California Law Now Requires All Smartphones to Have Built-In Kill Switches By July 2015 - Mac Rumors

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/08/25/california-kill-switch-law/

I'm glad this is happening!  I'm hoping that this is adopted by the other states (or that there's a federal version of this law).  There are many non-U.S. countries that have laws that protect their citizens' privacy (a stolen phone will put your private information at risk).  The U.S. always falls behind the curve where citizen privacy is concerned, it seems.

As you know, my wife lost track of her phone and someone stole it.  I'm not sure if the phone's deactivation signal was ever applied (the phone was powered down by the thief before I could have the carrier deactivate the phone...the carrier never got an indication that the phone was ever powered back up...I deactivated it so that when the phone came back online, it would receive the deactivation signal but the phone never came back online).  In addition to the fact that someone stole a $500 (retail) phone, we had private data spillage to worry about.  Also, there were complications on getting a new replacement phone.  We learned some valuable lessons, but still, a stolen phone is no joke and can put you at risk for not only stolen private data, but people could possibly use the information on your phone to open lines of credit.  That's not good.

I'll be awaiting to see how this pans out for the nation.

Smartphones - Maxing Out Your Storage Capacity?

Maxing Out Your Storage Capacity?  This article can help you regain storage space.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/08/01/no-more-storage-space-on-your-phone-heres-what-you-should-trash-first/

I skimmed over the article.  It appears sound as far as what it recommends.  It speaks in a way that people should understand, no matter what brand of phone you're using (it has screenshots of both Android and Apple smartphones).

Do I need this?  No.  I already know how to free up space when I've reached the storage limits (I usually back up everything on my SD card onto my PC, then place it on a dedicated storage drive).  But I'm sure this will be able to help people like my mother or wife or daughters.

Enjoy!