Startup Uses Radiation Fear To Map Cellphone Coverage

judgecorp writes "Fears that mobile phones cause cancer have never had strong backing from scientific research, but Israeli startup Tawkon is using those fears for an interesting business model. Its free app (banned from Apple's App Store, but on Android, BlackBerry and unlocked iPhones) tracks how much radiation your phone is emitting. This lets concerned users hold their phones away from their heads or whatever — but it also gives Tawkon a useful map of cellphone coverage around the world, which is the real asset it is monetizing — for the benefit of everyone, it says."

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Might be on to something.

[jxander]

While the fear mongering and data collection is a bit worrisome, they might actually be on to something here.

It would be very useful to have crowd-sourced maps of cell coverage, speeds, dropped calls, etc... Would certainly make the choice of provider a much more informed decision, instead of relying on their own coverage maps.

Re:Snake oil again?

[Anonymous Coward]

I work in neurology research at a university- so far, the jury (data) hasn't decided yet. Increases in cellular calcium ion channel activity result from exposure to EMF. This includes L-type calcium channels in neurons. The L-type channel is involved in a lot of functions- this includes gene expression, neuronal survival and death. I'm not saying "it causes cancer". Just saying there are still some very compelling grants out there about to be funded that are looking into this- The jury is still out.