photo credit: 911 Cell Phone Bank

The 911 Cell Phone Bank program is giving away free cell phones for emergency calls. Started in 2004, this program was created to provide an ongoing and readily available source of 911 cell phones and funds to meet unexpected and urgent needs of participating law enforcement and affiliated victim service agencies. To date, the program has generated more than $1 million in funding and has distributed over 95,000 emergency cell phones nationwide.

The 911 Cell Phone Bank program has more than 1,500 active agencies participating, and is growing. The top ten participating agencies in November were:

1. Cook County Sheriff’s Office, IL
2. Harbor House, FL
3. FDEP Central District, FL
4. Quigley House, FL
5. Capital Area Corporate Recycling, LA
6. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, FL
7. Bay County Sheriff’s Office, FL
8. AMS HQ Fitchburg, WI
9. City of Hampton Sheriff’s Office, VA
10. Ross County Sheriff’s Office, OH

Each year over 100 million people upgrade their cell phones. Most people just throw them in a drawer and forget about them. Wouldn’t it be great if more people knew about this program and sent their phones to the 911 Cell Phone Bank? I know that our company, batteries4less.com, donates new batteries for cell phones donated locally to victim survivor groups. Verizon also has a program called Hopeline, refurbishing retired cell phones and distributing them to charitable organizations.

10.5 million seniors live alone. According to the 911CellPhoneBank.org website, every 9 seconds a woman is abused, and 60% of those women are pregnant. Many areas distribute these phones through county agencies or through law enforcement. Most communities have some sort of domestic violence survival program. Providing an emergency cell phone to these people has the potential to save lives in a big way. The 911 Cell Bank organization works strictly with agencies, not individuals.

Emergency phones are only for dialing 911. Cell phones are given free of charge to people who need them, but the phones will only have the capability of dialing 911. Officials estimate that more than 2,000 emergency cell phones are distributed each month through law enforcement and other agencies. Imagine the lives they can save.

Promote the 911 Cell Phone Bank and everyone wins. All donations are of course a tax deduction. You can also promote 911 Cell Phone Bank’s Facebook fan page and reach even more people. Their goal is to be “liked” by 1,000 people by the end of the year. So get on Facebook and click on the like tab for the 911 Cell Phone Bank page. Awareness is everything! You never know whose life you may be saving by a free emergency phone.

photo credit: Supersized Sale at Wirefly.com

Last week Wirefly.com announced its Supersized Sale. Every day from now through the end of the year, Wirefly is offering over 30 of the latest Smartphones absolutely FREE. The new free Smartphones are for both new accounts and upgrades with a two-year agreement. The free cell phones include the Android and BlackBerry phones, as well as the new Windows 7 phones. Some examples of the free Smartphones available are the DROID Incredible by HTC, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Samsung Intercept, Motorola CLIQ. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Beer and Free Calls

Canadians pay more for cell phone usage than anywhere else in the world. According to an article in Marketwire, Canadians are paying as much as 25 cents per minute for long distance on their cell phones, even within their own country. But, just in time for the holiday season, freephoneline.ca and Budweiser have joined forces to launch a new app for iPhone, Blackberry and Android Smartphones, giving Canadians free long distance calling on their cell phones. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: No Cost Cell Phones

U.S. Cellular has a special sale of All Free Phones going on from December 17-24. U.S. Cellular was listed by Consumer Reports as the best wireless carrier in the country. In addition, U.S. Cellular is spreading holiday joy even further by offering a $100 credit to new customers purchasing a Smartphone or existing customers adding a new Smartphone line. With this holiday cheer sale, U.S. Cellular may become even more popular. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Pulse News Reader

Pulse News Reader is gaining in popularity. Pulse (Alphonso Labs), was released back in May 2010. It gives users the ability to build a personal newsfeed with the newspapers, magazines and blogs of their choice. Originally designed for the iPhone, it is now available for the Android platform as well. It has been the top selling news app for the iPad, and consistently in the top 40 of all paid apps. The best news though, is that although they have been charging between $1 and $4 for the app, it will now be free. The goal is to attract more users, and  paid partnerships with publishers and advertisers. Alphonso Labs has also raised $800,000 in venture capital to further their efforts of taking this from just an app to a full fledged business. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: 12 Android Phone Apps

Your Droid phone can do amazing things. Out of the box Droid phones is a still and video camera, an address book, a GPS navigator, and yes, even a phone. But with some downloaded apps, your Droid becomes Super Droid. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: High Tech on the Slopes

The times they are a changing… It used to be that it was very bad form to answer a cell phone while on a ski lift or be found chatting on the lodge catwalk. It was like being caught with your cell phone going off in the movie theater. Now due to social media platforms, Smartphone apps and the like, it is no longer a faux pas to whip out your cell phone on the slopes. In fact, you are probably in the minority if you don’t. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Cell Phone Scavenger Hunt

Remember the old game of Scavenger Hunt? A group of friends would get together, break into teams, take a list of obscure items to find, and the first team back with all the items found was the winner. Well of course now you can play it on your cell phone using the SCVNGR app. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Cooking Apps

There’s an app for that! Actually there are numerous apps for cooking available on your Smartphone, iPad or iPod Touch. So tackle that dinner party you have always wanted to throw. There’s an app to help you plan meals, shop for the ingredients and even give you step by step instructions. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: There’s an App for That!

Want to live a greener life, or volunteer for a charity? There’s an app for that. Actually TakePart.com has listed 10 apps to help you lead a healthier, happier, more helpful life. Apparently one of TakePart’s missions is to promote ways of making changes to lead a happier, healthier and more helpful life. Kudos to TakePart!! Read the rest of this entry »