California will likely soon become the fifth state in the nation to ban students from using smartphones in schools, though the full ban likely would not go into effect until the 2026-27 school year.

Back in 2019, San Mateo High School became the largest school in the country to ban students from using smartphones during the school day. The idea has caught on, as the states of Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and South Carolina have since enacted similar bans statewide. And now California is poised to join them, as KGO reports Assemblymember Josh Hoover’s Phone-Free Schools Act passed both houses of the California legislature as of this week.  

The bill would still need Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature to become law. But Newsom has already called for smartphone bans in classrooms, so it is widely expected he will sign the bill.

The ban does not go into effect right away. The proposed law gives school districts until July 2026 to come up with their own individual policies to ban or limit phone use by students during class hours. So, once signed by Newsom, the ban would presumably go into effect for the 2026-27 school year, but districts can implement the ban earlier if they choose.

Students’ phones could be kept in a locker, or in some sort of specialized restrictive pouch, and this is up to individual districts to decide. And there are exceptions in the law for medical situations or emergencies.

Yet here in San Francisco, there are already similar rules in place. SFUSD spokesperson Laura Dudnick told the Examiner this month that “Per our current policy, mobile communication devices must be turned off and put away during class time and passing periods, except in certain circumstances such as health and safety reasons or if the device is being used as part of an instructional activity.”

Related: San Mateo High Forces Students To Lock Up Phones [SFist]

Image: Ordinary kids sitting with mobile devices in street (Getty Images)

Back with the highest-rated smartphone camera ever, meet the new Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL → https://t.co/jdr9S9hBzb #madebygoogle pic.twitter.com/OtU78fLTJB

— Google (@Google) October 4, 2017

Google unveiled two brand new phones today: the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL, showing that they're ready to take on Apple's current reign over mobile hardware hype.

BuzzFeed highlighted some of the more notable features in this edition, which include: water and dust resistance; a new "squeeze" feature that activates Google Assistant, their version of voice control/Siri; and a 12.2 megapixel rear camera. The Pixel 2 XL improves on the old Pixel XL in terms of size, as well, clocking in at 6 inches, as opposed to the old version's 5.5 inches.

Disappointingly, Google also decided to forego installing 3.5mm headphone jacks, echoing Apple's "courageous" decision to do away with them when they introduced the iPhone 7. To that end, Google's taking another page from Apple's playbook, introducing their own branded Bluetooth headphone accessory called "Pixel Buds". But where they edge out Apple's hardware is that the buds also feature gesture control, allowing users to control their media players, answer their phone, or adjust the volume through the buds.

The Verge points out that the most notable feature of the "Pixel Buds" is that if they're paired with a Pixel phone, they can also perform real-time translation. By talking into the earbuds, users can have their phone translate and speak for them live. Again, this only works if they're paired with a Pixel phone, so if your 'Buds are paired with any other Bluetooth-enabled phone, you miss out on this neat feature.

These new phones mark a pretty big step for Google, as the company has only just recently leaned heavily into mobile hardware development. Previously, Google's full hardware lineup included their Chromebook line of laptops, the Chromebox home computer, their Pixel C/Nexus tablets, the Chromecast streaming adapter, Google Home, and their ill-fated Google Glass wearable. They officially entered the mobile phone market on this day last year when they unveiled the first generation Pixel phones. Going back further, their Android and Chrome mobile operating systems have been around for quite some time, but it was previously left up to third-party manufacturers like Samsung, LG, or HTC to develop hardware for that system. In fact, according to The Verge, Google doubled down on their commitment, hiring over 2,000 engineers from HTC (plus hardware and intellectual property) for $1.1 billion just last month.

If you're looking to snag your own Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL, you'll be unsurprised to know that their price points are comparable to Apple's. A 64 GB Pixel 2 will run you $649, with the Pixel 2 XL at $849. If you want to double your storage capacity, you're looking at ponying up another $100, putting them at $749 and $949, respectively. Oh, and get this: they come in three colors. "Kind of blue,” “just black,” and “clearly white," according to Mario Queiroz, Google's product chief.

Related: Google Patents Camera Hat, Triggers Painful Google Glass Flashbacks

A San Mateo County Supervisor is aiming his sights on the scourge of "distracted walking" today, with a proposal to ban use of cell phones by pedestrians as they cross the street.

San Mateo County Supe David Canepa is the man behind the resolution, which will be mulled at Tuesday's 9 a.m. meeting of the county's Board, KRON 4 reports.

The San Mateo Daily Journal reports that Canepa's proposed resolution banning the use of cell phones by people in crosswalks would serve to "urge California lawmakers to pass a law to ban distracted walking."

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, a crosswalk counts as a "crosswalk" whether is it marked by painted lines or not, and that unless otherwise specified, intersections count as crosswalks.

