As millions of eyes were tuned to the Oscars last night, the stage was set for one man to use the massive platform for a unique SMS call-to-action, whether the show’s producers wanted him to or not.

During the acceptance speech for winning best Documentary, the subject of which, Ric O’Barry, held up a sign that read “text DOLPHIN to 44144.”  Even though the camera cut away quickly, the message was still understood.

O’Barry, who captured and trained the first five dolphins who played Flipper in the popular 1960s TV series, dedicated the rest of his life to protecting and freeing dolphins from captivity after witnessing the ramifications of his actions — as well as the suicide of one of the Flipper dolphins in his arms.  His life’s work was chronicled in the documentary “The Cove,” which won the Oscar last night for best documentary of the year.

Following through on the campaign and texting “Dolphin” to 44144 returned a link to an Online petition and a means to send a letter to Pres. Obama.  MsgMe, the provider of the 44144 short code used in the call-to-action, said even though cameras cut away quickly when O’Barry held up the sign, the response was still significant.

“We saw steady traffic for the next five hours and have seen a huge spike in support over Twitter which we believe is generating the bulk of the traffic,” said Matt Silk of Waterfall Mobile, provider of the MsgMe SMS platform in an email today.  ”New subscribers are still coming in at a pretty healthy clip to sign the petition so we are ecstatic with the viral explosion of the campaign.”

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It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. And while the waiting isn’t fully behind us yet, people chomping at the bit to get their hands on the iPad can at least circle a date on their calendars.

Apple today announced that the iPad will be released on April 3rd. However, only the Wi-Fi version of the iPad will become available first. And although a release date is yet to be announced for the 3G and Wi-Fi iPad models, a late April arrival is expected.

Global availability (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, etc.) similarly won’t be achieved until late April as well.

On March 12th, pre-orders will be accepted for the tablet either via Apple’s online store or at a retail outlet.

In the official news release this morning, Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated: “The iPad is something completely new. We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

Coinciding with the iPad’s April 3rd arrival, the iBooks app will also arrive along with Apple’s iBook bookstore.

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An interesting piece from MakeUseOf.com points to an often overlooked reality than few may have previously considered. In fact, any text-capable cell phone can now be just as reliable as a smartphone. How so? SMS-integrating services now make such a reality possible.

The article raises awareness of various options available to those with “regular cell phones.” These services “to which access is only a text message away” are designed to simplify on-the-go web activities for those who don’t have the latest, trendiest smartphones.

Posterous, for example, is a social network platform that enables the “cross-posting” of your updates across various social networking sites through a single email. Similarly, Hellotxt allows users to update better than fifty social networks from email as well.

Whether you’re sharing your status on Twitter or keeping in touch with friends via any of the gazillion social networks in existence, there are more opportunities for the low-tech cell phones in our midst than we may presently realize. To check out some of those you may have missed, visit MakeUseOf.com.

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It’s always nice to come across use-cases for SMS beyond the basic confines of marketing, and a perfect example is the increased usage of the medium for appointment reminders.

Headrush Hair Salon, an up-scale and high-traffic salon in the U.K, enlisted the help of TextMagic to introduce SMS reminders to cut down on no-shows and reduce the standby time for their stylists, helping curb the untold amount of revenue lost during idle time.  With over 4,700 clients total, no-shows had become a huge problem.

“TextMagic has improved our amount of no-show clients who may have forgotten the date and time of their appointment, therefore leaving a stylist in the salon with sometimes up to 2 1/2 hours of down time, which is clearly bad for business and profits.  We calculate that our number of no-shows has been reduced by approximately 70% since we’ve been using TextMagic and we expect this number to improve further as we obtain more clients’ mobile numbers.”

With SMS being inexpensive, easy to implement and having the ability to reach anyone quickly and easily no matter the type of device, it’s no wonder SMS reminder solutions have proved so successful.  Nearly every use-case I come across is deemed a huge success, with ROI that goes above and beyond most expectations.  As the concept makes itself known, wide-spread usage in a variety of industries will begin to take shape, for good reason.

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With all the talk about the New York Times’ accomplishments and endeavors in the mobile realm, you would think there are no other major newspapers in the Big Apple.

The New York Daily News, however, is not only one of New York’s biggest newspapers, it’s also the 6th most “widely circulated” daily paper in the United States today.

Befitting a publication of its stature, The New York Daily News is finally rolling out a new mobile application (developed by Handmark) that will deliver the biggest headlines directly to readers via their mobile device.

Based on the first impressions logged by readers and longtime subscribers, there’s nothing overtly innovative about the app – much like the apps from competing publications. Instead, the app is a meat and potatoes offering that serves up the news as only the NY Daily News can. And, luckily for the paper, that’s all readers seems to care about anyway.

According to New York Daily News CEO Marc Kramer:

The Daily News is dedicated to bringing quality content to New Yorkers, and we are focused on expanding and enhancing the way our readers access it… Our new mobile application offers a fast, easy and convenient source for our readers to connect with anytime, anywhere.

The app in question is both free and now available for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile Smartphone. To get it, simply text MOBILE to 36397, or via the mobile web at nydailynews.com/mobile.

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