NOT NECESSARILY NEWS

Posted: 2/2003

Overheard...

"Afghanistan has moved backwards toward the Stone Age at a time when we need to enter the Digital Age."

-- Masoom Stanekzai, Minister of Communications, Afghanistan, at the recent signing of a two-year agreement with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to provide emergency support to war-torn Afghanistan in restoring its heavily damaged telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure.

Car Thieves Get a 'Brake'

A new security system that literally stops car thieves in their tracks has been launched in the United Kingdom. Created in Italy, the I-Mob system uses mobile phone technology to communicate with a car letting the owner know it has been stolen. The owner then can key in a code on his mobile phone and the car engine will automatically cut out the next time the driver stops. A tracker device working on GPS means the police will be able to locate the car to within two meters. There is even a way to communicate with the unsuspecting thief using a mobile phone that goes through a loudspeaker into the car.

Cash for Trash

About 130 million cellular phones will be retired annually in the United States by 2005, reports INFORM INC. Because of their small size they are more likely to be thrown in the trash and ultimately pose threats to the environment and public health.

Wireless Wholesaler RMS Communications Group Inc. has come up with an alternative that will help the environment and put a little cash in the wireless users' pocket. Using their new website, www.cellforcash.com, consumers can identify their old cellular phones, determine their value and request a shipping box with a return postage paid label. The consumer returns the box with the phones inside, and RMS sends a check within a couple of weeks.

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