March 9, 2010
German publisher in row with Apple over pin-ups in iPhone app
According to The Guardian, Springer-owned tabloid Bild's "Shake the Bild Girl" app allows iPhone users to undress a model. Each time the user shakes the phone, the girl strips an item of her clothing. While "Shake the Bild Girl features naked women daily in its pages, Apple ruled that the girls in its iPhone app should wear bikinis.
The Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ) asked The International Federation of the Periodical Press last week to approach Apple over the conflict, sparking debate about online censorship and Apple's control over the software platform.
According to Spiegel, the feature was to be the main attraction in Bild's iPhone package, which went on the market in December of last year and has since been downloaded some 100,000 times.
Read full article.
Rapid Rise of Children With Cellphones
[via The New York Times]
Allergic to cell phones
At least 250,000 people in Sweden are allergic to the radio waves that are emitted when someone makes a call with a cellular mobile phone, according to a new report. [via ZDNet]
Related:
-- Electrosmog in the clear with scientists
-- Cellphone side effects may be all in your head
-- EHS sufferer has to view a computer through binoculars
-- Scientists serious about 'electricity sickness' claims
-- I have to switch the mains off to get to sleep'
-- Mobiles, computers can cause "electrosensitivity"
-- Mobile mast effects to be studied
-- Mobiles, computers can cause "electrosensitivity"
-- Dutch study claims the next generation of mobile phone services can cause headaches and nausea
March 8, 2010
Saudi Arabia to regulate BlackBerry Messenger for ‘security’
The Saudi Arabia's Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) wants to monitor messages on BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for ‘security' reasons, reports ITP.net.
It was recently reported by Arab press that the CITC asked Canada-based Research in Motion to allow them to monitor messages on the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) network and threatened to shut down the service for non-compliance.
[via Cellular News]
March 7, 2010
Twitter's Shorty Award Winnders
The second annual “Shorty Awards” were announced Wednesday night honoring the best producers of “short real-time content” on Twitter. Cyberjournalist reports.
Other winners: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, popular app TweetDeck and fictional Betty Draper.
Full Signal. A Documentary on Cell Phone Hazards
Full Signal is an award winning documentary directed by former CBS News producer Talal Jabari, that addresses the issue of cell phone proliferation and the effects on our health.
In their own words:
Filmed in Ten countries and Six US states, Full Signal examines the contradiction between health and finance, one of the many ironies of the fight to regulate antenna placement.
Full Signal Documentary Official Trailer from Full Signal on Vimeo.
Nokia files patent for self-charging cellphone
According to New Scientist, Nokia filed a US patent last week (20100045241) for a handset that recharges itself by harvesting energy from the owner's motion.
Related:
-- Cell Phone recharges when you wave it around
Verizon Bills Dead Customer, Requires PIN to Cancel Account
How far will a cell phone service provider go to get your money? Apparently, all the way to the grave. According to the St. Petersburg Times, Verizon wouldn't cancel Cynthia Lacy's father's contract after he died last year, even after she showed the company his death certificate.
[via Switched]
President Barack Obama in Pictures iPhone app
President Barack Obama in Pictures is an app style book for children based on the printed book of the same name.
Users can interact with photos of Barack Obama from childhood to President, with his family, at play and at major events, while discovering many ‘Fun Facts’ about America's historic 44th President.
Mobile transfers save money and lives in Somalia
Mobile money transfers cut security risks posed by carrying huge wads of currency around various open markets in the battle-scarred south and central regions of Somalia. Dawn.com via Twitter/kiwanja reports.
“This is the lifeline of the whole economy ... and they are the future banks of Somalia,” Central Bank Governor Bashir Issa Ali told Reuters.
Read full article.
March 6, 2010
Vatican to launch iPhone app
The Vatican is launching an iPhone application, and according to News Chief.com, it chose a California priest to deliver an inspirational message video messages.
Other Catholic apps, without formal Vatican collaboration, have also been launched. iConfess offers prayers of contrition and an explanation of the seven deadly sins. iRosary allows users to move Rosary beads on a touchscreen and includes prayers for each bead.
Anti-Pakistan SMS campaign launched in India
The Indian government has reportedly launched a SMS campaign to discourage its people from making calls to Pakistan, reports the Daily Times.
March 5, 2010
Ringtones to clear a stuffy nose
Asiajin, Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory (JRTL) has come up with special ringtones that clear a stuffy nose.
According to Toms Guide:
Other ringtones with side effects:
-- Ringtones that calm crying babies
-- Mozart Ringtones to relieve Hayfever and Stiff shoulders
-- Therapeutic ringtones -muPass ringtone has eveloped in collaboration with the Japan Acoustic Lab and the Japan Ringtone Lab, ringtones with a calming effect.
-- Pherotones are ringtones with names like Testeroni or El Cuddlero that claim to make you irresistible to the opposite sex.
-- Samsung launched Phone which generated alpha waves that are supposed to enhance memory and concentration.
-- The Breast Enlarging ringtone - A member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult launched (very successfully) a ringtone which claimed to make a women's breasts grow larger - just by listening to it
-- Mosquitotone - The teenage repellent ringtones
Gesture Search Finds Info By Drawing Letters on a Screen
Google has introduced Gesture Search for its Android mobile operating system. [via Top Tech News]
In their own words:
March 4, 2010
Apple removes Wi-Fi finders from App Store
Apple on Thursday began removing another category of apps from its iPhone App Store. This time according to CNet, it's not porn, but Wi-Fi locators.
