Actually, smartphones are but one item on a list that includes other electronic devices that are powered by lithium ioncbatteries such as cameras, laptops, GPS devices, MP3 players, tablets, Bluetooth headsets and power tools.

While the USPS did not explicitly state the reason behind the ban, it is believed to be related to the possibility of lithium ion batteries catching on fire if they are not correctly installed in a device, or have a full charge.

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Today's technology scene seems overheated to some. Apple is the most valuable company on earth. Software apps are reaching tens of millions of users within weeks. Major technology names like Research in Motion and Nokia are being undone by rapid changes to their markets. Underlying these developments: the unprecedented speed at which mobile computers are spreading. MIT Technology Review reports via @mobileactive.org.

Presented on this page is the U.S. market penetration achieved by nine technologies since 1876, the year Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. Penetration rates have been organized to show three phases of a technology's spread: traction, maturity, and saturation.

And some interesting stats:

... Smart phones, after a relatively fast start, have outpaced nearly any comparable technology in the leap to mainstream use.

It took landline telephones about 45 years to get from 5 percent to 50 percent penetration among U.S. households, and mobile phones took around seven years to reach a similar proportion of consumers.

Smart phones have gone from 5 percent to 40 percent in about four years, despite a recession. In the comparison shown, the only technology that moved as quickly to the U.S. mainstream was television between 1950 and 1953.

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The app ensures the health workers, midwives and the pregnant mothers share health information and care tips using SMS and prepaid calls. The system, which offers prepaid mobile phone credit for checks and health information updates, allows expectant women to call or send SMS to health experts for free, for information on antenatal care and delivery services.

... Reproductive Health Advisor for Aphia Plus, Kamili Dr. Ruth Jahonga said the pilot project has ensured that pregnant women in the area are registered by health providers who call or send SMS messages to find out about their conditions.

The system is a plus to both the mothers and the health experts, as it will not only reduce the number of deaths but it will help them curb the causes of it, says Dr. Jahonga.

Read full article. via @jranck. Image credit.

Three-quarters of teenagers also said in an online poll that texting while driving was common among their friends, and reported that their parents text at nearly the same rate as they do while driving.

The poll, conducted by an independent research firm for AT&T, was the second survey in a week to show teens agree that text messaging while driving was dangerous, even as many admit to doing it.

Consumer Reports said last week its survey showed that while eight in 10 said they knew the risks, some 29 percent of drivers aged 16 to 21 had text messaged while driving in the past month.

... Compounding the issue was the finding of what teens thought constituted texting while driving.

"The findings indicate reading a text is somehow (seen as) less dangerous than typing a text," said Andrea Brands, AT&T's director of consumer safety and education.

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The facility, which also includes the sending and receiving of text messages, will be available initially on Virgin’s new Airbus A330 aircraft, flying from London to New York and on the airline’s Boeing 747 planes.

By the end of 2012, nearly 20 aircraft will provide the service.

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Knotice conducted a study of 974m emails sent in the second half of 2011, and found that mobile open rates had grown from 20.24% in the first half of the year to 27.39% in the second.

Read more. via Paul Swansen+

The shoe apparently has a very thin ‘crystal chip,’ perhaps a piezoelectric device, that generates power when the sole bends. It can charge phones via a long cable to a pocket while the user walks, or store power for later charging,” Tim Hornyak of cnet writes.

Read more. via @jranck.

Related:

-- Mobile phones could soon be 'powered by walking' - Taking a stroll may soon be enough to re-charge your mobile phone, after US researchers developed a way to generate electricity from human motion.

-- Telecom firm Orange, which sponsors the Glastonbury Festival, promoted its new "Power Wellies" last June as a means for festivalgoers to keep their cellphones charged.

-- A 19-year-old Indian from Himachal Pradesh has invented a pair of shoes fitted with an appartus, that charges a cell phone while you walk

-- Power-generating rubber films developed by Princeton University engineers could harness natural body movements such as breathing and walking to power pacemakers, mobile phones and other electronic devices.

-- A project called Green Erg harnesses (literally) a person’s movement energy to create electricity. Designed to work perfectly on all types of road, ground or floor conditons, it will generate enough power when attached to a person walking or to a moving skating board, bike, ox-cart, farm animal... for running cell phones or radios."

The fines come for poor service, dropped calls and bad line quality in March and April, Muoka said. The companies have until May 21 to pay the regulators or they will face further penalties.

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The study by Meredith’s Parents Network found women are increasingly attached to their smartphones and no time of day — or night — is off limits for texting, calling or checking email.

Of the 1,041 women questioned, more than one in five (21%) confessed to using their phones in the bathroom, and a further 12% say they’ve used it during sex.

The study may be missing the point. As a parent, you always answer the phone or read a text message because it might be from your child - and you always worry that they are OK.

Spotted on Mashable, Anthony Griesel's smart ski poles that would let skiers stay connected on the slopes.

In their own words on Kickstarter (they need your help by the way):

Called Neva - The world's first smart ski poles that allows you to see and answer calls, get short text messages and access important terrain information all without taking your gloves off. Patent Pending solution for skiing while staying in touch with your friends, family and work. No more fumbling with your cell phone on the ski lift, bulky gloves or opening your coat in sub zero weather conditions.

The Neva ski poles communicates wirelessly with Android and iPhone - Whenever a call rings into your phone, the caller ID or name is shown visibly on the Neva display. A simple finger swipe will answer or ignore calls.

Read full description.

If you’re not sure what Rage Comics are, then head on over to Know Your Meme and find out.

Now a new iPhone app allows you to include them in your text messages. SMS Rage Faces sports over 1300+ faces that will make a boring conversation interesting again.

[via TheNextWeb]

There's a cold war going on in the technology world. As smartphones become ubiquitous and online shopping grows, tech companies and payment companies are arming themselves for battle over how people pay for things.

Full report in TIME Techland.

[New York Daily News via C/Net]

[via ZDNet]