Flash Mobs Take Violent Turn in Philadelphia [H]undreds of teenagers have been converging downtown for a ritual that is part bullying, part running of the bulls: sprinting down the block, the teenagers sometimes pause to brawl with one another, assault pedestrians or vandalize property. . . .
The flash mobs have raised questions about race and class.
Most of the teenagers who have taken part in them are black and from poor neighborhoods. Most of the areas hit have been predominantly white business districts.
In the flash mob on Saturday, groups of teenagers were chanting “black boys” and “burn the city,” bystanders said.
Bill Wasik is not proud.
posted by grobstein
on Mar 25, 2010 -
70 comments
"Thanks to tremendous progress achieved by the General Packet Radio System (GPRS), the wireless communication protocol, it is now possible for Africans to send articles and images (still and moving) about events taking place in their countries without using a computer and without having internet connection. Under those circumstances, the bigger the number of people expressing their opinions through that technology, the stronger becomes democracy, and the more valuable is the contribution to good governance efforts in Africa" -
Voices of Africa, Mobile stories and videos from Africa. Quote above from article
Mobile Reporters in Africa.
posted by infini
on Jul 27, 2007 -
11 comments
Dead Ringers: the Science Museum asks us the question "should we upgrade our mobile phone?" "
No" and "
no" say the Times and the Observer, but we still do: on average every 18 months. What's the problem? Well it isn't just the lead, arsenic, beryllium and
brominated fire-retardant cases (pollutants all) disappearing into our land fills (which are not covered by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive [
WEEE] in Europe). Coltan also goes into our phones. It occurs mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and as such our demand for upgrades has been
contributing to a war (despite mobile phone companies' claims to the contrary, coltan is not regulated like timber). If we must upgrade, we can at least
recycle or hack our
old phones.
posted by nthdegx
on Aug 7, 2006 -
49 comments
The Crazy Frog / Axel F Song (previously mentioned on the
Blue) is about to make history by being the first ringtone / pop music crossover to successfully invade the British charts. How successful? A little band named
Coldplay also have a new single out; as it stands,
Crazy Frog is outselling their effort by a factor of 4 to 1.
People, this is serious. Prepare for some major league irritation to descend upon us. The success of this single will only spawn a legion of imitators, and that can only lead to the dark side. As
Malcolm McLaren, ex Sex Pistols manager puts it: "Listen to this song and you can hear the death knell of the traditional music industry."
posted by LondonYank
on May 28, 2005 -
40 comments
Chris-calls! What if you received Chris Rock's old cell phone number and his celebrity friends kept on calling you? "amazing entertainment" :D [via
Gulfstream]
posted by kliuless
on Mar 6, 2004 -
72 comments
oh glorious rapture, vertu has launched. (flash) the phones (called "instruments" in vertu-speak) are okay, but the real meat seems to be the one-touch vertu concierge: allows one to find theatre tickets, make reservations, or (assumably) order KFC. and, as promised, they are indeed clutch-the-pearls expensive: €6000 to €24000. golly.
posted by patricking
on Mar 27, 2002 -
12 comments
Study: Mobile Phone Users Worse Than Drunk Drivers
It took mobile users half-a-second longer to react than normal, and one-third of a second longer than when they had been drinking.
They were also less able to maintain a constant speed and found it harder to keep a safe distance from the car in front. Participants in the study stated that they found it easier to drive drunk than when using a cell phone.
Here's the fun quote:
"Eventually," said Dominic Burch, road safety campaign manager at Direct Line, "we would like to see the use of mobile phones when driving, both hand-held and hands-free, become as socially unacceptable as drink driving."
Nice graphic
Here that explains the time/distance it takes to stop. That fraction of a second = +46 feet stopping time over normal, and +33 over being drunk.
More Here and
The Full Report[PDF].
posted by Blake
on Mar 24, 2002 -
61 comments
Erotigo's got the goods for your sexy mobile lifestyle. Now: Which of you's got a subscription? We want
details!
posted by Su
on Feb 25, 2002 -
10 comments
Cell Phone Guns Discovered. “We find it very, very alarming,” says Wolfgang Dicke of the German Police union. “It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their mobile phone.”
posted by pnevares
on Dec 5, 2000 -
70 comments
While I originally thought that
this was a joke, in the 11/14 print version of
Business2.com mentions that they will be shipping and receiving "the goods" via WAP enabled phones. Aww jeah!
posted by thc
on Oct 27, 2000 -
1 comment
The August 2000 issue of Wired points readers to
Tokyo Motor Trenz (site doesn't appear to be working at the moment), a small store in SF that will "trick out" your Nokia cell phone for you. Glow-in-the-dark buttons, clear plastic cases, LCD "tattoos", funky antennas, etc.
posted by jkottke
on Jul 12, 2000 -
2 comments
