Cell phone study shows adverse testes results

Male cell phone users who carry their devices like 21st century six-shooters might want to reconsider where, exactly, they put them. A new study from the Center for Reproductive Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic has suggested a link between cell phones and sperm damage. Specifically, the study said, when in close range to the testes and in talk mode, the cell phones damage sperm.

Studies were taken on 32 men with similar sperm health. One group was placed for an hour within 2.5 centimeters of a cell phone in talk mode at 850 MHz. The transmission, the study said, led to an increase in "oxidative stress" which, in laymen's terms, apparently means damaged sperm. Even worse, there may be a relation to testicular cancer as well.

This isn't the first time this particular medical team has found a link between cell phones and sperm problems. A previous study of 361 subjects showed men who use their cell phones more than four hours a day have "significantly lower sperm counts." A CTIA spokesman, while supporting "good science," also pointed to other studies that show no link between wireless usage and adverse health effects.

3G iPhone

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 3G to an appreciative audience during the opening keynote speech at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.
The new iPhone, sporting a thinner and sleeker look, will support faster 3G (third-generation) broadband wireless networks and come with built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) capabilities, Jobs said. Support for 3G networks will enable the new iPhone to download data up to 2.8 times faster than the earlier model, Jobs said. Built-in GPS will make it easier for users to navigate roads.

The iPhone 3G will come with a 3.5-inch screen and have better battery life, with talk time of five hours, stand-by time of 300 hours, six hours of high-speed browsing time, 20 hours of audio and seven hours of video, Jobs said. Some who had previously bought iPhones complained about its battery life and that was a problem that Apple needed to solve with the new iPhone, Jobs said.

While Jobs said the phone is "even thinner at the edges," it is just a hair thicker than its predecessor. The 3G iPhone is 0.48 inch, or 12.3 mm, thick, while the previous version is 0.46 inch, or 11.6 mm, deep.

Quicker data downloads and lower prices are key to greater adoption of iPhones worldwide, Jobs said. Apple has cut the price by half to make the new iPhone more affordable for users, so that the 8GB model will sell for $199 (£101) and the 16GB model for $299. The company found that 56 percent of people surveyed wouldn't buy the earlier iPhone because they found it expensive.

The phone will ship on 11 July in North America and will eventually be rolled out in 70 countries, including India, China, Singapore and Australia, Jobs said.

iPhone and 3G iPhone will be available at Orange locations across Romania soon. More details here

Here is a hands-on review of the new iPhone

Source

Here are some videos with Steve Jobs at WWDC08 presenting the new iPhone:






Here is the ad for the new iPhone:

Nokia produced 1 million mobile phones in Romania

Nokia announced today that it had produced the 1 millionth mobile phone at its new factory from Cluj, Romania. This comes after only three months since the factory started the production, as the plant opened its doors at the beginning of the year, in February.

For the moment, the Cluj factory makes Nokia cell phones for the European market and it mainly roles-out entry-level devices. The plant has around 700 employees, but when it reaches the full production capacity (at the end of 2009), it is estimated that no less than 3,500 people will work there.

Talking about the 1 million mark announced today, John Guerry, Director of the Cluj Factory, said: "This number represents a great success for us and it should be a pride for all those who sustained us since the debut of our operations in Cluj. The beginning of production in Romania was a fruitful one, and Nokia's clients from all over Europe are satisfied. We've managed to recruit dedicated and dynamic employees and I'm sure that, thanks to this wonderful team, the Cluj factory will become a model of performance when it comes to product quality."

The Cluj factory is the 11th one from all the factories that Nokia has around the world and its construction was first announced back in March 2007. The decision to build a facility in Romania was taken by the Finnish company mainly due to the low production costs found here. This led to the closing of Nokia's plant from Bochum, Germany, which should be completed in June.

Nokia invested until now more than 60 million USD into the Cluj factory, but the giant mobile manufacturer will surely recover the investment in a short time, once the facility reaches full production capacity and starts making more handsets.

Source SoftPedia

iPhone in Asia

Singapore Telecoms announced that it has signed a deal with Apple to carry its iPhone on its networks in Singapore, India, Phillipines and Australia some time later this year. Singapore Telecoms owns SingTel, Bharti Airtel, Globe and Optus in each of the respective markets.
The telecom did not disclose other information about the deal.


iPhone stats

Avaible in:
USA (AT&T)
UK (Telefonica O2)
Ireland (Telefonica O2)
Germany (T-Mobile)
Austria (T-Mobile)
France (Orange)

Planned in:
Singapore (Singtel)
India (Bharti Airtel & Vodafone)
Philippines (Globe)
Australia (Optus & Vodafone)
Italy (TIM & Vodafone)
Czech Republic (Vodafone)
Egypt (Vodafone)
Greece (Vodafone)
Portugal (Vodafone)
New Zealand (Vodafone)
South Africa (Vodacom)
Turkey (Vodafone)
Canada (Rogers)
Latin America (unspecified but America Movil has the rights)

Nokia in Romania

The good things

After testing the production line on 15 January, the 11th Nokia factory from Jucu started the production. Nokia invested 60 million euros at Jucu and with all his partners the total investment is about 200 million euros.

