Consumer Reports

We all know that talking on a cell phone while driving and texting while driving are big no-nos (and against the law in some states), but who knew that talking on our phones while walking across the street could really be that dangerous. I know I am on the phone at least once a week on my walk to and from my D.C. office. A recent episode of HealthDay TV reports on a study that simulated people walking across a busy street either on a cell phone, listening to music or not distracted at all. Turns out participants in that study who where on the phone failed to successfully cross the street more often than the people listening to music.

It’s a Post Office on your phone. Customer convenience and product access are the focus of expanding the most popular online services onto web-enabled mobile devices. Some of the most popular functions currently available on usps.com are now available on cell phones and other mobile devices. The new features include Track & Confirm, Post Office locator, and the most popular application, ZIP Code lookup. Any mobile user with web access will be able to log on to the Postal Service mobile site no matter where they are, without having to use a personal computer.

While you’re doing your spring cleaning this year, it’s a good bet you’ll stumble upon countless “treasures,” and surely amongst these things will be an old cell phone or two. My three old cell phones have taken residence underneath my bed purely because I haven’t known what else to do with them. Now—problem solved! April 6-12th is National Cell Phone Recycling Week . This event is a build up to Earth Day , trying to spread the message that recycling cell phones reduces greenhouse gas emissions and conserves natural resources. Only 10% of cell phones are recycled each year, mostly because people don’t know where to recycle them. This week, you can take your old cell phones, PDAs, and accessories to major cell phone retail stores (AT&T, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless) and drop them off to be properly recycled. Some fun facts: The 11 million cell phones collected for recycling in 2008 saved enough energy to power more than 2,035 US households for a year. Recycling the 100 million cell phones that are no longer used annually would save enough energy to power 18,500 US households for a year.