cellphones

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Cops Quietly Using Secret Spy Tool to Find Suspects

Critics say cell-tower simulators violate civil liberties, 4th Amendment

(Newser) - A device police can use to pinpoint a suspect's location with what some say is 100% reliability may just sound like the latest cool tool in a cop's catch-a-criminal arsenal. But the surveillance instrument used by the Tallahassee PD since 2007 is worrying the ACLU, judges, and citizens...

Phone May Be 'Key' to Case of Teen Burned Alive

Jessica Chambers got call before she died, phone may be 'key to everything'

(Newser) - The investigation into the burning death of Mississippi teen Jessica Chambers is in full swing. Sheriff's deputies with canine units have been spotted picking up items and bagging them in the Courtland area where police first encountered Chambers (who, CNN notes, was not on fire when they found her...

City Creates Sidewalk Lane for Texting While Walking

But Chinese city says move is meant to be ironic

(Newser) - Taking a cue from an American experiment, the Chinese city of Chongqing has created a smartphone sidewalk lane, offering a path for those too engrossed in messaging and tweeting to watch where they're going. But it's apparently intended to be ironic—to remind people that it's dangerous...

Unlocking Your Cell Phone Will Soon Be Legal

...but the rules are still murky

(Newser) - The rules on unlocking your phone —allowing you to use it with any carrier—are hard to keep up with. Just two years after the US Copyright Office ruled that unlocking was illegal without permission from your carrier, Congress has turned things around again. Lawmakers have passed a bipartisan...

Kids in Video of Sinking Ferry: 'Looks Like the End'

Cellphone video captures laughter, panic aboard doomed ship

(Newser) - A cellphone video taken aboard South Korea's doomed ferry depicts "by far the most heartbreaking scene I have seen in my 27-year broadcasting career," a veteran TV producer says, per the New York Times . In the video, beginning three minutes before the ferry sent its first distress...

Cops: Teen Kills Man for Phone, Is Upset With Model

Seattle student Byron White charged with first-degree murder as an adult

(Newser) - It was a crime both "tragic and senseless," say prosecutors. David Peterson, 54, was out for a walk in his Seattle neighborhood on Feb. 23 when police say high school student Byron White tried to steal his cellphone, the Seattle Times reports. Peterson fought off the teen and...

House Passes Bill Allowing Cell Phone Unlocking

But only after controversy over last-minute provision

(Newser) - The House yesterday passed a bill that would make it legal to unlock your phone, despite pushback from Democrats over a last-minute addition to the bill banning "bulk unlocking." You'd be forgiven for not realizing that unlocking a phone—meaning making it work on other carriers—was...

Woman Chases Peeping Tom Through Kohl&#39;s&mdash;Topless
 Woman Chases Peeping Tom Through Kohl's—Topless 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Woman Chases Peeping Tom Through Kohl's—Topless

Cops nab the guy 3 blocks away

(Newser) - A strange scene erupted at a Kansas City Kohl's this week, when a woman trying on bras noticed a man holding a cellphone beneath her dressing room door. "I just screamed and chased him topless through the store," Jeanne Ouelette told KCTV . "I was at a...

NSA Collects Huge Troves of Cellphone Location Data
NSA Collects Huge Troves
of Cellphone Location Data
snowden scoop

NSA Collects Huge Troves of Cellphone Location Data

Washington Post: This might be the biggest threat to privacy yet

(Newser) - The editor of the Guardian suggested that lots more Edward Snowden scoops are in the works, and, sure enough, the Washington Post obliges with what may be the biggest one yet. Its report says the NSA tracks the locations of hundreds of millions of cellphones around the world each day...

Why Louis CK Is Wrong About Smartphones
 Why Louis CK Is Wrong 
 About Smartphones 
OPINION

Why Louis CK Is Wrong About Smartphones

They can be bad, but they can also be good: Daniel Engber

(Newser) - Chances are you saw—quite possibly while perusing Facebook on your smartphone—a bunch of your friends sharing a clip of Louis CK talking about how terrible smartphones are . But the comedian's rant is missing an important point, writes Daniel Engber on Slate . Sure, we all agree "that...

