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Posts with tag death

Tributes.com Sounding Death Knell for Newspaper Obituaries?

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 2nd 2008 at 3:32PMBreaking News

Beginning of the End for Newspaper Obituaries?It's been a terrible decade or so for print newspapers around the world. As more and more people go online to get their news, fewer need a (non-free) printed version cluttering up their mailboxes. Then came sites like Craigslist, killing any profits earned from the printed classifieds section, and Monster.com, doing the same for the help wanted section. That doesn't leave much left to cherry pick, but Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor thinks he's found one last aspect to destroy: the obituaries section.

His new site is Tributes.com, an online obituary service that, he hopes, will some day become your go-to site for those who are no longer going anywhere. Users can post up obituaries for others and search for obituaries based on home town and date of death; they can even set up a recurring notice for any deaths nearby.

It's all a little morbid (duh), and while looking for jobs and used refrigerators online feels like second nature at this point, it's hard to imagine too many people surfing over to check the daily obits. [Source: Newsvine]
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Hi-Tech Tombstones Interact With Cell Phones and PCs of Mourners

by Peter Mychalcewycz, posted May 16th 2008 at 12:04PMBreaking News

tombstone1.jpg
Visiting the gravesite of a loved one has always been intensely emotional. It has also, technically speaking, always been a completely one-sided affair. Biology and reality dictate that the mourner do all the talking, and that he or she must subsist on whatever solace the traditional flowers and framed photos provide. Biology and reality, however, are not immune from the influences of technology.

Ishinokoe, a Japanese headstone manufacturing company, has figured out a way to make one's gravesite visit a bit more interactive. Its new tombstones, which resemble a large stone urn, are marked by two out-swinging, lockable doors. Inside the doors is a Q3 code (two-dimensional, super fast barcode) that allows family members and friends to use their cell phones to access a Web site showing movie clips and photos of the deceased. The mourners are able to access the Web site via cell-phone-accessible hyperlinks.

Technology can help and it can hurt. In this instance, it may just help ease the pain. [Source: DVICE]


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Driver Causes Fatal Wreck While Texting On Cellphone

by Will Safer, posted Feb 13th 2008 at 4:05PM

Texting while driving is dangerous.

Here's a somber reminder of why it's important to pay attention to the road while driving.

A California woman was driving along a highway at 66 miles per hour when she crashed in to a line of cars stopped by a construction zone. Why didn't she see the line of cars stopped ahead of her? Because she was too busy sending text messages from her cell phone.

Many states and provinces in North America have banned talking on cell phones without a hands-free device while driving. Some states are going a step further, banning use of a cell phone while driving altogether. But fewer states and municipalities have banned texting while driving. Some are getting wise to this major and dangerous distraction, with Washington State leading the way.

A 2006 University of Utah study found that people driving while talking on a cell phone were as impaired as if they were driving with a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level. Another 2006 study by Liberty Mutual Insurance Group and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) found that instant and text messaging while driving leads the list as the biggest distraction while driving for teens.

From Textually.org.

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Man Killed By Plugged-In Cell Phone

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 28th 2008 at 4:48PM

Man Killed By Charging Cell Phone
We've seen deaths at the hands of cell phones take many different forms -- explosions, drownings, car accidents, even one kid who got hit by a train. One we haven't seen yet though? Electrocution. It seems a young man in Ghana picked up his cell phone to answer it while it was being charged. Shortly afterwards electricity zipped through his body and threw him to the floor with burns on his fingers from where the surge entered his body via the cell phone. His parents came in and rushed him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Some have responded to the story by warning others to never answer their phone while it's being charged. But the more likely culprit here is either a cheaply (and improperly) made knock-off cell phone or shoddy home wiring. Remember, this happened in Ghana, a poor West African nation that still relies heavily on international financial and technological assistance.

So if you live in New York, you can probably answer your phone while its charging consequence-free. If you're an inhabitant of sub-Sahara Africa, maybe you'll pull the plug first.

