Free Republic

The EU parliament on Tuesday passed a new law requiring USB-C to be the single charger standard for all new smartphones, tablets and cameras from late 2024. The measure, which EU lawmakers adopted with a vote 602 in favour, 13 against, will — in Europe at least — push Apple to drop its outdated Lightning port on its iPhones for the USB-C one already used by many of its competitors. Makers of laptops will have extra time, from early 2026, to also follow suit. EU policymakers say the single charger rule will simplify the life of Europeans, reduce the mountain...

[Last week,] a deal between Verizon and a consortium of cable companies to free more spectrum for mobile broadband gained significant traction with the Department of Justice (DOJ) conditionally signing off on the deal and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announcing a vote of approval will come in short order. The agreement is an innovative move without much precedent. Verizon will purchase a significant chuck of spectrum from SpectrumCo, a group of cable companies including Comcast and Time Warner Cable, that covers 80 percent of Americans and is ideal for 4G mobile broadband. Moving forward, those cable companies can purchase...

Teenagers’ obsession with mobile phones and computers is taking a toll on their education, suggests a new research. Andrew Kakabadse, professor of international management development, Cranfield School of Management, found that almost 60 per cent of teenagers were submitting coursework downloaded from the web without reading, rewriting, or understanding it. The survey also found that the students’ addiction to text messaging was also affecting the standard of English, reports Times Online. Three in ten respondents used text-message abbreviations, such as l8 (late) or RU (are you) in their coursework, with more than half of the 260 pupils saying they were...

From mid-November, unregistered mobile phones will not work in Thailand's southernmost three provinces - Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala - as the government pulls the plug as part of its ongoing war against insurgents in the region. The aim is to stop mobile-phone-triggered bombings in the affected provinces. Since January 2004, 970 people have died in increasing unrest in the majority-Muslim region.