No texting While Driving in January 1st

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The governor got a late start on the bills because last month he threatened to veto all legislation until lawmakers approved the overdue state budget. The Legislature responded by holding the bills until they and the governor had agreed on a budget deal late last week.

The Legislature approved the spending plan on Friday and Schwarzenegger signed it on Tuesday, paving the way for the governor to act on hundreds of items.

The first bill, SB28 by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, will make California one of a handful of states that bans text messaging while driving. Others include Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington.

"Banning electronic text messaging while driving will keep drivers' hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road, making our roadways a safer place for all Californians," Schwarzenegger said in a written statement.

But a Republican lawmaker argued the measure is yet another example of adding unnecessary legislation to the Vehicle Code when there's already sufficient rules on the books.

"There's already blanket law that says reckless driving is illegal and if you cause an accident while recklessly driving, it's a misdemeanor...When you start going down that path, where do you end?" said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine.

The legislation follows California's ban on using a cell phone while driving unless motorists use a hands-free device. That law, also authored by Simitian, went into effect July 1.

"It is a reminder that we live in a changing world and the law has to change to reflect that fact," Simitian said.

The text-messaging ban will go into effect on Jan. 1. A violation of the law would result in a $20 fine for a first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense.

The Republican governor also signed AB498, which forbids private companies that have business operations in Sudan to bid on state contracts - a way to pressure the Sudanese government to halt the genocide in Darfur.

"California will not underwrite the horrors of murder and genocide in Sudan," Schwarzenegger said in a written statement.

Sarah Grundahl, domestic policy associate for Save Darfur Coalition based in Washington, D.C., applauded Schwarzenegger signing the bill into law.

"Economic pressure is one of the biggest tools that we have and California has stood up and made it clear that we don't help fund genocide," she said.

California already forbids the state's pension funds from investing in companies that have active business in Sudan and Iran.

The governor on Wednesday also signed two bills on charter schools. They are:

-- SB658 (Romero, D-Los Angeles) - Shifts the Year-Round School Grant Program funds, which total more than $90 million, to the Charter School Facility Grant Program beginning July 1, 2013.

-- AB2033 (Núñez, D-Los Angeles) - Lowers the interest rate for lease payments on approved charter school facility projects.

Schwarzenegger vetoed AB2115, authored by Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, which would have required charter schools to adopt conflict-of-interest policies for their governing boards similar to the ones used by local school boards.

Schwarzenegger argued in his veto message that AB2115 would create additional costs for charter schools and would run counter to the intent of charter schools, which is to be free from rules governing local school districts.

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Blackberry Storm vs. iPhone Showdown

How many phones claim that it will be renamed as the "iPhone Killer" and failed? Who knows about Blackberry Storm. But I think that the Blackberry Storm is another awesome product to have this Christmas! Which one is better though? Not content to stand by while AT&T , T-Mobile and Sprint generate all the wireless hype, Verizon last week announced that it would be supporting Research in Motion's BlackBerry Storm smartphone on its network come November.

RIM's first touchscreen device features a "clickable" screen that the company says simulates the feel of a physical keyboard. The Storm can connect to either EV-DO Rev. A or HSPA 3G cellular networks and features 1GB of onboard memory storage and a card slot that allows for up to 16GB of additional storage.

But while Verizon (and Vodafone in Europe and elsewhere) is hoping that the BlackBerry Storm will be its own "iPhone killer," questions remain about whether the offering can match the popular Apple consumer device in several key areas. Here's a look at how the Storm stacks up against the iPhone in terms of call quality, data coverage, price and more. This could be an intriguing matchup, since neither the iPhone nor the Storm has a physical slide-out keyboard like the T-Mobile G1 does. However, RIM says that it is changing the game of how touchscreen keypads work with what it calls a "clickable screen." This means that users can actually press down on the digital keys on the screen and feel them being pressed and released just like they'd feel a mouse button being pressed and released. Thus, users will in theory be able to type much easier by having the touch of a standard qwerty keyboard on the digital screen of their smartphone. Though we won't know for certain until it's tested out by more users, the Storm's keyboard gets the edge here for its ambition and creativity.

