mobile phones news stories on Newser

Chief Sends 10 Cops to Find Son's iPhone

Matt Cantor — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:37:05 CDT

Berkeley's police chief is in hot water for sending 10 officers to find his son's stolen phone—with four of them spending two hours each of overtime on the case. But Michael Meehan says anyone else would have received the same assistance, and anyway, it's the field supervisors who decide...

At Last: Virgin Offers In-Flight Cell Phone Service

Kevin Spak — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:54:14 CDT

Has the glorious day finally arrived? The day when travelers can resign "airplane mode" to the dustbin of history and text, tweet, and call their way through a trans-Atlantic flight? Well, no. Not really. But Virgin Atlantic has announced plans to allow passengers flying from New York to London to...

Obama 2012 Makes Donors Ditch Phones at Fundraisers

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:56:33 CDT

President Obama’s re-election campaign is asking donors to not only open their wallets, but fork over their cell phones before entering small fundraisers, a practice that veterans of other campaigns find very odd. The practice of turning over cell phones is common in secure spaces where state secrets would be...

4.5B Spam Texts Flooded Our Phones Last Year

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:05:15 CDT

Getting spam on your cell phone? You're not alone: Spam text messages in the US soared 45% to 4.5 billion last year, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "I don't even get that much junk mail in my Gmail account," says a journalist in Washington, DC. "This is my phone....

FCC to Kill Stolen Phones

Kevin Spak — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:41:06 CDT

Pretty soon, a stolen cellphone will be "as worthless as an empty wallet," Charles Schumer boasted in a statement yesterday, touting a new deal between the FCC and major cellphone carriers that will allow the carriers to shut down pilfered phones. The FCC has agreed to set up a database...

Court OKs Warrantless Cellphone Searches

Rob Quinn — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:33:05 CST

The police don't need a warrant to search a suspect's cellphone for its phone number in order to obtain a history of calls, a federal appeals court. The three-judge panel, ruling on the case of an Indiana man convicted of drug charges on the basis of call records, likened cellphones...

Fear of Having No Cell Phone On the Rise

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:25:22 CST

You cell phone is ... where again? If that question fills you with panic, you may be a nomophobe—someone who fears being without a cell phone, the Los Angeles Times reports. Odd as it may seem, two thirds of 1,000 people polled in a British survey say they feared...

Verizon Deal With Cable TV Could Be Game-Changer

Mark Russell — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 06:40:02 CST

A new $3.6 billion deal between Verizon and three major cable TV companies is threatening to change a fierce rivalry between competitors into a partnership that critics fear would restrict consumer choice, reports the Washington Post . Mobile service, Internet, and cable TV providers have been locked in an intense...

'Holy Grail' of Campaign Cash: Cell Phone Donations

Mark Russell — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:25:42 CDT

With presidential election cycles now topping $1.7 billion, you might think fundraisers have tapped every possible way of raking in money. You'd be wrong. The "holy grail" of fundraising remains the mobile phone, and, with 83% of adults owning one, political operatives are working furiously to add cell phones...