Possible Do Not Text Registry

People frustrated by text messaging ads might soon have an answer to their problem. Pennsylvania State Representative Seth Grove (R-Dover) introduced legislation amending the Telemarketer Registration Act to include text messages.

Rep. Grove says the idea for the amendment came from his constituents. "I had a couple senior citizens come into the office. And they started getting text messaging advertisements and they didn't have a text messaging plan so it cost them money to receive em. And then, it usually says 'reply back STOP to stop the text messaging' and to stop it it cost them even more money."

Grove says he believes that his colleagues will support the amendment, since he has not heard any negative reaction. He says that anyone already on the Do Not Call list will receive the benefits of his legislation once it passes. It was moved out of committee with a unanimous vote May 4th and is awaiting action in the full house.

The legislation would make it illegal for companies to advertise to a telephone subscriber unless the person opts-in to the texts; the company is texting about debts, contracts or payments; the company has an established relationship with the customer over 12 months; the company is a tax-exempt non-profit; and is calling on behalf of a candidate or political party.

DHS Encourages No Screens

Back away from the screen, and no one gets hurt. That is what the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) is trying to get children to do from April 18th to the 24th for "Screen-Free Week." Screen time includes television programs, movies, video games, Internet time, etc. Anything that involves a screen is discouraged during this week. Glenna Wilson, DHS Office of Community Service Safe Start coordinator says participating will create long and short term benefits. "If they begin to reduce the amount of [screen] time before the age of six, then it's not a definite. It's just like quitting smoking: anytime is a good time to quit." Wilson says that it's not just the content of screen media materials that negatively impacts children. She says that less time in front of a television or computer screen can prevent childhood obesity and psychological problems down the road. "It's important for parents to realize the impact that this has on children. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under two, and less than two hours a day for older children." Wilson adds that preschool children spend about 32 hours a week with screen media, and children ages 8 to 18 consider themselves to be addicted to video games. The DHS encourages children to use the time they are not spending in front of a screen with family, friends, and physical activity. Alternative activities and certificates are available online for parents to use as incentive for children to participate in Screen-Free Week.

Green Engineering in Focus in Pittsburgh

When the University of Pittsburgh opened its Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation in 2003 it was a much different world than it is today. “We spent a lot of time teaching people what sustainable design was and convincing, or talking to companies and trying to convince them, that it was in their best interest to look at sustainable design,” says Center Co-director Eric Beckman. “Now sometimes I think in academia we are trying to keep up with industry because the industry interest has just exploded.”

More than 300 academicians, engineers, architects and designers will gather in Pittsburgh over the next two days to showcase innovations in sustainable design at the 2011 Engineering Sustainability conference. It is the 4th biennial conference. Beckman says the event features a mixture of disciplines and that makes for some interesting conversations. “When you talk about sustainability and you are an architect or an urban planner you are looking at large link scale things; communities, cities and regions, and then we have folks that are looking at sustainability from a molecular design perspective or from a device perspective,” says Beckman.

Beckman says the event also looks at sustainable engineering at all stages of development. Presentations from the academic community might deal with technology that is still being developed while a presentation from the head of an industry leader may focus on a product that has already hit the market.

Among the speakers will be University of Michigan professor Gregory Keolein. He tries to answer the question, “how do you know when something is green?” Beckman says, “[Keolein] is a pioneer in something called life-cycle analysis… If you’ve got two products you can compare them and determine which one has a smaller environmental footprint.” The lecture could be of heightened interest with the recent release of information that the Pittsburgh convention center (where the event is being held) is not operating with as much energy efficiency as was originally expected.

Beckman says he is keeping an eye on new innovations to make buildings more energy efficient. He says the advice we have been giving people to reduce energy use in homes and buildings has not changed much in the last 30 years. “So for me the next big things are innovations that allow us to greatly reduce the burden we place on the grid in existing homes and buildings. I’m just starting to see interesting ideas in that area.” Beckman says buildings consume about a third of the energy used in the US, meaning a new sustainable engineering breakthrough could have a big impact on power demand.

