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For the past 10 years, a diverse group of epidemiologists has tried to nail down an association between mobile phone use and brain cancer. This has not panned out. Several recent, large-scale European studies have indicated there is no correlation. However, every now and then a research paper still tries to approach the topic from a new and unusual angle and manages to keep the issue alive for awhile longer.

The February issue of Neuroepidemiology has one of those clever exercises that gives American class action lawyers a glimmer of hope. Oncologists Hardell and Carlberg opted to analyze the survival…………… continues on BGR

It’s been debated countless times as to the affect of technological advances on America as a whole. Is it negative? Is it positive? Is it a hodgepodge of the two?

As an educator in the public school system, I find myself at a crossroads. Personally, I love the innovations mankind has constructed for itself.

Professionally, technology has made my job extraordinarily difficult.

One particular device that has become the bane of my working life is the cellphone.

It is difficult enough to establish communication with teenagers, and attempting to teach them a curriculum they have no desire to learn in the first place is almost impossible. Tossing these powerful cellular distractions into the mix only moves the odds further out of our favor.

And for those readers questioning the effectiveness of teacher classroom management, know that there is some truth to your query. Please also note that, while discipline techniques are always in play during school hours, there are upwards of 30 students in any given classroom. And in any given classroom, there are one or two teachers standing vigil over them. And nine out of 10 students have cell phones. In the words of

West Virginia University is getting a $ 182,000 federal grant to study whether states’ laws limiting or banning cellphone use while driving are having any effect on driver safety.

Researchers in the School of Public Health will look at the regulations on texting and talking, how they’re being enforced and whether they’re affecting accident rates among drivers under 25.

Dr. Motao Zhu, the principal investigator, said the project will run through 2015. He will be analyzing data from various sources, including one study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on youth driving habits and a separate one based on visual observation of drivers at traffic lights.

The number-crunching will go back about a decade, and Zhu said he expects to publish one or two articles a year, along with a final report.

Funding for the study comes from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who announced the grant Wednesday with fellow Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, said he hopes the research will produce useable results that could help make the nation’s highways safer.

“Studying the effectiveness of state laws that limit or ban cellphone use while driving is an investment in the safety of our nation’s roads,” he said……………. continues on ABC News

SANTA CLARITA – A suspect identified as a result of a cellphone picture of one of two men who broke into a Santa Clarita home while a female resident was in the house is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at San Fernando Superior Court.

The burglary was reported at 3:15 p.m. Thursday at the woman’s home in the 26100 block of Quartz Meza Lane, Deputy Joshua Dubin said.

The woman was upstairs in her home doing chores when she heard footsteps and unusual movement coming from her kitchen downstairs, according to the sheriff’s department. She shouted for the people to identify themselves, but two suspects ran out of the kitchen and out of the house, carrying her purse, officials said.

The woman ran outside and snapped a cellphone picture of one suspect, who was trying to cover the license plate of their getaway vehicle, sheriff’s officials said.

A resident saw the photo and directed detectives to the home of Karen Kapshanyan, 24, of Van Nuys. A…………… continues on Los Angeles Daily News

Cellphone? Landline? Or both? If you said you only had a wireless phone, you’d be among the growing number of people in the country who don’t have a landline phone to reach out and touch someone.

According to USA Today , the Centers for Disease Control did a study that found more than half of American homes either only had a cellphone or used a cellphone almost exclusively — even if they had a landline phone.

Also, men are more likely than women to live in wireless-only homes.

MODESTO — Modesto police ranked among the top five agencies in the region in ticket writing during a recent campaign to stop distracted driving.

Nearly 3,000 drivers were caught breaking cell phone laws during a crackdown in Stanislaus County and dozens of other police jurisdictions throughout Northern California, authorities reported this week. The crackdown was from Nov. 30 to Dec. 9.

“We are committed to saving lives on area roadways, and drivers should expect to continue to see officers enforcing cell phone driving laws time and time again,” said state Office of Traffic Safety Director Chris Murphy.

California was one of two states to receive grants for high-visibility pilot programs to squelch motorists’ hand-held cell phone use and texting. Delaware also was selected by the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mount a pilot project.

The California program, dubbed “Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other,” was conducted in eight counties with 3.8 million residents in an area that ranged from Mo- desto to Marysville and Vallejo to South Lake Tahoe.

The top five police agencies writing tickets were: California Highway Patrol, 404 tickets; Roseville, 292; Sacramento, 231; Stockton, 195; and Modesto, 176…………… continues on Modesto Bee

(Relaxnews)—”Cell phones are a part of our consumer culture,” says study author Dr. James Roberts, marketing professor at Baylor University. “They are not just a consumer tool, but are used as a status symbol. They’re also eroding our personal relationships.” The research—which relied on self-reports from nearly 200 business students at two US universities—is said to be the first of its kind to investigate the role materialism plays in mobile phone addiction.

