Tag Archives: cell phones

The Verge reports: On a party-line vote, the FCC today approved a controversial measure that gives mobile phone carriers more power over text messages. The agency’s Republican leadership has pushed for the measure, which would classify text messaging as an information service. The move will give carriers leeway to stop spam texts without fear of breaking the law, Chairman Ajit …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump uses a White House cellphone that isn’t equipped with sophisticated security features designed to shield his communications, according to two senior administration officials — a departure from the practice of his predecessors that potentially exposes him to hacking or surveillance. The president, who relies on cellphones to reach his friends and millions of Twitter followers, …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The boards of Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to an all-stock merger that, if allowed by antitrust enforcers, would leave the U.S. wireless market dominated by three national players. It is the third time in recent years that the two rivals have attempted the combination. New technology, stiff competition from wireless rivals and an aging …

Roll Call reports: The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide a major privacy rights case about whether police must get a warrant to obtain historical cellphone records to track someone’s location and movements. The case centers on the increasingly detailed information that companies keep on texts and calls to and from a cellphone, as well as the relatively precise location …

ABC News reports: A Texas couple is suing Apple, claiming that its FaceTime app distracted a driver who rammed into the couple’s car, killing their 5-year-old daughter. Parents James and Bethany Modisette are suing Apple for damages on the basis that the electronics giant failed to install and implement a “safer, alternative design” for FaceTime that would have helped to …

Surprisingly lovely. Via Gizmodo: Musician Tony Ann recreated popular ringtones—like the iPhone’s Marimba and T-Mobile’s jingle—with a piano. Though hearing other people’s ringtones in real life is totally annoying, listening to their piano arrangements is quite nice (in a “hey, I know this tune but can’t quite figure out why I know it” sort of way). Now, to use Ann’s …

Arstechnica reports: Under the first-of-its-kind legislation proposed in New York, drivers involved in accidents would have to submit their phone to roadside testing from a textalyzer to determine whether the driver was using a mobile phone ahead of a crash. In a bid to get around the Fourth Amendment right to privacy, the textalyzer allegedly would keep conversations, contacts, numbers, …

Lupone talked to the New York Times: “This woman — a very pretty young woman — was sitting with her boyfriend or husband. We could see her text. She was so uninterested. She showed her husband what she was texting. We talked about it at intermission. When we went out for the second act I was very close to her, …

Broadway World reports: According to Broadway World’s astute message board posters, the trouble began at the show’s matinee performance, which Auggie 27 described as ‘Cell Phone Hell.’ The post reads: “The SECOND ACT of the “Shows for Days” matinee today was besieged with cell phone ringing, first one long unanswered call that threatened to ring for the rest of the …

Via press release from the FRC: Family Research Council Action has fought for more than 30 years to protect your values of Faith, Family, and Freedom. Did you know that the money you spend each month on your cell phone bill could help support our fight for these core principles? You probably are unaware of it, but today all of …

Buzzfeed reporter Matt Stopera, whom I’ve met a couple times, had his cell phone stolen in an East Village bar in January 2014. What followed is probably the craziest and most amazing story about social media that you’ll read this year. You might want to hit the link before watching the trailer as the many photos there set up the …

From the website: “Finally, back side selfies! With our bendable stick, you can position your back side without the need of a mirror and shoot the exact angle you are looking for. Bend in ways you never thought possible with our patent-pending design!” Regular selfie sticks, of course, have been around for a decade. Yesterday the Guardian profiled the man …

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos today unveiled his company’s first cell phone, the Fire Phone. First-look reviewers are (mostly) impressed. Via The Verve: The Fire Phone has a 4.7-inch HD display, aluminum buttons, a Qualcomm processor, Adreno 330 graphics, and 2GB of RAM. Bezos talked a lot about the phone’s build, from the injection-molded connectors to the chamfered edges. There’s a …

Via AutoBlog: Distracted driving continues to be a scourge to road safety around the world. In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ran a graphic commercial in April appealing to young people about the dangers of texting and driving. In Hong Kong, Volkswagen helped with a technologically savvy way to make people understand the peril. For the innovative …

In a press release sent out on Friday, hate group leader Tony Perkins reminded his followers about the Conservative Shopper App, which ranks dozens of companies on a scale of 1-5 based on whether they have publicly endorsed same-sex marriage, have contributed to Planned Parenthood, have pro-environment policies, and if they ban customers from bringing guns into their stores. Companies …

Tell us about the most useful apps on your phone.

“Not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Applebee’s International, Inc., or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.” Here’s the site.  The app IS available at the iTunes store.

Details.

After years of pleas from law enforcement, a coalition of the largest mobile handset makers in the world have agreed to install kill switches on devices manufactured after July 2015. The kill switch feature will allow the phone’s owner to wipe all data and disable the phone.  Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft, along with the five biggest cellular carriers in …

AdWeek comments on the below intense PSA issued this week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: The most memorable safe-driving PSAs tend to be made overseas—in Britain, Mexico, Australia. But the U.S. adds a powerful new entry to the mix with this brutal spot from The Tombras Group for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ushering in National Distracted …