VisitPA Goes Mobile

Pennsylvania's tourism website now automatically recognizes smartphones and other mobile devices. The new mobile format will allow users to more easily find attractions and destinations close to them. Rosemary Mape, Deputy Secretary for Tourism Marketing with the Pennsylvania Tourism Office, says the format was designed to cater to mobile phone users. "If sombody's using their smartphone and they type in visitPA.com it will recognize that they're accessing the site using a mobile device and it will automatically take them to the mobile site. Really what it means is that the way that it displays on their phone is in a much more user friendly fashion, it makes it easier." Mape says the site will include "geolocation" which can pick-up the location of users and direct them to nearby attractions. She says that it did not take much money to develop the site because it is a mobile version of the website and not a full app. Last year VisitPA.com saw a 34 percent increase with traffic, welcoming 2 million web visitors and 130,000 international visitors.

Washington County Tourism: There's an App for that

The Washington County Tourism Agency (WCTPA) has launched a free app for smartphone users that includes three megabytes of information regarding sites, attractions, hotels, restaurants, festivals and more.

Agency Executive Director J.R. Shaw says that this app kicks off their mobile marketing campaign.

"More and more people are getting their information and are researching their travel destinations online and electronically," he says. He also adds that 25% of cell phone users have smartphones.

Shaw explains that they have "tailored" their visitwashingtonpa.com website to be accessible from a smartphone. Users can download the Washington County Tourism app from that website or iTunes, and it will offer tourist destination suggestions in Washington County. The app includes a "What's Nearby" feature, which operates via GPS to determine the sites the smartphone user is closest to. The app is available for the Android, Blackberry, and iPhone.

Shaw believes the app is the first of its kind in the region, if not the state, and that he hopes other regions catch on because future generations will all have smartphones.

"[The younger generation] demographic is much more savvy on the smartphones and they might not be the target market for travel right now, but they soon will be. We know that our future customers are going to be using smartphones," Shaw said.

The county's heritage sites include Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, Duncan and Miller Glass Museum, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and 22 covered bridges.

CMU to Unveil Converted Honda Civic

This week Carnegie Mellon University Researchers will unveil a 2002 Honda Civic that has been converted from gas to all-electric. The Civic is the prototype for the university’s ChargeCar Electric Vehicle Conversion Project. The Civic's powertrain has been replaced with a 35-horsepower electric motor and 33 lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. It's estimated to be able to travel more than 40 miles at a peak speed of 70 miles per hour. Ben Brown, a Project Scientist with the Robotics Institute, says the car travels a sufficient distance for most drivers. "The Department of Transportation statistics suggest that somewhere around a 40 mile range is quite adequate." An open house showcasing the car takes place March 25 at 3p.m. in the Electric Garage located at 4621 Forbes Avenue in Oakland. At the unveiling, researchers will be taking names of those who want their car to be converted. Attendees will also have the opportunity to take a ride in an electric car. "One of the goals of this project is actually to get some vehicles out into the public and into the hands of the public in the Pittsburgh area to send a message that electric vehicles really are here and are practical," Brown says. Researchers are working with local mechanics and garages to expand use of the technology, and researchers will be available at the event for questions regarding issues and expenses involved with the conversion process.

Life Sciences Greenhouse Gets New Home

The Southside is now home to the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse. The 10-year old organization left it’s building on Second Avenue for a new “campus” at the River Park Commons Business Center. Greenhouse CEO John Manzetti says right now they are providing space for about a dozen incubator companies.

Manzetti says the lease in the old build was coming up for renewal and they looked at all areas of the region before landing on the south side. He says he wanted to be near the universities, near the companies working in the life sciences field and still have reasonable rental rates.

The new building will not only hold the greenhouse’s administrative offices and its clients, it will also be home to two venture capital firms and a pair of bio science companies. “To allow them to see what is going on in our greenhouse portfolio and actually see some companies up close and personal for the purposes of partnering with them, investing money in the case of a venture capital firm, or maybe investing in technology they think is important for their growth,” says Manzetti.

Manzetti says another advantage of the new location is the ability to expand. He says they have more space in the buildings that they are currently occupying and have access to other buildings in the area.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Pittsburgh’s regional foundation community, founded PLSG as a public/private partnership in 2001. It provides startup capital, building space, and access to qualified personnel and connections to other companies to emerging technologies.

