Startup Uses Radiation Fear To Map Cellphone Coverage

judgecorp writes "Fears that mobile phones cause cancer have never had strong backing from scientific research, but Israeli startup Tawkon is using those fears for an interesting business model. Its free app (banned from Apple's App Store, but on Android, BlackBerry and unlocked iPhones) tracks how much radiation your phone is emitting. This lets concerned users hold their phones away from their heads or whatever — but it also gives Tawkon a useful map of cellphone coverage around the world, which is the real asset it is monetizing — for the benefit of everyone, it says."

Comments

Snake oil again?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

...is using those fears for an interesting business model

So, it's the newest high-tech version of selling magic crystals, horoscopes, and wall plug nuclear electricity filters? Wow. That's classy.

Re:Snake oil again?

[smegfault]

Obligatory XKCD reference OT, it depends on what your definition of "long term" is. Regardless of the provenance of the funding, such long term epidemiological studies are a huge can of worms due to the stupendous number of confounding variables. How would you, for instance, correct for the a) improved methods for (early) detection of cancer and b) our improved ways to fight cancer?

This is the same problem we have with long term studies in the field of e.g. nutrition and probably the cause of all the contradictory 'findings'.

People fearing 'radiation' from cell phones should disconnect from the grid and stay inside, out of the sun with its nasty radiation, with sealed windows in a radon-proof suit. And then dodge high-energy particles from space, too.

Re:Snake oil again?

[DigiShaman]

The asians have been selling anti-radiation maternity cloths for years now. My wife purchased one herself. Surprisingly, they work...at blocking cell reception at least. I tested it out with two cell phones. Both had full bars. As soon as I covered one of the phones all the way around, the signal dropped. It was instant and the test could be repeated over and over again. So the clothes do was they're advertised to do. The question is, does it really impact the safety of fetal development? Doubt it. But there you go.

http://www.amazon.com/Radiation-Maternity-Preganat-Protection-Shielding/dp/B0053ZPB6U

Re:Snake oil again?

[Ol Olsoc]

I'd be interested to see if there were any non-industry funded long term studies done with cell phone use and incidents of cancer. My guess is there probably aren't any because there would be no funding and if you found that it did cause cancer then you'd be ostracized as a quack the rest of your short career..

All anti-Industry paranoia aside, the re have been studies done on the effects of cell phones. And there have been some effects found.

The problem is that everyone here in America focuses on Cancer. That is really the single least likely effect of cell phone use. Cell phone electromagnetic radiation is not ionizing radiation, the type of radiation that we know can cause cancer.

Of more interest is the frequencies in use. especially the higher frequencies. 1.8-1.9 GHz, and 2.1 GHz. This is very near the frequencies used in microwave cooking, typically around 2.45 GHz, or some indusrial applications around 915 MHz. Note that the explanation often given that microwave heating is caused by a frequency in resonanace with water molecules is incorrect. That frequency is actually over 1 THz. This is heating via RF, not any resonance.

So this is the background. The phones are little microwave producing machines.

So now we have these little devices putting out around 2 watts maximum. And we are holding them in their near field, which is to say we're getting about their whole output, whatever it is at the time. (note: the strength fall off as the inverse square of the distance from the radiating device).The specific power output is adjusted automatically (ever notice how your battery life is significantly less when you are in a pooer reception area?) So there is possiblility of thermal heating effects. Cataracts are a possibility. I claim no cause/effect, because it is a sample of 1, but my S.O. has a cataract in her eye on the side that she uses her phone. And she spends hours a day on the phone. And she is very young to be having a cataract under any circumstances.

Thermal effects are indisputable, but do they mean anything?

There have been other effects measured, such as localized glucose metabolism in the area of the brain adjacent to the cell phone. It is not clear if this is significant or not. And some effects have been reported that have not been reproduced yet.

Personally, I think that the cataract issue might be a possibility, but am biased on that one. I semi-seriously jest that extended cell phone use makes people temporarily stupid. I also limit my cell phone use, actually a desirable thing in my opinion.

Re:Snake oil again?

[Anonymous Coward]

I work in neurology research at a university- so far, the jury (data) hasn't decided yet. Increases in cellular calcium ion channel activity result from exposure to EMF. This includes L-type calcium channels in neurons. The L-type channel is involved in a lot of functions- this includes gene expression, neuronal survival and death. I'm not saying "it causes cancer". Just saying there are still some very compelling grants out there about to be funded that are looking into this- The jury is still out.

