cell phones

Laptops for Kids and Shared Village-wide Cell Phones can Fight Systemic Deep Poverty

Shel Horowitz — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:39:10 -0400

Horace Mann, founding President of Antioch College, famously said "Be ashamed to die until you have won one victory for humanity." Neither Nicholas Negroponte nor Iqbal Quadir will ever have to worry about shaming themselves in front of Horace Mann's ghost.

These two M.I.T. professors have both made substantial contributions in developing countries, bringing life-changing technology to villages that don't even have electricity or running water.

Social Responsibility

EcoATM Pays Cash for Your Old Cell Phones

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:20:08 -0400

Until now there have been limited options for recycling old cell phones--send it back to the manufacturer, send it to one of a number of Web sites that offer cash for your used electronics, or go to the cell-phone store and hand it over. EcoATM, an automated e-cycling station that just opened in the Nebraska Furniture Mart, is the easiest solution yet.

Should We Buy the RAZR Instead of the iPhone Based on Levels of Radiation?

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:21:03 -0400

Most of us have heard about the myriad studies done over the past few years that claim cell phone use leads to a marked increase in salivary gland and brain tumors.

Kenya's M-PESA System Lets Cell Phones Control Access to Water

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:30:20 -0400

Water is like liquid gold in drought-stricken areas of Africa, so it's no surprise to learn water conflict and corruption is common. Safaricom's M-PESA system of cell phone cash transfer, originally released in 2007, could help quell the dissidence.

AmazonWireless Offers Phones and Plans, Minus the Cellular Store

Clay Dillow — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:14:56 -0400

Not content with selling absolutely everything else, Amazon today announced the beta launch of AmazonWireless, a new extension of the online retailer that allows users to browse cell phones and various service plans from AT&T and Verizon Wireless. For now, customers will have to settle for the more than 120 phones and two carriers currently on offer, though Amazon plans to add other phones and carriers throughout beta.

Taxes Are a Calling

Owen Wild — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:52:19 -0400

If you thought the government would tax the very air you breathe if only they could figure out how, you'll be unsurprised to learn that government wants to tax your talk too. Cell phone talk, that is.

More specifically, work-related cell phone calls.

Motorola Envisions the Cellphone of the Future

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:04:03 -0400

Hyper futuristic cellphone concepts are usually the province of student competitions. But Motorola tasked designers from its offices around the world to create a visionary cellphone replacement, and here are the results.

Are On-Call Street Lights More Trouble Than They're Worth?

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:37:07 -0500

A cluster of small towns in Germany is testing out a creative solution to the problem of electricity-sucking streetlights: on-call lamps.

The system, which was first implemented a year and a half ago in the town of Morgenröthe-Rautenkran, allows residents to turn on street lamps at night using their cell phones. After 15 minutes, a timer turns the lights off. Other towns, including Döblitz, Dörentrup and Groß Pankow, have also adopted the scheme.

How Innovation Led HTC to the Dream

Kermit Pattison — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:30:06 -0400

Last week's unveiling of the new HTC Dream, the first handset powered by Google's Android platform, represents more than another innovation by the mighty Google. It also marks an important chapter for HTC, the Taiwanese company that manufactured the first Google phone and has quietly built itself into one of the world's leading manufacturers of mobile phones.

How did HTC come to build the first phone powered by Google software?

Intellectual Property

Chuck E. — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:26:03 -0400

Vumber - Your Disposable Phone Number

Stephen L Rose — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:53:34 -0400

Vumber does one thing and does it well. Provide a cheap and easy to use, disposable phone number and voicemail product.

Vumber allows you to create a phone number from any area code you want, linked to your home, cell or work phone.

When someone calls your Vumber number you can: A) Answer it. B) Send it to a Vumber Voice mail. C) Give the caller an busy signal. D) Give the caller an out of service message. E) Give the caller an infinite ring, or F) A custom message you create.

scanR....My phone was never so cool...

Stephen L Rose — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:08:13 -0400

Before I start this weeks post, I wanted to thank all of your for you amazing response and questions regarding the Bill Gates lunch (Post Title: WWBGD- What Would Bill Gates Do?). I am in the process of interviewing three of the lunch attendees who all read your questions and used them directly or indirectly when speaking with him. So please keep on the lookout for that.

This week, scanR. scanR allows you to scan, copy and fax with your camera phone. Impossible you say. Not at all.