cell phones

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Icahn Wins: Motorola Will Spin Off Mobile Unit

Company says it will spin off foundering mobile unit that's lost $1.2 billion

(Newser) - Motorola blinked in its showdown with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, announcing this morning it will spin off the foundering mobile-device division that lost $1.2 billion last year and has seen its share of the mobile phone market shrink from 22% to 12%, reports Bloomberg. Moto’s stock rose 6....

Cellphones Sound Last Call for British Icon

Famous red booths disappear from English streets

(Newser) - Britain’s iconic red phone booths are going extinct in a country where cellphones outnumber people, USA Today reports. British Telecom is shrinking the overall number of pay phones and replacing the red booths with modern ones that double as wireless hotspots. With just 12,700 of the originals left...

In the Works: Wireless Bill of Rights

States fight feds over who will regulate

(Newser) - Wireless carriers seem to have angered a few too many consumers with hidden fees and surprise charges. Politicians in 22 states are considering various versions of a wireless consumers’ bill of rights, reports BusinessWeek. But the wireless industry, daunted at facing different regulations in every state, is throwing its weight...

Verizon Opens Its Network to Outside Phones

Provider answers calls for more open industry

(Newser) - Verizon will open its cell-phone service to any phone builder willing to meet its technical specs, the Wall Street Journal reports. The provider has so far restricted access to its own retailer, but hopes to stave off pressure from regulators, consumers, and tech companies pushing for a more universal industry.

Boarding Passes Are So Last Year
Boarding Passes Are So Last Year
Mar 19, 2008 1:38 PM CDT

Boarding Passes Are So Last Year

Many airlines are transitioning to using cell phones instead

(Newser) - Airlines are working on transitioning their electronic check-in systems to allow passengers to use their cell phones as boarding passes. Continenal is the first to test the system, in which a scannable bar code is displayed on the phone's screen, and the passenger never has to deal with a paper...

Internet Addiction Rising
 Internet
 Addiction
 Rising 
Mar 15, 2008 8:37 AM CDT

Internet Addiction Rising

A combined 68% of the US population feels some anxiety when disconnected

(Newser) - Internet addiction is no longer a punchline—it’s a serious mental malady that’s gained acceptance from the scientific community, Ars Technica reports. A significant percentage of the US population feels “disconnect anxiety” when away from the internet or their cell phones, an extensive research effort by the...

Coming Soon to Your Cell: Spam
Coming Soon
to Your
Cell: Spam
Mar 10, 2008 2:25 PM CDT

Coming Soon to Your Cell: Spam

Users pay for unwanted text messages; 'smishers' fish for info

(Newser) - To the dismay of customers and cellphone providers, spammers and even phishers have gone mobile. Researchers predict US consumers will get a record 1.5 billion spam text messages this year, while “smishing” texts try to con recipients into giving up sensitive financial information, reports the Washington Post. Most...

The Next Big Thing: Live TV on Your Phone

Free new Spanish system could replace download services

(Newser) - A new way to watch TV on your phone is in the works in Spain, the Wall Street Journal reports. DVB-H technology, from a small company called Abertis Telecom, will let users tune into live broadcasts rather than pre-recorded shows. What some are calling the next big thing in cell...

Making a Marriage of Convergence
Making a Marriage of Convergence
Mar 3, 2008 12:13 PM CST

Making a Marriage of Convergence

A Hollywood agency, Silicon Valley VCs and AT&T partner to invest in digital media

(Newser) - In an unusual partnership, a Hollywood talent agency is teaming up with two Silicon Valley venture capital firms and AT&T to invest in Southern California digital media startups. The William Morris Agency announced the fund on Monday, in which AT&T is a limited partner. The focus is online...

Phone Makers Chase Fickle Customers
Phone Makers Chase Fickle Customers
Feb 29, 2008 11:15 AM CST

Phone Makers Chase Fickle Customers

Execs obsess over consumer wants, 'subliminal' needs

(Newser) - With the cellphone industry increasingly hit-driven, phone designers are plumbing the consumer psyche through cultural experts and focus groups, reports the New York Times. "Our job is to be behaviorists and psychologists," says an exec. Competition has heated up as consumers buy—and discard—phones at an ever-faster...

