I’m sure there are millions of things that the average cell phone user does not know about cell phones and what they are being used for, but here are five facts from recent news:

1. 1. You can use your phone to buy art – A new cell phone app allows you to bid on and purchase fine art, and jewelry, from your cell phone. Art auctioneer Saffronart hopes to take advantage of technology to boost the declining sales in fine art. The application, which is reported to be the first of its kind, allows cell phone users to preview items being auctioned and when they want to place a bid on an item, they simply text the bid via their mobile phone. Saffronart has an auction coming up this fall during which art collectors may use the app to bid on works by contemporary Indian artists Akbar Padamsee, Subodh Gupta, Surendran Nair, S.H. Raza, and Manjit Bawa. For more information, visit: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090904/lf_nm_life/us_india_shopping_1
2. 2. You can use your cell phone to order the paper – The publication, The Economist, is currently offering a new service to its readers in New York City. Instead of having to walk to the newsstand to pick up a copy of the publication, you can now order a copy to be hand delivered to your door, online. If you register with The Economist, you will receive an outline of Friday’s issue’s headlines on Thursday night. If you are interested in purchasing the issue, you simply reply with a yes, and the issue will be delivered to your door by 6 a.m. This New York trial requires that you go online to order the delivery, but a previous trial in London allowed you to order by simply replying to a text message. The Economist plans on offering this text feature by the time the program goes nation wide in the US. For more information, visit: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=138789
3. 3. You can use your mobile phone to redeem coupons – Companies like 8coupons, Cellfire, Yowza, and Zavers are now offering coupons from thousands of major companies via text messages. Instead of having to cut a coupon out and carry it to the store, you can now simply show the cashier the text message and they will enter the code in the message, allowing you to receive your discount. Most of these services allow you to choose which types of companies that you receive coupon texts from so that you don’t receive coupons that you are not interested in. For more information, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/technology/29coupon.html?_r=1
4. 4. Cell phones are now better than sex and chocolate – Humanity has become so dependent on their cell phones that a survey carried out on behalf of Lumison shows that out of the one thousand British people polled, seventy five percent of them reported that they could not do without their cell phone for more than 24 hours. The survey then asked which of the following would you rather give up for one month: Chocolate, alcohol, sex, or your mobile phone. 62 percent said chocolate, 23 percent said alcohol, 8 percent said sex, and 7 percent said their mobile phone. For more information, visit: http://www.techdigest.tv/2009/08/mobile_phones_-.html
5. 5. Over 50% of American 12 year-olds have Mobile phones – Richard Mullins of the Tampa Tribune reports that surveys from The Pew Internet and American Life Project show that 51% of all American 12 year-olds now have cell phones. This figures have spiked since 2004, when only 18% of 12 year-olds had cell phones. As these children age, the numbers continue to climb. Currently, 72% of all 14 year olds in America have cell phones. For more information, visit: http://www.xchangemag.com/hotnews/More-Than-Half-of-All-12-Year-Olds-Have-Cell-.html