Ramanisblog

Tag: mobile phones

  • Cell Phones-the silent killer.

    Cell Phone ,silent killer.It has been suspected that electromagnetic radiation is harm ful to health,be it cell phones or micro wave ovens.We continue using them.This article is an eye opener.
    Story:
    In the debate over cell phones, there doesn’t appear to be any consensus on what, exactly, the harmful health effects on cell phone users may be. Unfortunately, the scary truth is that no one knows the full extent of problems caused by these must-have consumer electronics, because they’ve only become ubiquitous in recent years.

    Nevertheless, at least one group of people who has been using cell phones longer than the rest of us has started to draw some connections.

    In an extensive piece on cell phone health hazards in this month’s issue of GQ, a 35-year-old investment banker who five years ago was diagnosed with a brain tumor just behind his right ear — where he presses his phone — said that his industry has, “been using cell phones since 1992, back when they were the Gordon-Gekko-on-the-beach-kind-of-phone.” The banker said four or five colleagues at his firm also have similar tumors.

    Indeed, health experts say many often miss the fact that it can take anywhere from 10 to 30 years for brain tumors to develop from exposure to all kinds of electromagnetic radiation, including the kind from cell phones.
    http://www.alternet.org/health/145562/could_your_cell_phone_end_up_killing_you

  • Report: Google phone $5 less to make than iPhone

    Associated Press
    By JORDAN ROBERTSON , 01.11.10, 11:10 AM EST

    SAN FRANCISCO — A research firm estimates that Google’s new Nexus One phone costs about $5 less to make than Apple Inc.’s iPhone. That’s partly because Google’s device has far less memory.

    ISuppli Corp. has examined the components inside Google ( GOOG – news – people )’s phone and estimates in a new report that the phone costs $174.15 to make. The firm estimates that a $30.50 Qualcomm Inc. ( QCOM – news – people ) processor is the most expensive part.

    By contrast, iSuppli estimates the iPhone 3GS’s cost at nearly $179.

    That version has 16 gigabytes of memory, compared with just 4 giagbytes in the Nexus One.

    Google’s Nexus One sells for $529 without a wireless contract, and $179 with a two-year wireless contract.
    http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/01/11/technology-telecommunications-equipment-us-tec-techbit-google-phone-cost_7264425.html?partner=alerts

  • Mobile phone radiation ‘protects’ against Alzheimer’s

    After all the concern over possible damage to health from using mobile phones, scientists have found a potential benefit from radiation.
    Their work has been carried out on mice, but it suggests mobiles might protect against Alzheimer’s.
    Florida scientists found that phone radiation actually protected the memories of mice programmed to get Alzheimer’s disease.
    They are now testing more frequencies to see if they can get better results.
    The study by the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre is published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
    Genetically altered mice

