What's warm, found in a 'dark place', and full of bacteria? No, you dirty fellow, it's a cellphone!

I had not intended to follow up on the kidnapping story, having dismissed it as an amateurish job by two suspects, now already charged in court. Singaporeans cherish the freedom from fear of kidnapping for ransom and we support the law's draconian penalties.

I'll still blog one more day on this matter because xinmsn has compiled an interesting "look back" story titled Kidnapping Cases in Singapore:

http://t.news.xin.msn.com/en/kidnapping-cases-in-singapore

Meanwhile, there seems to be two sets of speculation on the type of cellphone/cellphones that the kidnappers used. They were apparently done in by the device.  

The smartphone, dumb ass theory
(as reported in ST):

The dumbphone, dumb ass theory
(as reported in CNA/xinmsn):

____________________________________________

Still on cellphones, xinmsn carried this AFP story:

Smartphone apps multiply, but so do germs

It may be your best friend, but your smartphone is also probably teeming with germs.

http://t.news.xin.msn.com/en/sci-tech/smartphone-apps-multiply-but-so-do-germs-6

As innovators descended on the Consumer Electronics Show, companies offering better sanitizing were also promoting the cause of cleanliness.

Wah, for US$499 (about the price of a smartphone), you get NASA technology and "hydroperoxide catalytic molecules" to kill, kill, kill those nasty germs on your cellphone!

So, what's smarter than a smartphone? A smart device that sanitises the phone, plays music and recharges two phones through a USB connection.

Or, as we say in Hokkien, pow kar leow, man!