Cell Phones are a Major Distraction

I'm sure a lot of ladies have the great ability to multi-task whenever and wherever. I for one, am one of them! I can get a lot of things done while i'm driving. I mean Yeah Bluetooths and headsets are helpful, but how bout when you have to text someone while you are driving? I have an iPhone so I pretty much have a hard time feeling the buttons that don't even exist on my touch screen phone. I wonder if the cops will pull you over if you have been texting and can you get fined for that? I mean it's just as bad as talking on the cell phone.


Text messaging, or “texting” by teens, a driving distraction related to cellphone use, was the subject of an August 2006 Teens Today survey conducted by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). The survey showed that teens considered sending text messages via cellphones to be their biggest distraction. Of the teens surveyed, 37 percent said that text messaging was extremely or very distracting, while 20 percent said that they were distracted by their emotional states and 19 percent said that having friends in the car was distracting. The January 2007 survey by Nationwide found that 19 percent of motorists say they text message while driving.

Cellphones play an integral role in our society. However, the convenience they offer must be judged against the hazards they pose. Inattentive driving accounted for 6.4 percent of crash fatalities in 2003—the latest data available—according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Inattentive driving includes talking, eating, putting on make up and attending to children. Using cellphones and other wireless or electronic units are also considered distractions.

Original Article

McDonald's Sued After Man Loses Phone, Wife's Nude Photos Posted Online

I hope to God that I NEVER lose my cell phone anywhere, again. This story just scares me.

Phillip and Tina Sherman of Bella Vista filed a lawsuit against McDonald's Corp.; Mathews Management Co., which owns the McDonald's franchise on Sixth Street in Fayetteville; and Aaron Brummley, a manager of the restaurant. The suit seeks more than $3 million in damages after nude photographs of Tina Sherman were posted on a Web site.

The suit claims Phillip Sherman lost his phone at the restaurant on July 5. The phone contained nude photographs his wife sent him. Though employees promised to secure the phone until Phillip Sherman returned, his wife began receiving text messages from it, the suit claims. The photographs later made their way to a Web site.

The suit seeks a jury trial, saying the couple and their family suffered severe mental and emotional distress, physical injury, pain and suffering, embarrassment, damage to their reputations and fear. The suit also asks for money to cover the cost for having to move to a new residence.

Brummley refused to comment, referring the matter to company officials.

"I would strongly caution anyone from jumping to conclusions without having all the facts. I believe this act was perpetrated by individuals who do not represent my organization," Bill Mathews, the McDonald's franchisee, said.

"We take these matters very seriously," he said. "We value and respect our customers and their right to privacy. We would never do anything to violate that trust. Because this is a pending legal matter, it would be inappropriate to make any additional comments or speculate about what may have actually occurred."

Original Article form FOX News

What's the Deal with Touch Screen Phones!?

Yeah, I understand that they're easy and that everyone should have one. Right? I don't get why every phone company is trying to make a touch screen phone that will supposedly overcome the Apple iPhone. All though the iPhone is not the first touch screen phone, it's the one that became the most popular. The future is in the palm of your hand.

Touch-screen capability is the latest step in cell phone development, and it’s proving to be a popular one.

Sajwn Boese, manager of Wireless World in Vermillion, said his store sells between 15 and 20 touch-screen phones a month. Wireless World sells three touch-screen models: the LG Voyager, Samsung Glyder and LG Dare.

“We’ve seen more and more sales recently,” Boese said. “A few people get them, then everyone wants one.”

Boese said manufacturers are trying something different to evoke interest in cell phone purchases. It’s a tactic that seems to be working.

Last year, 30 million touch-screen handsets were sold, according to an IMS Research report. LG reported selling seven million touch-screen handsets this summer and the Samsung Instinct has been Spirit’s best-selling handset in company history.

Sales are not expected to slow down soon. IMS Research projects that between 2008 and 2012, 200 million touch-screen devices will be sold.

The first “must-have” touch-screen device was the Apple iPhone, released in June 2007. In the first 30 hours of launch weekend, 270,000 iPhones were sold.

The latest version of the iPhone 3G boasts faster Internet access, GPS, camera, iPod capabilities and downloadable applications like games and news feeds. The retail price for the 8 GB iPhone is $199.99.

The iPhone is only sold on AT&T networks, although some carriers have started selling devices without contracts or by unlocking the restrictive software. Starting June 29, AT&T service providers in South Dakota began supporting the iPhone.

Other mobile phone companies were quick to jump on the touch-screen bandwagon. LG released the Voyager in November 2007 to be sold exclusively by Verizon Wireless. Like the iPhone, the Voyager features a large touch-screen cover and applications like a camera and Internet access.

The Voyager, however, has an internal screen and a full QWERTY keyboard. Retail price without a contract is $149.99.

Sophomore Mike Yaggie owns a Voyager model and although it was spendy, he said the purchase was well worth it.

