Though the Apple Store memorials have since given way to long lines for the iPhone 4S, it's still difficult to imagine the technology company without Steve Jobs at its helm. And while much has been written about the gadgets that defined perhaps Jobs' most productive decade, it's tough to isolate one device for its impact above the rest.

But this Sunday marks 10 years since the keynote that announced the iPod—a device that started the chain of successes in an Apple renaissance, and one that completely redefined the experience of listening to music, as well as making it.Jobs and his team at Apple seized a moment as much as created a culture with the iPod.

Though the specter of the internet and the high-speed connections that made MP3s available and largely free of charge had already reared its head by the late 1990s, the music industry itself had been slow on the uptake.

It wasn't until the year 2000 that record companies—and famously, Metallica—filed their first lawsuits against Napster, accusing the service of robbing musicians of their royalties. By that time, file sharing had become an unstoppable force, and the music industry was scrambling; but importantly, it was still an unwieldy process to steal music.

Mismatched file names and catalogs of thousands of songs almost negated the value of having a library larger than your record (or CD) collection.

The largest study of its kind found no link between long-term use of mobile phones and increased risk of brain tumours, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) reported on Friday.

Danish researchers found no evidence of enhanced risk among more than 350,000 mobile-phone subscribers whose health was monitored over 18 years.

Earlier research on the possible link between cell phone use and cancerous tumours has been inconclusive, partly due to lack of long-term data.

CANCER - LEARN THE BASICS

In June, the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified the radio-frequency electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."The new study follows up an earlier investigation that compared the cancer risk faced by all mobile phone subscribers in Denmark -- some 420,000 people -- with the rest of the adult population.

Patrizia Frei, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Danish Cancer Society, and colleagues examined health records from 1990 to 2007 for 358,403 cell phone subscribers.

Overall, 10,729 tumours of the central nervous system were diagnosed.

But among people with the longest mobile phone use -- 13 years or more -- cancer rates were nearly the same as for non-subscribers.

"The extended follow-up allowed us to investigate effects in people who had used mobile phones for 10 years or more, and this long-term use was not associated with higher risks of cancer," the study concluded.

The findings, however, could not rule out the possibility of a "small to moderate increase in risk" for very heavy users, or people who have used cell phones for longer than 15 years.

"Further studies with large study populations where the potential for misclassification of exposure and selection bias is minimised are warranted," the researchers said.

In a commentary, Anders Ahlbom and Maria Feychting from Sweden's Karolinska Institute said the new evidence was reassuring but called for continued monitoring of health registers.

There are about five billion mobile phones registered in the world, a figure that continues to rise sharply along with the average amount of time spent using them.

The IARC does not issue formal recommendations, but its experts pointed in June to a number of ways consumers can reduce possible risk.

Texting and using hands-free sets for voice calls lower exposure to potentially harmful radiation, compared to device-to-ear voice calls, by at least 10-fold, they said.

AFP/Relaxnews

Sunday 23 October 2011 - NINE drivers were caught using mobile phones in north east Fife during a police crackdown.

An increased presence on the area’s roads between September 1 and October 6 led to more than 70 motorists being charged with various offences.

The initiative was in response to concerns raised at community engagement meetings across north east Fife — particularly about people using mobile phones while driving.

Community Sgt. Brian Poole, who co-ordinated the operation, said: “While the number of drivers actually detected for the offence of driving using a hand-held mobile device appears low, I am of the view that our increased presence and enforcement activity has played a part in encouraging appropriate driver behaviour and reduced the number of drivers engaging in this risk-taking activity.

“This initiative also allowed us to tackle other road safety issues and some notable results were achieved.

“During the month some 27 drivers were detected for speeding on north east Fife roads, including one individual who will be reported to the procurator fiscal for travelling at 58 mph in a 30 mph limit.”

Sgt. Poole added that six people were caught drink-driving during the crackdown, along with another six for driving without insurance, three for driving without a licence, 20 for not wearing a seatbelt and one for driving while disqualified.

Five motorists will be reported to the procurator fiscal for dangerous or careless driving.

The scheme was particularly focused on roads around schools and ended on October 6 with a ‘day of action’ in St Andrews and Cupar.

Sgt. Poole concluded: “While this particular initiative is now complete, we will continue to tackle inappropriate driver behaviour throughout north east Fife at every opportunity and will deal with risk-taking drivers as robustly as the law allows to ensure that our communities are as safe as they can be.”

North east Fifers can have their say on local priorities by attending the community engagement meetings in their area.

The next round of meetings begins early next month.

