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There are a ton of iPhone accessories out there, and most of them are run of the mill. Screen protectors, holsters, skins and various sundry headphones are the norm. Occassionally, however, we encounter accessories that just make you go WTF? Here are 10 of the weirder ones we’ve seen lately – if you have others, send them in!

1. Portable Speaker on a Keychain – Because everyone  wants to hear the music on your iPhone from a Boombox the size of their finger!



2. Cell Phone Beanbag – Your iPhone  needs its own hipster chair to sit in!



3. Wind Powered Battery Charger – Clearly you want to be exposing your phone to the elements and charging it via the wind.



4. Bluetooth Bracelet – Nothing  says loser better then a buzzing bracelet.



5. Fake Grass Phone Charger – For those of you still living in your mother’s basement, green it up a bit with this “attractive” charger.



6. Bluetooth Watch – Look Ma, I’m Dick Tracy!



7. Rotary Phone – Who would use this, seriously?

Image Credits: ThinkGeek, X-TremeGeek, IWantOneOfThose

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RadioShack will now be offering T-Mobile devices and rate plans (already available through the techie supercenter’s website).  This incorporation makes an active fourth for the company in regard to major cellular carriers — they already offer services on behalf of AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Alltel.

Reports, by the way, on what RadioShack will do in terms of selling Verizon, baby, one more time are muddled.  Boy Genius confirmed (in March) that this reunion would take place (RadioShack and Verizon were salesman tandem partners, to the delight of many, some time ago and parted ways due to, reportedly, me-or-that-other-carrier dominion issues) in select RadioShack locations.  While it sounded as though these select stores would be the first in a domino effect across the franchise, it appears that only locations which formerly sold Alltel (many of which are still selling Alltel, adding somewhat to the cloudiness) will now sell Verizon.

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1. The Vague Transition
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In 1992 the first Smartphone was introduced to the world as a Concept product at the COMDEX computer industry trade show in Las Vegas., NV. The mobile phone was called “Simon” and its feature set included a touch screen, stylus, calendar, World Clock, address book, calculator, eMail, Fax, games and a note pad.

Smartphones have come a long way in just 17 years. Although many of the original features still exist, (Facsimiles? Really? Well, I guess it was still cool in 1992…) they’ve added things like Global Positioning Systems, Digital Cameras, Accelerometers, contact management, QWERTY keyboards, Media Software (for your .mp3′s and videos) and are seen operating across a range of platforms from “Windows Mobile” to Google’s Linux-based “Android” and the Mac OS X based “iPhone OS.”

According to Sacha Wunsch-Vincent of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) these Smartphones are just “One Evolution in an Evolution …the deal here is to make the device as invisible as possible, between you, and what you want to do”

The obvious Question, then, is “What’s Next?”

Solar Panel LCD Screens

A little over a year ago, Apple filed a patent detailing how they can incorporate solar cells into mobile devices placing them behind the LCD screens. For those of us who don’t keep sunshine in our pocket, Idaho-based M2E has been developing a Kinetic Gadget Charger. Couple these green energy ideas with the recently released “Wireless iPhone Chargers” from Wildcharge and “Palm’s Touchstone Wireless” chargers for the Palm PRE and what have you got? Well, wireless energy for one. You won’t have the excuse that you forgot to charge your phone anymore, for another. Outdoor Enthusiasts or sailors would be able to use their Smartphones as a map and compass on week-long hikes and boat-trips, and with solar or kinetic energy, the Smartphone could very easily act as a fail-safe emergency beacon if anything unfortunate were to happen.

Ad Supported Wireless Service

Well now that we it can nearly charge itself, what else will our Smartphone do for us? How about pay for its own way?

If Hotmail was any indicator that users are willing to endure the occasional ad-banner, and the success of Google’s Adsense program is the continued trend, then an argument could be made for the use of ad-sponsored Smartphones. It’s as simple as it sounds: The user purchases their new or gently loved iPhone or Blackberry. They then subscribe to a monthly service provided by their preferred carrier which, in lieu of charging them a monthly fee, provides them with advertisements for useful products. Now while most people may not be fans of the idea, imagine having all the benefits of a Smartphone at no cost. If the carrier were really bright, they’d incorporate the sponsorships and advertisements in a way as unobtrusive (and effective) as possible, best serving the interests of their advertising clients as well as their service users.

Brain-Machine Interface

So the future of Smartphones is a bunch of gimmicks? Our iPhone and Palm PRE are doomed to a future of commercial sales-points that any chuckle-head with a marketing degree could imagine? It’s not likely. Think back to what Wunsch-Vincent of the OECD had to say. “…make the device as invisible as possible between you and what you want to do.”

Companies and institutes all over the world have been researching BMI (Brain-Machine Interface) for years now. Honda has a video floating around with their friendly little “Asimo.” A BMI controlled humanoid robot who Honda claims “responded correctly to human thoughts in more than 90% of all cases.”