Speaking with the East Bay Times, Canepa says “Everyone loves their smartphones but let’s be honest — they can be downright dangerous...the state rightly banned texting and driving and now it’s time to protect pedestrians.”

Text of the resolution states that it is “just as important to walk cell free as it is to drive cell free...pedestrians and drivers using cellphones are both impaired and too mentally distracted to fully focus on their surroundings.”

If Canepa is successful in getting CA lawmakers to enact a ban, our state won't be the first. As of October of this year, it will be illegal to "cross a street or highway while viewing a mobile electronic device" in Hawaii, CNN reports. In Hawaii's case:

Police will have to actually observe somebody looking at their device to make an arrest. Fines will be $15 to $35 for the first offense, $35 to $75 for the second, and $75 to $99 for the third. It will still be legal to talk on your phone while crossing a street, or to look at your phone on the sidewalk.

According to the National Safety Council, "distracted walking incidents involving cell phones accounted for more than 11,100 injuries between 2000 and 2011."

It's worth nothing, however, that the NSC says that "52% of cell phone distracted walking injuries happen at home." Thus far, however, it appears that Canepa's resolution won't seek to govern cellphone usage inside one's abode — just the roadway, where he says he's sure a ban of phone use by walkers means "lives will be saved."

Related: Starting Sunday, You Could Get A Ticket For Holding A Cellphone While Driving

More and more these days, people are having conversations about what we've lost in our hyper-connected world, and the harm that is being done — at the very least through wasted time — when so many of us have our faces in our phones so much of the time.

On 60 Minutes last night, Anderson Cooper delved into the ethically suspect work of engineers working to design apps and cellphones that make their users want to use them more — something experts argue is damaging, especially, to teenagers and children. Former Google product manager Tristan Harris has been an outspoken critic of the industry he was formerly a part of, and he is one of the people Cooper spoke to in the piece.

Harris founded an organization called Time Well Spent that seeks to push designers and engineers to think more ethically on this topic, and to help users of technology "unhijack" their own minds through some simple steps in their cellphone use (see video below).

Harris has for a couple of years now been speaking out on the "war for attention" that's going on for our eyeballs, and the price we pay, with our time and attention, for use of free apps and sites like Facebook. He did this piece with the tech-centric podcast Note To Self in 2015, and he likens the work of tech companies to a "race to the bottom of the brain stem," playing on our anxieties to get us to give over more of our attention every day.

"And it’s not because anyone is evil or has bad intentions," he tells Cooper. "It’s because the game is getting attention at all costs."

Harris has pointed to the way Snapchat engages teenagers in a whole new way, playing on their particular social anxieties and putting them through these self-imposed gauntlets of engagement with things like Snapstreaks, in which pressure mounts to keep streaks of Snaps going between friends almost as proof of your ongoing friendship. (For the uninitiated, a Snapstreak is a streak of back-and-forth Snapchat messages, one ever 24 hours at least for three days or more.)

As Ramsay Brown, the founder of Dopamine Labs puts it to 60 Minutes, "You don’t pay for Facebook. Advertisers pay for Facebook. You get to use it for free because your eyeballs are what’s being sold there... You’re not the customer. You don’t sign a check to Facebook. But Coca-Cola does."

Brown has also developed an app, which was rejected by the Apple App Store, called Space which provides a 12-second "moment of Zen" before launching any social media app.

Below, check out Harris's recommendations for rejiggering your homescreen and changing your cellphone-addict habits, so you don't waste so much of your life.

Previously: UGH: The Average Person Is Going To Spend Five Years Of Their Life On Social Media

A new California law takes effect on January 1 that prohibits all use of a handheld cellphone while driving, including hitting the skip button on a playlist, looking at a map app, texting, or chatting with someone on speaker. As CBS 5 reports, while there already was a law pertaining to talking and texting on a cellphone that is not dashboard- or windshield-mounted or in hands-free mode, the law as written did not pertain to using maps or any other applications on a smartphone while driving. And one man who got ticketed in Fresno for checking a map while driving fought that ticket all the way up to the California Supreme Court, and ultimately the California Court of Appeal, which led to the new law.

That man is Steven Spriggs, a 60-year-old law school graduate who was at the time of his ticket, in 2012, working as a professional development officer at Fresno State University. He represented himself in battling his $165 ticket, arguing that California's law regarding cellphone use while driving was specific in prohibiting "listening and talking” with the device in one's hand, and he also argued that using a paper map in the same situation would be far more cumbersome and dangerous. As Justice Denied reported in 2014, the appeals court ultimately agreed with him in an unanimous decision. The court stated, "Based on the statute’s language, its legislative history, and subsequent legislative enactments, we conclude that the statute means what it says — it prohibits a driver only from holding a wireless telephone while conversing on it. Consequently, we reverse his conviction."

