Article 1: One Area Where Cellular Phone Companies Agree: Recycling Article 2: Airline-Style Black Boxes for Your Automobile Article 3: FAA Plans Changes in Air Traffic Control   One Area Where Cellular Phone Companies Agree: Recycling While they continue to squabble over market share, number portability, and other competitive issues, some of the largest cellular companies (including Motorola, AT&T Wireless, Nokia, Sprint and Verizon Wireless) have joined forces to promote a new cell phone recycling program. Their goal is to reduce toxic waste, as well as to forestall the need for costly, government-mandated recycling. Cell phones may not take up much room in landfills, but they do contain hazardous materials such as lead, cadmium and lithium ion, which can contaminate soil and groundwater. Personal computers already pose a significant toxic waste problem; yet about four times more cell phones than PCs are sold each year. What should consumers do? Several major cellular companies will gladly take back old phones, as will many retail stores. The phones are then recycled or donated to charity. The site www.recyclewirelessphones.com can help consumers find a place that will take them. Source: www.usatoday.com, Oct. 21, 2003 Airline-Style “Black Boxes” for Your Automobile Safeguard or invasion of privacy? Only time will tell, as airline-style "black boxes" begin appearing in automobiles. These systems are being built now in Ireland, and are likely to spread rapidly across Europe and the U.S. The system safety implications are vast, as black-box data can be used to help pinpoint failure-prone components as well as bring emergency personnel quickly to the scene of an accident. Presumably, these advantages will be carefully weighed against the potential for abuse by insurance companies and litigants. The device is described as a scaled-down version of an airplane flight data recorder — an unassuming black box filled with sensors and memory sufficient to record the last 10 to 20 seconds of driving information. At the heart of its operation is a microprocessor that identifies the occurrence of an accident and then transmits an alert via standard cellular technology. Source: Business Week on-line, Nov. 7, 2003 FAA Plans Changes in Air Traffic Control The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced a reorganization plan intended to improve the U.S. air traffic control system. The new configuration combines air traffic control with the agency’s research and acquisition function, creating one entity comprised of five business units. According to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, the revised organization would bring about lasting change in the management of air traffic, reducing costs as well as improving performance and accountability. The changes, including the appointment of the agency’s first Chief Operating Officer, were praised as good news by John Carr, president of the union of air traffic controllers. However, some critics of the agency remain skeptical of the FAA’s commitment to change, citing the repeated delays and cost overruns of its long-awaited $1.69 billion modernization of the air traffic control system. Source: CNN.com, Nov. 19, 2003