We came across an interesting article on the Consumerist about a poll done to see if a laws should be inacted to stop people from using cell phones while driving.

What was interesting was that 80% of respondants said they would support banning texting and emailing while driving.  Even 67% would support banning cell phone calls during driving.

Of all the things learned about in the survey it seems more people feel that more people talk and drive now then they did a year ago.

Many states are coming with laws and we are going to see more in the future.  If you want to see the full Nationwide poll you can read it here.  Otherwise we'd recommend getting a Bluetooth headset or Bluetooth car kit to at least help you put some focus back on the road

So Microsoft has decided to get into the cell phone market.  They have come out with the Fune.  It runs on Vista and uses AOL to connect to the internet.

No release date has been set and no specs have been given but everyone is waiting eagerly since companies like Apple and Google have released cell phones in the past year.  It was only a matter of time for Microsoft to get into the game

*if you haven't figured it out yet this is a fake video, but it's really funny and worth a watch

Here's one for the keeping up with the times file.  It seems that Black Hawk County, Iowa's 911 service will now be accepting text messages for emergency calls.  This comes from MobileCrunch.com.

As is said in the article this seems like a great idea at first but you have to remember there are several issues.

It's only one place for now.  Until this is rolled out on a large scale a small county in Iowa will likely only benefit the residents.  I mean don't start texting 911 from your phone you might be sorry when no one shows up to help.

Time counts.  Texts are nice but it can take forever to reply if you don't have someone that is quick on either end.  How many times have you sent a text from your mobile phone and it takes 10+ minutes to get a response from someone.  The operator might be quick but trying to get your location might not be as fast.

Texts aren't dependable.  This is true.  Everyone has sent one, or more, texts that just seemed to disappear into the void of cell phone nothingness.  If you get into a car accident or fall down a cliff not getting a response might lead to disaster.

Find you.  It's hard enough to trace the cell phone as it is now can you imagine text messages.  If the person sends a text but doesnt' say their location and then goes unconscience tracing the exact place this person is might be impossible and that means critical minutes lost.

So althought at first this seems great, and with much improvement it could be great, it does seem like for now this is just a very early adopter.  We hope to see more progress like this with cell phones in the future.  With more people having phones every day and even more people droping their landlines in favor of a cell phone new methods will be happening all the time, but for now we suggest that you stick to dialing 911 in all cases and speaking to a live person so you know you are safe.

Also if we havne't stressed it enough if you are on a cell and in trouble or trying to help someone in trouble please make sure to tell the operator as exact a location to find you as possible so that in time critical situations they can make every moment count.

It looks like US lawmakers are considering passing legislation banning textng, but only why someone is driving.  According to the American Press there are currently 14 states and DC that have banned texting while driving, but this law would ban it throughout the US.

A study released last week by the "Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that when drivers of heavy trucks texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.  The also said that "dialing a cell phone and using or reaching for an electronic device increased risk of collision about six times in cars and trucks."  So at least from their study it does seem that texting is a lot worse.

To enforce the law states have to ban texting and emailing while driving or they would lose 25% of their yearly highway funding.

The best thing though is some of you out there are wondering if police would go crazy and start ticket anyone but the law will be limited to moving vehicules and parked or stopped vehicules would not be fined.

So for now if you are not in one of those 14 states or DC you can still text or drive from you cell phone, but really think about it should you?  Not only are you risking your own life but everyone elses lives that are on the road to and that isn't fair.

US soldiers deployed in Iraq can now get language assistance from an iPhone or Blackberry.  Sakhr Software, a company specializing in translation software, is porting its translation technology to work on mobile smart phone devices. It recently developed a tool for the iPhone to enable speech to speech translation. What this means is that you could speak directly into the phone in English and have the phone speak back to you in Arabic.  Furthermore, it displays the translation in both Arabic and English characters allowing you to attempt to pronounce it correctly.  Quite impressive!!

For the time being, it seems that the technology had been built to serve the US Department of Defense, to help bridge the communication gap between deployed soldiers and locals of the Middle East and ensure diplomacy is preserved in the field as well as avoid accidents due to miscommunication.  We can't wait to see this available to the civilian market where anyone can tour any street in a small town in say Egypt, and be able to communicate directly with the locals.

So after all is said and done and many many years of people complaining it looks like the manufacturers are finally going to standardize on a charging port.  That means no more things like the Apple wall charger or the Sony Ericsson fastport.

This is all coming from an article at Arstechnica.com

...The European Commission announced today that 10 mobile phone producers, which represent some 90 percent of the mobile phone market in the European Union, have signed a voluntary agreement to use standardized chargers for mobile phones using a micro-USB connector. The agreement addresses the EC's concern that mobile phone chargers create needless electronic waste...

This is great news it means that in the future, since no start date was anounnced, all cell phones will use a microUSB port for charging.  No longer will you have to search for one basically any charger will work with any phone.  As it was said in the article not only will it help standardize on it this will also greatly reduce waste since each phone you get will not need a new charger.  The downside this will likely mean that wall chargers and car chargers will have to be bought seperately or when you buy a new phone you'll still have too many chargers that they will end up in the garbage.