The Tetarom III Park has 154 hectares and Nokia and its suppliers use 90 hectares for Nokia Village.

Company officials said the Jucu factory now employs 350 people. The factory will have 3500 workers, but the authorities appreciate that will be necessary above 15000 people for all the companies.
Romanians working at Nokia will receive a salary package between 200 and 300 euro, as compared to a starting salary of about 1500 euro in Western countries.
Workers in the factory are contractually obliged not to reveal information about work at the company. However, conditions are very good since officials plan to built football and basketball fields for worker's free time.
Staff will begin by working one single shift, but switch to two from March. In fact, the shift system is one of the legislative hurdles that Nokia's management is faced with. The manager of the new plant recently asked the Labour Minister, Paul Pacuraru, to improve the legislation and reduce the number of shifts.

The Nokia production would target Middle Eastern and African markets mainly, Nokia officials say. Nokia Senior Vice President Juha Putkiranta said that Romanian workers at the Nokia plant receive an attractive salary package and hot meals, but refused to comment on other production details.
Putkiranta said that Nokia's factory in Romania will produce, among other models, Nokia 1200 destined for the Middle East and Africa. The Jucu factory will produce 5 handsets every second. Nokia officials argue that the Romanian factory will set up the necessary software on the models produced.
The first Romanian made handset is a Nokia 1200. This phone was used by Juha Putkiranta to call Tapio Saarela, the Finnish ambasador. The second and the third telephone were given to local authorities.

Future plans

The industrial park in Jucu, Romania where Nokia relocated its factory is about to extend. Along with the desire of other companies to invest in the area, Daimler Mercedes being just the last name added to the list, the terrain available in the Tetarom Industrial Park proves to be insufficient, even though the park already signed for some neighboring 1,000 hectares with a private partner. At least by some 170 hectares (420 acres) are still required, daily Ziua de Cluj reads.

Cluj county vice-president Kerekes Sandor declared for HotNews.ro that there are plenty of companies willing to invest at Jucu. However, he admitted that local authorities need to extend the industrial park before any plans can be made.

Even if the land surrounding the current industrial park pertains to the state, it is administered by the Agricultural Sciences University to perform agricultural research. Thus, University officials argue that they have no idea of the City Hall's plan.

German group Daimler will open a final assembly factory within the Tetarom III industrial park in the village of Jucu, Cluj county, Ziua de Cluj informs. The production facility will spread over some 170 - 200 hectares and will require a 400 million euro investment. The new factory will employ some 4000 people, the newspaper informs. Same Jucu is currently hosting the construction works of a future Nokia factory.

"Two other car producers expressed their interest for the terrain near the Nokia factory. It is a rough competition and the labor unions have their say. Some 350000 cars will be produced in the Jucu Industrial Park. The perspective is fantastic", sources in the business field say.

"As it was the case with Nokia, all discussions and negotiations have a confidentiality clause. I can not tell you anything about the negotiations with any of the investors", said the Cluj County Council president, Marius Nicoara.

Tetarom general manager Viorel Gavrea said that there are demands from major investors that may occupy a further 700 hectares area, but that the target is to obtain from the local council the 170 hectares the park still needs.

Kanji Tsushima, the Japan ambasador in Romania, said that he will recommend to Japanese companies like Toshiba and Hitachi to invest at Cluj.
BYD, the giant Chinese producer of batteries, and Hansaprint, the producer of Nokia's manuals and paper stuff, are willing to invest in Nokia Village.

Thousands of Romanians from Europe, USA and Canada are willing to come and work at Jucu. The Nokia Village has taken the Romanian's mind. Many teenagers are sending e-amils to apply for The Nokia scholarship.IT, Telecom and Mecanic Engineers showed their interest to work at Jucu. In the campuses, the students are talking about the new opportunities.

The local president of the Cartel Alfa Syndicate, Grigore Pop will found the Nokia syndicate at Jucu to protect the workers and prevent the Bochum situation. He adviced the authorities to take measures to keep Nokia for a long time.

The bad things

High prices

Even before the construction was launched, the prices started to grow from 2-3 euros to 30 euros and more for only 1 sqm. An appartement in Cluj-Napoca became more expansive than a Bucharest appartement.

Foreign workers

13 companies involved in the construction works at the site of the future Nokia plant in Jucu, near Cluj, Romania have received fines totalling over 58,500 Romanian Ron after local authorities ran checks in the area. The main irregularities identified were related to foreign citizens detached to work on the site, NewsIn informs. Some 161 foreign citizens from Slovakia, Germany and Poland working on Nokia's building site are not legally registered.

