Technology

iPhone 5 is on its way to the world of technology, so get the lowdown before you wait in line for the new phone. If you are techy and you believe that technology matters, then check out this blog.

Austrian luxury designer and jeweler Peter Aloisson, creator of one of the world’s most expensive cell phones, has broken new ground—sort of. Sure, there’s nothing new about the whole diamond-studded phone thing, but the iPhone Princess Plus has the distinction of being the world’s most expensive iPhone.

A few days ago, Richard Burkard of Burkard’s Blog of Columbus suggested that we run a sampling of our cell phone ring tones for public opinion. It came in the form of a comment to a post we had run regarding cell phones (ours) and the genuinely stomach wrenching ringtones that came native to them.

I knew that T-Mobile was using Medio Systems as I tested this new mobile content search service in August. A full review has already been written in The Mobile Search analyst and I have also discovered that T-Mobile offers not one but five mobile search providers on its Internet portal. I thought this was a gimmick - but it isn't - now even t-zones and Web 'n' walk are strangely inter-linked.

This is one of the weirdest proposals we think we have ever heard. Researchers Dale Joachim, an MIT electrical engineer and biologist Eben Goodale are proposing giving cell phones to owls.

This gizmo is the Inflight USB Power Unit , a gadget that plugs into the armrest headphone jacks found in most commercial airplane seats to power iPods, cell phones, and similar devices through their USB connections.

Cell phones, coupled with their built-in cameras and the ability to post to a blog or website from anywhere, have made it so “citizen journalists” beat the major media outlets in breaking a story by several minutes and in some cases, several hours. Who better to report on an event that someone who actually saw it happen?

Writing (simple) programs and games for mobile phones has gotten a whole lot easier thanks to Adobe/Macromedia's Flash Lite technology. It basically extends their flagship Flash presentation engine to the realm of mobile handsets by providing a player, similar to that which is installed on desktop PCs, to many of the mobile phones.

Wirefly is the #1 seller of cell phones and plans in the US. They recently announced their Ten Most Popular Cell Phones of 2006. I've provided the list below and, as usual, the ProductCritic scores associated with each phone.

Am I the only who missed the rumor that she was a witch? Could you imagine if she joined that religion? There would be cell phones magically hitting people for no reason.

More specifically, are there certain RSS feeds or pushed data normally found on the desktop that are appropriate for the phone?

This applies to Cingular Wireless, T-Mobile and Nextel phones; Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Alltel subscribers are out of luck, for reasons I’ll explain below.

Very neat and could possibly create a whole new sub genre of cinema veritae. These guys made an entire documentary with cell phone video. Although studies have shown that people actually want less features on cell phones, photo and sometimes video capability just come standard on even base models and likely will in the years to come.

You can use it simply to neutralize the harmful effects of EMF’s in the house — computer, TV, and other electrical appliances, cell phones, microwaves, etc. But usually people also notice other positive effects even if they weren’t looking for them. I started out gridding my house with the small “towerbusters,” and my interest grew from there. I own quite a few larger personal devices that are quite beautiful and powerful.

Isn’t it a great world that we live in? I watched a “documentary” on Discovery on Friday that showed how Captian Kirk changed the world. It seems that people who watched Star Trek got some cool ideas and set on a life adventure to make them come true. Cell Phones, ION pulse engines, transporters, and warp travel are all things that were inspired by some actors making shit up. Awesome.

Today people have telephones, cell phones, email, instant messenger, web sites and e-commerce. These activities leave a digital trail, not just of phone numbers, but the contents of communications, what we buy, what we read, even our physical location is revealed by cell phone records.

Anyway, I didn’t take my laptop. The cell phones didn’t work in Death Valley, and there were no Internet cafes. Yeah, it is nice to totally unplug for a while, to not be a slave to the e-mail monster for at least a brief period, and to be blindly ignorant to news headlines (by resisting the temptation to glance at newspaper headlines in the gift shops). But the price paid upon plugging back in is awful. I’ve spend a big chunk of today slogging through my inbox, and I’m not even close to reading everything (or deleting it) and dealing with the important stuff.