That brings us to Assembly Bill 1785, which takes effect Sunday, and which prohibits drivers in California from "holding and operating a handheld wireless telephone or an electronic wireless communications device unless the wireless telephone or electronic wireless communications device is specifically designed and configured to allow voice-operated and hands-free operation, and it is used in that manner while driving."

The law makes exception for phones mounted to windshields or dashboards in the manner of GPS devices. And the new law carries with it a $20 fine for a first offense, and $50 for each subsequent ticket.

Separate laws apply fines for texting while driving (same as above, $20 for first offense, $50 each additional), and talking on a hand-held device without headphones or hands-free mode ($76 for first offense, $190 for a second offense).

So put down the phone and drive!

Previously: Don't Touch That Playlist: Expansion Of 'Hands-Free' Law Means Big Changes For Drivers
Texting Drivers Get Shamed On San Francisco Billboards

The shadowy (but not really) Unicode Consortium has approved 72 new emoji after a flood of public input which will be included in the Unicode 9.0 release, arriving in June 2016. The new batch includes new smiley faces like Cowboy, Drooling Face, and Rolling on the Floor Laughing, as well as some other additions that are sure to come in handy like a scary clown face, a hand taking a selfie, fingers crossed, and a tumbler of whiskey — not to mention two new food items that are clearly going to enable us to indicate "penis" now with three different sizes to choose from, with cucumber and baguette joining the now overused eggplant.

Below, a few more, and I'm pretty sure that Almost-Vomiting Face is going to become incredibly popular for obvious reasons.

You can see the entire list here, and note that we will all have to wait for the next release for things like Dumpling, Fortune Cookie, and Face With One Eyebrow Raised.

The Unicode Consortium is just "a little known tribunal of engineers in Mountain View," most of them at places like Apple and Google, as ABC 7 explains, just 11 of them in fact, who all pay $18,000 a year to become voting members. They are open to any and all public suggestions, however, and as the consortium's president Mark Davis insists to the station, "A lot of people are surprised that anyone can propose an emoji. [But] Anyone can propose an emoji."

Bay Area residents Jennifer Lee and her friend designer Yiying Lu were behind the proposed dumpling, fortune cookie, and Chinese takeout box emoji that will be coming next year, saying that they were surprised that Chinese food was under-represented in the existing visual language.

As we learned this month, there's a campaign started at Google pressing for emoji of women in the workforce — given that the only female emoji are either mothers, dancing girls, or they're doing their nails — but those are not part of this release. But given the Google connection at Unicode, we're likely to see more depictions of working woman in an upcoming release, and hopefully, maybe, we can start cutting some of the dumb ones no one uses like the office supplies and that nondescript beige purse.

And for all you philistines out there who don't think emoji are important, I point you to the fact that Oxford Dictionaries selected one as their "Word of the Year" for 2015 — it was, naturally, Face with Tears of Joy or Laughing Through Tears, depending on your preference.

Previously: Google Presses Unicode For 'Working Women' Emoji

Homeless and impoverished Californians can now receive free cellphones under an expanded program from the California Public Utilities Commission and the FCC. The expansion was approved by the CPUC last week and allows anyone making under $15,000 per year, including the homeless, to receive a free phone, 250 free minutes and 250 text messages per month.

In the past, the program only hooked up landlines for low-income Californians. Now those folks who can't otherwise afford a phone line can get one from Reach Out Wireless or Assurance Wireless (which is owned by Virgin Mobile/Sprint). The CPUC program is partially funded by the FCC's Lifeline program and mobile carriers will be reimbursed $9.25 per month from the federal government for providing the free phones service.

To limit the chances of someone dumping or selling their government subsidized phone for cash on a monthly basis (something local newsman Stanley Roberts discovered was possible at the Westfield Mall on Market Street), there are limits to service and policies surrounding phone replacement or repair.

For his part, San Francisco's homeless czar (a.k.a. director of HOPE) Bevan Dufty said the city is "very excited by this. It will help people move forward. It will empower them, and we in San Francisco are going to be a model city for this program." Since the HOPE SF office presumably can't call any of the potential new cellphone customers, Dufty said his office plans to send staff to homeless shelters and low-income housing complexes to spread the word.

[Chron] via [AP]

Palo Alto Senator Joe Simitian, the man who authored the 2008 California ban on using cellphones while driving sans the use of a hands-free device, now wants a similar ban placed on cyclists texting or making phone calls. This means that, similar to drivers, cyclists pedaling while handling their iPhones or Droids or whatever could face a $20-$30 fine.

