16 mln US teens have a cell phone

Grok Headline matches for 16 mln US teens have a cell phone

Teens Get Support from Bush for Cell
Phone Recycling Drive to Benefit Service
Men and Women

Teens Get Support from Bush for Cell
Phone Recycling Drive to Benefit Service
Men and Women 08/20/2004 02:19 AM
Men and women serving their country are discovering the high cost of calling home from places like Iraq. A concerned brother and sister began a drive to help pay those bills, which has attracted attention from the White House. [PRWEB Aug 20, 2004]

Pride Communication Services, #1
Reseller of Krusell Leather Cell Phone
Cases, to Begin Selling Identity-Theft
Conscious Horizontic Plus Cell Phone
Case in April

Pride Communication Services, #1
Reseller of Krusell Leather Cell Phone
Cases, to Begin Selling Identity-Theft
Conscious Horizontic Plus Cell Phone
Case in April 03/29/2005 04:34 AM
To Better Accommodate the Needs of Today’s Identity Theft Conscious Cell Phone Users, Pride Communication Services (PCS), a Subsidiary Franchise of KaseIT and the Largest Reseller of KRUSELL Leather Cases, Announced Today that it Would Begin Selling the Horizontic Plus Cell Phone Case, KRUSELL’s Newest Offering, In its Online Store in April. [PRWEB Mar 29, 2005]

Iowa phone company tries to block
incoming cell phone calls

Iowa phone company tries to block
incoming cell phone calls 08/16/2004 05:48 PM
Iowa phone company plans to block cell phone call in a dispute with wireless carriers. The Iowa Utilities Board has prevented the plan for now.

Quick-'n-Dirty methods to determine
which competing label is better: "Cell
Phone" or "Mobile Phone"?

Quick-'n-Dirty methods to determine
which competing label is better: "Cell
Phone" or "Mobile Phone"? 04/28/2004 11:39 AM

On the SIGIA-L mailing list, Stephanie Berger recently asked: "My cohorts are not sure whether to use "cell phone" or "mobile phone". Any evidence that one is better than the other, or one is used more often than the other?"

This is a good example of the kind of labeling questions information architects face all the time. The answer to these labeling questions will depend on the target audience (a better label for whom?), on business requirements (maybe the business want to promote one term over the other) and on the context in which the label will be used.

I'll discuss the conversation that followed here and afterwards point to some useful tools for if you have a labeling question yourself.

Andres Sulleiro: "Without any empirical data I will go with my own opinion. [...] A quick survey of the phone carriers seems to suggest that "wireless" (as in "wireless phone", "wireless customer") is most common among US carriers, though you see some references to "mobile" as well. T-mobile, a European company, uses "mobile" which is more common in Europe as well as being the name of the carrier."

Method: check what other websites call it.

Jason Cho: "I think "cell" is more widespread in the US as Andrés noted. "Call my mobile" can sound pretentious to Yankee ears. But I would think everyone understands the term "mobile" on a business card."

Method: personal experience.

Peter Van Dijck (and others): "Google for "cell phone" (including quotes): 6,230,000, Google for "mobile phone": 6,360,000. Looks like a tie, assuming your audience is similar. Just pick one and make sure your search engine knows both terms."
Christina Wodtke: "Y ahoo for cell phone : 16,800,000, yahoo for mobile phone: 21,200,000. What does this really tell you? you'd have to know who each engine indexes, how much of the web, etc.. better to use a magic 8 ball. ;-)"

Method: check popularity of the terms on the web.

Peter Van Dijck: "My next step would be to find out what people search for on your site,
or if not available, on the web (assuming that's more or less your audience). Google adwords can help."

Method: Find out what people (preferably your target audience) search for.

Dave: "I like "mobile" for the reason that Christina stated (forward compatibility); USers and non-USers will equally understand it. Also, it is more interoperable w/ most of the vCard based addressbook programs out there. I don't know any that are using "cell" or "cellphone" ... I also like the clear and easy two word approach of "mobile phone" ... I'm always wanting to say "cellphone" where "cell phone" is really the more correct version. "cell" though just doesn't feel like a real word b/c the "cell" doesn't fit a meaning to me. I know what it means if I am forced to think about it, but it really doesn't mean anything to me at all."