Local Telecommunications Company Being Bought

A San Francisco based private equity firm, Golden Gate Capital, has acquired Tollgrade Communications for $137 million. Located in Cheswick, Tollgrade has 109 employees and is the second Pittsburgh area tech firm to be bought in several months. Wilkins based Vocollect, a voice product firm, was acquired by Intermec, a Washington based firm that said it will keep Vocollect's employees and operations in the Pittsburgh region.

Financial Advisor for Janney, Montgomery Scott, Pete Schlict, says that there are reasons Golden Gate Capital may choose to keep Tollgrade local. "The installed base of intellectual property is here in Western Pennsylvania, and so it wold be reasonable to say that that would be compelling reason in order to remain in Western Pennsylvania."

Golden Gate Capital works with management teams to invest in potential growth areas. If shareholders approve the acquisition they will be paid out $10.10 per common share, then Tollgrade will close in the second quarter of 2011 taking it of the New York Stock Exchange.

"Watson" Goes for Win

The language-computing computer Watson will attempt to hold on to its lead tonight in the final episode of a three-part Jeopardy! series pitting the computer versus two of the shows greatest champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

Carnegie Mellon University professor Eric Nyberg is a contributor in the creation of Watson, and says he will watch with excitement, though he already knows the result.

Nyberg along with CMU students Nico Schlaefer and Hideki Shima work with IBM on the development of the computer which has earnings of $35,734 after 2 rounds of Jeopardy compared to $10,400 for Rutter and $4,800 for Jennings. The 3 episodes were filmed last month, so Nyberg and other contributors to the computer’s creation know the results. Nyberg was surprised by Watson’s success on the second day.

“I think my expectation was really that it would be like what you saw on day one where it was sort of a neck and neck kind of thing where Watson did very well in some categories and didn’t really answer anything in some of the other categories,” Nyberg says. “That’s actually quite characteristic of Watson’s performance overall.”

The language computing computer processes the clues using a vast knowledge of the English language, programmed by people like Nyberg. Watson then calculates a confidence level for the answers it’s considering and buzzes in if it seems sure.

Nyberg says the research has been great for the field of language computing technology and he says CMU has already implemented improvements to the model idea.

“One of the things we’re working on at Carnegie Mellon is a technique that basically helps Watson to study for a particular topic,” Nyberg says. “You can give Watson documents that are on topics that you want him to learn about and then we have another tech that will go out and find other relevant texts that are available.”

However if Nyberg wants viewers to know anything, he jokes that Watson’s intelligence is nothing to fear.

“It’s not going to take over the world, it’s not dangerous and nobody’s going to give any launch codes to Watson when it thinks that grasshoppers eat kosher and Toronto is a U.S. city.”

Pittsburgh Moves Forward in Entertainment Tech Field

The Next Three Days, Unstoppable, and Love and Other Drugs were just some of 2010’s box office hits filmed in the Pittsburgh region, which is growing in the entertainment field. Inspired by that growth and interest in the entertainment field, the Pittsburgh Entertainment Technology (PET) Project is to launch January 27.

PET’s goal is to bring together all of the region’s entertainment technology companies under one banner.

“We’re going to hope to get all of the entertainment companies together, and all of the people interested in entertainment technology, film, and all the innovative things we’re trying to do together, in one room,” Organizer Kim Chestney Harvey said of the launch, which will be hosted at the Entertainment Technology Center by Don Marinelli.

Chestney Harvey says along with bringing all these people together as part of one group, creating a database for filmmakers who come to the region is another objective of the PET.

“We will put the contents of this database into a nationwide directory for the filmmakers to use and access,” Chestney Harvey says. “When they come here regionally to work they can look and see what assets they have here to choose from.”

The PET is a project put together by four groups including the Pittsburgh Technology Council, the Idea Foundry, the Pittsburgh Film Office, and Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center. Some of the technologies that the region’s companies have produced for filmmakers include music compostion, 3-D computer graphics and visual effects, and branded gaming among other things.


“We realize that we have a really robust culture and a lot of really interesting things happening here and we kind of wanted to show our support for that and come up with some way to support what all of our local companies are doing,” Chestney Harvey says.

