curated news for friends & family ™ 
WHAT ARE THOSE SOLITARY, BLACK UTILITY POLES?( education / tech / phones )
Bad news, they are 5G cellphone towers. You know, the same 5G suspected of -- slowly, over time -- causing cancer. Yeah. See links below.
For the full story, read this: what-are-all-those-black-poles-popping-u... read more
NO SERVICE( culture / humor / phones )
No Service. That's what my phone said when I arrived at the restaurant to pick up my teenage daughter. I couldn't text her to say I'd arrived. I would have to do the unthinkable: Get out of the car, physically walk in, and risk human interaction. Worst of all, one of her co-workers might... read more
ENGINEER MAKES A DIY CELL PHONE WITH ROTARY DIAL SO SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO USE A SMARTPHONE( education / tech / phones )
My hero!
Rather than learn to live with a smartphone, this engineer designed her own cell phone with a rotary dial--and she is helping others to make their...
r... read more
WE HAVE NO REASON TO BELIEVE 5G IS SAFE( education / tech / phones )
The technology is coming, but contrary to what some people say, there could be health risks Scientific AmericanSee also ... read more
STOP 5G ON EARTH AND IN SPACE( education / tech / phones )
We the undersigned scientists, doctors, environmental organizations and citizens from (-) countries, urgently call for a halt to the deployment of the 5G (fifth generation) wireless network, including 5G from space satellites. 5G will massively increase exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation on... read more
SO, YOU DROPPED YOUR PHONE INTO THE TOILET?( education / tech / phones )
Yep, that is what just happened to me. Here is some advice on what to do: wikihow /Dry-Out-a-Wet-iPhone. Luckily, the toilet had already been flushed and the phone was too big to go down the hole. Still... remind me to spray it with Lysol when I get home!Speaking of... read more
HOW YOUR CELL PHONE MIGHT DETECT A CREDIT CARD SKIMMER( education / tech / phones / fraud )
When you're next to the pump, try connecting to Bluetooth, and if you see "a long string of numbers trying to connect... that's probably not good," says Sid Miller. ... read more
BATTERY-FREE CELL PHONE( education / tech / phones )
Cool! This would (eventually) remove the need for environment-destroying battery factories We've built what we believe is the first functioning cellphone that consumes almost zero power," said co-author Shyam Gollakota, an associate professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science ... read more
MY PHONES( education / tech / phones )
In the process of upgrading to a new Samsung Galaxy Note II today (which should arrive in a few days), Sprint at one point showed me all of the devices I've had with them over the years (in case I wanted to trade any of them in). It was fun... read more
BEST SMARTPHONE (2013)( education / tech / phones )
I've got an iPhone 4 now, which I've never been crazy about. I used to have a Blackberry Curve, which I was also never crazy about. If I could combine the best features from both, that'd be nice, but probably still not good e... read more
SPRINT NOW ALLOWS EDITING HOW YOU APPEAR IN CALLER ID( education / tech / phones )
This is great. I think I blogged once (here), complaining that I couldn't change how my name appears on the receiving end's caller ID. It showed my legal name, William, but I wanted it to say Bill. The foreign girl in ... read more
STUPID ONLINE CHAT WITH SPRINT SUPPORT( education / tech / phones )
12:32:39 PM : Bill: Initial Question/Comment: Your online form won't let me change my contact info. It keeps saying Oops, something's broken or whatever, never telling me what I've done wrong. I filled out all the required fields.12:34:14 PM : Vicki: Hi Bill. I am sorry for th... read more
NEW CELL PHONE( education / tech / phones )
Sprint called the other day and offered me a free new phone. The woman, sounding like she was from Indonesia or something, went on and on and on for twenty minutes. Luckily, the call did not count against my minutes. Just last month I had to increase my allowed minutes from 300 to 450 because ... read more