Author: Craig Timmins

A new cell phone class at Immaculata, a private Catholic university in Malvern, Philadelphia, in the United States, is teaching its students about more than just how to use the rapidly advancing technology. It is also teaching them about the ethical responsibilities that come with it.

Recycling cell phones via the local zoo might not seem like the most logical pairing, but that is what is going to be happening on 17th March, also known as St Patrick’s Day, this year at one zoo in the United States.

In recent weeks, I’ve come across a few different articles and blogs talking about people making a decision to not use a cell phone any more. This includes Silvio Berlusconi (Italy’s Prime Minister), who gave away his cell phone to evade being monitored by police.

Technology being developed in the city of Ottawa in Canada could improve the efficiency of cell phones. Today, many cell phones or other mobile devices can become unreliable if the network that serves them becomes overloaded, and with traffic on such networks expected to only increase, possibly by as much as thirty times over just in the next few years. Something clearly needs to be done. Fortunately, researchers in Ottawa believe they may well have found the answer.

I was reading an article on Computer World that said that come mid-March, AT&T will be providing SMS and MMS alerts to their cell phone users, providing coupons and rewards based on where the user is located at the time. For instance, I am in town and near WalMart and my phone beeps with a text that says, “10% off George brand clothes at WalMart” or something to that effect.

More than a third of all adults in the United Kingdom and the United States play games on their cell phones, according to a new study. The study, commissioned by video game operator and publisher PopCap Games and carried out by Information Solutions Group, says that cell phones have surpassed personal computers and video game consoles as the number one gaming device over the course of the last two years. Two thousand, two hundred and forty five people were interviewed as a part of the study with more than half saying they have played a game on a cell phone at some point.

Taking a photo using cell phones can compromise your privacy and safety, according to hacker and computer security consultant Brad Haines. Haines warns that many people who take photos with their cell phones and then upload them on to the internet in order to share them with friends and family may be unaware that free software that is widely available online might allow strangers to track down where you are by using GPS information.

Students cannot get enough of texting one another on their cell phones – even in class. With four out of five teenagers in the United States believed to own a cell phone, this means around seventeen million teenagers, most of whom bring those cell phones into school according to Marketcharts.com.

With enough e-waste being generated over the course of twelve months to fill more than five thousand shipping containers just in the United States alone, recycling has never been more important. The NextStep Recycling company, which specializes in the recycling of old cell phones and other forms of electronic waste, knows this only too well and has now taken on a partnership with the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) to educate attorneys from countries around the world including Asia, Africa, the Americas and both Eastern and Central Europe, about the necessity and worth of recycling old cell phones and other obsolete electrical equipment rather than sending them to landfills and causing damage to the planet in the process.

Cell phone etiquette is heading on a downward spiral according to a new survey. The study, which was conducted by the Intel Corporation, says that cell phone etiquette is deteriorating rapidly even in comparison to just one year ago, with seventy five percent claiming things are getting worse.