Tips to reduce the risk of exposure to cancerous electro-magnetic rays

If you are worried about recent revelations about cell phone radiation by the WHO, do not despair. There are a number of ways in which you can safeguard yourself to to a large extent.

According to well-known American non-government organization Environmental Working Group, or EWS, cellphone users can follow these tips to reduce the risk of exposure to cancerous electro-magnetic rays that cellphones may be emitting.

Always try to look up buyers' guide or Internet, or seek experts' advise to know about the radiation levels of your phone, or the model you intend to buy.

Most phones' model numbers are printed under the battery. Consider replacing your phone with one that emits the lowest radiation possible and still meets your communication needs.

Always try to look up buyers' guide or Internet, or seek experts' advise to know about the radiation levels of your phone, or the model you intend to buy.

Most phones' model numbers are printed under the battery. Consider replacing your phone with one that emits the lowest radiation possible and still meets your communication needs.

Fewer signal bars on your phone means that it emits much higher radiation to get the signal to the tower. Make and take calls when your phone has a strong signal, instead of incessantly using it and cursing your mobile operator.

Remember, it is your brain that will be getting fried due to poor signal!

Radiation shields such as antenna caps or keypad covers reduce the connection quality and force the phone to transmit at a much higher power with higher radiation. So while they may be protecting your phone, it is at the cost of your own health.

Limit children's phone use

Young children's brains absorb twice as much cell phone radiation as those of adults. Along with health agencies in at least 6 countries, EWG has recommended parents to set up limits for children's cell phone use, such as for emergency situations only.

They may be encouraged to either make short, sweet conversations, or use the good, old landline phones.

Cellphones emit maximum radiation when you talk or text, but not when you're receiving messages or listening. Hence, the age-old saying of listening more and talking less can come in handy here in reducing your exposure level.
Hold the phone away from your torso when you're talking (with headset or speaker), not against your ear, in a pocket, or on your belt where soft body tissues continuously absorb radiation.

Even while sleeping, avoid keeping it under the pillow or next to you. It should ideally be kept a few feet away even if you want to keep it handy just in case the President or the Prime Minister decide to call upon you in the dead of night.

Choose texting over talking
Phones use less power (and hence less radiation) to send out text than voice communication. And unlike when you speak with the phone placed next to your ear, texting keeps radiation away from your head.

Latest Nokia Dual SIM Mobile Phones : X1-01 and C2-00

Nokia's biggest strength has been its basic model phones which have achieved great sales volumes mainly in India. With Nokia revealing about the New Dual SIM Music Phone, Nokia X1-01, the expectation has increased to a new height and along with it the Nokia C2-00 will also be flooding the markets. Here is a brief preview of what you can expect from the Dual SIM mobile phones.
Nokia C2-00 design and display:

The design of Nokia C2-00 is pretty good and and is to an extent similar to that of the other basic multimedia Mobiles from Nokia. The display of the mobile features the necessary options to display the signals of both the sim cards. The display of the Nokia C2-00 features a TFT 65K colors and the size of the mobile is 128 x 160 pixels, 1.8 inches.

Nokia C2-00 Camera:
The Nokia C2-00 sports a VGA, 640x480 pixels. The mobile does not feature a video recording and a secondary camera. As the mobile is a basic one, there is nothing much to rinse about the mobile.

Nokia C2-00 multimedia features:
The mobile can play audio formats such as MP3/WAV/AAC+ . There is nothing much worth mentioning about the mobile. The Nokia C2-00 also features a Stereo FM radio with FM recording

Nokia C2-00 connectivity:
The connectivity feature of the mobile does features GPRS and Bluetooth. The GPRS runs on Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps.

Nokia C2-00 memory and messaging:
The messaging feature of Nokia C2-00 supports SMS, MMS, Email, IM and Nokia C2-00 has no internal memory and the external memory of the mobile can be extended up to 32 GB using microSD card.

