Power wheelchair electronics displayed on iPhones

Dynamics Controls has integrated an iPhone with its power wheelchair electronics - enabling power wheelchair users to enjoy all the benefits of an iPhone or iPod touch.

The solution connects a user's iPhone or iPod touch to the wheelchair system to display speed, battery and other wheelchair information in a great looking and easily visible way.

Lee Kwok, a wheel chair user in Christchurch says it will be fantastic to be able to buy an off the shelf product that has so many features for powered wheelchair users. "Having access to mainstream technology via a wheelchair is a huge advantage," says Lee Kwok.

[via iPhoneFreak]

emily | 4:07 PM | | permalink |

Twitter available in French

Earlier this month, Twitter rolled out a Spanish language version of its service. This was the first language to gain native support beyond English and Japanese. Today, it’s announcing French support as well.

[via TechCrunch]

emily | 3:55 PM | Twitter | permalink |

Best of Twitter tunes album released

Musical twitterers have found a way to condense entire compositions to fit in single, 140-character tweets. New Scientist reports.

The trend started earlier this year when Dan Stowell, a composer and computer scientist at Queen Mary, University of London, encoded the sound of waves crashing on the shore using the programming language SuperCollider and then tweeted the results.

Other users of the micro-blogging site responded by devising and posting their own compositions. Now a free to download, best-of album of 22 Twitter tunes has been released, entitled sc140.

emily | 3:51 PM | Twitter | permalink |

Cell phones don't ring everyone's bell

Most of us just can't live without a cell phone and we wonder how we managed all those years without one.

But according to The Houston Chronicle, a small group of die hard folks are surviving just fine without what some describe as a high-tech digital leash.

Although the number of holdouts is dwindling, U.S. Census data released Thursday indicates 29 percent of the nation's homes still do not have cell phones.

Yet Census data show the ubiquitous cell phone is increasingly becoming the communication tool of choice for the majority. Some are even disconnecting their landlines and using cell phones exclusively.

According to the new data, the number of households with cell phones exploded from 36 percent to 71 percent between 1998 and 2005. Landline ownership during this same period fell from 96 percent to 91 percent, with many in their 20s particularly seeing no useful purpose in having a hard-wired phone. Those age 65 and older were the most likely to still have landlines — 98 percent.

emily | 3:46 PM | Random Stats | permalink |

Money Transfers to Become Hottest Mobile App, Says Gartner

Money transfers and payments over mobile phones will be among the top 10 most important mobile applications by 2012, market research company Gartner said on Wednesday, reports PC World.

Mobile money transfers top the list, beating out location-based services, search and browsing.

"It's a way for users who don't have a bank account to get access to financial services," said Sandy Shen, of Gartner's.

Mobile payments came in sixth place on Gartner's list and will be used in both developed and developing markets, according to Shen.

Read full article.

emily | 3:41 PM | SMS and Banking | permalink |

Conde Nast releases 'virtual magazine' iPhone app

Conde Nast released a brand-new iPhone app Wednesday in conjunction with GQ's Men of the Year issue that provides readers with a replica of the magazine on their iPhone or iPod touch. New York Daily News reports.

But its more than just a replica: You can click on a product and be taken right to the product's Web site, you can touch a link in a music review and download that song right to your phone, you can watch video of interviews, and so much more.

emily | 9:49 AM | Cell Phone Apps Reviews | permalink |

Bangladeshis rush to learn English by mobile

In an ambitious new project, the BBC World Service Trust is harnessing the latest communications technology to provide English language learning for over 50 million mobile users in Bangladesh.

The first of its kind in the world, this project will provide high quality English learning tools using mobile, television and the internet to millions of people, many of whom live on less than £2 a day.

Central to the project is BBC Janala (“Window”) which uses the mobile phone as a powerful low-cost learning device by offering over 250 audio and SMS lessons to the growing 50.4 million mobile users in Bangladesh.

