Trucker Accident. Driver Guilty Of Texting & Talking On Mobile Phones
July 31, 2009
A tow-truck ended up in a swimming pool after crashing into a car. The accident happened on Wednesday morning in Oxford town. Nicholas Spark, 25, driver of the tow-truck was reportedly texting and talking on 2 mobile phones at the same time, while driving the vehicle.
Lily White, 68, who was driving the car, suffered head injuries. However, she is reported to be out of danger now. Her 8 year old niece, who was also in the car at the time of the accident, has escaped with minor injuries.
A report in the Daily Mail says that one of the cars that were being carried by the truck flew off and crashed into the air conditioner and gas main of a neighboring house. Another two-wheeler got thrown off and landed beneath another parked car.
Accidents due to mobile phone usage have been on the rise and a recent study reveals that drivers who do so, are more prone to accidents, just like alcoholic drivers.
Spark has been charged with talking on the phone while driving, recklessness and following too closely.
Blackberry Curve 8520 Mobile Phone
July 31, 2009
Blackberry Curve 8520 Mobile Phone is the new Blackberry to be unleashed next month. Packed with a host of features, this handset lets you stay in touch with people that matter, surf the web, listen to music, click photographs and also organise your daily tasks.
The Blackberry Curve 8520 has a 2.64” 320 x 240 pixels screen. The Blackberry trademark QWERTY keyboard makes its way into this handheld as well. A media player is fitted into this cell phone. A number of file formats, both video as well as audio are compatible with this player. A 2 Megapixel camera is integrated into this gadget too. This is not one of those high resolution camera phones that are offered by Sony Ericsson Satio or Samsung M8910 Pixon. Yet it will definitely come handy when you need to capture those special moments in life that happen but once. You can shoot videos also. Sharing these videos and snaps with friends is made easy with quick access to socio-networking web sites. You may send them across via messenger or MMS even.
The Blackberry App world allows you to download a variety of useful applications. You can as well get news updates, latest scores, market status and more. An internal memory of 256MB is present. WiFi is supported by this mobile phone too. You can thus connect to the internet at WiFi hotspots. Bluetooth connectivity is offered as well. The battery life offered by the Blackberry Curve 8520 WiFi Mobile Phone also seems quite satisfactory. About 4.5 hours for talk and 17 days for stand-by can be provided. This handheld comes for a contract with £25 a month. It is also available for ‘pay as you go’.
Samsung Gravity 2 Mobile Phone – Samsung T469
July 30, 2009
Texting and social networking have become essential qualities in mobile phones. What else could make a handset more texting-friendly than a QWERTY keyboard. Many handhelds come with such keyboards these days. Samsung Gravity 2 Mobile Phone, also called Samsung T469 Mobile Phone is the latest entry in this category. The best part about this gadget is that it has both a QWERTY keyboard as well as a numeric keypad. This slider phone looks like any normal classic model, when closed. Slide it open and you can make use of the QWERTY keyboard for entering the input. The keys seem well spaced. There is as well a “www./ .com” key for easy address entry for web pages.
This cell phone has been particularly designed for use in the US. It will be using the T-Mobile network and will offer 3G capability only within the US. Outside the US the phone will have to rely on its quad band GSM connectivity for communication. Interfacing with AOL, Google Mail, Yahoo and more can be achieved with this phone.
Other specifications of this handset include Bluetooth capability, an MP3 player, a 2 Megapixel camera and microSD memory expansion. The screen measures 2.4" across and has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and can display 262k colours. A 5.5-hour talktime and a 12-day stand-by time are offered by the battery of this device.
Nokia E75 Mobile Phone has a similar construction, though it is more feature rich than the Samsung Gravity 2 Slider Mobile Phone. However, the price or other offers that come with the Samsung phone are not known yet. Since the Nokia E75 is priced at £390, the Samsung handset should surely cost lesser if it launches in the UK. On the whole this handset does look ergonomic, allowing ease of use with both the numeric as well as the QWERTY keyboard. Looks-wise too, Samsung has not done a bad job. The handset looks decent and quite sturdy too.
Orange’s Music Streaming For Mobile Phones
July 30, 2009
Orange are going to launch their own music streaming service, called Monkey, for mobile phones. The network provider has partnered with Channel4 and Universal Music Group to run the service.
Orange customers who top-up a minimum of £10 a month are eligible for Monkey, which offers 600 minutes of streamed music. By dialing 247, they will be presented with a set of 8 playlists. This pre-loaded set will be updated on a regular basis. Apart from this, customers are also given the choice of making their own playlists by logging on to a dedicated website. Moreover, the service provider will as well send users free offers and promotions according to their tastes, which they determine with the help of mobile advertising specialist, Blyk.
Tom Alexander, chief executive of Orange UK said that Monkey is for everyone and is not restricted to high-end expensive handsets. Pippa Dunn, Orange UK PAYG Head, also mentioned that this service will lure the youth crowd from illegal file sharing. Thus giving them free music and ensuring that artists get paid for their job too.
Mobile Phone Used For Smuggling Drugs Into Prison
July 29, 2009
A prisoner at HMP Liverpool, accused of drug smuggling, has admitted to have carried on the activity, despite his imprisonment. George Moon, 62, used a mobile phone, which he had hid in his cell to contact his gang members to smuggle cocaine into Britain and Ireland from Panama in South America. The handset was found when a raid was conducted by Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Moon is also charged with smuggling mobile phone parts as well as drugs into the jail. Bill Hughes, Director General of SOCA told BBC that career criminals like Moon, even within the prison, look for any way to carry on their illegal operations. He also mentioned that such criminals are ingenious and determined.
A notebook was also found during the raid, which contained contacts of other gang members. Most of these gang members have been arrested and have pleaded guilty to the charges against them. The sentencing will be taking place next month. The South American associate of the scandal has also been arrested and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in Panama.
