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You've seen the slew of commercials for them. You may already have one in your pocket or hanging from your belt. New generations of cell phones appear before you've even figured out all the features of your current model.
There's much more to consider regarding cellular technology beyond incomprehensible user manuals and the highly visible phone radiation and "driving while yakking" controversies.
The latest of these tiny wireless phones (the term "cellular" is now out of favor, we're told) sport multimedia color displays, video camera options, precision location tracking and a host of other heavily promoted features set to hit the mainstream this year.
Yet thought has been given to how these advanced capabilities could affect society.
Commercials for these devices tend to emphasize their most benign aspects. Commuters play games, separated lovers send text messages and a housewife lures her husband away from the poker game with photos of her culinary masterpieces.
These are credible enough applications, but they're unlikely to be the big moneymakers for the wireless companies and their cohorts.
The serious income streams from the new wireless systems are likely to result from attempts to satisfy appetites not for home-cooked meals, but for other types of activities. Visually seductive gambling and pornography, for example, are certain matches to these phones' capabilities.
Like them or not, these applications are coming.
The new wireless systems introduce a range of other complex issues. Even older cell phones could easily be used as audio bugs, often without any modifications.
Wireless networks provide the perfect infrastructure for feeding audio -- and now video -- back to parties located anywhere on the planet. Wireless spycams could be planted anywhere, to be used for good or ill. Whistleblowers, voyeurs and spies are headed for a bonanza.
News gathering is also likely to change. The ability for virtually anyone to capture photos of ongoing events, such as accidents, disasters or crimes in progress, and almost instantly send them back to a website, news bureau or other globally accessible source, has vast implications.
When images can be transmitted so easily and rapidly in real time, a common technique for trying to prevent the publication of undesirable photos -- grabbing the camera and smashing it -- will no longer be effective.
The wireless carriers are likely to encourage all of these applications to the greatest extent possible. After all, they're in the business of selling air time.
It's not just about audio and video, either.
The increasing accuracy of the location-tracking systems implemented in wireless phones and their supporting networks should also raise a red flag.
Nobody would argue the value of using location data to find a person buried in a snowdrift, or having a map pop up on a phone's screen to help someone locate an unfamiliar destination.
hxxp://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57040,00.html
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