Martin Marty Cooper (born December 26, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is considered the inventor of the first handheld cellular phone. Right now, he is using Droid mostly; also mentioned iPhone; and admitted trying every cell phone out.

Cspan: What kind of cell phone do you have?

Martin Cooper: “It depends when you ask me. I, always have the latest cell phone, and I try every cell phone out, only because people like you keep asking me. Right now I’m using Droid, because I want to get some experience with the Android operating system, and I so far, have some pretty favorable results. I’ve had an iPhone, which I gave to my grandson, which he used for three months and then I had to upgrade to a  better version. And I’ve tried many other phones. For my day to day conversations I actually use the Jitterbug. So I carry two phones, one very simple phone that I can flip open that has a very simple phone book and nothing else. But when I want to twitter - tweet, then, I use my Droid.”

[via Twittown]

Finally, Internet, the first non-human to be nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, is among a record 237 individuals and organisations nominated. US President Barack Obama won last year's 10m Swedish kronor ($1.4m) prize.

However,

It is unclear who would accept the prize if the internet were to win.

[via BBC]

Just discovered an interesting list, 18 first different things on the Internet [brief] history, thanks to the TechReaders site!

1. The First Email: Ray Tomlinson sent first email and also made use of @ symbol in email addresses in 1971.
2. The First Ever Domain Name: "symbolics.com" registered by computer manufacturer Symbolics (now obsolete) on 15th March 1985.
3. The First SPAM Email Ever: Gary Thuerk sent spam email messages to 393 people on ARPANET on 3rd May 1978.
4. The First Ever Mobile Phone with Internet Access Facility: Nokia 9000 Communicator (launched in 1996, Finland).
5. The First Ever Website: Info.cern.ch which was launched in late 1990.
6. The First Ever E-Commerce Website and Transaction: NetMarket that claims to process first ever secure transaction on the web on August 11, 1994.
7. The First Ever Online Bank: Stanford Federal Credit Union that provides Online Internet Banking services to all of its customers in October, 1994.
8. The First Ever Search Engine: WebCrawler.com which was launched in 1994.
9. The First Ever Blog: Justin Halls is considered the first blogger who started a web diary in 1994. [The term webblog was introduced in 1997 which later led to “blog” in 1999].
10. The First Ever Podcast: Dave Winer added audio content into the RSS feeds on January 11, 2001.
11. The First Item Ever Sold on eBay: A broken laser pointer worth $14.83.
12. The First Book Ever Sold on Amazon: Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought by Douglas Hofstadter [1995].
13. The first edit on Wikipedia: Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder when doing a test edit with text “Hello, World!”
14. The First Ever Video on YouTube: "Me at the Zoo" video put by the the cofounder of YouTube Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005.
15. The First Ever Message on Twitter: It was a demonstration message with text “just setting up my twttr” by the creator of Twitter, Jack Dorsey on 21st March 2006.
16. The First Ever Voice Chat Service: Rocket Messenger.
17. The First Ever Website Hacked: Federal websites that included US Department of Justic, U.S. Air Force, CIA, and NASA in 1990.
18. The First Ever Social Network Site: Friendster.com which was launched in 2002.

Did you tweet during the Oscars broadcast recently? I agreed that sometimes tweets were more entertaining than the show itself, like the AP writer found:

• "Shhhh. I'm live tweeting from directly under Sandra Bullocks chair." — Rainn Wilson (@rainnwilson), actor.
• "Charlize Theron would like to thank R. Crumb and my 16-year-old id for designing her outfit tonight." — David Itzkoff (@ditzkoff), New York Times reporter.
• "Just got lost for a minute, sorry. Where was I? Oh yeah ... Zach Effron's (Zac Efron) eyes!" — Rob Corddry (@robcorddr), comedian.
• "Looks like a Young Victoria sweep." — David Wain (@davidwain), comedian.
• "Shortest Oscar story in history: ( ! > $ )" — Roger Ebert (@ebertchicago), film critic.
• "Jeff Bridges is quickly closing in on Matthew McConaughey for `best actor who has become a character from an early movie.'" — Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33), ESPN columnist.
• "Oscars Fun Fact — Samuel L. Jackson spends 40 percent of his yearly income on Kangol hats ..." — Eric Stangel (@EricStangel), "Late Show With David Letterman" writer-producer.
• "Oh, Sam Worthington, your glasses make me think you're imperfect and therefore accessible." — Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling), actor-writer.
• "Oprah's about to tell everyone in the audience there's an Oscar under their seat." — Foster Kamer (@weareyourfek), blogger.
• "James Cameron is going into his own hurt locker right now." — Paul Scheer (@paulscheer), comedian.