To make the lessons affordable, the BBC has teamed up with all six of Bangladesh’s mobile operators who have agreed to cut the cost of calls to the service by up to 75%. Each lesson is a three-minute phone call, costing about 3 taka (2.6p).

According to The Financial Times,

More than 300,000 people in Bangladesh have rushed to sign up to learn English over their mobile phones, threatening to swamp the service even before its official launch on Friday.

Part of a UK government initiative to help develop English skills in Bangladesh, it marks the first time that mobile phones have been used as an educational tool on this scale.

[via Switched]

emily | 8:59 AM | Mobile phone projects - Third World | permalink |

AT&T Releases New Commercial Targeting Verizon

Spotted on Apple iPhone School, AT&T's new commercial targeting targets Verizon.

It's a reply to the Verizon's ads that compared coverage between the two networks.

emily | 8:05 AM | News, Buzz | permalink |

App lets your iPhone blow out candles

Spotted on Gizmodo, a new iPhone app called Blower that uses its speaker to blow air. No peripherals. No attachments. Check the video for yourself.

The developers say that you can use it to "blow out candles, herbs, and refresh your skin during hot summer nights."

emily | 10:59 PM | Cell Phone Apps Reviews | permalink |

PCMag Unveils its First iPhone App

PCMag launched a mobile version of our online Tech Encyclopedia, which give users quick access to more than 25,000 tech terms.

In their own words: PCMag has, in collaboration with Computer Language Company, launched its inaugural iPhone app, a mobile version of its popular online Tech Encyclopedia. That's right, 25,000 tech terms, all searchable by name, in an easy-to-browse alphabetical format. Just as in the Web version, there are extensive entries, cross links to relevant terms and images that you can expand to investigate.

emily | 10:54 PM | Cell Phone Apps Reviews | permalink |

Thieves steal iPhones in rooftop heist

Thieves have made off with millions of dollars worth of iPhones in a daring heist from a Belgian warehouse. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The thieves climbed a fire ladder to the roof of the warehouse, Belgium's De Standaard said.

They then entered the building through a hole cut directly above where the 4000 phones, which had a market value of about $3.2 million, were being stored.

The iPhones were destined for mobile operator Mobistar, which had a long waiting list for the popular handsets.

emily | 10:36 PM | News, Buzz | permalink |

GSMA Unveils Mobile's Green Manifesto

The GSM Association announced recently at the Mobile Asia Congress the launch of Mobile's Green Manifesto, which has been developed in collaboration with The Climate Group.

This manifesto sets out how the mobile industry plans to lower its greenhouse gas emissions per connection, and demonstrates the key role that mobile communications can play in lowering emissions in other sectors and industries. It also makes specific policy recommendations for governments and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15), December 7-18.

Developed with the support of The Climate Group, the Green Manifesto shows that, with the right public policies in place, mobile can make a major contribution to the fight against global warming.

[via Softpedia]

emily | 10:27 PM | News, Buzz | permalink |

Mobile Ads: Wait Until Next Year

Adweek on why mobile advertising still has some way to go.

The year of mobile has been predicted virtually annually for the past decade. There is compelling evidence that this time it's different. Overall, there are now more mobile phones in the world than personal computers. There are over 4.6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, according to eMarketer. Yet mobile advertising remains a tiny market. eMarketer expects it to generate $416 million in U.S. ad spending this year, about the same amount spent on search marketing in two weeks.

This will undoubtedly change, although perhaps not as quickly as mobile's biggest boosters hope, according to agency executives, analysts and mobile veterans. Here are the key reasons why.

emily | 9:54 PM | | permalink |

Guide to iPhone GPS Navigation Apps

Art of the iPhone has published a (very useful) Guide to iPhone GPS Navigation Apps, including their expert opinion on which two are the best: Navigon MobileNavigator and MotionX GPS Drive.