“I really like (the Voyager) better than any other phone I’ve ever had,” Yaggie said. “The touch screen works well and for texting, the keyboard is always there to back you up if you need it.”

Boese recommended the Voyager and the Samsung Glyde for those whom text a lot because of the physical keyboards available on each of the phones.

“The Voyager is much easier to type on,” he said. “The (LG) Dare is nice, but for those who text a lot, the absence of the physical buttons might turn them off.”
Voyager also features V-Cast Mobile TV, although Boese said that service was not offered in the region.

Wireless World’s third model, the LG Dare, has a full touchscreen cover and 3.2 megapixel camera. Boese said the Dare offers many features.

“For instance, if someone used their phone for an alarm clock a lot, the Dare has an option to drag the alarm clock to the front screen,” he said.

Senior Brooke Kuchta recently bought a Dare and loves it. Although she was warned about the problems of touch-screen phones beforehand, Kuchta said she’s had no issues with her phone so far.


Original Article

World's Fastest PDA?

ASUS has announced business PDA phone (P565) and claims that it is the fastest phone out there. Riiight.

Aside from being the "fastest PDA phone", theP565 also features a touch-driven user interface called Glyde. The P565 is a stylish, leather-accented PDA phone which is capable of delivering graphics and system performance which is beyond anything else on the mobile phone market today. With Glyde technology, users can glide through resource-intensive tasks with easy and allow them to handle heavy multi-tasking well. Hence the ASUS P565 is an ideal phone for businesspeople who needs uncompromising performance and maximum speed from their productivity tools such as a PDA phone.The ASUS P565 also features a 2.8-touchscreen with 480×640 pixel resolution for a clear display when working on photos and spreadsheets. Since the ASUS P565 is a business-oriented phone it is but necessesary for it to have business-orietend software and applications. And it does actually have push mail, business card recognition and Microsoft Office Mobile as well as other useful applications including Anytime Launcher and Multi-Home which allows users to view calendards, times of local and visiting cities, weather reports, online news and many more - through a tap slide or flick of the user’s finger. Design-wise the ASUS P565 emits an air of exclusivity as well with with its battery lid which is lined with black synthetic leather which contrasts well with the form factor and design of the P565’s body consisting of high-gloss face. The complete rundown of the ASUS P565’s features would give as the following: HSDPA 3.6Mbps/UMTS 2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM/900/1800/1900 Class 10 network support, Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional for OS, 250-300 hrs standby time with 3G on and 200-250 hours with 2G on, talk time is at 3 hours with 3G and 4 hours with 2G,2.8-inch TFT VGA Touchscren at 480 x640, Marvell Tavorp 800 MHx processor, 256 MB Flash and 128 MB On-board memory,microsSD and microSDHC support, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth+EDR, WAP browser, SiRF Star III with InstantFix GPS, various business applications including Word, Excel, Powerpoint and more, 3MP camera with auto focus, and video recording at 24fps.

Original Article from Cell Phone News

BlackBerry "Storm" Release Date & Price FINALLY Unveiled

FINALLY! FINALLY! FINALLY! Give me just a second to catch my breath! Verizon Wireless has FINALLY unveiled the release date and price for the highly anticipated BlackBerry "Storm". It will become available online and in stores on November 21 (that's one week away!) for the competitive price of $199(after a $50 mail-in rebate)! Beat that overrated iPhone!

The new BlackBerry caps off a crazy (crazy exciting, that is) five-plus months of blockbuster phone debuts, which started in July with the iPhone 3G and continued with T-Mobile's Android-powered G1, the touchscreen Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, the HTC Touch Diamond and Touch Pro on Sprint, and Sony Ericsson's touchscreen Xperia X1 (which Chris just reviewed). I know plenty of people who've been holding off buying anything until the Storm comes out, and based on the early hands-on impressions, the Storm does indeed look like a force to be reckoned with; the clickable "ClickThrough" touchscreen has earned particularly high marks.

The "Storm" comes out the same day the movie Twilight comes out. So I've set out a plan. I'm going to a midnight showing of Twilight, after that (which will be like 2am) I'm going to stand in line at the nearest Verizon store and wait to get my damn phone. I have been a really big fan of Blackberry's for a while, so you could only imagine my excitement when I heard the news that they were coming out with a touch screen for BlackBerry! It will be an early Christmas present to myself.

Original Article form Yahoo!Tech

Samsung Touch- Screen for T-Mobile

T-Mobile has announced their newest phone to add to their network, Samsung's "Behold". When i look at Behold, it makes me think of the LG Voyager, it has the same touch screen on the front. But there are a few differences.

The Behold has a large 3.0-inch LCD color touch screen displays crisp, clear images and offers responsive feedback called haptics. A built-in accelerometer automatically switches the screen between portrait and landscape modes. Through Samsung's innovative TouchWiz user interface, users can 'drag and drop' widgets to personalize the handset - functions such as the clock, music player, instant messaging and photos.

