Tag: MOBILEPHONE

Share Plenty of people are using cell phones today, but many of the world's poorest mobile users don't actually have their own phones. Instead of shelling out $25 (or more) for their own personal handsets, many impoverished users simply purchase one phone, and share it amongst their friends or family. It may be a cost-efficient way of connecting to the world, but it isn't exactly convenient, nor ...

The plight of poor countries is an issue that has always puzzled economists and policymakers, and one that has spurred a centuries-old debate. Some argue that the road to economic development begins with a solid public health system, others believe it begins at public education, and a handful of high-profile theoreticians claim that throwing enough money at a country will always be enough to ...

As part of a cracked-out crackdown on mobile privacy, China now requires all of its citizens to register their personal information before buying cell phones. As Reuters reports, the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will now require anyone buying a cell phone to show ID cards, with foreign purchasers having to show their passports. According to the China Daily newspaper, ...

Earlier this month, AT&T and Verizon announced a joint venture to test a new system that would allow customers to pay for products with their smartphones. Now, Bank of America and Visa have followed in their footsteps, and, as Reuters reports, will begin testing their own smartphone-payment system next month.The test run, which will take place in New York from September through the end of ...

One of the biggest problems with social networking sites is that, while we make new connections and rediscover old friends, we're hidden from the daylight and relegated to the confines of our homes. As a result, the Nosferatu-like pallor we've developed tends to scare off those virtual friends we end up meeting in the real world. The MagnetU is a short range wireless device that intends to take ...

Do you ever catch yourself listening in on a conversation someone else is having on a cell phone? It happens all the time. You're riding the bus, sitting in a restaurant, or waiting in an airport lounge for your flight when suddenly you are almost forced to listen in on what clearly should be a private conversation. What could be the impact of all these private calls made uncomfortably public? ...

Battery life is often the determining factor when we buy consumer electronics products. How does a cell phone with two years of stand-by time sound to you? A new phone out of China promises just that, giving you two years of stand-by time and two to three days of active talking time -- all without plugging the phone into the charger even once. You may be thinking this device, Solo Mobi model ...

The negative impact of cell phone use is debated and studied almost as much as mobile pricing plans -- and the issues range from cell phone etiquette to the suspicion that placing the ubiquitous digital devices next to your head for hours on end may cause cancer. Most studies have not been able to find a link between cell phone use and cancer, but the BBC is reporting that a new study out of ...

Yesterday, the New York Times Magazine ran a fairly comprehensive piece on the life cycle and environmental impact of mobile phones. The story detailed how many phones are reused, how many others are broken down and "mined" for useful metals such as silver and gold, and how still others – most others, in fact – end up in heaps of discarded electronics, left to leach often dangerous ...

In what may be the ultimate illustration of our hyper-industrialized planet, a regional government in India has announced plans to send alerts about the availability of rice and the supply of food to its citizens...via SMS (a type of wireless phone message). Thanks to India's subsidized food distribution program, each family in the country is granted 35kg of rice per month; now, when it's ...