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OMG, the text message turns 20. But has SMS
peaked?
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It's been hailed for its succinctness and blamed
for everything from sore thumbs to the decline of
conversation. Love it or hate it, the text
message is 20 years old (Happy Birthday!). The
first-ever text message was sent December 3,
1992. It read simply, "Merry Christmas. As of
Monday, the text is no longer in its teens -- the
age group it's probably most associated with. In
fact, it's more of a senior citizen in technology
years. Six billion SMS (short message service)
messages are sent every day in the United States.
After two decades of constant growth, text
messaging is finally slowing down.
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In Other News

• The year in pictures (2012) http//www.cnn.com/20
  12/12/04/world/gallery/year-in-pictures/index.html
  ?hpthp_c3
• After a long period of closed beta testing,
  Microsoft made the beta version of its social
  network, Socl, available to everyone on Tuesday.
  Socl initially launched this May. It's a
  search-meets-social networking website that looks
  more like Pinterest than Facebook, and has until
  now been open only to invited Microsoft employees
  and college students. Now, everyone with a
  Microsoft or Facebook account can access it. The
  sign-up process is effortless -- users simply
  connect their account with Socl. They can then
  start sharing content (e.g. photos, videos,
  links), and comment on other members' posts.