    We don’t recommend spending 24 hours a day on a mobile phone – we don’t know the long-term effects, and bills could go through the roof
    Rebecca Wood
    Alzheimer’s Research Trust
    It involved 96 mice, most of which had been genetically altered to develop beta-amyloid plaques in their brains, which are a marker of Alzheimer’s disease, as they aged.
    The rest of the mice were non-demented.
    All the mice were exposed to the electro-magnetic field generated by a standard phone for two one-hour periods each day for seven to nine months.
    Their cages were arranged at the same distance around a centrally located antenna generating the phone signal.
    The researchers, led by Professor Gary Arendash, said that if the phone exposure was started when the Alzheimer’s mice were young adults, before signs of memory impairment were apparent, their cognitive ability was protected.
    In fact, the Alzheimer’s mice performed as well on tests measuring memory and thinking skills as aged mice without dementia.
    If older Alzheimer’s mice already showing memory problems were exposed to the electro-magnetic waves, their memory impairment disappeared.
    Professor Arendash was the author of a previous study that said coffee could protect against Alzheimer’s.
    He said: “It will take some time to determine the exact mechanisms involved in these beneficial memory effects.
    “One thing is clear, however – the cognitive benefits of long-term electro-magnetic exposure are real, because we saw them in both protection and treatment-based experiments involving Alzheimer’s mice, as well as in normal mice.”
    Memory benefits
    The memory benefits of phone exposure took months to show up, suggesting that a similar effect in humans would take years.
    The researchers conclude that electro-magnetic field exposure could be an effective, non-invasive and drug-free way to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease in humans.
    They are currently testing whether different sets of frequencies and strengths might produce a more rapid and greater cognitive benefit.
    Chuanhai Cao, another author of the study, said: “Since production and aggregation of beta-amyloid occurs in traumatic brain injury, particularly in soldiers during war, the therapeutic impact of our findings may extend beyond Alzheimer’s disease.”
    The authors say previous studies have linked a possible increased risk of Alzheimer’s with “low-frequency” electro-magnetic exposure like the energy waves generated by power and telephone lines.
    They say mobile phones emit “high frequency” electro-magnetic waves that are very different because they can have beneficial effects on brain function, such as increasing brain cell activity.
    Organs normal
    They did carry out autopsies on the mice and found no evidence of abnormal growth in the brains of the Alzheimer’s mice following months of exposure to the electro-magnetic waves.
    They also found all the major peripheral organs, such as the liver and lungs, were normal.
    Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said: “This research has been carried out in mice that mimic some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s in people, so we don’t know if any similar effects will be seen in humans.
    “Although the researchers hope their findings will translate to people, much more research is needed to find out if there could be any beneficial effects of long-term exposure to electro-magnetism, and to guarantee its safety.
    “We don’t recommend spending 24 hours a day on a mobile phone – we don’t know the long-term effects, and bills could go through the roof.”
    Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said the results were “exciting and quite convincing”.
    “However, this research in mice is at an early stage and a lot more work is needed before we can say anything about the possible preventative or treatment effects of this type of radiation on people with Alzheimer’s disease.”

  • Technology changes ‘outstrip’ netbooks-BBC

    March of technology is truly astounding and at the same time bewildering.

    Rising prices and better alternatives may mean curtains for netbooks.
    The small portable computers were popular in 2009, but some industry watchers are convinced that their popularity is already waning.
    “The days of the netbook are over,” said Stuart Miles, founder and editor of technology blog Pocket Lint.
    As prices edge upwards, net-using habits change and other gadgets take on their functions, netbooks will become far less popular, he thinks.
    “Technology has advanced so much that it’s outmanoeuvred itself,” he said. “You wouldn’t go for something so basic anymore.”
    His prediction stems from his belief that the netbooks of 2009 are losing touch with what made them so appealing.
    Asus kicked off the netbook trend in 2007 when it launched the Eee PC 700 and 701. The 700 sported a 2GB solid state hard drive, 512MB of Ram, a 900 Hz Intel Celeron processor and a seven-inch screen.
    It was cheap, cheerful and a boon for those wanting to check e-mail and go online while out and about.
    But, said Mr Miles, the success of the small, portable notebook has been its undoing because it has spawned so many imitators.

    E-book readers are starting to do more than just handle text
    Many contemporary netbook models run Windows XP or Windows 7 which has forced the specifications, and price, upwards. Many, he said, now cost at least £350, a figure close to that for a more capable full-size laptop.
    What people are looking for now, he believes, is a machine that can keep up with the demands of contemporary web users – far more than the basic e-mail and web browsing that made the first models so appealing.
    “As soon as you want to do anything else you hit the same problem, it ceases to work,” he said. “It does not have the power.”
    Those changing habits of web users, he maintains, are too complex for those basic machines.
    “It’s the internet’s fault for making us much more multimedia savvy,” he said. Uploading and editing still or moving pictures and handling audio all require far more power than the basic netbook offers, he said.
    This could explain, he said, why many laptop makers are now turning out very thin and light machines that have power but not the shoulder-wrenching bulk.
    All change
    Ian Drew, spokesman for chip designer Arm, also believes netbooks are in for a shake-up. Consumers, he said, were chafing against the restrictions that using a netbook imposed on them.
    “We have failed the consumer because we have imposed constraints on them,” he said.
    Changing web habits and greater use of social media will mean consumers will be looking for gadgets that are tuned to specific purposes.

