This is the time of year where we dust out the cupboards, air the linens, and clear out the clutter we have accumulated over the winter months. So, what better time than now to sell your old cell phone for cash?
Nokia is set to slash 7,000 jobs as part of a massive cost-cutting program. The company, which is the biggest manufacturer of cell phones in the entire world, is set to reduce 12 per cent of its worldwide work force in a bid to cut costs by around 12 billion US dollars by the end of next year.
Smart-phone users now have something new to worry about – smishing. Smishing is similar to phishing scammers on the internet, and means that anyone who responds to a text message or downloads an application on to their cell phone could be in danger of having their privacy and security compromised by hackers. “It could be as serious as a significant financial loss if they are able to access their bank account,” warns the chief technology officer at Cloudmark, Jamie De Guerre.
A man is under arrest after attempting to stage an armed robbery with a used cellular phone charger. The incident occurred in Lansing in the United States when a man walked into a gas station on South Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard on Wednesday evening and attempted to rob the place by pretending the old cellular phone charger was a pistol and telling the cashier to hand over the station’s money or else.
According to an article I read yesterday on abcnews.go.com, the ACLU has been petitioning Michigan’s State police department since 2008 – trying to obtain information concerning the use of “DEDs” or data extraction devices with no success. The purpose for the petition is to create some transparency around how the devices are being handled; according to the ACLU, Michigan State Police has misused them.
A cell phone application featuring a dog fighting game has caused controversy with animal rights activists. “Dog Wars”, a new Google cell phone app, has also earned the wrath of Michael Vick, a quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles who spent 18 months in prison after being convicted of dog fighting, and who is openly parodied in the game by a character wearing a red football jersey similar to his own.
With Earth Day having thrown the spotlight on being ‘green’, more and more people are getting into the recycling of electronic waste, including old cell phones.
The US Congress has opened an investigation into Apple’s use of tracking software on cell phones. The technology, which is used in smart-phones from both Apple and Google, includes software that is actually able to track the location of the cell phone user, often without their knowledge, and has raised concerns about privacy to such an extent that The House Energy and Commerce Committee has now sent a notification to Apple demanding information on the data which has been acquired by the software supplied with both their iPhone and iPad devices.
According to Wall Street analysts, the soon to be released white iPhone 4 is more than just another Apple phone of a different colour; “The net is that the white iPhone does matter”, says Brian White, Ticonderoga Securities analyst. And the talk is that the place it matters most is in China – Apple’s fastest growing market.
The recycling of old cell phones has raised more than a million dollars for a children’s hospital in New Zealand. In the last two years, more than 270,000 used cell phones have been handed in for recycling with the Starship Mobile Phone Appeal, raising over a million dollars for the Starship Children’s Hospital.