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Apple iPhone, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Considering getting someone an iPhone this christmas? Not a bad gift I would have to say. I do not have one and have not used one to make any phone calls, but I have played with my brother's iPhone. I can only comment on the features that I've used which were the games. I'm not sure if the phone comes that way, but they have a large selection of games. I played the once ever-so-popular, Tetris, also some IQ games which were frustrating but fun. There was a game on there that my sister and other people seem to be addicted to, which appeared to be some kind of explosive mine game. Playing all these games for possibly hours on end, I can also comment on its battery life, which seems very good to me. I sat there for over an hour playing different games and the battery did not seem to be in any immediate danger.

Aside from the many games and admirable battery life, I also enjoyed the sleek look of the iPhone. It's screen (touch pad) was very durable and overall the iPhone was a delight to handle. Now you may not trust my opinion, so I have also found a review from Cnet.com to assure anyone looking to purchase an iPhone. To summarize the Cnet review, the iphone offers new features including support for high-speed 3G networks and expanded e-mail. Its call quality is improved and it continues to deliver an excellent music and video experience. The Bad according to Cnet.com is the iPhone 3G lack some basic features that are available on even the simplest cell phone and battery life was uneven.

The bottom line is the iPhone 3G is a big improvement from its previous models and would still make an awesome gift. YES, every product has its kinks but overall this is the iPHONE need more be said? Just remember to remind the recipient to take good care of this high demand and pricey product!

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Avoid the stats, use a headset.

It's hard to imagine a time when cell phones were the exception, now they seem to be a rule. Anybody, at nearly any age, will have a cell phone. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering they are most helpful when somebody may be lost or in situations where a simple phone call to say you're late can ease a loved one's mind. But for every upside there is also a downside. Cell phones are distracting. Ever been in a movie theatre and someone insist on keeping there cell phone turn on? Even worse, they feel it necessary to take the call, DURING THE MOVIE? Yes, cell phones have many downsides, but the worse, may be it's distraction during driving.

According to Edgar Snyder and Associates, their website states that in 2007, driver distraction such as using cell phones or text messages contributed to nearly 1,000 crashes involving 16 and 17 year old drivers. More horrifying, about 21% of FATAL car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16-19 were the result of cell phone usage! Shockingly, this result is expected to grow about 4% each year. Reading this statistics, I know many wonder if there is anything we can do to decrease or even avoid these terrible stats. The answer lies in early prevention. A simple headset can be the answer to many auto involved tragedies.

It is no wonder that the hands-free law was implemented in California in July 1st, 2008. This law states the a driver over the age of 18 MUST NOT use a hand-held wirless phone while operating a motor vehicle, but a hands free device(headset) is allowed. Drivers under the age of 18 however are prohibited from using hands-free or hand-held. This is law will hopefully help lower the terrible stats of car-accidents involving cell-phones.

Cell phones is a good thing. It is conveinent, portable, and necessary. But it is our responsiblity to keep cell phones as a good thing, and not let it affect our lives negatively.


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7 or even more Gadgets Killed by the Cell phone

I think that it's pretty old school to have a pager. I mean I understand if you are a doctor, but come one that was so 1990's. haha Everyone who is everyone has a cellphone. It's an important necessity that people need daily. Nowadays, Cellphones are used for almost everything. I currently have an iphone and you can only imagine what I could do on that. Everyone wants a phone that could do anything, such as searching for a place, internet, and other things. but there were 7 things that were written on this article I found on the website. The Pager

The most popular suggestion was the pager.

5 gadgets? How could you forget the ubiquitous pager? In the not-too-distant past no drug dealer would leave home without it. The pager was the number one casualty of the rise of the cellphone. – Lenny

I couldn't put it better, Lenny. The beeper was indeed killed by the mobile, and rightly so: Not only were you always on call, you had to find a pay phone in order to ring back, and you had to pay for it.

It offered some advantages, though -- doctors could go out to dinner in a fancy restaurant and be called off to work just after ordering (every medical drama made in the 1990s) and, on the other side, patients awaiting transplants could be tipped-off the moment the organs were in stock. All in all, though, a text message is a lot quicker and easier.

