Is your phone spying on you?

And (I always feel like)
(Somebody's watching me)
And I have no privacy
- lyrics, Rockwell, "Somebody's Watching Me"

The Guardian.Co.UK reports that,

"Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner's computer when the two are synchronised. The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program"

And this is apparently legal. Near of end of the iTunes license (which no one reads), is a paragraph that grants permission for "location-based services."

"Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services."

So far only the iPhone is known to keep a location record on the device itself. However all cell phones leave a history of your travels as you move from one cell tower to another. We trust the cell phone companies to keep that information private and only release it to the police with a court order.

Bottom Line

In the modern world, total privacy is impossible unless you give up credit cards, ATM machines, cell phones, Internet and just about every other modern convenience. Still it is important to know what information about yourself is being collected and how it is being used. This is why I recently advised my father not to use Facebook. It has a history of violating privacy protocols or enabling vendors to violate privacy with your information. Facebook is fun to use but you must be very careful with what you share and expect that anything you post may leak out. For my part I "blur" the data I post by moving my birthday a few days or picking the town next door as my residence. Close enough for friends but incorrect for identity theft.

International Cell Phone Costs

“To be happy in this world, first you need a cell phone and then you need an airplane. Then you're truly wireless.” - millionaire Ted Turner

Warning - Cell phone companies are only too happy to take your money when you make mistake and are quite unwilling to write off the error.

For example, the first cell phone my wife & I owned was open face, meaning the number keys are always exposed. We did not lock down the phone and the 0 key must have been accidentally hit while the phone was in my wife's purse. We were charged for 60 minutes of operator assistance time. Not cheap. We objected - if an operator had picked up, clearly they would detect the mistake and terminate the call - total time of 1 minute. Why leave a "dead" line open for 60 minutes? 
No dice - we had to pay and now we only use clam shell style phones.

The first time I called by sister in Canada I used my cell phone and discovered afterwards that the rate is 60-80 cents a minute. That adds up fast!

The Consumerist tells a story of a college student who says she checked Facebook for 5 minutes a day for a week via her phone while on family vacation in Cancun. The bill is $11,667.73 for 600MB of data services to a foreign country.

Bottom Line

Unlike a credit card, the phone companies give no warning when huge charges are piling up. A commenter on the Consumerist story has the following suggestions:

This is why when I took my phone to Canada I shut it off 10 miles from the border. So many application on your phone can transmit data without your knowledge these days it's just easier to leave it off. Facebook may not have transferred 600mb worth of data, but there are other applications which can. Many of the applications I've downloaded on my Droid X talk to the Internet in the background, the app tells me it's going to do this, I just have to keep track of them.
My recommendation: Turns your smart phone off when going on a trip and buy a pay-as-you go phone when you reach your destination. Coasts about a hundred for phone and minutes, but you have a phone when you get where you're going.

P.S.
Speaking of cell phone costs. I visited the AT&T store after losing my cell phone. I'm not eligible for a free replacement (with new contract) until November. But I can get $75 off a phone with an early contract extension. However I was shocked to find that the cost of the "free" phones is $200 and up when purchased separately so I'd have to pay $125 to replace my phone. When I declined the AT&T rep suggested they could reactive an old AT&T phone if I still had one from prior contracts. I'll give that a try.

9-1-1 backup

“Ring, ring, why don't you give me a call?
Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all”
- ABBA, lyrics to “Ring Ring”

With Cub Scouts, as with most Americans, when you ask them what number to call in an emergency, the answer is 9-1-1. But what if 9-1-1 didn’t work? Do you know the direct phone numbers for your local police, fire or ambulance?

Is this just a hypothetical scenario? Not for residents of Salt Lake City last month. On March 25, for about five hours, some of the 911 calls made by AT&T Wireless customers in the Salt Lake City area were routed to dispatchers in Seattle. The police of Salt Lake City “called AT&T and confirmed that it was occurring.”

Bottom Line

Take the time to add fire, police, ambulance, and poison control to your cell phone. Back this up with a paper list kept near every phone for your children to use. Don’t rely solely on 9-1-1.

http://sorc911.com/911guide.htm
http://www.gov.ky/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/CIGHOME/PRESSROOM/ARCHIVE/200301/KNOWNINE.PDF

Social Networking after the Haiti earthquake

“I'm surprised at how much Facebook.com has burrowed itself into real life along with instant messaging, text messaging and e-mail, ... It's another reason to be on the Net."-Chris Hughes, facebook co-founder

Today I recommend the article, The tale of an Android phone in the earthquake in Haiti. The web site is French but this article is in English.

As is common after a disaster, phone lines (both land and Cell) may be out of service or overloaded.

