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Good news for luxury mobile phone lovers. Following Prada and Giorgio Armani’s example, Christian Dior is making their Diorphone available in their boutiques. For only €3,500, you can score yourself two phones for the price of one. Yes, the special thing about this phone, is you receive a mini phone with it.

KOFU -- A gravestone manufacturer here is helping bereaved families remember their loved ones with a touch of technology -- mobile phone QR codes on tombstones that link to photographs and video clips of the deceased. The tombstones are being sold by stone processing company Ishinokoe. Behind doors on the tombstone that can be locked is a QR code -- a square code read by mobile phones that can link to Web addresses. Grave visitors can use the code to access images and photographs of the person while they were alive.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama's name came up again at the Antoin "Tony" Rezko corruption trial and in a way that earlier filings in the case did not telegraph. Stuart Levine, the prosecution's star witness, said he and Obama were at a party Rezko threw at his Wilmette mansion on April 3, 2004, for Nadhmi Auchi, a controversial Iraqi-born billionaire who Rezko was trying to get to invest in a South Loop real-estate development. Auchi, now a citizen of the United Kingdom, has faced criminal charges in Europe. He also figured in the revocation of Rezko's bond early this year...

<p>Sometimes, simpler is better — even in war and counterterrorism. Who would have guessed that a secret weapon in the fight to defeat terrorists and insurgents would turn out to be ... the mundane cell phone?</p> <p>As a general rule, insurgents worldwide don't much like the sight of a civilian holding a cell phone. All it takes is one quick phone call, and here comes the cavalry.</p>

A burqa may not be the flirtiest garment ever invented for women. The highly modest head-to-toe robe even shrouds the eyes, so for centuries it's been difficult for women wearing them to send suggestive signals to men. But now a German designer has debuted a digitally-enabled burqa that can broadcast a photo of the wearer to nearby mobile phones. Markus Kison calls it the "CharmingBurka," and says it isn't forbidden by Islamic law. A model demonstrated a prototype of Kison's garment at the Seamless 2008 design and fashion show in Boston, a high-tech fashion event run with support from the...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Taliban militants are threatening to blow up telecom towers across Afghanistan if mobile phone companies do not switch off their signals for a 10-hour stretch starting at dusk. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed says the U.S. and other foreign troops in the country are using mobile phone signals to track down the insurgents and launch attacks against them. Mujaheed has told the Associated Press that the Taliban have "decided to give a three-day deadline to all mobile phone companies to stop their signals from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. He says if the companies refuse, the Taliban will...

Heavy mobile phone use a cancer risk By Lucy Cockcroft Last Updated: 1:09am GMT 18/02/2008 People who use a mobile phone for hours a day are 50 per cent more likely to develop mouth cancer than those who do not talk on them at all, new research has shown. The study also suggests that mobile users who live in rural areas may be at an increased risk of cancer because handsets need to emit more radiation to locate fewer antennas. Studies in recent years have found no link between cancer and mobile phone use Research author Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, a...

Investigators had the flat of a person they suspect was planning a terrorist attack bugged for months Two men currently awaiting trail for planning an act of terrorism were reportedly filmed by investigators as they made the explosive they intended to use in the bombing, according to TV2. The revelation gives an insight into the investigative techniques used by PET, the domestic intelligence agency, during the months-long investigation that culminated with a series of arrests in and around Copenhagen in September. Eight men have been charged as a result of the investigation. The two men caught on film are the...

WASHINGTON – Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

    Mobile phone firms plan to find out what you’re talking about . . . and tell advertisers   Elizabeth Judge   Mobile phone companies have drawn up plans to monitor text messages and voice calls and pass the information to advertisers. Companies such as Motorola have developed technology to scan messages for information about where customers are and what they are doing. They claim that the service would be used only with customers’ consent. But privacy groups had deep concerns about the technology and the potential for phone companies to abuse it. Under the Motorola plans, software...

Mobile phone calls on planes within months By David Millward, Transport Editor Last Updated: 12:01am BST 08/09/2007  Airline passengers could be able to use mobile phones on aircraft within months. Join our campaign for mobile-free flightsIndustry safety regulators have always banned their use on board because of fears the signal would interfere with the plane's electronic and communications equipment.But new technology has been developed which means that passengers will be able to make phone calls on mobile handsets safely while in flight.This week Ryanair started trials intended to prove phones can be used on the Boeing 737, which is used for millions...