“At first glance, one might have the tendency to dismiss such aberrant cell phone use as merely youthful nonsense—a passing fad,” Roberts says. “But an emerging body of literature has given increasing credence to cell phone addiction and similar behavioral addictions.” As mobile phones possess an “ever-expanding array of functions,” he says, their overuse seems increasingly likely.

Chris Brown won’t be charged in a “robbery by sudden snatching” case from February, in which he was accused of taking a woman’s cellphone after she tried to snap a picture of him as he left a Miami nightclub in a black Bentley.

No evidence was found that Brown intended to steal the phone or deleted any photos, one of which would be needed to make a case for robbery or theft, according to a memo released Friday by the Miami-Dade County state attorney.

The phone — which was snatched or dropped in Brown’s ride before it was tossed out the window, depending on which of the many witnesses’ stories are to be believed — ultimately wound up in the possession of Devon Blanche, the head of security for Tyga, another rapper who had just performed with Brown at the Cameo club in Miami and was also leaving.

A new study suggests that donating through text messages has quickly become a notable part of political fundraising, with about one in 10 presidential campaign donors giving money to the candidates by cellphone.

The analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project also found that Democrats were more likely to contribute to President Obama’s campaign either online or through a cellphone, while supporters of Mitt Romney leaned toward donating by mail, phone or in person.

Overall, of those who said they had contributed to one of the two candidates this year, 67 percent had given through traditional means; 50 percent had given online or through e-mail; and 10 percent had given through a text message or cellphone app.

Although still a small part of the overall funding stream, the cellphone finding is notable given that neither the Obama nor Romney campaigns began co…………… continues on Washington Post

Day 2: A jury saw a video Thursday morning offering a brief glimpse of some of the children from the day of the fatal fire at a west Houston day care last year, wandering, crying and laughing before they were burned or killed hours later.

April Jackson, the state’s fifth witness in the murder trial against Jessica Tata, recalled seeing her then-1-year-old son lying in a hospital, sedated and covered in bandages the day his day care was consumed in flames. The fire was allegedly started by oil left frying on a warm stove by Tata. Jackson said her son, now 3, is very different from the little boy seen crying when gently scolded by Tata in the video clip.

Jackson, whose son escaped the fire with severe burns, followed four victims’ family members who testified Wednesday in the first day of the trial. Each witness has recounted their experience for the jury from how they met Tata and grew to trust her to the moment they learned about the fire.

All members of the courtroom, including the typically stoic Tata, turned to watch the brief cell phone video…………… continues on Beaumont Enterprise

The stodgy realm of banking has teamed up with the go-go world of smartphone technology to offer ways for people to deposit checks with a simple snap of the phone’s camera.

“This is great. I love it,” said Lea Waters-Clee, a Daly City resident who uses the mobile check deposit service that’s offered by her credit union, Pleasanton-based Patelco. “I don’t have to drive to the branch to deposit a check. I don’t have to find parking. I work in San Francisco, I have to run errands and now I don’t have to add going to the bank to my list.”

Ken Thomas, a Miami-based banking analyst and economist, describes the innovation as a “convenient technology” for both banks and their customers.

“It saves the banks money

because people don’t come into the branches for services,” he said. “And it saves time for the customers.”

Wells Fargo bank, Bank of America, Chase bank and Citibank are among the prominent financial firms that offer ways for people to use their smartphones to deposit checks.

“The initial feedback from…………… continues on San Jose Mercury News

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Keeping a Sprint Sprint Samsung Epic 4G Touch Locked GSM Cell Phone in your pocket is the smart way to get connected to friends an…

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The Pew Internet & American Life study showed some voters are using smartphones as real-time fact-checkers or to post political messages to social networks.

The report found 88 percent of registered voters own a cell phone of some kind as of September, and 27 percent of the phone owners used the devices to keep up with campaign news or political issues in general.

Nearly one in five have sent text messages related to the campaign to friends, family members, or others and five percent have signed up to receive text messages directly from a candidate or other group.

But five percent said that they have received unwanted election-related text messages that they did not sign up to receive.

Forty-eight percent of the voters surveyed said they have a smartphone, and within the group, 45 percent have used…………… continues on Phys.Org

October 09, 2012 10:56 AM PDT October 09, 2012 10:56 AM PDT CELL PHONE ART GALLERY: Arts center exhibit developing

The Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center released data Wednesday from a cell phone toxicity study that ranked the Motorola Citrus as the least toxic phone on the market — and the iPhone 2G as the most toxic.