The Fraunhoffer Institute in Berlin has spent over two years developing what they call a “Human brain-computer interface,” which, still in its infancy, can allow you to move a cursor around a screen or type a sentence in five to ten minutes. While many of us measure our ability to type in words per minute, ten minutes to compose a sentence isn’t long for a severely disabled person who hasn’t been able to communicate in years.

Augmented Reality

Last but not least there’s MIT Media Lab’s “Sixth Sense,” an Augmented Reality device which allows users to project digital data onto surfaces in the world around them, and interact with that data using natural hand gestures. Comprised of a projector, a camera and a mirror, and attached to a mobile computing device which could fit in a pocket, the “Sixth Sense” has potential to trump Apples ‘Dual Touch’ and Microsoft’s Surface Computers in size and potential.

Why are we suddenly talking about computers, though? Because it’s folly to look into the near future when asking a question like “What is the future of Smartphones.” With technology already in existence like I-Tech’s Virtual Laser Keyboard, the future of computers is the future of Smartphones.

The Sixth Sense is intended to make the internet a tactile, real-world phenomenon. A possibility exists where you can research the dietary nutrition of a product as you’re standing in the aisle of your grocery, purchase it immediately with the scan of a laser and walk out with your pockets full.

The future where a BMI-Smartphone can gauge the level of a users’ intoxication, disable their vehicle, call them a cab and then direct the cab driver by GPS sounds Orwellian, but might not be that far off.

Augmented Reality (that yellow “First Down” line in NFL football broadcasts) would only take a set of glasses, and your “NavMan” is painting the route in your line of sight, so you really can’t miss that blind driveway.

The only thing missing is an implant physically connecting us with our Smartphones. Considering how common Bluetooth headsets are, and the precedent set by the Software Designer who recently replaced his missing ring finger with a USB Drive, the Science Fiction of implanted Smartphones is rapidly becoming reality.

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1. How do Cell Phones Become Smartphones?
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Cell phones are quickly become the center of mobile life. Not only are cell phones being used for personal health monitoring but the Chicago Times is reporting that Chicago residents may soon be able to pay for their public transportation by swiping their cellphone over a scanner.

Chicago’s public transportation authority is currently investigating the possibility of allowing passengers to use their cell phones to replace tickets. Using cell phones instead of tickets simplifies the process and makes life easier on daily commuters. And since cell phones can be waived over a scanning device to make payment, it would probably eliminate expenses for the Chicago Transportation Authority.

Savings simply from reducing the number of tickets printed would be about $650,000 per year.

Cell phones are the perfect technology for this kind of convergence. After all, more people carry cell phones than credit cards or bank cards. So why duplicate efforts when we could just carry one thing instead of multiple things? We expect this trend to continue and that people will be able to pay for more and more things with their cell phones in the future.

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It’s estimated that Americans have over 130 million cell phones are retired each year and up to 500 million old cell phones are sitting in storage. Many people just assume that their old cell phones are junk.

However, it just might be that your old cell phone is worth some money. As an incentive for recycling old cell phones, there are many paid recycling programs that are emerging. One of the most prominent of these programs comes from CellForCash.com where people are offered between $5 and $150 for their used cell phones.

If you’re wondering how the recycling company recoups its investment, here’s how: they extract precious metals from some phones and donate other phones to charities (tax write-off).

Recycling your old cell phone is not only good for the environment but could provide you with some extra money at the same time. So consider digging that old cell phone out of the closet and checking to see whether it’s eligible for a reputable recycling program.

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1. Five Ways To Dispose of Your Old Cell Phone
2. How To Recycle Your Cell Phone for Fun, Profit, and Good Karma

1. Cell phone Microscope

UCLA electrical engineering professor Aydogan Ozcan is on the cutting edge of the new “cell phone as life-saving device” technology. Using an ordinary SonyEricsson phone, and adding less than $50 in off-the-shelf parts, Professor Ozcan has developed a device that can produce an image showing the cells within a small sample of fluid, such as water or even human blood. This could help in monitoring the condition of HIV and malaria patients, or testing water quality in undeveloped areas or disaster zones.

2. Cell Phone as Medical Imaging

3. Cell Phone Heart Monitor

4. Cell Phone as Smart Band Aid

5.Cell Phone as Ultrasound Machine

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With the recent pandemic of Swine Flu going around, and the ensuing need to know how you’re affected, we’ve created a new service for cell phone users:

Text PIGFLU to 41411 and we will send updates as news develops about the Swine Flu. The only cost is your cost for receiving regular text messages, and there will be no other billing. We are providing this service in the public interest.

Daily Updates will include:

• CDC/WHO Updates
• Information about New OutBreaks
• Information From Health Authorities

We aim to send out info between 1-3 times daily, with urgent information such as new outbreak information, messages from health authorities and travel warnings as they develop.

