Parents can now ’spy’ on their kids’ mobile phones

September 6th, 2009 MELBOURNE - In a shocking revelation, poor parents in an impoverished western Sydney suburb are feeding their young children cannabis to "keep them quiet", a children's charity has disclosed. Counsellors at the Mount Druitt branch of the renowned Ted Noffs Foundation say parents see the practice as an easy alternative to soften their unruly kids.ews.com.au quoted clinical psychologist Michael Kirton as saying: "We are seeing six-year-olds being given bongs by their families to keep them quiet, stop them crying, or put them to sleep.

September 3rd, 2009 LONDON - Mobile phones of Princes William and Harry may have been hacked, it has been suggested. Detective Chief Superintendent Philip Williams, from the Metropolitan Police, mentioned the probability.

September 3rd, 2009 LONDON - The mobile phones of British princes William and Harry may have been hacked into by tabloid reporters, a senior British police officer said. Detective Chief Superintendent Philip Williams of the Metropolitan Police spoke of his suspicion at a hearing Wednesday of the British parliament's select committee on culture, media and sport.

August 17th, 2009 RANCHI - The Jharkhand forest department is distributing mobile phones free of cost to keep track of movements of wild elephants that run amok in villages close to forest areas. Mobiles are being distributed to one member of the Joint Forest and Village Defence Committee (JFVDC) member of each village.

August 5th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Heavy mobile phone users have poorer memory, slower reaction times and make more mistakes, a new study has found. The study by researchers from Monash University reviewed 300 students aged 12 to 14 from 20 Melbourne private and state schools.

July 31st, 2009 CHANDIGARH - All field officials of the Punjab Police are to get mobile telephones to improve their connectivity and response time. The telephones will be given to all police officers and non-gazetted officers posted in the field, a police department spokesman said Friday.

July 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Hands-free headsets and built-in phones are no safer than handheld phones while driving, suggests a new research. The data suggests it is the conversation that distracts drivers and not the phones.

July 2nd, 2009 LOS ANGELES - A new satellite designed to allow the convergence of cellphones and satellite phones throughout the US was successfully launched Thursday, mobile communications provider TerreStar announced. Weighing 6,910 kg, TerreStar-1 is the largest commercial satellite ever and was launched by Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana Tuesday.

June 30th, 2009 LONDON - Some of the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturers have agreed to adopt a new universal standard of phone charger in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. Until now, most mobile phones have used proprietary chargers that will only work on one kind of device, leading to cupboards full of unwanted chargers in homes across the country.

June 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The next time you realise your mobile phone has run out of battery charge and you are commuting by the Delhi Metro, don't fret - just connect your phone to the charging points that will soon be available at stations for free. For the convenience of its commuters, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will install 134 multiple mobile charging machines at stations by July this year in a phased manner.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Import of Chinese mobile phones without unique identity code numbers has been banned, India's commerce ministry announced. "Import of mobile handsets without International Mobile Equipment Identify (IMEI) number or with all-zero IMEI is prohibited with immediate effect, the Director General of Foreign Trade said in a notification.

June 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Text messages, listening to music and surfing the Internet are the most popular activities of the Indian mobile user, while work-related tasks such as checking emails and managing meetings take a backseat, according to a report by a leading IT publication group. "SMS was one of the most popular mobile application with an overwhelming 92 percent respondents using it," said the report by specialist IT media house Cybermedia.

May 18th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Mobile phones, though marketed as a business tool, have now become an instrument for life, according to a new survey. The survey involving 1000 workers has shown that cell phones not only keep users "perpetually available", they also help in stress because "dead time"-for example, waiting for the late morning train-can be revived by making a call to mum or looking for a work contact.Most people still think mobile phones split up and rush our lives, but the reality is that it doesn't seem to be a perniciously accelerating technology," the Age quoted time-use expert Michael Bittman as saying.

April 27th, 2009 MELBOURNE - About a quarter of Aussie parents believe that it is acceptable to let their kids drink before they reach legal age, a new study has found. According to The Generation Next Parental Research Study, 24 per cent of parents believe 16 is an appropriate age for their children to start drinking under adult supervision.

April 6th, 2009 MELBOURNE - While parents worry over the link between cell-phone and cancer, mobiles are making their way into the hands of kids as young as nine, according to a study. The prevalence of mobiles among kids came to the fore at the time when the independence of Australia's peak mobile phone research group was being questioned.