Other features of the mobile:
Dual SIM (dual standby)
Hot swappable external SIM slot (second SIM)
MP3/WAV/AAC+ player
Organizer
Voice memo
Predictive text input

Nokia unveils new dual-SIM phones

Nokia unveiled two new dual-SIM phones at an event called "Twins Day Out" here. While Nokia C2-00 is targeted at customers who want to access internet on the move, Nokia X1-01 is a music phone. Nokia had brought together 60 twins for the event and held a parade before showing its new handsets.

Dual-SIM phones are very popular in India at the entry-level and many industry insiders believe that it is Nokia's inability to come with such devices earlier that has hit the company hard.

It had brought one dual-SIM phone to Indian market last year. But by that time companies like Micromax and Spice had already established themselves in the market of dual-SIM phones.

"Nokia believes in being closer to the consumers and we want to develop products that meet the Indian consumer's changing needs and aspirations. We are sure Nokia C2-00 and Nokia X1-01 will set new benchmarks in the mobile internet and music space in the entry-level dual-SIM category," said Vipul Sabharwal, sales director at Nokia India.

Nokia claims C2-00 is the first dual-SIM phone to have 'easy swap', which offers consumers the convenience of changing SIM cards without the need to turn off the phone or remove the battery. The phone also remembers the settings for up to five separate SIM cards. Nokia said C2-00 will be available for around Rs 3,000.

Nokia X1-01, meanwhile, comes with a 'jumbo' battery that delivers up to 36 hours of continued music playback. It has in-built speakers and supports a memory card up to 16GB. This phone will be sold for around Rs 2,000.

30,000 to 120,000 Android Users Affected by New Variant of Droid Dream Malware

Between 30,000 and 120,000 users of Android devices are believed to have been affected by new mobile malware which has its roots in an earlier scourge known as Droid Dream. This variant, called Droid Dream Light, appears to have been created by the same developers whose malware had infected over 50 applications back in March. According to Lookout Security, the new malware was found in over 25 mobile applications, all of which Google has since removed from the Android Market.

Droid Dream "Light"

Droid Dream Light is a stripped down version of the original DroidDream, says Lookout. Its malicious components are invoked upon the receipt of a "android.intent.action.PHONE_STATE intent" - for example, an incoming phone call. That means that this variant is not dependent on the manual launch of the malicious application in order to trigger it into action. Instead, explains Lookout via blog post:

The broadcast receiver immediately launches the .lightdd.CoreService which contacts remote servers and supplies the IMEI, IMSI, Model, SDK Version and information about installed packages. It appears that the DDLight is also capable of downloading and prompting installation of new packages, though unlike its predecessors it is not capable of doing so without user intervention.

In other words, despite the malware's designation of "Light," in some ways it's actually more malicious as it requires no user actions to take place in order for it to launch.

Lookout says it identified the malware thanks to a tip from a developer who notified them that modified versions of his app and another developer’s app were being distributed in the Android Market. The Lookout team then confirmed that there was malicious code in these apps and identified those as containing much of the same code as earlier DroidDream samples. Four different developer accounts were used to distribute the malware. The following apps were infected:

Magic Photo Studio

* Sexy Girls: Hot Japanese
* Sexy Legs
* HOT Girls 4
* Beauty Breasts
* Sex Sound
* Sex Sound: Japanese
* HOT Girls 1
* HOT Girls 3
* HOT Girls 2

Mango Studio

* Floating Image Free
* System Monitor
* Super StopWatch and Timer
* System Info Manager

E.T. Tean

* Call End Vibrate

BeeGoo

* Quick Photo Grid
* Delete Contacts
* Quick Uninstaller
* Contact Master
* Brightness Settings
* Volume Manager
* Super Photo Enhance
* Super Color Flashlight
* Paint Master

Lookout reminds users that to stay safe, they should install from trusted sources, check the developer name and reviews, check for the permissions the app is requesting, be aware of any unusual behavior on their phone and, of course, use a mobile security app like the one from Lookout.

Unfortunately, that last requirement is becoming all too much of a necessity on Android devices these days, especially since much of the malware mimics the naming formats, descriptions and even the code of other popular titles. Not only is this bad for the end user, it's bad for developers, whose apps' names are ripped off and used to distribute malware.