Right now there are only 10 manufacturer's who have agreed to the standard

...So far, the 10 companies that have signed the "Memorandum of Understanding" submitted to the EC includes Apple, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Texas Instruments. The commission estimates that these 10 companies represent approximately 90 percent of the mobile phone market in Europe...

So maybe not everyone's onboard yet but 90% are so there is no real worries.  Hopefully it doesn't take to long for this to come to market.

As technology becomes more sophisticated, so do methods of flirtation. Flirting helps us to feel someone out, and in its most primal sense- determine whether that person is an ideal sexual partner. Deeply engrained in the human psyche, people flirt to signal amorous interest and sexual availability. And, given today’s advanced channels of communication, email, IM, SMS, hormone-driven teenagers and young adults alike are not only disclosing their intimate desires through text messages but also virtually exposing themselves through sexts (sexually explicit messages or photos sent electronically, primarily between cell phones).

Why Call When You Can Flirtext?

With over 500 billion SMS messages sent a year, flirtexting is a very popular way for young people to flirt. Self-proclaimed textperts Olivia Baniuszewicz and Debra Goldstein and authors of the book Flirtexting: How To Text Your Way To His Heart say:

When it comes to communicating, our generation has shorter attention spans and greater expectations. Gone are the days when we spent time getting to know one another over hours of intimate phone conversations. Today we say it all within 160 characters of writing space. Now when you give a boy your number, you’ll soon receive a “1 new text message” light on your cell.

Flirtexting certainly has its obvious enticements; it gives us time to think about what we want to say, it removes the pressure of having to commit to lengthy phone conversations- and it provides a comfortable physical distance that not only helps us pace the development of a relationship, but also permits us to flirt with multiple people over SMS messages.

In an age where people get married later, have children later, and like to keep options open in the search for true love- a well played flirtext can work well in one’s favour. But for those who become too dependent on texting, relationships can just as easily begin in a text as they can end in one. People increasingly avoid direct confrontations, preferring to shield themselves against too many questions, and of course having to face or dish out rejection.

‘Sexting’: Legal problem, awareness issue, or, modern-day flirting?

A survey conducted in 2008 by TRU, the global leader in tween, teen and twenty-somethings research, has caused quite a media stir concerning sexting. The survey was fielded online to a total of 1, 280 respondents- 653 teens (ages 13-19) and 627 young adults (20-26). The results found that one in five teenagers have shared nude or semi-nude photos of themselves with their cell phone or online.

Six Pennsylvania high school students are facing serious criminal charges after three teenage girls allegedly took nude and semi-nude photos of each other and shared them with male classmates via their cell phones. One of the boys had his phone turned on in class. Against school policy, when an administrator came to confiscate the phone, they found a naked picture of one of the girls. The police were immediately called in and the investigation lead to more inappropriate photos. The female students aged 14 to 15 years old, face charges of manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography while the boys, who are 16 and 17, face charges of possession source.

Many people argue that these charges are too severe. Parents and educators should better monitor their kids’ cell phone use and play a more active role in increasing awareness about the possible consequences and dangers of sexting. But young people may take for granted what perils could lie ahead.

"Oh gee...thats..uhhh..nice"

18 year old Jesse Logan had sent nude pictures of herself to a boyfriend. When he and Jesse broke up, he sent those pictures to other girls in their high school. Jesse was harassed by these girls, who called her a slut and a whore. Eventually the abuse was so bad, she stopped attending school. After a while, Jesse decided to speak up about her story on a Cincinnati television station to “make sure no else [would] ever have to go through this again”. Not even two months after the interview, she hung herself in her bedroom.

Though every generation tries to break free from constraints set by previous ones, and flirting is far from being inert, the lines of where flirtation becomes potentially dangerous can get blurred, especially when at a young and influential age. Moreover, with technology evolving at an ever-rapid speed, both parents and kids may not be fully aware of the repercussions their actions can have.

What many young people consider a modern way of flirting, is still a relatively loose concept in need of some proper stitching.

Well today is Earth Day.  This year it is even more celebrated because everyone is starting to realize how much we, as a world, have to come together and start taking care of our planet.  We are seeing more and more technologies go "green" and this is no exception with cell phones

Reading an article on treehugger.com

"Another cell phone is getting a solar panel slapped on its surface, showing that going solar is juuuust starting to become all the rage among mobile phone makers. At least in a limited way."

The specs of the phone are still limited

"AU (KDDI) and Sharp are presenting a new phone in the Japanese market that has a solar panel embedded in its lid. Users can leave it in the sun for up to 10 minutes in order to generate enough energy for 1 minute of communication or 2 hours on standby"

Now really that isn't too much time and it will take hours if not days to charge your phone in the sun, but at least it's a step in the right direction and hopefully this will become more common in the future.