What did people used to do to pass the time at work when there was no internet?! Oh right, they actually got their work done! So my latest client does not have internet access for us. I feel like I am in the stone age. Haha. It really isn’t so bad, but I don’t think I am any more productive than when we did have internet access. I think I end up spending the extra time thinking about what might have possibly hopped into my Inbox while I was at work. And when we contact people that we need to reach immediately, we actually have to use *gasp* our phones! We use our cell phones though because there isn’t a land line in our room. Luckily, I get in touch with the present when I am back in the hotel room. Free wireless internet - huzzah!

The Apple iPhone rumor is played out. Unless you’ve got something real to show us, shut up about it. We’ve hit the point where even year-old rumors are getting recycled, and “analysts” are piling on with their own predictions in an attempt to look with it.

The phone will be connected next Thursday and we’ll let people know via email that number. In the meantime you can reach us on our cell phones, though we’ve had some trouble using them in the new apartment. There is no longer a phone at our old place since we brought the phone and such with us. So, if you really need us, email is going to be your best bet.

If there had been this sort of rigid, unyielding regulation when cell phones were first coming out, I can guarantee that the US would have never developed a cell phone market, and we’d be even further behind the rest of the world in our cell phone technology than we are today (we’re only a half decade or so behind Europe and Japan with our current cell phone tech). Now, the US is going to fall drastically behind the rest of the world in its VoIP technology, too.

Earlier in the week, a story came out of Singapore about a hospital that was allowing its staff to carry mobile phones after tests showed they had no impact on medical equipment. Many hospitals have held to their bans on phones in fear they’ll interfere with equipment, but another new study says there’s actually a big benefit in letting people use them (via Textually). Researchers at Yale have found that the use of cell phones in hospitals reduces their error rates since it allows for more timely communications — and the incidence of interference is lower than the incidence of error caused by delayed communication. Looks like that long-held ban might be hurting things more than it helps.

Be the hit of the party with Drinknation, a new mobile application which brings the breadth and depth of a Bartender�s Bible to the palm of your hand. Whether you�re in a bar or planning a house party, mixology 101 is only a flip (phone) away.

Well, tonight we’re in Eureka Nevada - s till 7 hours from Sacramento. Weather has been kinda scary and we didn’t realize how much mountain driving there would be. My first appointment is 11:30 Tuesday so we have some leeway. Cell phones have had no signal here. More tomorrow night.

I’m not an engineer, and I’m sure there are a great many reasons for not building a TV receiver into cell phones. Multiple standards does not a standard make. Lets just hope the cellcos choose their “standard” with the people (as opposed to their pockets) in mind.

I had the pleasure of being a guest on our arch nemesis’ show - The Redboy Podcast. Fun and merriment were had by all. Cell phones, Aussie Tom, and general geekery were the mainstays of the evening.

I believe it’s quite possible to love someone but not like them very much. I wonder if the cause of so many people’s dissatisfaction or distance from their families comes from the high divorce rate in modern society, like the traditionalists claim. Or, despite the conveniences of cell phones and e-mail, if it’s more possible for a modern person to keep a certain degree of emotional separation from family members now, simply because we were not raised on a farm, all performing chores together, where our group survival depended on each member doing their share. this emotional distance may also be a symptom of our high tech world–so many other options for communication or amusement. Parents split up, working late, spending more time at the office than at home, and at home they’re often busy with their Blackberry or shopping online or watching digital cable. Kids on their cell phones, or im’ing friends, or at the mall or soccer practice or hanging out somewhere in a pack.

I have learned to not ask questions of the girls who are desperately searching for fishnet stockings. . .and to be helpful but internally disapproving of the girls frantically looking for short plaid skirts and children’s size white button-down shirts. I am not sympathetic to the girls that come in chatting on their cell phones and make me feel like I am interrupting them while they are asking me for help. And I try to be as helpful, low-key, and friendly as possible with the guys making their first foray into the wild and frighteningly complex world of women’s hosiery. Because, after all, it has always been my experience that the closer that a holiday becomes, the ruder women become and the kinder men act. Woo-hoo…go men!