Drivers risk two years in jail for using their mobile phonesBy JAMES SLACK - More by this author » Last updated at 22:35pm on 6th September 2007Motorists who use a hand-held mobile phone or fiddle with a satellite-navigation system while driving could be jailed for up to two years.Prosecutors have said they could be charged with dangerous driving in a dramatically tougher approach to such offences. Those caught fiddling with an MP3 music player or texting on a mobile at the wheel could also face the charge. Scroll down for more ...  Prosecutions will be brought whenever it is...

Nokia has launched a special-edition cell phone for Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa that features "a unique portfolio of pre-loaded applications including a collection of Azkars for the morning and the evening, an Islamic Organizer with audible alarms for the five daily prayers, a Qibla direction indicator and a Hijri calendar," according to a press release. "The launch coincides with the Holy month of Ramadan and the offer includes a full range of applications, carefully tailored to meet the needs of consumers in the Arab world."The Stiletto is willing to bet that the Nokia N73 Special Edition...

Taliban tap into soldiers' mobile phones By Sophie Borland Last Updated: 2:20am BST 22/08/2007 Taliban insurgents are tapping into the mobile phones of British soldiers in Afghanistan and making threatening calls to their families, according to The Sun. They are thought to be downloading numbers stored in the phones and then terrorising friends and relatives of the servicemen by calling them with threats. One wife of an RAF soldier based in Afghanistan claimed to have received a phonecall in the middle of the night telling her that her husband was dead despite the fact he was alive and well. Servicemen...

British Intelligence: Al-Qaida Expanding -Full Story- British intelligence officials said they believe that al-Qaida has a secure base in Pakistan's Waziristan region and is planning terrorist operations.The group is reaching out to Muslims in North Africa, The Telegraph reported. Last year, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, an Algerian terrorist group, merged itself into al-Qaida, a move announced by Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a tape promising action against the "apostates" in the Algerian government and "the treacherous sons of France."Al-Qaida is also believed to be planning expansion into Lebanon and Syria, the newspaper report...

British police have a "crystal clear" picture of the man who drove the bomb-rigged silver Mercedes outside a London nightclub, and officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com he bears "a close resemblance" to a man arrested by police in connection with another bomb plot but released for lack of evidence. Officials say the suspect had been taken into custody in connection with the case of al Qaeda operative Dhiren Barot (pictured), who was convicted of orchestrating a vehicle bomb plot involving targets in London, New York, Newark, N.J. and Washington, D.C. Officials say a surveillance camera caught the suspect "staggering...

I read about this theory on mobile phone radiation being responsible for the disappearance of bees in our country. I can't post anything from the Independent (UK) because of copyright problems, but check it out at: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece This is a serious problem that has bee keepers stumped. Why is it serious? Because bees pollinate the great majority of crops and Agriculture is our number one industry in America and the economy is being affected as this continues. Aside from the economic loss, the loss of bees is increasing the price of food in your home and could eventually result in...

Terror Finance Experts: Regulators Ignore Mobile Phone Payments Threat By David Marcus Israel News Agency Jerusalem ----- February 21, 2007 .... A new initiative to allow cell phone owners worldwide to send each other money through the mobile network is a dream scenario for terrorists, but the international financial regulators appear to be doing nothing about it. Al Qaeda, Hizbollah, Hamas members and their ilks the world over are delighted. Soon, they and other criminals will be able to use cell phones to transfer money around the globe. The warning comes from two experts on terror financing in the USA...

Has any one made a map, or done any tracking, of cities/towns the cell phones are being purchased? or of where the suspects are being picked up? Thanks.

