With every state looking to enact (or having already passed) legislation that makes it illegal to operate a mobile phone while behind the wheel, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology and Rutgers in New Jersey are taking it one massive step further.

A team led by Drs. Chen Stevens, Marco Gruteser and Richard Martin have created a system that utilizes a phone’s Bluetooth connection and a vehicle’s speakers to detect if the driver is using their handheld while driving. The algorithm-based system measures the acoustic signals emitted from the stereo and the proximity of the phone to the Bluetooth receiver, essentially pinging both systems to determine where the phone is being operated. If the signals are coming from the driver’s seat, it can shut down the phone with 95 percent accuracy, or around 80 percent if the phone is stashed in a cupholder or cubby.

Obviously, the system is designed to allow passengers to use their phones while the vehicle is in motion, but the biggest hurdles to overcome include the amount of road, wind and background noise interfering with the acoustic signals and a general lack of Bluetooth connectivity in most vehicles. Now the doctors just need an automaker to partner with…

SOURCE via CNET

It’s become a rite of passage for any major smartphone — a few hours under the knife (read: dozuki saw!), for the good ‘ol iFixit teardown. Today’s victim is the Motorola Droid RAZR. The teardown revealed that most of the key components are on one side of the motherboard, where you’ll find the Toshiba THGBM4G7D2GBAIE 16GB EMMC flash memory module, Samsung K3PE7E700M-XGC1 4GB LPDDR2 RAM, Qualcomm MDM6600 dual-mode baseband/RF transceiver, Motorola T6VP0XBG-0001 LTE processor and other goodies like the combo Bluetooth/WiFi/GPS receiver. Wondering what else Motorola was able to pack neatly below that 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display? Hit up the source link for the full iFixit teardown.

SOURCE via iFixit

It’s been a very long ongoing debate regarding cellphone-cancer, and perhaps a freshly released scientific review might just do the trick. In the paper, published Friday, a panel of experts from Britain, Sweden and the US conducted a thorough survey of previous studies, before concluding that existing literature is “increasingly against” the theory that cellphone use causes brain tumors in adults. The researchers also questioned the biological mechanisms underpinning this hypothesis, while acknowledging some lingering uncertainties, since data on childhood tumors and longer-term research are still lacking.

The results come just a few weeks after the World Health Organization released its own literature review, in which it claimed that cell phones should be considered “potentially carcinogenic.” But Anthony Swerdlow, a professor at Britain’s Institute of Cancer Research and leader of the most recent investigation, said his group’s work doesn’t necessarily contradict the WHO, since the latter was simply seeking to evaluate cancer risks according to its own “pre-set classification system” — under which things like pickled vegetables and coffee are also considered “potentially carcinogenic.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the debate will die down anytime soon, though Swerdlow expects more definitive conclusions within the next few years — assuming, of course, that all of our brains haven’t turned to oatmeal by then.

SOURCE via Reuters

Microsoft gave their 1-year-old Windows Phone 7 platform a proper update in the form of ‘Mango’ v7.1, and most of the changes are actually ‘under the hood’. What’s unique this time is the Bing search function, as the crew at Engadget managed to have a chat with a Windows Phone representative to talk about the changes made.

Clicking the dedicated search button from the Windows Phone home screen takes you to a familiar Bing page, offering the visual, audio, and voice options, along with a city scape icon. That skyline represents Local Scout, a function that focuses your queries on the neighbourhood you’re in, providing location-specific results that highlight important information about establishments and events in your immediate area.

Clicking through on any link brings up general information as well as reviews gleaned from popular user-generated sites. That’s not all that’s new, however, as Mango also offers some nifty tricks in its visual search. Instead of just snapping a barcode, you can actually use a shot of the product itself to bring up information about pricing, availability, and relevant apps, though how accurate that is, we’re not sure.

Of course, the interface looks more robust and responsive than ever too. Watch a video of the new update in action below.

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If you’ve not known, the white iPhone 4 is thicker than the black ones by 0.2mm. Now why would anyone make a fuss out of 0.2mm? Well, many.

Apple’s own spec page doesn’t highlight the change in thickness (measured at 9.5mm by TiPb). Instead it still shows a 9.3mm depth with a tiny disclaimer stating, “Actual size and weight vary by configuration and manufacturing process.”
But this has caused several issues, most notably with quality cases. Expensive cases are made with extreme accuracy and will fit black iPhone 4 perfectly with no sweat, and are extremely tight tolerance. However, try putting a white iPhone 4 into the old cases, and you’ll need quite some brute force.

But why is the white iPhone 4 thicker? Phil Schiller mentioned that Apple needed to add extra UV protection among other tweaks, in an attempt to reduce the “unexpected interactions” between the white cover and the internal components. As such, Apple apparently needed to sacrifice some slimness for a better functioning white phone.

So now there are four types of cases that case manufacturers have to manufacture, and also four types for consumers to choose from. You’ve got your white iPhone 4, black iPhone 4, white Verizon iPhone 4, or black Verizon iPhone 4. All with slightly different dimension or button location, so be careful when purchasing a case.

SOURCE via Engadget

Good news for Android users, and owners of Motorola Droidphones, you’re now given an unholy chance to have Gingerbread on your phone. Yes, the unholy and unofficial method introduced by ‘My Droid World’. Hopefully we’ll get to see more phones transcend into Gingerbread by this year. Gingerbread brings you the new blue Blur, a customizable dock, an app management shortcut, an overhauled camera app, and super-fast navigation speeds, among other things. So for you eager beavers who just can’t wait for an official release, follow the source links below and feed your Droid some Gingerbread.

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Check out the Bugatti Bugatty Phone, an unlocked car-shaped phone that comes with 2.4-inch touch screen, 1.3 MP camera, Handwritten and keypad dual input, dual SIM slots, microSD slot and other basic features. It also has the “Shake to change” feature that works on music/pictures/wallpaper. The phone is running on Quad band network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) and priced at $135.70. More pictures after the break. Read more…

One of our readers has sent in this news, thanks to Ivone Perera.

The Nokia N87 is rumored to be a 12.1-megapixel camera with a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen. It is rumored to have a touchscreen with 800 x 480 resolution, 2MP camera with LED flash at the front for video call, up to 16GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, 600MHz CPU, slide-out multimedia keys and its 12MP camera is said to feature Carl Zeiss lens with both Xenon and dual-LED flashes.

More pictures after the break. Read more…

LG has released their “Pastel” handset known as LG-SU410. It is available in Pink or White and comes with a 2.8” LCD, a DMB TV Tuner, and a microSD Card slot that support up to 16GB microSDHC cards. The LG-SU410 is also available in Japan, sold under name of L-02B via DoCoMo. More pictures after the break. Read more…

50 HTC Touch smartphones were group together for a Christmas song. They were individually addressed by a computer to co-function and create a choral arrangement — assigning each phone a tone, the mass is transformed into an aural form that appears to come alive. Video after the break. Read more…