Verizon and Samung announced the availability of the new Samsung SCH-a970 cameraphone. This is one tricked out multimedia phone with tons of features including:

As you may know, Amateur Radio has historically played an important role during disasters. In many cases it’s the only reliable means of communications when normal communications, such as landline telephones and cell phones, are not operational (sometimes for weeks). Check out the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), eHam.net, or send me an e-mail if you’re interested in Amateur Radio.

However, there have been rising concerns that cellular coverage underground may aid terrorists in striking subways. Besides allowing them to communicate through mobile devices, cell phones have been a favorite tool among terrorists to detonate remote bombs; as may have been the case in the Madrid commuter-train bombings that killed 191 last year.

Engadget 1985 is by far the funniest piece of computer geek humor that I’ve read all day. It took me right back to the day I got my first modem—which was actually back in 1991. Cell phones have definitely come along ways since their brief case-sized ancestors debuted. And thank goodness GPS receivers have come down in size and price. Gadgets that cost more than your house just don’t seem like a wise investment no matter how cool. Catch it all and the trendytapecast over at Engadget.

I was reading Oliver Star's Blog today and I saw this.

It turns out that Parks and Associates did some research on what features users wanted to use on mobile devices…

I've been having to make calls back to the UK for the last couple of weeks, and I didn't want my phone bill to be through the roof with roaming charges, so last week I decided to go hunt for a pay as you go phone or SIM (whichever was easiest, and cheapest to come by). First stop was Best Buy, where they had Virgin Mobile pay as you go phones and Moto Boost. Neither are GSM and you have to buy the phone (there is no SIM card), whilst this was appealing I didn't really want to carry 2 phones around, so I asked the sales assistant if they did SIM cards, and his reply was that you just can't get them over here, and that I'd have to buy a Virgin or Moto phone. So disillusioned and concerned for the US mobile phone market, I wandered out and 2 doors found a Cingular store. So I wandered in, asked if they did prepaid SIM cards, and the answer was yes (It's nice to know that I still have the ability to find the incompetent sales assistant in a consumer electronics store (Best Buy) regardless of country).

Tonight I’m home alone with my honey (that’s a happy thing) and the animals, who now outnumber us (not so happy.) Nick is in DC on his way to National Scout Jamboree. (Happy for him, not so happy for me.) Katy is somewhere nearing Japan, where she will land at Osaka Airport in a few hours. (Really, really not happy for me but thrillingly happy for her.) I am a little bit distressed as I have no way to contact her (nor she me, apart from a very prohibitively expensive collect call which I would totally take if she needed to call me) and she’s half a world away. I keep reminding myself that there was a time when there weren’t cell phones and we still managed…I just miss my kids.

Many of you know that when I am not fulfilling my duties as a “Professional Traveler”, I also do some tax consulting as a backup. Ok in all fairness, I do enjoy my tax work & have worked hard to make it a global tax practice, unfettered by cables and anything else that restricts me to one location. Thanks to the wonders of laptop computers, wireless internet access, international cell phones, and Adobe Acrobat, I can (and do) run my practice from anywhere in the world. Even 5 years ago I think this was not possible. Now I roam free and make a living at the same time!

We know that real-time geographic information is here: weather and traffic are examples. We know that remote sensor technology provides these data and can display them on maps. And we know that access via the internet and cell phones is providing anyone who will pay for it the ability to see it. We know that a shop keeper in Shanghai can see traffic congestion in Chicago...but why would he? We just know that he can.

It hanged, just like any other windows powered devices. Been using the phone for almost a week now and I must say I like the features and the clever functions put into it. Being new in the market, it still does have some minor issues I wished they would fix.

