smartphones

Museum visitors explore Cellphone: Unseen Connections at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Arts
Science

How DOES your cellphone work? A new exhibition dials into the science

10:26pm July 14, 2023

by Neda Ulaby

Turns out wireless networks aren't wireless at all. And light pulses in fiber optic cables carry your voice around the world. A new exhibition explains the science you hold in your hand every day.

Queue Listen Now

For years, the research picture on how social media affects teen mental health has been murky. That is changing as scientists find new tools to answer the question.

Health & Safety

The truth about teens, social media and the mental health crisis

4:26pm April 25, 2023

by Michaeleen Doucleff

A striking decline in teen mental health has coincided with the rise of smartphones and social media. Is social media causing the mental health challenges? Finally, research can answer that question.

Users beware: Apps are using a loophole in privacy law to track kids' phones

1:59pm June 16, 2022

by Dave Davies

Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler says a 1998 law prohibits tech companies from collecting data on kids — but only if the companies know the age of their users.

Queue Listen Now

Huda Mohamed, a student at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., has an immunodeficiency. She decided to take extra precautions by using Virginia's COVIDWISE app, which alerts users who may have been exposed to the coronavirus. Such apps are only

A Tech Powerhouse, U.S. Lags In Using Smartphones For Contact Tracing

8:31am September 23, 2020

by Jason Beaubien

Google and Apple teamed up on using smartphones to track coronavirus infections. But the systems are only available in a few states, where they're being used by a tiny percentage of the population.

Thousands Of Guilford County Schools Students In Need Of Remote Learning Devices

4:29pm August 21, 2020

by David Ford

Thousands of students in Guilford County still lack the laptops needed for remote learning.

Dr. Randall Bly, an assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine who practices at Seattle Children's Hospital, uses the experimental smartphone app and a paper funnel to check his daughter'

Health & Safety

A Smartphone App And A Paper Funnel Could Help Parents Diagnose Kids' Ear Infections

4:18pm May 15, 2019

by Richard Harris

While there are thousands of health-related apps around, one being developed at the University of Washington stands out because it uses a phone's microphone and speaker to make a a medical call.

A crew hangs a Huawei advertising banner on the side of the Las Vegas Convention Center in January. Some senators want to ban it the world's third-largest seller of smartphones from the U.S.

As Vote On ZTE Sanctions Looms, Some U.S. Lawmakers Focus On A Bigger Chinese Telecom

3:57pm June 15, 2018

by Dustin Dwyer

Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei is the world's third-largest seller of smartphones, and a few powerful senators say they want to ban it entirely from the U.S. amid national security concerns.

A sign for the ZTE booth is seen at the Mobile World Congress, the world's largest mobile phone trade show in Barcelona, Spain, in 2014.

President Trump Puts 'America First' On Hold To Save Chinese Jobs

9:59am May 14, 2018

by Scott Neuman

Trump says he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to get cellphone-maker ZTE "back in business" after it was punished for selling U.S. technology to Iran and then violated a settlement.

Smartphones, and their apps, have become an extension of us, says commentator Marcelo Gleiser.

Science

Welcome To The Age Of Digital Transcendence

9:40am January 23, 2018

by Marcelo Gleiser

Smartphones have become an extension of the owner; it is the closest we've ever become to being omnipresent and omniscient and — in a metaphorical sense, at least — divine, says Marcelo Gleiser.

Liu Jin Ying, a 26-year-old farmer, has thousands of viewers a day watching his livestream diaries of life on the farm. He has nearly 200,000 subscribers and earns about $1,500 a month.

World News

Livestreaming Country Life Is Turning Some Chinese Farmers Into Celebrities

2:17pm January 03, 2018

by Rob Schmitz

Enterprising young farmers in remote, rural areas have become Internet celebrities by livestreaming mundane details of their lives to urban Chinese audiences. They're part of a $3 billion industry.