Mobile phone losses costing Brits dearly
UK mobile phone owners are losing around 855,000 handsets down the loo every year, which means that around £342 million worth of mobile phone is quite literally being flushed away annually, new research shows.

Price comparison service SimplySwitch.com found that around 4.5 million handsets are lost or damaged each year, with many being left behind at the pub, in a taxi or on a bus.

Stranger mobile phone losses include pets chewing the handsets or owners accidentally putting them in the washing machine.

Men were more likely to lose their mobile phones than women, but carelessness reduced with age with just 16 per cent of the over-55s saying they had lost or damaged their handset, compared to 40 per cent of under-34s, the survey found.

"Of the 18 million new handsets bought in the UK every year, roughly 4.5 million will end up lost or damaged," said Karen Darby of SimplySwitch.com.

"With handsets now costing up to £400 and people often opting out of the insurance package, there's more reason than ever to look after your mobile."

Crikey o Reiley, here is something disconcerting from Computing.co.uk - read the full piece but below is the five viruses for mobiles that are out there. Charming little things. Especially easy to propagate via Bluetooth apparently. Until recently I thought that bluetooth was a dental condition but apparently its now a gateway for one of these little f***ers!

Cabir (1) - spread via Bluetooth and MMS, it does not directly damage the phone but continually tries to detect other devices to infect, greatly reducing battery life.

CommWarrior (2) - spread as above, it resets the phone on 14th of every month deleting all personal data.

Skulls (1) - downloaded by user, it disables phone applications like phone book, SMS, media player and changes all phone icons to a skull and crossbones leaving it unusable.

CardTrap (2) - spread as above, it overwrites applications such as the phone book with corrupted copies. These applications will no longer work when you next reboot the phone, rendering the phone useless. It also drops installers for Skulls, CommWarrior and Cabir onto the device and puts some Windows viruses onto the memory card so that plugging the memory card into a PC will result in the PC being infected as well

Doomed (1) - spread as above, it disables some applications and attempts to prevent the phone from restarting as well as installing Cabir, CommWarrior, Fontal, CardTrap, CardBlock and Skulls. It can also sometimes cause other Bluetooth devices in the vicinity of the infected device to restart.

The mobile phone that stops you being struck by lightning

Alarm will sound when blue skies mask the danger of thunderbolts

Comments (3) Children have always been taught to work out how near they are to a dangerous electrical storm by counting the seconds between the thunder and the flash of lightning.

Now there is a more modern solution to the summer hazard of lightning strikes - the mobile phone.

Phone makers, not content with offering email, camera, video recorder and a host of other options on their high-tech handsets, have developed a phone which can alert the user to the threat of a lightning strike by sounding an alarm telling the person to move to safety.

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It is likely to be a boon to outdoor enthusiasts such as golfers and anglers who are most at risk because they often tend to be away from shelter.

In the UK, five people are killed each year after being struck by lightning and dozens more are injured.

The new handset detects radio waves given off by lightning up to hundreds of miles away. The pattern of the waves changes as a storm gets nearer and the alarm sounds.

Nokia says: "Many of the most dangerous lightning strikes occur when no visible clouds are present above as a warning of a thunderstorm.

"Thus, a system that warns of potential harmful thunderstorms, even if only approximately ten minutes before they become visible, can be considered a major safety feature."

Many people are caught because lightning can strike from clear skies as far as six miles from where rain is falling.

A typical bolt has the power of a billion watts - enough to light 10 million lightbulbs.

Between 30 and 60 people a year survive lightning strikes in the UK but more than three-quarters of them suffer a permanent disability, such as brain damage or paralysis.

In 2003, a man was left in a coma for a week and most of the bones in his face were shattered after he was hit by lightning while running around a park in Liverpool.

And in September 1999, two young Thai women were found dead under a tree in Hyde Park, London, after being struck by lightning while sheltering from a storm.

The lightning alarm is the latest in a string of unusual uses for mobile phones. Last week a text message service was announced that will warn sunlovers when they risk getting burnt.

It will receive updates of UV intensity from local phone masts and sound a warning when mobile users who have signed up to the service have spent too long outside in the sun.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "For people who are out and about playing golf or fishing, if you have an early warning, at least you can be aware before the storm strikes.

"But the important thing is to know what to do if a lightning storm is threatening.

"There is some basic advice: try to find shelter in a brick building or in your car if it is close, because the tyres should provide insulation.

"People should not shelter under trees."

Now this is exactly the sort of story I love to read...how weird is this! I have a feeling it will become a tourist attraction!

It should be the perfect spot to sit down and escape the hustle and bustle of modern life.

But if you're looking for a little tranquillity in the village of East Prawle then steer clear of the bench on the green.

For hovering above the seat is the only mobile phone signal for miles around.

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On the bench: the only way East Prawle residents can currently get a mobile phone signal

It means that the once-peaceful spot is frequently filled with the sound of chatter - and queues reminiscent of an old-fashioned telephone box - as villagers take turns to climb on to the bench to make a call.

Now the parish council has been forced to take action after an elderly resident complained that the bench was no longer being used for its original purpose - and was often covered in muddy footprints.

Councillors in the South Devon village have voted to move the bench to the other side of the green and put a special phone podium in its place.

The £100, 2ft-high concrete block, complete with steps, will be installed at the precise spot where callers can get coverage.

David Hampden Smith, chairman of Chivelstone Parish Council, explained: "We have never been able to get a signal in the village.

"Now one has been found, we have decided to put a podium there because the bench is getting ruined with everyone clambering on to it.

"£100 is a lot of money for a small community council but it seems that everyone wanted it.

"Lots of people are using the park bench to make important phone calls."

East Prawle, population 200, has two pubs and a small shop and its remote coastal location makes it popular with tourists.

It is believed the bench's unique quality was discovered by a holidaymaker who spread the information around nearby campsites.

The phone signal can be found only by standing on the bench and facing west.

Richard Cordy, 65, a retired shop owner in the village, said: "It is a bit embarrassing for people to have to climb on to a park bench but it's the only way.

"The residents here have been waiting ten years for a phone signal and visitors are always grumbling about it."

"There was even a small queue of people wanting to use their phone at the weekend. It is all a bit mad really."

From the Daily Telegraph on 09 April 2007:

Up to 60,000 people headed to Bournemouth in Dorset to sunbathe and walk along the beach. Resorts in north Devon, the Gower in Wales, and on the east coast also attracted thousands of visitors. Rescue services had to deal with a number of incidents. One Brazilian holidaymaker was lucky to escape unhurt after she fell part-way down a 120ft cliff in Torquay, Devon.  The 32-year-old managed to call for help using her mobile phone while "clinging precariously" to the cliff edge, Devon and Cornwall police said.