cell phone
Apple Patent To Safeguard 911 Cellphone Calls
MojoKid writes “Engineers from Apple have applied for a patent on an ‘emergency’ mode for cell phones that would squeeze every last drop of energy out of the batteries. The phone would recognize emergency calls when the user dialed an emergency number, such as 911 in the United States. But another number could also be stored as an ‘emergency number’ on the phone (a spouse, child, or parent, for example) or the user could manually put the phone in emergency mode. The process would do a variety of things. It would disable ‘non-essential hardware components’ and applications on the phone, reduce power to the screen and potentially reduce the phone’s processor speed. It also would make it harder to disconnect the call and enable ‘emergency phrase buttons’ on the phone.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Using Mobile Phones To Write Messages In Air
Anonymous writes “Engineering students at Duke University have taken advantage of the accelerometers in emerging cell phones to create an application that permits users to write short notes in the air with their phone, and have that note automatically sent to an e-mail address. The ‘PhonePoint Pen’ can be held just like a pen, and words can be written on an imaginary whiteboard. With this application a user could take a picture with a phone camera, and annotating it immediately with a short caption. Duke Computer Engineering Professor Romit Roy Choudhury said that his research group is envisioning mobile phones as just not a communication device, but a much broader platform for social sensing and human-computer interaction. Such interactivity has also emerged in the work of other research groups, such as MIT’s Sixth Sense project, Dartmouth’s MetroSense project, and M|cr0s0ft Research’s NeriCell project, to name a few.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Breaking The Law: Driving While On The Phone
You’ve done it. Don’t even try to deny it. Even if you live in a state with laws requiring the use of a hands-free headset while speaking on the cell phone, it’s almost a certainty you’ve at least once broken that law. According to a Harris Poll, 72 percent of those surveyed confessed to using their phones while driving.
You’ve Dropped Your Landline — Now What?
smurphmeister writes “My wife and I recently moved up to the world of cell phones, after taking our sweet time to make sure this whole newfangled technology was going to stick around. We moved the old landline phone number to her phone, so we’re disconnected from the pole. Now the question is, what to do with the copper already in our house? My first thought was an intercom system, but that just seems so old school! So what ideas do you all have for what to do with the 4 little wires running to every room of my house?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Using WiMAX To Replace a Phone?
vigmeister writes “I’ve decided to explore the possibility of using a netbook/MID as a phone while eschewing the services of a cellphone provider. Now that Atlanta (where I live) has WiMAX from Clear, I ought to be connected to the Internet everywhere within the city (once I sign up). Theoretically, this should mean that I will be able to use my netbook as a cell phone. Of course, there are some very real issues to overcome and I am simply putting this experiment together to see if it is something that is realistically possible. This could possibly extend to uncapped 3G connections (if they exist any more) as well. Are there any obvious problems you would foresee? Is there anything I have missed or any other questions I should attempt to answer in this ‘experiment’ of mine? A major issue is, of course, the fact that my pseudo-netbook has to be carried everywhere and always left on.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Using WiMAX To Replace a Phone?
vigmeister writes “I’ve decided to explore the possibility of using a netbook/MID as a phone while eschewing the services of a cellphone provider. Now that Atlanta (where I live) has WiMAX from Clear, I ought to be connected to the Internet everywhere within the city (once I sign up). Theoretically, this should mean that I will be able to use my netbook as a cell phone. Of course, there are some very real issues to overcome and I am simply putting this experiment together to see if it is something that is realistically possible. This could possibly extend to uncapped 3G connections (if they exist any more) as well. Are there any obvious problems you would foresee? Is there anything I have missed or any other questions I should attempt to answer in this ‘experiment’ of mine? A major issue is, of course, the fact that my pseudo-netbook has to be carried everywhere and always left on.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Using WiMAX To Replace a Phone?
vigmeister writes “I’ve decided to explore the possibility of using a netbook/MID as a phone while eschewing the services of a cellphone provider. Now that Atlanta (where I live) has WiMAX from Clear, I ought to be connected to the Internet everywhere within the city (once I sign up). Theoretically, this should mean that I will be able to use my netbook as a cell phone. Of course, there are some very real issues to overcome and I am simply putting this experiment together to see if it is something that is realistically possible. This could possibly extend to uncapped 3G connections (if they exist any more) as well. Are there any obvious problems you would foresee? Is there anything I have missed or any other questions I should attempt to answer in this ‘experiment’ of mine? A major issue is, of course, the fact that my pseudo-netbook has to be carried everywhere and always left on.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Philippe Kahn tries to strike a balance
The former Borland CEO demos a motion-sensing technology that could be used, among other things, to help stabilize cell phone videos.
AT&T CEO defends network issues
Speaking at D: All Things Digital, Randall Stephenson says the quality of the cell phone network has improved, but still has a ways to go.
AT&T CEO defends network issues
Speaking at D: All Things Digital, Randall Stephenson says the quality of the cell phone network has improved, but still has a ways to go.