Till Death Do Us Part: Smartphones and the Afterlife - 16 Sep 2010 - by gins

Throughout history, certain cultures have believed that an individual's journey into the afterlife would be aided by burying, alongside the body, necessities of daily life. This included food, clothing, and even a concubine or two, reflective of society at the time. The ancient Egyptians of course took this to the extreme.

So, I chuckled when the print edition of Fortune magazine this week (September 27, 2010) reported on a growing trend in Asia. Paper facsimiles of cellphones, available in stores, are burned with the dead so that relatives may communicate in the afterlife. This leaves me wondering if it also includes texting, and I'm sure that if this hits our shores, the Goth could be a captive audience for Apple's Facetime.