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Hold your cellphone HORIZONTALLY

I was just notified through text that several people are getting phone calls stating that they have been listed as a person who has had contact with a "positive" COVID19 patient. The caller then elicits the mailing address from the person, who now has the Phone Number confirmed to a known person, plus the physical address (except if it is a PO Box). Once that is obtained, the scammer then will ask for a "one-off fee" of $50 that needs to go on a credit card. Victims give out their CC information at this point. It took awhile, but here...

BOULDER CITY, NV (KSNV/CNN) - A woman is recovering from burns she suffered after a battery exploded in her purse on Tuesday evening during a city council meeting. The explosion and fire was caught on camera. "We hear this awful noise. It sounded like a bookshelf or picture falling off the wall," said Roger Hall of Boulder City Parks and Recreation, who was one of the first who rushed to help. "She was kind of in shock because it happened so fast," he said. "She was on fire, her purse was on fire. Kind of a crazy scene." Scorch marks...

A few months ago I wrote about how you can encrypt your entire life in less than an hour. Well, all the security in the world can’t save you if someone has physical possession of your phone or laptop, and can intimidate you into giving up your password. And a few weeks ago, that’s precisely what happened to a US citizen returning home from abroad. On January 30th, Sidd Bikkannavar, a US-born scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory flew back to Houston, Texas from Santiago, Chile. On his way through the airport, Customs and Border Patrol agents pulled him aside....

Security contractors recently discovered preinstalled software in some Android phones that monitors where users go, whom they talk to and what they write in text messages. WASHINGTON — For about $50, you can get a smartphone with a high-definition display, fast data service and, according to security contractors, a secret feature: a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours. Security contractors recently discovered preinstalled software in some Android phones that monitors where users go, whom they talk to and what they write in text messages. The American authorities say it is not clear whether this...

Freedom 251 smartphone, which went on sale Thursday, has sparked intense interest in India and beyond. Priced at 251 rupees ($3.65), the 3G device is being called the cheapest smartphone in the world. But it's also sparking questions about how the phone works -- and whether it's legal. Made by a new company called Ringing Bells, the Freedom 251 has a 3.2 megapixel camera and a 4-inch screen; it runs on Android's Lollipop 5.1 operating system and has slots for two SIM cards. But the phone also looks very similar to Apple's iPhone 4 -- even down to icons that...

A statue showing a young girl holding up what appears to be a laptop -- complete with USB ports -- has sparked a frenzy among conspiracy theorists. The statue, 'Grave Naiskos of an Enthroned Woman with an Attendant' is in The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California. 'I am not saying that this is depicting an ancient laptop computer,' said YouTuber StillSpeakingOut. 'But when I look at the sculpture I can't help but think about the Oracle of Delphi, which was supposed to allow the priests to connect with the gods to retrieve advanced information and various aspects.' In...

BlackBerry's CEO John Chen wants companies to stop "discriminatory practices" against BlackBerry by not allowing them to use certain apps. Chen called out Apple and Netflix in a blog post about net neutrality and what he called a "two-tiered wireless broadband ecosystem" where developers create apps only for iOS and Android devices. "Unlike BlackBerry, which allows iPhone users to download and use our BBM service, Apple does not allow BlackBerry or Android users to download Apple's iMessage messaging service," he wrote. Apple's iMessage service is only available to customers using the company's ecosystem of devices. Calling out Netflix, Chen said...

<p>MILAN (AP) — Foreign ministry officials in Rome and Vienna confirm that names of two nationals listed on the manifest of the missing Malaysian airlines flight match passports reported stolen in Thailand.</p> <p>Italy's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that an Italian man whose name was listed as being aboard is traveling in Thailand and was not aboard the plane.</p>

Much has changed, but cell phone inventor Motorola's legacy lives on at new parent Google It was a spring day much like this one when Martin Cooper used his Motorola DynaTAC cell phone prototype to place a call in downtown Manhattan. The year was 1973 and it was the third day of April. The call lasted about 20 minutes and much like today's users, Mr. Cooper suffered a familiar problem -- a drained battery. I. The First Phone Call -- 40 Years Ago Today Mr. Cooper recalls, "The first cell phone model weighed over one kilo and you could only...