What is Android?

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.
Features

* Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of components
* Dalvik virtual machine optimized for mobile devices
* Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine
* Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional)
* SQLite for structured data storage
* Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF)
* GSM Telephony (hardware dependent)
* Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi (hardware dependent)
* Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer (hardware dependent)
* Rich development environment including a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE

Android Architecture

The following diagram shows the major components of the Android operating system. Each section is described in more detail below.

Android System Architecture
Applications

Android will ship with a set of core applications including an email client, SMS program, calendar, maps, browser, contacts, and others. All applications are written using the Java programming language.
Application Framework

By providing an open development platform, Android offers developers the ability to build extremely rich and innovative applications. Developers are free to take advantage of the device hardware, access location information, run background services, set alarms, add notifications to the status bar, and much, much more.

Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components; any application can publish its capabilities and any other application may then make use of those capabilities (subject to security constraints enforced by the framework). This same mechanism allows components to be replaced by the user.

Underlying all applications is a set of services and systems, including:

* A rich and extensible set of Views that can be used to build an application, including lists, grids, text boxes, buttons, and even an embeddable web browser
* Content Providers that enable applications to access data from other applications (such as Contacts), or to share their own data
* A Resource Manager, providing access to non-code resources such as localized strings, graphics, and layout files
* A Notification Manager that enables all applications to display custom alerts in the status bar
* An Activity Manager that manages the lifecycle of applications and provides a common navigation backstack

For more details and a walkthrough of an application, see the Notepad Tutorial.
Libraries

Android includes a set of C/C++ libraries used by various components of the Android system. These capabilities are exposed to developers through the Android application framework. Some of the core libraries are listed below:

* System C library - a BSD-derived implementation of the standard C system library (libc), tuned for embedded Linux-based devices
* Media Libraries - based on PacketVideo's OpenCORE; the libraries support playback and recording of many popular audio and video formats, as well as static image files, including MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, and PNG
* Surface Manager - manages access to the display subsystem and seamlessly composites 2D and 3D graphic layers from multiple applications
* LibWebCore - a modern web browser engine which powers both the Android browser and an embeddable web view
* SGL - the underlying 2D graphics engine
* 3D libraries - an implementation based on OpenGL ES 1.0 APIs; the libraries use either hardware 3D acceleration (where available) or the included, highly optimized 3D software rasterizer
* FreeType - bitmap and vector font rendering
* SQLite - a powerful and lightweight relational database engine available to all applications

Android Runtime

Android includes a set of core libraries that provides most of the functionality available in the core libraries of the Java programming language.

Every Android application runs in its own process, with its own instance of the Dalvik virtual machine. Dalvik has been written so that a device can run multiple VMs efficiently. The Dalvik VM executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format which is optimized for minimal memory footprint. The VM is register-based, and runs classes compiled by a Java language compiler that have been transformed into the .dex format by the included "dx" tool.

The Dalvik VM relies on the Linux kernel for underlying functionality such as threading and low-level memory management.
Linux Kernel

Android relies on Linux version 2.6 for core system services such as security, memory management, process management, network stack, and driver model. The kernel also acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the rest of the software stack.

Native x86 Android runtime will enable Android apps on Windows

A startup called BlueStacks has developed an Android runtime environment for the Windows operating system. It will enable users to run Android applications alongside conventional Windows software on Microsoft's operating system. The technology impressed some major investors who have supplied $7.6 million in Series A funding so that BlueStacks can turn its software into a business.

As most Android application developers know, running Android software on a Windows PC has historically involved emulation—which impairs performance and adds considerably to resource overhead. BlueStacks has overcome the performance barrier by building a native x86 Android runtime that doesn't have to rely on emulation. The company says that Android applications running on its stack will be highly responsive on Windows and won't suffer from the kind of lag that developers are accustomed to experiencing when using Google's emulator.

As some readers might remember, Canonical briefly explored some similar concepts in 2009 but was never able to offer production-quality support for Android software on Ubuntu. The Android userspace stack is somewhat insular and not particularly conducive to application portability. BlueStacks managed to overcome the obstacles with its own solution.

