Do Mobile Phones Pose a Health Hazard?

The mobile phone has become one of the biggest necessities that a person could own and the one thing people are still debating about is the issue of what health hazards that your modern day mobile phone could cause to the human body.

Many people are concerned about the low levels of radiofrequency energy that mobile phones emit, and how the radiation could cause cancer or other serious health problems. Many studies have been conducted over the past 15 years by scientists who are looking at the effects on the human body caused from the frequency of the mobile phone, but the studies have failed to prove that any frequency from the handheld device has any impact on the said person's health.

Studies show that almost 80 million mobile phones in the UK are in operation, therefore the threat of causing any damage to your health directly from the mobile is one in which each corporation must consider as part of their business module. With times changing, the modern day mobile phone has a considerable amount of data flowing through it compared to 5 years ago. 

Ed Yong, who is head of the health information at Cancer Research UK, has released information to the global population in which he states that despite the dramatic rise in mobile phone sales since the 1980s, the rate of brain cancer has not increased at the same rate as the production and usage of the handheld device has.

There is not yet enough known information to completely rule out the risk of health implications due to using a mobile phone, but very little research suggests that this could be the case.

What do you think about this controversy? Post your thoughts below.

More than 7m Brits are yet to use the Internet, government says

You might hate me for saying this (if you're over, say, 25), but I genuinely can't remember a world without the Internet. But it seems 15 per cent of UK adults have managed to avoid it completely -- more than 7.4 million Brits have never used the Web, according to an official report from the Office for National Statistics.

While those figures may sound surprising, the majority of the population who have yet to experience the wonders of the Internet are aged 75 or over. Internet use is highest among those between the ages of 16 and 24, of course, with very nearly 100 per cent of the population having used the Web. There were still 53,000 among the younger generation who had not, however, with poverty the main cause.

300,000 people who have not accessed the Internet put this down to earning less than £200 a week -- in stark contrast to the 100 per cent earning over £2,000 who are plugged in.

More and more people are accessing the Internet all the time though, with 1.2 million users having connected to cyberspace since last year.  

The report showed men were also more likely to use the Web, with 12 per cent of men having never been online as opposed to 16.9 per cent of women.

The older generation was not the only demographic with a particularly high proportion of people having never used the Internet: 32.8 per cent of people with disabilities live offline.

The report revealed that, unsurprisingly, single people were most likely to live their lives online with just 5.2 per cent having never accessed the information superhighway (you may have noticed I'm running out of synonyms here).

The problem with the social divide of Internet users could soon become much worse, with many government services being moved to its online portal. The first major service to get a 21st century overhaul will be the Department of Work & Pensions' Universal Credit project, which will combine six benefits into one, that can then be managed and claimed online.

[Source: CNET]

Motorola RAZR HD now in stock SIM-free in the UK from Expansys

The Motorola RAZR HD may of been rocking the U.S. for some time now, but it's only today that the Android device has become available SIM-free in the UK.

If you are after a high-end Android handset with a meaty battery then the RAZR HD is well worth considering. The 4G (pentaband) ready device sports a glorious 4.7 inch Super AMOLED HD display,1.5 GHz Dual-core chip and 1GB of RAM, and ships with Android Ice Cream Sandwich (v4.0.4) although upgradeable to Jelly Bean (4.1).

In addition, Expansys are offering the chance to win a Virgin Experiance Day if you order in February. They have five pairs of tickets to give away each worth £125 - not to be sniffed at.

The Motorola RAZR HD will set you back £419.99 SIM free. You can order it here.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

Tesco Clubcard TV has free on-demand telly, sign-in wobbles

The fun of shopping at Tesco no longer has to end when you leave the supermarket -- now you can immerse yourself in Tesco all through the evening, with the company's new streaming service, Clubcard TV.

The service is free for anyone who possesses a Tesco Clubcard (if you don't have one, it's free to sign up), and puts a slew of movies and TV shows at your on-demand disposal, at the impressive price of precisely zero pounds. Batman, Goodness Gracious Me and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps are among the available programmes, the Telegraph reports.

The service is very similar to rivals such as Netflix or Lovefilm Instant, except for the lack of a monthly subscription fee, and the promise of more horse meat. You select what you want to watch, and the programme or film is streamed via your broadband connection.

At the moment the service seems limited to in-browser streaming, though as Tesco's promo video cheerily informs us, you can hook your computer up to your telly using an HDMI cable.

Teething woes

Signing up for the service appears to be borked at present, with three Clubcard-clutching CNET members unable to proceed past the Clubcard number entry page, which sees the site demanding a 'Privilege Card number'.

