cells

FCC finally opens review of cell phone safety standards

The Federal Communications Commission officially opened an inquiry today into whether U.S. standards need to be updated to protect people from cell phone radiation.

Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated a notice of inquiry last June that looked at a series of questions surrounding whether the current standards need to be updated or whether the agency's testing practices should be altered. But it took nine months for the notice of inquiry to become an official part of the FCC docket.

Now that the notice of inquiry is officially registered, the FCC can begin its review and receive comments from the … Read more

The 404 1,236: Where we're hidden in plain sight (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Cell phone towers disguised as trees are a puzzling attempt at aesthetics.

- You know you're rich when you have the luxury of turning down an iPad.

Bathroom break video: ASMR keyboard raindrops… Read more

Apple patent points to pen PC with cellular and GPS features

A newly awarded Apple patent describes a pen that acts as a portable, wireless computer.

Granted to Apple today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a patent known simply as "portable computers" speaks of a pen computer with a built-in screen that can display e-mails, text message, and voice data. The device, which would be equipped with cellular and/or GPS technology to allow wireless communication, also would act as an advanced digital pen. The patent explains that the pen would include accelerometers to recognize handwriting and facilitate both speech-to-text and text-to-speech conversion.

Along with … Read more

Android, LTE, and great call quality for an affordable price

Don't be swayed by the use of "Optimus" in its name, as the LG Optimus Regard for Cricket Wireless isn't out to impress. Its compact design is unassuming, its feature set is mostly entry-level, and it runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. So, in other words, it's about as far from the Optimus G Pro as you can get. Yet, those aren't reasons to avoid this affordable, easy to use, and LTE-ready handset.

The Optimus Regard costs a reasonable $249.99 for Cricket's contract-free service, which places it right in the … Read more

Men think phones say more about them than cars, poll says

Gentlemen, what's the first thing people notice about you? Your bulging biceps? Your self-assured swagger? Your Nokia Lumia 920?

If you chose option No. 3, you fall in line with the results of a new global survey from mobile video startup Vuclip. Sixty-one percent of men, it indicates, say the first thing people notice about them is the type of phone they have. That's compared with 38 percent of women who think people's eyes go straight to their Droid Razr Maxx HD above all else. … Read more

Teen smartphone ownership skyrockets in U.S.

The old stereotype that teens love using telephones still holds true even in the digital age.

Now, though, instead of landlines, almost all teenagers use cell phones. And, according to a new Pew Research Center report (PDF) released today, more and more U.S. adolescents own smartphones. Pew's survey looked at technology use in 802 teens from the ages 12 to 17 in July and September of 2012.

Seventy-eight percent of American teens owned a cell phone in 2012 and nearly half of that group had a smartphone. This means that overall 37 percent of all teenagers had a … Read more

Cell phone thief caught when his pants play different tunes

The most effective crimes, like business deals, take a lot of planning.

You have to consider the eventualities and anticipate the unexpected.

There may, therefore, have been insufficient aforethought in the cell-phone scheme of newly convicted thief Florin Constantin.

Constantin, 28, who arrived in England from Romania earlier this year, used a unique means to store multiple cell phones. He wore a pair of specially-designed leggings beneath his pants.

As the Daily Mail reports, he then headed to the Waterfront bar in Norwich to allegedly help steal as many cell phones as possible from the unsuspecting.

All, apparently, went quite … Read more

In half-baked phone theft, thief slips, posts pot shot of self on victim's Facebook page

Evidence can be a menace.

You think you've gotten away with something, and then that moment comes along when you suddenly remember that perhaps you've left a clue.

This thought may (or may not) have crossed the mind of an alleged cell phone thief.

As the New York Post reports, police in the Bronx feel sure that what happened is that a certain man -- whose picture they now have -- robbed a 27-year-old woman of her gadget.

He then allegedly used it to take a quite fetching picture of himself smoking pot.

This would not be the … Read more

You spend 23 days a year on your phone, survey says

How long do you spend looking at your phone? More than three weeks a year, according to new figures that indicate how amazing it is you haven't permanently cricked your neck.

Mobile-phone insurance Web site MobileInsurance.co.uk asked 2,314 phone owners how much time they spent each day sending texts, making calls, using apps and games, or doing anything else on their phones. The average answer is 90 minutes per day spent poking and prodding their blower.

That's 32,850 minutes a year, or 22.8 days. Over the course of the average person's life, that's 1,414 days -- 3.9 years -- spent squinting at a little piece of glass and plastic.

Read more of "You spend 23 days a year on your phone, say new figures" at Crave UK. … Read more

Lawmakers join effort to legalize cell phone unlocking

A day after the White House endorsed cell phone unlocking, several lawmakers voiced support today for legislation to legalize the process.

The Obama administration threw its support behind an Internet petition yesterday that asks the Library of Congress to change its stance on the legality of smartphone unlocking. The process became illegal earlier this year when the Library of Congress, which has the responsibility of reviewing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act every three years, opted not to renew the exemption for unlocking phones.

The change, which prevents prevent cell phones from being used on other carrier networks, caused quite a … Read more