CANCER CELL PHONE

Long-term users at risk, 13-nation study reveals

Mobile phone use can be linked to four different kinds of cancer, an international survey found.

It showed "a significantly increased risk" of some brain tumours "related to use for a period of 10 years or more".

The World Health Organisation research, which took 10 years and looked at 12,800 people, will issue a health warning to go with its findings.

Dr Siegal Sadetzki, one of the 13-nation team of researchers, said: "Most studies, including ours, show something happening in long-term users. Why shouldn't we take some simple measures to limit exposure just to be on the safe side?"

Dr Elisabeth Cardis - head of the Interphone project research, which will be published in full within two months - said: "I am in agreement with restricting use by children, though I would not go as far as banning mobiles."

A breakdown of the findings shows a rise in the risk of glioma - the most common brain tumour. Israeli studies found heavy users were at least 50 per cent more likely to suffer tumours of the salivary gland.

Alasdair Philips, of campaign group Powerwatch, said: "Primary school children should not have mobile phones, secondary school children should be encouraged to text rather than call, and males should not keep them in a pocket as they drastically affect fertility

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Original Article.

Barnes & Noble expected to unveil e-reader

By MAE ANDERSON (AP) – 21 minutes ago

NEW YORK — Barnes & Noble Inc. Inc. is expected to unveil an electronic-book reader Tuesday to compete with Amazon.com's Kindle in the still-small arena where some see bookselling's future heading.

The New York Times reported that the wireless reader will be called the "Nook" and sell for $259 — the same as the recently reduced Kindle. The newspaper cited an ad to run in its book review section Sunday.

The reader will offer a color touch screen, according to the Times, and there was speculation in blogs that it will let users loan e-books to other people.

Barnes & Noble executives did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

The largest U.S. book store chain is only the latest company to enter the e-reader market, which Kindle has dominated since its 2007 launch. Sony has sold e-readers since 2006 and plans to launch a new version with a touch screen and wireless downloading capability via AT&T in December. Smaller companies IREX Technologies Inc. and Plastic Logic Ltd. also plan to offer e-readers soon.

So far, e-readership is small.

"Only 8 percent of the U.S. adult population bought one e-book in 2008," and most read them on PCs, said Michael Norris, senior analyst at research firm Simba Information. "So it's a device that is extremely important to everyone except 92 percent of American adults."

Still, the niche is growing fast in an industry that is slumping. Forrester Research predicts 3 million e-readers will sell in the U.S. in 2009, and twice as many in 2010.

Sales have been falling for years at Barnes & Noble and other brick-and-mortar booksellers — mainly chief rival Borders Inc., which sells Sony e-readers in some stores — as shoppers turn to online and discount booksellers. The recession also led consumers to slash their spending on discretionary items like books and music.

Barnes & Noble hopes the e-reader and the company's new e-bookstore, launched in July, will boost sales. The e-bookstore, which sells versions of books to read on smart phones and other mobile devices and most personal computers, offers 700,000 books, including the more than half-million offered free by Google Inc. It plans to offer up to 1 million within a year, as well as magazines and newspapers.

Amazon.com meanwhile offers about 350,000 books for the Kindle, and Sony offers about 600,000, including Google's free titles.

When Barnes & Noble launched its e-bookstore, it was to be the exclusive provider of books for a reader from Plastic Logic to be released in 2010. It was not clear Tuesday afternoon whether Plastic Logic makes the e-book soon to be announced.

For Barnes & Noble and Amazon, e-book readers may be customer retention tools more than anything else because owners must buy proprietary versions of books to use the devices. And Barnes & Noble has the advantage that it can feature its e-reader in its stores, said Norris.

"If you buy something from Amazon, you can't touch it first," he said. "Barnes & Noble presumably will have big showcases for these in all of its superstores.... Barnes & Noble, knowing full well that Amazon isn't as big in e-books as it wants people to think, is hoping that the fact they can get consumers to hold a reasonably priced e-book device in their hand ... will target their device to the right people."

Original article

T-Mobile Halts Sale Of Sidekick

I had a sidekick wayy back when haha okay not that long ago but basically almost a yr ago.. on valentines day i dropped it in the toilet and that was the end of that.. it wasn't an lx tho.. i had the slide, which i do admit i didn't like much lol

T-Mobile USA temporarily suspended selling its Sidekick messaging-centric cellphone following an embarrassing loss of customer data.

A T-Mobile spokesman said the company has stopped selling the devices in its stores and online until it resolves a disruption to an online service for the Sidekick, a phone popular with teenagers.

In addition to a free month of data service that T-Mobile has said it plans to extend to affected subscribers, the carrier is "actively discussing" other plans to make amends to those customers.

The move is a blow to the Sidekick line and T-Mobile's relationship with Microsoft Corp., which owns the company that designs Sidekick's software and service.

T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG and the fourth-largest carrier in the U.S., cannot afford the negative press. T-Mobile is struggling with subscriber growth, and there is speculation from analysts that the company is ready to mount an aggressive campaign to win back customers with a cheaper plan and better phones.

The carrier has deflected most of the blame to Microsoft and Danger, which was responsible for handling the personal data and contacts stored on the Web.

Microsoft expressed regret over the lost data and said it would continue working on recovering it.

The Sidekick problems are a black eye for Microsoft that comes shortly after it made a push to rebrand its Windows Mobile phones as "Windows Phones" with the release of a software update. While adding a few new features, the update has drawn mixed reviews and has been criticized as behind rivals like Google Inc.'s Android or Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Sidekick users are still awaiting an update on the situation, but Microsoft and Danger have warned that the data are likely lost. Sidekick customers have been advised to not remove the batteries on their devices or let them drain completely.

Original article
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