The study came from a collaboration between the Ecology Center and ifixit.com. The full report is at www.HealthyStuff.org and www.ifixit.com, according to WOWK’s sister station in Detroit.

The Motorola Citrus’ least toxic ranking was followed by the iPhone 4S and the LG Remarq. The new iPhone 5 ranked 5th, better than its primary competitor, Samsung’s Galaxy S III, which ranked 9th.

But every one of the 36 phones sampled contained at least one of following hazardous chemicals: lead, bromine, chlorine, mercury and cadmium, the study found.

“These hazardous substances can pollute throughout a product’s life cycle, including when the minerals are extracted; when they are processed; during phonemanufacturing; and at the end of the phone’s useful life,” the Ecology Center said in…………… continues on WOWK

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that it is not a crime under state law for a county jail inmate to possess a cellphone in a jail cell.

But Clark County Deputy District Attorney Steve Owens said the ruling handed down Thursday doesn’t block jails from imposing rules administratively to prohibit inmates from possessing the phones.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Jose Hernandez told the

(CBS News) It’s a common fear: cell phones are giving us cancer! Despite several studies assuring that there are no health risks associated with cell phone use, it’s a fear that just won’t go away. The latest study gets right to the point: “There is no scientific evidence that low-level electromagnetic field exposure from mobiles phones and other transmitting devices causes adverse health effects.”

A comprehensive, 200-page study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health looked beyond mobile phones to all wireless networks. A popular argument when discussing the dangers of cell phone use is that electromagnetic radiation from mobile devices can damage human cells and possibly cause cancer. But the Norwegian study found that the electromagnetic fields generated by mobile phones are all below thresholds recommended by the International Commission on Non-ionising radiation protection (ICNIRP). Those thresholds are set to be fifty times lower than the minimum value of electromagnetic radiation required to cause heating of human tissue or stimulation of nerve cells.<…………… continues on CBS News

AUSTIN — The city of Amarillo has joined the the growing list of Texas municipalities that ban or severely restrict the use of cellphone use while driving.

The City Commission on Tuesday gave final approval to an ordinance that makes it illegal to drive while using cellphones, GPS devices and even handheld electronic games. However, motorists can use speakerphones or hands-free devices.

“After looking at everything — we’ve been taking hundreds and hundreds of questions and inquiries — we feel we’re ready,” Mayor Paul Harpole said before the 4-1 vote in favor of the citywide ban. “This is a public safety issue.”

Call it a sign of the times in today’s technology-driven world.

Amarillo will join Austin, El Paso, San Antonio and more than 20 other cities in the state that have banned or severely restricted the use of cellphones while driving.

Like the city of Lubbock did four years ago when it got rid of red-light cameras at street intersections, what Amarillo and those cities have in common is they have acted on their own because the Texas Legislature or Gov. Rick Perry haven’t approved any laws addressing their specific needs.

Last year, for example, the Legislature approved a bill that would have banned texting while driving but Perry…………… continues on LubbockOnline.com

A recent study examining how mobile phone users protect their privacy looked fine on the surface, but also tried comparing smartphone users with non-smartphone users. Security Watch outlines why that doesn’t work.

Earlier this week, Pew Internet and American Life Project released a study examining mobile phone users and privacy. Approximately 88 percent of the U.S. population owns cellphones, and a little less than half, or 43 percent, download apps on to their phones, Pew found in its study. Of that group of app downloaders, a little over half, or 57 percent, said they have uninstalled or refused to install an app due to privacy concerns.

So far so good, but the study took a bizarre turn when examining what the users did with their phones. Pew reported that of all the surveyed cell phone owners, 42 percent backed up the contents of the mobile devices, 32 percent cleared browsing history, and 19 percent disabled location tracking. Since the percentages were higher among smartphone owners, Pew’s researchers drew the conclusion that smartphone users were more privacy conscious than their non-smartphone counterparts.

“Smartphone owners are generally more active in managing their mobile da…………… continues on PC Magazine

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI — When you get thousands of people together for an event like a football game, cell phone service tends to fall.

The city of Mount Pleasant is doing something about that, Central Michigan Life reported.

Mount Pleasant is installing a fourth and temporary Verizon Wireless cell phone tower for the weekend, as on Saturday the Central Michigan University football team faces off at home against the No. 11 ranked Michigan State University Spartans.

Still, Mount Pleasant Public Information Officer Jeffrey Thompson told CM Life the additional tower might not be enough.

This is the first time MSU has come to CMU for a football game, and university officials