Report: Nearly all gov’t wiretaps involve cell phones or other portable devices

September 30th, 2009 Feds seize ammunition from NC terror suspectRALEIGH, N.C. — Federal investigators have searched the home of a North Carolina terrorism suspect, seizing counterterrorism literature, ammunition and portable electronics.

September 30th, 2009 Oops! Mizzou sells phones without wiping memoryMike Bellman got more than he bargained for when he purchased a box of old cell phones from the University of Missouri athletics department. Bellman bought the cell phones earlier this year at a university surplus sale with the intent of reselling them for parts.

September 30th, 2009 Oops at Mizzou in cell phone saleCOLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri athletics department is changing its procedures after selling a box of old cell phones that included old text messages and contact numbers.

September 15th, 2009 Dogs sniff out inmates' illegal cell phones in NJBORDENTOWN, N.J. — As Congress considers whether to allow state prisons to install cell phone jamming devices, New Jersey is grappling with ways to stop inmates from running criminal enterprises from behind bars.

September 8th, 2009 NTSB restricts employee cell-phone useWASHINGTON — The federal safety agency that investigates transportation accidents is banning texting and talking on cell phones by its employees while driving on government business. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said Tuesday she's adopting the policy because she wants her agency to follow the same safety practices it recommends for others.

August 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The touch screens of smart phones, portable media players and other devices tend to smudge easily, but scientists say they have a test to determine the chemical composition and the effectiveness of protective coatings, a finding that may lead to the development of better anti-smudge, anti-reflective coverings. The key to anti-smudge coatings is perfluoro alkyl ether, a Teflon derivative with added ether groups to enhance its repellent effects.

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 21st, 2009 Report: Agency withheld distracted driver researchNEW YORK — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gathered hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the hazards of drivers using cell phones, but withheld the information from the public in part out of fear of angering Congress, a newspaper reported Monday. The former head of the traffic safety agency, Dr.

July 15th, 2009 State officials push for prison cell phone jammingWASHINGTON — Texas and Maryland officials are urging Congress to approve legislation allowing states to jam illegal cell phones used by prisoners. Texas State Sen.

June 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists is developing hand-held devices that can detect the presence of aerosols in air above oceans by measuring how light scatters as it strikes the particles. The portable photometers have been developed by Alexander Smirnov, an AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and his team.

June 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Duke University engineering students have come up with a cell phone application that can enable users to remember things just by writing short notes in the air with their handsets, which will be automatically sent to their e-mail address. The researchers say their PhonePoint Pen application uses the built-in accelerometers in cell phones to recognize human writing.

May 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Cell phones and laptops may soon be using a new videoconferencing technology that creates the appearance of three-dimensionality and a strong sense of co-presence without the use of expensive motion-tracking devices or multi-camera arrays, if University of Virginia researchers have their way. Timothy Brick, a research who will make a presentation on the new low-bandwidth technology at the International Workshop on Image Analysis for Multimedia Interactive Services in London, says that it may make high-frame-rate videoconferencing readily and inexpensively available to nearly anyone with small, portable communication devices, possibly within two to three years.

May 6th, 2009 A fifth of US homes have cell phones, no landlinesWASHINGTON — For the first time, the number of U.S. households opting for only cell phones outnumber those that just have traditional landlines in a high-tech shift accelerated by the recession.

April 24th, 2009 Colo. Senate panel backs cell phone billDENVER — A bill requiring drivers to use handsfree devices while talking on cell phones is advancing at the state Capitol, but it could run into trouble later. The Senate Finance Committee backed the measure (House Bill 1094) in a 4-3 vote Thursday.

January 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Children, who tend to cross streets talking on cell phones, stand a higher risk of injury or even death, according to the latest study. 'Cell phones clearly offer convenience and safeguards to families, but they also may pose risks,' said University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) researchers, 'particularly when children attempt to multi-task while conversing on the cell phone....' Researchers used a virtual reality software programme and three screens to display an actual Birmingham area crosswalk with simulated vehicles of different sizes travelling on the virtual street.