When we finally arrived we had to go through airport like security. No food is permitted, including gum, and they only thing electronic you can bring is a camera. No cell phones because of security issues. Upon entering the grounds there is still a good little walk through another entryway to the actual tomb.

The newsletter is a hub of information, or at least is meant to be. The writers, again, focus too much on the fear of the newsletter rather than keeping in mind the need to inform and not scare the crap out of. In the last issue, it was suggested that cell phone usage is a high risk security issue and we’re all better keeping them off except when needing to place a call. The newsletter’s writing suggested there are individuals staked out all over the city, waiting for your cell phone to log on to your provider network so they can steal your credentials. Even better, the newsletter suggested that our cell phones are at risk to becoming “microphones”. I found this to be humorous… “We don’t know where, we don’t know when, but someone is going to hack your cell phone and use it as a mic. That is all…” I understand these are real issue, but c’mon! Do you honestly think somebody wants to listen in on your calls just to hear how your shitty day at work went?

A Norwegian company has developed bridging technology that links cell phones with Skype Technologies’ VoIP service in a configuration that enables users to make worldwide calls at local rates.

can you remember what we did before cell phones, pda’s, and other bullshit electronic gadgets we really don’t need?

Alexandria City Council has approved a new tax on cell phones as part of its fiscal 2006 budget. Residents will pay $3 a month on cell phone bills of more than $30. People on lower-cost plans will be charged ten percent of their monthly bill.

“GPS-enabled cell phones are now mostly a curiosity, Ludford said. However, such technological obscurities have a way of worming themselves into everyday life, which is why researchers are already working on applications.

Place Mail stores the latitude and longitude coordinates of the users’ favorite spots - Washburn Library, Bayer’s Hardware, Discount Video or the Wedge - into the cell phone’s memory. The user also programs in location-specific reminder notes.”

I love the lightness (4.3 oz) and size (large candybar) of the Blackberry. It works as a phone, no questions asked. I'm doing pretty well using the Suretype QWERTY and think it's a boon to solving a key problem with big pdas trying to be cell phones.

I started my sales and marketing career in 1977 as a sales trainee for ASG Industries. My tools were a legal pad, a couple of Bic pens and a secretary named Darlene, who typed everything on an IBM Selectric typewriter. I sat at a Steelcase desk actually made from steel and painted gunmetal grey. This was before fax machines (at least reliable ones), FEDEX, email, cell phones, desktop publishing, the Internet, and all the other tools and technologies available to marketers today.

Cell phones really have changed the way we live. Sometimes I feel like I got into a time machine and landed in the future. Do you know that in Japan and Korea, you can actually watch TV on your cell phone? What else is coming, I wonder.

7. Inconsiderate people leaving their cell phones on audible ring mode. The ridiculous ring tones (for example, the Sanford & Son theme song) are distracting and irritating, especially when some individuals’ cell phones ring ten to twelve times per day.

So, will cell phones be next on the feds' censorship wish list? You better believe it. I'll make a prediction now: Within the next two years, legislation will be introduced proposing the extension of the FCC's current clear-as-mud indecency rules to mobile content and devices.

Yet it's the press that the Bush entourage continually wants to hold responsible for its failures. Rumsfeld, at a recent speech to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, said that a globalized press in this digital age can instantly spread damaging information. He lamented "a global Internet with universal access and no inhibitions, e-mails, cell phones, digital cameras wielded by anyone and everyone," and "a seemingly casual disregard for the protection of classified information, resulting in a near continuous hemorrhage of classified...

As someone from a smaller city with large-city driving habits, one of my pet peeves is the constant whining about people who talk on their cell phones while driving (usually from people who don’t own cell phones). I came across this article today, and just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to rant. The article is documenting efforts by an increasing number of states to regulate the use of cell phones while driving. From the article (emphasis mine):

Games based on location. Now that is intriguing. I don't know if it would interest ME, per se, but it does sound like a neat concept and something perfect for cell phones.