Details are available at www.fife.police.uk

A condition dubbed "text neck" is being seen in people who spend time hunched over their mobile phone and tablet computer screens, British chiropractors say.

The say the condition occurs because the joints and tissue in the neck are not meant to flexed for long periods, and hours spent peering down at a screen causes too much stress, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

"Imagine sitting on your ankle sideways for 10 minutes," Rachael Lancaster of Freedom Back Clinics in Leeds said. "It would feel stiff and sore when you returned it to its natural position.

"That is exactly what people are doing with their necks. If people continue to put their necks in these positions, the body will gradually adapt to the stresses."

This could eventually cause the natural curvature of the neck to reverse with possible serious health issues, she said.

Children are more at risk because their heads are larger in relation to their body size than adults, Tim Hutchful of the British Chiropractic Association said.

People should take regular screen breaks, sit up straight while texting and hold their phones or tablets a little higher to avoid problems, chiropractors said.

By Doug Gross, CNN

Editor's note: This is part of "Our Mobile Society," CNN's weeklong series examining how cell phones and other electronic devices have revolutionized the ways we work, play and communicate.

(CNN) -- It's a mobile society.

Call it good. Call it bad. It just is.

With an estimated 5 billion mobile phone connections in the world, not to mention the emerging number of tablet computers and other on-the-go connectivity gadgets, mobile technology has altered the way we live.

It's as hard to imagine spinning a rotary dial or fumbling for a quarter for the pay phone -- both staples of the generation before us -- as it is imagining what new mobile technology may exist in the generation to come.

But, for now, here's a look at 10 ways the omnipresence of mobile gadgets has already changed the wayMeeting up is easier

"We'll meet you there."

There was a time when those words would have required a bunch of follow-up details. That time is called "all of human history before everybody had a mobile phone."

Now, all we need to do is get our friends in, generally, the same geographical region. To finish the drill, dash off a quick "Where R U?" text. (Or, "Where are you?" if you're not into the whole brevity thing. Or if you like grammar).

Change the old adage. "Close" now counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and meeting each other when you have mobile phones.

There's no excuse to be bored

Standing in line? Killing those last five minutes before quitting time? Stuck in the doctor's waiting room or *shudder* the DMV?

There was a time in human existence when all of these occasions would have left us staring at the walls in a zombie-like stupor, particularly if there's not a magazine or book handy.

Now? Chat with a friend. Surf the Web. Check your stocks. Fling birds at pigs.

Smartphones, or tablet computers, put an amount of computing power in your pocket that would have taken up an entire room a generation ago. If you can't find something to entertain you for a few minutes of down time, you just haven't downloaded the right app.

(Editor's note: Notice we didn't say you could do any of this while stuck at a red light. Because we'd never endorse fiddling with your phone while driving. Nope. Never. Ahem.)

Fast-twitch brains

And here's the downside of that one.

Find yourself with a dead battery, malfunctioning phone or -- gasp -- a few minutes away from the thing, and watch what happens. Getting twitchy? Afraid that Words with Friends game has gotten out of control? What if you missed a text?

Or there are those moments when you really should be doing something else, but the buzz of the BlackBerry draws you to its screen again and again and again.

No less an authority than the New York Times posits that "computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing and learning."

Gadgets help us do things fast. But sometimes, it's worth wondering whether their constant, glowing allure helps us do them well.

You're always around

Call this one a blessing and a curse.

There was a time when "Sorry, I popped out for a few minutes" would have worked as an excuse when you're boss called to ask you to go ahead and come in on Saturday. Now, even "I'm on vacation in Bulgaria," "I'm in the middle of L.A. rush-hour traffic" or "I'm currently on the operating table" might not work.

It's just expected that we all have a mobile phone on us at all times. Honestly, when's the last time you heard the phrase "I don't have a cell phone" from someone who lives in an industrialized nation?

The upside is some of the other stuff mentioned here. The downside is that, in a way, we never leave the office.

Horror movies had to add a line

There was a brief moment in the '90s, before Hollywood caught up with real-world consumer technology, when horror-movie audiences were getting their suspension of disbelief slashed to bits.

I mean, sure, we'll accept a kill-crazy animated children's doll or a horde of slavering, reanimated zombies. But how could a cabin full of randy co-eds or a baby-sitter left alone in a creepy house not have a cell phone to call for help?

Fear not. The writers and directors got more savvy, and soon, every single horror movie contained a pivotal "Why the Cell Phones Don't Work" scene.

Don't believe it? Watch this video for five straight minutes of soon-to-be-terrorized scream queens and kings bemoaning their lack of signal or otherwise losing, breaking or abandoning their life-saving phones.

