It can get pretty loud inside a commuter rail car, thanks to people listening to music, watching movies, or talking loudly on their phones or with fellow passengers. To rectify the problem, Metrolink has announced that starting October 3, they will offer a "Quiet Car" on every weekday train to help improve the ride. more ›

Phone, cable, and internet provider Verizon has announced they'll give a $10,000 reward for info that gets the perp(s) arrested and prosecuted in a string of recent copper cable thefts in Southern California. "In recent weeks, thieves have cut and stolen thousands of feet of copper cable at nine locations, resulting in thousands of dollars in damages," explains Verizon. more ›

Forward thinking inmates have been running a *72 telephone scam that tricks a victim into unwittingly forwarding calls from their number resulting in collect fees and other charges, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department press release. more ›

When I moved into this neighborhood four years ago after driving out from Chicago, one of my first objectives was to test the various cellular phone (that's what we called them back then) providers. more ›

The people behind a nicely done, but faux press release and University of California website about $0 tuition last month are at it again. UCSD's b.a.n.g. lab in the Visual Arts Department have by introducing the controversial Transborder Immigrant Tool, which will "allow virtual geography to mark new trails and potentially safer routes across this desert of the real" for those crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. more ›

The County of Los Angeles has gone ahead and busted themselves. "This is government at its worst," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky was quoted saying in the LA Times. "We have a problem, no question about it. But we are going to move quickly to fix it." The county started auditing themselves after they found over 300 unused lines at the now-closed Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. The $1.5 million number only totals what they've discovered so far and it could double when they finish with 16,000 useless lines. Any savings is good news, especially in this economy, but the County has a long way to go. The $22.8 billion budget has department heads trying to cut as much as 13%. more ›

Sure, it’s the weekend before Thanksgiving. And yeah, you could spend it holed up in your apartment with a gallon jug of hair gel, clipping coupons for the early-bird Best Buy sale that’s finally going to net you that sweet new cellular phone. Or maybe capitalizing random words and adding unnecessary quotes to phrases will keep you occupied all weekend. more ›

Now that the U.S. is catching up with the rest of the world's mobile phone addiction, we can use our nimble thumbs to engage in some quality worldchanging. We've learned a lot about what's possible with mobile from Google, Apple, and Nokia in the past year alone. Now is the time take the baton and move forward. more ›

New Rules: more ›

Cingular customers have been experiencing a system-wide problem today in the Los Angeles area. The current glitch comes two days after announcing a shiny, new mobile/web deal with MySpace. Maybe the Verizon/YouTubers have taken to knocking down towers? I speculate. Below, please find the dramatic re-enactment of my customer service phone exchange. The grumbly lady that answered my call was less thrilled about answering my questions: Is there currently a problem with service in... more ›