According to a recent study by the charity Personal Finance Education Group, the average child gets a cellphone when they’re 8-years-old.

To look at the stat differently, 35% of 8-year-olds have a mobile phone (obviously this stat is not applicable to the entire world, as we see in this heartbreakingly adorable shot).

So is this finding crazy?

I don’t know. I’m not a parent with an 8-year-old, so I don’t see what’s the norm at grade schools. But with the falling price of cellphones/plans (especially if you add a line for emergencies only), it seems like a no-brainer. The peace of mind I’d get knowing that my child can call 911 from anywhere in the world would far outweigh a couple extra bucks a month to toss them some minutes. But what do you think? [Telegraph]

According to a recent study by the charity Personal Finance Education Group, the average child gets a cellphone when they’re 8-years-old.

To look at the stat differently, 35% of 8-year-olds have a mobile phone (obviously this stat is not applicable to the entire world, as we see in this heartbreakingly adorable shot).

So is this finding crazy?

I don’t know. I’m not a parent with an 8-year-old, so I don’t see what’s the norm at grade schools. But with the falling price of cellphones/plans (especially if you add a line for emergencies only), it seems like a no-brainer. The peace of mind I’d get knowing that my child can call 911 from anywhere in the world would far outweigh a couple extra bucks a month to toss them some minutes. But what do you think? [Telegraph]

Nokia certainly thinks it can! Providing this is an undoctored image, it is most definitely one of the best I've ever seen from a phone camera. The EXIF data reveals it was taken by an 8megapixel sensor, and that it was a typically Nokia Carl Zeiss lens. ………

It’s a general assumption that having your phone on in an airplane is no bigs, but we turn them off anyways. Apparently, pilots aren’t following their own rules and are getting in trouble for it.

The FAA has issued an alert to airlines telling them to tell their pilots to turn their phones off.

The US FAA has issued an alert to airlines following an inspector’s report that a first officer’s cell phone began ringing at a critical phase of a takeoff recently, an incident the agency says was “a potentially serious hazard”.

According to the FAA air safety inspector who was riding along on an unnamed airline’s flight from the jump seat, just prior to reaching V1, the speed after which pilots generally are committed to taking off rather than aborting on the runway, a rather loud “warbling” sound was “detected” by both crewmembers.

“It was later determined that the sound came from the first officer’s cellular phone, which had been left in the ON position,” the Safety Alerts For Operators (SAFO) note reads.

“As a result the ring tone caused a distraction between the crewmembers during the takeoff phase and could have led the to crew to initiate an unnecessary rejected takeoff,” the letter continues.

And even worse, he was totally being annoying and talking to his friends while other people were stuck in close quarters. How rude is that? [FlightGlobal]

According to some legit-looking documents, T-Mobile will soon be offering users who’ve been with the company for 22+ months (and have solid payment history) a variety of new unlimited access plans.

The most promising plan is probably the $50 unlimited talk plan that, when paired with another family member’s subscription, drops to $45 per line (or $90 total). If you yack a lot and don’t use data, that’s a pretty interesting deal. Otherwise, T-Mobile will also have a loyalty voice+data deal starting at $85.

And at this point, I will selectively repress what I’m forking over to AT&T monthly to use an iPhone. [CellPhone Signal via BGR]

A British comedian spotted a dude in the audience texting on his phone, so he took it and smashed it. His reason: the guy was stealing jokes to sell to TV people. But of course!

Lee Hurst, the comedian, clearly is a bit unhinged and doesn’t quite understand the idea of marketing yourself via YouTube.

The comedian claimed in court that there was a growing problem with writers recording rival comics’ material so that they could pirate their jokes and sell them to television shows. He claimed that footage of his gigs ended up on websites such as YouTube.

“TV programmes have writers writing for the performers and they go around to gigs and take the material and sell it to the BBC and ITV and that material is gone,” said Hurst, who defended himself.

“You are then accused of stealing your own material. It has happened to me with material shown on national TV that I had already done.

[Times Online via Boing Boing]