Designers around the world are busy designing the next generation of cell phones that will still drop calls—but look exceptionally cool doing it. Cell phone giant Nokia recently collaborated industrial design students from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London to come up with the cell phone of the future. The winner, Daniel Meyer, created a phone that would double as a stand-up picture frame; the screen would show pictures of family members and friends, creating a comforting familiar focal point at home, at work or when away. However, I'm fascinated by the multi-sensory design submitted by...

www.motorola.com and www.nokia.com are going head-to-head in the southern city of Madras, India. But, Nokia is throwing the bigger punches. Nokia announced plans to build a $150-million plant near Madras. Motorola countered with a plan to invest $100 million in a plant of its own. Where do these companies get all of this money? $150 mill, $100 mil, and yesterday Yahoo put up $60 mil to invest in South Korea. Could someone please drop a million near me, or invest in me? India is one of the fastest growing handset markets. Gee, I wonder what country is number one. Nokia...

CHICAGO, May 5 (UPI) -- Every year U.S. women spend $5 billion on magazines, movies and other lifestyle "content." Now, marketing experts tell UPI's Wireless World, the mobile-phone industry is eyeing the women's market as a new niche, hoping to provide customized content, whether it is ringtones, personalized "wallpaper" or other features exclusively for female customers. The number of women age 15 to 45 who download content for mobile phones is expected to reach 20 million. By Gene Koprowski http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi/20060505-093740-3057r.htm

Samsung has taken the wraps off a mobile phone that boasts what it says is the biggest hard drive seen on such a device to date. The "candy bar"-style device, the SGH-i310, will pack 8GB of storage and run Windows Mobile 5.0. Samsung is hoping the device, which can hold more songs than an iPod Nano, will take off with music fans. In addition to its large hard drive, the device will let users sync playlists from their PC as well as store documents, photos and other information in the phone's internal memory. The i310 is the fourth of Samsung's...

CHICAGO, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The content isn't quite up to the level of Kiefer Sutherland's anti-terrorist, noir drama "24" just yet, but mobile TV enabled telephones are nonetheless poised for massive market growth, and experts tell United Press International's Wireless World that the sales could reach $30 billion in the coming years. A report released this week by Boston-based Strategy Analytics, called "TV Phones: Integration and Power Improvements Needed to Reach 100 Million Sales," predicts that TV phone sales revenue will soar from $5 billion in this year to more than $30 billion by 2010.By Gene Koprowski

CHICAGO, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- You're sitting on the metro, heading home from work, bored and exhausted. You used to have to wait until you arrived at home to watch some entertaining TV, but not anymore. Telecom carriers are now introducing content, like hot TV shows, including "CSI" and "The Late Show With David Letterman," and "Entertainment Tonight," as well as famous comic strips, that you can view from your mobile phone, wherever you please, experts tell United Press International's Wireless World. At the intersection of the mobile phone and the television lies tremendous programming," said Cyriac Roeding, vice president...

An expert on electronic media says that restricting a youngster's communication options is a modern version of child abuse. Children in Norway begin mobile phone use early. "If you deny a 14-year-old girl her mobile phone and MSN (Internet chat) access, it is just like child abuse," Elisabeth Staksrud told financial daily Dagens Næringsliv. Staksrud is the European Commission's expert on attitudes to electronic media, and she is convinced that children's use of the Internet is far more advanced than parents and employers believe. Next week the SAFT - Safety, Awareness, Facts and Tools - project, the world's biggest questionnaire...

Customer satisfaction among wireless phone users declined 10 percent over last year, and recent mergers in the industry may be the reason, according to a survey released Wednesday. California-based J.D. Power and Associates polled 24,096 customers nationwide and found that from 2004 to 2005, satisfaction took the largest dive in the annual survey's 10-year history. J.D. Power pointed to two recent mergers -- AT&T Wireless and Cingular last year and Sprint and Nextel last month -- as sources of customer irritation. ``Given the number of major changes consumers have experienced over the past couple of years, the gap between customer...

Not all mobile-phone users will be able to access emergency operators by next year -- if they get into a horrific car accident, or observe a violent crime in progress -- even though a government deadline requiring enhanced 9-1-1 is looming, experts told UPI's Wireless World. Verizon Wireless, one of the nation's largest mobile-phone carriers, notified the Federal Communications Commission this week that it could not meet a Dec. 31 deadline to ensure 95 percent of its customers had E9-1-1 capable handsets. Rival Nextel also has requested an extension of the deadline from the FCC. Other carriers are expected to...