Eleksen announced a deal with outdoor apparel manufacturer O'Neill to incorporate the fabric in its H2 apparel line, which includes a backpack with a built-in solar panel and coat with a control panel for cell phones or MP3 players. The coat will also contain built-in headphones and microphones, so you won't have to take your coat off to speak or listen to music. A built-in Bluetooth module handles communications and also switches feeds from the MP3 player to the phone and vice versa.

Millions of people carrying camera cell phones or portable instant messaging devices are being encouraged to share what they see, hear, and think as it happens -- and by Google, no less. Think about that: the owners of the world's largest data storage and retrieval system are gathering audio, video, photos, and text messages from all over. Should we be pleased? Or worried?

Anyone who has heard me gripe about cell phones, (and most people who know me have,) might be surprised at this, but cell phones do come in handy at times. I’m thinking about this because I’m really liking my Nextel phone I got with my new job. The walkie-talkie feature is really pretty handy. Of course, with a company phone, you don’t always get everything you want. Two features I’d love to have are text messaging and a camera. I can see where both would be very handy in the everyday working world, (I’d love to be able to take pictures of broken parts I need to order,) but both my last employer and my new one do not allow them. What are your favorite cell phone features? What new ones would you like to see invented?

I. hate. stupid. people. I have very little patience with people who don't have common sense, that's one of the reasons I can't stand my SIL. The other big pet peeve I have is people in movie theaters that put their feet on the seats, talk, play on their cell phones, kick your seat, and rattle packages during the whole movie. I actually have contemplated not going to the movies anymore and just waiting for things to come out on dvd because the general public annoys me so much. It all comes back to the common sense.

Coldplay had hoped to go straight to No. 1 on this Sunday’s British singles chart with its new song, Speed of Sound. But by today, it appeared that Crazy Frog Axel F - which is available for digital download and as a compact disc single in retail stores - would prevail, said Castaldo. The ring tone was expected to replace the Oasis tune Lyla as the No. 1 hit on the list released Sunday by the Official UK Charts Co. The weekly singles chart, which has been released since 1952, is based on the sales of 5,600 retail shops across Britain. While...

All of this week i've been in remote villages in India, which had no electricity, a smattering of landlines that donot work, a few cell phones. And i have been able to chat with friends in the US and UK on Skype and beam pictures to my blog from there. LIVE !

At several levels - the most basic is the invitation to call when you see someone is 'online', or the knowledge that you shouldn't be disturbing someone right now. This doesn't happen with landlines, and unless you send an sms in advance, not on cell phones either. I personally still prefer to send a small chat ping before I call someone, unless I know them really well, in which case, I call them any which way.

- What is it replacing in your basket of communication products both online and off ... IM clients? Landlines? Cell phones?

The team at Skype has done a great job in helping a new generation become aware how easy it is to communicate using VoIP. But before any of us can talk about a true communications revolution, we need to take a hard look at the communication habits of this segment of the "always on" generation and see how much, if any, of their core communication needs is being replaced by the advent of services like Skype rather than depending upon their cell phones and/or other communication products & services.

This survey of 526 U.S.companies has found that 5 percent use GPS technology to monitor cell phones and 8 percent use GPS to track company vehicles."When it comes to workplace computer use,employers are primarily concerned about inappropriate web surfing,with 76% monitoring workers’ website connections.Fully 65% of companies use software to block connections to inappropriate websites".Further,"26% have fired workers for misusing the Internet.Another 25% have terminated employees for e-mail misuse.And 6% have fired employees for misusing office...

Rheingold writes about the phenomenon of mobile phone users -- whose devices weren't designed to support community uses -- doing it anyway. In what I choose to interpret as yet another affirmation of Stephenson's Law #1(when you have a problem, look for a solution to someone who suffers from it but to the nth degree), Jeff Axup, Mobile Community Design specialist at the University of Queensland's Information Environments program, studied how one ad-hoc group of phone users -- backpackers -- use their cell phones to build community. ...

–Dean Landsman has written an essay on the history of ubiquitous connectivity, from cell phones to email to instant messaging and its ramifications. For those of you who are unnerved by this trend, take heart, I suspect that none of these technologies will ever replace the power of the face-to-face (F2F) encounter.