Have you also found funniest tweets? Or created one? Please share here :-D

[via Yahoo! News]

Simple blogging startup Posterous has raised $4.4 million in its first round of institutional funding from Redpoint Ventures, Trinity Ventures, and some other angels.

From Posterous's blog:

Thanks to all our investors for the support and backing. With this money, we're going to be expanding our team and building even faster!

Our goal is to become synonymous with “posting” just like Google is synonymous with “search”. Doesn’t matter if it’s for twitter or a blog, private or public, group or individual. If you need it online, you go to Posterous.

[via mrbambang]

Again, --yeah, it's third year in a row winning the award-- Apple has won  2010 "World's Most Admired Company" award. Fortune Magazine polled 4200, company directors, corporate executives and industry analysts to get this winner. Congrats, Steve!
 
In Fortune's words:

"With 250 million iPods, 43 million iPhones, and 32 million iPod touches sold to date, plus the promise of a game-changing iPad, Apple won this year's vote by the highest margin ever for a No. 1. Two more years as champ and Apple will match GE for most appearances in the top spot.

What makes Apple so admired? Product, product, product. This is the company that changed the way we do everything from buy music to design products to engage with the world around us. Its track record for innovation and fierce consumer loyalty translates into tremendous respect across business' highest ranks.

[via TwitTown]

Here we go: One year ago Twitter generated one billion tweets; four months ago with 5 billion tweets; and now, Twitter hit another milestone: 10 billion tweets!

Andrew Mager just blogged regarding some cool facts about how large 10 billion really is:

From Wikipedia

• About 10⁹ minutes ago, the Roman Empire was flourishing. (109 minutes is roughly 1,900 years.)
• About 10⁹ hours ago, modern human beings and their ancestors were living in the Stone Age (more precisely, the Middle Paleolithic). (10⁹ hours is roughly 114,000 years.)
• About 10⁹ years ago, the first multicellular eukaryotes appeared on Earth.
• 10⁹ centimetres is about the distance from Chicago to Tokyo.
• The possession of assets with total value of 10⁹ US dollars would place a person among the world’s wealthiest individuals.

[via ZDNet]

Just marked its 6th anniversary last month with 400 million users, Facebook also hit another milestone with more than 100 million mobile users. Interesting that 70% of Facebook users are from outside US.

In Asia, Facebook is fast becoming the one the region’s leading social networks. Indonesia has the fourth highest number of Facebook users in the world, after US, UK and Turkey. With 18.9 million users, Indonesia is well ahead of Philippines, the country with 10.5 million Facebook users (refer to table below). This is followed by India (6.8 million), Taiwan (5.8 million) and Malaysia (5.1 million). In terms of penetration rate, Hong Kong has the highest “Facebook users per country population” rate in Asia, at 39%, followed by Singapore (38%), Taiwan (25%), Malaysia (18%) and Philippines (11%). The total Facebook users in Asia is 59.6 million, or about 15% of the global Facebook population.

[via GreyReview]

Check out this studio jingle for Yahoo!'s 15th anniversary from www.lovejingles.com [via YPH]

Here is a list of ways you can help thousands are believed to have been left homeless following the aftermath of the magnitude-8.8 quake in Chile yesterday. The following organizations have confirmed that they are responding in Chile:

American Red Cross
The American Red Cross is making funds available for relief operations in Chile while also helping people in Hawaii prepare for a possible tsunami. Donate to the American Red Cross.

AmeriCares
AmeriCares is sending a rapid response team to help provide disaster relief in Chile.  Medicines, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid are being readied for immediate shipment. Donate to AmeriCares.

Direct Relief International
Direct Relief International has offered assistance to Chilean authorities, emergency relief organizations, and U.S.-based partners working in Chile. Donate to Direct Relief International.

Operation USA
Operation USA is sending medical aid to Chile as necessary as part of the relief efforts following the earthquake. Donate to Operation USA.

OXFAM America
Oxfam is flying in an emergency team to assess the disaster and prepare a response. Donate to OXFAM America.

World Vision International
World Vision is getting ready to transport emergency relief supplies and to send more staff to support the relief response. Donate to World Vision International.

Chile country profiles: BBC, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet

[via Yahoo! News]