90-95% of mobile phones sold in Japan are waterproof because many Japanese girls use their phones in the shower. Steve Wozniak received over 100 wrong numbers a day on his phone number 888-8888 due to babies playing with phones. 112 redirects to local emergency services and is an international mobile phone emergency number. Google collects anonymous cell phone location data to provide live traffic information. A hacker was held in solitary confinement for 8 months because officials believed he could start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone based on his phone hacking abilities.

1. 10 INTERESTING
FACTS ABOUT
PHONES
LIANA VAHANYAN

2. 90 to 95% of mobile phone sales in Japan
were waterproof because Japanese young
girls are so fond of their mobile phones
they even use them in the shower.

3. Apple co-founder, Steve
Wozniak was the first
owner of the phone
number 888-888-8888,
but it proved unusable
as he was receiving
over 100 wrong numbers
a day, mostly from
babies playing with the
phone.

4. 112 is an international mobile (cell)
phone emergency number that redirects
you to the local emergency services.

5. Google gives its live traffic feeds by
using anonymous cell phone data. They
collect the speed at which phones are
moving and use that data to indicate
traffic congestion.

6. Hacker Kevin Mitnick, Dubbed the “most
dangerous hacker in the world,” spent 8
months of his prison sentence in solitary
confinement because law enforcement
officials convinced a judge that he could
start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay
phone. He listened in on FBI phone calls
during the three years he evaded the FBI,
left them doughnuts when he narrowly
escaped raids and was chased down by a
helicopter.

7. In Japan, Sony sells a mouse that
doubles as a phone for Skype. When the
phone rings the user simply opens the
mouse, cell-phone style, and starts
talking.

8. You can use your cell phone’s camera to
see if the battery in you television’s
remote still has some juice in it. This
only works on remotes which use infrared
LEDs to communicate with devices.
Phone’s camera can detect these infrared
flashes when the remote is used.

9. The first message sent
over the Washington-
Moscow hotline (aka
“Red phone”) was “The
quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog
1234567890”. To make
sure all keys on the
teletypes were
operational.

10. A wanted pimp had such a sophisticated
pattern lock on his android phone that
the FBI was unable to crack it. They had
to serve Google with a warrant to try and
help them.

11. Cell phones have zero effect on airplane
equipment. It is the FCC (Federal
Communications Commission) that doesn’t
want them to be used on airplanes. It is
because when you make a call at 10,000
feet, the signal bounces off multiple
available cell towers, rather than one
at a time. This means too many airline
passenger might clog up the networks on
the ground.