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LG and Prada Team Up For Third Phone
The phone maker has joined with the fashion label once again to create a shiny new handset.

New Battery 10x Capacity 10x Charge Speed
Scientists have redesigned a lithium-ion battery to allow it to charge ten times faster and hold ten times the charge of a standard cell.

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Police Hand-Held Scanner Can Spot Stolen Phones

Police Hand-Held Scanner Can Spot Stolen Phones The police’s latest campaign against street robbery has produced what could a significant step towards preventing criminals from stealing mobile phones.

A hand-held scanner has been invented which can see if a phone has been stolen or not. They are being deployed around Bromley’s transport routes, with the aim of deterring thefts.

Dubbed Apollo, the scanner is connected wirelessly to a national stolen phone database. It electronically reads a mobile’s IMEI number – which is their serial number – and detect if it has been lost or stolen. The scanner is also being used on a trial period in Ealing.

Bromley Chief Superintendent Charles Griggs said: “I want to put the word around that we are out there on the buses and transport routes actively looking for stolen phones.”

“This is not the complete answer but it is another tool to help us identify stolen property. If we find people with stolen phones, they can be arrested,” Chief Griggs said.

The makers of the scanner say it’s effective in the fight against more serious crime and terrorism. Andy Gill, managing director of Radio Tactics, said: “Phones are shipped en masse to countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan where terrorist networks use them as a means of making money.”

2007 saw half of street robberies being theft of mobile phones and influenced children to follow suit. The figures fell with the introduction of stolen numbers being blocked and while criminals can unblock them, there is a prosecution charge if caught.

There is a good sign that the initiative is going well as last year saw 67,233 mobiles reported stolen, an 18.5 per cent drop from the previous year.

This could all be undone though with the recession and more sophisticated mobile phones possibly leading to a new surge in robberies.



Industry News posted by Marilyn on 30 September 2009

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