A GMC Yukon Denali motors down the road, while the passengers inside simultaneously receive mobile calls over the Internet, and streaming video at up to 2.5 Mbps, on a variety of devices. Cutting-edge? You bet, but that technology demonstration took place just last week in Vancouver, and it was designed by engineers to show the potential of the newest mobile-phone technology: mobile WiMax. WiMax -- a nerdy acronym for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access -- in the coming years may become the new mobile-phone standard, experts told UPI's Wireless World.

Bert and Ernie, those beloved "Sesame Street" characters, are now seen via video streaming on mobile phones providing entertainment for young children while their parents drive around town doing their errands. A new report by IDC, a research firm in Framingham, Mass., indicates that streaming -- such as the video service offered by Verizon Wireless -- soon may emerge as sort of a wireless babysitter for today's on-the-go parents. By Gene Koprowski

Chicago, IL, May. 12 (UPI) -- Playing "Trivial Pursuit" on a mobile phone is no longer a trifling matter. Games for mobile phones finally have emerged as a major technology and entertainment business, experts told UPI's Wireless World. This week RealNetworks Inc., maker of streaming video and audio software, acquired Helsinki-based Mr. Goodliving, a maker of mobile phone games like "Trivial Pursuit" and "MetalSmash Pinball," for $15 million, joining the teeming wireless gaming market. The deal is coming at an apt time because industry revenue, according to Now Playing Magazine, is expected to total $1.5 billion by 2008. Total mobile...

CHICAGO, April 15 (UPI) -- Remember satellite phones? During the last decade, technology companies heroically went bust vying to replace conventional mobile phones with sophisticated handsets that transmitted calls off satellites orbiting Earth. Now, telecommunications companies seem ready for another try, but analysts told UPI's Wireless World they do not know if consumers will be more willing today to spend a dollar a minute or more for the phone service than they were a few years ago. "The bankruptcy of Iridium has been a boon for the industry -- all of the debt was erased," said Sascha Segan, the lead...

CHICAGO -- Tired of the terrible customer service at your wireless carrier, but concerned if you switch everyone who knows your mobile number will be unable to reach you? Not to worry. Mobile phone numbers are now portable -- meaning you can take them with you from one carrier to another, as if they were personal property. The rule allowing consumers to do this was authorized by the Federal Communications Commission just over a year ago, though experts told UPI's Wireless World that customers largely are just beginning to learn of it. "In general, things are going pretty well," said...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The world's first mobile phone virus "in the wild" has spread to the United States from its birthplace in the Philippines eight months ago, a security research firm said on Friday. The virus, called Cabir, has spread slowly into 12 countries and marks the beginning of the mobile phone virus era, which could one day disrupt the lives of many of the world's 1.5 billion mobile phone users. The biggest impact of the relatively innocuous virus, found in about 15 variations so far, is draining mobile phone batteries, said Mikko Hypponen, director of Finnish anti-virus research...

I AM not sure whether it should be a cause for celebration, but it was 20 years ago tomorrow (1 Jan 1985) that Ernie Wise started a revolution. He made the first mobile phone call in the UK, from London’s Docklands to Newbury in Berkshire. The company was Vodafone - then a small part of Racal Telecom - and within a year it had attracted 19,000 subscribers. Now mobiles impinge on every aspect of our lives, even the Hogmanay celebrations. Most revellers seem unlikely to wait more than five minutes from the bells before they start texting or talking. Their...

By Gene J. Koprowski Published 12/27/2004 11:41 AM CHICAGO, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The court-ordered election rematch in Ukraine this past Sunday, featuring opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, probably would not have happened were it not for mobile phone technologies.The technologies -- text messaging services in particular -- enabled hundreds of thousands of youthful demonstrators to coordinate their activities and take to the streets of Kiev to contest the November election results, experts told UPI's Wireless World."The most significant aspect of this thing is the mobilization of the population," said Lubomyr Hajda, associate director of...

Radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA in laboratory conditions, according to a new study majority-funded by the European Union, researchers said on Monday. The so-called Reflex study, conducted by 12 research groups in seven European countries, did not prove that mobile phones are a risk to health but concluded that more research is needed to see if effects can also be found outside a lab. The $100 billion a year mobile phone industry asserts that there is no conclusive evidence of harmful effects as a result of electromagnetic radiation. About 650 million mobile phones are...