In their own words:

The App Store is cluttered with iPhone GPS apps, and sorting through them is a daunting task. This guide is designed to cut through the clutter, gather all relevant info in one place, and aid you in making the best choice. We also take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of iPhone GPS vs personal navigation devices, and examine the new elephant in the room, Google Maps Navigation.

emily | 6:37 PM | Cell Phone Apps Reviews, Localisation | permalink |

Using cellphones to fight noise pollution

According to New Scientist, cellphones could soon be used to fight noise pollution.

In a bid to make cities quieter, the European Union requires member states to create noise maps of their urban areas once every five years. Rather than deploying costly sensors all over a city, the maps are often created using computer models that predict how various sources of noise, such as airports and railway stations, affect the areas around them.

Nicolas Maisonneuve of the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris, France, says that those maps are not an accurate reflection of residents' exposure to noise. To get a more precise picture, Maisonneuve's team has developed NoiseTube, a downloadable software app which uses people's smartphones to monitor noise pollution. "The goal was to turn the mobile phone into an environmental sensor," says Maisonneuve.

The app records any sound picked up by the phone's microphone, along with its the GPS location. Users can label the data with extra information, such as the source of the noise, before it is transmitted to NoiseTube's server.

Read full article and more about NoiseTube on their website.

Related, sort of:

-- Cell phones to sense our environment and its pollutants (2009)

-- Cyclists' cellphones help monitor air pollution (2008)

-- Cellphone masts can measure rainfall (2006)

-- Aero Phone measures air pollution (2004)

-- Saving the World With Cell Phones (2005)

-- Cell phones could warn of gas leaks (2003)

-- Phones that detect terrorist attacks (2003)

emily | 5:44 PM | Technology | permalink |

An App for Crossing the Border

A new tool to assist Mexican migrant workers safely cross over the border into the United States has been developed by Ricardo Dominguez of the University of California in San Diego, reports Viceland via PSFK.

Dominguez, an activist/hacker and performance artist cobbled together a cheap mobile phone and a free GPS application to make the “Transborder Immigrant Tool”.

Read more.

emily | 9:57 AM | Cell Phone Apps Related Articles | permalink |

T-Mobile Customer Details Were Sold to Rival Company

T-Mobile UK has admitted that some of its staff may have sold customer details to a rival network. Cellular News reports.

UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has investigated and it appears that the information has been sold on to several brokers and that substantial amounts of money have changed hands. The ICO has obtained several search warrants and attended a number of premises, and is now preparing a prosecution file.

emily | 9:38 AM | News, Buzz | permalink |

AdMob brings interactive video ads to iPhone

AdMob announced Tuesday that it will deliver interactive video ads to the iPhone and iPod Touch devices. The ads, set to run this week, will let iPhone users surf the Web and check out other videos while the video ad is playing.

... The video ads will automatically pop up as iPhone users access certain content and applications. The ads will also offer a video player so that people can control and interact with them.

[via News.com]

emily | 8:23 AM | | permalink |

DENIAL-of-services attacks on cellular networks?

Patrick Traynor of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and his colleagues worry that hackers may have cellphone networks in their sights. New Scientist reports.

DENIAL-of-services (DoS) attacks are a common tactic used by "black hats" intent on bringing down a high-profile website, one owned by a bank or political party, say.

In a standard DoS attack, a network of infected PCs, a "botnet", would swamp a server with so many requests to view a web page that it would be unable to handle legitimate requests. Now Traynor and colleagues have shown how a cellphone network could be the vehicle for an attack that would cut off calls for millions of users.

Read full article.

emily | 6:25 PM | | permalink |

Apple Concierge app for in-store appointments

According to AppleInsider, Apple plans to release a new "Concierge" application for the iPhone and iPod touch that will allow customers to schedule appointments at retail stores. Makes perfect sense.

emily | 2:21 PM | Cell Phone Apps Related Articles | permalink |

Orange strikes Twitter TV deal

According to The Guardian, European Twitter users will soon be able to tweet to each other via their TV sets while watching entertainment and sports shows, after Orange struck a deal to integrate the service into its mobile and television offerings.