Google Pittsburgh Gets New Digs

Google officially unveiled its new Pittsburgh office today, which is complete with an on-site chef, pool table and netting in the ceiling where engineers can lounge, bounce and swing while they work on their latest algorithm. More than 150 Google employees now call the top two floors of Bakery Square home. Google Pittsburgh Director Andrew Moore says they plan to grow the Pittsburgh staff. “Our growth is only limited by the number of world class engineers, mathematicians and computer sciencetists we can find for the Pittsburgh office,” says Moore. Google’s first Pittsburgh office was on the CMU campus but some employees moved over to the old NABISCO plant as early as August.

Moore says the East Liberty location is perfect for Google. He says the staff is close to the CMU and Pitt campuses and many of the professors and grad students on which the company relies live nearby. Moore says the building also has great views of the city and he loves the old macheniery that was left behind. He says it is a reminder “old heavy engineering” as Google employees do the “heavy engineering of today.”

The Pittsburgh site focuses primarily on “making shopping more fun and interesting.” Moore says the “Googlers” work on the algorithms that help decided what advertiser links you will see at the top and right of the search page. “If the mathematicians and computer scientists in Pittsburgh are doing their job right you see very relevant and useful advertisements, if the are making horrible blunders then you see irrelevant advertisements.”

Moore admits that when Google tries to recruit potential employees who have not been to Pittsburgh they are often skeptical but he says once they visit their attitudes change. Google employees often move from one office to another during their careers with Google. More says over all, more people are moving into the Pittsburgh office than out of the office.

Moore says there is a great and growing synergy among high tech firms in Pittsburgh and he is pleased that Google can be part of it. He says there is a feeling of cooperation among high-tech firms. However, he says that falls apart during the annual baseball game between Pittsburgh Google interns and Pittsburgh Disney interns.

Site Allows Search for Broadband in PA

Pennsylvania is using federal stimulus dollars to launch a new website aimed at connecting individuals and companies with better broadband Internet access.
The 7.3 million dollar grant helped launch an improved online map of broadband access throughout the state.
Sue Suleski, the Pennsylvania Broadband Initiative's director, explains how it works.

"Individuals or businesses that are interested in broadband connectivity can go to this website, type in their county, their address, search, and then pull up a listing of all the providers in that area that would provide service, and the types of service that are available to them."

The site's address is broadbandinpa.com. It will eventually be part of a nationwide government-run interactive map set to launch in February.
Pennsylvania is in the midst of an effort to expand broadband access. The state recently won a nearly 30-million dollar federal grant to improve connection speeds in northern counties.

Nanoscale Light Sensor Sees Color

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have created a light sensor that is just four nanometers wide and can detect light on a nearly atomic scale. The average human hair is 80,000 nanometers wide. Pitt Physics Professor Jeremy Levy says they built upon previous University of Pittsburgh research that allows scientists to “draw” electronic paths separated by just a few atoms on the surface of a semiconductor. “If you want to detect light at the near-atomic scale this might be the best tool for doing that,” says Levy, “the actual sensitivity over the area that we are interested in is actually very large.”
Levy says the sensor could address a pair of problems scientists face when dealing with light sensitive materials. He says, ”It’s quite often difficult to integrate the optical and electronic components, but because we have this platform where we can create nano electronics it is very natural for us to incorporate the optical and electronic properties. So once we detect light it is very easy for us to read it out electronically.” The sensor also has the ability to see color in ways that most other sensors cannot. “What we found was that we could change the sensitivity to various colors of light simply by changing the electrical conditions,” says Levy. Most photo detectors measure that they have absorbed light but cannot tell the color the light. “In some sense, it’s a color sensor,” says Levy.

Scientists Gather at CMU to Talk about Gigapixels

CMU associate professor of robotics Illah Nourbakhsh says gigapixel images are changing the way scientists do research and the way they present their findings to the world. 220 scientists, educators and students are taking part in the Fine Conference on Gigapixel Imaging for Science this week on the CMU campus.

The technology has its roots in NASA labs when space exploration vehicles took hundreds of photos that were merged into massive panoramas. The technology has gained some fame recently with CMU’s GigaPan project. Nourbakhsh says the use of multiple high resolution images is starting to show up in a wide rang of disciplines. He says it is in use at the microscopic level where individual insects are being photographed hundreds of times, at the human scale with projects such as scans of fields of flowers where individual bees can be found doing their work, to the intergalactic scale being tackled by NASA scientists. Nourbakhsh says scientists are even using GigPan type technologies in time-lapse projects. “It lets the public visually understand science in ways that were not possible before and that means the public is better able to understand the future of the world and the way the public impacts the world,” says Nourbakhsh.

