By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

California’s hands-free mobile phone law goes into effect on July 1st. Starting on that date, California drivers will no longer be able to use hand-held phones, but will instead either need to use a hands-free device, whether it’s a headset or integrated into the car.

A study released Monday by the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) estimates that California will have 300 fewer traffic fatalities a year once the law goes into effect. According to Jed Kolko, PPIC research fellow and study author, if such a ban were extended across the U.S., thousands of lives could be saved.

The study found the following:

• Mobile phone ownership appears to contribute to traffic deaths but only under certain driving conditions. If the weather is bad and the roads are wet, the effect is large. There is no observable effect in good weather or on dry roads.
• Laws requiring hands-free devices have reduced fatalities in adverse conditions by 30-60 percent, depending on how long the law has been in effect.
• Based on the experience of New York, which in 2001 became the first state to have a hands-free law, fatalities in adverse conditions may remain at a lower level several years after the law takes effect.

Previous studies did not so such a correlation between mobile phone use and traffic fatalities, but they used laboratory simulations, which skewed the data, according to Kolko.

Laboratory simulations measure the effect of one kind of mobile phone device versus another. In other words, they measure distraction levels of a driver while using a phone.

“Drivers make real-time decisions that can’t be measured in a lab,” Kolko says. “They decide whether and when to use their phones. The question is how these laws might change drivers’ likelihood of using any mobile phone, whether it’s handheld or hands-free.”

Currently, hands-free laws are in effect in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia. Several cities also have such laws, including Chicago and Santa Fe, New Mexico. On July 1st, Washington state will join California with its own hands-free law.

Not only has cell phone use while driving come under fire, but so has text messaging and emailing.

While it’s great to see a study of this nature, it seems to me another one of those “common sense” type things. If you are using your cell phone, particularly dialing or holding it to your ear (much less texting), are you paying full attention to the road? Come on, I would hope everyone would answer “no.” Once again, common sense.

California’s hands-free law has some exceptions:

• Drivers of commercial vehicles can use push-to-talk phones until July 1, 2011.
• Drivers can make emergency phone calls without using a hands-free device.
• Drivers of emergency response vehicles can use cell phones without a hands-free device.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Let’s face it: smartphone news nowadays seems to center on the iPhone, even if some analysts don’t label it a smartphone. And with the iPhone’s upcoming Exchange support, RIM has to be feeling some heat, despite its dominance in the Enterprise market. The BlackBerry Bold (known during development as the BlackBerry 9000) has been labeled by some as an “iPhone killer,” but it’s not really that so much as a device aimed at keeping BlackBerry on top of the Enterprise game.

From their press release:

The BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s support for tri-band HSDPA and enterprise-grade Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g) networks and its next-generation 624 MHz mobile processor make short work of downloading email attachments, streaming video or rendering web pages. The BlackBerry Bold also includes 128 MB Flash memory plus 1 GB on-board storage memory.

Note that unlike the T-Mobile Pearl, Wi-Fi can be used only for data, not voice calls. More:

The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with the most vivid and bold display ever introduced on a BlackBerry smartphone. Its half-VGA (480×320 resolution) color LCD is fused to the undersurface of the lens, making images leap out with stunning definition and clarity.

While it has the same resolution as the iPhone, the display is (quite obviously) smaller. The hard keyboard is a plus for Enterprise users, though.

For off-business hours, the Bold has a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capability, built-in flash and 5x digital zoom. It has built-in stereo speakers. According to RIM, when using wired headphones or external speakers, the media player gives the user an equalizer with 11 preset filters.

What else? Integrated GPS, so you can’t say you were lost if you miss an important business meeting.

The big question? When. The somewhat vague answer: summer. I’m thinking sometime close to the 3G iPhone launch, which many feel will be sometime between mid-June and mid-July.

By Yan Fortin
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

You’ve been using your cell phone for years, and up until recently, doing so securely was something most people took for granted. But as time flies by, new means of using mobiles to tap directly into someone’s life are becoming easily available on the Web… and the worse thing is, most of these tools are completely free.

It connects you to the world, but your cell phone could also be giving anyone from your boss to your wife a window into your every move.  The same technology that lets you stay in touch on-the-go can now let others tap into your private world — without you ever even suspecting something is awry.

New Web services and software allow people to track your every move and listen to what you say, even if you are not actively using your phone. Kindda makes the future of mobile communications depressing doesn’t it?

Cell Phone Spying: Is Your Life Being Monitored?

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

This isn’t a new idea (for example, China used text messages to warn citizens about Typhoon Kaemi in 2006), nor is the wrangling around it in the U.S. new, but on Wednesday an “emergency alert via SMS” plan finally received approval by regulators.

The discussion so far was prompted by the Warning Alert and Response Network Act, a 2006 federal law which requires upgrades to the emergency alert system.

Participation by carriers will be voluntary (I would expect them all to provide the service), as will participation by consumers, who will be able to opt-out.

The types of messages provided fall into three categories:

• National Alert: from the President, probably involving a terrorist attack or natural disaster.

• Imminent Threats: natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes or events such as university shootings.

• Amber Alerts

According to reports, the alerts would arrive with a unique “audio signature.”

