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Television found to be a painkiller for kids
If you've spent more than five minutes around a kid, you're probably well aware that ripping him / her from the couch while their favorite cartoon rolls in the background isn't much easier than trying to get any solid deets on Apple's probably (not) impending iPhone (or similarly named product). Researchers in Italy took this seemingly well-known fact and put it to the test by drawing blood via hypodermic needle (rough way to prove a hypothesis, eh?) from a random sample of 72 children, all between the ages of 7-12. Not-so-surprisingly, little ones who were watching television while being stuck reported 50 percent less pain than kids who were being coaxed by dear old mom; the TV-watching subjects also claimed just one third the pain of those poor folks who endured the process while left alone without loving nor entertainment. Carlo Bellieni -- the author of the study, father of three, and neonatologist / pediatrician at the University of Siena in Italy -- claimed that such a powerful distraction was indeed beneficial in keeping the agony level in these type scenarios at a minimum, but was rather alarmed that television was a more potent painkiller than "a mother's touch." While it may be surprising that television won over the distracted hearts of children more effectively than their own mums, Dr. Brenda McClain of Yale University asserts that any type of "passive distraction" (like video games?) is better suited at redirecting thoughts, especially when you consider the sympathy of a parent typically leads a child to believe something awful is about to happen. In all honestly, however, it seems that television has always been an escape route from reality -- and although we're far from being doctors (of medicine), we have reason to assume that if these kids were replaced by grownups, we'd see somewhat similar results. So, any volunteers?
Consumers are/aren't hot for mobile TV, Part V
It appears that despite a strong push by carriers and content providers, consumers' cold, uneasy reception of mobile video continues. This time around, LA Times and Bloomberg have the numbers, showing that a mere 9% of folks in the influential 18-24 age bracket have any desire to watch television on their handset, compared to 40% who wouldn't mind doing so on their computer. The numbers get even worse for movies -- and understandably so -- with just 6% wanting to squint their way through a film. The numbers get a little better among 12-17 year olds with 14% willing to give mobile television a shot, but still, it looks like major investments in mobile TV infrastructure could prove to be money pits if stakeholders don't figure out how to hook 'em while they're young.[Via PVR Wire]
The be-all, end-all battery life shootout
We all know that manufacturers' listed talk times have limited basis in reality, but since the margin of fantasy varies from make to make and from model to model, there's really no way of accurately judging relative performance as you're cross-shopping phones. Norwegian site Amobil has undertaken the admirable (but daunting) task of performing 45 talk time tests in real-world conditions, spending countless hours and kroner in the process. To keep the talk times honest, Amobil simply placed a call in the same spot of their office for every handset, letting music continually play on both ends to roughly simulate a conversation until the test phone died. Surprisingly, Sony Ericsson dominated the GSM tests, rocking three models that stayed in the game for 7 hours or longer; less surprisingly, UMTS performance was eclipsed by GSM across the board with the Nokia E60 besting the 3G pack at 5:47. Frankly, if this report doesn't get you fired up for alternative power sources, we don't know what will.[Thanks, Are S.]