By Gene J. Koprowski UPI Technology News Published 12/3/2004 9:04 AM CHICAGO, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A mobile phone is a disposable product -- consumers buy a new one about every year and a half, and toss the old one in the closet. Then, years later, when they have a major house-cleaning weekend, they find a few old phones collecting dust and toss them out in the trash. Experts told UPI's Wireless World this pattern is starting to become a major environmental issue, as old mobile phones start to fill up garbage dumps across the United States and leach lead,...

Mobile phone radiation may damage cells by increasing the forces they exert on each other, scientists have said. The finding could be the key to claims that mobile phones cause cancer and other health problems. Swedish physicists looked at the effect of electromagnetic radiation on red blood cells using a mathematical theory, New Scientist reported. Experts cautioned that the finding was theoretical and said there was no evidence of a danger to health. There have been suggestions that mobile phones can cause brain tumours and Alzheimer's disease, but research has been inconclusive. The conventional view has been that radio waves...

Mobile phone tops hate listBy Vincent Blake January 27, 2004It's official, the mobile phone is more hated than the alarm clock. A Taylor Nelson Sofres Intersearch survey for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology finds nearly 30 per cent of US adults say the mobile phone is the invention they most hate, yet cannot live without. The alarm clock fell to second place, at 25 per cent. The third most hated invention Americans say they can't do without is, surprisingly, the television, with 23 per cent of those surveyed naming it as their top tech bugbear. Other essential yet despised inventions...

Stuff Bush with your mobile By Lester Haines Posted: 19/11/2003 at 14:17 GMT If you're a disaffected yoof with a penchant for dogs on string, anti-capitalist bin chucking and generally opposing US presidential state visits, then you need to get yourself straight down to Phat Tonez. This anarchist ringtone collective has decided to offer a free "Stop Bush" logo for mobes, and has apparently already attracted close on 2000 downloads. Phat Tonez director James Winsoar explains the frenzy thus: "This indicates to me that there are hundreds of thousands of teenagers out there who are interested in politics and who...

The US military is developing a weapon based on peer-to-peer technology to take out mobile phone communications, the US Department of Defence has revealed. The system also has the capability to covertly monitor cellular traffic. Codenamed 'WolfPack', the device is intended to prevent an enemy from using its communications technologies, including cellular, without hindering US forces' own communications systems. WolfPack is a 6 x 4in cylinder weighing 6lbs, capable of being dropped by parachute or fired into the target area as a missile payload. Each device zaps mobile phone communications within a radius of half a kilometre. "The idea is...

By Cynthia Johnston BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Mobile phone roaming services were mysteriously available in Baghdad on Tuesday, bringing cellular service -- banned under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) -- to ordinary people in the Iraqi capital for the first time. Today - Tech Tuesday • Tablet PCs: The Write Stuff? How well do these screen scribblers work? Our expert fights writer's cramp to find out.   Yet officially, a tender for three mobile phone licenses the U.S.-led administration plans to offer across Iraq (news - web sites) has yet to take place. A U.S. military spokesman could not immediately...

US invites bids for mobile phone licences in IraqWeb posted at: 7/19/2003 1:7:23 Source ::: REUTERS An Iraqi technician fixing telephone lines in a neighbourhood in Baghdad. Most of the phone lines are down in Iraq with people, who can afford it, using a form of satellite phone. BAGHDAD: Iraq’s US-led administration invited potential bidders for three mobile telephone licences across the country to express their interest. The licences are one of the most potentially lucrative contracts to be offered in Iraq since the ousting of Saddam Hussein in April. “Companies, individuals or consortia that may wish to apply...

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Talking on a mobile phone while driving your car is just as dangerous when using hands-free equipment as when holding the phone in your hand, according to a Swedish study published on Monday....

Mobile spam on the rise Beware of mobile spam and scam Unwanted text messages are becoming a growing nuisance for UK consumers, who are often confused about how they received such messages. Complaints to regulators have soared over the last year as advertisers directly target mobile phone users. Increasingly, such unsolicited texts dupe people into phoning premium rate numbers. One method is to send a romantic message from an mystery admirer. Premium rate calls watchdog Icstis has received more than 150 complaints in the past nine months about unsolicited messages. Wireless confusion The Advertising Standards Authority has also seen a...