Mobile phone radiation 'interrupts sleep'

MOBILE phone radiation causes headaches and interrupts vital sleeping patterns, according to research funded by some of the world’s biggest phone manufacturers.

Researchers from the US and Sweden discovered during the study that participants exposed to mobile phone radiation experienced headaches, change of moods, confusion and trouble sleeping.

In their findings, published in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), the researchers said 38 of the 71 participants showed symptoms of mobile phone radiation.

“The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals, components of sleep, believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear, are adversely affected,” the researchers said in the PIERS article.

“Moreover, participants that otherwise have no self-reported symptoms related to mobile phone use appear to have more headaches during the actual radiofrequency exposure as compared to sham exposure.”

The researchers from Wayne State University in the US and Sweden’s Karolinska Institute found mobile phone radiation extended the period of time it took for participants to fall asleep – and even then they were still affected.

“Under the (radiofrequency) exposure condition, participants exhibited a longer latency to deep sleep,” the researchers said.

The Mobile Manufacturers Forum (MMF), made up of industry giants like Nokia and Motorola, funded the study.

A MMF spokesperson was quoted by UK newspaper The Independent as saying the “results were inconclusive” and “the researchers did not claim that exposure caused sleep disturbance”.

Study leader Bengt Arnetz told the newspaper that mobile phone radiation decreased participants’ ability to wind down and fall asleep.

“We did find an effect from mobile phones from exposure scenarios that were realistic,” Professor Arnetz said.

Ultra-fast broadband connection launched

A POWERFUL new broadband tool up to 250 times faster than a standard broadband connection was used yesterday to link researchers across the Pacific.

The internet connection, which sends one gigabit per second, is being hailed as a cutting-edge model for allowing world experts to collaborate from different countries in real time.

Yesterday, the OptIPortal linked researchers at the University of Melbourne with researchers at the University of California in San Diego via giant screens.

Using the technology, a scan of the brain can be shown to the cellular level and maintain full clarity. It combines high-definition video and audio with the sharing of ultra-resolution visualisations from a broad range of disciplines.
The resolution of the OptIPortal is 50 times higher than the highest resolution HD television commercially available.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Victorian Premier John Brumby watched the demonstration.

During the link-up Senator Conroy said he hoped the technology would eventually reach Australian households.

"We are, as you know, pushing ahead to try and develop genuine high-speed broadband here in Australia, which we would ultimately hope to deliver this sort of technology into everybody's home and that's why it's so exciting to see this project up and running," he said.

Ms Gillard was later challenged on whether the Government's broadband policy would allow for that level of technology to be available to homes.

She said the Government would concentrate on delivering its election promise of providing fast broadband to 98 per cent of homes under a $5 billion scheme.

Smarter games, dumber children

CHILDREN should be banned from playing computer games until the age of seven because the technology is "rewiring'' their brains, it has been claimed.

Bombardment of the senses with fast-pace action games is said to be causing a shortening of attention span, harming the ability to learn.

The concerns emerged as technology industry experts gathered this week at a special summit discussing the development of children at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Educational psychologist Jane Healy said research indicated that computer games fuelled the development of basic "flight or fight'' instincts rather than considered reasoning.

"If you watch kids on a computer, most of them are just hitting keys or moving the mouse as fast as they can. It reminds me of rats running in a maze.''

She believes parents would be wise to keep children away from computer games until at least the age of seven to allow their brains to develop normally.

Researchers from the Joan Ganz Cooney Centre, which investigates the relationship between children, the media and technology, said the average age that US youngsters started to use electronic gadgets had fallen from just over eight to just over 6 1/2 since 2005.

The researchers looked at more than 300 products including computer games, toys, virtual worlds for children and supposedly educational software to be run on home computers. Of these, only two educational video games employed proven learning techniques.

The researchers found that too many products involve children sitting isolated in front of a computer screen. Others make unsubstantiated claims about their educational benefits.

There has been an explosion in the creation of virtual worlds for children in the past year.

Huge numbers of children are members of internet sites, including those dedicated to Barbie or the Bratz dolls.

The summit heard calls for an industry code of ethics designed to do away with commercial exploitation of children who visit such sites.

By contrast, Alice Cahn, of the Cartoon Network, told the summit that technology was delivering huge benefits.

