U.S. Senate to Investigate Whether Cell Phones Cause Cancer

The U.S. Senate Health Committee plans to probe deeply into any potential links between cell phone use and cancer, concerned that the case may be similar to the cigarette-lung cancer connection that was denied by tobacco companies for decades.
Iowa senator Tom Harkin, who became the committee head after the death of Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, said that he was concerned that no one has been able to prove cell phone do not cause cancer.
"I'm reminded of this nation's experience with cigarettes," said Harkin. "Decades passed between the first warnings about smoking tobacco and the final definitive conclusion that cigarettes cause lung cancer."
Some researchers believe that low levels of radiation from cell phone use may cause cancers of the brain and central nervous system -- similar to the malignant brain tumor that Kennedy had been battling with.

Years of research have failed to establish any clear link between their use and several kinds of cancer, including brain tumors.

Four years ago, Danish researchers studied the cell phone usage of brain tumor patients and reported that the two were unlikely connected but said that "we won't be able to make any firm conclusions until we can confirm these results with studies with more long-term and heavy cell phone users."

Studies in France and Norway last year reported similar results.

However, recent worries have been raised by U.S. and British researchers who suggest that many of the previous studies were telecom-funded and had a "systemic-skew" that greatly underestimated the chance of tumors, such as excluding people who "had died or were too ill to be interviewed as a consequence of their brain tumor and children and young adults who are more vulnerable."

While no solid link between cell phones and cancer has been established, studies indicate the likelihood of such a connection calls for a precautionary approach.

An estimated 275 million people in the U.S. and 4 billion worldwide use cell phones.

T-Mobile Launches the Nokia 5130 for $30

T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest carrier, today launched the Nokia 5130, a low-cost music phone with dedicated music keys, stereo Bluetooth and an FM radio.

      The Bellevue, Wash.-based carrier said the 5130 also has an integrated 2.0-megapixel camera for snapping quick photos and an extra-long battery with six hours of talktime and 12 days of standby.

Running on Nokia's Series 40 operating system, the handset supports email and instant messaging to stay in touch with friends and photo sharing through Share on Ovi and Mail on Ovi email services.

"Consumers want to be able to play their own soundtrack regardless of where they might be in the world or in their lives," said Frank Vium, Nokia's vice president. "The Nokia 5130 XpressMusic is just one device that helps bring this to reality."

T-Mobile said the Nokia 5130 costs $30 with a two-year contract and comes in Black Red and Pearl White Aqua colors.

Comcast Plans to Bring TV Shows to Cell Phones

Leading cable operator Comcast said it plans to bring TV shows to smartphones through its new wireless Internet service as part of a push to offer more mobile services.

"I can envision sometimes in the future On Demand Online having a wireless component," said Michael Angelakis, Comcast's Chief Financial Officer.

The Philadelphia, Penn.-based company began rolling out its mobile service, delivered over WiMax technology, as part of a joint venture with Sprint and Clearwire.

As consumers increasingly expect to be able to watch videos on their mobile devices, cable companies are seeking ways to collaborate with content providers to let paying customers watch TV shows on the Web with no extra charge.

Samsung announces four new additions to its Omnia range, all running on Windows Mobile 6.5

 

Samsung has announced the new Omnia Series, a new smartphone range that will feature Windows Mobile 6.5.

With version 6.5, users can also choose from a range of apps and games from Windows Marketplace for Mobile and the phones also support new features such as My Phone, a free service that backs up contacts, calendars, photos, music and text messages.

The Omnia II (pictured left), the upgrade to the original Omnia full-touch device, comes with a 3.7-inch AMOLED display with WVGA resolution. It comes with the TouchWiz 2.0 user interface designed to provide touch-optimised usability and Advanced Resistive Touch to enable a faster and more accurate response.

The Omnia Lite (pictured right) also comes with the TouchWiz 2.0 UI and downloadable online widgets, as well as a 3D multimedia player. It also comes with multi-push email access and Microsoft Office, enabling users to edit documents. Other features of note include HSDPA, Wi-Fi, 3-megapixel camera and A-GPS.

The Omnia PRO (B7610) comes with separate modes for ‘Work’ and ‘Home’ to enable users to maintain their work-life balance and a hybrid touch/QWERTY form. It also includes a 5-megapixel camera with smile shot, AMOLED display and A-GPS.

The Omnia PRO (B7330) is similar to the B7610 and comes with full QWERTY keyboard, 3-megapixel camera and FM radio.

