SMS TXT on your TV?

Thanks to Gregor for the heads up ;)

Sending and receiving text messages could soon become as easy as turning on the television if a British company has its way.

Wireless Oceans, a company based in England, has developed a system called Text2TV that would allow text messages to be received, displayed and sent on TV screens.

"To reply you can use the TV remote control and a virtual keyboard on screen or just the remote if it is marked with text characters," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday. The system is incorporated in a box that plugs into the mobile phone and the television. If a message comes in, it displays an icon on the television screen. When the message is read, a microchip formats the characters and overlays the message on the TV picture.

"It'll be perfect for those 'did you see that?' moments, when you're watching the football and want to talk about it with distant friends and family," Selwyn Lloyds of Wireless Oceans told the magazine. The company, which is showing the technology to electronics companies, hopes to build it into televisions, mobile phones and VCRs.

News source: Reuters UK