AMTA Snapshot Edition 121

Mobile broadband drives productivity growth across economies An Ovum report in the United States has shown that the proliferation of mobile wireless technology and services in the US, particularly wireless broadband, is having a massive impact on the productivity of the entire economy with significant benefits flowing to small businesses and health care from the use of wireless broadband.

Schools rewarded for their recycling efforts Primary and secondary schools in New South Wales, Qeensland, Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory are being rewarded for their recent recycling efforts as part of MobileMuster?s Old Phone More Trees Schools Challenge.

Beijing ? the first mobile Olympic Games The Beijing Games will be the first Olympics to be widely watched by Australians on their mobile phones. Mobile phones may also play a role in coverage of the Games, with visitors to Beijing able to capture and send images instantly, subverting any controls imposed on official broadcasters, says RMIT University in Melbourne.

Tracking truants by text in Sydney schools The Sydney education region, including the CBD, Bondi and Sutherland, has completed a trial involving 40 schools where about 200,000 truancy text messages were sent at a cost of $16,000, the Daily Telegraph reported this week.

University of Pittsburgh physicist hits back at mobile phone health claims memo Two weeks ago, the University of Pittsburgh was in the news after a member of its faculty issued a memo to staff warning them of the alleged health dangers of mobile phone use. This week, another member of the same university puts his views on claims that mobile phones can cause cancer.

Judge leaves caller hanging as mobile goes off What do you do with a judge whose phone goes off in court? And what if the judge is the Acting Chief Justice of Australia?