Here's the latest development in our SMS world: Getting canned via instant message. According to The Inquirier, over 2,500 workers at the British Amulet Group received the following text message on their mobile phones:

you are being made redundant with immediate effect

Down in Australia, an air-traffic controller is actually suing over this. As a News.com story notes, Tom Earls got the following message in February from JNI Traffic Control:

Its (sic) official, you no longer work for JNI Traffic Control and u (sic) have forfided (sic) any arrangements made

As it turns out, the company claims that Earls wasn't fired -- he'd actually quit the previous day. But even so, a commissioner with the NSW Industrial Relations Commissioners was less than impressed:

"What happened to the old-fashioned letter or talking to someone in person?" Ms Bishop asked.

(Thanks to Boing Boing for finding the previous one!)