Samsung is one of the world’s leading providers of cellular phones that share a strong reputation worldwide in the telecommunication world. The company is known for manufacturing innovative and extraordinary handsets with latest designs and functionality. Their sleek and clamp shell type cell phones gained immense popularity amongst its subscribers. Already a leader in the CDMA phone market, now the company is also emerging as a tough competitor in its range of GSM cell phones. Here, is a list of popular models of Samsung Cellular Phones.

Samsung SGH-A867: Technology meets style with this extraordinary Samsung SGH-A867 cell phone. This fully featured phone comes with a large 3.2" touch screen display that offers excellent features along with a QWERTY keyboard operative in landscape or portrait mode.  The phone also sports a AT&T Mobile TV, 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support, high-speed 3G network, built-in microSD memory slot and AT&T Navigator

Samsung P520 Armani: This high chic and fashionable phone comes with a touch screen display and is designed to meet the needs of fashion conscious people. It sports a perfect metallic finish and at the same time it is very durable and robust. The phone comes with great multimedia capabilities, 3.15 MP Camera 50 MB embedded memory, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP and support for EDGE networks.

Samsung SGH-A767 Propel: This is a complete phone from Samsung that provides great multimedia experience with a sliding QWERTY keyboard. The full featured QWERTY keyboard allows you to perform tasks such as instant messaging by using Windows Live, AIM or Yahoo. Some other exciting features incorporated in this phone include a AT&T Navigator, 1.3 megapixel camera and camcorder, GPS facility, MP3 player, AT&T Music, phonebook with a storage for 1000 contacts, expandable micro SD card and GPS facility.

Samsung i8510: This highly fashionable Smartphone is all you need to show your true style. The phone comes with an advanced 8 MP camera that features an image stabilizer LED flash autofocus and face smile and blink detection. Also it is the first phone to feature an optical mouse navigation making it an easy to use handset. Other features include built-in Wi-Fi, GPS receiver built-in 8GB of internal memory, expandable memory to another 8GB and geo-tagging facility. 

The war between good and evil is a constant battle of wits. Though the law may create devices and technology to prevent and halt criminal activity, criminals will try and find ways to conquer what stands in their way. And this is exactly what’s happening with cell phones today. Cell phones may seem like harmless means of communication, but when fallen into the wrong hands, they become essential tools for the criminal mastermind.

Cell Phone Cameras

For a while, camera phones were actually helping to catch criminals. Citizens were taking the law into their own hands, recording robberies and other felonies, as they happened, and turning them into the police. But criminals have smartened up. Now, criminals are using camera phones to assist in robberies! It is a cold, calculated method of stealing. One gang member will photograph potential victims as they walk into the bank and choose the ones withdrawing the largest sums. Another gang member will wait outside until informed of who their target is. Once they know, they will follow that person and eventually rob them. Because of the increasing numbers of robberies of this nature, especially in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, police officials are urging banks to enforce a no cell phone policy.

Prepaid Cell Phones a.k.a “Burners”

Yet another useful and highly perilous tool for criminal activity is the prepaid cell phone. It’s cheap, disposable and cannot be traced. Moreover, within the last year, terror suspects in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas were arrested with hundreds of prepaid cell phones at one time. The concern is that criminals are making a lot of money, which is going unreported and that money could end up funding terrorist organizations. Because prepaid cell phones facilitate criminal activity, several states as well as many other countries around the world, want to pass laws forcing consumers to provide identification such as a passport when buying prepaid cell phones. Doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, however there is great concern that this would be yet another intrusion on people’s privacy.

VoIP

Wiretapping used to be an effective way of tracking criminals but now with the help of VoIP programs such as Skype, police have a much harder time getting through the red tape of wiretapping Skype-to-Skype communications. For one, Skype’s 256-bit Rijndael encryption is twice as thick as the one used for processing credit cards, making it nearly impossible to crack. Criminals in Italy have been using Skype and other VoIP systems for purposes of arms and drug trafficking, prostitution rings and organized crime. Skype will not share its encryption data with authorities, and as of yet, Internet telephony companies are not required to cooperate with police. A serious advantage to the criminal element, the National Security Association is offering hackers a reward if they can break the encryption key.

Cell Phone Jammers

Cell phone jammers were created with the purpose of preventing cellular eavesdropping. Now really, who would require such complete assurance of privacy? Not to say that anyone particularly wants someone listening in on their phone conversations, but we all have a pretty good idea who this device is useful to. Phone jammers are actually illegal in the United States, though other countries do allow them under certain circumstances. In countries where jammers are legal, corporations can use them to enhance security. Other countries use them to create a quiet atmosphere, such as in churches or theatres.

Even though they are illegal, criminals in the U.S. have been able to acquire them through the Internet. Police in Georgetown, Massachusetts, suspect that a robber may have employed the use of a cell phone jammer in order to prevent victims from dialling 911 from their cell phones. The robber was said to have been carrying a suspicious gym bag, which may have contained the jammer, but it exploded before any investigation could be made