cellphones

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France Hit With 2nd Bout of Vandalism Amid Games

Nation's government says telecommunications lines have been affected in multiple areas

(Newser) - The French government says multiple telecommunications lines have been hit by acts of vandalism, affecting fiber lines and fixed and mobile phone lines as cities around France are hosting events for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The scale of the impact is unclear, as is whether it has affected any Olympic...

Virginia Moves Toward 'Cellphone-Free Education'

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issues executive order aimed at getting phones out of classrooms

(Newser) - Count Virginia among the states moving to get phones out of public school classrooms. On Tuesday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order directing the state's education department to start working toward "cellphone-free education," NBC News reports. Specifically, the Republican governor's order calls for the department...

Apple Releases Fix for 'Zombie' Photos on iPhones

Users have complained that pictures deleted years ago are reemerging after update

(Newser) - Apple has had a "pretty bad" issue going on with its iPhones, though it hopes a fix it just released will remedy the situation. The problem, according to 9to5Mac : Users say that photos they deleted, some even years ago, have been popping up again unexpectedly. The users say the...

US Sues Apple, Alleges an Illegal Monopoly

Justice Department says the iPhone maker stifles competition

(Newser) - The Justice Department on Thursday announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors and stifles innovation, per the AP . The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the...

If Your Cellphone Was Useless Today, You're Not Alone

Major carriers appear to have resolved most of the outages, but the cause is still unclear

(Newser) - It's been a lousy day for a lot of smartphones, but the trouble is mostly over: AT&T said late in the afternoon that its network was back again for an hourslong outage across the country, reports the AP . The trouble began overnight, leading to nearly 60,000 outages...

Students Rebel Against Phone Policy, Get a Big Warning

Houston superintendent threatens to suspend kids who walk out of high school over phone ban

(Newser) - Students who don't like their Texas school's new cellphone policy carried out a series of protests over the past week, and now their district's superintendent is warning of repercussions. Chron.com reports that "hundreds" of students at James Madison High School in Houston protested in front...

The Top Smartphone Seller Has Been Dethroned

Apple overtakes Samsung for the first time in 12 years as Android market splinters

(Newser) - Just as Samsung gets ready on Wednesday to release its newest iteration of Galaxy smartphones comes the news that those phones are no longer the best-selling phones in the world—for the first time in 12 years. As the Guardian reports, the longtime Android king has been usurped in terms...

Cops Warn About New iPhone Feature, Experts Say to Chill
Cops Warn About New iPhone
Feature, Experts Say to Chill
in case you missed it

Cops Warn About New iPhone Feature, Experts Say to Chill

Red flag on NameDrop says user contact info could be inadvertently shared, but tech geeks say no

(Newser) - A sharing feature built into Apple's latest iOS update has police departments nationwide issuing a warning to iPhone users, but security experts say the hubbub may be a bit hyped up. The new NameDrop feature allows consumers who have phones using iOS 17.1, or watchOS 10.1 on...

Help Is On the Way for Your Overheated iPhone 15

Apple releases patch to remedy Pro models running 'warmer than expected'

(Newser) - Complaints about Apple's new iPhone 15 Pro models running too hot have been heeded. The company released a patch on Wednesday, noting that the included updates and bug fixes included in iOS 17.0.3 should take care of the overheating issue. "We have identified a few conditions...

Get Ready for Lots of Noise Wednesday Afternoon

FEMA, FCC are conducting emergency alert test

(Newser) - Starting midday on Wednesday, your cellphone will likely start making a lot of noise—and it won't be alone. FEMA, in conjunction with the FCC, will be conducting a nationwide test of both its Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts, with an emergency alert sent to radios and...

Zoo Cracks Down on Gorilla's Screen Time

It seems they really like visitors' cellphones

(Newser) - If you've ever had a kid, spouse, or decidedly boring date you couldn't drag away from their phone, the Toronto Zoo can commiserate. The Toronto Star reports that visitors have for some reason felt the urge to show Nassir the gorilla videos on their cellphones. "Nassir is...

Sorry, Parents, Kids Need to Lose Their Phones in School

Jonathan Haidt makes the case for it in the 'Atlantic,' citing mental health, lack of focus

(Newser) - Last month, the US surgeon general released a report pointing to the links between social media and declining mental health in America's kids and teens, and Jonathan Haidt says the transition to cellphones in the late aughts and early 2010s has played a role. That's why he now...

Government Official Orders Dam Drained to Find Lost Phone
Official Fined for Draining
Reservoir to Find Phone
in case you missed it

Official Fined for Draining Reservoir to Find Phone

State irrigation department in India orders Rajesh Vishwas to pay for wasted water

(Newser) - An official in India who drained a reservoir to search for his lost phone has to pay for the water as well as a new phone. Food inspector Rajesh Vishwas, who retrieved his $1,200 Samsung device but found it was unusable, has been fined the equivalent of around $640...

50 Years Ago Today, the First Cellphone Call Was Made

Motorola engineer Martin Cooper remembers it well, but his rival doesn't

(Newser) - It was 50 years ago today that Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made history with the first handheld cellphone call in public. Cooper, standing on a Manhattan street, made the call to one of his main rivals, Joel Engel at AT&T research arm Bell Labs, CNN reports. "I'm...

Stranded in the Forest, They Got 'Creative' With a Drone

Trio stuck in snowy Oregon sends cellphone with SOS message into the air to pick up signal

(Newser) - A trio stuck on a snowy mountain road in Oregon's Willamette National Forest, a remote area with no cellphone service, came up with a most "creative" way to survive, per Fox News . On Jan. 29, 37-year-old photographer Casey Ryan and a friend took a drive in his pickup...

Inside Mob Boss's Hideouts: Cellphones, Viagra

2 hideouts found in close proximity, just 5 miles from Matteo Messina Denaro's birthplace

(Newser) - Italian police have uncovered two hideouts believed to have been used by Cosa Nostra mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro toward the end of his 30 years on the run. Car keys in his possession during his arrest on Monday led authorities to a home in the Sicilian town of Campobello...

In NYT Story on Russian Troops, Source Code Leaked Too Much

Phone numbers of soldiers, others exposed, putting at risk those who criticized war and Putin

(Newser) - In late September, the New York Times published an interactive report that effectively spied on Russian soldiers' unauthorized calls home from the front lines of the Ukraine war, revealing a "crisis in morale" and "an inside view of a military in disarray." That story likely wasn't...

After 'Fervent' Bidding, 2007 iPhone Sells for $39K

15-year-old 8GB device in unopened box is said to be in 'exceptional' condition

(Newser) - The starting bid for a 15-year-old iPhone on the LCG Auctions site was listed as $2,500, but the now-ancient (in tech years) device ended up going for a whole lot more. Gizmodo reports that the unopened 2007 iPhone, a first-gen 8GB model from the year Apple debuted its smartphone,...

After Late-Night Fatal Crash, an iPhone Calls for Help

Police haven't determined what caused accident in Lincoln, Nebraska

(Newser) - A passenger's cellphone automatically alerted responders after a car hit a tree early Sunday in a Nebraska crash that killed all six of the vehicle's young occupants, authorities said. Five men in the Honda Accord died at the scene of the crash around 2:15am in Lincoln, about...

Jury Acquits in Theater Killing Over Cellphone

Chad Oulson was shot to death in argument over cellphone use

(Newser) - A Florida jury has found a retired police SWAT commander not guilty in a fatal shooting in a movie theater in 2014. Curtis Reeves, 79, had been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated battery, WTVT reports, but the judge had told jurors they could return lesser guilty verdicts, including manslaughter....

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