Reverse 911: Public Safety Edges Privacy

In case of an emergency agencies need to be able to contact residents.

The job of contacting residents when a possible emergency arises is hampered for government agencies by  technological advancements like mobile phones. This questions the effectiveness of agencies. Paul Suarez a Columbian reporter said in a recent article that warning for residents has become more difficult because they are using less phone lines and more are using their cell phones more often.

One example lately was a small gas leak in Battle Ground that made officials notify citizens of danger even though the affected area was not of a larger scale and should have not been notified on a large scale.

reverse 911 photo
Photo by ResoluteSupportMedia

The Clark Regional Emergency Agency started using a reverse 911 service for phone numbers that are registered in an area to be called with a warning message although not many people use landlines these days and only so many could be called using the reverse 911.

People using cellphones, smartphones, or internet lines can be called using reverse cell phone services if they are registered although most do not. John Wheeler coordinator of emergency management for CRESA says there is no sure way to reach those people through reverse cell phone services.

It seems with most people having reliable communications these days that they could be contacted more easily with reverse 911 if the service also included mobile devices in addition to land lines.

Sometimes not reaching people could be a good thing because of privacy issues that are much needed these days. Author Ayn Rand said many years ago that Civilization is progressing toward a society with out privacy,  you might  agree with that quote today.

Officials from the government have to be careful on the issues between privacy and what is best for the public. For small gas leaks like in Battle Ground, it was considered minor but could have been more of an issue and could have been threatening.

CRESA officials say that cell phones are the future of technology and will need to deliver the warnings. Although people are concerned about privacy and unwanted messages could be an issue.

Those concerns will need to be addressed but for now, it is important that residents be alerted for emergencies. If you decide to register a cellphone to get warnings, you can visit . Additional details about the Reverse 911 service can be found at .

Everyone should register a phone number to be alerted during an emergency and to be safe.

Reverse Cell Phone Lookup and Cell Phone Reverse Services Help You Identify Shady Companies

Reverse Cell Phone Lookup

There are plenty of benefits to reverse cell phone lookup and cell phone reverse services. First of all, it prevents you from leaking sensitive financial information to shady companies who pretends that they are from some big, reliable organizations. These shady companies would have people trying to extract contact information through databases or some other channels. They would then make calls to the contacts and attempt to market their services or secure important financial information from you.

Usually, they would use cell phones to avoid being traced by you. However, with reverse cell phone look-up services, you can get hold of the physical address of these callers, the names of the caller and other information. This would help you in determining the background of the callers and whether they are who they portray themselves to be. If they turn out to be companies you are not affiliated with in any manner, you know that they have no business calling you.

You can then turn down their calls in the future. This helps you to screen out unethical callers while not missing the important calls from financial companies that really need to get hold of you for some important updates.

Reverse Cell Phone Lookup

Reverse cell phone lookup websites have become more popular and less expensive to use.  More people than ever are visiting these sites and utilizing their services to help identify unknown numbers that show up on their phones.

Prank calls and unwanted solicitations have increased with the growing number of people who own cell phones.
While these annoying calls used to be anonymous, now, cell phone owners can find out who is making these prank calls.

Databases are compiled on the internet that allow you to track down some very revealing information about unknown callers.  You can find out if the phone calls are coming from a private owner or from a business. When you don’t recognize a number, don’t waste your minutes calling back. Use a cell phone reverse number  site to track the call.

There are plenty of inexpensive reverse cell phone look up sites on the web.  Some are absolutely free and some charge a small nominal fee.

Be careful when searching the web for one of these sites. Many sites offer some services for free and then charge you for every additional piece of information.

Look for a website with excellent search capabilities. These sites usually have extensive and updated data bases. Customer service makes a difference.

Finding a good reverse cell phone site is simply a matter of entering a few keywords in a search engine.  To get started, check out the site shown below.