"We should not be worried about technology changing the face of play, but rather that all kids have access to the best kinds of technology'', she said.

The Daily Mail

Schools counter cyber bullying in class

SCHOOLS are being forced to give students special lessons on how to treat each other with respect when communicating online amid an explosion of cyber bullying among teenagers.

The "cyber citizenship" courses based on an American idea aim to promote more harmonious relationships between high school students in class and at home.

Riverside Girls High School at Gladesville in Sydney's Northern Suburbs will lead the way this year in curbing nasty exchanges between students in cyberspace.

Principal Judy King and her staff have written programs for the harmony courses which initially will be aimed at students in the early years of high school.

A survey of Riverside students found some spent up to 30 hours a week networking on the internet.

One senior student spent four to five hours every night on social networking website Bebo when her mother thought she was doing homework.

"The intensity of the friendship groups and the fallout is worse in all schools because of cyberspace," Ms King said.

"So... we are going to concentrate on cyber citizenship – that's what the American teachers call it. And we're going to incorporate that into Year 7 and Year 8 ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)."

Cyber bullying is reaching epidemic proportions in schools with bullies and victims using websites such as Facebook and MySpace to trash other children's reputations, research has found.

A national study of up to 7500 students across 100 public and private schools commissioned by the Federal Government is about to lift the lid on "covert bullying".

The research shows families have been forced to move home because of the damage done to their children's reputations.

One teenager in the survey said: "I feel like sharks are circling me."

Dr Barbara Spears of the University of South Australia's School of Education said: "They are manipulating MySpace and Facebook to denigrate, exclude, isolate and humiliate. Kids feel unsafe, violated, threatened and powerless because of this – they are bewildered."

Education Minister John Della Bosca acknowledges this bullying is an issue for the entire community.
Character assassinations

The worst of cyber bullying:

A FIGHT between a high school student and a 15-year-old ex-pupil, which led to a brawl involving 15 students and watched by about 150 others, was recorded with a mobile phone and posted on YouTube

ON Bebo a Year 11 girl made death threats towards another girl, including bringing weapons to school

A WBESITE set up by two Year 7 students made derogatory remarks about pupils and teachers

A FORMER teacher at elite public school Hurlstone Agricultural High sued when a hate-filled website accused him of being a paedophile

Xbox 360 could get Blue-ray player

MICROSOFT could introduce Blu-ray support for the Xbox 360 gaming console if consumers wanted it, an executive said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Xbox 360 currently supports HD-DVD, the rival to Blu-ray in the high-definition DVD format wars. A HD-DVD player for the Xbox 360 can be bought separately to the console.

Group marketing manager for Xbox hardware Albert Penello said Microsoft would have to consider introducing a Blu-ray accessory in the event that HD-DVD failed.

"It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider," he said.

The surprise decision last week by Warner Bros, the top seller of home movies, to abandon the HD-DVD format in favor of Blu-ray should not affect sales of Xbox 360 consoles, Mr Penello said.

"I fundamentally don't think... this has a significant impact on Xbox 360 versus (Sony's) PlayStation 3," Mr Penello said.

"With the PlayStation 2, DVD was a big part in the beginning, but over time, people were not buying it as a DVD player after first year or two."

The Xbox 360 supports a plug-in HD-DVD accessory that is bought separately, while Sony, hoping to give its next-generation video format a leg up, built a Blu-ray player into its PlayStation 3 machine.

"You can't say it's not a bummer, not a setback, but I've seen this battle declared over so many times," Mr Penello said of the Warner Bros decision.

"I want consumers to have a voice in this and I think there are a lot of consumers who bought HD-DVD who are going to have a say in how this shakes out."

Warner Bros is the movie division of media conglomerate Time Warner Inc.

With Reuters

iPhone 'not arriving any time soon'

THE iPhone will not be arriving on Australian shores any time soon, according to an independent phone retailer that has reviewed the product.

Crazy John's, Australia's largest independent phone retailer, reviewed the iPhone in a recent promotional magazine distributed in Australia.

Unfortunately the reviewed device does not indicate an impending release, according to Crazy John's head of sales and marketing Stephen Morley.

"I don't believe the product is imminent here in Australia," Mr Morley said.

Mr Morley said the handsets reviewed were not Australian models and that they were sourced from "partners in other markets".