We Say: Nice to see us finally catch up with China. Or at least, we will by 2010; the plan should be implemented by then.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Remember Microsoft’s Surface, the sort of Minority Report-type interface in a tabletop format? At CTIA on Tuesday Microsoft and AT&T announced that Surface will - well, surface - first at AT&T stores, in its first use in a retail environment.

In a press release, Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility said:

“We are thrilled to bring this groundbreaking new technology to our stores so we can introduce customers to their mobile worlds in a very personal and easy way . We look forward to working with Microsoft to continue developing new ways for our customers to learn about the ever-growing lineup of mobile devices and applications.”

It’s also a way to hopefully get people to come in, right? Just to look and play with the darn thing?

But they do have interesting plans for the use of Surface. For example, potential customers can:

• Learn. Customers can review features of a particular mobile device by simply placing it on the display. Surface will recognize the device and provide a graphical overview of its capabilities. Customers will be able to place two devices side by side on the unit and easily compare their features.

• Explore. Customers view interactive coverage maps at the national, state, local or street level, using simple touch and hand movement to scale and move the maps, determining their coverage area.

• Customize. In the future, customers will be able to drag and drop ring tones, graphics, video and more by “grabbing” content with their hands from a menu on the display and “dropping” it into the phone.

Want to be one of the first to see it? New York City, Atlanta, San Antonio and the San Francisco area will be the first places to get it, on April 17th. Then it will expand “based on the success of the first phase of deployments.” Hmmm.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Fortunately Amazon.com launched this today (4/2) so I can be assured it’s not a prank. At first, I wondered. But I tried it, so I can report that it works.

Amazon.com has launched “Amazon TextBuyIt,” a way to shop via your cell phone. You simply text either keywords (for example, I sent “Asus Eee”), UPC or ISBN to 262966, and you get a text message back with a list of matches. They you simply reply with the appropriate number to buy the item.

For example, when I sent my Eee message, I received a reply with two different Eees I could select as 1) or 2).

The list of commands you can use are:

x - buy item x
xd - item x details
m - more results
h - help

Once you reply back with a selection, you will receive a call asking you to confirm or cancel the order. The first time you make a purchase using TextBuyIt, Amazon.com will ask for your email and default shipping address zip code so it can associate your Amazon.com account with the cell phone. If you have the “Amazon Prime” service it will incorporate that information.

Once associated, Amazon.com can grab your information including your default settings for payment method, shipping address and shipping speed. The confirmation call (automated) you receive repeat the selected item description and will ask for the last 4 digits of the credit card set as your default payment method. If you press “*” instead of entering your credit card, it will cancel the order; you’ll get another text message with a cancellation message.

It was funny to hear the robotic voice read off the full details of the Asus Eee as it was loooong.

You can also go to www.amazonpayments.com to pre-register your phone, which Amazon.com recommends (but it’s not necessary).

And before you ask, no, I didn’t complete the purchase of the Eee.

We Say: Like I said, when I first heard about this, I wondered. But after trying it out, it’s easy, though I still don’t think I’m going to be using this to buy much stuff … but I can see a great use for it: comparison shopping, and that’s likely what Amazon.com had in mind.

Want more info? Head on over to Amazon.com.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Waitasecond! I’m pretty selfish with my bandwidth. Why would I want to turn my wi-fi enabled smartphone into a hotspot? Well, maybe I would - because it’s generally easier to set up wi-fi than to set up a smartphone as a laptop modem.

Wednesday TapRoot Systems announced (.PDF), for “immediate implementation into carrier networks,” WalkingHotSpot (WHS) client and server. The client will only work on WM and Symbian devices for now.

Of course, you won’t be able to buy it yourself. Nope. The idea is for TapRoot to sell this to carriers, and then the carriers will incorporate it into their devices. In conjunction with the WHS server, which

provides carriers with the ability to manage and control subscriber accounts, authenticate WalkingHotSpot devices and clients, as well as collect subscriber usage information. This service allows carriers to offer a secure, controlled and scalable solution to their subscribers.

AKA: carriers can / will use the server to charge for this. As if we don’t pay enough for our wireless plans already, right?

Want voice / data? That’s only available on HSDPA / UMTS devices. EVDO, though fast, will drop the data connection when a call comes in.

We Say: BTW, there’s a (currently) free WM client called WMWifiRouter. It’s on WM, though, and it’s clear it’s not going to be free once it ships. You can get a €5 discount on the final product if you try it and let them know (via a web form) if it worked on your device.

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

Anyone who travels a lot will simply look at this device and sigh with relief. Why? Hotels are awful about providing enough power outlets near the desk - and with more and more gadgets hitting the road, it means a room strewn with charging cell phones and laptops and headsets, etc. One room I had not long ago sported a whole free outlet behind the bed - picture groping around behind that disgusting headboard.

Spec-wise, not much to say that you can’t see here. It boasts three surge protected AC outlet plugs, and will also charge two USB devices. Price: $24.99.

Product Page
Source: Belkin

Our Take: True, it means hauling along one more device and it isn’t exactly cheap, but if you really, really travel, this one is no-brainer, especially if you can expense it.