Students Aren't Signing Up for Text Alert Systems

Sense of invincibility, fear of revealing personal data to blame

(Newser) - Campus shootings keep making headlines, and schools are increasingly adopting text message alert systems as a response—but students aren't jumping on the bandwagon, the AP reports. Experts chalk up low enrollment rates to students' sense of invincibility, unwillingness to reveal personal information and the cost of receiving texts. "...

T-Mobile Brings Cell Phone Service Home

New plan would combine mobile, landline accounts

(Newser) - Cell phone giant T-Mobile is moving into the landline business. The company is trying out a service that ties cell phones to landlines that if successful in Seattle and Dallas could go nationwide within months, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company's new service uses a special router to tie...

Are You Hanging Up on Fertility?
Are You Hanging Up on Fertility?
Feb 25, 2008 3:00 PM CST

Are You Hanging Up on Fertility?

Study finds link between cellphones and infertility

(Newser) - Men may want to be sure their unlimited minutes include calls to the urologist, USA Today reports, because a new study shows a possible link between cellphone use and male infertility. Researchers split 361 men under 40 into groups divided by amount of daily cell use and found the 4-plus-hours...

Cell Carriers Roll Out Unlimited Calls for $100/Month

Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile get with the program

(Newser) - Cell phone users tired of rationing their minutes have a new alternative—unlimited calling plans for $99.99 a month. Verizon Wireless yesterday introduced a nationwide plan with no domestic roaming or long-distance fees, AP reports. AT&T quickly announced a matching plan, and T-Mobile execs say they’ll unveil...

Patent Battle Breaks Out Between Motorola, RIM

Firms exchange suits after licensing agreement disintegrates

(Newser) - A patent battle has flared between BlackBerry maker RIM and Motorola after the two failed to agree on terms to renew an existing licensing agreement, reports the Wall Street Journal.The friction comes as each company is intruding into the other's turf: Motorola by building Blackberry-like email devices, RIM by...

Study Links Cell Use to Mouth Tumors

Israeli research contradicts 2-year-old data from Sweden

(Newser) - People who use cell phones frequently are 50% more likely to develop salivary gland tumors, according to a new study. Researchers at Tel Aviv University compared a population of nearly 500 tumor patients to a control group of healthy subjects; more than 400 of the 500 patients selected for study...

Man Busted for 27,000 911 Calls
Man Busted for 27,000 911 Calls
Feb 16, 2008 7:06 AM CST

Man Busted for 27,000 911 Calls

Prankster, who made bodily noises, did it 'because it's free'

(Newser) - Police in a San Francisco suburb finally got their man—but only after he made 27,000 prank 911 calls, often treating the operators to grunts and his impressions of bodily noises. John Triplette "completely overwhelmed our system," police tell the San Francisco Chronicle. Why did this criminal...

Web Connects Mourning NIU Students
Web Connects Mourning NIU Students
Feb 15, 2008 1:21 PM CST

Web Connects Mourning NIU Students

With cellphones down, many use Facebook to communicate

(Newser) - With cellphone lines on much of the campus jammed, Northern Illinois University students turned to the Internet to let friends and loved ones know they had survived yesterday’s shooting and to console each other, the Chicago Tribune reports. Most logged on to Facebook, where 10,000 joined a prayer...

India Rolls Out $20 Cell Phone
India Rolls Out $20 Cell Phone
Feb 14, 2008 1:27 PM CST

India Rolls Out $20 Cell Phone

The bare-bones 'people's phone' aimed at the half of Indians who have no mobile

(Newser) - On the heels of India’s $2,400 car comes its $20 mobile handset, the “people’s phone,” the Times of London reports. It has no smart features—not even a screen. “It is just a phone,” says the chairman of Spice Mobile, the phone’s...

BlackBerry Service Down in US and Canada

Device-maker can't explain loss of email and web services

(Newser) - Blackberry's wireless service is down across the US and Canada today, PC World reports. Blackberry-maker Research in Motion, at a loss to explain the outage, first reported it at 3:30 p.m. EST and called the outage "ongoing." Only half of Blackberries are currently without email, RIM...

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