T-Mobile Brings Cell Phone Service Home

Brother ran up some serious roaming charges

(NEWSER) - When a Florida woman put her college-student brother on her cell phone plan, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. After two weeks in Canada, he managed to run up a $201,000 bill, WSVN reports—and that's without even talking. Turns out he hadn’t turned off his data roaming on the T-Mobile plan. Shamir Aarons, who is deaf, had also exchanged some 2,000 texts and downloaded a few videos. More»

Don't hang up on me, baby

(NEWSER) - Here's a cellphone that's got your number. In pursuit of more "emotional" and "sensory" phones, a designer at the Berlin University of the Arts has come up with three different touchy-feelie models that will blow on your neck, coo, and even kiss, reports the Los Angeles Times . One prototype has a strap that tightens to simulate a hand squeeze and is triggered by an amorous caller on the other end. The kissing phone involves questionable things like wet sponges and a membrane. "Very intense, huh?" asked the designer when he introduced his models at a German conference. He claims the amorous phones are a natural extension of our desire to reach out and touch someone with our calls. Ring-a-ding-ding. More»

The consensus: 'Ma Bell is back'

(NEWSER) - Reactions to the surprise AT&T-T-mobile merger are pouring in, and, not surprisingly, most conclude this isn't a good thing for consumers:

• The Bell telephone system—"aka AT&T"—was broken up in 1984 to increase competition, and the US telecommunications market was deregulated in 1996, again to increase competition. But this merger "effectively restores Ma Bell to her former girth yet allows the company to operate in a looser regulatory environment," writes David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times . "Consumers might wonder if they've been played. ... Ma Bell is back," and the only thing left for federal regulators to do is instill "new rules that address the shortcomings of our failed experiment in deregulation."

Report shows gadgets can lead to better livelihoods

(NEWSER) - For the financially comfortable, cell phones may make life a little easier—but for those in less-developed countries, the gadgets can be the difference between a life of poverty one of relative comfort, a UN report finds. “Mobiles have spawned a wealth of micro-enterprises, offering work to people with little education and few resources,” the report notes. And subscriptions are soaring in the world’s least-developed countries, Fast Company reports. More»

Because I can actually talk on it

(NEWSER) - That smartphone can text, email, navigate, surf, organize, amuse, and waste time indefinitely. But the one thing it sucks at? Actual phone calls, writes Stephen Randall in an LA Times requiem for the land line, which "sits like a weird dusty antique on my desk. It won't let me play Brick Breaker when I'm bored, it's pretty much chained to the house. It can't even take pictures." More»