South Koreans hoping to communicate with man's best friend could be getting help soon from their cell phones. KTF Corp., a South Korean mobile phone operator, said Thursday it will begin offering a service that will enable dog owners to know whether their pets are feeling happy or sad.

The Universal, HTC’s nicely spec’d out new 3G Pocket PC Phone (this thing has a built-in QWERTY keyboard, UMTS, a large VGA touch screen, 1.3 megapixel digital camera, 128MB of RAM, 520MHz Intel XScale processor, WiFi, and Bluetooth), is anything but a secret, especially since T-Mobile Deutschland introduced it as the MDA IV earlier this year, but HTC, a Taiwanese manufacturer which usually stays behind the scenes, took the unusual step yesterday of formally announcing that the phone will be available globally in the 2nd half of the year. The announcement, which coincided with yesterday’s unveiling of Windows Mobile 5.0, also answered one of the nagging questions about the Universal/MDA IV—namely whether or not it would run on the newest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS (it will). So when is Cingular going to get this?

I can't believe I haven't posted about decorating my pager yet! About a month ago, I bought 2-way pagers for myself and Blake. The idea was that they would be a cheap alternative to cell phones. We can send each other text messages, send and receive email messages, and exchange text messages with anyone who has a cell phone. It's quite handy, and about half the cost of cell phones per month. The pagers themselves were $9 each, and are plain back used models. I wanted to make mine cute, so, inspired by Sara's Handbling over at Going Jesus, I decided to paint it and then stick on some "jewels." I found some spraypaint especially for plastic and some acrylic crystals at JoAnn's. I decided not to ante up for the real Austrian crystals, since they cost three times as much. I didn't want to spend $20 on crystals for a $9 pager.

Gizmodo is reporting that Motorola is confirming a July launch of iTunes Mobile for cell phones.

Napstertones - buy ringtones for your cell phones ($1.99 USD) with (some of) your favorite songs and annoy all those who wished for simpler days when phones just rang.

Cell phones are allowed on campus but may not be used during school hours. When a teacher told him to hang up, he refused. He said he told the teacher, "This is my mom in Iraq. I'm not about to hang up on my mom."

Google SMS, while still in beta, is nothing new and yes, we have all already heard about it. It’s great to use Google via our cell phones without actually paying for internet access. I was at a party and some people were debating the age of Micky Mouse. I send a text message to 46645 (GOOGL) and types “how old is micky mouse”, and a couple seconds later, I received a text message that said “Did you mean MICKEY Mouse Date of birth 1928” - kind of cool. It may be worth the time to actually learn how to use Google SMS...

You may have noticed something called VoiceMode quietly making its way into cell phones --the speech-to-text solution for text messaging and email on the road. More on this later, but suffice to say that it is way too time consuming. The few tumb typers I know in Sri Lanka would beat voicemoders to a punch!

Of course, I don’t like the idea that it won’t be released for two more years, nor than it will find initial applications in things other than cell phones, portable electronics, etc. But when I think about what this will mean for portable electronics in the next few years, I feel the warm, fuzzy, engineer’s appreciation of technological advance.

A number of people make fake phone calls on their cell phones just for the benefit of those around them. Someone who's late for work may enter the office talking to "an important client" to cover her tardiness. Others pretend they get a call when they don't want to talk to someone who's standing right in front of them. Not surprisingly, some of those big deals you hear people negotiate on the phone are just done to impress those within earshot. Men will pretend to be on a call as they walk over to hit on a woman. Women will pretend to be on a call to avoid getting hit on by men.

BlackBerry Handheld Software v4.0.0.319 is out. It's an upgrade to the existing OS. Some of the highlights of the upgardes includes the addition of a passwork keeper and a HTML Browser!!! Note: The HTML browser that magically appeared on my 7520 after the .319 upgrade was suggested by forum members that what I have is the BES browser and not the HTML browser that Nextel is rolling out on May 16th. How that happen? The Blackberry itself still mystifies me.

