cells

It was quite a charge.

That's the thought that may cross a mind or two after hearing the story of 28-year-old Darren Kersey.

Kersey is homeless, but he has a cell phone.

A logistical issue for him is where to charge it. So, as the Sarasota Herald-Tribune has it, he went to the public picnic shelter in Gillespie Park. It has a charging station.

At 9:20 p.m. on Sunday, Sgt. Anthony Frangioni of the local police wasn't happy with Kersey's ingenuity. He arrested him for the "theft of city utilities."

Frangioni allegedly added … Read more

Sometimes, the little bars on your cell phone just aren't there.

It could be because you're somewhere remote and it doesn't pay for phone companies to put a tower there. It could be because you're somewhere remote and the locals believe a cell tower would blight their aesthetic pleasures.

Or you could be in the middle of San Francisco and have AT&T.

My guess is 16-year-old Vera Oliphant was probably in category one when she reportedly wandered around, trying to find a cell signal. She wanted to call her mom and text her boyfriend. … Read more

The power is back on for some lucky people in regions devastated by superstorm Sandy. And that also means cell-phone service has returned.

As of Saturday morning, Con Edison, the power company providing service in New York City, reported that it had restored power to more than 645,000 customers, or approximately 70 percent of all those who lost power since Sandy slammed through New York. Power restoration to a large part of New York City also means wireless phone service that relies on this commercial power could also get back up and running.

On Saturday morning, AT&T … Read more

The Brits do love their decorum.

It helps them feel good about themselves, while allowing them to hide their true natures.

However, one British store has decided to enforce a protocol that technology seemed to have wiped away.

County Stores, in rather sleepy Taunton, southwest England, has decided not to serve anyone if they're nattering on their cell phones.

They might be talking to their nannies or their brokers. They might be discussing their last night or their next one. It doesn't even matter if you're debating the relative merits of Kimmy and Snooki.

If you're talking on your phone as you come up to the counter, the person behind you gets served first. Unless they're also on the phone, that is.… Read more

Ah, pagers -- still beloved by a wide range of users, from physicians to restaurant hostesses to bird watchers to drug dealers.

And given the simple telecommunication tech has been around for more than half a century, it should come as no surprise that it is gradually being replaced -- at least in hospital settings -- by cell phones.

That's according to an electronic survey administered by researchers out of the University of Kansas and presented this week at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.… Read more

Cell Phone Tracker Pro Free is a "tracking app" that can be installed on an iPhone or iPad, and which can provide constant updates as to the device's locations anywhere in the world that there is tracking capabilities. It doesn't really do this, which is why Cell Phone Tracker Pro Free is tagged as entertainment software. Cell Phone Tracker Pro Free is not available through all iTunes stores, but can be downloaded from the Web.

Cell Phone Tracker Pro Free is supposed to make the person you are with think you can track their location as … Read more

Wow, suddenly that $1 billion cell phone bill I received last month doesn't seem so bad. I could have gotten a multi-quadrillion dollar bill, like poor Solenne San Jose recently did.

Yes, you read that right. San Jose, who lives in the Bordeaux region of France, received a cell phone bill late last month for 11,721,000,000,000,000 euros, or about $15 quadrillion. Lady likes to talk!

In all fairness, San Jose had been warned she would be charged a fee for terminating her contract with Bouygues Telecom early. She was not, however, told that fee would greatly exceed the GDP of France. (Or the entire world's economic output -- by a factor of 214, no less.)… Read more

Cell phones have become the most crucial personal technology purchase you can make. Not only are these devices full-fledged miniature computers in their own right, they're getting smarter with each product generation. If you're looking for a new handset right now, start with the Samsung Galaxy S3 or the iPhone 5. The Galaxy S3 offers all the power you'd expect from a high-end Android device in a gorgeous package. The iPhone 5, meanwhile, continues to set a smartphone standard, and it's the best iPhone you can buy. If you're an Android user who's always … Read more

The Obama administration will tell federal judges in New Orleans today that warrantless tracking of the location of Americans' mobile devices is perfectly legal.

Federal prosecutors are planning to argue that they should be able to obtain stored records revealing the minute-by-minute movements of mobile users over a 60-day period -- in this case, T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers -- without having to ask a judge to approve a warrant first.

The case highlights how valuable location data is for police, especially when it's tied to devices that millions of people carry with them almost all the time. Records kept … Read more