We're particularly fond of "The Hills Have Eyes." "Nothing," our hero says. "Ninety-seven percent nationwide coverage, and we find ourselves in that 3%."

We bet some mobile customers in big, tech-centric cities can sympathize.

Smile! You're on camera!

In our mobile world, everybody's a one-man or one-woman reporting crew.

If you've got a mobile phone, you've probably got a camera on it. If you've got a smartphone, that most likely means camera, video and sound recording abilities.

All this means that, with no planning whatsoever, we're able to document our lives quickly and easily when the desire strikes.

This can lead to great stuff. Our own iReport thrives on it. And much has been made of the role participant videos and photos have played in circumventing crackdowns on traditional media in places like Iran and Egypt during recent political unrest.

It also means that, if you're planning on any sort of bad behavior in public, you'll be surrounded by digital shutterbugs more than happy to put it on YouTube for you.

Update anxiety

What? You've got an iPhone 3G? Luddite!

You like your Droid X? That's so July 2010. The guy in the next cubicle just walked in with the Droid Bionic.

The lightning-fast cycle of electronics updates these days can cause folks walking around with perfectly functional phones, tablets and the like to feel like low-tech outcasts.

We all know that the iPhone refreshes itself roughly once a year (the unveiling of the 4S being slightly behind schedule). So, for roughly half of your phone's life, you'll know the world is closer to seeing a newer, sleeker, shinier model than it is to the day your current phone seemed ... well ... new, sleek and shiny.

All-In-One

A phone. A map. A compass. A camera. A video recorder. A video-gaming device. A portable music player. A laptop. A GPS device. A flashlight.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when, if you wanted to have all of those things, you had to carry all of those things.

And that's just the first 10 that came to mind.

Today's mobile devices keep you lighter on your feet, cramming them all into one device.

Conversation killer

She's chatting you up. You're checking your e-mail.

They're laughing at a hilarious joke. You're tweeting about your appetizer.

He's declaring his undying devotion. You're cutting the rope, blitzing jewels or angering birds.

Yes, our gadgets provide a world of possibilities. But if we're not careful, they can sometimes pull us away from the real one.

Conversation killer (Redux)

On the other hand, some conversations aren't necessarily awe-inspiring.

There's the guy on the airplane who wants to tell you all about affordable business-overhead expense-disability insurance. Or the one you barely knew, and didn't much like, in high school who, 20 years later, insists upon an awkward stop-and-chat.

Dive deep into the friendly confines of your mobile phone and you're safe.

It's essentially a ... wait. I'm sorry. I've got to take this.

source: edition.cnn.com

Mobile phone maker Motorola is being sued by Intellectual Ventures over the use of six patents, BBC reports.

The patents are all used in Motorola-produced Android smartphones, the BBC report says. According to the report, Intellectual Ventures is accusing Motorola Mobility of “using its technology to perform file transfers, updates and remote data management and other functions on some of its smartphones.”

The two companies had reportedly been discussing a licensing deal for the patents since January. When no agreement was reached, Intellectual Ventures filed the lawsuit. Intellectual Ventures is reportedly seeking a trial and unspecified damages.According to BBC, a statement from Intellectual Ventures said, “We have a responsibility to our current customers and our investors to defend our intellectual property rights against companies such as Motorola Mobility who use them without a license.”

Intellectual Ventures, owner of more than 35,000 patents, buys technological intellectual property from inventors and then negotiates licensing deals with major firms, generating money for investors and providing new technology for companies like Motorola Mobile.

BBC Reports that Google, which tried to buy Motorola Mobile for $12.5 billion in August, has invested money in Intellectual Ventures. Although the money from Google is associated with a different Intellectual Ventures fund than the one being used to sue Motorola, patent expert Florian Mueller told BBC that Google's backing of Intellectual Ventures was an "own goal.” Questioning its ability to defend its partners, Mueller also told BBC that Google’s failure to defend Android partners was “inexcusable.”

According to BBC, neither Motorola Mobile nor Google has commented on the case.

The post-midnight call a few weeks ago arrived on one of our cellphones. They were getting their usual overnight charge in the kitchen while we were one floor up and many dark steps away in the bedroom.

It was the sort of situation Panasonic had in mind when it developed new cordless home phones with a technology it calls Link-to-Cell.

Link-to-Cell uses Bluetooth communication to connect a set of conventional cordless home phones with one or two cellphones. Once the devices are linked, any incoming cellular calls will ring through to one of the Panasonic handsets.You can answer the call from a handset in your garage, basement or other location around the house, regardless of where your cellphone is parked.