Method: personal experience, check what software programs use.

Christina Wodtke: "> As can Ove rture's keyword tool (couldn't find URL straight away).

You also might consider some adaptation of the freelisting technique on a subset of your target. E.G., a write in survey: what portable electronics do you own, then analyze for use of "cell phone" and mobile phone".

Method: freelisting technique.

Eric Reiss: "Having worked closely with several telecommunications companies, including Tellabs (US), Nortel (Canada), ADVA (Germany), and NetTest (Denmark), this discussion is one I've heard before. Europeans generally don't recognize the term "cell phone." North Americans seem to accept both "cell" and "mobile." ATT insists on promoting the term "wireless." In most instances, we've agreed on the word "mobile" since it is understood by the widest audience. Nortel, for instance, used "cell" almost exclusively until the late 90s, but now leans toward "mobile." I think there is a trend here."

Method: ask the subject matter experts.

Pabini Gabriel-Petit: "There's also Wordtracker.
[...]
In this vein, you might try just walking up to people, holding up your cell/mobile phone, and asking them what they call it."

Method: Analyze what people search for.

Method: Find out what labels your users use.

Quick-'n-Dirty methods to determine which competing label is better.

So, as a review, here are some of the methods used to determine which label is better.

1. What do you think?
Method: personal experience/insights.

2. What do your users think?
Method: freelisting technique.
Method: Find out what labels your users use: show them the item you're trying to label and ask them what it is. (You could build an online tool for this).
Method: Find out what people (preferably your target audience) search for / check popularity of the terms on the web. Ove rture's keyword tool. Google adwords. Wordtracker. Google and Yahoo both list how often a term is used on the web (use quotes around your terms!).

3. What do the experts think?
Method: ask the subject matter experts.
Method: check what other websites/software call it.

Gotcha's: be careful when using these techniques. You are looking for a label that works for your audience and your business requirements. Most of these techniques use audiences that may be very different from yours, and most are indicative only (ie: they're not hard science). Use your judgement.

FreeHeadset.org launches program to
promote wireless phone safety by giving
away free cell phone headsets.

FreeHeadset.org launches program to
promote wireless phone safety by giving
away free cell phone headsets. 07/26/2004 02:22 AM
New laws that mandate the use of cell phone headsets have recently passed in several states. In response, FreeHeadset.org has developed a program to provide wireless phone users with a free cell phone headset. [PRWEB Jul 26, 2004]

Cell Phone Users Interrupt Sex for Phone
Calls

Cell Phone Users Interrupt Sex for Phone
Calls 04/11/2005 08:07 PM
user survey reported

consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/cell_sex.html
track this site | 3 links

A Cell Phone in Every Pot

A Cell Phone in Every Pot 12/09/2003 02:39 AM

Ce ll Phones Sales Skyrocket

"The worldwide market for cell phones is outstripping even the most enthusiastic predictions from the beginning of the year, as consumers continue to snap up handsets at a dizzying rate, according to research released Monday by Gartner.

Handset vendors sold 132.8 million units in the third quarter of this year, up 22 percent from last year's third-quarter shipments of 108.8 million units, says Ben Wood, an analyst with Gartner based in London. Gartner calculated the figures using the number of units sold to end users, rather than units shipped into the channel.

'The total market is on fire,' he says. 'We had predicted about 470 million units for the year, but it's going to be about 500 million this year.'

Mature cell phone markets such as western Europe and the U.S. are going through a replacement cycle, as consumers with older black-and-white phones are trading them in for new models with color screens and cameras , Wood says.

'We're getting to a point where a mobile phone is as much about fashion as anything,' he says." [PCWorld.com]

It won't be much longer before purchasing a mobile phone will be as much about utility (staying connected to the internet) as anything.

