Inmates certainly are industrious folk, relying on pigeons and helicopters and surely the odd baked good or body cavity to smuggle cell phones into prisons. Soon it'll be all for naught, with the Senate unanimously passing the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009, allowing prisons to use cellphone jammers. Now the Act will be run over to the House, where we presume it'll flow through with equal expediency. Mind you, cellphone jammer usage outside of jails will continue to be decidedly illegal, meaning activating one could result in your going to jail. Now that would be tragic.

[Via textually.org]

Face it, kids. You missed the best time to be a teenager by around five or so years. As it stands now, technology is cutting into that adolescent fun, with device like Ford's MyKey and this one here ensuring that you're actually safe behind the wheel. In all seriousness, the terribly named Key2SafeDriving is a fine concept (at least in the parent's eye), as it fuses a cellphone jammer (of sorts) into a key fob in order to put the kibosh on freeway conversations. Essentially, the signal blocking kicks into action anytime the "key" portion is flicked out, connecting to a handset via Bluetooth or RFID and forcing it into "driving mode." No actual jamming, per se, is going on; it's more like a manual override of the ringer. Anyone who phones / texts you while you're safely driving will receive an automated response informing them of such, though we are told that handsfree devices can be utilized. Researchers at the University of Utah are hoping to see it on the market within six months via a private company "at a cost of less than $50 per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee."

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

If you're tired of being scammed at ATMs by kind, gentle-hearted con artists (and then forgetting it ever happened), you'll be stoked to know that Japan is looking out for you. Chiba Bank has installed phone signal jammers at four unnamed ATMs at bank branches in the Tokyo region, and while it has gone down as the first institution to go to such lengths, we highly doubt it'll be the last. It's not entirely clear what exactly the criminals were able to convince people to do via mobile, but it's probably something like "psst... get me out some cheddar and meet around back." Not that we have any experience in the field or anything...

[Via textually]

We've seen all manners of jammers before, including one or two that shut down cellphone calls, but now even Brando's joining the fun with its diminutive Portable Palm Phone Jammer. Yep, the same company known for cranking out obscure USB-related peripherals and objects that heat and / or cool most anything you need is now giving you the opportunity to scramble GSM 850-, 900-, 1,800- and 1,900MHz cellphone calls "within a 30-foot radius." Granted, these aren't exactly legal in America, but for those looking for a little revelry elsewhere, you can pick one up as we speak for $166.

[Via The Raw Feed]