From Textually.org

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Suicide Craze Linked to Social Networking Site

by Tim Stevens, posted Jan 23rd 2008 at 10:09AM

Welsh Suicides Blamed on Social Networking SiteIt's a question that we've all been asked: "If your friends all jumped off of a bridge, would you?" It's meant to be rhetorical, but the question is getting an answer that few would expect from a group of friends in South Wales in the U.K. Seven teenagers in Brigend, Wales have killed themselves in a string of suicides, with two more hospitalized after attempting to do the same. According to a string of articles in the U.K., the teenagers were seemingly trying to earn themselves a memorial page on social networking site Bebo.

Bebo, which stands for "Blog Early Blog Often," is a social networking site popular in Europe, thanks to its availability in numerous languages. On the site, the grieving friends of Welsh teenager David Crole created a memorial page after his suicide in January of 2007. David was the first to hang himself, and his death seems to have started the trend. Six of his friends then hanged themselves over the following year, with 17-year-old Natasha Randall being the most recent.

It's believed that the friends were all trying to gain the same notoriety David received, each with their own memorial pages, a thought that is hugely tragic and difficult to comprehend.

From NEWS.com.au and Brand Republic

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Exploding Cell Phone Battery Causes Another Death?

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Nov 29th 2007 at 9:52AM



Another exploding cell phone battery is being blamed for a man's death, this time in South Korea, where a quarry worker was found dead at his place of work with a melted LG phone in his shirt pocket.

Kim Hoon, the doctor who examined the dead man's body, said that the man's ribs and spine were broken. According to Hoon's report, the explosion -- and resulting shrapnel -- damaged his heart and lungs, leading to his death.

LG, a South Korean company that manufactures phones in both Asia and the United States, hasn't said a word yet about which phone or battery model caused the explosion, but we're hoping they will let that information out soon in case recalls are necessary. It's entirely possible that the phone isn't at fault at all -- the worker was in a quarry, presumably chock-full of water and other minerals that could react with a cell phone battery. [In an update the AP posted after its initial story, scientists say that the injuries are too extreme to have been caused by a lone cell phone battery, but final results won't be known for 15 days).

That said, this death is very similar to another exploding-phone death we recently covered, in which a Chinese welder was killed when his battery exploded, broke through his ribcage, and sent phone and bone shrapnel into his heart.

We have covered a surprising number of cell phone-related deaths in the past year, though just how much a cell phone is actually involved in each case and how much has to do with pre-existing conditions or just plain human stupidity varies with each case. Here's a brief list of the most recent:

Gallery: LG Phones in the U.S.

  • LG SHINE
  • LG AX8600
  • LG Rumor
  • LG UX380
  • LG Voyager


From AOL News
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Man Dies After Days of Non-Stop Gaming

by Tom Conlon, posted Sep 17th 2007 at 10:19AM

Man Dies After Three Days of Non-Stop Gaming

If you don't think Internet addiction is serious, consider the man in China who just died after a three-day, non-stop gaming session at a Beijing Internet café. The unnamed 30-year-old man was rushed to the hospital -- most likely after passing out -- and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Suicide has been ruled out as a cause of death.

The man's death reflects a disturbing trend amongst gamers in Asia who are playing online until it literally kills them. In 2005, a 28-year-old South Korean man died of exhaustion after a 50-hour marathon gaming session in an Internet café. In 2002, a 24-year-old South Korean man died after 86 straight hours of online gaming, while that same year, a 27-year-old Taiwanese man died after 32 hours of non-stop Internet gaming.

Internet addiction has become such an epidemic in China that the government no longer allows the opening of new cyber cafés and has started a state-sponsored Internet addiction camp to help treat the 13 percent of Chinese Internet users under the age of 18 who are believed to be addicted.

China has gone so far as to force game developers to institute mandatory limits in online games. For example, games will reward the player with fewer points or treasures after three hours of play and even inundate the player with messages that his character will soon be killed if he doesn't get offline immediately.