"In the first few hours that followed the earthquake, mobile service was completely disrupted. It was almost impossible to place a call, due to the combination of the damages on the cellular networks and the spike in phone calls."

But texting often works...

"However, on some networks, SMS service was still available. People stuck under
rubbles started texting to their friends and family (in Haiti and abroad) to
tell them they were still alive and needed help."

The next part really caught my eye,

Those friends and family, not knowing what to do, started posting these SOS messages on their social networks, mainly on Facebook.

Facebook is an amazing tool for linking people together and getting your message to friends. In the article, the Author in Haiti was able to view Facebook on his Android phone, see the SOS messages, and forward the information to rescue workers who were delighted to know where the people were buried. Lives were saved.

Bottom Line

It pays to be connected with a social network. Check out facebook.

Update

I'd never heard of Android before this article. It is a Google smartphone running on Linux. For a comparison of smartphones, check out http://gizmodo.com/5472971/all-the-smartphone-oses-a-beginners-guide/

Cells phones In Haiti

What we have to do is deliver to people the best and freshest most relevant information possible. We think of Twitter as it's not a social network, but it's an information network. It tells people what they care about as it is happening in the world.—Evan Williams, CEO and founder of Twitter

Wired.com notes that two weeks after the Haiti earthquake, food and water were in short supply in Port au Prince, BUT it was possible to recharge your cellphone. Enterprising individuals hooked up car batteries to power strips and were selling phone recharges for 40 cents. This is a vital service since most electrical lines and phone lines are still out of order. A cell phone lets you call for help, find out the status of others and find out what's open or available after a disaster.

Amazingly the cell phone network was partially restored within two days of the earthquake. Voice does not always get through but text messaging usually works. Hence the large volume of Tweets coming out of Haiti. Texting uses less bandwidth than voice and often works even when voice lines are overloaded.

Bottom Line

It looks like I'll need to learn how to use Twitter.

Oh no! My cell phone got wet.

"We're the phone company. We don't care. We don't have to." - comedian Lily Tomlin

We all know (or should know) that electronics and water don't mix. You try to be careful but eventually you spill coke or coffee or some other beverage on your keyboard. In my case it was orange juice that permanently disabled some keys on a company laptop years ago.

Another device that often gets wet is cell phones (falls in toilet, caught in the rain, falls off your sailboat, ...) Fortunately the Consumerist has a useful article on what to do if your cell phone gets wet and won't start. The advice is probably good for keyboards also.

To dry a cell phone, place the phone in...

1. a ziplock bag of uncooked rice and let it sit for a few hours
2. a bag with some silica packets
3. a hearing aid dryer for a few hours [I didn't know hearing aids had custom dryers]
4. an oven with just the oven light on for a few days
5. A bag with clay-based absorbent
6. out in the sun (but not too hot a day)

If your phone falls in salt water or is soaked in orange juice, you'll need to use distilled/deionized water first to remove the salt and other minerals. If the phone fell in hard water, this too could have enough minerals to short circuit the phone and require a distilled water rinse. Be sure the phone is OFF if you decide it rinse it with pure water.

Bottom Line

Do not turn on a cell phone until it is completely dry. If you damage the circuits while it's wet, you may be out of luck forever.

Living Room on Wheels

“When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife.”

In this modern world multi-tasking is a badge of honor and time wasting is a sin. So it comes as no surprise that people can be found eating, shaving, texting, calling, typing, and having sex while driving. (Hopefully not all at the same time.) We think nothing of it but this distracted driving carries a high price.

AAA reports that Distracted Driving - including the use of cell phones - is a major contributor to automobile crashes with 4,000-8,000 distraction related crashes each day in America; one-half of the 6 million U.S. crashes reported annually. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) blames driver inattention for 68% of rear-end crashes. Using a cell phone while driving increases your chance of getting into a crash by 4 times. A recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute shows that driving while texting increases crash or near-crash risk by 23 times.

Think of driving as a full contact sport. It requires our full attention to notice little details like a child running onto the street. I listen to books on CDs and have found that either I remember very little of the CD or very little of the drive. The book “Why We Make Mistakes” tells the story of a DC tour bus driver who was angry and venting to his sister on a cell phone while driving a 12’ tall bus. He did not notice the road signs warning of a 10’ tall bridge ahead and did not notice the bridge until he crashed into it at full highway speed tearing off the top of the bus.

Bottom Line

Hands-free phones make dialing safer but the real danger is being distracted by the conversation.

Resources
Currently, 18 states and the District of Columbia ban text messaging for all drivers. For an up-to-date list of Distracted Driving laws, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) maintains a state-by-state guide.

The National Safety Council also has a nice website showing state laws.

See Cyber Drive Illinois for more facts about distracted driving.