Users can blog, text and chat with the virtual QWERTY touchpad. Multiple messaging capabilities include text, multimedia messaging, instant messaging, email and Audio Postcard support. The built-in 5.0-megapixel camera and camcorder with flash and auto-focus snaps high-resolution photos and videos. A GPS receiver uses TeleNav GPS Navigator for turn-by-turn driving directions with maps. The Behold has high-speed connectivity and a full HTML web browser for faster access to the Internet.

With stereo Bluetooth wireless technology, speakerphone and voice activated dialing, the Behold lets customers go handsfree. A microSD memory card slot stores of videos, images or music up to 16GB. "Behold offers a full web browsing experience at your fingertips," said Bill Ogle, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung Mobile. "When you combine the high-speed web browsing, powerful 5.0-megapixel camera and music and video player, Behold is the ultimate phone for people who want to stay connected and entertained wherever they are." The Samsung Behold will be available in a brushed espresso or light rose finish beginning November 10.

Original Article from Mobiledia

Featured Category:

Fake Calls

Yep, Apple went there. With the new uprising FREE application, you could actually get a phone call that is on command whenever you want it to call. Magic Tap, a 99-cent iPhone application, lets you send fake calls to yourself on command, just in case you ever need an excuse to get out of an awkward situation such as a horrible blind date, or having "that talk" with your girlfriend. To make this application more realistic, it lets you customize the caller's name, number and photo I.D. to anyone you choose. However, keep this in mind: setting the caller I.D. to "Shakira" with a steamy photo of the diva probably wouldn't be too convincing, so you better stick with using Jason Chen's sexy mug instead. We've even provided one for you after the cut.

I actually have this application on my phone, and I've used it once (I don't need to get out of awkward situations that often) But I really do think that this is a handy application for the people that can't face the person they are talking to. haha It's convenient. The only think that you might want to consider is that you can't pick your own ringtone, it's actually just the default ringtone you heard when you first got the phone. sucks i know right?
I hope that people get it! you never know when you are gonna need it!

Original Article

Wasting Paper Much?

A local AT&T iPhone customer was one of the first to receive her first phone bill. Surprisingly, it came up to a lot more than just a bill! PITTSBURGH -- Apple’s iPhones are all the rage, but their customers aren’t too happy about the size of the first service bills from AT&T. One Pittsburgh woman, Justine Ezarik, received her first bill on Saturday.She said it was so large – 300 pages – it was delivered in a box. Ezarik's story grabbed national attention after she posted a video on YouTube. zarik told USA Today, “This is so silly. There is no reason they need to send you this much information.” hannel 11’s Andy Gastmeyer met with Ezarik, who has a Web page with a live camera, to discuss the bill. Gastmeyer was surprised to learn his interview was being shown live online. Channel 11 called AT&T to get their response.
They said that customers have three bill options and they don't have to select one with all of the detail, which would save paper.

Although they have an option, VIEWING THE DETAIL would be a stupid option for the environment and I think that all tree huggers would be furious! The fact that they can view every little detail online is what frustrates me. I have an iPhone and I was worried to see a ATT box in my mailbox!

Original Article

Cellphone Bill > Utility Bill

Our country has been taken under electronics. We have millions of jobs that are offered based on electronics, like computers, the internet, and much more. Nowadays you can't function a business well without technology! Has people really considered paying their cell phone bill is more important than paying for utility bills? ­Recent economic hardships may have consumers scrambling even more to stay out of debt, but Americans won't let the wireless payment slip. According to a recent Consumer Spending Behavior survey sponsored by US mobile phone retailer LetsTalk, more than half of cell phone owners are willing to pay increased cell phone bills this year compared to last year.



Surprisingly, over 75 percent of respondents report never being late on their wireless bill, but close to 90 percent admit delaying their utilities bill, ISP bill, landline telephone service bill, credit card payment, or rent/mortgage payment. When asked the primary motivation for prioritizing their wireless bill, over 63 percent agree that their mobile phone is essential to staying connected with families and friends. LetsTalk initiated the survey to better understand customer rationale behind increased spending when economic indicators are not favorable.

"The cell phone is a lifeline that keeps people connected not only to friends and family but to employers and potential new employees. Today, even in the midst of our economic downturn, bills that were once seen as a priority take a backseat to our cell phone bills," said Delly Tamer, CEO and Founder of LetsTalk.com. "The survey confirms to us what we've known for quite some time: cell phones, or more specifically, smartphones, have become an essential component of our everyday lives. We would rather risk our electricity shut off than our cell phones disconnected."

Conducted last month, the LetsTalk Smartphone Consumer Spending Behavior survey canvassed over 500 LetsTalk customers, ages 18 and over.

Original Article