Cell Phone Zen

Cell Phone Zen 08/16/2004 02:27 PM
My phone sucks ass! The voicemail has never worked properly since day 1. At least once a week I have...

You could have a 3G cell phone already

You could have a 3G cell phone already 04/11/2005 03:55 AM
Jakarta Post Apr 11 2005 5:22AM GMT

Keep on rockin' with your cell phone

Keep on rockin' with your cell phone 04/10/2005 11:41 PM
CNET News.com Apr 11 2005 3:03AM GMT

Cell Phone Booth

Cell Phone Booth 01/03/2005 10:33 AM

Another day, another artist complaining about the lack of respect/personal interaction from those pesky cell phone users. At least Nick Rodrigues bothered to wear a suit as he showed off his personal cell phone booth, designed to illustrate how disrespectful people are when they dare call their friends and family in public.

Remember the good ol' days, when people would go into Conversation Booths before speaking, preserving the sanctity of the commons' silence? No, I really don't either.

Performa nce Sculpture [SensoryImpact]

Cell Phone Directory

Cell Phone Directory 07/28/2004 04:28 PM

Cell phone directory gets hoots, hollers: This seems like a no-brainer to me.

The days of searching in vain for someone's cell phone number are almost over. Starting early next year, you'll be able to call directory assistance to get a mobile number.

However, some people object:

"These devices are considered much more personal than landline (phones)," says Chris Hoofnagle of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "People tend to carry them everywhere and answer them when they ring."

What's more, cell phone subscribers pay for incoming calls, even unwanted ones.

Such concerns prompted Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 wireless company, to keep its 40 million subscribers out of the directory.

Isn't it interesting how cell phones have made phone numbers personal? A phone number used to be associated with a family ot a business — a group of people. But now, everyone in my family can have a cell phone, and therefore a phone number associated with them personally.

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You CAN take your cell-phone number with
you

You CAN take your cell-phone number with
you 11/11/2003 10:17 PM
ZDNet Nov 11 2003 9:18PM ET

Your Cell Phone Is Tracking You

Your Cell Phone Is Tracking You 12/21/2003 03:43 AM
PollGuy writes "I had never heard until this article in the New York Times (sacrifice of first born required) about services that let regular people track the ...

Your Old Cell Phone = Cash!

Your Old Cell Phone = Cash! 05/25/2004 02:37 PM

We've all been there. You upgrade from one cellular service plan to another and your carrier says "Sorry... your old phone won't work with your new plan... you need a new phone." At CellForCash.com, our mission is to help consumers and businesses capture the value of their unused cell phones. Your old cell phone may be useless to you but of great use in a different market or even in a different country. We want to be the missing link in a broken supply chain.

New Cell Phone Tactics

New Cell Phone Tactics 12/03/2003 11:07 AM
How many of you have moved to a new cell phone carrier now that number portability allows you to take...

Cell phone lockdown

Cell phone lockdown 12/03/2003 07:32 AM
CNET Dec 3 2003 7:03AM ET

Blogging with your Cell Phone No Thank
You!

Blogging with your Cell Phone No Thank
You! 04/01/2005 03:24 PM

Their is a new service that is going to launch in April that will help those of you that want to Blog via your cell phone. Come on text message is bad enough when you have to send several lines now they want to make it easy for me to post via my cell phone.

No Thank You! [Sil iconValley.com]

The Souped-Up Cell Phone

The Souped-Up Cell Phone 06/15/2004 10:00 AM
Business Week Jun 15 2004 2:25PM GMT

Cell Phone Tombstone

Cell Phone Tombstone 04/18/2005 03:07 PM

This might be the saddest tombstone I've ever seen. If this isn't the inventor of the cellphone—something I'm not sure I'd want looming over me in the afterlife, anyway—then I'd really like to dig him up and steal all the moldering gadgets with which he was inevitably buried.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this in come corner of the internet before. Has anyone seen a better quality image? I want to read the inscription.