Though there's never been a case of a U.S. citizen dying from over-gaming, there have been reports of children suffering from seizures or developing blood clots after sitting in front of the game console for too long. Hopefully, we can rely on parents to do the policing instead of having time limitations actually programmed into the games themselves.

From Reuters

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Sweaty Man Electrocuted By PC - and Other Gadget-Related Deaths

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 4th 2007 at 2:03PM

PC Power SupplySeems tech has a contract out for geeks.

Let this be a warning to all of you: Don't touch the inside of your PC when you are wet. According to Shanghai Daily, a young man, simply identified as "Wu," was shocked to death by his PC.

Wu took the case off the outside of his PC to prevent it from overheating. For some unexplained reason, he was not running the air conditioner in his home, so he wasn't wearing that much clothing. At some point, his sweaty leg came in contact with his PC's innards and Wu was dealt the deadly jolt -- 380 volts right from his PC's power supply.

Let's not forget that gadgets are electric, after all, and these kinds of deaths can happen just like that, so follow the precautions you'd take with any other electricity-powered device (like don't touch it if you're wet!).

But electrocution is not the only hazard that can come with a gadget. Take a look at some of the other tech-related deaths we have covered in the past few months (surprisingly, there are a lot more than just these).

We hope each of the following examples will serve as some kind of warning for you:



From Engadget via Shanghai Daily

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Kid Drowns In Lake After Cell Phone Sinks

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 8th 2007 at 11:36AM


We wish we were kidding about this one, but just a day after a man fell into a sewer drain and drowned trying to retrieve his cell phone, a report comes from Durham, NC that a teenager drowned in a lake while attempting to save his sinking cell phone.

16 year-old Eddie Allen was out fishing and lost his phone in the water. He and his friend jumped in retrieve it, but algae-filled waters made swimming difficult and they both started to struggle. A nearby fisherman was able to help the friend but, sadly, could not get Allen out of the water in time.

Please, folks, if you can't hang onto your phone, buy some insurance. Your provider will be happy to hook you up for a few bucks a month. Diving into dangerous water to retrieve your lost mobile just isn't worth the risk -- especially since the thing probably won't ever work properly again anyway.

From journalnow.com

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Are Your Gadgets Making You Sick? (7)

by Tom Conlon, posted Apr 12th 2007 at 12:08AM

Seizures, Blood Clots and Death


Are Your Gadgets Making You Sick? Seizures, Blood Clots and Death
The condition(s): Here's a medical mystery worth at least one 'House' episode: A 14-year-old British boy is rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment on a blood clot that had developed in his leg. A teenage girl in Iowa is hospitalized after lapsing into a violent seizure. On the other side of the planet, a 28-year-old South Korean man collapses and dies of exhaustion. What vicious and mysterious strain of bird-borne illness is responsible for striking these young people down? Actually, it's video games.

Dominic Patrick, the British boy, spent a rainy day inside playing games. Tucking his legs underneath himself for 10 straight hours caused Deep-Vein Thrombosis, a serious condition that often affects long-haul air travelers who sit in one place for too long.

After five hours behind the controls of a game called 'True Crime: New York City,' Amy Kopaska of Iowa was found by her mom thrashing around, eyes dilated and foaming at the mouth. According to her doctor, long-term exposure to light patterns in the game had triggered Amy's seizure.

The South Korean man, identified only as Lee, spent 50 straight hours playing the game 'Starcraft' in an Internet café, pausing only for toilet breaks and brief naps. Lee had eaten next to nothing in that time, and his death following a collapse was attributed to heart failure caused by extreme exhaustion.

How to prevent or cure it: So, how can video gamers avoid ambulance trips? In all three cases the answer is simply to limit the amount of time you spend gaming, and take plenty of breaks. As we recently reported, the Chinese government is actually writing this bit of advice into law.

Get more info on gaming addiction at Joystiq.

Related Links:
Engadget: Engadget Gets A BlackBerry Massage
Engadget: When Cell Phones Attack...
AOL News: Video Game Addicts Now Have Detox Clinic


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