The Senate has passed legislation to end the smuggling of cell phones into prison.

If someone if caught smuggling a phone into prison, they will receive an automatic prison sentence of 1 year.

Some inmates use cell phones to make contacts with the outside world to run drug organizations and to order hits against enemies.

The Senate has now ordered a report which will outline the high cost of the collect call system in place at prisons versus the lower costs when a prisoner uses a cell phone.

The Huffington Post has more details on this story.

Apple is now the second largest company listed on the S&P 500 index.

Apple reached a market cap of $241.5 billion; when trading stopped Thursday, Microsoft's market capitalization was $239.5 billion. That put Apple in second behind Exxon.

Technically speaking, only about 87% of Microsoft's shares are publicly traded so they are still bigger, but Apple is coming on strong.

With their strong line up of iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Macs, Apple is clearly the technology leader. These Apple products are hot, hot, hot. Even my 10 year old son knows that Apple and Steve Jobs are at the top of their game as he explained to me recently.

Microsoft's Windows is still on about 90% of computers worldwide, but their numbers are dropping slowly but surely. Microsoft will be around for a long time to come; however, they are becoming like General Electric.

Microsoft is almost always number one or two in every sector that they invest or buy into but they are having a hard time leading the pack with new, cutting edge products that comes from their own design, engineering, and creative operations.

Apple received a big push on Tuesday when they reported a profit increase of 90 percent and an increase of 49 percent in revenue. Microsoft was unimpressive when it reported a 35 percent increase in profit and 6 percent jump in revenue.

Just when you thought that you have heard all of the benefits of the iPhone compared to other smartphones, you find that there is another reason to consider switching to this smartphone if you do not already own one.

The iPhone along with a special package offered through AT&T and Apple can assist anyone that has their iPhone stolen or lost tracked to it's current location. It is even possible to shut the iPhone down from a remote location.

All of these options are handled through MobileMe. This is the special software package offered through AT&T and Apple. The software synchronizes data between your iPhone and home computer. It also includes a global positioning system.

The cost is $99/year for an individual or $149/year for the family. There is a free 60 day trial for the individual account at Apple.

Here is a great story about a guy whose iPhone was stolen from his car while he was at church. He used MobileMe to locate the phone and then printed out pictures of the suspect's house. Him and another victim contacted police and had their iPhones returned the following day.

The cost of MobileMe for those not interested in synchronizing data between their iPhone and home computer would be the same as buying an insurance policy for the phone. This option would not make sense for everyone, but it could be better than the $400 to $500 to replace a missing iPhone for some people.