BBC World Service Trust is attempting to harness the power and pervasiveness of mobile phones to provide English language lessons for the 50+ million mobile users in Bangladesh.

What do our future mobile devices look like and what will they do?

A new tool to assist Mexican migrant workers safely cross over the border into the United States has been developed by Ricardo Dominguez of the University of California in San Diego.

The iPhone’s touch screen interface was a response to the growing capabilities of mobile phones. How are other companies approaching the same issue?

What does the evolution of mobile phone design look like?

We recently checked in at MobileBehavior’s website and stumbled upon an interesting feature located on their contact page – a text-message business card as a complement to traditional paper versions.

Japanese mobile phone monolith Docomo has developed a mobile phone called the “Touch Wood” built from the excess wood collected during forest thinning.

Chase Jarvis, a world-renowned commercial photographer, recently launched an iPhone application, book and online photo community to convince everyone that the best camera is the one that’s with you and absolutely anyone can snap a remarkable image.

Although there have been plenty of reports linking cellphone usage to such things as brain tumors, a recent Australian study found a different kind of hazard related to mobile phone use in children.
The Mobile Radiofrequency Phone Exposed Users Study (MoRPhEUS) analyzed the cognitive capabilities and mobile phone use of 317 children ages 11-14. The young people who used their phones more often- with the setting that completed words automatically (predictive texting), completed tests quicker, but with a larger number of mistakes.
Epidemiologist Michael Abramson, who performed the tests for Monash University in Australia, told ABC Science that the results showed predictive [...]

Last year, we mentioned that USAA, a mid-sized American bank, was going to provide the technology to virtually deposit checks using a scanner and Wi-Fi.
A year and a half later, USAA is the first out of the gate with an iPhone app that offers the convenient option of depositing checks by taking a picture of each side with your phone’s camera. A touch of the send button emails it to the bank, and the paper check can then be disposed of.
The simplicity of this app will no doubt send competitors in banking and mobile alike scrambling for solutions as [...]

Infrastructurist has compiled a fantastic gallery of some of the last remaining full-size phone booths in New York City. Once a standard feature of any urban landscape, these days, any kind of phone booth seems like an anachronism. With the advent of ubiquitous mobile phone use these little phone-call stations are next to obsolete, but hopefully some kind of new purpose can be found for these structures.

[Infrastructurist via Doobybrain]

Swedish software and design company The Astonishing Tribe are currently developing Augmented ID, an augmented reality concept for mobile phones. This utilizes facial recognition software (supplied by Polar Rose) to visualize the digital identities of those around you.
By simply aiming your mobile device at someone, you would be able to access that individual’s pre-selected information through floating icons that would appear around their image. These could contain anything from a phone number and email address to links to their favorite content or social networking platforms.
Here’s a short video demonstration:

[via Engadget]

Hot on the heels of a 2008 ban on television programs for kids under 3, France is getting strict with new rules which will limit children’s usage and access to mobile phones. New laws prohibit advertising aimed at children under the age of 12 and bans the sale of cell phones designed for kids under 6. New limits on the allowable amount of radiation emitted from phones, and laws mandating bundled headphones with every phone will be put in place as well. Although this ban is unique in Europe, France joins a growing number of countries including Canada, Russia and [...]

PSFK reports on trends in the mobile sector-France Télécom [with the assistance of Bluetooth connectivity] have developed a small, flexible colour display that can be integrated into your clothing.