Posts tagged Cell Phones at Switched

Posts with tag Cell Phones

Text a Question to Palin, Watch it Streaming Online

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 10th 2008 at 10:48AM

Whether you're impressed by Sarah Palin's folksiness or disturbed by her evasiveness, there's a good chance you might want to ask her a question. Now is your chance. The California Democratic Party has rented a digital billboard across from an upcoming rally for the Veep candidate in Los Angeles. Anyone can send a text message to 69866 containing a question (160 characters or less) and the keyword "ASK." The question will be shown not only on the billboard, but also on the Internet, where it is streaming live in the above video.

Obviously, many of the questions seem to be somewhat less than pleased with the Governor's previous statements, but despite that we haven't seen anything that's overtly offensive, which makes us think there's someone somewhere approving these before they get published. That's a good thing. [From: textually.org]

Mortuary Allows Text Message Condolences

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 1st 2008 at 9:45AM

While society is in general a lovely thing, sometimes social duties can be painful to say the least. Inviting your inbred cousins from the sticks to your wedding? A necessary evil. Lying and saying your newborn nephew with the big ears is cute as a button? Challenging. Calling to send condolences when a distant relative has passed on? Difficult for even the most stoic -- so why not let technology feign sincerity for you? That's what one Spanish mortuary is offering, a texting service to offer condolences.

When the obituaries are posted to the paper a special code is included in the listing. For about $2.50, well-wishers can send texts containing that code to the mortuary, which are then passed on to the grieving family members -- after each one is read by a staff member to ensure that nothing tasteless is passed on. With that criteria, we're not entirely sure how any of them would be shared, as the whole thing is tasteless, to say the least, but that's certainly not stopped others in the past from making equally shallow uses of technology before. [From: The Telegraph]

New Study Finds Increased Risk of Cancer in Cell-Phone-Using Kids

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 5:24PM

Thin Skills Means Greater Cell Phone Risk for Kids?

Naturally, we've been following the discussion on health risks posed by gadget usage quite closely. Cell phones, in particular, are a hotbed of debate, with some experts stepping forward and indicating they are horrible for your health, while other studies are showing no verifiable proof of an increased risk of cancer. Now, a study out of Sweden is showing that, among children at least, cell phone use can result in a distinct increase in cancer incidences.

The study, conducted by Professor Lennart Hardell of the University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden, showed that those who started using a cell phone before the age of 20 were five-times more likely to develop glioma, a type of cancer that begins in the brain or spine (parts of the central nervous system). Why the higher likelihood? The researchers explain that because children's skulls tend to be thinner, their brains are more susceptible to the radiation emitted from cell phones.

Meanwhile, those who started using cell phones in their 20s have "only" twice the average shot of coming down with this cancer. Hardell claims to have also found a link between use of normal in-home wireless phones in kids, indicating a four-times increase in risk.

Unfortunately, the details of the study aren't available at this time, including the number of kids who participated in this study, so forgive us if we're not wholly convinced just yet. But, if you were looking for another excuse to not get your tween a mobile yet, you're welcome. [From: The Independent, via textually.org]

Text-Messaging More Popular Than Calling, Study Finds

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 9:42AM

If you like to talk, you're in the minority. No, we don't just mean among those strong, silent types who keep their thoughts to themselves. You are also in the minority among those who would rather talk with their thumbs, as a new study from Nielsen Mobile is showing that people are more likely to text in a message than call these days -- by a wide margin.

Since the middle of the year, the average cell phone user places or receives just over 200 calls in a given month. However, over that same period, this average person would send or receive a whopping 357 text messages, nearly twice as many. It's an interesting shift in mobile habits and perhaps a sign that, despite the popularity of mobile phones, some people still aren't quite comfortable talking. That's a condition that must be making mobile phone providers (and their $0.20 per text rates) jump for joy -- though we hope not for long. [From: Wired]

Click Here for Ways to Save Money, Time With Your Phone

University of Kentucky Ditching Land Lines for Cell Phones

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 12th 2008 at 9:02AM

http://www.uky.edu/uksb07/assets/background.jpg

It's hard to find similarities across any random selection of college students, with each having different backgrounds, goals, and preferred alcoholic beverages. There is, however, one commonality: cell phones. A study at the University of Kentucky recently found that 98.2-percent of UK students had cell phones that they relied on for their primary means of communication, findings that have spurred the school to ditch land-lines in dorms, a move that will save the school $840,000-per-year.

Land-lines are being deactivated at a savings of $25-per-student. This is money that will offset rising heating costs this year, meaning room and board fees will not increase as they otherwise would have. Students do have the option of having their lines enabled, but so far only seven out of 5,600 students living in on-campus housing have suffered the shame of doing so. In case of emergency, UK has a system that can contact students on their cell phones just as easily as land-lines, meaning everybody wins and everyone is safe -- except for old-school phone companies that haven't gotten with the times yet. [From: nky.com]

Cell Phone Hidden in Cake, Smuggled Into Prison

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 26th 2008 at 12:04PM

Chaplain Unwittingly Smuggles Cell Phone in Birthday Cake

Cell phones are now legal in most places -- even North Korea, where, until recently, owning one was a crime punishable by death. But despite certain celebrities acting otherwise, cellys are still illegal in jails, where criminals are resorting to some interesting techniques to smuggle them in -- such as baking them into cakes, as a chaplain unwittingly found out in Dublin, Ireland.