"We've had several staff testing the product over the past 6-8 weeks.

"We test lots of products, regardless of if we'll be selling them or not."

The iPhone is already in Australia unofficially, due to consumers importing the device and performing unauthorised modifications for use on local networks.

In most countries where the iPhone has been released, Apple has chosen a single phone network to provide service for the handsets. iPhones can be "unlocked" to work on other networks, but doing so will void the phone's warranty.

Another type of software modification, known as a "jailbreak", allows users to install non-Apple software such as games on their iPhones – but also voids the warranty.

The handset pictured in the Crazy John's review appears to have been modified, as it has third-party applications on the screen and displays "Vodafone" in the status bar.

Apple has confirmed the iPhone will be released in Australia this year, but no further details about the date or the network have been provided.

The company is currently working on a second-generation 3G iPhone which would offer faster data transfer on local high-speed networks.

Vodafone said it expected the Australian release date to be delayed until the 3G model was available.

"Most handset manufacturers’ range of devices in market are designed to provide customers with high-speed access to content, such as mobile music, mobile TV and entertainment, within coverage areas," Vodafone said.

"Vodafone would be surprised to see an iPhone released in Australia before a 3G or HSPA-enabled model becomes available."

Last October Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo said the carrier had been in talks with Apple, but there have been no confirmations from Apple or other networks about an Australian deal.

"Almost every supplier has big plans in the next six to 12 months with their version of an iPhone in response," Mr Trujillo said.

Spokespeople for Telstra, Optus, Three and Apple had no further details.

Thousands follow WWI soldier's fate on blog

THOUSANDS of people have been following the fate of a British soldier fighting in the trenches of World War I on a website publishing his letters home exactly 90 years after they were written.

Like William Henry Bonser ("Harry") Lamin's real family almost a century ago, the modern reader visiting the "Experiences Of An English Soldier" blog does not know when the next letter is coming, or whether the one they are reading is in fact the last.

Many are braced for the dreaded telegram from the army notifying relatives of a soldier's death.

"There are a lot of people saying how keen they are to follow him and are rooting for Harry," said Bill Lamin, the 59-year-old IT teacher who found his grandfather's letters when he was a boy and decided to turn them into a blog.

"They get hooked as if it is happening now. People are rooting for a guy who is in the thick of it," he said.

The most recent entries from Harry, who served with the Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment, were on December 30, 1917, after he had moved from the battlefields of northern Europe to Italy.

He thanks his brother, Jack, for the box of biscuits he sent and wishes his sister Kate a happy Christmas and New Year.

Many of the letters are mundane and focus on his wife and child in England, but some offer a glimpse of the horrors of trench warfare that young men faced.

"We have had another terrible time this week," Harry wrote on June 11, 1917, when describing his part in the Battle of Messines Ridge.

"The men here say it was worst (sic) than the Somme advance last July. We lost a lot of men but we got where we were asked to take. It was awful I am alright got buried and knocked about but quite well now and hope to remain so.

"It is a rum job waiting for the time to come to go over the top without any rum too. The CO got killed and our captain, marvellous how we escaped."

In another entry from October the same year, details of British casualties are pencilled out, possibly by army censors seeking to maintain morale back home.

Mr Lamin said the daily number of visitors to his site reached about 20,000 last week after several media reports appeared, although the daily total was normally lower.

"World War I has always been fascinating for people, the horrors of it," he said.

Dozens of people have written to the site to comment on Harry's experiences, including many from the US.

One anonymous contributor wrote: "As a boy I was taught that war was glorious, I now know that it is exactly the opposite and will teach my children the same."

Mr Lamin would not give any clues as to Harry's fate, listing only his birth date as 1887.

ONLINE dating "sad and flustrating"

ONLINE dating renews women's hope in love and sex but can be just as disappointing as the real-life dating scene, according to new Canadian research.

Susan Frohlick, an anthropology professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, says the women she surveyed gained a sense of empowerment from their online dating experiences.

But they still wanted the man to make the first move and expected him pick up the tab.

"Women are finding it as a useful tool to enter into the dating world, they find that it's safe, they find that they can be a little more bold than they would in face-to-face relationships," Ms Frohlick said of her survey, which looks at how women over 30 view online dating.

"But, at the same time, they are experiencing frustration because it does seem that the internet in many ways is just the same old bar scene."

