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17 September 2019
[games] An Oral History of ‘Snake’ on Nokia … How the Snake Game came to be installed on Nokia phones. ‘We made it so the hardest level is actually as fast as the snake can possibly go. Considering screen-refresh rates, and how fast the software could calculate the next snake position, I needed to add delays in the slower levels to give more time between steps. In the fastest level, there is no delay and thus no way to make it faster than that. But it wouldn’t be so fast that it would crash the phone.’
9 December 2013
[mobiles] The Second Operating System Hiding in Every Mobile Phone … all your worst fears about computer/phone security are true … ‘So, we have a complete operating system, running on an ARM processor, without any exploit mitigation (or only very little of it), which automatically trusts every instruction, piece of code, or data it receives from the base station you’re connected to. What could possibly go wrong? ‘
18 October 2013
[apple] Did you know that the iPhone 2G is a collector’s item? … ‘There are several examples of “new” iPhones with open boxes going for north of $600, with sealed boxes successfully selling for as much as $1,999.’
10 September 2012
[phones] Auto Crrect Ths! … James Gleick on auto correct on phones / computers … ‘ In the past, we were responsible for our own typographical errors. Now Autocorrect has taken charge. This is no small matter. It is a step in our evolution – the grafting of silicon into our formerly carbon-based species, in the name of collective intelligence. Or unintelligence as the case may be. Earlier this year, the police in Hall County, Ga., locked down the West Hall schools for two hours after someone received a text message saying, “gunman be at west hall today.” The texter had typed “gunna,” but Autocorrect had a better idea.’ [via YMFY]
6 January 2011
[phones] Simplest Phones Open to ‘SMS of Death’ … ‘In the worst cases, including the Nokia and Sony Ericsson, the message would disconnect the phone and force it to reboot, without registering the fact of the message’s receipt – in most cases forcing the operator’s network to continue sending the message and triggering the shutdown cycle again. Fixing the problem required putting the SIM card into a new, unsusceptible phone.’
29 October 2010
[mobiles] The Most Popular Phone In The World … Gizmodo looks at the Nokia 1100 and mobile phones in the third world … ‘This phone was meant to survive and to do; its only jobs are to call and to text and to create convenience for as long as possible, as cheaply as possible.’
13 August 2010
[iphones] 10 Unlikely iPhone Insurance Claims … ‘Juice from a defrosting piece of meat leaked into it ‘
16 July 2009
[comics] The Comic-Book Guide to SIM Hacking … report from the Register – you can download the comic here.
2 March 2004
[mobiles] Mobiles sound on the Underground and London tube gets mobile access … ‘LU will trial mobile access in one or two deep-level stations to judge customer demand. The company stresss that this is unlikely to be a big money spinner, and it will be guided by the wishes of its customers.’ [via 2lmc]
12 November 2002
[mobiles] ‘Hi, I’m in G2’ — a look at how the mobile phone has changed the world … ‘A friend described how she had accidentally locked herself in the bedroom after her partner had gone to work. Without a mobile, she would have been trapped in there all day. Doors slam. Buildings collapse. Far worse things happen. You go to the office, as you do every day, Monday to Friday, and one morning, an airliner intersects with your life, and you realise immediately that you are very likely to die. If there were a God, he would have noticed by now that things have become quieter, no matter how bad it gets down there; given a choice between praying, and talking to the people we love, we are bound to choose the people every time.’
17 August 2002
[mobiles] Cell Biology — the Washington Post on mobiles phones and swarming … ‘The very fabric of their time has softened. Remember arranging to meet at a specific time, like 8 p.m., at a specific location, like Connecticut and K? Forget it. The new hallmark of squishy lives involves vaguely agreeing to meet after work, and then working out the details on the fly. A time-softened meeting starts with a call that says, “I’m 15 minutes away.” It’s no longer unforgivable to be late, as long as you’re in contact.’
26 November 2000
[mobiles] Great article about how awful mobile phones are… ‘What is it about these things that makes us so obedient, and so oblivious to that which lies outside them – such as actual people? I once asked a man who was bellowing into a cell phone in the coffee shop in San Francisco why he was talking so loudly. A bad connection, he said. It had not crossed his mind that anything else mattered at that moment. Like computers and television, cell phones pull people into their own psychological polar field, and the pull is strong.’ [via Guardian Weblog]
6 November 2000
[mobiles] Nishlord provides an exciting new service for self-important people with mobile phones. ‘NISHLORD.COM’s WAP (or whatever the fuck it’s called this week) service is different. It actually gives mobile phone users the information they need – a constant reminder of what an annoying cunt they really are. Whenever the moment arises, a vital message informing you that no-one, absolutely no-one, is the slightest bit interested in what you have to say, ever, will flash up.’ [via Meg— sorta]
11 July 2000
[mobiles] If you have a Nokia mobile phone you really need to check out yourmobile.com. [via ChrisH]
6 July 2000
[mobiles] The New York Times reports on Text War in the Philippines. ‘Muslim insurgents battling Philippine troops in the south have a new weapon. When the shelling and gunfire let up, they send a barrage of scathing insults to Manila’s forces by cell phone. “There is a text war among the MILF and our forces,” said Brig. Gen. Eliseo Rio Jr., referring to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the larger of two rebel groups fighting for an independent state. “Our soldiers are texting insults to the MILF. And the MILF are sending the insults back.”‘ [via Slashdot]
11 June 2000
[tech] Danny O’Brien on mobile phones in America. “Sometimes, when I’m swearing at the bizarre features of my clunky little American phone, I show engineers my old Virgin Nokia. Everyone coos over the dinky size and curved-form factor. They’re delighted by the cutesy interface. One friend’s jaw physically dropped open when he turned the machine off and a little hand icon waved him goodbye. When I tell them about how kids send text messages to one another during class, they go bug-eyed. It’s as though I’d announced that all Europeans all have their own personal fork-lift trucks.”
[tags: Mobiles][ permalink][ Comments Off on Danny O’Brien On Mobile Phones In America]
3 June 2000
[phones] newsUnlimited on Text Messaging. “But there seems to be something more than practicality about the appeal of text messaging: something that gives them that brown-paper-packages-tied-up-with-string quality, and qualifies them for life’s range of small, good things. Text messages are like little sugar-rushes of contact, postcards for the people’s cyberspace, the real reason God gave us both thumbs and the capacity for language (alright, alright, I know).”
22 March 2000
BBC News on maddening mobiles. These boys do something about it: phonebashing.
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