When authorities in Chongqing city realized that they’re never going to be able put a stop to texting while walking, they decided to go for minimizing the risk instead. So they set up a special lane for pedestrians who are hopelessly addicted to their mobile phones.

The lane was created on Foreigner Street – a tourist hot-spot in Chongqing – in order to reduce collisions. So the sidewalk is basically divided into two halves – one labeled ‘cell phones, walk at your own risk’ and the other marked ‘no cell phones’.

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These days, the world is going crazy over smartphones, but in Japan, people who engage in extramarital relations remain faithful to a seemingly outdated mobile phone which does a great job of keeping their affairs private. It’s even been nicknamed the “uwaki keitai” or “infidelity phone”.

The Fujitsu “F-Series” flip-phones are not coolest-looking or most feature-full mobiles you can buy in Japan, but they remain very popular thanks to some very efficient stealth privacy features that help people cheat on their partners without being caught. According to a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, not even the latest smartphones come close to the aging Fujitsu, when it comes to keeping their private business private. Apparently, the F-Series “private mode” is a layer of invisible security that does a perfect job of hiding incoming calls and messages from contacts marked as private. The only visible signal that lets users know they’ve been contacted by one such contact is a subtle change in the color or shape of the battery or antenna icons. The changes are practically undetectable by the untrained eye, and even if someone might get suspicious, the private mode can only be turned off by a secret combination of keys, to make concealed calls, text messages and voice mail available.

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Every year, the Finnish town of Savonlinna hosts a fun and relaxing phone-throwing contest where participants are invited to take out all their frustration on their handhelds by throwing them as far as possible. This year, a Finnish teenager managed to set a new world record, with a throw of over 101 meters.

Ever since 2000, when it was first organized, the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship has become an international event drawing in participants from all over the world. According to reports of Finnish insurance companies, there are lots of phones laying on the bottom of Finland’s lakes, causing a serious environmental problem due to the toxicity of their batteries. In an attempt to convince people there are better ways of getting rid of their faulty mobile devices, a Savonlinna-based translation and interpretation company called Fennolingua organized a mobile-throwing contest that immediately drew the attention of media all around the world. In the following years, the event became even more popular gathering throwers from every continent eager to show their hurling skills.

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It had to happen sooner or later. Olive is the world’s first feature film of cinematic-quality to be shot using a smartphone. The film was released in Santa Monica’s Nuart Theatre this week.

Olive is the first film of director Hooman Khalili. He shot the entire film with the Nokia N8 smartphone, which has a high-resolution camera. The camera was adapted with a 35-mm lens to give the film additional depth. The project was quite low on budget, costing just $500,000. It was partly funded by Chris Kelly, a Silicon Valley attorney and former Facebook executive. According to Kelly, films that are shot using smartphones are important because they give everyone access to creating high-quality content. In this context, Olive may just have marked the beginning of a change in the way the film industry functions. Kelly points out that with this kind of film-making, big studios wouldn’t control the industry anymore, and the very pricing and economics of making a film could change.

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A group of Japanese scientists have created a doll-like mobile phone they say is designed to make you feel closer to the person you’re talking to. No, this is not a joke…

Japan has been at the forefront of technological research and development for a long time, but some of the things they’ve come up over the years were incredibly weird and creepy. Case in point the latest mobile phone prototype designed by researcher Takashi Minato assisted by a team of scientists. He has created a human-shaped cell phone with a skin-like outer layer that is supposed to help people feel closer to the person they’re communicating with.

The current prototype is slightly larger than the palm of a hand, designed to look like a human and has a soft outer layer that heats and cools in a similar way human skin does. A speaker is installed in the creepy humanoid head of the handheld gadget, and the microphone is located at the bottom, where the feet should be. It also has a light-emitting diode that turns blue when the phone is in use and red when it’s in stand-by mode. Minato and his colleagues hope to add image and voice recognition in the near future.

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A giant Nokia mobile phone has appeared in one of the biggest squares in Cluj, Romania, as part of the Planet Report Environmental and Film Festival.

Cluj is probably the most beautiful city in Romania, and I’m glad I finally get the chance to mention it in one of my posts. The first edition of the Planet Report Environmental and Film Festival aims to point out today’s environmental issues, and get the public and local authorities to take them more seriously.

As part of this eco-festival, local artists were asked to create various artworks out of waste. The most popular piece, so far, was a giant Nokia mobile phone, make of dozens of recycled mobiles, old keyboards and other computer parts.

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Chinese designer Daizhi Zheng has created a mobile phone that uses sweet drinks like Coca Cola instead of lithium batteries.

Zheng has been working on this revolutionary device for Finnish cellphone giant Nokia, and claims he has come up with a way of using sugar-based drinks to power mobiles. Any sweet drink, even sugar-sweetened water would be enough to keep the phone running much longer than lithium batteries.

The bio-battery invented by Daishi Zheng generates electricity from carbohydrates, using special enzymes as catalysts. In the process, the device generates oxygen and water. The designer claims his sugar-based bio-battery lasts up to four times longer than a fully charged lithium battery and is much easier to recharge: just pour some more sweet fuel.

Lithium batteries are very expensive and harmful for the environment, so if Zheng’s Coke-powered cellphone turns out to be real, it would be a significant breakthrough.

via Dezeen

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With a price tag of $3.14 million, the iPhone 3GS Supreme, designed by Stuart Hughes, is the most expensive cell phone on Earth.

The exclusive gadget has a solid 22 carat gold casing that weighs 271 grams as well as considerable number of flawless diamonds. The iPhone 3GS Supreme was designed by British artist Stuart Hughes for Goldstriker International, a company that specializes in creating extravagant mobile phones.

It took ten months to complete, but the final result is more opulent than you could have ever imagined. The front side of the iPhone 3GS Supreme features 136 flawless diamonds, while the Apple logo on the back is made from 36 diamonds. The directional key of the phone is  a rare 7.1 carat diamond. It also comes in an over the top 7 kg case, made from a single block of granite.

Unfortunately you’ll never get to hold this technological treasure in your hands, as it has already been acquired by an anonymous Australian business from the gold mining industry.

via gizmag

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The Golden Buddha Phone has all the features of ordinary top-of-the-line cells, but also offers a virtual prayer room where users can pray to Buddha and various Bodhisattva.

This techno-jewel sports a piece of real jade, pearl powder lacquer and a 24 karat gold paint-job that make it the most expensive cell-phone in China, at $1,750. Although the iPhone or Blackberry seem like better choices from a technological and financial point of view, neither of them offers a virtual prayer room. That’s what makes the Golden Budha Phone stand out. Stressed-out business men and women will have the opportunity to relax by praying to Buddhist Illuminati like :  Sakyamuni, Maitreya, Bhaisajya, Amitabha, Manjusri, Samantabhadra, Kwan-yin or Ksitigarbha.

Unfortunately the Goldne Buddha Phone is compatible with GSM on only two frequencies: 900Mhz and 1800Mhz, so it won’t work in the USA, Canada or Mexico.

This must be an upgrade of the original Buddha Phone.

via Chinavasion

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