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We’re going back in time – a time when your cell phone would not stand a chance squeezing itself into your back pocket (ouch!). Do you remember those clunky phones whose shape resembled one of those Tetris pieces?

Let’s go back to the rockin’ year of 1973, when Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first phone call on the DynaTAC 8000x to cellular rival, Joel Engel of AT&T’s Bell Labs, during a stroll through the streets of New York City. This was considered an innovation, as the phone was small enough to actually be carried! Yes, you heard me, carried. Weighing in it at 28 ounces, it screamed portable, lightweight and sexy. It “featured” nine additional special keys: Rcl (Recall), Sto (Store), Pwr (Power) Clr (Clear), Fcn (Function), Lock, Snd (Send), End, and Vol (Volume). It also flaunted its stuff with a red LED screen that would show the number you were dialing. It was 10 inches tall not including that massive antenna and had a battery life for approximately 60 minutes of talk time. And don’t think for a moment that technology like this isn’t going to cost you, the DynaTAC 8000x would cost you about $4,000 in its heyday.

Swedish-born company, Ericsson was also a player in the cell phone world. It opened with “Curt” in 1987 and then in 1989, “Olivia” came along as Ericsson’s first GSM all-digital mobile phone.

In 1989, the DynaTAC was superseded by the Motorola MicroTAC…the first flip phone! This phone was known around the world for being the smallest and lightest phone on the market. The price tag would run you anywhere from $2500 to $3500 for this particular model. It was substantially lighter at 12.3 ounces and only 9 inches long when open. The funny thing about this phone was the antenna, as it was purely aesthetic and served no actual purpose!

The 90s rolled around and cell phones became a staple item; while still somewhat of a luxury, with the technology boom, you HAD to have a cell phone.

In 1993 Bell South/IBM introduced the first ever PDA, the Simon Personal Communicator. It was a phone, calculator, contact book, pager (what is that??), fax machine and email device – all in one. For a mere $900 this phone was yours! Motorola also came out with the StarTAC in 1996. It was the lightest and smallest phone on the market.

Then in 1998, Nokia came out with the 6160. You know the phone I’m talking about. EVERYONE had one of these. I think I would pay to see one in person again. It was by far the most popular phone of its time and best-selling by Nokia’s records. I had one – loved that phone!

Let’s segue to the year 2000! Cell phone moguls were on a rampage trying to come up with the latest and greatest PDA’s and cell phones. People were carrying around multiple devices to stay “in the loop.”

One of the more popular PDA’s was Kyocera’s QCP-6035. It was a HUGE upgrade to the Simon Personal Communicator and an answer to the many problems that plagued cell phone users. The QCP-6035 combined the communication features of a regular cell phone with convenient access to information that you would find in your PDA. Cost for this beauty was around $600.

2001 and 2002 were big years too. The Handspring Treo 180 surfaced as the first phone to have a QWERTY keyboard and in 2002 the Blackberry 5810 came out and included voice capability.

But, I think it was Sprint with the Sanyo SCP-5300 that really changed what people wanted in a cell phone, as this model featured a built-in camera. The camera phone had arrived!! Then, Motorola wowed everyone with the slim design and modern appeal when they introduced the Razr v3. That was definitely a cool looking phone. Blackberry, Motorola, Sony Ericcson, Nokia and others continued to evolve with different models and adding more and more features. But it wasn’t until 2007 when everything went berserk.
Drum roll…

The iPhone! That’s right, Apple did the unthinkable. They combined a cell phone, camera, PDA, iPod and oh so much more into one slim and sexy cellular device. We waited in line for hours to get one. We paid waaaay too much for one. But it was worth it. Because you were now part of the elite, the Apple-ites (did I just make that up? I think so!). Despite it’s initial flaws people looked past that. Almost as if their breath was taken away each time they gazed upon their iPhone. Ahhhh…iPhone, I love you more than my wife and kids.

So, we’ve come a long way from a 2-pounder, clunky mobile phone to a 4.8 ounce know-it-all iPhone. Which begs the question…what will they think of next???

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No one is more geeky then the crew here at Cell Phones.org, and there are a bunch of geek blogs out there that we love to read. We were curious which of these blogs have the biggest audience, so we decided that we would objectively measure the results.

Data was compiled from three sources:

1. Google PageRank
2. Alexa Traffic
3. Technorati Authority

We then took these scores, created a baseline (see our methodology below), and created our own Geek Rankâ„¢.

Top 25 Blogs by Geek Rank

Methodology:

To qualify, a blog first had to appear on the first 10 pages of a Google Search for Geek Blogs, be recommended to us by one of our readers, or already be in our feed readers.

We then took data from Google Page Rank, Alexa Traffic and Technorati Authority to form Geek Rank. Alexa Traffic and Technorati Authority our normalized and brought down to a scale relative to PageRank, so that they could be added equally.

For blogs with no Page Rank, Alexa Rank or Authority Rank, a 0 was scored in that category.

For ties (and there were a few), Editor’s discretion prevailed.

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