Tag Archives: Mobile Phones

Then Minister for Communications Jim Mitchell (right) makes Ireland’s inaugural mobile telephone call to RTÉ broadcaster Pat Kenny, December 11, 1985. Prices for the phones started at £1400 plus VAT

This morning.

Lia Stokes writes:

Today marks 35 years since the first ever mobile phone call was made in Ireland by Jim Mitchell, Minister for Communications to RTE broadcaster Pat Kenny.

To celebrate this milestone, Ireland’s longest serving mobile retail brand, Carphone Warehouse is looking back on the evolution of the mobile phone and how we use it.

In the 1980’s it was all car phones and brick phones, and with the cost coming in at around £3,000, they were few and far between. No one could have foreseen that mobile phones would become an extension of our work, home and social lives.

Carphone Warehouse entered the Irish market in 1996 with the opening of their first store on Grafton Street. The company, now has 81 shops across the country with a presence in most major towns and cities. They also employ over 600 people and serve over 4 million customers each year.

In a recent survey commissioned by the brand, 57% of respondents had a Nokia as their first mobile phone with just 2% having an iPhone. Interestingly, now 53% of those people have an iPhone as their current model, 30% using Samsung, 14% Huawei and just 3% accounting for other brands. (In a survey commissioned by Deloitte last year, it found that 91% of Irish people own a smartphone.)

Carphone Warehouse

Meanwhile…

Long talk!

Ciarán writes:

Still have the box (above) from my first one! (1995 I think)

cellphone-mobile-radiation-danger1

The WHO, on the other hand, classifies radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (the type emitted by wifi routers and cellphones) as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” based on limited evidence associating cellphone use with an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer. “The conclusion means that there could be some risk,” Dr. Jonathan Samet, a medical professor at the University of Southern California and chair of the WHO panel that made the determination, explained in 2011, “and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer.”

And they’ve taken away all the public phoneboxes, Joe…

Scores of Scientists Raise Alarm About the Long-Term Health Effects of Cellphones (Mother Jones)

(image: National Cancer Institute)

oconnor

Judge James O’Connor

When asked by Judge James O’Connor if she was pleading guilty or not guilty, Mary Bridget Sheehan, of Raheen, Caherciveen said she was pleading guilty.

Looks bad.

…He asked the Garda how he knew it was a phone, and said he passed a man driving the other day holding to his ear what could have been a small alarm clock.

Very good point.

… [He] said the charge of holding a mobile phone could have serious implications for the woman’s motor insurance, and struck out the case.

Huzzah!

Kerry judge strikes out case of woman who pleaded guilty to holding a phone while driving (Radio Kerry)

Thanks Jerry O’Sullivan

3

Curious Gordeaux writes:

“Just wondering if the call I received last week from 3 Mobile was a one off, or if your readers have experienced something similar. 3 rang last Thursday evening to talk about my bills, which tend to run around €3/€4 above my my set bill each month. The guy had a suggestion for how to reduce that, he would send me out a couple of 3 sim cards, pay as you go ones, for me to distributed amongst the non-3 friends of mine who I contact.
I was a bit surprised and asked if he was serious. He questioned my response and I told him it’s none of my business what network my friends are on, if he wanted them to change then he should ring them. He said (paraphrased) “I save all of my customers money, you just need to top up this sim card now over the phone by €20 and I can send it out to you and you can give it to someone who you ring that isn’t on 3.” I ended the call then. I actually thought it was a scam so I rang back the number [1800-949-560] to check it out. It’s legit it seems…”

Anyone?

Ah, smartphones. Is there any batshit new feature you can’t foist upon us?

A VD detector, you say?

People who suspect they have been infected will be able to put urine or saliva on to a computer chip about the size of a USB chip, plug it into their phone or computer and receive a diagnosis within minutes, telling them which, if any, sexually transmitted infection (STI) they have. Seven funders, including the Medical Research Council, have put £4m into developing the technology via a forum called the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.

“Your mobile phone can be your mobile doctor. It diagnoses whether you’ve got one of a range of STIs, such as chlamydia or gonorrhea and tells you where to go next to get treatment,” said Dr Tariq Sadiq, a senior lecturer and consultant physician in sexual health and HIV at St George’s, University of London, who is leading the project.

New Test Mobile Phones Diagnose STDs (Guardian)