Samsung UK and Ireland vice president Mark Mitchinson said: "The Samsung Omnia Series is one of the most important additions to our portfolio and demonstrates our commitment to the smartphone market. The high performance devices, coupled with the new Windows 6.5 make the new Omnia series a compelling choice for anyone that wants a device that brings both btheir work and personal life together."

All four of the new Omnia devices will launch in the UK in October.

Samsung UbiCell CDMA Base Station for Sprint

Samsung UbiCell CDMA Base Station for Sprint

CTIA 2007 -- One of the more interesting new devices at CTIA is the Samsung UbiCell base station. A small white box that looks like a WiFi access point, the UbiCell is actually mini cell tower designed for CDMA 1x networks. The device connects to a mobile network through a broadband connection and is designed to provide enhanced cell coverage for the home. Unlike UMA technology, nothing special is needed for mobile handsets to take advantage of the base station. Samsung will be distributing the UbiCell through Sprint, though other versions (such as GSM) may appear on other carriers.
Sprint should begin selling the UbiCell in the Summer. Pricing is unknown but will be geared towards consumers.

LG VX9400 TV phone launches on Verizon Wireless

lg vx9400 tv phoneCTIA 2007 -- Verizon Wireless has launched its second MediaFLO mobile TV handset, the LG VX9400. Mobile TV has been a major talking point at the CTIA conference and LG has been showing off the VX9400 proudly. Sporting a unique form factor (the screen swivels into landscape orientation) and MediaFLO, the device is designed to work with V Cast TV.

Features of the LG VX9400 include:

* QVGA screen with 262k colors
* EV-DO 3G data
* Bluetooth with A2DP stereo support
* 1.3 megapixel camera
* microSD card slot

Because of the TV technology, Verizon Wireless will keep an exclusive on this handset. It's available now for $199.99 with a 2-year contract. Note: V Cast TV is only available in select markets, but the list is expanding.

iphone

apple iphoneIt's June 29th and Apple is finally ready to let the public play with the iPhone. The past six months have shaped up to be the highest profile mobile phone launch ever, Apple has conjured up an amazing amount of buzz for a device that only a handful of people have actually held. While the early adopters are busy waiting in lines across the country to be the first iPhone users, others are busy betting (real money!) on what bugs will be found.

AT&T came out in support of its EDGE network today amid heavy criticism from the first round of iPhone reviews. The combination of a "2.5G" data technology and a HTML/CSS compatible browser can mean some heavy wait times (expect about a minute to render a complex page like nytimes.com). Most phones, even many inexpensive models, from competitors Verizon Wireless and Sprint ship with 3G data support.

Apple has not announced how many units it has on hand, but analysts believe it's around 3 million. Steve Jobs noted that Apple has "built factories to build these things" so supply may not be an issue despite the lines outside stores. Apple employees are set to get free iPhones starting in July.

Get it tonight starting at 6PM. If you're an early adopter and would like to share your iPhone impression with us, get in touch.

Update: After getting a chance to sit down with the iPhone, our first take is that it's a big step forward in the industry and should help force all the major players in the space to focus on software and user experience. There are a number of serious limitations with the iPhone, but it's a solid first try and we're excited to see future revisions.

T-Mobile G1 with Google Android officially announced

T-Mobile USA has officially confirmed what unofficially has been the talk of the town--the debut of the first Google Android based mobile phone. The T-Mobile G1 is made by HTC (the device was code named the HTC Dream) and was introduced this morning at a press conference in NYC. While this is the first Android device to be announced there should be many more following. The G1 is a T-Mobile exclusive (both USA and Europe).

Specs and features of the G1 include:

• Quad-band GSM / Dual band 3G / EDGE / Wifi
• Touch screen with iPhone like dragging
• Slide out QWERTY keyboard
• 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus
• Amazon MP3 store app to download DRM-free songs over WiFi
• Multi-tasking
• IM (Yahoo/MSN/AIM/Google Talk)
• Google Maps with street view
• HTML email client (POP3 and IMAP) plus contact and calendar syncing for Gmail users
• Web browser using WebKit

The G1 will retail for $179 with a 2-year contract when it starts shipping on October 22nd. Current customers can order online and the G1 will be delivered when it's launched. Like the iPhone, the G1's service agreement requires a data plan. Unlimited data with 400 messages runs $25 monthly while unlimited data and unlimited messaging will cost $35 monthly. Since it's a 3G device the phone will only be made available in T-Mobile's current 3G markets. You can use T-Mobile USA's coverage search tool to find out if your area is 3G or not, though the number of markets should be expanding rapidly. The G1 will not be available without a contract or via pre-paid service.