Feeling fried? Android app warns when your phone blasts your brain with radiation (but Apple won’t allow it for iPhone)
- App monitors radiation from Android handsets
- Warns you of high levels – and says to switch to speakerphone
- Lets you monitor family radiation levels as well
- Not allowed on iPhone after personal rejection by Steve Jobs
By Rob Waugh
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The app grades radiation exposure as low, high and medium, and offers tips on how to lower your levels
Worriers rejoice – a new Android app tells you exactly how much electromagnetic radiation your handset is blasting into your brain, and even tells you when to hold it away from your head.
But iPhone owners aren’t so lucky – the app isn’t available for Apple’s handsets, after it was personally turned down by late CEO Steve Jobs in a terse email that simply said, ‘No interest.’
The app warns when radiation levels from a phone are high – taking into account the model, and what is transmitting through its aerials, and even offers tips on how to lower your radiation levels.
‘Tawkon is a free app that alerts you when your phone radiation level spikes, and offers tips to help you lower it,’ say its creators.
The phone senses the activities of components inside the handset that lead to radiation ‘spikes’, and suggest you hold the phone away from your head – or even hang up.
The app has been downloaded 10,000 times in less than a week.
It looks unlikely, however, that Apple users will be able to enjoy Tawkon.
Apple’s Steve Jobs was well known for personally responding to numerous emails from the public.
But some of his replies were a little more terse than others, as the bosses of Tawkon discovered.
The CEO, in response to a politely worded email asking for assistance to get their app off the ground, simply said ‘no interest’ (sent from his iPhone, naturally).
The app senses when components are about to release high levels of radiation, and warns users to switch to a headset or speakerphone
Your phone is already equipped with what you need to protect yourself. You just don’t have access to that information.
Deep in the guts of a phone’s circuitry, we found that components actually gather radiation-related data.
We learned how to gather this information and we built tawkon: our app tracks the contributing factors to rises in radiation and simply suggests you to make a quick change — as you begin a call or while you are in the middle of one,’ say the app’s creators.
‘In 2010, tawkon launched a jailbroken iPhone app (Steve Jobs told us personally Apple wasn’t interested in it; we assume he wasn’t keen on discussing radiation in relation to the iPhone), as well as a Blackberry app.
‘In 2011, we successfully launched our Beta Android app, which is now where the core development focus lies. In April 2012 we launched our native Android App.’
Steve Jobs rejected the app, which tells users how much radiation is absorbed. It’s calculated by using the location to phone masts and how the phone is held
No convincing evidence has been revealed that mobile phones damage human health in spite of an ‘explosion’ in research into the issue over the past decade, according to a review of scientific studies billed as the most comprehensive yet.
Driving while using a mobile phone remains the one established health risk of mobile phones, a leading scientist said as a report on exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields emitted by devices such as mobile phones was published.
The review found that a large number of studies have been published on cancer risks in relation to mobile phone use but overall the results have not demonstrated that the use of mobile phones causes brain tumours or any other type of cancer.
Steve Jobs is known for responding to numerous emails from the public. Some responses are more terse than others, as Tawkon bosses found out
But the report, from the Health Protection Agency’s (HPA) independent advisory group on non-ionising radiation (AGNIR), warned that it was ‘important’ to continue to monitor all the evidence as there was little information on the risks beyond 15 years from first exposure.
This monitoring should include monitoring national brain tumour trends which have so far given ‘no indication’ of any risk, the report recommended.
The HPA said it would continue to advise a ‘precautionary’ approach and keep the science under close review.
The agency recommends that ‘excessive’ use of mobile phones by children should be discouraged while adults should make their own choices as to whether they wish to reduce their own exposure.
Categories: Science&Tech Tags: Allow, Android, Apple, Blasts, Brain, Feeling, fried, iPhone, Phone, Radiation, Warns, Won't
No wonder they bought Android: Early Google phone in parade of flops that show search giant doesn’t ALWAYS get it right
- Financial secrets of search giant revealed in court battle with Oracle
- Prototype phone shown off in 2006
- Details of other disasters such as Google TV paraded in public
- Search giant attempts to keep details secret
By Rob Waugh
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Google’s Android is now the world’s leading phone operating system – far ahead of Apple’s iOS – but it wasn’t always the case.
In fact, an early prototype of a ‘Google phone’ shows that the search giant was very sensible indeed to buy up the start-up company that made Android.
The prototype was shown off to mobile phone companies – and have surfaced as part of a dispute between Google and Oracle, which has brought up several other products Google might have preferred to forget…
The prototype was shown off to mobile phone companies – and have surfaced as part of a dispute between Google and Oracle, which has brought up several other products Google might have preferred to forget
SWITCHED OFF? HOW ‘GOOGLE TV’ AND OTHER IDEAS FAILED TO PERFORM FOR THE COMPANY
Google’s YouTube business was estimated to generate $ 5 billion by 2013, thanks to a $ 3 billion contribution from Google TV, a then-new product that allows consumers to access Google services such as search and YouTube videos on their television screens.
But analysts say Google TV has failed to catch on with consumers.
Logitech, one of Google’s initial partners that developed a set-top box offering the service, said in November it would cease making Google TV devices.
The phone prototype has surfaced as part of a legal battle between Google and Oracle over smartphone technology – and have shone light onto several Google ventures that have not gone to plan.
Online commerce and an initiative to bring Google services to television were important pillars of Google’s growth plans over the past two years, court documents show.