Reverse Cell Phone Lookup
Photo by GoodNCrazy

Come on, Time to Green Up Your Cell Phone Life

Green Up Your Cell Phone Life

Our modern society has placed an emphasis on giving back. Giving to those less fortunate, giving to charities and, perhaps above all, giving back to our planet. Where do you start? This is a question that often confounds people so much that they never start at all. One of the simplest ways to give back to mother earth is with your cell phone. Over 4.6 billion people worldwide have a cell (or mobile) phone gone are the days of the phonebook its all at our fingertips but most of these people aren’t aware that their phone could be the easiest way to begin their quest in saving the planet.

Recycle

We all know we should recycle but that doesn’t mean that we do it. Often, recycling isn’t convenient and, if it isn’t easy, we don’t want to do it. Many communities are taking the initiative with free recycling centers, recycling days or even recycling bins for each household. We replace our cell phones at an average of one phone every two years. What do we do with those old phones? Most times they take up room in a junk drawer or get tossed in the bin. People may forget, or never have been aware, that they can recycle those old phones. If you need a new phone, why not give your old one to your child? Kids often want, but don’t need, the newest gadget; your phone will be new to them and won’t take up valuable landfill space.

Monitor Energy Use

To leave as small a carbon footprint as possible, compare the energy use of different mobile phones when deciding on which to purchase. If you can’t bring yourself to buy a phone that uses the smallest amount of energy, either because of its style or features, take a look at the settings in the phone you do choose and try to adjust them to lower its use of energy. You often won’t have to give up functionality to better utilize the phone’s energy.

Green Applications

Different apps can help you reduce your carbon footprint, live greener or even scan products as you’re shopping to see what their environmental impact is. Other apps may help you decide on the greenest vehicles, the greenest appliances and even give you tips on how to reduce your energy consumption inside the home. Finding green apps couldn’t be simpler; log onto your app store and search ‘green’. The choices are virtually limitless.

Green Broadband

When deciding on which provider you will utilize, look for one that donates a portion of their proceeds to different charities or that seek a carbon neutral status. By partnering with a green provider, you are being about as environmentally friendly as you can get.

Written by Firespin Jay a Eco and Tech enthusiast from London also enjoys playing with fire (POI) so come say he @FirespinJay and hope to chat soon.

5 Ways to Cut Your Cell Phone Bill

Do you think you’re paying too much for your cell phone? Would you like to change that? A mere fifteen years after cell phones were first introduced to the public back in 1977 with only 2000 customers, 60 million people now have cell phones. It’s now t a $30 billion a year industry. If you don’t want to contribute any more to that $30 billion than is absolutely necessary, read on.

A JD Powers and Associates report states that the average basic service cell phone package costs $63 per month, and those with more advanced features runs an average of $77 per month. Keep in mind that is for a single phone. Multiply that by each individual contract your household has; technology doesn’t come cheap. Don’t despair! Here are five easy ways to cut your monthly cell phone charges-without feeling like you’ve been transported back to the dark ages.

