Cell phone timeline. From 1997 to 2012.
Mobile technology addiction. I has it.
It is so bad that I could fill in the gaps in the above evolutionary chain with phones I’ve actually owned. I’ve had a bag phone, brick phone, StarTacs, Rzrs, Slider phones, Sidekicks, an N-Gage, iPhones, and now an android. I’ve paid a bill to pretty much every carrier with service in the US.
NOT to mention my pager and PDA phase. One line display, alphanumeric, 2-ways, Newtons, Sharp, Casio, you name it!
I believe I’ve given enough to this industry. I’ve slowed down quite a bit over the past 5 years. I used to get a new phone every year, while over the past 5 years, I’ve had two units. So the hybrid units are definitely better. I used to carry a PDA, a phone and a pager. Now that we all have everything in one, I definitely appreciate the lighter load. But looking back, I have spent a LOT of money on mobile tech. Wow.
This Is NASA’s Cancer-Sniffing Cellphone Sensor
What if you could use your phone to test the air for toxins? What if you could monitor your health simply by blowing on it? Sounds amazing, right? Nanosensor technology developed by NASA Ames is going to make that a reality.
Jing Li, a scientist at NASA Ames, has been working for years on what will be the greatest phone accessory of all time. It’s a small chip (about the size of a postage stamp) that houses 32 nanosensor bars. Each bar is composed of a different nano-structure material. Because each sensor bar is unique it can respond to different chemicals in different ways, enabling it to not only differentiate between them, but also to monitor their relative levels, in real time.
In its current state (which is looking mighty close to production-ready), it’s housed in a small case that attaches to a smartphone. For legal reasons they wouldn’t say which smartphone it’s built to attach to, but you can probably guess. Eventually, it will be built to attach to many other popular models. The idea is to develop a low-cost version so that consumers can afford to have them for health and safety applications. But let’s back up a second.
This nanosensor technology was originally developed by NASA Ames for space applications. This is NASA, after all. The first usage was monitoring for fuel leaks around launch vehicles. They’ve been on the International Space Station since 2008, monitoring air-quality and checking for formaldehyde in the air. Future applications could include taking samples on asteroids and Mars missions. So that’s where it started, but the Department of Homeland Security is now funding this project in order to bring it back down to earth—and to consumers.
The most exciting potential use, though, is how it could diagnose and monitor people with medical conditions. For example, for diabetes patients there is a direct correlation between the level of acetone in their breath and the level of sugar in their blood. The nanosensor could be used as a completely non-invasive diagnosis and measurement method. Just breathe on your phone. No more pricking your finger a million times a day. We have a pretty serious aversion to the word revolutionary here, but this thing fits the bill.
Mobile phone runs on a single AA battery
We’ve seen a number of mobile phones launched in recent months with emergency use in mind, including the Russian Space phone with SOS button. SpareOne, however, is a new contender that focuses on a different aspect of emergency needs — power supply — and can run on just a single AA battery. READ MORE…
(via thenextweb)
This super slick Phone Size tool that compares the hottest smartphones against one another in as close to “meatspace” size as possible. You just plug in a few phones that you would like to compare, set the size and ratio of your screen and you’re off. (via A Slick Web Tool to Compare Real-Life Sizes of Smartphones)
According to new analysis from Vision Mobile the smartphone genre accounts for just 27 percent of all mobile phones sold globally, that’s despite it making significant gains in developing regions of the world. (via Smartphones Just 27% of all Phones)
