Video and Camera Cell Phones are some of the latest gadgets in the personal tech world. But they do not come without both pluses and minuses for society. For instance if some is committing a crime a teenager can get a picture of their license plates. But another teenager might use it unwisely to take a picture of a girl up her skirt without her knowledge. Or a criminal might use it to photograph your credit card in a store and steal the number and use it for identity theft?

On Congressman is introducing a bill and hoping to make a law against the use of this technology in any criminal act. It is interesting that politicians would create legal penalties for use of technology in a crime when the crime is already illegal. Sometimes it seems to me that these podium pusher lawmakers are scoundrels, as every time someone has an issue they stand up and claim they are going to solve the problem by making another law.

Like after 9-11 one Congressman from IL said the dumbest thing; he said we need a law to prevent this from ever happening again and he proposed that flying an aircraft into a building by International Terrorists be made illegal! I could not believe what I was hearing, it is already illegal to hijack a plane and the FAA says you must park aircraft at aviation facilities and that would preclude parking it into a building and killing innocent people. Not to mention International Acts of Terrorism are already illegal?

Technology can be used in good and bad ways and one think tanker in an online think tank stated; “The best technology is always abused by some, and concurrently used by the military for weapons development, such is human nature.”

Indeed and I want the very best technologies for my troops in the modern net-centric battlespace. But also there are other ways technology is brought to the forefront; Entertainment is one such instance, medicine and necessity being another.

For instance Virtual Reality, graphics, movie special affects, super high-tech jet skis, racing, new iPod, sports equipment. And medicine there are numerous examples. Necessity; well exploits in de-salination, floating cities, etc. Although as I started thinking about it most of the ones I came up with for medicine, space, entertainment and necessity and even communication like the Internet were all born of military hand me down, transfer technologies, so you point is indeed well taken. Consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

With the high demand for ringtones these days there are many companies and websites offering free ringtones. Many people blindly go to these offers, enter their information and download their favorite ringtone. However, later they discover that these so-called free ringtones are far from free.

Many of these offers come with fine print that is often never read. It is only when the bill comes that people start to wonder what that fine print really said.

Recently I received an offer for a free ringtone. It was from a company that has been offering free ringtones for quite awhile. When you get to their site you are asked to enter you cell phone number, choose your free ringtone and enter your zodiac sign. It looks like a great deal to most people. However, if you scroll to the bottom of the screen and read their terms and conditions you will soon realized it is not such a great deal after all.

Once you submit you cell phone number to get your free ringtone you will be subscribed to their service. The cost of this service is $9.99 per month for the ringtones and $6.99 per month for their horoscope package. All in all, that “free ringtone” will end up costing you $16.98! Not such a great deal after all.

This is not the only company running this kind of smoke screen offer. There are many more and some charge even higher monthly prices. One program I looked at charged $3.99 per week!

Ringtones are a wonderful feature to have on you cell phone. They let you show your personality and allow you to customize your cell phone to fit you. However, be careful where you order them from and also be extremely diligent when ordering any free ringtones. Always be sure to read the terms and conditions so you understand what you are really ordering with that free ringtone. Many times it will end up costing you in the long run.

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An entire generation of teenagers may become senile or have brain cancer at the peak of their lives due to cellular phone usage and other wireless technologies.

These are the findings of the study published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

The study, based on intensive use of cellular phones, may cause apprehension in Western countries because it reveals new ways in which microwaves can affect our health.

Leif Salford, the researcher who led the study that was conducted at Lund University in Sweden, claims that the fact that we voluntarily expose our brain to cell phone radiation is ?the largest biological experiment in the history of the world.? Professor Salford fears that as the wireless technology becomes more popular people will “drown in a sea of microwaves.?

The study tested the leakage of albumin in the circulation of blood in the brain. Prior studies of the subject have focused on the possibility that cell phones heat brain tissue thereby causing cancer. But the many studies trying to determine whether cell phones cause cancer have not been conclusive.

Thus, the cell phone industry in the US has managed to minimize findings regarding cellular radiation effects, but now the World Health Organization has taken over the research.

Exposure to cellular radiation affects the cells

“This study proves again that interference with cell activity of the body does not necessarily occur with high exposure to radiation that leads to heating of the area of exposure but can also occur with low exposure” says Professor Rafi Korenstein, a scientist from the University of Tel-Aviv.

In a study published by Professor Korenstein with a number of other scientists six months ago (Bioelectromagnetics, 2003), it was proven that long-term exposure to cell phone radiation can affect the duplication of hereditary substance creating during the cell-division process, thereby increasing the risk for cancer.

The Head of the Cancer Department at the Israeli Ministry of Health, Dr. Mike Brichna, disagrees: in studies conducted on mice, researchers found changes in brain activity. The problem is to prove that what harms mice brains will cause the same effect in human brains. Regardless, the doctor has three pieces of advice for people using cell phones:

• Always talk with a wide open antenna.
• Keep the antenna as far away from your ear as you can.
• Use speakers whenever possible.

Some common questions and answers to learn more about this issue:
What is E.M.R.?
Answer: E.M.R. refers to Electromagnetic Radio-frequency Radiation which is the potentially dangerous frequency emitted by cellular or mobile phones. High frequency ionizing forms of radiation exists as X-rays, Gamma rays and forms of nuclear radiation known to be hazardous . Non-ionizing radiation of lower frequency ionizing forms such as early cell phones were thought to be safe. That view has changed since cell phones and mobile phones have grown in strength from low-level radio waves to high-level microwaves. No scientific study has proven conclusively that the use of cellular phones is hazardous to human health, yet continued use of higher frequency phones could adversely affect the central nervous system, diminish the effectiveness of the immune system and facilitate the development of cancer according to scientific research. Perhaps this is why governments and health organizations worldwide are spending millions of dollars towards on-going research to determine the long term effects of exposure to E.M.R from cellular and mobile phones.

What is S.A.R.?
Answer: S.A.R. or Specific Absorption Rate of Radiation is used to measure the amount of radiation that the human body absorbs from any source, including cellular phones. The F.C.C. (Federal Communications Commission) sets limits as to what they deemed were safe levels of radiation from cell phones. In the beginning when analog phones were 800-900 MHZ of power, most of the cell phones manufactured met these safe guidelines. However as manufacturers raised the power of their phones up to 1800-2000MHZ and analog was replaced by digital, the majority of the cell phones now exceed the safe levels set by the F.C.C. In fact the manufacturers continue to lobby to have the levels raised, so they may keep increasing the power of the phones. The highest S. A. R. in the body is in the ear, thus the concern about excessive cell phone use and the strength of the signal.

How is S.A.R. measured on a cell phone?
Answer: When a call is made or received there is a band of radiation from the antenna, half of which disappears into space. The remaining radiation is around the skull, face and ear area of the user and runs through the circuitry of the phone when transmitting the call. A dummy head is immersed in a gel-like solution similar to body fluid and a cell phone is attached to the ear. Readings are taken from the antenna to determine the S.A.R. strength which will vary from phone to phone and proximity to the closest signal tower.

Bob Shobi is a freelance writer providing information and research the hazards of cellular phones.
To find out more about the dangers, get more cell phone radiation information, or check out how dangers your phone is with the common phones SAR chart.