cell phones

21 Million Chinese Cellphone Users Disappear in Three Months of Pandemic

The opacity of the Chinese Communist government obliges responsible outside observers to look for clues to the truth of the coronavirus epidemic, instead of merely repeating official information without question. The official count from China is 3,277 fatalities from 81,171 infections as of Tuesday, but the Epoch Times noted the troubling disappearance of some 21 million cell phone accounts in China over the past three months – an unprecedented decline that hints at more fatalities than Beijing is prepared to admit.

A woman wearing a Minnie Mouse face mask looks at her mobile phone in Beijing on February

Obama Admin. Approves Plan to Make Prison Phone Calls More Affordable

In a controversial vote Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission approved a plan to “Ensuring Just, Reasonable, & Fair Rates for Inmate Calling” and would place a cap on the amount of money that communications companies charge convicts to make phone calls in jails and prisons across the country.

REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON

Samsung Pay Set to Crush Apple Pay

The newly-introduced Samsung Pay is about to crush Apple Pay, because all newer generation Galaxy mobile phones already work with 85 percent of “swipe-style” credit card machines.

Return of the ‘Cell Phones Cause Cancer’ Scare

Cell phones have become so popular that only the most dire medical findings would be likely to significantly reduce their use, but the financial and legal fallout from product liability lawsuits could deliver a major blow to the industry, with one likely result being a significant increase in the cost of cell phones, from both redesigns meant to minimize potentially harmful radiation, and the cost of major lawsuits. Who knows what other sorts of nanny interventions we could face down the line? Phones treated like packs of cigarettes, slathered with warning labels? Mandatory warning messages piped into the ears of users when they’ve been on the phone too long?

Jonathan Brady/PA Wire URN:22370913 (Press Association via AP Images)

After 100+ Days, Google Admits Huge Security Flaw in Android Phones

It’s been compared to the huge “Heartbleed” bug that panicked the Internet last year. It could prove to be an even worse problem than Heartbleed was, because while devising and distributing fixes for that problem was hardly an easy task, it wasn’t as difficult as updating the operating system on some 950 million cell phones from various providers.

Google's lead designer for 'Inbox by Gmail' Jason Cornwell shows the app&#0

Obama Drops Plan to Store NSA Phone-Snooping Data With Third Parties

The Obama Administration has dropped a plan to outsource the storage of cell-phone metadata to third-party vendors, but the Surveillance State is still very much interested in that data. From a public-relations standpoint, the goal of these post-Snowden reform proposals is to erase the image of phone companies “giving our phone data to the government.” If the companies are storing the data themselves and making it accessible to the government, the public’s comfort level with the process might increase.

smartphone