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"Here's how E-MiLi works: It slows down the WiFi card's clock by up to 1/16 its normal frequency, but jolts it back to full speed when the phone notices information coming in. It's well known that you can slow a device's clock to save energy. The hard part, Shin said, was getting the phone to recognize an incoming message while it was in this slower mode."

Researchers at the University of Michigan may have come up with a way to extend your cellphone battery life by as much as 54%. Professor Kang Shin and student Xinyu Zhang have come up with a novel approach to minimize the amount of energy used by wifi to minimize idle listening. Their new approach is called E-MiLi, which stands for Energy Minimizing Idle Listening. Apparently the process is compatible with current hardware, with a firmware upgrade. Hopefully the approach proves effective and hardware manufacturers pick this up asap!

"Given that the iPhone offers more processing power than the original iMac, this next story had to happen: December 9 will see a live performance by an orchestra, each and every one of whom will be using an iPhone to make the music happen."

University of Michigan students that are taking the course called "Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble" learn to design, build and play instruments on their iPhones. The course requires creativity as well as technical expertise so its an interesting combination of skills that are put into play since they are creating music by using all of the various sensors on the iPhone including the microphone, GPS, compass and accelerometer. Different sounds are created depending on if you are sliding your finger across the touch screen, blowing air into the mic or shaking the iPhone. You can learn more about the group on their Facebook page.