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How cellphones work

"Cellphones are dangerous/not dangerous, hearing loss edition"

cellphone use and driving

"Cellphones may become a key weapon in the war against HIV/Aids in Africa, allowing counsellors to reach greater numbers of people, says the chief of the United Nation's Aids agency."

By uploading images of this week's violence in Manama, the capital, to Web sites like YouTube and yFrog, and then sharing them on Facebook and Twitter, the protesters upstaged government accounts and drew worldwide attention to their demands. A novelty less than a decade ago, the cellphone camera has become a vital tool to document the government response to the unrest that has spread through the Middle East and North Africa.

Mississippi had a problem born of the age of soaring student testing and digital technology. High school students taking the state's end-of-year exams were using cellphones to text one another the answers. Enlarge This Image Drew Angerer/The New York Times John Fremer, 71, a Caveon co-founder who was once the chief test developer for the SAT. CHEAT SHEET A High-Tech Approach Articles in this series examine cheating in education and efforts to stop it. Readers' Comments Readers shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (77) » With more than 100,000 students tested, proctors could not watch everyone - not when some teenagers can text with their phones in their pockets. So the state called in a company that turns technology against the cheats: it analyzes answer sheets by computer and flags those with so many of the same questions wrong or right that the chances of random agreement are astronomically small. Copying is the almost certain explanation.

"Mobile is the next wave in technology. Cellphones text faster than email, spread video faster than cameras, and webcast in real time. They take assignments, document work, translate and podcast. Mobile interfaces with Web 2.0. Best of all: teachers and students carry them already! Learn what we can adapt to achieve educational goals."

For many Americans, cellphones have become irreplaceable tools to manage their lives and stay connected to the outside world, their families and networks of friends online. But increasingly, by several measures, that does not mean talking on them very much.

Students have always faced distractions and time-wasters. But computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing and learning. Researchers say the lure of these technologies, while it affects adults too, is particularly powerful for young people. The risk, they say, is that developing brains can become more easily habituated than adult brains to constantly switching tasks - and less able to sustain attention.

concerns have developed about invasions of privacy, for the most complete records on the travelers may be the ones they are carrying: their laptop computers full of professional and personal e-mail messages, photographs, diaries, legal documents, tax returns, browsing histories and other windows into their lives far beyond anything that could be, or would be, stuffed into a suitcase for a trip abroad. Those revealing digital portraits can be immensely useful to inspectors, who now hunt for criminal activity and security threats by searching and copying people's hard drives, cellphones and other electronic devices, which are sometimes held for weeks of analysis

IT systems for mobile phones