Study: many don't know the model of their phone
We can understand your phone's model name slipping your mind. Heck, we've even confused the occasional Nokia 6680 with a 6682. In a study commissioned by consulting group LogicaCMG, British research firm Ipsos MORI has found that 49% of surveyed users feel the pain, unable to recall their phone's model on command. More frightening, though, is that full 9% of folks don't know the model or make of their piece. As LogicaCMG's COO points out, "many operators could well be trying to sell advanced data services based on the incorrect assumption that the users they are communicating with have basic knowledge of their own handsets." We shudder to think that the under-informed masses could slow down 3G rollouts that are already poking along at a turtle's pace in some parts of the world, but we can see how being unable to distinguish a Samsung from a Sony Ericsson could limit your ability to make use of, oh, pretty much any feature beyond voice calling.[Via textually.org]
Mobile Internet access outstrips PC access in Japan
Why does this not surprise us? According to a report published by Japan's government this week, more of its citizens hit the Net via phone -- 69.2 million, to be exact -- than by personal computer (66 million). Mobile users are also more likely than PC users to log on at least once a day by about 11%, not surprising considering the relative likelihood of having your mobile on your person when you just absolutely must check your email. Of course, if our country was completely blanketed in glorious FOMA, we might be able to put up similar statistics, but in the meantime, we'll take an EDGE-ready UX, thankey.[Via MocoNews]
Women do the lion's share of mobile gaming, sez study
Cellphones seem to have a way of busting gender stereotypes. First we hear that men are more likely than women to buy a phone as a fashion accessory (Nokia probably wishes they'd caught wind of that before showing the decidedly feminine L'Amour Collection), and now we're being told that some 59% of all mobile gamers represent the fairer sex -- at least that's what research firm Parks Associates has concluded in surveying some 2,000 Internet-connected gamers. "Women are the foundation of the gaming market, and as an industry, we need to cater to their preferences," says Parks Associates' director of research John Barrett. Of course, if this means more games like Spore dropping on our phones, us boys say, "bring it on."
Cellphones are dangerous/not dangerous, Italian edition
We may not know whether your phone is going to kill you, but we can tell you that it excites your brain. This, uh, exciting news comes to us from a team at Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Milan, which used transcranial magnetic stimulation to monitor brain activity during subjects' phone calls. More often than not, brain cells adjacent to the phone went into an "excited" state during the call, but returned to normal within 45 minutes. What this means for your long-term health we're not exactly sure -- and neither is the Italian group. They do note that it might be of special relevance to folks with epilepsy, since excited brain cells have been linked to the disease. "It should be argued that long-lasting and repeated exposure to EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) linked with intense use of cellular phones in daily life might be harmful or beneficial in brain-diseased subjects," says their report. "Harmful or beneficial" -- thanks, guys; that really clears things up for us.[Via I4U News]
TVs can kill, study says
A study by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas says that falling TVs pose a significant risk to kids, with many having been injured and some even killed as a result of unstable television sets. According to the study, some 2,600 children under the age of five were treated for injuries in emergency rooms in 2005 alone, and from a sample of 26 cases at Children's Medical Center Dallas they found that 14 of the children received head injuries and nine required hospitalization. Now, 26 cases from a single hospital is a pretty small sample size for a poll of any sort, but they nonetheless interviewed the parents and found that eight-five percent of them didn't realize TVs could cause such injuries (we're guessing none of them have tried moving a CRT bigger than 27 inches -- they defy the laws of gravity we tell you). So, apart from buying an LCD or Plasma TV that can be hung out of reach on a wall, they're suggesting that parents secure TVs with straps to prevent them from falling over, and are also calling for warning labels to be placed on TVs to warn of the potential dangers. In fact, here's one now: do not kick, jostle, shove, bump, or otherwise disturb large, heavy, stationary equipment. This Engadget PSA brought to you by common sense.[Via Techdirt]
Univ of Illinois conducts "Gaymer" survey
Ever wonder how sexual orientation might affect one's gaming preferences? A recent graduate of the University of Illinois, under the guidance of professor Dmitri Williams, is conducting a survey to find out to what extent (if at all) one's sexual preference can determine or affect what one plays. People of all sexual preferences are being asked to take this survey. All participants are anonymous and survey is estimated to take 25-45 minutes to complete (we finished in around 30 minutes). Game Politics has a brief interview with Jason Rockwood, the graduate conducting this survey, on why he thinks it is an important study (we are pretty interested, too, since a few Joystiq readers vowed to not buy Twilight Princess after Link was voted hottest male character by Out magazine). The chat with Rockwood also gives us our vocabulary word for the day: heteronormativity. Try using that phrase in conversation today.You can take the survey by clicking on the link below or by clicking on the adjacent image.