Under the deal, Orange is aiming to integrate Twitter into football coverage, news, entertainment shows and films.

Orange said that Twitter services would be rolled out in the UK first, to be followed by France, Spain and Poland later this year. The service will be rolled out in other European markets next year.

Read full article.

emily | 8:42 AM | Twitter | permalink |

Cell-phone Use - but Not Music - Reduces Pedestrian Safety

Two new studies of pedestrian safety found that using a cell phone while hoofing it can endanger one's health. Older pedestrians, in particular, are impaired when crossing a busy (simulated) street while speaking on a mobile phone, the researchers found. Cellular News reports.

The studies, in which participants crossed a virtual street while talking on the phone or listening to music, found that the music-listeners were able to navigate traffic as well as the average unencumbered pedestrian. Users of hands-free cell phones, however, took longer to cross the same street under the same conditions and were more likely to get run over.

... The first study, in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, found that college-age adults who were talking on a cell phone took 25 percent longer to cross the street than their peers who were not on the phone. They were also more likely to fail to cross the street in the 30 seconds allotted for the task, even though their peers were able to do so.

Each participant walked on a manual treadmill in a virtual environment, meaning that each encountered the exact same conditions - the same number and speed of cars, for example - as their peers.

The second (and not yet published) study gave adults age 60 and above the same tasks, and included some participants who had a history of falling. The differences between those on and off the phone were even more striking in the older group, Kramer said.

Related:

-- Mobile phone users cannot walk in straight line

-- 6 million people hurt in the UK in 2007 while texting and talking

-- Padded lampost to protect texters was PR stunt

-- Suggested Bill banning iPods and cellphones for NY pedestrians

-- Study: Walking and Talking in Step

emily | 8:31 AM | Cell Phones while driving/flying/sailing | permalink |

Britney Spears Launches iPhone App

Britney Spears is getting up close and personal with her fans through the just-launched iPhone and iPod Touch app "It's Britney!". [via MTV]

In their own words: With the "It's Britney!" app, fans get to the front of the line with all things officially Britney. After purchasing the app, fans will receive official news first hand, get exclusive messages from Britney herself, be able to create and share images of themselves and friends on stage with Britney, have access to updated photo galleries which include real time photos, exclusive tour images as well as a photo gallery of over 100+ iconic images of Britney over the years.

Additionally, the app features a "Shake Shake Shake" feature in which Britney says "It's Britney Bitch!" every time the user shakes their iPhone or iPod Touch.

emily | 8:08 AM | Cell Phone Apps Reviews | permalink |

Official Harry Potter iPhone app

There are many Harry Potter apps, but Warner Bros. has just launched the first official Harry Potter app available in the US Apple store. VentureBeat reports.

Harry Potter Spells is a magic game that lets players cast spells at their opponents by using their phones as wands. With more than 100,000 apps on the iPhone, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out from the crowd. One way to do so is to launch an app with a familiar brand name. But only the highest-quality branded apps are standing out these days.

The game has 14 spells for wizards-in training. Players can conjure their magic alone or duel each other by casting spells from one device. See the trailer here.

emily | 8:07 AM | Cell Phone Apps Reviews | permalink |

MasterCard to Authenticate Online Transactions by SMS

In the face of mounting threats from hackers, MasterCard will use mobile phones to improve security for online transactions, the company said on Monday, reports PCWorld.

The added layer of security comes from a one-time password that the user is asked to enter when approving a transaction. The password is either sent via an SMS or created by an application that runs on a smartphone or a phone that supports Java.

The goal is to improve users' protection against phishing and man in the middle attacks, which are growing problems in the e-banking and e-commerce world, according to MasterCard.

Read full article

emily | 8:03 AM | SMS and Banking | permalink |

GCSE English Exam to include questions on text messaging

There have been as many articles on the benefits of text messging to the English language as studies condemning it's negative impact on students' writing skills, but this is the first time a major English litterature exam, the GCSE English, will actually include text messaging questions, The Telegraph reports.