Privilege Cards are something given to staff once they've worked with the company for six months, so perhaps the service has been tested internally, and the supermarket forgot to turn off the Privilege Card number requirement.

Rival £6-per-month service Netflix recently launched its homemade House of Cards series, starring Kevin Spacey. Sainsburys, meanwhile, already has its own video-streaming service.

[Source: CNET]

EE Set to Cover 27 More U.K. Towns by June With LTE

Everything Everywhere (EE) is going to be expanding its LTE coverage of the U.K. in the coming months, and will end up covering 55 percent of the population by the time its done.

Between April and June EE plans to light up the LTE towers in 27 additional towns which include Aldershot, Ashford, Basildon, Basingstoke, Blackpool, Bracknell, Camberley, Colchester, Crawley, Farnborough, Guildford, Horsham, Huddersfield, Leatherhead, Maidstone, Milton Keynes, Oldham, Oxford, Redhill, Reigate, Sevenoaks, Stevenage, Tonbridge, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Warrington, Wigan and Woking. These join the existing cities and towns and will bring the total to 65 locations around the U.K. It will also bring the total percentage of the population covered by the service up to 55.

While Three announced this week that it would be offering unlimited LTE data on the cheaplater in the year, EE has a pretty large head start in the market. Additionally O2 and Vodafoneare fighting for their share of the available bandwidth with no announcement yet as to when those networks may become active.

The take away from all of this is that LTE will soon be in every corner of the U.K., and consumers should have options as to which carrier they use, but it isn’t going to happen overnight.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Vodafone UK launches a full Windows Phone 8 roster on February 6th

Vodafone's British division has been shy to embrace Windows Phone much at all in recent months. There'll be no such reservation as of February 6th, when the carrier starts offering a wide array of Windows Phone 8 devices. HTC's Windows Phone 8X and 8S will ship in subdued colors, while the (partly expected) Lumia 620, 820 and 920 will be available in livelier hues. We've yet to hear about pricing -- and there's no mention of Samsung's ATIV S, for completists -- but the launch remains good news for UK residents who want to try Microsoft's approach to smartphones without leaving the Red Dot network.

[Source: Engadget]

Sony Xperia Z pre-orders begin in the UK, free headphones offered

5-inch Sony phone available to pre-order at Three, O2, Phones4U and CPW with free £300 cans; launch slated for Feb. 28

Today sees the start of Sony's launch promotions for the Xperia Z in the UK. The 5-inch handset is can be pre-ordered through mobile networks O2 and Three, as well as retailers Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse. All four could earn you the chance to walk away with a set of £300 Sony MDR-1R Prestige headphones, though the promotion is limited to the first 1000 pre-orders at each retailer or carrier. The pre-order promo runs from now until Feb 28, when the Xperia Z goes on sale in the UK.

Here's a quick breakdown of what each Xperia Z launch partner is offering --

Three --

• Black and white colors
• Prices start at £34 per month on a 24-month contract, with a £69 up-front fee
• That gets you 500 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited data
• Also selling on Pay As You Go (PAYG) for £449.99

O2 --

• Black and purple colors
• Wide range of tariffs; cheapest plan with a free phone is £47 per month on a 24-month contract
• That gets you 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB, as well as a 3-month early upgrade
• O2 is not yet offering the Xperia Z on PAYG

Carphone Warehouse -- 

• Black and white colors
• Selling on four 24-month contracts with O2 and Vodafone between £33 and £38 per month
• Best value plans are with Vodafone -- £38 p.m. for unlimited texts and minutes, plus 2GB, or £33 p.m. for 600 mins, unlimited texts and 500MB, plus a £29 up-front fee.
• No details of PAYG or off-contract prices yet.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

BlackBerry Z10 Shows Up in U.K. Store Hours Before Official Launch

RIM’s next great hope, BlackBerry 10, is about to be uncaged and let loose. In the meantime, devices running the company’s new OS, like the much rumored and often leaked Z10, is already out in the wild at one U.K. store. It looks exactly as we expected it to look.

The picture comes from a Twitter user at a Phone4U store, where the device will likely be on sale in a matter of hours. An earlier Vodafone leak suggested the Z10 would launch today. 

The tipster said Phones4U also has the white one in stock, and that both are set to go on sale at 5 p.m. However, spots such as Carphone Warehouse only got black models of the Z10 in—white models aren’t expected to show up until Feb. 15.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

UK 4G auction kicks off today, here's how it works

Regulator Ofcom has given the green light to the UK's 4G auction plans, kicking off the first round of bidding that will see networks including Vodafone, O2 and EE splashing the cash in order to secure new chunks of spectrum.