The BlueStacks runtime got its first public demonstration this week at the Citrix Synergy conference. BlueStacks has made it possible for companies to deliver Android applications through the Citrix Receiver. The partnership with Citrix represents one of many ways in which the BlueStacks runtime can be put to practical use.

To learn more about the underlying technology and the company's business aspirations, I spoke over the phone with BlueStacks CEO Rosen Sharma. He told me that the BlueStacks developers have worked to create a really seamless experience for running Android applications on Windows. It offers tight integration with the underlying platform—including mechanisms that bridge the file systems, networking configuration, and notifications.

The BlueStacks runtime makes it possible for Android programs to run in individual windows and be launched from shortcuts like any other standalone Windows application. It also optionally offers the ability to run a complete Android user experience on Windows, including the launcher and other elements. Third-party applications that are built against the standard Android APIs don't have to be recompiled in order to work with the BlueStacks runtime. Users can even install conventional Android software from Amazon's Android Appstore and run it on Windows.

Sharma says that BlueStacks is establishing relationships with hardware manufacturers that are interested in shipping the x86 Android runtime on consumer devices. He envisions mobile products that can offer the best of both Android and Windows. One example would be a convertible netbook tablet that normally runs Windows but switches to an Android interface for greater touch-friendliness when the screen is flipped.

Such a product would offer the full power and multitasking capabilities of Windows but also benefit from having access to Android's broad touch-enabled software ecosystem. During my discussion with Sharma, he pointed out the dominance of the iPad and the difficulty that hardware manufacturers are facing as they try to compete. He said that BlueStacks could give them a way to add value to their products and make them more competitive.

The company will announce its first hardware partners and OEM customers within the next few weeks and could potentially have some demos to show on prototype hardware at the upcoming Computex event. BlueStacks also intends to offer a downloadable version of its runtime for regular end users. An alpha release of the downloadable runtime could arrive as early as June or July.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 coming soon to a store near you

2010 was Apple’s year with the iPad’s dominance of the tablet market, though one other tablet deserves some attention - the Samsung Galaxy Tab (7-inch), the next best-selling tablet, and the only Android tablet that has sold over 2 million units worldwide. Samsung has already announced two new tablets – the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which were shown off at CES, and then updated versions (slimmer, customized) were shown at at MWC this year. The tablets, especially the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab, will be directly competing with the new Apple iPad 2.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 sports a WXGA TFT touchscreen display with 1280×800 pixels screen resolution, an 8MP primary camera with LED flash, 2MP secondary camera for video calls, HD video playback and recording, 3.5 mm jack, 16GB internal memory and more multimedia features. It is loaded with Android Market, Android Browser, Google applications, Social networking, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB data connectivity. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 sports similar features with a smaller screen size.

Now that India is too big a market to ignore (corroborated by Apple finally launching the iPad 2 here), Samsung seems to be planning to launch the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 in India as soon as June 2011. The Samsung Galaxy S 2 is also slated to launch in the first week or so of June. The Galaxy Tab 10.1's global release date is June 8th, so only expect it to arrive sometime after that, will the 8.9 following in a while.

“We will launch the 10-inch tablet PC at around Rs. 35,000 and the 8-inch device will be priced around Rs. 28,000. While the tablet PC market today stands at around 25,000 units a quarter, we expect it to grow exponentially here on.” said Ranjit Yadav, Country Head, Samsung Mobile and IT, Samsung India.

The exact prices at which all versions (Wi-Fi / Wi-Fi+3G, 16 GB or 32 GB) will be launched are a bit hazy, but it will soon be clearer with time passing by. We’ll bring you the latest updates as soon as we get them.

Source:thinkdigit

Wirefly Takes Pre-Orders for Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Wirefly has announced to take pre-orders for the new Sony Ericsson Xperia Play for Verizon Wireless. It is also offering bonus Android Market Card for a limited period worth $25 for downloading the latest PlayStation compatible games to make it everlasting fun.