Israeli Mobile Phone Headstone [UnwiredNews via LiveDIgitally]

Cell Phone Viruses

Cell Phone Viruses 07/15/2004 08:28 PM
When mobile phones attackget attacked. Articles posted on T he Guardian and Reuters today are reporting that mobile phones running on the Symbian OS in Moscow are being targeted by a non-malicious virus/worm named Cabir.
Only 49 phones have been infected so far by the worm which propagates via Bluetooth. The creators are 29A labs, a "group of virus writers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia who pride themselves in creating "proof of concept malicious viruses,"
Countdown to impending doom in..5..4..3..

Cell Phone Guns

Cell Phone Guns 01/27/2004 05:19 PM

Press M for Murder: Cell Phones That Kill: Can you program the phone to shoot the owner if it's answered in a movie theater?

Though heavier than normal phones, the lethal ones look nearly identical. The hollowed-out devices, made in Croatia, are fired by punching buttons on the keypad and can shoot four .22-cal. bullets in rapid succession.

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Cell Phone Jukebox

Cell Phone Jukebox 08/19/2004 12:08 AM

Downloa ds on the Move in Europe

"The ability to download complete tracks directly over cell-phone networks to mobile phones is becoming a reality in Europe. O2 Music, the music arm of U.K.-based international telecom operator mmO2, has started offering songs for download in Germany and the United Kingdom....

Since Aug. 1, U.K. owners of the new SX1 phones subscribing to O2 Music's Active Music Download service can buy songs from a repertoire of 100,000 titles. They can search, sample free 30-second clips, store and play paid-for full tracks downloaded over O2's network straight to the handset. The songs are protected and securely transmitted over the O2 network with digital-rights management technology from Basel-based Secure Digital Container in Switzerland.

The price of tracks ranges between $1 and $3. The handset, which can store up to 120 tracks of music, costs 80 pounds in the United Kingdom and 150 euros ($183.50) in Germany. SX1 users are charged for their downloads on their monthly mobile-phone bills....

By year's end, Bornhausser expects that Europe will have up to 12 different mobile phones -- from Siemens, Sony-Ericsson and Samsung -- that include pre-installed digital players and SDC's DRM software.

The high-speed 3G networks will also make wireless downloading easier. In Western Europe, Vodafone, 3, TIM and T-Mobile will be operating 3G services by the end of this year. As the United Kingdom's first 3G network, 3 began selling downloadable music videos July 30 from BMG U.K. & Ireland for 1.50 pounds each to compatible handsets." [Wired News]

Wow, I can't wait for this to hit the U.S., although I'm sure our implementation will be screwed up with DRM and we won't be able to use those songs on any other device. Still, the implications for mobile entertainment through the cell phone in an always-on, ubiquitous high-speed internet environment has implications for libraries.

In a couple of years when Kailee and Brent get cell phones, they will most likely have this functionality. What do you think they will expect to be able to download from their library? What do you think the library will be able to offer? Do you think the library is even thinking about this kind of service for the future?

Cell phone joins TV, PC

Cell phone joins TV, PC 06/10/2004 11:30 AM
Chicago Tribune Jun 10 2004 4:15PM GMT

Cell phone lockdown.

Cell phone lockdown. 12/06/2003 05:34 PM
CNet: Cell phone lockdown. Now that number portability is in effect, locked phones are even more evil. Two reforms that I would suggest are forcing carriers to unlock phones when contracts expire and allowing customers to take their phone rebate in cash when signing the contract.

Cell Phone Multitasking

Cell Phone Multitasking 01/17/2004 11:15 PM

My colleague Kate isn't at work today, but she just instant messaged me with a great story. Her daughter Clare is a college freshman who just started her first statistics class. On the first day, the professor announced they would be taking a basic math test, just to see where everyone was at, but that they could use their calculators.

Apparently every student whipped out a cell phone - not a calculator in sight....

Your $600 Cell Phone Bill

Your $600 Cell Phone Bill 06/01/2004 12:02 PM
Family cell phone plans have a lot of hang-ups, especially when a teen's on the line.

