Mickey strides into wireless

Mickey strides into wireless By Kelly Hill Apr 6, 2006 LAS VEGAS—With fog, fireworks and a helping hand from Mickey Mouse, Disney Mobile announced the launch of its cellular service at yesterday’s CTIA keynote. Steve Wadsworth, president of the Disney Internet Group, joked that the towering on-stage model of the silver Pantech flip-phone that Disney Mobile will offer looked just like any other phone—and that, he added, was exactly what Disney Mobile wanted. Adults want high-quality phones, Wadsworth said, and the teens and tweens “don’t want a phone that looks like a kid’s phone.” Hence the co-branded Pantech DM-P100 phone, and the yet-to-come DM-L200 from LG Electronics Co. Ltd., with nary a mouse-ear logo in sight. Disney Mobile plans to start selling the phones and plans in June; the service will use Sprint Nextel Corp.’s CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network. Much of the unique functions of the service come in the form of controls for parents. Parents can parcel out monthly minute allowances for voice, text and picture messaging, and downloadable content, and use Disney Mobile’s “Family Center” to decide when children can and can’t use their phones. During certain days, school hours or prime homework time, Wadsworth noted, parents can disable most of the phone’s functions. However, children can always call a limited list of allowed numbers, such as parents and 911, whether the rest of the functions are disabled or they are over their minute allowance. The monthly minute allowance, Wadsworth said, would prevent problems such as unexpectedly large wireless bills due to text messaging or teenagers eating up a family’s monthly minutes. When a child reaches the end of his or her monthly minutes, an alert is sent to both the child and the parent in charge of managing the family’s service. Parents also can compose a list of prohibited numbers that the child is not allowed to call or text. The handset also offers a locator feature that uses embedded GPS capabilities. Parents can enter a personal identification number on their handset or at the Disney Mobile Web site and then the location, a map and an indication of accuracy shows them the approximate location of the child’s device. Families also can set up alert functions, and parental messages override the phone’s idle screen. Wadsworth noted that the device’s other functions, such as calling and data services, cannot be used until the message is acknowledged, preventing the “I didn’t get the message” excuse. The service includes unlimited messaging among family members. Wadsworth noted that a number of common messages, such as “Where RU?”, “Running late. Be there soon!” and “Can you get a ride?” are included in a list of preprogrammed messages so that parents, who may not be comfortable with text messaging, will find it easy to use. Disney Mobile did not reveal much about its service pricing plans, except to say that it will offer both individual and family plans, including child-only subscriptions which allow parents “to take advantage of all the Family Center features from the Web until they themselves can join Disney Mobile.” All plans will include the Family Center features, and consumers will be able to buy phones and service through Disney Mobile’s Web site and at dedicated mall kiosks. Handset prices will start at $60 with a two-year service agreement, Disney Mobile said. According to Disney Mobile’s Web site, the approximate retail value of the phones and service it is currently offering in a giveaway are $130 per handset and $80 per month for service. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heavy cell phone users face a 240% increased risk of tumours' has been posted to EMFacts Consultancy

Swedish researchers find link between cell phones and brain tumors 3/31/2006 12:02:08 PM, by Nate Anderson

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060331-6502.html

Be afraid. Be very afraid. That's the message from the Swedish National Institute for Working Life, which has just completed a massive study on the cancer risks from cell phone use. Their results, which appear in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health (one of my favorite sources of light reading), suggests that heavy cell phone users do in fact raise their risk for tumors, especially on the side of the head they use most often.

The study looked at 2,200 cancer patients and the same number of healthy ones to see if any sort of connection could be drawn between specific cancers and heavy mobile phone usage. The answer was yes.

Kjell Mild, who led the study, said the figures meant that heavy users of mobile phones had a 240 percent increased risk of a malignant tumor on the side of the head the phone is used.

Now, before you reach behind your right ear and start probing yourself for lumps, there are a couple of things to remember. The first is that a 240 percent increase, while significant, still means that the chance of coming down with a tumor is rather low. The second thing is that "heavy usage" of cell phones is defined by the study as anything above 2,000 hours of use, which works out to one hour a day, every day, for almost six years. That's a lot of talking—but certainly not beyond the range of modern road warriors.

The study's authors suggest, as usual, that the best way to reduce your risk (short of ditching your phone altogether) is to use a hands-free system. One wonders, though, whether buying a headset and then shoving the phone in your pocket isn't likely to cause other, ahem, problems of equal severity.

It's also worth pointing out that research on the link between cancer and mobile phones is ambiguous. A recent British study found no such link only a few months ago, though a 2004 study came to the opposite conclusion. The Swedish team points out that their study is the largest done to date, though, so it may carry more authority than the rest.

Cordless handsets 100 times worse than mobiles, say experts.

New Phones Danger

by Robbie Collin

Cordless handsets 100 times worse than mobiles, say experts. Having a cordless phone in your house can be 100 times more of a health risk than using a mobile. The popular phones constantly blast out high levels of radiation - even when they are not in use. Landlines are widely thought a safer option than mobiles. But researchers in Sweden now warn cordless phones are far more likely to cause brain tumours than today's mobiles. Emissions from a cordless phone's charger can be as high as six volts per metre - twice as strong as those found with a 100 metres of mobile masts. Two metres away from the charger the radiation is still as high as 2.5 volts per metre - that's 50 times what scientists regard as a safe level. PowerfulAt a metre away the danger is multiplied 120 times - and it only drops to a safe 0.05 volts per metre when you are 100 metres away from the phone. Because of the way cordless phones work, the charger constantly emits radiation at full strength even when the phone is not in use - and so does the handset when it is off the charger. The most common cancers caused by such radiation are leukaemias. But breast cancer, brain tumours, insomnia, headaches and erratic behaviour in kids have also been linked. Those with chargers close to their beds are subjected to radiation while they sleep. Phone watchdog Powerwatch, using a testing device called the Sensory Perspective Electrosmog Detector, even found electromagnetic fields as strong as three volts per metre in a bedroom above a room holding a cordless phone. The group's director, Alasdair Philips said: "As ill-health effects have been found at levels of only 0.06 volts per metre, this is very concerning. It's likely everyone in a house with a cordless phone will be constantly exposed to levels higher than this." The shock Swedish report - by scientists Lennart Hardell, Michael Carlbery and Kjell Hansson Mild - is backed up by many medical experts who believe cordless phones are a health risk. Harley Street practitioner Dr David Dowson said: "Having a cordless phone is like having a mobile mast in your house. I'd recommend anyone who has one to switch to a plug-in phone." But BT's health advisor, John Collins, disagreed. He said: "There's no conclusive scientific evidence linking the radiation to any of the symptoms experienced. The evidence is that it doesn't do us any harm. We're a responsible company and abide by all the guidelines set down by recognised experts."News of the World, 5th February 2006