Re:Snake oil again?

[tehcyder]

how is it going to affect you if you don't feel any heat?

Gravity waves, obviously. You people with your electromagnetism-centric attitude.

Re:Snake oil again?

[Ol Olsoc]

The jury might want to study the effects of solar radiation and flashlights on people.

Do you think that "the jury" hasn't done a lot of study on solar radiation?

Some of the interesting things they have found is that the Electromagnetic radiation from the Sun has a big heating effect.

The UV output of the sun can damage the skin over long periods of time, leading to cancer in some cases.

The solar radiation also produces Vitamin D. There are interesting medical aspects of that, as highly pigmented humans, such as peopl eof African (and probably Indian) descent are in need of Vitamin D supplements when they live in northern environments, wher ethey recieve less sun. Indeed, many people have severely limited their exposure ot sun, and Vitamin D deficiency is fairly common. This is in stark contrast to 40 or more years ago when People were cautioned against getting too much Vitam D, other than the milk supplement and natural solar exposure

That is only one aspect, there are other aspects of solar radiation, such for plants, which depend on solar radiation as part of their photosynthesis. In short, Solare EMR is a huge energy source for living organisms.

As for investigations of flashlights, do you think that is an intelligent Question? The person you are replying to gives an honest answer, and you give a frankly stupid response. Interesting questions are: What percentage of 1GHz penetrates more than 0.5 mm into the skin?

How far do you want it to penetrate? does a microwave oven only penetrate a small distance into the meat it is cooking? Before you try to say "It's the frequency, bear in mind that there are extremely powerful microwave ovens in the 900 MHz range, below your hypothetical 1 GHz source.

I must say this respectfully, you really need to do some research on the effects of EMR on tissue. We already use this effect as a focused medical treatment. And at some frequencies that a lot of people would find surprising. EMR heats tissue. That is as much as fact as it is possible to be.

how is it going to affect you if you don't feel any heat? If it doesn't make your eyeballs frost over, just how strong is the evil effect ?

I suggest instead of silly statements like that, you do a little research on the effects of EMR on tissue.

Or you can remain happy in your ignorance. Because this ends almost being a religious argument. Because you are trying to refute physics with third grade arguments.

The effects may or may not constitute an actual problem. But that does not mean that the effects aren't there.

Jailbreak vs Unlock

[retaj]

The summary should say "jailbroken iPhones" instead of "unlocked iPhones". Jailbreaking allows unauthorized apps, unlocking allows SIM freedom.

Re:Jailbreak vs Unlock

[gnasher719]

The summary should say "jailbroken iPhones" instead of "unlocked iPhones". Jailbreaking allows unauthorized apps, unlocking allows SIM freedom.

If you want to be guaranteed radiation free, you could by a broken iPhone instead of a jailbroken one. Just remove the battery, and you can hold it to year head and talk into it as much as you like.

You'll have to talk a bit louder so that the person you are calling hears you.

Re:Jailbreak vs Unlock

[GameboyRMH]

Jailbreaking allows app freedom, unlocking allows SIM freedom.

FTFY

Re:Trojan horse

[LordLucless]

It's not a Trojan Horse if you leave a note on the side saying: "This horse is full of armed Greek warriors. By bringing this horse into your city, you also agree to allow said warriors to kill and pillage any and all occupants of the afore-mentioned city". Either that, or the Trojans just didn't have good lawyers.

Re:Banned from Apple?

[pushing-robot]

I'd imagine it's "banned" for the same reason as wardriving apps: because they use undocumented calls to get low level info from the radios. It sounds like they appealed to Jobs himself, but he turned them down. I can't really blame him, as the app's two functions seem to be (a) scare you with BS and (b) spy on you.

App Store restrictions are a bit annoying, but less annoying than having to run an antivirus program on your phone. Power users can, at least, jailbreak.

Tawkon is a pretty useful app

[blind biker]

Not so much for protecting me from "radiation", but to keep battery consumption low: whenever the signal is weak, the phone compensates by increasing transmitting power, draining the battery in the process. If Tawkon warns me of strong transmitting field, I'll keep the conversation short.

Might be on to something.

[jxander]

While the fear mongering and data collection is a bit worrisome, they might actually be on to something here.

It would be very useful to have crowd-sourced maps of cell coverage, speeds, dropped calls, etc... Would certainly make the choice of provider a much more informed decision, instead of relying on their own coverage maps.