cell phones

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Airlines Should Charge Cell Talkers $100 Per Minute

Let's stop loud conversations before they start: Spud Hilton

(Newser) - Air travel is bad enough with other passengers barging to the front of the line at the gate, greedily taking up luggage-rack space, and getting in each other's way at the carousel; do we really want to add loud cell-phone chatter to the mix, as the FCC is considering...

FCC May Allow Cell Phone Calls During Flights

Agency will consider lifting ban next month

(Newser) - This is either great or horrible news for air travelers, depending on perspective: The FCC might soon allow passengers to talk on their cell phones all throughout their flights, reports the Washington Post . The agency will consider lifting its ban on airborne calls next month. Under the proposed change, the...

Why Louis CK Is Wrong About Smartphones
 Why Louis CK Is Wrong 
 About Smartphones 
OPINION
Sep 23, 2013 3:24 PM CDT

Why Louis CK Is Wrong About Smartphones

They can be bad, but they can also be good: Daniel Engber

(Newser) - Chances are you saw—quite possibly while perusing Facebook on your smartphone—a bunch of your friends sharing a clip of Louis CK talking about how terrible smartphones are . But the comedian's rant is missing an important point, writes Daniel Engber on Slate . Sure, we all agree "that...

Louis CK Explains Evils of Smartphones

Nobody can sit quietly alone anymore, he tells Conan

(Newser) - Apple says demand has been "incredible" for today's rollout of the new iPhones , reports AllThingsD . One person you won't find in line? Louis CK. On Conan last night, the comedian explained all that's wrong with smartphones, especially when it comes to kids, reports Salon . Sample line:...

Irate Movie Critic Calls 911 on Cell Phone Users

And this was at a screening for 'professionals'

(Newser) - A movie blogger irate about the use of cell phones during a Toronto International Film Festival screening called 911 to report the offense. At a midnight screening yesterday, FirstShowing.net blogger Alex Billington became increasingly annoyed by constant texting and emailing at a screening for press and film industry members....

Cop Hits, Kills Man While Talking on Cell: Report

Eyewitnesses say officer was on phone at time of accident: DNAinfo

(Newser) - Witnesses say an NYPD officer who struck and killed a pedestrian Saturday was talking on her cell phone during the accident, police sources tell DNAinfo . Paula Medrano, who was not in uniform nor responding to an emergency at the time, was driving a police van when she turned left onto...

FAA Warms to Gate-to-Gate Gadgets

Ban likely to remain on cell phone calls

(Newser) - For the first time since the 1960s, the FAA's rules on electronic devices could change in a big way. An FAA advisory panel says it's time to start allowing certain gadgets to be used during taxiing, takeoff, and landing, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rules developed decades ago...

AT&T to Make $500M ... by Charging You 61 Cents

New administrative fee went into effect May 1

(Newser) - If you're an AT&T wireless customer, your May bill will feature a new charge: a 61-cent monthly administrative fee. Before you pooh-pooh it as small potatoes, consider this: The Wall Street Journal reports that the move could tally up to an extra $518 million for the company in...

Help Gingrich Find a New Name for 'Cell Phone'

Like 'handheld computer'

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich is launching a new campaign: to find a better name for the cell phone. In a new YouTube video, the former presidential candidate urges followers to suggest a new name for the device we don't really use as a phone much anymore, ABC reports. He likens it...

San Francisco Loses Fight to Put Warnings on Phones

Industry sued to avoid listing potential radiation risks

(Newser) - San Francisco is giving up its fight to become the first city in the US to require that cell phones come with warnings about the potential health risks of radiation, reports Reuters . The city tried to put such a law on the books in 2011, but the industry blocked it...

Facebook Phone Now Costs $1

AT&T's deep discounts don't bode well for HTC First and Facebook Home

(Newser) - Ouch. The "Facebook phone"—aka the HTC First phone running Facebook Home —is now selling for just 99 cents. AT&T was offering the phone for $99 on a two-year contract, but has now reduced the price to under a buck, Mashable reports. That's an absurd-sounding...

Carriers Ignore, Profit From Phone Thefts, Say Cops

Critics complain that industry isn't trying to curb rising crime numbers

(Newser) - Cell phone thefts are on the rise across the country, and police say the people swiping them aren't the only ones to blame. "The carriers are not innocent in this whole game," Washington DC's police chief tells the New York Times . "They are making profit...

Judge Holds Self in Contempt of Court

Fines himself $25 over cellphone interruption

(Newser) - Judge Raymond Voet is nothing if not a man of his word. The Michigan justice has a strict "no cellphones" rule posted in his Ionia County courtroom, and has a history of confiscating phones from witnesses, lawyers, spectators, and police officers during trials. So when his own phone went...

40 Years Ago Today: World's 1st Cell Phone Call

NYC call was made on a 'brick'

(Newser) - Give someone a call on your smartphone today, and you'll be celebrating history: It's been 40 years since the first mobile phone call was made, the Guardian reports. That first call was placed by Motorola worker Martin Cooper in New York City on April 3, 1973, using a...

T-Mobile Eliminates Contracts
 T-Mobile Eliminates Contracts 
Mar 26, 2013 6:30 AM CDT

T-Mobile Eliminates Contracts

But company's new wireless plan also nixes phone subsidies

(Newser) - T-Mobile is ditching a once-inescapable part of wireless life: the contract. The company had been offering contract-free plans as an option alongside two-year contracts, CNET reports; now, according to the T-Mobile website , contract plans are a thing of the past. An example of a new plan: For $50 a month,...

Your iPhone Could Have Been the ... Telepod

Apple also considered 'Mobi' and 'Tripod'

(Newser) - Would you have bought a Telepod? Or a Mobi? Turns out those are two names Apple considered for its original iPhone, 9to5Mac reports. Ken Segall, former chief of Apple advertising, revealed the names to a marketing crowd at the University of Arizona last week. Apple's reasoning:
  • Telepod: It sounded
...

Phone Thief Posts His Pic on Victim's Facebook Page

... by mistake, smoking dope

(Newser) - Talk about dopey: Cops say a New York man stole a woman's cell phone, photographed himself smoking dope with it, and posted the pic on her Facebook page by mistake. She had apparently set up the phone to post photos automatically on Facebook. He allegedly grabbed the 27-year-old victim'...

Petition Gets Obama to Back Unlocking Cell Phones

FCC backs legal unlocking, too

(Newser) - It now takes 100,000 signatures to get an official White House response to a We the People petition—and angry cell phone users got more than 114,000 after it became illegal to unlock your cell phone on Jan. 26. That's the day the Librarian of Congress ruled...

Google's Brin: Smartphones 'Emasculating'

His issue: 'Rubbing featureless piece of glass.' Critics pounce

(Newser) - Sergey Brin thinks smartphones are "emasculating." "You're standing around and just rubbing this featureless piece of glass," the Google co-founder told a TED audience yesterday. That contrasts, apparently, with his Google Glass project, which has come a long way. It began as essentially "a...

FCC Puts Kibosh on Cell Phone Signal Boosters

Tells owners they may have to turn them off

(Newser) - The FCC today ordered the 2 million Americans using wireless signal boosters to turn them off—then quickly backpedaled, saying only that they might have to turn them off. The FCC adopted new rules governing the devices, which are designed to boost cell phone reception, but which regulators fear will...

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