If you're imagining a crowded auction chamber with lots of gavel-banging, your fevered imagination is a little wide of the mark. Ofcom explains that the process will involve a 'combinatorial clock' format, in which would-be buyers say how much they'd be prepared to pay for combined chunks of spectrum at set prices.

The 'clock stage', which starts today, takes place over a number of rounds, with the watchdog raising prices for bits of spectrum that are in-demand in each subsequent round.

The bidding stops when 'demand matches supply', or in other words, when the amount bidders are happy to pay has stopped climbing. Ofcom then goes through a round of supplementary bidding, in which prospective owners can give a 'best and final offer' on any bits of bandwidth on the table.

Ofcom decides how much each bidder will ultimately pay for spectrum, with each party paying the minimum amount necessary to trump competitors. Just like with eBay bidding, you wouldn't necessarily pay as much as you are ultimately prepared to pay.

In the final stage, winners bid for precise frequencies of spectrum and then finally competitors get to take home some glossy new bandwidth, with which to launch 4G services. Ofcom expects it to be "a number of weeks" before the final winners are known.

The key question currently is how much cash the auction will raise for the UK. £3.5bn is expected to be raised, but we may be in trouble if the final sum is less, as the government has already factored a £3.5bn payout into its budget predictions.

[Source: CNET]

DmC Devil May Cry Tops the UK Charts

Capcom can finally wave their nice big “I told you so!” flag. DmC Devil May Cry is officially a hit worldwide after it toppled FIFA 13 from the top of the UK weekly sales charts. FIFA 13 had been king of the hill for several weeks, but it seems that the allure of Ninja Theory’s reboot to the demon slaying series was just too much.

DmC Devil May Cry marks the first time since Resident Evil 5 back in 2009 that an all format game has reached the number one spot on the list.

For the last several months, FIFA 13 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II have been duking it out for supremacy with the occasional new release shaking up the list every now and then. The last game to seriously contend with FIFA 13 was Far Cry 3, which debuted at number 2, and that has now dropped to the fourth.

For those interested in gaming habits across the pond, here is the entire top 20 list.

1. DmC: Devil May Cry
2. FIFA 13
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
4. Far Cry 3
5. Need for Speed: Most Wanted
6. Just Dance 4
7. Football Manager 2013
8. Hitman: Absolution
9. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
10. Assassin’s Creed 3
11. LEGO The Lord of the Rings
12. WWE ’13
13. Dishonored
14. Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed
15. Skylanders Giants
16. Forze Motorsport 4
17. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
18. Medal of Honor: Warfighter
19. NBA 2K13
20. Borderlands 2

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

HMV Canada owner takes control of HMV UK in attempt to rescue troubled chain

HMV's 91-year long tenure on the British high street might not be coming to an end after all, as HMV Canada's owner has mounted a rescue attempt. The rescuer in this instance is Hilco, which previously picked up Polaroid's brand and paired it with famous insolvency specialist Lady Gaga. BBC News is reporting that Hilco scored a cut-price rate on the £176 million ($278.8 million) corporate debt and has already received cheering words from the film and music industry. After a bout of uncertainty, HMV has also said it'll once again accept gift cards in its stores.

[Image credit: London Express / Getty Images]

[Source: Engadget]

Google moving UK operations into new, £1 billion HQ in London in 2015

According to a joint statement issued, Google has purchased a 2.4 acre plot of land in London on which to construct a brand new base for their UK operations. Construction on the new, 1 million square foot headquarters in London is scheduled to begin by the end of 2013 subject to approval, with staff moving in sometime in 2015. 

The move represents a huge investment from Google, not just financially, but in reviving part of London. The new site, located next to Kings Cross railway station, is being revived as part of a plan to create 67 acres of land filled with homes, offices and retail space. 

The deal is reportedly worth £1 billion, and will see Google amalgamate their two current London offices in Victoria and on St Giles High Street into one. The other Google offices in Manchester will reportedly remain. 

In the statement issued, Matt Brittin, VP of Google for Northern and Central Europe said:

“This is a big investment by Google. We’re committing further to the U.K. -- where computing and the web were invented. It’s good news for Google, for London and for the UK"

At a time when so many UK based businesses are facing difficult times, the investment from Google is extremely important. Equally important will be Google's increased presence in the UK. 

[Source: AndroidCentral]