US : What happens to all those camera phone pictures being snapped everywhere? Mostly they are being deleted because people do not know what to do with them. However, more and more of them are being posted to moblogs, says http://www.textamerica.com founder Chris Hoar.

"At textamerica you can post your pictures direct from your camera phone to the Internet, where they show up on your moblog," said Hoar. "The best part is that we also provide traffic for our members, so the images actually get an audience, plus our service is free."

Textamerica has seen its unique daily traffic rise to 125,000 people a day in less than a year from its debut. Visitors to textamerica may also comment on, vote for or share any individual pictures on the site.
"If cell phone carriers want to generate cash from their 3G Network investments, then they will need to get their customers to send more than a few pictures per month. We believe that we have the solution, with our average member sending around 100 images per month," said Hoar.

No programming or design skills are necessary, so anyone can create a moblog and then customize it with a wide selection of ready-made templates. Textamerica's service works anywhere in the world. All that's needed is a camera phone with email capability.
The moblog's individual users create cover topics across a broad spectrum, for example:

-- `Tigerbeat' covers the local political scene in San Francisco at http://tigerbeat.textamerica.com
-- `Joel Bolt' gives you an inside look at the San Diego Chargers at http://joelbolt.textamerica.com
-- `365 Days of Caines' is one man's year as it happens http://caines.textamerica.com
-- `Leo's Mob' shows the life & times of Leo Laporte, a TechTV presenter http://leoville.textamerica.com
-- `Lauraville' documents a day in the life of a woman from Palo Alto http://lburstein.textamerica.com

Textamerica also offers the ability for multiple users to contribute to a single moblog, called a Public Moblog. So far, these have been used to gather and collate pictures on everything from the love of pets to major news events, for example:

-- `The Dog Blog' http://dogblog.textamerica.com

-- `Southern California Brush Fires' http://fire.textamerica.com

-- `Campaign 2004' http://2004.textamerica.com

-- `A kiss is just a kiss' http://kiss.textamerica.com/

"If all you have is a digital camera, then you can still join in. Just upload the images to your PC, then email them to your Moblog," said Hoar.
With RSS and XML feeds, users can stay up-to-date with the latest posts without even visiting the site. Users can also view moblogs on their cell phones at textamerica's WAP site located at http://tamw.com.
Textamerica is a private company based in San Diego, California.