Apparantly a LOT of people are saying that they do not get the HTML browser. Many called Nextel and was informed that the HTML browser will be available on May 16th, the offical launch date. While it is only 3 weeks away, I am happy that somehow I was able to get the HTML browser.

Further speculation suggests that the browser I have on my 7520 (see photos in blog below) is the HTML browser available to BES clients and not webclients. see my blog on 'BES and WebClient' for further explanation. Nextel reported that the icon for the May 17th HTML browser (web client) is different than that to what I have...which is the BES one.

I attempted the software uprade and it corrupted by blackberry 7520. Right in the middle of the software upgrade, the upgrade stopped (died) and left my blackberry useless. All attempts to reload the software failed. So I had to go down to a Nextel store and pay $35 to swap out a unit I'd only had for a week.

Yahoo 360 users can email photos from their camera phones to their Weblogs (though I had trouble with this because pictures sent from my phone come from a Sprint provided email address).

According to their research there are 50-million cell phone owners under the age of 25 and will collectively shell out $20-billion on their cell phones. They are spending their money on the latest ringtones, music, games and the latest and greatest new handsets.

According to another study released last March by mobileYouth an outstanding $1 out of every 10% spent by children and young people are now spent on their cell phones.

Coming soon to a cell phone near you: Sesame Street. Cell providers are teaming up with popular children’s media companies to develop programming for kids on cell phones. This “high tech pacifier” would work like a mini-television: parents can subscribe to a service for a monthly fee, and receive phone fare with kids’ favorite characters.

With the high cost of the SMS brokering services (especially now that providers are forcing all commercial senders to have shortcodes!), products that use SMS heavily are going to have to pass the cost to the user. This severely limits adoption.

A big part of the problem here is that mobile providers are just making too much money off of text messaging. An article in Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News (2005-03-15) had some unsurprising statements:

After a quick Google search, I found several websites that advertised unlocking services for Motorola V551’s and other phone models. Many of these websites charge $10 to $20 for a code that they will give you via email that will unlock the phone. BE WARNED! I have found out that this only works for certain Nokia phones. Usually all other phones require firmware updates, and that cannot be done by typing in a code. Most phones have to be connected to a computer via USB cable and have the firmware replaced by an unlocked version.

Add one more consequence to the proliferation of cell phones. Manicurists rejoiced when it was announced that, starting in June 2006, everyone in the 514, 450 and 819 area codes will have to dial 10 numbers (instead of the usual 7) to make a local phone call.

One difference I have noticed since I was a student here oh-so-many years ago (actually, only 2) is the obscene proliferation of iPods and cell phones. Now, I'm no technophobe, but the presence of these things on campus can be very irritating. The students working the B.C. front desk now tune out all around them with iPods, and everyone seems to be in their own MP3 world walking to class. Do you really need your iPod to walk a few yards? We're not that big of a campus. And yesterday I almost got run over by a driver talking on a cell phone (this time a staff member), and instead of the usual apologetic wave that's customary in our one-traffic light town, the person continued talking, never having stopped to acknowledge the fact they almost run me down.

Another entry into the annals of does-it-or-doesn’t it. In this case, cell phones. Do they cause brain tumors or don’t they? Evidence seems likely, and then it doesn’t.

The problem with these studies, however, is that they cannot positively rule out a link between the two. They just couldn’t establish one in this study, and that’s a big difference from saying that “cell phones do not lead to brain tumors” or that “cell phones are completely safe.” The scientists who did this study do admit that; that even though they couldn’t establish a link between tumors and cell phones, they could not rule out the possibility that mobile handsets may cause long-term health problems,...

He said CBS also is beginning to explore ways of utilizing a wide array of new technologies for distributing CBS' programming, including cell phones.

"There's even been talk about doing a one-minute 'CSI'" on cell phones, Moonves told the ad executives. "Someone gets killed the first few seconds. The crime gets solved in the last few seconds."