Louis CK Explains Evils of Smartphones

Nobody can sit quietly alone anymore, he tells Conan

(Newser) - Apple says demand has been "incredible" for today's rollout of the new iPhones , reports AllThingsD . One person you won't find in line? Louis CK. On Conan last night, the comedian explained all that's wrong with smartphones, especially when it comes to kids, reports Salon . Sample line:...

N. Korea's First Smartphone Is Illegal to Use in N. Korea

Also, probably not actually made in N. Korea

(Newser) - North Korea has launched its first smartphone. Just one catch: data services are illegal in the Hermit Kingdom, so it's likely not much more useful than a regular cellphone, the Washington Post reports. The phones also probably aren't made in North Korea. Though a new report by state-run...

Guy Looking for Lost Phone Crushed in Trash Compactor

Roger Mirro's body found inside, thought phone went down trash chute

(Newser) - The hunt for a missing cell phone turned tragic this week when a man was crushed to death in what police are calling "a terrible accident." Roger Mirro, 56, was searching for a misplaced phone at his apartment in a Chicago suburb when he told his neighbor he...

Cop Hits, Kills Man While Talking on Cell: Report

Eyewitnesses say officer was on phone at time of accident: DNAinfo

(Newser) - Witnesses say an NYPD officer who struck and killed a pedestrian Saturday was talking on her cell phone during the accident, police sources tell DNAinfo . Paula Medrano, who was not in uniform nor responding to an emergency at the time, was driving a police van when she turned left onto...

'Distracted Walking' More Dangerous Than Distracted Driving?

Researchers say 2M may have been injured in 2010

(Newser) - You've heard of distracted driving, but distracted walking may actually be more dangerous, according to a new study. Cellphone use while strolling about sent more than 1,500 people to the ER in 2010, a figure that has almost tripled since 2004. Researchers expect it to hit 3,000...

Cell Network Wiped Out by ... Beer Fridge

Engineers say motor's electric sparks caused blackout

(Newser) - Beer truly is the cause of (and solution to) all of life's problems. Or at least this problem: An Aussie telecom company investigating the cause of network blackouts near Melbourne tracked the disturbance to ... a bloke's beer fridge. Technicians believe electric sparks emitted from the fridge's motor...

Your Cell Carrier Is Tracking You, Hawking Your Data

Data collection by carriers like Verizon raises privacy concerns

(Newser) - Just when you thought you couldn't hate cell phone carriers more, they outdo themselves. Turns out, some phone companies are now tracking our locations, movements, and web-browsing habits, and selling the data to marketing companies and other businesses. They say they aren't selling information on individual users, but...

Petition Gets Obama to Back Unlocking Cell Phones

FCC backs legal unlocking, too

(Newser) - It now takes 100,000 signatures to get an official White House response to a We the People petition—and angry cell phone users got more than 114,000 after it became illegal to unlock your cell phone on Jan. 26. That's the day the Librarian of Congress ruled...

Yes, Cellphone Addiction Is a Real Thing

And should be taken as seriously as other addictions: Dr. Keith Ablow

(Newser) - If you heard that someone was being treated for nomophobia—basically, the fear of being without their mobile device—you might be tempted to laugh. But you shouldn't, writes Dr. Keith Ablow on Fox News . A cellphone addiction is just like an addiction to drugs or alcohol and should...

Man Gets Ebola... From Phone He Stole
 Man Gets Ebola ... 
 From Phone 
 He Stole 
in case you missed it

Man Gets Ebola ... From Phone He Stole

And it was worth just $24

(Newser) - A Ugandan thief got a serious lesson in why you shouldn't steal, particularly from people with deadly diseases. After breaking into a hospital isolation ward earlier this month and stealing a cell phone from an Ebola patient, the suspect came down with Ebola himself. The patient, who later died,...

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