Earlier this year we told you about the many hi-tech ways in which retailers are tracking customers’ movements and purchases. Now high-end department store Nordstrom admits that it’s using a smartphone tracking system to keep an eye on shoppers’ behavior. [More]
smartphones
Can I Replace My Smartphone Screen Myself? Yes. Should I? Maybe.
By 5.1.13
Can you replace a cracked smartphone screen yourself? Yes, and there are plenty of tools, kits, and online tutorials available to help you. Should you do it? Maybe, say our colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports, armed with pentalobe screwdrivers and lab coats. [More]
The Origo Won’t Let Smartphone Addicts Start Car Unless Phone Is Inaccessible
By 4.19.13
Drivers distracted by their phones or other gadgets in the car are a serious safety problem and really annoying to get stuck behind when the light turns green. What if there were an overly restrictive answer to that problem? Meet the Origo: a system that won’t let you start your car unless your phone is in a specific dock. [More]
Consumers Union Calls On FCC, Lawmakers To Relax Rules On Cellphone Unlocking
By 4.16.13
As many of you know, the Librarian of Congress, who has the authority to interpret (and reinterpret) the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, recently heeded the siren song of the wireless industry and decided that after the DMCA no longer allowed consumers to unlock their cellphones — i.e., unleash them from their current provider to be used on a competing but compatible network — without getting permission from that current provider. It’s move the public doesn’t like. Neither does the White House, the FCC, or members of Congress, but what’s being done to remedy the issue? [More]
Judge Finds Himself In Contempt Of Court Because He Can’t Work His New Smartphone
By 4.15.13
Whether we want to admit it or not, plenty of us have a sort of smartphone blindness — the person next you on the train’s phone is insufferably annoying when it rings and he can’t figure out how to make it stop, but when it happens to you, well, that’s different. Not so for one judge in Michigan, who found himself in contempt of court when his cellphone went off during closing arguments of a jury trial. [More]
Verizon Wireless Does Away With Early Upgrades
By 4.15.13
If you liked the 20-month early upgrade terms for Verizon Wireless customers, this will not be good news. On Friday, the company quietly announced that it lengthening that upgrade period to the full 24 months of your contract. [More]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Ask Concertgoers To Say No No No To Using Their Phones During Show
By 4.8.13
Since it seems that people can’t stop using their phones for even a few moments to enjoy a live concert, the members of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs are taking the proactive step of telling fans to put their stupid smartphones away so they can remember what it was like to have a good time in 2005. [More]
The First Mobile Phone Call Was Made 40 Years Ago Today
By 4.3.13
You talk to it everyday, stroke it, keep it close by when you sleep and use it to share your world with those close to you. Cell phones are as ubiquitous today as well, we can’t really think of any other product consumers cherish so universally. And it all started 40 years ago with the first public call made from a mobile phone. [More]
Coming Soon To A Mall Or Airport Near You: Straight Talk’s Prepaid Phone Vending Machines
By 3.28.13
Need a new phone or a replacement SIM for an off-contract device? Need it right away? Want to avoid pesky human interaction? In a mall or airport near you, there may already be a Straight Talk vending machine. [More]
U.S Homes Now Have More Than Half A Billion Devices Hooked Up To The Internet
By 3.19.13
We’ve barely dipped our toes into the tablet pool and already it seems like they could combine with smartphones to start that robot revolution everyone is secretly dreading. A new report from a research firm says there are now more than half a billion home-based devices connected to the Internet in the U.S. [More]
Hey, What Happened To All Of My iPhone Contacts?
By 3.7.13
Are you facing life without any of your iPhone contacts? Davin is, and so are a lot of other people. Apple’s response? Well, they don’t have a solution. Their best answer is that, well, these people should have backed their contacts up to iCloud. [More]
Congresswoman To Introduce Bill To Make Cellphone Unlocking Legal Again
By 3.7.13
Just days after both the White House and the Federal Communications Commission expressed concerns about the Librarian of Congress’ decision to make it illegal for consumers to unlock their own cellphones, a U.S. Representative from California says she intends to introduce legislate to right this wrong. [More]
Is A $19/Month Smartphone Through Republic Wireless Right For You?
By 2.19.13
Yeah, the future is here, and everyone above the age of eight seems to be wandering around with smartphones in their pockets. Maybe you’ve put off joining the mobile-computing revolution because you didn’t want to spend $100 per month for a voice and data plan. How about $19 per month for a smartphone with unlimited voice, texting, and data? That’s what Republic Wireless offers, and many consumers find this intriguing. The problem is that you pretty much get what you pay for. Or is that an advantage? [More]
Watching Porn On A Smartphone Can Triple Your Chances Of Downloading Malware
By 2.11.13
Despite the ease of being entertained anywhere that comes with owning a smartphone, only about 1% of all mobile traffic is pornography — after all, maybe you don’t want that grandmother next to you on the bus to see you watching. But a new study says that for those people who do indulge on their devices, they’re putting their phones at a high risk of catching something unhealthy. And by that we mean malware, of course. [More]
Great… Now There’s Android Malware That Can Infect Your PC & Turn It Into A Listening Device
By 2.4.13
In general, the malware relationship between PCs and mobile devices has been a one-way street, with infected computers passing on their digital disease to their mobile mates. But now come reports of at least two infected Android apps whose malware heads in the other direction. [More]
United Airlines Mobile Boarding Passes: Save Time And Trees, Lose Frequent-Flyer Points
By 2.1.13
It’s incredibly convenient to carry your airline boarding passes on your smartphone. They save paper, save the airline money, and save really absentminded people from misplacing their tickets. The problem, though, is that using them means that Ralph loses out on a lot of frequent flyer miles that United Airlines owes him. He doesn’t have any boarding passes to show and prove that he traveled when he said he did, and evidently United doesn’t keep track of that kind of thing. [More]
After Today, You’ll Need Your Wireless Provider’s Permission To Unlock New Cellphones
By 1.25.13 — Updated: 3.1.13
For years, you have been able to just unlock your cellphones and take them from your old carrier to one with a compatible network. But starting this weekend, anyone who unlocks a new phone without getting the permission of their current wireless carrier will be violating the law. [More]
Apple Exec Swears The iPhone Will Never Commit The Crime Of Cheapness
By 1.11.13
A cheap iPhone? Shut your mouth, says Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, according to a new report. Despite rumors that were swirling earlier this week that the company would move toward the popular model of a cheaper smartphone, Schiller says that just ain’t gonna happen. [More]
