Etc.

Handset art
Virgin Mobile USA and LG Electronics announced six specially commissioned handpanted Aloha handsets that will be auctioned off to support youth homeless charities. The project is part of the “National Homeless Youth Awareness Month” in November. Artists Daniel Davidson, Caroline Hwang, Rich Jacobs, Greg Lamarche and Eric White designed the handsets. The phones, which will come prerecorded with a message from the artist, will be auctioned during the RE*Generation Gallery 2007 Auction and Benefit Nov. 7 at the Skylight Gallery in New York City.
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Mobile in the field
Aeris Communications, Kyocera Wireless and Leica Geosystems said they are collaborating on Leica’s mojoRTK platform, which is designed to increase productivity in agricultural settings. The Leica Geosystems mojoRTK is an agricultural auto-steer guidance system that offers the Virtual Wrench Web-based remote service and diagnostics tool. The platform, which uses Aeris’ CDMA network and Kyocera’s M200 Module, allows equipment operators to report problems, start remote diagnostics over the air, provide remote fixes to software and firmware and schedule field service calls.
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“Excuse me, did you just grope me?”
Women are using cellphones to fight back against gropers on Japan’s crowded commuter trains. The “Anti-Groping Appli” was developed by game developer Takahashi and has been available for almost two years, but has only recently become popular. The application flashes increasingly threatening messages in bold print on the phone’s display along with a warning chime. Examples of messages include, “Excuse me, did you just grope me?” and “Shall we head to the police?”
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Facing suit
An Indiana woman is suing online social network company Facebook Inc., saying the company has sent thousands of unauthorized text messages to cellphones whose numbers previously belonged to other users, according to an Associated Press report. The woman said she began receiving explicit messages from a Facebook member after activating a new Verizon Wireless cellphone. She further claims she was charged a messaging fee for each unwanted message she received and was told she could not block the unsolicited messages without blocking messages she did want to receive.