Bochum incident

"The planned closure of the Bochum production site is necessary to secure Nokia's long-term competitiveness," said Veli Sundbäck, Executive Vice President of Nokia and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Nokia GmbH. "Due to market changes and increasing requirements for cost-effectiveness, production of mobile devices in Germany is no longer feasible for Nokia. It cannot be operated in a way that meets the requirements for global cost efficiency and for flexible capacity growth. Therefore we have to make this tough decision."

Due to Nokia's Bochum, Germany plant having a "lack of competitiveness," as many as 2300 manufacturing jobs will be lost as the world's largest wireless handset maker closes down shop there. Making electronic products in Germany is "no longer feasible" from an economic and cost efficiency perspective, said Veli Sundback of Nokia's supervisory board. The plant has been in operation since 1989.
Nokia will not refund the subsidies it received for the construction of its production facility in Bochum, Germany. The factory is about to be shut, Nokia deciding to outsource the production to Romania, Forbes informs.

According to company officials, there are no reasons to return the 41 million euro subsidies received a decade ago, since it invested more than the German officials demanded. Regional NRW Bank, the institution that contributed to the Nokia factory construction between 1998 and 1999, demanded the company to return the funds it received and to answer within a week.

Regional authorities of the German land Renania North-Westphalia argued that the refund claim is motivated by Nokia's fail to employ the promised 2860 people, having employed, in fact, between 200 and 400 people less, between 2002 and 2005.

Nordrhein-Westfalens minister for economic affairs Christa Thoben (CDU), accusedthe finnish mobile phone manufacturer of “subvention tricking” (”Subventions-Tricksereien”) and warned the company of a possible “massive image damage”.

Meanwhile, the record-breaking profits announced by the company in 2007 led to a massive discrediting of the company in Germany, many consumers announcing they will boycott the brand.

How long will stay Nokia in Romania?

John Guerry said that Nokia will stay for a long perios and Nokia Senior Vice President Juha Putkiranta refused to answer to this question.

Gmail on DoCoMo’s i-mode handsets

J-Com and NTT DoCoMo launched a new service that allows DoCoMo’s i-mode users to receive push emails from their Gmail accounts. Every time a new email arrives to Gmail server, J-Com’s service pushes it to recipient’s mobile phone Blackberry-style with a notification sound. Besides viewing the emails, mobile user can actually write responses as well. J-Com also will leave a copy of received and sent email on Gmail server ensuring a synchronized experience between PC and mobile phone. A similar push email service from J-Com is also available for users who have Mac email accounts. While the J-Com’s service is very useful, their billing model seems to be draconian for users. Based on an agreement between J-Com and DoCoMo, the mobile operator will collect a yearly fee of JPY4,800 ($45) and will bill for the incurred data traffic as you go, meaning users can’t apply their flat data plans to enjoy the service.


For more info look here: J-Com

NTT DoCoMo joined Google in Mobile Internet Services

NTT DoCoMo, the world's largest wireless internet provider, and Google formed a partenership that includes providing search services, search-related advertisement and potential applications to i-mode users.
The two companies will also collaborate to enhance the user-friendliness of i-mode services by making various Google services easier to access through i-mode mobile phones. The default pre-loading of Google Maps application into upcoming DoCoMo i-mode handsets is one of the initial initiatives being discussed.

Through the partnership with Google, i-mode users will be served Google search results for mobile and PC web sites via the i-mode portal search-box. Launch of the expanded search services is scheduled in spring 2008. The new search-box will be placed on the top-page of the i-mode portal, increasing the immediate accessibility and convenience of searches on i-mode.

Simultaneously with the launch of the new search services in spring 2008, key-word based advertisements using Google's ad platform AdWords will also be provided on the search-result pages in conjunction with the search results.

The parties intend to make it easier for i-mode users to use Google services such as Gmail, YouTube and Picasa by giving users more seamless and immediate access over the mobile phone. Furthermore, in all upcoming DoCoMo full-browser capable handsets, Google will be set to appear as the default start-page on the full-browser.

DoCoMo and Google will also continue to study the possibility of bringing Android based handsets to the Japanese market. Android, a revolutionary platform for mobile phones, was announced by the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) last fall, in which Google was the key initiator of the Android project.

Sony Ericsson will make Windows Mobile phones

Sony Ericsson and Microsoft will cooperate in making smartphones, with the first Sony Ericsson handset based on the Windows Mobile operating system on sale by the end of the year.

The world's fourth-biggest cell-phone maker also unveiled six other new models on Sunday, including two additional touch-screen phones, a Walkman music phone with 8 gigabytes of memory and a dust-resistant camera phone.

The Microsoft deal means all the world's top handset makers apart from Nokia will now have Windows Mobile versions. The Sony Ericsson model, named the "X1," will be a slider phone with a typewriter-style qwerty keyboard and touch screen.

The marketing manager of Microsoft's mobile business, Scott Horn, told Reuters he was confident of reaching the company's goal of selling at least 20 million smartphones with partners by the end of Microsoft's fiscal year at the end of June.

Read the article here: Reuters