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PDA/Radiation Detector

Posted by michael on from the tricorder dept.

sgpennebaker writes "This article tells of lab rats who've built a cell phone/PDA/GPS device that also lets you surf the web and, oh, yeah, sniff out any dirty bombs that might have gone off in your area. Then you can cancel your meetings, call family and friends and send GPS coordinates to whoever it is that cleans up afterwards. I'm waiting for the next generation; I want one that also tracks hungry, angry bears and emits a loud noise when it senses their proximity."

4 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Great for... by skillet-thief · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Nice for reporters covering war zones where they've been shooting around ordonnance containing spent uranium.

    Sucks having to carry both a PDA and a radiation detector.

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    Congratulations! Now we are the Evil Empire

  2. Tell me this by Raul654 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How many generations of Palms will we see until they are producing a bona fide tricorder?

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    To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
    --E.C. Stanton
  3. Were Tricorders better than this? by ianscot · · Score: 2, Insightful
    What it needs is to make sounds like the tricorders on the original Star Trek, and then I'm in.

    Seriously -- what all did the tricorder do, exactly? (I can easily imagine an episode where they use it as a geiger counter; did that ever happen?) Ours do the communicator's job along the way too. Not too bad.

    If only our in-the-field medical instruments resembled spinning salt shakers more...

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    "Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
  4. Re:How does it know? by cosmicpossum · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, all gamma radiation is NOT alike. That's like saying all radio waves are alike. Read up on nuclear spectroscopy and then make a useful statement!

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    (This sig intentionally left blank)