Here is a Wall Street Journal article about messaging that self-destructs upon your settings and leaves no trace. I think bros may find it useful. There is a short video explaining feature in below link.

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By LAUREN A.E. SCHUKER

A new messaging service aims to keep your secrets safe.

TigerText Inc., which can send texts that vanish from both the sender and receiver's phone after a select period of time so they can't be copied or forwarded, has developed a niche following among celebrities trying to keep their lives private. About half a million people have downloaded the service, which was started in February 2010 by four Los Angeles businessmen.

From hospital executives to screenwriters to bankers, a slew of new businesspeople are turning to a new text messaging service to communicate privately. Lauren Shuker introduces us to TigerText.

To use it, both the sender and receiver must have the app, which is available free for iPhones, Android and BlackBerry devices, among a variety of others. In addition to consumers, companies in industries such as health care and banking are turning to TigerText's enterprise version, which costs $10 per employee each month.

The Santa Monica, Calif., company says it is also working on a service that will allow users to send self-deleting videos and documents through the mobile app, too. The company says its name has no affiliation with professional golfer Tiger Woods.

TigerText says it has no ability to retrieve messages once they've expired and have been cleared off its server. However, the company says it would comply with any requests from law enforcement and cooperate with any investigations.

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TIGERTEXT
Associated Press

TigerText has developed a niche following among celebrities.
TIGERTEXT
TIGERTEXT

TigerText is the latest in a long line of businesses chasing the market for untraceable communication. Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry Messenger—which allows BlackBerry users to send private messages among themselves—has gained a large following. Kik Interactive Inc. started a similar service, Kik Messenger, last year.

BigString Corp. introduced a self-deleting texting application to BlackBerry users about three years ago. But it later abandoned the idea to focus on a mobile email service that allows users to recall, delete, and edit emails after they are sent and doesn't require both sender and receiver to adopt the service, just the sender. It now has about one million active users.


How It Works

    * TigerText messages vanish from phones after a set time.
    * User sends text, setting time period for 'expiration.'
    * Text then moves across TigerText's network.
    * Receiver triggers expiration process when message is opened (expires within 60 seconds to 30 days).
    * TigerText server writes over message. No copies are stored.

Source: TigerText Inc.

"People can't be bothered to use an app, that's why we abandoned the whole texting model," said Darin Myman, BigString's chief executive. "We found that we couldn't convince people to install these applications."

TigerText, which has raised $2.2 million from angel investors, said its users don't seem to mind having to download an app because they do it so often these days. "It's like a DVR," says Brad Brooks, TigerText's president. "People think they don't need it but the second they get it, they can't imagine life without it."

Mr. Brooks said the service's ability to delete messages after a certain time and availability across mobile phones also distinguishes it from others. Users can select a message to expire after a period from one minute to 30 days.

Once the message has expired, it is deleted from the phone and written over on TigerText's servers, so it can't be retrieved. Users can also select an option that deletes a text within 60 seconds of a recipient opening it.

With the enterprise service, users gain the ability to automatically load all employees on the application without having to enter their individual cellphone numbers. TigerText estimates it will have 50 to 100 corporate clients by the end of this year.

Dr. James French, who runs a group of physicians that provide in-hospital care to patients admitted to the Moses Cone Health System in Greensboro, N.C., recently required his staff of about 40 to adopt TigerText because it gives doctors the freedom to communicate with each-other in a way that's compliant with federal regulations around patient disclosure.

"This will revolutionize how doctors communicate, which is definitely a choke point in the health care system," he said. "When we admit patients to the hospital, it can take up to ten days just to get information about their condition to their primary care physician."

For example, says Mr. French, "Let's say I admit a patient from the emergency room and I want to ask a cardiologist a question about their condition," he says. "Normally, I'd have to call their office—doctors often don't check their email more than a few times a day... I probably wouldn't reach him or her anyway, so instead of calling, I'd just write down the question on their chart and wait for the cardiologist to look at it the following day. But with TigerText, I can reach out immediately."

Other industries are finding a very different use for the TigerText network. Several Hollywood studios, including Sony Entertainment, are considering using the messaging network after it gained popularity among screenwriters and producers.

Michael Duggan, a veteran television writer and producer who worked on "Law & Order" and "Miami Vice" among other shows, plans to use TigerText's document feature in a few weeks when he sends out his new movie script to a small group of executives and producers. He has attached a big actor to the script and doesn't want it to travel too widely at first.

"In this digital age, scripts immediately get blasted all over town even if you send it to one person," he said. "That can really hurt a project."

Write to Lauren A.E. Schuker at [email protected]


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... SJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews

[ Last edited by  doghead at 9-2-2011 21:00 ]