The chaplain was bringing a birthday cake in to a prisoner serving a two-year sentence for arson. When he arrived, the cake was sent through an X-Ray machine and a phone was found stashed inside, hidden like keys or weapons used to be in old-time movies. It's unclear exactly who actually baked the cake and put the phone inside, but the chaplain at least has been cleared of any wrongdoing while the investigation continues. [Source: Belfasttelegraph.co.uk, via textually.org]

Most People Don't Recycle Old Cell Phones

by Will Safer, posted Jul 11th 2008 at 9:02AM

All those old cell phones sitting around forgotten and unused in desk drawers could add up to a whole lot of valuable raw materials. Turns out that most of us don't take the time to gather up those our used mobile units and send them on to be recycled, according to a new survey by Nokia.

Nokia polled 6,500 people in 13 countries nationwide, and found that only 3 percent of people actually recycle their old cell phones.

We already know most discarded cell phones just pile up in landfills, but the news from Nokia suggests that there would be a huge environmental benefit if cell phones were properly recycled. "If each of the three billion people globally owning mobiles brought back just one unused device," said Nokia's Director of Environmental Affairs, Markus Terho, "we could save 240,000 tons of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking 4 million cars off the road."

According to the Nokia survey, most people simply don't know how they can easily recycle their old devices. The company aims to make the process easier, for example, with drop boxes placed in easily accessible locations.

The survey also revealed that although 72 percent of people think recycling is important, 74 percent didn't know their old mobile phones could be recycled. In fact, up to 80 percent of any Nokia device is recyclable and precious materials within it can be reused to help make new products such as "kitchen kettles, park benches, dental fillings or even saxophones and other metal musical instruments." [Source: Textually.org.]

Woman's Cell Phone Turns Out to Be a Live Bat

by Will Safer, posted Jul 10th 2008 at 2:08PM

We've learned that cell phones ringing out loud can land you in trouble. For example, two Atlanta men were recently fined $200 because their mobiles spouted tunes in court, irritating the judge to the point of holding them in contempt. The answer? Set that cell phone to vibrate!

Yes, rules of courtesy and decorum suggest that you not subject those around you to obnoxious ring tones. So we send our compliments to Abbie Hawkins, a British hotel worker who thought she had silenced her phone, which she apparently carries around in her bra. We've seen other women do this, so we're not shocked by the practice.

But imagine Hawkins' shock when the twitching item in her undergarment turned out not to be her cell phone, but instead a live bat. Yes, a bat. With wings. (And fangs?) Perhaps it was receiving a text message from a Transylvanian baron?

Yes, the 19-year-old hotel receptionist spent a good part of the day carrying around a live bat in her bra, thinking it was her cell phone. The bat apparently crawled into her underwear while it was hanging on a clothesline outside her home. Small enough to go unnoticed by Hawkins, the bat apparently decided to go for a snug ride to work with the girl.

According to a quoted bat expert, the animals roost anywhere that appears dark and safe.

Hawkins, saying she felt bad for the little creature, released it outside. Let the Batphone jokes begin. [Source: Telegraph]

Baby Seal Sends Text Messages to Scientists

To Charge Your Cell Phone, Just Dance, Dance, Dance

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 4th 2008 at 5:02PM

To Charge your Phone Just Dance, Dance, Dance

Cell phones are valuable things to have at all-day music festivals. It's awful easy to lose your friends in the massive crowds and, with bands popping up on multiple stages all day long, it's important to keep current on who's on where and when. But long days of rocking, and spotty reception at a back-country venue, can leave batteries flat in hours. The solution? More dancing -- at least it is if you have a new kinetic charger strapped to your arm.

It's called "dancecharge"and had its debut last week at the Glastonbury Music Festival in Somerset, England. The device itself is about the size of a pack of cards and, through a series of magnets and other high-tech wizardry, can convert the rhythmic motions of dance into some additional juice for your handset. No, the blood pressure cuff design won't win you any style points as you show your moves, but being the only one able to call for a cab at the end of the day could make you a hero. Take it to the Sustainable Dance Club in Holland, and you'll be the most earth-friendly raver out there! [Source: MSNBC]

Continue reading To Charge Your Cell Phone, Just Dance, Dance, Dance

Judge Slaps $200 Fines On Men Whose Cell Phones Rang In Court

by Will Safer, posted Jul 1st 2008 at 7:01PM

The title 'Justice of the Peace' takes on new meaning in an Atlanta courtroom, where a judge has slapped a $200 fine on two men whose ringing cell phones went off within minutes of each other in the middle of a hearing.

Atlanta Municipal Court Judge Herman Sloan held the two men in contempt of court for the auditory interruptions. While he finished hearing cases on his docket, he had the two men sit out the time in the jury box. Then, he offered them each a sentence with a choice: a $200 fine or 10 days in jail.

