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.
A two-day cell phone recycling event is currently underway in Carbon County in the United States. The event, which began yesterday and is set to continue until six o’clock in the evening today, is designed to encourage residents to recycle their old cell phones and other electrical gadgets.
Drivers who are caught using a cell phone by police while operating a motor vehicle are facing stiffer fines than before after a new bill was approved by the California Senate in the United States. The bill, which will now head to the Assembly, will see fines be raised from 208 to 328 dollars for a first offence, to 528 for a repeat offender.
When it’s time to buy a new cell phone, there are a few productive tasks you can perform with your old one:
California State University in Northridge in the United States is staging a cell phone recycling event tomorrow to coincide with Earth Day. The event, which will be held in CSUN parking lot G10 (Lassen and Zelzah), will accept old cell phones and any other electronic items that people wish to donate for recycling including ink cartridges, televisions, computers, MP3 players and fluorescent bulbs.