Can your hear me now?

“'Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you" – the first telephone message by Alexander Graham Bell

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.Gov program and the American Red Cross are adding mobile phones and chargers to its recommendations for basic supplies in citizen emergency preparedness kits. While there is the fear that cell towers may be overwhelmed during large-scale emergencies, there is no doubt that mobile phones can be life savers during personal emergencies.

In an Israeli study on Mobile phones and emergencies respondents said cell phones would be most useful for “traffic accidents,” “breakdown of vehicles” , “terror attacks” and “urgent medical problems.” But actual usage shows mobile phones were most pertinent for: informing someone of being late to arrive, providing an urgent message, calling a taxi, a vehicle breakdown, and getting directions. Only once have I been stranded by a car breakdown and fortunately a pay phone was a short walk away. Today I always travel with a cell phone “just in case.”

There are also two non-obvious ways a cell phone can help during emergencies.

1. If the phone towers are busy, try texting. Text uses less bandwidth often works when dialing won't.
2. Add the entry “ICE” to your cell phone address book. It stands for “In Case of Emergency” and is the number you want a Doctor or First Responder to call in case you are unconscious or unable to respond (or dead). List alternative contacts as ICE1, ICE2, etc.

[From InsightCommunity.com] Parents love the idea of tracking their children with cell phones -- but the teachers don't. Some schools are banning cell phones for children, and advising parents to track their children the old-fashioned way -- by calling the principal's office. But last month, MSNBC reported that "family locator" plans are available from Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Alltel for $9.99 a month. Verizon's "Chaperone 2.0" service will send parents a text message if the child strays from a pre-defined geographical area.
For the ultimate in cell phone coverage, the Iridium Satellite phone network uses 66 satellites (currently 65) for pole-to-pole global calling. The original company went bankrupt but a new owner is keeping the system alive with the US Dept. of Defense as a major client. These phones are not cheap! I recall the Associated Press rung up some huge bills using satellite phones during the war in Afghanistan. SatellitePhoneStore.com offers Iridium Satellite Phone rentals for $35-$75 per week plus $1 to $1.50 per minute of use anywhere in the world. There is no “roaming charge” unless you’re calling from off planet. (To the moon Alice. To the moon!)

Bottom Line
Cells phone are excellent tools but ONLY if
1. You’re carrying it
and
2. It has a charge
Consider investing in a cell phone car charger. There is nothing worse than your cell phone going dead when you need it most away from home. Pack a wall outlet cell phone charger in your go-kit and include a charger in your suitcase when you travel. Other options for emergency recharging include a super battery, adapters for AA batteries, and manual crank chargers.

If money is keeping you or a parent/grandparent from owning a cell phone, look at pre-paid phones costing $10 to $20 for a block of minutes for emergency use.

For more information on how to use your cell phone during an emergency, check out WirelessFoundation.org regarding texting, ICE, and 50 ways to use your phone camera. For example you can send a photo of a map showing where you are, send doctors (911?) a photo of an accident victim, photo of an authorized person to pick up your kids, photos at a car accident, etc.

Lastly, don’t take on extra risk assuming the cell phone will rescue you. People are now calling 911 from national parks to report being lost while hiking. Having a cell phone is no excuse for not carrying a map or other lack of preparation. And worse yet, you might become lost in “a dead zone.”

Silly 9-1-1 Calls

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves ~Bill Vaughan

Happy New Year 2009!
For something light, I've googled silly 9-1-1 calls. Make yourself a better person this year by not repeating these mistakes!

• An Oregon woman called 9-1-1 asking for the "cute" sheriff's deputy to return to her house for a date. She now faces a $6,000 fine and up to a year in jail.
• ABC news says it has the 9-1-1 tape of John McCain's brother calling to complain about being stuck in traffic.
• Do NOT put 9-1-1 on your cell phone speed dial. Multnomah county in Washington state now plays this announcement because of too many accidently placed 9-1-1 calls from cell phones,"Portland 9-1-1. If this is an emergency, press 1 or say 9-1-1 after the tone (repeats message in Spanish)". If neither action is taken, your call will not go through.
• 9-1-1: "Okay, do you need Police, Fire or Medical?"
  Caller: "No sir, I want to know where a good place to sit quietly and be by myself is."
• Dispatcher: This is 9-1-1. Do you need police assistance?
  Caller: Well, I don’t know who to call. Can you tell me how to cook a turkey? I’ve never cooked one before.
• Caller: I was wondering…..does the Fire Dept. put snow chains on their trucks?
  Dispatcher: Yes sir, do you have an emergency?
  Caller: Well, I’ve spent the last 4 hours trying to put these chains on my tires and… well.. do you think the Fire Dept. could come over and help me ... get these chains on my car
• More at http://www.firegeezer.com/2008/08/27/silly-9-1-1-calls/

Bottom Line

Many large cities, notably LA and NY, support the number 3-1-1 for information. A promotional website for 3-1-1 in Los Angeles described the distinction as follows: "Burning building? Call 9-1-1. Burning Question? Call 3-1-1."

