The largest study of its kind has suggested that the link between cell phones and brain cancer is still inconclusive. The study followed 13,000 cell phone users over a 10 year period. Prior studies of this type have been funded by handset manufacturers and has relayed information with a noticeable skew. A new study is underway to follow handset users more closely over the next 30 years to study long term health effects. It seems we are destined to never find a conclusive answer to this elusive question.
Showing posts with label Cellphone Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cellphone Technology. Show all posts
Broadcom has announced a new Bluetooth chip set that boasts many improvements. Longer talk time, and faster charging are the most notable, but improvements are promised across the board. The BCM2074x family will sport newer wind and noise reduction algorithms to enhance the user experience. The chip set utilizes 65 nanometer processes to enhance power management within the chip. The result? Double talk time, and up to 5 times faster charging than previous Bluetooth technology.
Cox wireless has announced a partnership with Qualcomm for content delivery. Cox will make use of Qualcomm's BREW technology for delivery of content such as applications, games, locations services, and other content available for download through the carrier. BREW technology is known in the industry for being very secure, as well as very restricting to the end user in terms of application customization.
GSM Association Backs Near Field Communications and ENUM Technology
Saturday, November 22, 2008
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Near Field Communications or NFC technology has been in test markets around the United States for some time now. The GSM Associates has recommended that this service, used for completing retail transactions where you pay-by-phone, be included in most handesets by mid 2009. Near Field Communications could open up a whole new gateway for retailers. The GSMA has also recommended ENUM technology as the standard of choice for initiating IP-based communications. ENUM will transalate the phone number into an IP address. The ENUM service will be branded PathFinder. PathFinder will help standardize IP-based communications, and open up a new array of mobile integration products.
Sony has announced a new proprietary chip "IMX060PQ". This chip currently maintains the title for the industries highest pixel count (12.25MP) while maintaining an incredibly small CMOS profile. This chip was designed exclusively for the need in today's camera phones to leverage a higher quality, while using very little space. Sony believes that to meet the needs of the consumers demand for camera phones with high performance, both increased performance and miniaturization must be achieved. Sony has committed itself to lead on the forefront of this movement to fill and important void in consumer products. This new high performance mini CMOS chip that they are calling EXMOR will be in full production July 2009. No venders were identified in the press release, however I fully expect the new champion handset manufacturer in the United States Samsung to be among the first manufacturers to place this technology into their phones.
LCD Price fixing has been suspected for some time now. LG and Sharp both plead guilty in a Department of Justice investigation. LG was ordered to pay $400 Million. LG was convicted of price fixing from 2001 to 2006. Sharp was ordered to pay $120 Million. During this time prices were jacked up on LCD's that were sold to Dell, Motorola, and Apple.
Telstra is currently developing their next evolution in broadband networking. Using HSPA+, Telstra expects to increase mobile broadband speeds to 21 Mbps. Telstra, in cooperation with Ericcson, Qualcomm, and Sierra Wireless expects to start shipping units for customer trial in the next few months followed closely by a commercial launch.
Kodak, a company that boasts 50% improvement year over year in OLED efficiency, has done it again. OLED or Organic Light Emitting Diodes were originally designed to provide better color and lower battery consumption. Kodak has just implemented a green dopant technology into their OLED displays. This technology controls color output and power efficiency more effectively. EK-GD403 is the name of the new material infused with green dopant technology. According to DisplaySearch a company formed by NPD the OLED display market will grow to more than $17 Billion by 2015. Early this year Frost & Sullivan presented Kodak with an award for pioneering OLED technology. OLED's currently deliver a 180 degree viewing angle, with faster response times, better contrast, and blur-free video in a very small flat package.
[Kodak]
Broadcom has just announced a unique combination chipset that should help with music phones. The Bluetooth + FM Combo chip promises better quality, and lower battery use. The chip known as BCM2049 has implemented SmartAudio technology to enable better sound quality, and expanded range for Bluetooth connections. The integration of these features in a single chip allows manufacturers to put more features in phones while keeping size and battery life in check.
[Broadcom]
Ericcson has announced that it has signed an expanded licensing agreement with Zi Corporation. This licensing will expand the number of Erricson phones equiped with Zi's Predictive text entry software. Zi's software also includes handwriting recognition.
Wonderful advancements in technology have started to occur. Mobile device users have long wanted a device that would charge by itself. One MIT professor decided after being dragged out of bead late at night by his phones dreaded screams for charging, there just has to be a better way. Delving deep into the principals set forth by Nicola Tesla he decided to try to make it happen. When two megnetic fields resonate with each other at the same frequency, they exchange power easily with each other. While this idea is technically not new, never before has there been such a market for its practical use. Magnetic induction is not an extreamly efficient means of exchanging power, Intel was recently able to accomplish this feat with 75% efficientcy. (the rest was lost to friction and heat) The research team was able to power a 60 watt light bulb 3 feet away from any available power source. Intel's Involvement in research and development for this novel concept is the begining of the end for chargers as we have come to know them. The team is calling this power transfer method WiTricity, wich is a combination of "Wireless" and "Electricity". I however would prefer the term WiPo for Wireless Power.
Samsung just released a new software that will optimize the data transfer of their embedded flash memory chips. Recent production changes with Samsung's chip sets have lowered the market cost of the chips. This coupled with the newer, faster access software should help Samsung's high density chip designs more desirable for implementation in smart phones. Samsung has made a copy of their new flash memory optimization software available for each of the major mobile phone operating systems. The aspects of phone software that this new driver software will control is expected to reduce the design time required to produce new phones, as well as increase the speed of multimedia intensive applications.
MetroPCS has decided that it will join the majority of cellular companies and more to LTE as their 4th generation data network. MetroPCS sites higher data speeds, and added capacity for their network as major reasons that they have chosen to follow this path. MetroPCS currently operates on a self built network utilizing CDMA2000. So far all CDMA carriers in the United States that have announced their 4th generation path have chosen LTE.
Finally the day is here that I can use my cell phone while snorkeling! Alright, not quite today, but this should be very soon. I think all of us have run into an issue once or twice with water and our cellular devices. Take a look at the video for the explanation of the product by Golden Shellback. I am very impressed with what I have seen so far!
Golden Shellback Waterproof Coating from gCaptain.com on Vimeo.
