Cell Phones - The Atlantic Wire

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Topic: Cell Phones

The Tyranny of Butt-Dialing Ends Now

After coming across the alarming statistic that forty percent of the New York City's 911 calls came from "butt dials" we were baffled that people still keep phones so near their butts, as this is generally a very bad idea.

By Dino Grandoni

Apr 19, 2012

Stat of the Day

Sorry, Mum: 1 in 10 U.K. Sexts Are Sent to Wrong Phone Numbers

Reason No. 453 to never ever ever! send a sext? There's a significant chance that you'll end up sending your sexplicit message to the wrong person.

Comments | 976 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Apr 18, 2012

The Totally Made Up Spectrum Crisis

Wireless carriers are begging the government to give them more spectrum, claiming a coming shortage because of data-hungry cell-phone users.

Comments | 456 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 7, 2012

Meet the Only Town in America That Gets Sprint's 4G Service

Sprint is only recognizing one town in America as having their full 4G LTE cellular service, and it has a population just over 25,000 and is located about an hour south of Chicago. Meet the extremely fortunate town of Kankakee, Illinois.

Comments | 1,512 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Feb 22, 2012

Today in Research

An Off Switch for Pain; Charging Cell Phones with Fingers

Discovered: An off switch for pain, a finger-powered cell phone charger, what your ear of choice says about your brain, the clouds are coming for us, and buckyballs in space.

Comments | 1,842 Views

By Ray Gustini

Feb 16, 2012

A Guide to Looking Kind of Like Ryan Gosling; The Expensive Phones of 1989

Every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the video clips that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention.

Comments | 1,292 Views

By Connor Simpson

Dec 30, 2011

Verizon Decided That $2 Fee Is A Bad Idea

Yesterday we broke down what was wrong with Verizon's offensive $2 convenience charge, and today the New York Times' Bits blog has just tweeted that Verizon has decided to "backtrack" on their plans for the fee altogether.

Comments | 2,779 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Dec 29, 2011

Verizon Enacts Offensive $2 'Convenience Fee'

There are a few things that are particularly grating about Verizon's new $2 charge for one-time over-the-phone or online bill payments.

Comments | 7,144 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Dec 29, 2011

Use These Terrifying Ringtones or the Taliban Will Kill You

For Afghans, having to use Taliban approved ring-tones in order to save one's life wouldn't be so bad if the tones didn't have gunshots in the background.

Comments | 5,251 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Dec 14, 2011

Pilots Are America's Most Privileged Gadget Users

As of yesterday, pilots became our nation's most privileged gadget users when the FAA approved iPad use during all stages of flight, as the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on cell phones in cars -- including Bluetooth or hands-free devices.

Comments | 397 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Dec 14, 2011

Is a Ban on All Cell Phones While Driving in Our Future?

The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending a nationwide ban on phone calls and text messages for people behind the wheels of cars.

Comments | 1,188 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Nov 23, 2011

The End of Caller ID

If a number's not in our address book, attached to a very familiar name, there's no reason to pick it up -- it's probably something evil.

Comments | 1,520 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Nov 10, 2011

Stat of the Day

Ringtones Are a $2.1 Billion Business

What research firm Gartner describes as the $2.1 billion "personalization services" industry is known to everyone else as that unintelligible (is that Beyoncé?) sound coming from someone who didn't get the "your phone should always on vibrate" memo.

Comments | 394 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Oct 19, 2011

A Timeline of the Scientific Whiplash Over Cell Phones and Cancer

Ever since the first tort suit that claimed a link between phone radiation and brain was filed in 1993, research into the subject has fallen on all ends of the spectrum.

Comments | 3,784 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Oct 18, 2011