But analysts say neither appear to be on track to deliver the kind of pay-off Google expected.
‘Google TV and commerce ambitions look aggressive compared to what we believe they are today,’ said Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Herman Leung, who reviewed the Google documents.
The projections for Google’s various businesses were part of a presentation to Google’s board of directors compiled by company staffers in October 2010.
They were revealed during the high-stakes trial of Oracle Corp against Google over smartphone technology.
Google attempted to convince U.S. District Judge William Alsup to keep the internal documents secret, but Alsup denied the request in court last week.
Google spokesman Jim Prosser said on Wednesday the documents do not represent current thinking about its business operations.
‘Our industry continues to evolve incredibly fast and so do our aspirations for our various products and services,’ he said.
Not exactly iPhone: Google attempted to keep the court documents secret – with good reason, it seems
Other services such as Google’s social communication system Buzz were disastrous – and the system was almost immediately abandoned
Google’s social network Plus has yet to hold most users’ attention. Visitors have been spending an average of just a few minutes per month on the network, compared with six to seven hours on Facebook, according to the research firm ComScore
Still, the presentation provides a window into Google’s strategic thinking at a time when the Web’s dominant search engine was facing competitive pressure on numerous fronts.
Google highlighted the emerging threat from an alliance between social networking service Facebook and Microsoft’s Bing search engine, noting that ‘Facebook-Bing users may bypass Google.’
Google also said revenue from its business selling software to companies was ‘disappointing.’
Oracle has accused Google’s Android mobile operating system o f violating its intellectual property rights.
Categories: Science&Tech Tags: Always, Android, Bought, Doesn't, Early, Flops, Giant, Google, Parade, Phone, Right, Search, Show, They, Wonder
Sid Meier’s Pirates For Windows Phone Game Review
If it’s a pirate adventure you wish to experience, the closest most would be able to experience such is by playing those role playing games on consoles. But now it is even being made more convenient by having these same games available through plying on the smartphone. When it comes to Pirate games, popular titles such as the Sid Meier’s Pirates have arrived into Windows Phone that truly makes it a cross-platform game.
Sid Meier’s Pirates is an adventure role playing game where you take the helm of a pirate ship and take command of a band of sea faring bandits. Players get to do battle with other famous pirates such as Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and the fearless Henry Morgan. But that is not all that your pirate experience on your Windows smartphone will be all about.
As a fearless pirate captain, you also get to go on quests to discover treasure maps, search and amass a great deal of different treasures as well as mount daring rescues. You get to helm and equip one of the 27 different ships available and customize them with assorted weapons such as cannons and ammunition along with other upgrades. The game is redesigned to take advantage of the controls offered by Windows Phone 7 smartphones, taking advantage of its touchscreen features. The Sid Meier’s Pirates is quite an engaging and addicting game to have on your Windows smartphone. You now have a reason to finally live that pirate dream you’ve always wanted whenever you feel like it and wherever you might be. This game app is available at the Windows Phone Marketplace for a US$ 3 download and requires at least 224MB of storage space on your phone.
Barclaycard PayTag: How your mobile phone can be turned into a credit card
By Sean Poulter, Consumer Affairs Editor
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Any mobile phone can be turned into a ‘tap and go’ credit card under a payment system unveiled today.
Advocates of the technology argue it could mean the end of small cash payments within five to ten years.
The system, which can be used to make purchases up to £15, involves sticking a smart card or PayTag – about a third of the size of a normal credit card – to the back of a handset.
A Nokia phone shows a text message with credit card details, but mobiles could soon double as credit cards
To make a payment, the phone is tapped on a specially adapted till. The tag, which contains a microchip, communicates with the till terminal via an antenna to confirm the credit card account of the customer and authorise a payment without the need to enter a PIN.
The system is being launched by Barclaycard, which says it comes with 100 per cent fraud protection, but it is likely to be adopted by other major banks. Previously, only a few hi-tech handsets could be used for tap and go payments, but the new tag means any phone could be.
An increasing number of retailers offer or are introducing tap and go tills, including Waitrose, McDonald’s, Boots and Tesco. By the end of this year, London buses will also accept these so-called contactless payments.
David Chan, the chief executive of Barclaycard Consumer Europe, said: ‘More than half of us say that the item we’re most lost without is our mobile phone, so we’re giving people the option of using them to make easy, convenient, everyday payments.’
Carl Scheible, the managing director of PayPal UK, said: ‘By 2016, you’ll be able to leave your wallet at home and use your mobile as the 21st century digital wallet.’
Categories: Science&Tech Tags: Barclaycard, Card, Credit, Into, Mobile, PayTag, Phone, Turned
Bing Translator for Windows Phone Updated with Offline Functions
Looks like there is one reason why we should buy a Windows Phone. Microsoft has updated the Bing Translator app, which can be downloaded for free in the Marketplace. The update now enables users to point their cameras at any text you cannot read (say, the Japanese road signs) and a proper translation pops out in front of the foreign text, as you can see in the first photo.
Another trick this app offers is how users speak phrases into their Windows Phone, which will then be translated into a foreign language of choice complete with audio. This feature certainly beats reading translations really slowly when all you want is to reach the bus station.
But the best part of the update is the app’s offline capabilities, which comes in handy if your smartphone could not find network connection in foreign lands. Simply download a language pack of choice, including English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Simplified Chinese.
Source: Windows Phone Blog, via Engadget