SFist talked to Jim Brown, Communications Director for the California Bicycle Coalition, who told us that the group was approached by Simitian with the hopes that the CBC would support the effort. "We told him that we continue to support his efforts to prevent distracted driving because we understood that that included cyclists." He went on to say that while a giant amount of research has suggested that cognitive impairment can result from phone use while driving, and that bicyclists aren't as impaired as drivers while using their mobile communication device of choice, "there's no evidence to suggest that [cyclists] are causing the same kind of damage." Which is to say, biking while cellphone-ing (ahem) is more of a danger to cyclists themselves than to pedestrians and drivers.

The fine is only a fraction of those faced by drivers (anywhere from $100-$120), "largely because additional local fees have not been added on to the citations," reports CBS 5.

Answering that phone call or shooting off a quick text while waiting for the light to change can still net you hefty ticket, a state appeals court ruled yesterday. In a ruling that actually makes perfect sense, despite the defendant's argument that having one's foot on the brake is not the same as "driving", one judge wrote that accepting the driver's interpretation of the hands-free law would, "open the door to millions of people across our state repeatedly picking up their phones and devices to place calls and check voicemail (or text-based messages) whenever they are paused momentarily in traffic".

The case was an appeal of a $103 ticket levied against one Carl Nelson of Contra Costa County who was spotted dialing and holding his flip phone to his ear while stopped at a red light in Richmond way back in 2009. Hopefully Nelson's crack team of cellphone rights lawyers were doing this one pro-bono.

[BCN/SFAppeal]

New legislation, proposed by Supervisors David Campos and John Avalos and inspired by a fight over a new cell phone tower in Bernal Heights, may make it more difficult to place a call in some neighborhoods of S.F. as more and more people buy smart phones and try to play Words with Friends simultaneously on the bus at 5:30 p.m. As noted by Matt Baume over at NBC Bay Area, "As a result [of this proposed legislation], more parts of the City may become like AT&T in the Upper Haight: impossible to place a call unless you walk several blocks north or south."

S.F. already has regulations limiting cell phone towers on aesthetic grounds, but the new legislation appears to have been backed by worries over cellular radiation, which Baume points out is actually lessened with more towers, and less straining for signal (is this true?). In any event, this could pose a problem for AT&T and that alleged citywide upgrade, but it might also mean future headaches (but not brain cancer!) for non-iphone people too.

The Business Times reports today that AT&T is pleased with themselves and "proud of the network [they] have built", as they continue to beef up their data network in San Francisco -- which is ground zero for network failures, dropped calls, and dead zones in the world of the iPhone. This follows on an earlier report about all the money AT&T says they're investing to upgrade their local networks, but still doesn't clarify where, exactly, the money's being spent, or how much improvement iPhone users can expect by "the end of the year," when said upgrades are supposed to be complete.

The SFBT has done us the solid of creating an AT&T dead zone map for the Bay Area, but as you can see, San Francisco proper is just one big jumble of dead zones. What we want to know is what happened to the rumors that Apple was going to finally break free of the exclusive contract with AT&T this year?

PREVIOUSLY: The iPhone Is Killing AT&T, One 'Bump' Download at a Time

Today's Business Journal notes that AT&T has already invested $1.1 billion this year to upgrade wireless (and wired) networks across California, which has included 100 new cell sites, 25 antennas in "high-traffic areas," and 35 separate 3G upgrades. So how come we couldn't get the internet to work on our iPhone all Labor Day weekend long? [SFBJ]

On Saturday, according to The Chronicle, an Antioch woman "drove off a boat ramp and into the Sacramento River while she was talking on a cell phone with her daughter, asking for directions," and died. Kathleen Gomez Collier, 47, careened into a river near Isleton in Sacramento County. "Just before the call was cut off, Collier told her daughter that her car was filling up with water and to phone her insurance company." In related technology/Sacto news, a blogger from the area recently gave up her cellphone because ye olde print publication NYT told her to do so.

Listen up everyone: In case you hadn't heard the big buzz, the people who brought you the Jesus Phone -- which ended up being pretty cool but still has its drawbacks like everything else on this green earth, and which now has competitors like Google's Nexus One phone -- are now poised to unveil another game-changing device, which has dominated all the talk on the geekier blogs since late last year. It's rumored to be called the iSlate, a name that Apple has trademarked in several ways, and it's a tablet computer with a touch screen that's meant to blow all other netbooks out of the water and change the laptop landscape henceforth. At least that's what excitable bloggers are saying.

The unconfirmed news we're hearing today is that Apple is likely planning to partner with Verizon Wireless' 3G service for both the iPhone and iSlate come summer. We know that Apple's exclusive with AT&T is up early this year, but it's likely they will end up getting double-teamed by both phone services, offering customers the choice.