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Palmtops as guides Tourists to European cities will soon be able to do away with their guidebooks for palmtop computers, the Mobile Tourism Guide, or m-ToGuide, which will give them up-to- the-minute information about sights, transport, food and accommodation in their neighbourhood, reports Nature. The first trial of the handheld computer will be in Sienna, Italy, next month. Tourists will be able to hire it at airports or travel agents before heading off on their trip, its backers believe. Its developers said the device would know where you are within metres; it is tapped into a stream of information specific to your location. It can take you on a tour, advise you here to stay or eat, list the day’s events and enable you to reserve rooms or book tickets. A prototype device is under development, although the system could work using existing wireless palmtops. The pilot project is part of efforts by the European Union to invigorate a flagging mobile-communications market by showing to potential investors and customers what wireless technology can do. The system relies on existing European mobile phone infrastructure that can send and receive data using the general packet radio service. Cancer and cellphones An Italian scientist has claimed that radiation from mobile phones may accelerate growth of cancer cells. Lab tests using leukaemia cells found genes, which made cells replicate faster, were turned on if they were exposed to the radiation for more than 48 hours. It is still not clear whether this test tube experiment can apply to the real world - no reliable link between mobile phone users and a higher rate of cancers has yet been found. The experiments, reported in New Scientist magazine, were carried out at the National Research Council in Bologna. Leukaemia cells were exposed to radio waves at the 900-megahertz standard used by many GSM networks. The power used was one MW, although it is hard to work out how much is absorbed by the tissues of humans using phones. After 24 hours of continuous exposure, the leukaemia cells were responding by activating "suicide genes" - 20 per cent more exposed cells were dying compared with control cells given no dose of radiation. However, a day later, it was a different story. Instead, three genes that triggered the cancer cell to multiply rapidly had been switched on in a high proportion of surviving cells. SMS railway inquiry Various train-related
inquiries will now be available on SMS thus providing a vast range of
information virtually on the fingertips. However, the information like
train status, reservation status and seat availability will be available
only for the Western Railway here. Delhi-based Creative Network
Technology (CNS) is executing the project and the entire network for
this project will be operational by November-end. The CNS, which is part
of the Patodia group of companies, is offering the state-of-the-art
technology and will
— Agencies
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