Samsung Large Screen TV Tops the JD Power Survey 2013 (Photo credit: samsungtomorrow)
  1. Think twice before buying a smart phone. There are plenty of great phones on the market that allow you to call, text, take and send pictures, search the web, and take advantage of all sorts of great apps for less money. Case in point: ATT Mobility charges smart phone users a minimum of $15 for 200 MB of internet usage per month, while customers using phones with most all of the same capabilities can have unlimited usage for $10. That’s a $60 a year difference. Speaking of phones, don’t buy a phone based on how cute it is. Buy for durability and how easy it is for you to operate. Just like anything else, there are some products that are simply better than others. The same JD Powers and Associates report mentioned above reports that Sony Ericson, Samsung, and Motorola make the best phones on the market.
  2. Don’t buy ring tones. Ever. Several online websites has thousands of ring tones that are absolutely free. No strings attached, no limit on how many you can select, and nothing to sign up for. Just search for your favorite songs or tones, download and save. The end.
  3. Take advantage of family plans. With one primary account holder, most providers allow you to add up to 4 additional phones for around $10 a piece per month (plus taxes). You can also take advantage of bundling your features to spread the cost of unlimited texting and other added features between plan participants. Wirefly.com is one arguably the best site on the internet to comparison shop for the cellular provider and phone plan for you.
  4. Do the math. Many young couple find themselves paying out money unnecessarily for two separate phone plans. They don’t want to pay the early out charges most carriers charge for breaking your contract. But think about it…if each person is paying $75 for their phone plan, and that amount could be reduced by approximately $60 a month, that’s a yearly savings of $720! Compare that to the usual $200 to $300 charged by the major cellular service providers for canceling a contract before it expires. That $400 to $500 dollars will go a long way toward paying down student loans, credit card debt, or next year’s vacation.
  5. Take advantage of little known discounts, and rethink your plan. Employees of the postal system are entitled to a 25% discount with Sprint, while all other federal employees get a 15% discount. Many credit unions, as well as companies that manufacture components used in cellular technology or those associated with the marketing of cellular services are allowed 10-15% discounts, as well. Check with your provider to see what, if anything, you qualify for. As for your phone plan…do you really need 1000 anytime minutes? With unlimited calling to people in your network, and the roll-over plans that have been adopted over the last few years, just about everyone could take a lesser plan and shave $10-$15 dollars a month off their plan.

This article was contributed by Darla Nicole.  Darla writes about credit card rewards and deals.  A popular choice for college students with large cell phone bills is the Citi Student Dividend card which offers 5% cash back for utilities.

Is your cell phone killing you?

For decades now scientists have been debating whether the radiation emitted from cell phones is causing permanent damage to the brains of people who use them. A new government funded study by the National Institutes of Health seems to suggest it is doing something, but scientists are not quite certain what that is.

Let’s be clear: according to researchers the electromagnetic radiation produced by a cell phones affects glucose metabolism. When glucose metabolism inside your brain goes up, cells get activated. The complete study was published in the Journal of American Medical Association and includes the caveat that while they know something is happening inside the brain, they don’t know what. The researchers said the cell phone need to be bombarding the brain for at least 50 minutes before any increase in brain activity was noted.

radiation emitted from cell phones
Photo by SOMBILON PHOTOGRAPHY | GALLERY | VIDEOGRAPHY (radiation emitted from cell phones)

Maybe it is activating extra sensory perception, maybe it is burning calories, maybe it is doing nothing at all. They have no idea.

Like all scientific research which determines something is going on but does not reveal what exactly that is (like, say, global warming) they recommend more research be conducted.

In May 2010 the Interphone project by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the largest study of cell phone use and brain tumors ever conducted found that “no increase in risk was observed with the use of mobile phones.” The agency studied the effects of cell phone use of dozens of subjects over a ten year period. That is a substantial test group.

The latest research also tested dozens of subjects, 47 otherwise healthy adults to be precise. They tested brain levels when the cell phone was turned off and compared these with results when the phone was turned on. The study showed “significantly higher” brain activity in the area closest to where the antenna was located on the phone.

The brain is a sensitive electromagnetic instrument all by itself. It probably doesn’t need to be further stimulated by an outside device. But researchers can not say with any degree of certainty that the effects of 50 minutes of cell phone use will harm the brain of a healthy adult. They cannot say the same for adults with brains that have suffered some sort of previous damage or the brains of children, with thinner skull structures than their adult counterparts.

This is not the first time research has shown cell phone use could pose a hazard. Again and again some researchers have claimed that the electromagnetic emissions of cells phone could cause bran cancer or strokes or something, though no one has yet produced one shred of evidence to prove these claims.

Today, there are more than 300 million cell phones in use in the United States alone and almost 1 billion in use around the world. With that type of wide spread use it would seem if there was any type of negative effect it would hardly take a team of researchers and a group of 47 healthy adults talking on their phones for 50 minutes to prove it.

Thomas is the Founder and CEO of a premiere Virtual Assistant company in the US. He also consults on Search Engine Optimization and how to make your day more efficient thru the use of Virtual Assistants. To find out more information please feel free to visit their website.