Cellphone towers beat radar at detecting rain, say researchers
Proving once again that wireless technology isn't all bad, researchers from the University of Tel Aviv have determined that cellphone towers are as good as, if not better than, traditional meteorological techniques at measuring rainfall patterns. The team took data already documented by the carriers about each tower's signal strength over time and compared it to information that had been collected by radar and rain gauges, and found that not only did the towers accurately detect the electromagnetic disturbances inherent to storms, but that the degree of change in signal strength was directly proportional to actual rainfall. While widespread utilization of this data could probably have an immediate effect on forecasting if combined with current methodology, the researchers have an even more ambitious goal of detecting signal variations from the end-user -- that is, on consumers' handsets -- for aggregation into even more precise and localized reports once weather-related changes can be teased out from among the many other signal strength variants.[Via Slashdot]
Cellphones do/don't make you indecisive?
With most people unconvinced or just plain agnostic about conflicting reports regarding cellphone radiation leading to cancer, researchers have decided to turn their gaze to the important topic of... indecisiveness? Turns out an Australian study points to electromagnetic radiation from your mobile phone as an impairment to your ability to make snap decision, such as when driving a car. It seems quite obvious that talking on a phone can and does make people worse drivers, but these findings seem to come from study participants who were given straight up radiation, so they shouldn't have been distracted by a conversation during tests. Another interesting finding of the study was that the participants showed a slight improvement in working memory, such as remembering a phone number long enough to dial it. Other than a few scientific high fives, we can't imagine these findings making much of a societal impact, but it's always good to know.
DRM and battery life: no real effect after all?
Last month we wrote about a CNET study that quietly laid claim to PlaysForSure DRM cutting player battery life by as much as 25%, and FairPlay draining iPod batteries by up to 8%. DAPreview put it to the test, though, by comparing playback time on 25 albums in 160KBps non-DRMed and DRMed WMA in sequence on a fully charged SanDisk Sansa e260 with volume at 50%, screen brightness at low, and the backlight left on. And wouldn't you know it, the DRMed files played all of 25 minutes less, or 2.8% less than the 14:55 pulled from the non-DRMed music. However, since the test was only run on a single device, this only means you can conclude that the Sansa e260 handles DRM well; with so many chipset designs for player internals, you couldn't expect all devices to produce the same positive results. But hey, it's encouraging, if nothing else -- especially if you're a Sansa e260 user.
Engadget Podcast 066 - 01.31.06
We may have lost the QRIO and the AIBO last week, but when one gadget company shuts a door, another opens a window: Nintendo announced the DS Lite, a smaller, um, lighter version of the DS. Microsoft also announced CableCARD 2.0 support for Vista (for a price, anyway), and one of their own, Ford Davidson, took a few to sit down with us and discuss Windows Mobile in the marketplace. And, of course, our usual dose of next-gen optical discussions continues, with a pinch of listener voicemail and a touch of gadgety democracy thrown in for good measure. Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3). [AAC] Download the show (enhanced AAC). [OGG] Download the show (OGG). [Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley! Hosts Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer Randall Bennett Music J J J - 'Suits' in Japan Format 1:10:20, 32.1MB, MP3 Program 01:17 - Nintendo announces DS Lite 05:39 - Sony killed AIBO and QRIO 10:38 - Study finds robot pets as good as live ones 14:02 - Netflix to support HD DVD and Blu-ray 16:28 - Samsung SH-B022 Blu-ray burner reviewed 18:27 - Culprit uncovered in Core Duo battery drain: Microsoft driver 21:44 - CableCARD on Vista to require CableLabs certification 26:00 - TiVo undelete forthcoming! 28:31 - Interview with Ford Davidson of Microsoft's Mobile division 52:01 - Listener voicemail! 48:19 - Engadget Awards ending soon, and we're up for two Bloggies! LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Call up the Podcast at: 1-888-ENGADGET