Wirefly customers can also pre-order their very own Xperia Play on Wirefly.com before it officially hits store shelves and that too at special Wirefly price. In portrait mode, the Play lives up to the consumer’s expectations from an Android-powered smartphone, claims the company. The device is equipped with an efficient 1GHz Snapdragon processor and runs on Android 2.3. The handset has a 5-megapixel camera and a front-facing VGA camera, enabling the user to have a perfect video chat. A 4-inch 854 X 480 multi-touchscreen display provides the ultimate viewing experience. Social networking features, access to over 150,000 Google apps from the Android Market, and Wi-Fi support are all designed to provide the best entertainment and usage experience.

Along with its phone functions, it is the ultimate mobile gaming device when its gaming functions slide open. The Play pad exposes a wide range of PlayStation gaming controls including the digital D pad. The handset also has two analogue touchpads and two shoulder buttons. It displays four PlayStation icons: circle, cross, square and triangle wherein each button has its own defined move. Incredible 3D graphics, good stereo sound and support for multi-player gaming enhance the full gaming and viewing experience. The device has in-built popular games such as Madden 11, The Sims 3, Asphalt 6 and Star Battalion HD. It also enables users to access ever-growing selection of additional titles which are available for download through the Android Market.

The pre-order facility is said to come with 30 Day Pre-order price guarantee. Consumers are also comforted with a security that Wirefly would automatically refund the difference to the customer’s credit card if the price of the device drops below the pre-order price within 30 days of the release date. Users looking forward to purchase the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, its accessories, new and upgrade-eligible Verizon users with a two-year agreement can pre-order it from the company’s website.

Source:mobiletor

How to connect internet from android phone to computer

Any Smartphone you own, the best way to exploit it is by integrating it with Internet. That’s an access to rest of the features and applications. The mobiles based on android platform show a good connectivity for WAP, EDGE or any 3G service available from service provider. But the issue which seems often with android phone users is connecting the device with computer. I have observed it in many mobiles I am aware of like my own i.e. Samsung Galaxy Spica. It was a bit complex thing to achieve past few months but few good developers have created an interface application to tether internet connection from service provider with computer.

The reason behind troubles with internet connectivity is unsupported feature from firmware or experimental/ beta firmware platform. So we needed to create a localhost TCP in between mobile phone and computer. The command was accessible through Android SDK.
localhost tcp:forward tcp:1080

Nowadays we have only two well developed applications available from android market:

PDANet
It is the best between two with an integrated SMS agent. The connectivity is also better than EasyTether. The only disadvantage in this application is that you cannot access HTTPS pages without buying full version.

EasyTether
It is the only alternative from Android Market. It is also a good application but connection drop is a frequent glitch. The pro of EasyTether is that it allows accessing all features including HTTPS pages in its trial version. But that is limited to a certain time period. I guess for some 50days. Then you need to buy full version.

For both the above applications, you need to have two interfaces; one for mobile phone which is easily available from Android Market and another for computer that you need to download from the respective official websites. Click on the Application to download it.

Droid as Computer

The Droid is essentially a computer that can also make phone calls. It is connected to the Internet through the Verizon cellular data network or a local WiFi network. You can browse the Internet, send and receive emails, stream or download videos/music and so much more. Texting or entering data is easy using one of the three keyboards (touchscreen vertical or horizontal and slideout keyboard).

Some people I know could use the Droid and never need a conventional laptop or desktop computer.
Droid as Internet Connection for your Laptop

The Verizon data plan for the Droid is unlimited. There is no 5GB limit as with cellular data cards or tethering my old phone using VZaccess Manager. How about using the Droid’s Internet connection to connect my computer like I used to do? Well, I can. I just need PdaNet software for the Droid from June Fabrics.

Tethering is the term we use to describe the hardware and software needed to connect a computer to the Internet using the cellular data connection from a smart phone. It is usually a USB connection, but could be wireless using Bluetooth DUN (dial-up network) or WiFi. A wired connection to the computer is simplest and most reliable. The necessary cable comes as a standard attachment to the Droid.