In the new exam, being introduced by the Assessment Qualifications Alliance (AQA), students will get 10 per cent of their overall mark for the section on text message linguistics.

As part of their answer they will be required to include examples of common text shortcuts.

The subject of text messaging will be taught from next September as part of the Studying Spoken Language module intended to make GCSEs harder.

Not all faculty members agree, to some it's the ultimate "dumbing down". Read full article.

emily | 7:27 AM | SMS Studies & Research, SMS and Students | permalink |

Kashmir's impoverished residents resent ban on prepaid cell phone ban

A government ban on prepaid cell phones to prevent rebels from using them to clandestinely plan attacks has stirred resentment among Indian-controlled Kashmir's impoverished residents, who depend on prepaid connections for inexpensive communication.

[via Cellular News]

emily | 11:28 AM | News, Buzz | permalink |

Amazon.com lets people track packages via SMS

This one slipped under the radar, but Amazon.com is now letting some customers track their packages via text message TechFlash reports.

The ecommerce giant will send an SMS text to a person's mobile phone when their package is sent and also when it's delivered. Amazon says the feature is in beta testing and only available to a "small set" of customers right now.

Here's more from Amazon's FAQ sheet. Amazon doesn't charge for the text alerts, though the customer's mobile company charges whatever text-messaging rates apply.

emily | 10:44 AM | New SMS Services | permalink |

India. Most Indians buy cars based on mobile phone advertisements

Car makers like Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Motors and others have begun advertising heavily through cellphones which is generating higher buying decisions among Indians this year compared to global buyers. The Economic Times reports.

The mobile phone advertisements constitute 31% of buying decisions among Indians while globally this is only 8% according to the latest estimates from Carsonline.

emily | 9:58 AM | SMS Marketing & Advertising | permalink |

Jet Airways flyers may now search for the lowest fares via sms

Here's a useful SMS application for an airline. Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, has just announced the launch of a new text messaging feature, allowing passengers to request the lowest current fares on the airline network on any given day of travel.

Press release

emily | 9:04 AM | | permalink |

TED Talks Jan Chipchase on our mobile phones

Nokia's handsome researcher Jan Chipchase's investigation into the ways we interact with technology has led him from the villages of Uganda to the insides of our pockets. He's made some unexpected discoveries along the way.

Video on TED Talks

emily | 8:58 AM | Mobile phone projects - Third World | permalink |

SIM Card operated Phone Booths

Equatel is a virtual phone, a SIM payphone system that works in places where regular handsets don’t have reception.

Individuals with their own pre-paid SIM cards, can make and take phone calls from a special GSM payphone, receive and send text messages, even make payments. And all of these operations are saved.

Watch the presentation.

[via L'Atelier via Twitter/RaphaelHunold]

emily | 8:43 AM | Mobile phone projects - Third World | permalink |

Doing your Laundry? There's an app for that

Procter & Gamble’s Tide brand has launched Stain Brain, an iPhone app that consumers can use to find and share ways to remove stains at home and on the go. [via Mobile Marketer]

The free application lets consumers search for step-by-step cleaning instructions from the experts at Tide and other iPhone users to get answers before stains have a chance to set in. For those iPhone users who have a secret recipe for removing tough stains, Tide Stain Brain lets them instantly share their own tips and tricks within the application.

Related app: - My Janitor iPhone App - a how to guide for cleaning everything: Title, wood, upholstery, floors, cars, clothes, windows, electronics and removing stains such as red wine, grease, oil, ink, wax, gum.

emily | 5:44 PM | Cell Phone Apps Reviews | permalink |

'Thatcher's dead' text message sparks government panic

Canadian Transport Minister John Baird sent a text message to a number of his political friends reading: "Thatcher has died", inadvertently causing a diplomatic crisis earlier this week.

Baird was in fact been announcing the death of his cat, named after the Iron Lady.

