10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT

PHONES

LIANA VAHANYAN

90 to 95% of mobile phone sales in Japan were waterproof because Japanese young

girls are so fond of their mobile phones they even use them in the shower.

Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak was the first owner of the phone

number 888-888-8888, but it proved unusable

as he was receiving over 100 wrong numbers a

day, mostly from babies playing with the phone.

112 is an international mobile (cell) phone emergency number that redirects

you to the local emergency services.

Google gives its live traffic feeds by using anonymous cell phone data. They collect the speed at which phones are moving and use that data to indicate

traffic congestion.

Hacker Kevin Mitnick, Dubbed the “most dangerous hacker in the world,” spent 8 months of his prison sentence in solitary confinement because law enforcement

officials convinced a judge that he could start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone. He listened in on FBI phone calls during the

three years he evaded the FBI, left them doughnuts when he narrowly escaped raids

and was chased down by a helicopter.

In Japan, Sony sells a mouse that doubles as a phone for Skype. When the phone rings the user simply opens the mouse,

cell-phone style, and starts talking.

You can use your cell phone’s camera to see if the battery in you television’s

remote still has some juice in it. This only works on remotes which use infrared LEDs

to communicate with devices. Phone’s camera can detect these infrared flashes

when the remote is used.

The first message sent over the Washington-Moscow hotline (aka

“Red phone”) was “The quick brown fox jumps

over the lazy dog 1234567890”. To make

sure all keys on the teletypes were

operational.

A wanted pimp had such a sophisticated pattern lock on his android phone that the

FBI was unable to crack it. They had to serve Google with a warrant to try and help

them.

Cell phones have zero effect on airplane equipment. It is the FCC (Federal

Communications Commission) that doesn’t want them to be used on airplanes. It is because when you make a call at 10,000

feet, the signal bounces off multiple available cell towers, rather than one at a

time. This means too many airline passenger might clog up the networks on

the ground.