Apps that stops people texting while driving

WASHINGTON: A pair of entrepreneurial brothers in Florida have created an app called TXTShield that they claim will get people to put down their phones when they are behind the wheel.

In Kentucky, Mobile Life Solutions created a similar app called Text Limit.

TXTShield co-founder Phil Stiles said the goal is to change behaviour so when they start driving, people don’t even look at phones.

Both apps work with GPS to monitor the speed of the car. When a driver reaches a designated speed, the app shuts down the phone’s ability to text. Incoming texts do not show up on the home screen, and the app sends an automatic response to the sender that the driver will respond later.

Text Limit shuts down even calls and the Internet when users reach a designated speed. Emergency calls to 911 are not blocked.

ANI WASHINGTON: Microblogging site Twitter has acquired ‘Cover’, an Android app that allows user to customise their lock screens called.

Cover was launched in October last year and took the market by storm in very little time. It has said it will remain in the Google Play store for now.

Twitter’s idea behind the buy is still unclear. A Twitter spokesperson said the company has nothing to share except the information on its blog. The acquisition raised Twitter’s share by 0.4%. ANI