Buying a cell phone as a gift for your grandparents can be daunting. Several companies exist, though, to empower seniors by adapting technology to them rather than expecting them to adapt to technology.

This new article covers cell phones and plans from Doro, Jitterbug and Consumer Cellular.

Designed with the help of a professor in ergonomics, Doro cell phones have oversized buttons to make dialing easier with stiff hands and low vision.

The Jitterbug J cell phone, on the other hand, features a large, backlit keypad for easy dialing along with a bright color screen and easy-to-understand menus. Learn more here about cell phones for seniors!

With Thanksgiving this Thursday, Black Friday follows for one day only.

Black Friday 2009, which falls on Nov. 27, 2009, is a day when retailers dramatically reduce their prices on a wide array of items. The goal is to convince consumers to spend heavily at drastic discounts.

As usual, early morning risers will get the best selection and doorbuster products will likely sell out as the day wears on. Here are some cell phone-specific deals for Black Friday 2009 at Best Buy and Radio Shack.

Black Friday 2009: Best Buy Cell Phones

1. LG Chocolate Touch for Verizon Wireless: Free with two-year activation
2. BlackBerry Curve 8330 for Sprint: Free with two-year activation
3. Samsung Instinct S30 for Sprint: Free with two-year activation
4. Motorola Rival for Verizon Wireless: Free with two-year activation

Black Friday 2009: Radio Shack Cell Phones

1. LG Xenon for AT&T: Free with a new two-year plan
2. BlackBerry Curve 8520 for T-Mobile: Free with a new two-year plan
3. Motorola CLIQ for T-Mobile: $79.99 with a new two-year plan
4. Palm Pre and Palm Pixi for Sprint: $99.99 with a new two-year plan

Best Buy is open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. Their online sale starts at 2 a.m. EST on Thanksgiving. Radio Shack is open at 5:30 a.m. on Black Friday.

You can find the full images of the Best Buy and Radio Shack ad scans here for their Black Friday 2009 cell phone deals.

The online retailers HandCellPhone.com and BestInCellPhones.com also have some compelling Black Friday 2009 cell phone deals.

Do you love and know cell phones like the back of your hand? Have you ever wanted to write for About.com? Now's your rare chance to love cell phones and get paid to write about them for the New York Times Company!

In About.com's long history, which dates back to 1996, sites within the network have always been guided by a single expert. For the first time, we have launched a new program with a different kind of writer: contributing writers (CWs).

CWs work under About.com's primary guides. They're focused squared on a subtopic within the guide's primary topic. For the About.com cell phones site you're reading now, we're hiring a CW for cell phone accessories.

This includes anything Bluetooth, headsets, batteries and battery boosters, cell phone cases and belt clips, news and well-vetted rumors about upcoming accessories, cell phone upgrades (i.e. additional memory) and more.

Applicants need to work in a collaborative environment with me along with our gadgets editor. The candidate must have contacts in the consumer electronics industry along with a proven track record of getting review units.

You must also be capable of submitting clean copy without direct supervision. Do you have what it takes? Do you know someone else who might?

More information about what we're seeking in the About.com cell phone accessories CW (along with information about compensation and workload requirements) can be found at this link. Just select "cell phone accessories" under "available subtopics". Good luck!

As more and more people are using smartphones with mobile operating systems, hackers who first attacked computers are now being compelled to do the same with smartphones.

Studies say the trend is only increasing both for the rise in smartphone adoption as well as the increase in mobile cybercrime.

Gartner reported last week that smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2009 grew 12.8 percent year over year to 41.1 million units in total.

Also, 18.9 percent of mobile users now use a smartphone, according to a Nov. 2009 consumer study of U.S. mobile phone users by 41st Parameter. The study also said that an additional 49.2 percent of people plan to buy an advanced mobile device within the next two years.

41st Parameter, which is a provider of fraud detection and prevention technology, said on Wednesday that it anticipates increased mobile cybercrime and decreased effectiveness of traditional anti-fraud tactics. The firm attributes the increase to the rapid adoption of new smartphones and multiple operating systems.

"The mobile channel is the fastest-growing segment of the Internet today. For companies looking to increase their audience potential, conducting business with billions of mobile handsets is compelling," said 41st Parameter founder Ori Eisen in a Wednesday statement.

Eisen added: "The mobile channel is equally appealing to cybercriminals as traditional fraud deterrents won't identify or differentiate between the growing varieties of smartphones."

Along with 41st Parameter, firms like SMobile Systems also exist to help consumers combat mobile fraud. Learn more about mobile security in this About.com article.