Technology failed Iran
According to a new report from voima.fi out of Finland, Iran's mobile network double-crossed its users in last year's suppressed revolt.
[via arstechnica]
Related:
-- Iranians say "no" to Nokia over reports of surveillance collaboration
Maine Lawmakers Mull Cell Phone Cancer Warning
Lawmakers could soon vote on a bill that would require handsets sold in Maine to carry warning labels about the potential link between cell phone radiation and brain cancer.
[via Mobiledia]
Previously: - Main to legislate over cancer warnings on cell phones
North Korean publicly executed for illegal call to South Korea to sneak news out
According to CNBC, a North Korean firing squad has publicly executed a factory worker for sneaking news out of the reclusive communist country via his illicit mobile phone.
Read full article.
March 3, 2010
Twitter to reach 10 Billion Tweets Milestone
Twitter will hit 10 billion tweets, just one year after celebrating it's one billion tweets.
[via Mashable]
Books Now Outnumber Games on the iPhone
For the first time in the Apple App Store history, books outnumber games, making books the biggest category in the store
Mobclix, which keeps a regular tally on the most popular apps and downloads, show that there are more than 26,000 books in iTunes, compared with a little over 24,000 games.
March 2, 2010
EU caps roaming charges for mobile internet surfers
Mobile phone customers can control how much they want to spend on surfing the internet while travelling within the European Union (EU). ComputerAct!ve reports.
Customers who want to surf the internet using their mobile devices when abroad, will have to sign up to enforce the facility initially, but from 1 July the protection becomes automatic.
Read full article.
German High Court Limits Phone and E-Mail Data Storage
Germany's highest court has rejected a controversial law requiring data on telephone calls and e-mail traffic to be stored for six months for possible use by law enforcement. Data stored so far must be deleted immediately, and strict controls must be put in place before the law can come into force again.
[via Spiegel]
Lip reading technology for cell phones ensures quiet conversations
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) presented a method for soundless calling at CeBIT, Hanover.
In their own words:
This technology is based on the principle of electromyography, that is the acquisition and recording of electrical potentials generated by muscle activity. This muscle activity is measured in the face. Four applications of this technology will be exhibited.
An example is soundless calling. The user can speak into the phone soundlessly, but is still understood by the conversation partner on the other end of the line. As a result, it is possible to communicate in silent environments, at the cinema or theater, without disturbing others. Another field of use is the transmission of confidential information.
For the transmission of passwords and PINs, for example, users can change seamlessly to soundless language and, hence, transmit confidential information in a tap-proof manner.
[via CeBIT Press]
SMS Dominance to Continue, says Frost
Text messaging will continue its dominance in the messaging arena for the foreseeable future and will evolve with additional features over the next three to five years, according to a new report, ‘The Future of Messaging’, prepared by global research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, and licensed exclusively to Comverse.
[via Mobile Marketing Magazine]
Skinput turns your arm into a touchscreen
A skin-based interface from Microsoft Research effectively turns your body into a touchscreen.
Sound creepy? Called Skinput, the system is a marriage of two technologies: the ability to detect the ultralow-frequency sound produced by tapping the skin with a finger, and the microchip-sized "pico" projectors now found in some cellphones.
Read full article in New Scientist.
Facial recognition phone application described as a 'stalker's dream'
Swedish software developer, The Astonishing Tribe, is testing a iPhone application called Reconiizr that will enable the user to find names and numbers of complete strangers. The Daily Mail reports.
The photo is then compared to shots on social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter before personal information, which can include phone numbers, addresses and email addresses, is sent to the user.
The app works on phones with a camera of five or more megapixel resolution.
March 1, 2010
New Zealand to launch 111 text calls for hearing impaired
Deaf people will be able to text 111 in an emergency from August. Stuff reports.
The system could also be used to track people's phones and send out mass "alert" texts to the public in an emergency.
Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand chief executive Rachel Noble says New Zealand's 79,000 deaf people could send a fax in an emergency but often relied on finding a neighbour or someone to call 111.
Americans are getting most of their news on their cell phones and via social networks
Americans are getting most of their news on their cell phones and via social networks, while those over 50 are the ones left reading the print versions of newspapers. The Internet has finally surpassed newspapers in popularity among Americans, though TV news is still king.
[via arstechnica]
Outrage as mother uses Twitter and YouTube to chronicle her abortion
A woman who described her abortion in graphic detail on Twitter and YouTube has provoked a furious backlash, reports The Daily Mail.
Messages on her blog have labelled her a 'w****' and a 'baby killer'. Others have sent Bible verses and offers to adopt her four-year-old son, who has special needs.
... She said she did so because she wanted to 'demystify' abortion for other women.
Read full article.
February 28, 2010
Text Messaging Fund Raising for Chili Earthquake Victims
The Mobile Giving Foundation is coordinating text messaging campaigns to raise money for Chili earthquake victims.
By texting a keyword to a designated short code via a mobile phone, a micro-donation of $5 or $10 can be made to aid the people affected by this tragedy. 100% of your donation goes to the recipient charity, and the donation appears as a charge on your carrier bill, standard rates may apply.
There are several organizations that are responding to this urgent need with mobile‑giving efforts, including the following:
Text the word “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10
On behalf of the Habitat for Humanity
Text the word “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of World Vision
Text the word “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10
On behalf of the Salvation Army
Text the word “YOUTH” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of UNICEF
[via Yahoo! News]
February 27, 2010
Apple admits using child labour in China
Apple has admitted that child labour was used at the Chinese factories that build its computers, iPods and mobile phones. At least eleven 15-year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple.
[via The Telegraph]
