT&T Foundry the carrier is showing off an idea that could make conversations easier. The app is called AT&T Messages, and it will put all of your conversations into the cloud so you can access them from anywhere. AT&T Messages will hook into your primary phone number to more »

T-Mobile announced it will allow its customers to place calls to Haiti for free and it would also waive charges on calls coming from the earthquake stricken country. The free calls will be retroactive to January 12th and continue through January 31st. Additionally, T-Mobile customers in Haiti will be given free roaming. President and CEO more »

Press conferences are generally hit or miss, well that may be a little nice, actually, in reality they tend to be on the dry side. You have an intro, another intro, maybe another into, learn about some previously successful products, then hopefully some new products and that is usually followed by the company telling us more »

12seconds just today launched their application programming interface (API) as well as announced it’s first three partners: Tweetdeck, Blippr, and Phreadz. With the goal of 12seconds being to be the go-to platform for video status updates, they needed this step forward of a strong API.

The company is happy with their first three partners, although they are still encouraging others to hop in and play around with the code. Of their newest partners, Tweetdeck, an Adobe Air client, probably holds the crown for being known for it’s Twitter service. Blippr is a site that does short-form reviews, and Phreadz is a startup company that does threaded video conversations.

T-Mobile has just announced that as of August 29 the rates for text and picture messages will be going up. With a nice increase, the per message rate will now be the same as most other major carriers as it is going from 15 cents up to 20 cents. These new message rate will apply more »

Alltel has just added another improvement to their MyCircle calling plans. Now, in addition to voice minutes, they will have the option to include text, video or picture messaging. Current MyCircle customers will be able to send or receive unlimited messages to anyone in their Circle as well as other Alltel customers with the addition of a “My Circle message pack” which starts as low as $7.99 a month.

In addition, for those looking to send messages to friends outside of their circle or to non-Alltel customers the new messaging options include either 400 or 1000 messages and are priced at $7.99 and $12.99 a month respectively. Users looking for an unlimited messaging plan will still have the option to get the All Access Pass which costs $19.99 and allows for unlimited messaging to anyone.

Keep reading to check out the full press release.