Pairing a cellphone with the Panasonic home phones is just slightly more complicated than pairing a wireless phone with a headset or an in-car receiver. Once the two are linked, you can transfer up to 3,000 numbers stored on your mobile phone to the Panasonic handset.

The home phones will also display Caller ID data for incoming cellular calls and mimic any special ringtone that you've programmed into your mobile.

The Link-to-Cell concept has other advantages as well. For example, it doesn't require a landline to function. You can make and receive all of your calls over your wireless carrier's network while still having the convenience of multiple handsets.

And a Panasonic handset will extend cellular coverage to areas of your house where service might be sketchy or unavailable.

The Panasonic system comes with a built-in answering machine, and its handsets can work as speaker phones or as an intercom. However, the intercom feature is accessible from the phone's menu, not from a dedicated button that would be more convenient, and the call-answering feature supports only one mailbox, not one for each family member.

Panasonic offers several versions of the Link-to-Cell phones under the KX-TG76 model number. A setup with two handsets costs about $100 at Target, Walmart or Best Buy. Additional handsets cost about $40 each.

With mobile phone theft the fastest growing crime on our streets, people are reconsidering the value of having insurance to replace their handsets -- if not the annoyance of being without it.

Gardai have said that hundreds of handsets are being swiped by "bicycle thieves" snatching phones from unsuspecting pedestrians.

A recent spike in thefts of iPhones has resulted in a new initiative deployed to stop them, but as long as people like to "walk and talk", it's an on-going problem, especially where fancy iPhone 4 is involved -- the gadget of choice of the thieving population.

Best to get indoors safely before making that call.A total of 96pc of Irish adults have a mobile phone -- among the highest saturation in Europe -- and an estimated 40 are stolen every day.

If you've been a victim, then you're probably wondering what you can do about it. Well, for some, the answer is buying insurance so that at least they get a new handset quickly.

But the Consumer Association has repeatedly said that mobile phone insurance is not worth the money. And it is expensive.

It might only look like a tenner on your bill every month but that can be 20pc of the amount insured. The equivalent premium for, say, a €5,000 house insurance claim would be €1,000!

So think long and hard before committing, and study the different packages carefully. We've compared the four main providers along with some independent insurers.

Locked

In all cases, there's a hefty excess (so you're never fully covered), some don't include accessories such as pouches, batteries or cables and none include mobiles taken from unattended cars (unless locked in the boot or glove box). In addition, if you don't report a stolen phone to the gardai, you will not be covered for the theft.

Your decision to buy might be influenced by the fact that more than half the home insurance companies don't cover mobile phone loss -- but do check your policy before shelling out twice

Some companies, including Phonesonline, have odd restrictions such as having to sign up within a month of buying the phone.

Others, such as 02, don't cover the iPhone for the first 60 days. It's hard to see the point of these, except to be aware of them.

What option you choose in this case largely depends on what type of phone you have and who your service provider is, but we're plumping for 02 as best value for money.

LG Mobile has hooked up with stylist Rachel Zoe to launch its newest phone -- dubbed the "Marquee"-- as the company sets its sights on attracting young female consumers.

The crux of the initiative is an LG Mobile-sponsored web series dubbed "Style Rules." The series will feature a competition in which Ms. Zoe tasks style bloggers with creating looks tied to the Android smartphone's brand: "Thin, Light and Bright." The phone product, which Ms. Zoe will use to communicate with the contestants, launches Oct. 2, and beginning today, six webisodes will air on sites across the Alloy Digital Network once a week through November. "We're targeting a younger female audience and we're calling it the stylish phone," said Erica Molina-Cortez, senior digital manager for LG Mobile. "Naturally, Rachel Zoe is almost a perfect plug-in for us. We wanted to leverage her style and social-media stature and that's also why we're doing it in a digital media environment."

Smartphone marketing in the U.S. has seen a recent surge this year, with LG competitor Samsung installing new North American marketing leadership. Nokia, another foreign handset manufacturer, has set North America as a priority, following the runaway success of Android handsets and, of course, Apple's iPhone.

LG's latest campaign strategy is part of its overall strategy to become a more lifestyle-oriented brand. In an interview last year, LG CMO Kwan Sup Lee told Ad Age: "Our strategy is to portray our product portfolio as a strength -- not as hardware manufacturers, but as a lifestyle company, and we have many household devices and home electronics and personal-communication devices that are lifestyle devices. LG is talking about "Life's Good," freedom and infinite possibilities -- all those kind of emotional attributes -- for a broad range of products."