[via The Mirror]

emily | 5:20 PM | News, Buzz | permalink |

Schools Should Make Learning Materials Work on Mobile Phones

Research institutions needn't expend valuable resources equipping students with mobile devices for learning, they should integrate students' own phones, PDAs, and netbooks. That's according to Euro-American research published next year in the International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, reports Cellular News.

The researchers investigated a project to help students and educators use mobile phones and Wikis (user-contributed and edited web pages) sand in higher education. The success of this project suggests that the same approach could be extended widely to the almost universally available technologies used by today's students.

... In order to test their hypothesis with one particular form of technology, the team charged their students with gathering and uploading field data using their mobile phones and then using a browser interface to collate, edit, and annotate that data on a Wiki platform. The use of in-phone cameras and video recorders allowed the students to collect simple visuals for incorporation into the Wiki too, without their having to gain access to expensive video camera equipment.

emily | 8:11 AM | SMS and Students | permalink |

AT&T demands Verizon pull its ads comparing coverage

AT&T on Wednesday upped the ante in its legal spat with Verizon, accusing it in an amended complaint of twisting facts in a trio of holiday ads to make AT&T's wireless network coverage look a lot worse than it is.

[via USA Today]

emily | 7:49 AM | | permalink |

UK Legislation to access public's texts and emails put on hold

Plans for a £2bn ($3.3m) Home Office surveillance project to track details of everyone's email, mobile phone, text and internet use have been put on hold after a consultation raised concerns over its technical feasibility, costs and privacy safeguards. The Guardian reports.

The Home Office has confirmed that legislation for the project, known in Whitehall as the "interception modernisation programme", will not be included in next week's Queen's Speech and is unlikely before a general election. The fresh delay follows concerns raised by internet service providers and mobile phone operators over the project's feasibility, and anxieties over who would foot the bill.

Read full article.

emily | 7:45 AM | News, Buzz | permalink |

Myxer Delivers 10 Million Ringtones To iPhone Users

Mobile content delivery startup Myxer has officially delivered over 10 million free ringtones to iPhone users.

[via TechCrunch]

emily | 8:54 PM | Random Stats | permalink |

Text Messaging can be a pain in the neck

Ergonomics researchers are starting to wonder whether text messaging is putting the younger generation at risk for some overuse injuries -- once reserved for older adults who have spent years in front of a computer. Science Daily reports.

At this year's annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Judith Gold, an assistant professor of Epidemiology at the College of Health Professions and Social Work presented preliminary research which suggested that among college students, the more they texted, the more pain they had in their neck and shoulders.

Text messaging is a fairly new technology, Gold says, so this is a new area of research among ergonomists. "But given the similarities in body position, findings from research on overuse injuries from computers could be applicable here," she said.

Links to related Text injuries.

emily | 8:43 PM | Health Issues and SMS Alerts | permalink |

Publish your tweets in paperback

Here's an idea for a Xmas gift surely (or only) a mother will love. At Twitter via Paperback, you can have your tweets printed and bound in paperback form to create, well, "your own microbiography".

[via Twitter/GillesKLEIN]

emily | 9:45 PM | Twitter | permalink |

Apple App Store Takes One Tiny Step Toward Transparency

Good new for iPhone app developers. According to Wired Gadget Lab, Apple is rolling out a brand new way for iPhone developers to track the status of apps they’ve submitted to the App Store.

... In Apple’s Dev Center website, iPhone app developers can view Apple’s progress on reviewing their apps from start to finish. When an app is in line to be reviewed, the status will read “Waiting for Review.” And when it’s actually being reviewed, the status reads “In Review.” Finally, when the app is launched, the status will read “Ready for Sale.” Each status update is accompanied with a time and date.

Read full article.

emily | 9:23 PM | Cell Phone Apps Related Articles | permalink |

Court Approves Ringtone Class-Action Lawsuit Settlement

A court in Chicago has given preliminary approval to settle 30 class-action lawsuits against companies that charged for ringtones, games and other content that end users thought were free. Phone Scoop reports.

