[via ContentSutra] WSJ writes about the things you can do with a phone:
While U.S. consumers still mostly use their cellphones to simply talk — or perhaps send text messages to their friends — their Asian counterparts are increasingly using mobile phones to help manage their spiritual, social and everyday needs. A host of companies are cropping up offering services for cellphones like the text-messaged prayers to Ganesh, ways to track praying schedules and even dating services. Some cellphones also contain technology that allows them to double as debit and credit cards.
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For centuries, devotees of the Hindu god Ganesh have walked barefoot from their homes to pray at Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak Temple…Technology is making it easier for worshippers to pray to Ganesh these days. Every Wednesday, two attendants at the temple print out text messages sent to the god — some 70,000 per week — from cellphone users across India. Each message is then neatly folded and placed in a box by the temple’s gold and vermilion idol.