There are two parts of the system. A program that runs on your computer and stays in the system tray and an app on the Droid. Installation is easy. Follow the easy instructions. Download the installation program from the website and run it on your computer. Plug the Droid into an available USB port. Let the program talk to the phone for a moment to establish communication, and you are ready.

First, start the PdaNet app on the Droid phone and Enable USB Tether. Then, on your computer, click the PdaNet icon in the system tray and connect.



This is a broadband connection and speed is determined by the cellular network. In a good Verizon area, the speeds are excellent. You can easily stream video and not worry about going over your monthly data limit.

The Droid is not the only smart phone that allows tethering. PdaNet has been available for PalmOS phones, BlackBerrys and Windows Mobile phones for a while.

If you want to use PdaNet for the iPhone, you need to “jailbreak” it, voiding the warranty.

The price of a single license is $23.95. It is a one time purchase for the Android version. One license covers one phone (you can reuse the license if you switch to a new Android phone). There is no limit on the computer side and your license gives you unlimited free upgrades.

How to View MS Word files in Android

Have you ever tried to open a Microsoft Word document from inside Android’s Gmail client? If you have not, please don’t waste your time. All you will see is a force close error and nothing more. Google has said they are working on this, and other companies are developing applications to view and edit MS files. What if you are in a pinch and you need to view a Word doc now?

Here is a simple work around to be able to view your document on your Android device:

1. Open up the Android Browser and navigate to www.gmail.com
2. The mobile page will load, but click the link at the bottom of the page to load the desktop version.
3. Find the email with the attachment you want to read then click “View as HTML” located under the document name.

I have tested this method with both .doc and docx file types. Its not pretty or quick to get to, but it just works. If you have any TIPS for Android, please

What Is an Androi Phone?

An Android™ phone is a cellphone that uses the Google-developed Android™ operating system and platform. Google partnered with the High Tech Computer Corporation (HTCC) to build hardware for the G1 cellphone, the first mobile phone to run the Android™ platform. In 2008, T-Mobile premiered the G1 Android™ phone to the public.

On the technical side, an Android™ phone runs on the Android™ operating system, key applications and middleware. It's Linux kernel-based, has applications that are written in the Java language and can even run applications written in the C language. It is also a product, partly, of the Open Handset Alliance, which encourages the use and advancement of open source software for cellphones.

One of the biggest differences between a phone running the Android™ platform and others is that the software Android™ uses is a complex operating system. In contrast, the majority of operational cellphones run primitive real time applications.

In regard to its Internet capabilities, the Android™ phone uses WebKit to power the G1's Chrome Lite browser. Because WebKit also powers iPhone's Safari, the G1 is a competitor to the iPhone in terms of users' enhanced web experiences.

An Android™ phone can also run multiple applications at the same time and in the background of a phone, making multitasking easier and the functionality of the phone more fluid than other cellphones.

Android™ phones are considered revolutionary in some circles because of its open source, mobile platform. All developers, whether professional or hobbyists, are encouraged to write programs and applications for the Android™ operating system and contribute to the evolving Android™ project by submitting them to the Android™ Market. G1 users then choose to download and use the applications on their phone by accessing the application library on their handset.

Android™ offers a Software Development Kit to help developers create functional applications. While some parts of the Android™ operating system are protected under the Apache License to guard against applications that could compromise the phone's functionality, much of it is released under the General Public License which invites developers to make innovative modifications.

Comparable devices and their operating systems had before been governed by strict proprietary rules. Developers interested in inventing programs for the iPhone often encountered resistance when attempting to create iPhone programs that closely mirrored applications owned by Apple. For example, developers are prohibited from creating programs that look or act like Apple's iTunes and it's hypothetically possible for any current iPhone application developer to have his or her applications pulled from the iPhone Store if Apple chooses to compete in the same market with their version of the developer's application.

Another important distinction of the Android™ platform is that it is not tied to a specific manufacturer. Any manufacturer interested in producing its own version of an Android™ phone is welcome to use the platform for their own devices. The result could mean a large number of competing cellphone companies using Android™ to power their mobile phones and market their devices.