    The web is the king
    Christopher David, SonyEricsson
    “It will be a lot of different machines for a lot of different people,” he said. “This whole market will be exploding in the next couple of years.”
    Impetus for this change will come, he believes, from the phone world where many, many types of gadgets are already blooming.
    “It’s no surprise that your mobile has changed a lot in the last three years but your PC hasn’t,” he said.
    Arm hopes that many more netbook makers will be using one of its designs as a core processor and turn to Linux as the operating system.
    At the very least a crop of Arm-based netbooks might mean a big boost to battery life. Arm’s mobile pedigree means it is designed to be parsimonious with power.
    Dell already produces notebooks sporting Latitude ON technology that use both Arm and Intel chips so that they can boot into either Windows or Linux.
    Editing tools
    Battery life on Linux is in excess of 10 hours, for Windows rarely more than three.
    Machines sporting Arm chips are also likely to be thinner as they will not need the heat sinks demanded by processors used in desktops.
    Mr Drew said deals Arm has signed with Adobe will help ensure that future devices will be able to use the software maker’s familiar video, audio and image editing tools.
    What will also be worth watching, he said, is what happens when Google’s Chrome OS is launched.
    Many of the devices running that will be Arm-based as Chrome is broadly based on one of the Linux distributions. There are also unconfirmed rumours that either Windows 8 or 9 will run on Arm chips.

    People are becoming familiar with multi-touch thanks to touch screen phones
    Mr Drew also expects to see devices tailored to particular types of user.
    E-book readers were an example of this, he said, and were evolving into devices capable of doing more than just handle text. Many can play MP3s or let owners browse the web.
    Then there is the approaching wave of tablet computers.
    Apple is rumoured to be working on one. Dell and Microsoft have shown off their own ideas of what one will look like and there are bound to be many more from established tablet makers such as Archos.
    Mr Miles from Pocket Lint believes these are likely to take up the mantle from the netbook.
    “I don’t think people will expect it to do much more than you get from a netbook,” he said, adding that they were perfect for those who needed a device that let them get online quickly to satisfy their curiosity.
    They were more likely to succeed now more than ever, said Mr Miles, because of the greater experience people had with using such devices.
    “It’ll be helped by Apple which has educated people how to use multi-touch through the iPhone and iPod touch,” he said.
    Netbooks are also likely to come under pressure from smartphones as they get even smarter, said Christoper David, head of developers at SonyEricsson.
    Phone makers, he said, have to position themselves to be more open and able to support the web habits of users no matter what they were or what they wanted to do.
    “The web is the king,” he said. Handset makers must work with those open web standards to ensure that the software on the phones they make is flexible enough to cope.
    “Though,” he added, “that is only the starting point of the journey.”
    What will not change, he believes, is the importance of the phone as a vessel for data about its owner.
    “We’re going to see phones coming along where the form factor will be less and less relevant in terms of what we carry about with us,” he said.
    Future devices will grab the best resources nearby whether that is a flat screen, projector or thin film display.
    The ID credentials stored on what was our phone will handle all the logins and give access to all the sites and services we use.
    The netbook, and its limitations, will be well and truly left behind.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8421491.stm

  • Teen Racks Up $21,917 Cell Phone Bill, Dad Flabbergasted

    One of the less harmful side effects technology?
    Ted Estarija’s Verizon cell phone bill last month might not reach the astronomical heft of the $85,000 charge we reported about a while back, but $21,917 isn’t anything to scoff at, especially in these lean times.

    According to CBS News, the Hayward, California resident was surprised with a bill for more than 20 grand after he added his son to their mobile plan. He thought it would cost a mere $50 more a month, and just in case, he also had the phone company restrict his son’s calls and texts.

    What Estarija forgot about, though, was data usage. In a month, the boy managed to download about 1.33 gigabytes of data — of what exactly, we’d like to know — and since Dad’s plan did not include coverage, he was charged by the megabyte.

    “I was completely caught off guard,” he told KTVU-TV in Oakland. “There’s no way I can pay this, so [I’ll do] whatever I can to get this resolved.”

    Though Verizon comped the guy’s bill after word of his financial woes leaked to the media, Estarija’s son, apparently “despondent” over the trouble he’d caused, was not so lucky: Dad suspended the teen’s account indefinitely. [From: CBS News and USA Today]

    http://www.switched.com/2009/12/14/teen-racks-up-21-917-cell-phone-bill-dad-flabbergasted/