Complaints include a preponderance of men who are looking for much younger women, as well as men who misrepresent their looks, interests or marital status, or who show little interest in moving the relationship offline, she said.

"There's not much of a difference between the virtual world and the real world," said Linda, 33, a Toronto professional who has used an online dating site on and off, three or four times for a few months each time.

"It's sad and equally as frustrating."

Linda says she knows it can work out, noting that a friend met her husband after spending more than two years on different websites, but she admits she's given up on the game.

"At least when you're in the bar, you know what they look like," she said, citing examples of meeting bald men whose profile pictures displayed a full head of hair.

"A lot more successful, attractive women are using these tools – I don't think the men match up."

Lori Miller, a singles and dating expert for www.lavalife.com in Toronto, says dating via the web can mimic the bar scene. But it also gives women the chance to approach and meet dozens of men while knowing a little something about them beforehand.

"You're literally thrown into the largest singles bar," she said.

"It is a lot of work, it is the luck of the draw just like being in that coffee shop and meeting the one."

Ms Frohlick's small survey, to be completed in April, is questioning up to 25 Canadian women about their online dating habits. She hopes it will become a pilot for a far larger survey of women across North America.

Russia launches its own GPS

RUSSIA successfully launched a rocket this week carrying the last three satellites to complete a navigation system to rival America's GPS.

The military-run GLONASS mapping system works over most of Russia and is expected to cover the globe by the end of 2009, once all its 24 navigational satellites are operating.

A space rocket blasted off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome on the steppes of neighbouring ex-Soviet Kazakhstan, from which Russia rents the facility.

"The launch was carried out smoothly at 10:32 p.m. (6:32 a.m. EST)," RIA news agency quoted a spokesman for the Russian space agency as saying. "We expect satellites to separate from the booster on the orbit at 2:24 a.m. (10:34 a.m. EST)".

Work on GLONASS — or Global Navigation Satellite System — began in the Soviet Union in the mid-1970s to give its armed forces exact bearings around the world.

The collapse of the Russian economy in the late 1990s drained funds and the plans withered, but President Vladimir Putin has ensured the project is now being lavishly funded from a brimming government budget.

Officials said GLONASS would mainly be used alongside the US global positioning system, which Washington can switch off for civilian subscribers, as it did during recent military operations in Iraq.

Pirate movies and pirated music

US rap was the most illegally-downloaded genre of music in 2007, with three number one hits featuring singer Akon appearing in the list of popular downloads.

The most frequently traded song on file-sharing networks was Party Like A Rockstar by Atlanta-based rap group Shop Boyz, according to the study commissioned by Wired magazine.

Other songs in the top 10 included Senegalese-American rapper Akon's collaboration with Snoop Dogg, I Wanna Luv U, Don't Matter by Akon and Bartender by T-Pain featuring Akon.

All three songs featuring Akon reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart during late 2006 and 2007. The Billboard charts are compiled from radio airplay and sales.

Tracks by US rap and hip-hop artists DJ Unk, Soulja Boy, Mims and Sean Kingston were also in the list. The only pop song included was Justin Timberlake's My Love.

Akon, T-Pain, Snoop Dogg and Justin Timberlake also appeared in the list of most-downloaded artists, a combination of illegal album and singles downloads.

British rock group Radiohead, who released their seventh album In Rainbows as a download in October, did not appear on either list despite appearing prominently on BitTorrent websites.
Most-traded movies

The film Resident Evil: Extinction – based on a popular videogame – was the most popular movie on file-sharing networks, according to the study.

Other movies in the list included Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End, I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, Ratatouille and Superbad.

Surprisingly, one of the year's biggest blockbusters Transformers was only seventh-placed. Other box-office hits Spiderman 3 and Shrek The Third did not appear at all.

The most-downloaded TV show was Heroes, followed by Prison Break, the BBC's Top Gear, Smallville and Desperate Housewives.

The study was undertaken by BigChampagne Online Media Measurement and tracked consumption trends across major peer-to-peer file-trading networks including BitTorrent, Gnutella and eDonkey.

Peer-to-peer file-sharing (also known as P2P) is a method of sharing large files without a central source. Instead of files being hosted on a server and downloaded by several users, files are shared between users directly.

BitTorrent is currently the most popular form of P2P file-sharing.