photo credit: This Alert is Only a Test

The FCC has approved a presidential alert system. This means that starting fairly soon, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will be testing an alert that may show President Obama coming on your TV screen or mobile phone to warn you about terrorist alert. It will be much like the testing we saw as kids, “This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.” And then the screen would go blank or wavy, and a buzzing would sound out for a few moments. Of course this will be a more sophisticated alert, with a broadcast message from President Obama.

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photo credit: EGypt Back Online

Five days after shutting down the Internet, Egypt is back up and running. It appeares that Egypt has reversed the “kill switch” move it made last week. The home pages of Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat, two of the country’s largest telecommunications carriers, were first to appear. The Egyptian Parliament website is once again visible, but doesn’t seem to have been updated since January 24th. All of this must mean that the Egyptian government has given the order to restore communications. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Internet Dark in Egypt

First the Egyptian government blocked social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Now rumors have it that the Egyptian government has blocked Internet connections countrywide. According to an article by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet, his sources (Renesys, an Internet analytics firm) confirmed that Egypt has really blocked the vast majority of its Internet connections. Essentially, this has cut off the Egyptian people from the Internet. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Driving Distraction

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants to ban all cell phones in cars. He said drivers are distracted by any in-vehicle gadget use, even the hands-free kind, and research may lead him to encourage states to ban the devices from cars, according to the report. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Driving Jabber

Will there be a nationwide ban for cell phone usage while driving? The federal administration’s stance on cell phone usage while driving is firm and may progress to an outright ban. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood believes drivers should not even use cellular phones hands-free. That may be a bit over the top, don’t you think? And would it really be enforceable? Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Cuban Cell Phones?

Cuban authorities are unhappy with the freedom that texting provides their citizens. When Raúl Castro allowed Cubans to contract for prepaid mobile phone service in 2008, I’m sure he didn’t imagine that two years later these devices would be used to broadcast news censored by the official press. Despite Cuba only having one telecommunications company, ETECSA, Cubans are finding ways to keep in touch via cell phones. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: No Texting

The U.S. DOT (Department of Transportation) clamps down on truckers and bus drivers. Commercial drivers now face a fine of up to $2,500 for texting or using hand held cell phones while driving. Read the rest of this entry »