Nourbakhsh says he is excited by the fact that the event has drawn scientists from such a broad range of fields. Vertebrate paleontologists, for instance, will report at the conference on their use of gigapixel imaging to provide detailed documentation not only of the quarries where fossils were discovered but also of the fossils themselves. Entomologists will discuss how they used GigaPan to watch 3,200 cells in a beehive breeding frame over a period of 12 days as they searched for clues to Colony Collapse Disorder. “We’re still early in the evolution of this technology, but we hope that this conference will help us identify those areas where gigapixel imaging holds the most potential, whether as a research tool, an educational device or as a means of engaging the public at large,” says CMU scientist Randy Sargent.

Along with the scientific program, the conference will feature a juried gallery show at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in which eight images will be exhibited as prints measuring 4 feet high and up to 23 feet wide. The gallery prints will remain on display through the end of the year.

Study Finds "Natural Plastics" Not Very Green

University of Pittsburgh students performed a study on 12 kinds of plastics to determine how green their life-cycle is. Biopolymers, plastics derived from natural elements, were the most biodegradable, with low toxicity, and used the most renewable resources. But, because of the natural components that make up Biopolymers, fertilizers and pesticides used in creating the material for the plastics those components pollute more then other plastics during their production.

Eric Beckman, Professor of Chemical Engineering, says that when designing Biopolymers engineers worked to make them as green as possible, but when it came to production they missed the mark. He also says that the most surprising aspect of the research was that Polypropylene, a fossil fuel based plastic, tested well, polluting less during manufacturing.

Beckman says the main improvement the chemical industry can make after the study is using less material during plastic production. "If you look at the guidelines we give to people to be more environmentally benign we always say 'reduce, reuse, and recycle'...And I think the key lesson for this study is that if your going to try to be greener in the future no matter what you make, is to just less stuff when you make it."

The bulk of the research was done by a group of undergraduate students at Pitt in the School of Engineering. More research is planned on the polymers by examining the plastics environmental impact during disposal.

Ban on Cell Phone Use by Drivers Stalled

A bill banning drivers in Pennsylvania from talking or texting on cell phones is all but dead in the General Assembly.
House Democrats and Senate Republicans can’t quite agree on who’s responsible for stalling the distracted driving bill, but they’re on the same page in acknowledging it likely won’t become law this year.
Both chambers had passed versions of the legislation, and lawmakers spent the summer and fall negotiating a compromise.
But the House didn’t vote on the measure this week, and Senate Republican spokesman Erik Arneson says the upper chamber was only going to consider the issue if the House sent them a bill.

"We don’t have any plans. We had expected, until the announcement a little while ago, that they would take this up this week. So we don’t have a plan b in place, and I don’t expect that we will."

The Senate is only in session for three more days this year.
House Democrat Josh Shapiro of Montgomery County says he’ll start from scratch next year.

"I think we both would like to see primary enforcement, and I think we can still get that on a number of the key provisions."

Shapiro and co-sponsor Eugene DePasquale say a compromise had been reached, which would ban all drivers from talking or texting – but make the offense secondary, rather than primary. That means a driver could only be cited for violating the cell phone ban if he were pulled over for another offense. However, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Todd Eachus says a final agreement was never hammered out.

TechBridgeWorld Provides Technology to Underprivileged People

Bernardine Dias has made it her mission since youth to provide modern technologies to underprivileged nations and she is now achieving her goal with TechBridgeWorld, a Carnegie Mellon research group.

After growing up in Sri Lanka at the base of the economic pyramid and seeing how the lack of modern technologies can damage a society, Dias has not stopped trying to change things.

Dias has seen the organization founded in 2004 grow from one person to many student and volunteer researchers with the goal of providing modern technologies to those nations without any.

"Our primary goal is to innovate computing solutions or create new computing solutions that address the needs and are relevant to people in underprivileged communities,” Dias explains.

Dias provided an example of one of TechBridgeWorld’s most successful works that is still being used to teach today. In 2006, TechBridgeWorld began working with a blind school in India to create a program that helps students read and write Braille and offers the functions of correction and audio feedback. The tutor has since been expanded to blind schools in the United States, China, Bangladesh, and others.

