According to a new survey, 33 percent of women in Denver would give up sex for a whole year before handing over their cell phones. Granted, the survey was conducted by a cell phone company, but it got us thinking: Is there anything you would give up sex for for a whole year? Where do you rank sex on your list of life priorities? I hate phones, so giving up my cell for a year wouldn’t be the hardest thing in the world, but coffee? Or email? Or stiff Gin & Tonics? Hmm ... that’s pushing it. It’s a tough call, but I think there might be a few things on my list I’d have a harder time giving up for a year than sex. How about you? [via TheDenverChannel.com]

After hearing the appeal of a man who was caught using his mobile phone while driving and fined $350, a German judge is making the argument that this shouldn’t be illegal in the first place. In his ruling, Judge Albert Bartz wrote that if it is against the law to use a phone while driving, shouldn’t other dangerous activities be illegal, too? Examples he cited included masturbating or typing on a computer that’s sitting on the passenger’s seat. Sure, there have been studies proving telephone use while driving, especially texting, can lead to accidents, but there are a lot of other dangerous activities we engage in behind the wheel that aren’t illegal unless they distract you and cause an accident. After the jump, 10 things that aren’t illegal to do while driving but should be. [Spiegel Online]

How important is your cell phone in your life? I feel like a lost puppy when mine runs out of batteries or I leave it at my apartment, and I am not alone. A survey conducted by Best Buy indicated that most Americans would rather give up alcohol for a week than hand over their cell phone. Sounds about right. If you can live without talking to your friends and family without seven days but can’t handle giving up vodka tonics, you have a problem. Other things respondents said they would rather do for a week than give up their phone: survive on bread and water, give up television, and have their teeth drilled by a dentist. None of this, however, is as surprising as the German survey that found the majority of respondents would rather do without their significant other or car than the internet. We’re a planet of technology addicts! [UPI]

Maria Sharapova was on hand to unveil a prototype of a dress that lights up when the wearer’s cell phone or smartphone rings. The dress was designed by British fashion student Georgie Davies for a school project and partnership with Sony Ericsson aimed at incorporating new technology into fashion. Davies said the dress was designed to connect to the wearer’s phone via Bluetooth technology. “When you’re in a pub or a bar, you can never, ever hear your phone,” Davies told Reuters. The good thing is this dress is actually wearable and not at all overly Sci-Fi-looking. The dress is knee-length, white, short-sleeved, and is embellished along one side with translucent white scales (think square paillettes) that move and light up. See more photos here. I’d wear it. Would you? 

If you’ve ever had to replace a waterlogged cell phone (or two) due to an unplanned dip in the toilet, this handy little invention has your name written all over it! The MobiGrip device leash, a stick-on mini-bungee that loops comfortably around your digits, is the cure to all butter finger-inflicted disasters that leave your poor dropped phone either cracked on the sidewalk or slowly fizzling out in a puddle of water…Read more

Washington University engineers have figured out how to turn a smartphone into an ultrasound machine. This cellphone displays data from a USB ultrasound probe, which could allow for increased prenatal care in developing countries as a cell phone and probe are easier to transport and cost less than a regular ultrasound machine. Researchers say we can expect our cell phones to perform genetic testing, blood screening, and even MRIs in the next few years. Check out a demonstration of the device after the jump. [CellPhones.org via The Daily What]

There are many ways to let people know you’re into having safe sex. The easiest being to verbalize your needs: “I will not sleep with you unless you use a condom.” If you lived in India, you could always let your phone tell people for you. A cell phone ring tone was launched August 8 and features a singer chanting the word “condom” 50 times. So far it has been downloaded 60,000 times. “A ring tone is a very public thing,” said Yvonne MacPherson, the country director of BBC World Service Trust India. “It’s a way to show you are a condom user and you don’t have any issues with it.” We can think of a few other ringtones we wish existed…

I’m a numbers girl.

I take pride in my cell’s large phone book as much as I take pride in amassing new Facebook friends, Tumblr followers, and page views. I’m sorry, but in this day and age, the higher the numbers get, the cooler one looks.

This creates a problem, however, when there are just certain people to whom one shouldn’t be linked—past lovers. Naturally, the Internet makes it hard to completely escape from the counterpart of your failed relationship. But, in some sort of sick backwards logic, I tend to increase this hardship by keeping them around in the digital arena for longer than necessary.

You’d think cell phones would have freed us up to do whatever we wanted, wherever we wanted since we no longer have to wait at home for the land-line to ring. Well, a study by researchers at Northeastern University found that most cell phone users stay within a 37-mile radius of their home, and almost half of them remained within a six-mile circle. Now, this study was conducted outside the U.S. because the FCC would never allow access to cell phone tower info, so perhaps we move around more than other people, but probably not. Even on a good day, the most I travel is 12 miles. It might be time for a road trip. [AHN]

The people who work at cell phone stores have a lot of power. They know a lot personal information about you, and they know your number. One employee at a Sprint Nextel store in Dayton, OH, is being sued because he reportedly texted a female customer regarding her looks and requested to have dinner with her. Then, he sent her full-frontal nude photos of himself, she reported. The male employee says the customer was totally into him and she even initiated the texting and “expressed her appreciation for receiving such photographs.” Their phone records will reveal all. [Dayton Daily News]

The Cleveland Clinic found an association between cell phone use and sperm quality in a study of 361 men at its infertility clinic—the more time a man spent talking on his cell phone, the lower his sperm count (and the greater the percentage of abnormal sperm). But don’t go making assumptions about cell phones causing infertility, because they found an association, not a cause and effect relationship. However, it does seem as though nature is doing its part to tell us that the type of man who spends four hours on his cell phones every day might not make the best father. [Reuters]