The LG deal marks another extension of the increasingly visible Rachel Zoe brand, an endeavor overseen by Ms. Zoe herself as chief creative officer and husband Rodger Berman, who serves as CEO. Ms. Zoe is in her fourth season of Bravo reality show "The Rachel Zoe Project," and her endorsements and brand tie-ins include Bing, Piperlime and lipstick line Exude. She also recently launched her own clothing line.

Phones are a bit out of her comfort zone, compared to her normal arenas: fashion and makeup. When asked why LG is a good fit for his wife's brand, Mr. Berman drew a comparison to Apple's role in elevating design's influence on purchasing. "We look at ourselves as transcending fashion. We do beauty, home, we can do a partnership with a hotel, with an automobile. We're about good design and taste and glamour and see ourselves going across many different spectrums.

The group is also set to launch two new verticals by Oct. 9: a beauty newsletter called Zoe Beautiful and an accessory platform called Accesszoeries.

Alloy, which produced the webisodes, is a linchpin in the partnership, with ties to Zoe Media Group and Mr. Berman. The company has also worked with LG on branded entertainment initiatives in the past.

The series will be broadcast through sites in the Alloy Digital Network with promotion including branded contextual editorial and video integrations featuring Ms. Zoe and her team of stylists, along with blogger and social-media outreach. LG Mobile will also advertise on Ms. Zoe's daily newsletter The Zoe Report and Zoe Media Group's RachelZoe.com.

Decide.com, the only electronics shopping service that predicts when to buy consumer electronics with no regrets, has expanded its offering to include phones, making it easy for shoppers to stay current on top product price changes and new model releases. Decide also enables shoppers to "follow" the iPhone to get the latest news and rumors on the upcoming iPhone 5 launch from hundreds of sources including CE manufacturers and expert news services like CNET, Engadget, Gizmodo, MacRumors and others. Now shoppers can use the power of Decide's price and model prediction technologies plus news aggregation to purchase phones with no regrets.
"Like wristwatches a generation ago, mobile phones are the gadget status symbol of our age and making a bad purchase decision can be devastating," said Mike Fridgen, CEO of Decide.com. "Shoppers can now check Decide.com to know when to buy phones before getting stuck with that two-year contract."

In a survey conducted by Decide, almost half of all consumers stated they would wait five months for a new model of a phone to be released - the longest "willingness to wait" of any CE product category. Decide is currently recommending wait on thirty top-selling phones because there is a newer model available or a new model predicted to arrive soon.

Want to stay on top of the latest news and rumors to know when to buy the iPhone 5? Decide's new iPhone feed aggregates and helps you track the latest news and rumors on the iPhone 5. To support its recommendations, Decide has included a "No Regrets Filter" that allows shoppers for the first time to filter only to products recommended to buy now, which indicates that prices are not likely to drop soon and that a new model is not coming soon.

Simply visit Decide.com and search for iPhone, or follow @d_iPhone on Twitter to be one of the first to know when to buy the iPhone 5 and get all the latest news and rumors.

About Decide

Decide is a new shopping service that helps consumers purchase laptops, televisions, cameras and now phones with no regrets. The company utilizes proprietary data and predictive algorithms to tell shoppers when to buy with confidence or wait for a price drop or newer model to be released. Decide was co-founded by Internet search pioneer Oren Etzioni and has gained support from consumer Internet and ecommerce veterans. The company raised $8.5M in venture capital from Madrona Venture Group, Maveron, and angel investors. To follow Decide, visit the company's blog, Facebook and Twitter. www.decide.com

Internet access is switching from standard wireline use via PCs to mobile access via smartphones. That's the news coming from Framingham tech market research firm IDC, which found in its research that the switch in majority Internet access may take until 2015 to happen.

IDC noted in a report released today that smartphones have begun to outsell simpler feature phones, and that media tablet sales are taking off. IDC predicted that the number of mobile Internet users will grow by a compound annual growth rate of 16.6 percent between 2010 and 2015. As a result, IDC says that the number of people accessing the Internet through PCs in the U.S. will level off, and then start to decline, with Japan and Western Europe following the same trend.

Karsten Weide, research vice president, media and entertainment at IDC, noted in a press release, “Soon, more users will access the Web using mobile devices than using PCs, and it’s going to make the Internet a very different place.”

That won’t shock the generation who stay connected to Facebook and regularly browse the Web through smartphones. But it will change the way businesses deal with the Web. IDC said the total number of Internet users will grow from 2 billion in 2010 to 2.7 billion in 2015. During that same timeframe, global business to consumer spending will grow from $708 billion to $1.28 billion. In addition, worldwide online advertising will almost double from $70 billion in 2010 to $138 billion in 2015, according to IDC.