The first man claimed his cell phone was turned off. The second man claimed he was late to court and hadn't heard an earlier announcement warning people to silence their phones. Either way, the judge was none too pleased, and was quick to take action.

Both men chose the $200 fine.

We choose to keep our cell phones on 'vibrate.' [Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution via Textually.org.]

Prison Inmates Use Pigeons to Wing and Sling Drugs, Cell Phones

by Christine Whitney, posted Jun 27th 2008 at 7:02AM

Between riots, fires, and overcrowding -- Brazilian jails are totally scary. But fascinating! People expect wild stuff to be happening in Brazil's prison system, and the inmates of Marilia, Sao Paulo, do not disappoint.

Recently, guards noticed an alarming increase in cell phones and drugs within prison walls. But where were they coming from? The prison has a high-tech security screening process that all visitors are subjected to, so it couldn't be Granny and Minha Filha muling those phones.

It was the pigeons! Under the guards' noses, inmates trained these rats of the air (on the prison roof, no less) and sent them off on special missions. Prisoners outfitted the pigeons with small cell phone pouches (pigeon backpacks!) that were filled with cell phones (appropriately) or drugs by contacts on the outside.
Just like Jim Jarmusch's film 'Ghost Dog!'

Guards wised up to the scheme when they "saw some pigeons struggling to fly," says Reuters. Though the guards are onto it now, this pigeon racket is a stroke of lo-fi brilliance. [Source: Reuters, via Textually]

Popcorn Popping Cell Phone Clip Outed as Advertisement

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 13th 2008 at 2:01PM

Remember the popcorn video clip we posted earlier this week, in which a trio of cellphones arranged in a circle supposedly caused a handful of kernels to pop? We knew the vids were fake, and speculated that they were part of some sort of marketing scheme. Now we have confirmation: The clips are indeed part of a viral advertising campaign, put together by a company called Cardo Systems, which markets a Bluetooth headset designed to "reduce power output by up to 99 percent."

So, no real surprise there, nor is there any surprise that these videos have spawned a series of knockoffs and parodies. Our favorite is above, which shows an iPhone surrounded by kernels that cause the iPhone itself to pop! Still fake, but funny at least. [Source: The Underwire]

Can Cell Phones Pop Popcorn or Are All These YouTube Videos a Hoax?

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 11:10AM

Currently making the on YouTube is a series of videos that has many cell phone haters in a tizzy, proving (so they claim) the adverse affects that cell phones can have on your health. The videos, an example of which is inserted above, show cell phones arranged in a circle popping a few kernels of popcorn placed in the center. The idea is that the heat generated from the microwaves emitted by the phones causes the kernels to burst. It's plainly a hoax (try it yourself and see), but that hasn't stopped thousands of believers from posting frightening comments such as following:

"Mobile phones dont have to be run at these frequencies. It's the frequency of the network the phones use that pop corn and cause tumors to grow it is completely unnecessary for mobile communication, the only explanation for its widespread use must be EVIL! Think about it."

The next thing you know people will be telling us that this video of a supposed cell phone exorcism is also real. Don't believe it -- that clip is part of an advertising campaign. We're guessing these faked popcorn vids (all posted by the same user) are also part of some sort of viral marketing scheme. [Source: The Telegraph]

Drunk Man Trapped in Porta-Potty Loses Clothes, Keeps Phone

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 10th 2008 at 11:53AM

When using a porta-potty, it's hard to not gaze in disgust at the holding tank that lingers below the seat; the oddly blue-green liquid conceals unknown horrors. It's certainly not a place you'd want to climb down into -- not if you're sober at least. Even drunk, it seems like an awfully bad idea, as was unfortunately discovered by a man from Pennsylvania, who was found trapped inside one -- naked and apparently rather inebriated.

Rescue forces had to cut the man free -- he had shed his clothes at some point before or after crawling in there -- but thankfully he retained his cell phone and used it to call for help. Once free, he was charged with public drunkenness and creating a health code violation -- charges that hopefully come with a free shower. [Source: AOL News, via Asylum]

SMS Is the New 'COPS' (in the UK, at Least)

by Christine Whitney, posted Jun 9th 2008 at 9:45AM

What is it that makes the British wanna fight so bad? (Rain-blood pudding-Amy Winehouse?) We hear that the kids over there will even jump you while you're waiting in line for fried chicken.

Our belligerent forefathers are searching for ways to cut down their crime rate, and SMS text messaging could be the answer. In East London schools, a new plan is being tested wherein students are encouraged to report their knife-wielding classmates to the authorities via anonymous text messages. Anti-crime partnership Crimestoppers, the mastermind behind the SMS tip plan, hopes to take a bite out of knife crime, which has become rampant among Brit youth.

Crimestoppers conjectures that kids will feel more comfortable snitching while cloaked behind a medium they know and love -- SMS. Messages are encrypted to ensure informants' security, and the text-informant plan is currently under way at three Tower Hamlets schools. If successful, the program could be expanded throughout London. [Source: Silicon.com, via Textually]

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