Wi-Fi Hot, TV Not for Cell Phone Users

Wi-Fi Hot, TV Not for Cell Phone Users 04/12/2005 02:45 PM
Cell phone users think Wi-Fi access is important, but scoff at features such as the capability to watch TV on their phones, according to a study on future cell phone features by research firm InStat. InStat found that Wi-Fi, mapping features and traffic alerts, and voice activated text input scored highest with users.

Cell phone users and sex

Cell phone users and sex 04/11/2005 11:25 AM
David Pescovitz: According to a new global survey, fourteen percent of cell phone users stop screwing to answer their cell phones. Just like Paris Hilton. From Consumer Affairs.com report on a subscription-only Ad Age article:

The highest incidence of cellular interruptus was found in Germany and Spain, where 22 percent of users interrupted sex to answer their cell phones; the lowest was in Italy, where only 7 percent reported doing so. In the U.S., the figure was 15 percent, the magazine said, citing a study conducted by BBDO Worldwide and Proximity Worldwide.

Link (Thanks, Carlo Longino!)

Get first aid instructions in your cell
phone

Get first aid instructions in your cell
phone 06/24/2005 10:03 PM
Finnish Red Cross has made a Java cell phone program ("midlet" for the technically inclined) which contains the most basic first aid instructions in an easy-to-follow format with pictures. The instructions are in Finnish only, but you can get yours by texting "LATAA7 SPR ENSIAPU7" to number 17116. You need to have WAP settings in place to make the download. I took a quick look at it and it certainly seems like something I'm going to keep on my phone for a long time.

(Though, be warned, the midlet costs 7€! Something that which Helsingin Sanomat completely forgets to mention (boo hiss, this is stupid), but that is declared on Red Cross's page...)

Just in time for the holidays, I would say.

(Via Helsingin Sanomat. Lisää tietoa Punaisen ristin sivuilta.)

Television On Your Cell Phone

Television On Your Cell Phone 08/21/2004 09:19 AM

Did ya know I named my cell phone?

Did ya know I named my cell phone? 03/13/2003 10:26 AM
Why, yes I did. I'm so unbelievably tired. See, the thing is, I do NOT want to fall asleep right...

Cell-Phone Wars

Cell-Phone Wars 02/15/2004 01:12 PM

3 GB Hard Drive on New Cell Phone

3 GB Hard Drive on New Cell Phone 03/14/2005 04:34 PM
During the CeBIT in Germany this week, Motorola is showing off their new ROKR iTunes cellphone which will sync and carry your iTunes music in your cell phone. But Samsung is one upping the ROKR with a 3 GB hard drive cellphone with a Windows Mobile OS. Samsung has also released a new 7 MP camera phone which resembles a camera more then it does a phone. The SCH-V770 has a 2 inch TFT display above a the keypad and gives you manual focus and controllable shutter speeds. Many of these new products will be altered slightly before they reach the US.

Cheap Cell-Phone Detector

Cheap Cell-Phone Detector 07/21/2004 03:59 AM

Cell phone glitch throws off GPS

Cell phone glitch throws off GPS 07/21/2004 12:44 PM
Problem affects satellite-tracking features on possibly hundreds of thousands of Motorola phones. Some believe culprit is a Y2K-like bug.

USB cell phone charging cables

USB cell phone charging cables 12/30/2003 01:33 AM
MacMinute: Keyspan ships retractable USB cell phone charging cables -- what a great idea! One less wall-wart recharger to carry in your bag on trips....

Now your cell phone can be fair and
balanced, too

Now your cell phone can be fair and
balanced, too 07/23/2004 04:52 PM

Cell Phone Enhanced 911 Still Years Away

Cell Phone Enhanced 911 Still Years Away 11/12/2003 11:33 PM
AP via Los Angeles Times Nov 12 2003 10:05PM ET
Grok Description matches for 16 mln US teens have a cell phone
GrokA matches for 16 mln US teens have a cell phone

16 mln US teens have a cell phone

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