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Posts Tagged ‘Cell Phones’

June 2 2010

What do Oprah, the Department of Transportation, the Triple A, insurance companies and, state governors have in common?

June 2nd, 2010

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guestexpert Under Satellite Radio

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Tags: Cell Phones, distracted drivers, legislation, mobile, Oprah, Phone Beagle, regulations, text messaging

The United States Transportation Department recently presented a proposal to outlaw text messaging while driving by cross-state truck and bus drivers. This regulatory action follows up on its public service program to mitigate distracted drivers that cause crashes.

The proposal would replace an interim ban put in place earlier in the year by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The proposed ban applies to drivers of passenger buses and commercial trucks operating vehicles with a gross vehicle weight over ten thousand pounds. As an indication of the scope of the issue, violators could face civil penalities and/or even criminal penalties.

The US Transportation Department reported that 5,870 people were killed and over a half million were injured in 2008 in crashes connected to distracted drivers. They didn’t speculate how many of those accidents involved an electronic device. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reflects the Transportation Department statistics with an estimate that around eighty percent of crashes are caused by distracted drivers. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is sponsoring research to find out the extent of the distracted driver issue. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that driver inattention is a determining factor in many accidents, and mobile phone calls and texting are leading causes of driver distractions.

State legislatures have responded to the growing outrage over mobile phone use and sending text messages while driving by issuing a variety of new laws, inclucing banning handheld cell phone use or texting by all drivers or restricting cell phone use or texting for a specific demographic, such as teens or school bus drivers. The Governors Highway Safety Association reports that twenty states and Washington DC restrict drivers of all types of vehicles from texting while driving. An additional nine states restricting texting by beginning drivers. Most states are expected to implement the ban before too long. But it is also believed that the laws are not enough to stop the problem and technical solutions are required. The GHSA says it supports texting bans for all drivers, but has doubts about enforcement.

One company with a monitoring solution is Phone Beagle. PhoneBeagle installs on Android and BlackBerry mobile phones and monitors GPS location, and text messages along with other phone log events.

The trucking and passenger bus industries support the texting prohibition, and many companies have explicit policies against texting when driving. The government, industry and safety organizations all agree that driver distraction caused bytexting is a menace to society, and deserves action. Advocates for addressing the problem also include celebrity Oprah Winfrey.

Without question there are many distractions interfering with a driver focusing on driving: fiddling with the radio or a putting in tape or CD, talking to passengers, rubber necking, and of course, using mobile phones and sending text messages. Navigational and other interactive devices also distract drivers.

As regulations and technology work to to address the issues a software package from Phone Beagle is available to help deal with monitoring phone use. Their software is installed on Android and BlackBerry cell phones and monitors GPS location, and text messages along with other phone log activity.

Is That Music I Hear Coming Out Of Your Phone?

May 17th, 2010

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guestexpert Under Cell Phones

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Tags: broadband, Cell Phones, high speed internet, mobile phone

Who would have believed, even through most of the last century, that the same device we use to contact friends or business associates could also be used to provide us with our favorite music. Of course, almost all new mobile phones can do that and much more.

Imagine trying to explain the Internet to someone as recently as the 1970’s. I tried…unsuccessfully. Even into the 1990s, our current Internet speeds with broadband connections would have seemed like a distant dream. Wrong! Ten years later the majority of us are connect to broadband services. Streaming music to our desktops is no longer interrupted by frequent pauses to resupply the buffer of our memory.

The Napster company had something of a rocky start as a place where music lovers could find each other and, using Napster’s amazing technology, trade their music over the Internet, even before the world wide web had come along. No money ever changed hands. It was a bit like selling bootleg compact discs except that nobody made any income from it. In fact it was the free part of the model that angered the recording artists and record labels. Eventually Napster settled with the recording industry, with a huge financial settlement. They learned their lesson well enough to completely change their business model.

Napster, started as a free trading music set, but it has now become the owner of the largest music catalog on the Internet, with over seven million titles. While it is not free, as it was in the wild days of the early Internet, it is still an amazing bargain. They offer various plans, but the best all around deal is a three month membership, which can be renewed if you still haven’t satisfied your music thirst. I suspect you’ll renew, but the three months will give you a good taste of the service.

For a remarkably low price, you receive five download credits and special bonus download credits as a subscription bonus. Included in the plan is the reason that most people subscribe in the first place–unlimited (!) streaming music. You can listen to the entire catalogs of your favorite artists or, if you prefer, entire albums of a variety of artists. They have over a thousand pre-made mix lists, and those are interactive. They even have a streaming radio station.

The downloads you choose can be played on any MP3 compatible device, including a number of lesser know brands plus the extremely popular Ipod and Zune players. In fact, if you cell phone has this option, you can even carry the music you’ve downloaded from Napster on that, as well.

You have unrestricted rights to these recordings, so you can move them around to different devices that you own. You can even burn a CD for yourself.

Any musical genre you can think of is well represented. I’m sure you’ll find your favorite on the list, unless you are like me and listen to music from a wide variety of genres. Among those genres are rock, pop, classical, R&B, musical soundtracks, Christian, jazz, comedy, and the list goes on.

All of this is just $15 for the three months of delightful musical saturation at Napster.com. Face it, that’s cheaper than a fast food lunch for three.

Comparing Free Laptop Mobile Phone Offers

March 5th, 2010

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Tags: Cell Phones, communcations, free laptop, free laptops, mobile phone, mobile phones, Nokia, phones

When free laptops with mobile phone deals first hit the market they appeared too good to be true! Why would a mobile phone company provide a free laptop with a mobile phone when in some cases the laptop cost more than the phone itself? Even so, getting a free laptop with a new mobile phone has become more common lately so it is critical to be sure you find the right one for you. Getting free laptops with mobile phones isn’t going to go soon but you should still take advantage of it when you can.

The group among which free laptop with mobile phone deals are preferred is scholars. Scholars often need laptops but can’t afford to get both a phone and a laptop so it is sensible for them to take advantage of one of these deals. However, the majority will find they could benefit from these deals in some form. You have to be aware that the laptops that are offered in these deals aren’t often poor quality and you will find truly good laptops from top quality manufacturers.

The only way to try and find free laptops with mobile phones deals is to look around on the web. While there are loads of comparison sites that will help you to find the hottest deal it’s also sensible idea to go and have a look at the individual shops web sites to see whether there are any special deals at set times of the year. The Net is a good spot to start hunting for these deals because there are so many of them that it would probably take you a while to go round all the high st shops to determine which is best for you.

However if you don’t know much about mobile phones or laptops then can be a sensible idea to talk to someone that does. If you go into a high st shop you’ve got the virtue of the being able to talk to a sales advisor who will likely be more well informed about the topic than you are. You do need to use caution not to get surrounded by assertive selling methods but most attendants in mobile phone shops will be ready to give you good advice about which deal is best for you.

Again, it is typically a brilliant idea to go to visit a few different shops to find out which offers they have available and whether you are getting consistent advice from each one of them. Buying a new mobile phone with a free laptop is an important decision so you should not treat it lightly and do lots of research before making a final decision.