Each claimant will receive either $10 cash award or a $10 refund (via their carrier). Given the number of possible claimants, the companies in question may pay out as much as $63 million. Some of the defendants include Sony Pictures, MBlox, and Lavalife.

Claim forms and other information on the case can be found at mobilecontentsettlement.com/index.html.

emily | 9:17 PM | | permalink |

Cell Phones and Attorney-Client Privilege

A very interesting and lengthy article on how new technology poses some difficult questions about the attorney-client privilege. With everyone e-mailing, texting and talking on mobile devices, in-house counsel may hope that these communications are confidential and privileged in case of litigation. But are they? The answer from the courts to date: It depends. Law.com reports.

... Several Courts have recognized increased expectations of privacy and confidentiality for communications and information stored and transmitted on cell phones. In light of the fact that cell phones today broadcast with encrypted digital signals, a court would likely rule that an attorney has a reasonable expectation of privacy in discussions over a digital cell phone.

But even that ruling would not protect a lawyer talking loudly over his or her cell phone in a taxi or airport lounge. Clearly transmission is only part of the issue. Also of concern is whether the conversation is being conducted in a way that can be overheard.

... The next attorney-client privilege frontier: mobile data devices like the Blackberry and the iPhone, which combine telephone and e-mail services with Web browsers, contact databases, and calendars. Many lawyers already entrust volumes of attorney-client communication and work product to these devices. The good news is that in 2009's S.E.I.U. v. Roselli, a California federal district court explicitly permitted a party to withhold information stored on a Blackberry or PDA on the basis of privilege.

Read full article in Law.com

emily | 8:47 PM | | permalink |

Apple overtakes Nokia in phone profits

In the race for mobile phone profits, Apple has overtaken Nokia, according to figures for the latest quarter, reports News.com

Apple earned $1.6 billion in the third quarter from the iPhone, outpacing Nokia's $1.1 billion cell phone profit to grab the top spot among all mobile phone vendors, said research firm Strategy Analytics on Wednesday.

emily | 8:45 PM | Random Stats | permalink |

Quentin Tarantino advertising Japanese cellphones

The Guardian on Quentin Tarantino as the latest celeb to appear in a long-running series of ads for Japanese mobile phone manufacturer SoftBank.

emily | 6:24 PM | News, Buzz | permalink |

A Jewish Mother in Your Cell Phone

A wonderfully written article in Newsweek on how nagging text messages can make you healthier and richer.

... One kind of electronic mass marketing is proving to be surprisingly effective in influencing consumer behavior. It's not the aggressive pitches to persuade people to buy something they didn't know they wanted (Fly to Buffalo in January for $39 round-trip!). Rather, it's affectionate nags and nudges that encourage people to do more of the things they're interested in doing and know they should be doing. Think of it as your Jewish mother, on your mobile.

-- A study by four Ivy League economists has shown that gentle text-based nagging can induce people to save more.

-- Text Messages make a difference to those who have chronic conditions - reminding them to take their medecine.

Related: Just a few of the hundreds of SMS health reminders

-- Text Message Reminders help Teen Transplant Patients

-- Texts tackle HIV in South Africa

-- FrontLineSMS Medic: Text Messages Save Lives

-- Study Suggests Text Messages Can Increase Savings

-- Text messages may help smokers quit

emily | 6:01 PM | | permalink |

Cough into your cell phone for a diagnosis

According to The Economic Times, you may soon be able to cough - not in our hand - but in your cell phone to diagnose a cold, a flu or some other respiratory ailment.

A research company that proposes using acoustic vocalization analysis software to measure and interpret cough characteristic of pneumonia has won a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Read full article.

Related technologies:

-- Siemens working on breathalyzer cellphone

-- Fitness Phone fights fat and bad breath

-- LG’s Cellphone Prevents Drunk Dialing

-- DoCoMo Cell Phone Can Test Whether Drivers Have Been Drinking

emily | 3:50 PM | Technology | permalink |