The organization has focused on small projects since it’s inception but hopes to have the opportunity to work on large-scale projects with bigger communities.

"We’ve sort of focused on smaller scale projects, how do we scale this up given the knowledge that we have?” Dias asks.

Dias earned her undergraduate degree in computer science and physics from Hamilton College and then began a graduate study at Carnegie Mellon University. With a Ph.D. in robotics in hand, Dias applied for a research faculty position at CMU and began the organization TechBridgeWorld in 2004.

The organization receives funding from multiple sources including individual donations, financial grants, and corporate donations from sponsors like Google and Yahoo, but Dias knows funding is essential to the growth of the team and it’s ability to help communities.

“Additional funding will take TechBridgeWorld to an entirely different level,” Dias says. “We would be able to impact so many more students and communities around the world.”

“Two-Second Turnoff Day” to Stop Texting While Driving

On September 17, AAA, Seventeen Magazine and the Department of Transportation are asking everyone to save a life by taking two seconds to turn off their cell phone before driving during the Seventeen Two-Second Turnoff Day.
AAA and Seventeen Magazine teamed up and surveyed nearly 2,000 males and females between the ages of 16-19 to discover what risky behaviors they’re engaging in while driving, and how they justify those behaviors.
AAA’s Spokesperson Bevi Powell says the results were frightening:
• 84% of teenage drivers know distracted driving is dangerous.
• 9 out of 10, or 86%, engage in distracted driving behaviors anyway.
• 73% have adjusted their radio.
• 61% have eaten food.
• 60% have talked on the phone or text messaged.
They justified the above information with this:
• 41% think their action will only take a split second.
• 35% don’t think they’ll get hurt.
• 34% said they’re good at multitasking.
• 32% don’t think anything bad will happen to them.
Powell says traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for teen drivers. She says it's especially imperative for them to be completely focused on the road while driving because of the lack of driving experience, and their willingness to take risks. She says the chances of a car accident are doubled when a driver takes his or her eyes off the road for just two seconds.
Powell says texting while driving is among the riskiest common driving distractions. She says according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than a half million were injured…so it is a very serious problem.”

PA Lawmakers Try to Ban Cell Phone Use by Drivers

One of the top measures on Pennsylvania lawmakers’ agenda when they return to Harrisburg next week is a bill restricting drivers’ cell phone use.
When legislators left town in July, House Democrats were livid about the Senate’s vote to water down a distracted driving bill, so it only applied to teen drivers, and made the measure a secondary offense. If it is a secondary offense, the driver could only be cited for that violation if they were pulled over for a primary offense such as speeding.
House sponsor Josh Shapiro, a Montgomery County Democrat says both sides are hoping to hammer out a compromise before the election.

"I still feel that a primary law is stronger than a secondary law, and will save more lives. I also understand that in the course of discussions, and in talks that we’ve been having over the summer, that the aim is trying to pass a bill that is stronger than the one the Senate sent over to us."

House sponsor Eugene DePasquale, a York County Democrat, says both sides have been negotiating throughout the summer.
"But the only thing I want to say on this both sides have made a lot of progress in the talks. And I’m confident – not 100 percent convinced, but confident – that we’re going to have a strong bill done this fall."

A Senate Republican spokesman doubts whether a primary offense bill could pass the upper chamber. The other major factor is whether or not the bill would apply to all drivers, or just new licensees.

State Rep. Proposes 'Do Not Text List'

A state lawmaker wants Pennsylvania’s Do Not Call List to ban text messages as well as phone calls.

State Representative Seth Grove has introduced a bill that would fine telemarketers for texting advertisements to numbers on the state’s Do Not Call List.

The York County Republican says for people who don’t have text messaging plans on their cell phones, this kind of advertising has become a financial burden as well as a hassle.

Grove says it’s not hard for companies to find cell phone numbers.

“You could easily take the Do Not Call List, get a copy of it, and then send a message to all those numbers. And you’re going to find out which ones are cell phones. Currently, under Pennsylvania state law, that’s an acceptable practice.”

The bill would assess telemarketers the same penalties for texting a listed number as they would receive for calling it. That fine is $1,000 or $3,000 for people 60 or older.