SNIPPET: "Social media is no longer simply a fun way to share updates on the harmless idiosyncrasies of our lives. It can undermine national security, and there ought to be a more robust discussion between the Bay Area technology world and Washington on what to do about it. Cyber-terrorism, especially the potential for electronic tampering with U.S. industrial or military installations, is a paramount national security threat that Washington is working to forestall. We're all working to protect our accounts from hackers. But the cyber-threat getting far less public attention involves the social media networks we use every day and the...

Brief thoughts/quotes from the last 11 years. "Looking away, not caring, or hoping for the best are not viable options in fighting terrorism (in general) and the global jihad (specifically). Terrorism must be fought head on 24/7 and preventing terrorism is far better than just reacting to one terror-related event after another." -Cindy (July 1, 2011) ~ "WHAT DID I LEARN from the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001? OPINION: I have learned that more Americans love America than the lame-stream media will ever let on. I have learned that America's military is the finest in the world. I have...

Click a few keys, exchange a few numbers, and it’s done. With just a mobile phone and a registration with Safaricom, Kenya’s mobile service giant, you can pay for anything in seconds – no cash, no long journeys to towns to reach a bank, and no long lines when you get there. This is m-Pesa, the revolutionary approach to banking which is changing economies across Africa. The service allows customers and businesses to pay for anything without needing cash, a bank account, or even a permanent address. In today’s Digital Diversity, in honour of its recent fifth birthday, we present...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2011 – Somali pirates killed all four Americans they had held hostage aboard a sailing vessel in the Indian Ocean this morning, U.S. Central Command officials announced. U.S. officials were negotiating with the pirates for the safe return of the captured Americans when the murders took place, officials said. Centcom officials said that in the midst of negotiations, U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the S/V Quest. When the forces reached the boat, officials said, they discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately...

Fearful of Becoming Next Egypt, North Korea Confiscates Mobile Phones By Justin Rohrlich May 2, 2011 01:51 PM Not long ago, Naguib Sawiris, the CEO of Orascom -- which trades on the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange under the symbol ORTE, and on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol OTL -- explained, in so many words, that Orascom was intrigued by what could be considered the most emerging of emerging markets. "We are always examining the countries that don't have service and always pushing to get in," Sawiris said. "This was one that didn't have coverage and we met...

Peshawar , 16 March 2011 , Pakistan army has ban the unregistered mobile phones in tehsil kabl of swat , yesterday forces announces the order through loudspeakers in Nangoli area mosques. The elders of the area announce the order of security forces, that no body will use unregistered mobile phones for communication, if some body used unregistered mobile phones, they will face 20 thousand rupees fine. Security forces also urged the people of said area that they registered their mobile phones with the mobile companies. According to local sources mobile companies also start campaign in different areas of swat to...

SNIPPET: "Police are working to figure out the origin of the rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip Saturday evening and exploded near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, without causing damage or injures. A total of four rockets and two mortar shells were fired at Israel on Saturday, causing no injuries. An initial examination revealed that the rocket fired at Nahal Oz was manufactured using professional means, most likely outside of the borders of the Gaza Strip. The rocket had a diameter of 115 millimeters, and police sappers were working to locate fragments of it to be tested."

HOUSTON—A federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas returned an indictment today charging Barry Walter Bujol, Jr., with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno and FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Richard C. Powers announced today. “Protecting the American public from the threat of terrorism, both international and home-grown, is the highest priority of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas,” said U.S. Attorney Moreno. “Proactive investigative efforts and cooperation between the...

Cellular phone giant Nokia has filed for a patent for a self-regenerating phone battery, or in their own words, a “piezoelectric kinetic energy harvester”. The patent essentially involves a battery that’s “contained within a first frame that is coupled to a second frame by one or more piezoelectric elements.” Similar to the concept of kinetic powered watches, which use motion to charge their batteries, Nokia’s technology proposes generating energy by kinetic movement. Nokia plans to use this energy “to at least partially recharge the device battery”.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Long suspected of causing brain tumors, mobile phones are now being eyed as key allies in the fight against Alzheimer's disease, US researchers said Wednesday in a study. Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) found, to their surprise, that 96 mice they zapped twice daily for an hour each time with electromagnetic waves similar to those generated by US mobile (cellular) phones benefited from the exposure. Long-term exposure to the electromagnetic waves in mobile phones wiped out deposits of beta-amyloid -- a protein fragment that accumulates in the brain of Alzheimer's sufferers to form the...