Cell Phone Numbers for the New Year

A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other ~Author Unknown

If you are considering resolutions to make for the New Year, permit me to add one to your list - add the following list of phone numbers to your cell phone address book.

1. Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222. Of course call 9-1-1 for serious poisoning but suppose you just want to ask a question, "Johnny ate some fire ants, will he get sick?"
   [Urban Myth? A parent calls poison control about his child eating ants. Will he get sick? The answer is no. That's great news, says the parent, but just to be sure I fed my child some ant poison to kill the ants. Poison Control, responds, NOW we have an emergency...]
2. ICE (In Case of Emergency) - first responders are now asked to check a cell phone for an entry called "ICE". It represents the person you want called in case you are incapacitated (or dead).
3. Your Car Insurance Company - if you have an auto accident, call your insurer to find out what information you must collect and what actions you must take.
4. Police Dept - for a simple accident with no need for an ambulance, call the police directly instead of using 9-1-1.
5. Tow Truck Company or AAA - who you gonna call if your car breaks down? (NOT 9-1-1)
6. Local Taxi Company - when the tow truck drives off with your broken down car, how will you get home?
7. Your Boss - (continuing the auto accident theme) you'll want to call the office and let them know you'll be late.
8. Your Next Door Neighbor - due to an accident or bad weather, perhaps you won't make it home tonight. Will your neighbor feed your cat?
9. Your personal Doctor - your neck is sore after that car accident, better schedule an appointment.
10. Power Company - you don't want to look up their number in the dark when you lose power do you?
11. Favorite Take Out or Delivery Food - there are times I'm driving home and think, if only I knew the number of my favorite pizza place. I could order now and pick it up on the way home.

Bottom Line

Dial 9-1-1 when there is a medical, fire or police emergency, such as
• Life or lives are in danger
• A fire
• Serious injury
• Serious medical condition
• A serious crime in progress

9-1-1 is so convenient that Americans now call it for everything - directions when lost, to ask questions, etc. But this is WRONG. 9-1-1 is for serious emergencies only:
• Life or lives are in danger
• A fire
• Serious injury
• Serious medical condition
• A serious crime in progress

For all other situations use the phone numbers listed above and now stored in your cell phone!

Which phone to use after a storm?

"In the good ole Houston, USA, in the aftermath of IKE, telephones, Internet and
cable TV were down, and cell phones were unreliable due the spike in traffic. The only means of communication that approached useful levels was SMS messaging
and good ole AM/FM. Sometimes text messages would be delayed for minutes but
they almost always got there. I’m putting my el-cheapo crank-up radio in a pedestal next to my cell phone. They kept us in touch and made us comfortable for 60 hours. And let’s not forget the car charger for our phone. Sure, a generator is great, a car-pluggable DC-AC inverted will do work for small appliances, but a lowly $20 battery charger plugged to your car 12V outlet will power your radios, phones, flashlights, even coffee makers can make the difference between terror and small comfort." - submitted to Instapundit by Fernando Colina

During an emergency, more people are trying to use their phones at the same time. The increased calling volume may create network congestion, leading to “fast busy” signals on your wireless phone or a slow dial tone on your landline phone. If this happens, hang up, wait several seconds and then try the call again. This allows your original call data to clear the network before you try again. Keep non-emergency calls to a minimum, and limit your calls to the most important ones. Chances are many people will be attempting to place calls to loved ones, friends and business associates.

The conventional wisdom is that landlines are better in during natural disaster emergencies. However I'm seeing many personal accounts on blogs that say this isn’t true. Because of the small message size and low bandwidth, SMS’s (texting, blackberrys) were the only lifeline many had to keep in touch with friends and family near New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. If you live outside a city your landlines most likely on power poles which fall over in high winds, snow and earthquakes. During and immediately after Katrina, even with 135 mph winds, the cell phone service stayed up and running in some areas. Power, regular phone service, and cable took over a week to restore because the streets were a giant tangled mess of wires and fallen trees. Same thing during the blackout. Landlines were almost always busy but SMS’s would usually get through.

BOTTOM LINE
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you can afford it, consider having a landline phone (the kind with a phone cord) and a cell phone with texting. Other options include walki-talkies and ham radios. You must be licensed to use a ham radio but if you did well in science in high school, the exam is not so bad. Now-a-days you won't have to learn Morse code to use ham radios.