The Wristwatch

I still wear a wristwatch, although more as jewelry than as a time-telling tool. In fact, judging by the number of unusable watches our own Danny Dumas buys from Tokyo Flash, it's probably safe to say that watches don't even need to tell the time anymore. The cellphone may not have killed the watch, but it has certainly made it less essential. That hasn't stopped the likes of Vertu trying to hawk overpriced "luxury" cellphones to the same people that buy Rolexes.

Pocket Calculator

I received a surprising number of suggestions for this one, and I actually considered putting it on yesterday's list. But although the cellphone will add, subtract and everything else, the keypad just isn't up to the task.

Anyone who adds up in a professional capacity (accountants, bar managers, shop owners) will always prefer a big, solid desktop calculator. Those things are accurate, and above all, fast. Try tapping $100,000 worth of receipts into a cellphone and see how long it is before you throw the thing out the window.

Alarm Clocks

True. Although an iPod also makes a pretty good alarm clock, and it doesn't irradiate your head as you sleep.

SatNav

Another great suggestion. GPS is finding its way into more and more phones, and even those that don't have it can guesstimate your position using cell-tower triangulation. The problem is that many phones need a network connection to actually pull down a map, whereas standalone SatNav devices store everything onboard and only need to connect to the satellite.

This means that a phone makes a pretty bad GPS device when you are out in the wilds -- arguably where you need it most.

Books

Here at Gadget Lab, we're fans of reading books on the iPhone, but we still don't think the book is anywhere near dead. For starters, the screens on cellphones just don't cut it as e-readers (although the iPhone gets close with a decent size and high 163ppi resolution). Heck, even purpose-built e-readers aren't there yet.

One day, though, the dead-tree version will be obsolete, but we give it some years yet. The irony? Tiny text files are perfectly suited to small, low-power devices.

Handheld Consoles

Will the phone kill the Gameboy? Perhaps. Nokia tried it with the taco-shaped N-Gage and failed. Apple is trying with the iPhone, and doing OK. But in the U.S. the Nintendo DS is the second best-selling console for October, beaten only by the Wii. Nintendo is shifting around half a million of them every month. That doesn't sound like a dead market.

What's certain is that the cellphone is becoming the default device for more and more things, slurping up other gadgets like a a giant Katamari Damacy ball. It might not be the best tool for a given job, but it's certainly the most convenient.

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Cell Phone Kills Brain Cells

Everyone has been questioning for many years, do cell phones kill brain cell phones? who is to know? well i found this great article about it. but everyone who is everyone has a cellphone. Cell phones are more used than house phones, believe it or not! As a long time cell phone user, i'd like to know what's up with the situation!Fears of brain cancer from cell phone usage gained currency with a few high profile lawsuits alleging a connection. In one suit against Motorola and several major cell phone carriers a Maryland neurologist claimed that cell phone use had caused his brain cancer. The plaintiff's attorneys presented research by a Swedish cancer researcher indicating a possible connection. But defense attorneys had plenty of research too, and in September 2002, the suit was thrown out of court.

Still, people are worried. The reason is that cell phones produce electromagnetic radiation which penetrates the brain a short distance from the phone's antenna. But electromagnetic radiation from cell phones is different from the ionizing radiation from, say, an X-ray or a hunk of uranium, which damages DNA and is clearly linked to cancer.

The radiation from cell phones falls in a frequency range somewhere between what you're exposed to when you stand next to your television and what comes out of a leaky microwave oven. It could, theoretically, damage brain cells by heating them. But the heat from cell phones is slight. It isn't like your brain is being baked.

"The research is unequivocal that this type of radiation doesn't cause cancer. But it hits a bunch of emotionally resonant buttons, so we're all afraid of it," said David Ropeik, director of risk communications at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.

If you take a call in the waiting room at a hospital, could you be causing someone to go to code blue on the floor above you?

The possibility that anything really awful could happen is small, according to the limited research that's been done. In a study released in January 2001, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., tested cell phones with hospital devices that monitor heart and lung activity. The phones did cause interference, they found, but in most cases the interference would not have been cause for concern.

These tests were done "in vitro" said Dr. David Hayes, one of the study's authors, meaning patients weren't connected to the machines. Tests still need to be done with patients actually connected to the devices.

"Until that's done we really need the [no cell phone] signs up," he said.

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