Doctors say excessive use of electronic gadgets can trigger early ageing

Excessive use of electronic gadgets, including mobile phones and tablets, can cause ‘tech neck’ that leads to early signs of ageing, health experts have warned.

Excessive use of electronic gadgets, including mobile phones and tablets, can cause ‘tech neck’ that leads to early signs of ageing, health experts have warned. According to experts, ‘tech neck’, which leads to sagging skin, dropping jowls, and creases above the clavicle, seriously affects facial looks of the person by causing frown lines, undereye bags, and horizontal lines on the neck along with fat prominences.

‘People who bend down constantly for long hours while using any handheld electronic device, like smartphones, tablet or computers, are more likely to get wrinkles. The bending position while texting on mobile phones can cause neck, back and shoulder pain, apart from headache, numbness, tingling in the upper limb and pain in hands, arm, elbows and wrists,’ said Vinod Vij, Cosmetic Surgeon, at Mumbai-based Fortis Hospital. 

A recent report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) had revealed that the number of mobile internet users in the country was expected to reach 371 million by June 2016. As much as 40 per cent of the users consist of youngsters between the age group of 19-30. Experts have said that the frequent forward flexion causes changes in the cervical spine, curve, supporting ligaments, tendons and musculature, as well as the bony segments, commonly causing postural change. 

Mohan Thomas, Senior Cosmetic Surgeon, Cosmetic Surgery Institute, said: ‘As people do not realise the negativity they are causing to their neck bone and the skin, tech obsessed people should take necessary steps to avoid the overuse of the electronic gadgets.’ 

He said the overuse of smart phones causes shortening of the neck muscles. ‘Apart from shortening of the neck muscle it also increases the gravitational pull on the skin. Ultimately, this results in sagging skin, double chin, marionette lines (vertical lines from lips to chin) and loose jowls (drooping jawline). All these signs have been collectively labelled medically as ‘smartphone face,’ he said.

20 Best new Android Apps and Games this week

The Best Android Apps roundup is back, Back, BACK after a few weeks off due to travel, and the difficulties of finding anyone else foolish enough to dig through RSS feeds, press releases and information from developers on new Android apps.

So, this is a catchup week: the 20 best (in this writer's subjective view, obviously) new Android apps from the last three weeks. It's a strong selection, particularly for games, which has been a real bright spot for Android this year already.

As ever, the prices provided in brackets are for the initial download only: when an app uses in-app purchases, this will be listed as (Free + IAP). Something to look for: a new section of each app's Google Play store listing, which explains the full range of IAP (for example, “£1.23-£8.01 per item” for Ultralingua Dictionaries from this week's roundup).

More interested in iOS apps? They're covered in a separate weekly Best iPhone and iPad Apps roundup, with the latest instalment due to be published later today.

APPS

WhoSampled (Free)

WhoSampled is a glorious rabbit-hole of sampling culture to disappear down, now on Android as it is on the web and iOS. The app helps you explore the samples used in more than 270,000 songs, tracing them back to the original tracks, and then onwards to other music that used the same samples. Read last month's interview for more details on how it all works.

Camera51 (Free)

Need some help with your smartphone snapping? Camera51 is a new mobile photography app that claims to analyse the scene you're shooting, and help you compose the best frame for the picture. You can tap on objects to make them the focus for its trickery. And yes, it does work: the results are very impressive.

Treehouse (Free)

Treehouse is one of the services aiming to help people learn programming skills through online education. Well, mobile education too, now. This app provides access to more than 1,000 videos from the Treehouse service, from HTML and CSS to Ruby on Rails, PHP and Python, with bitesize quizzes and challenges to test what you've learned along the way.

Ultralingua Dictionaries (Free + IAP)

Don't need a dictionary any more now you've got a smartphone? Damn you autocorrect! But actually, there are already tens of thousands of people out there who've been tempted to download Ultralingua's Android app: a collection of more than 35 other dictionaries in digital form, with in-app purchases used to buy different languages including French, Spanish, German and Italian.

Glympse Keyboard (Free)

The main Glympse app is all about social location: sharing your current location with friends and family. Glympse Keyboard takes that idea and embeds it in... a keyboard. Tapping the relevant button generates a link that you can paste into another app (WhatsApp and Gmail are two suggested by Glympse) when letting someone know where you are.

Noyze Volume Panel (Free + IAP)

Most Android owners won't need this tweak, but for those that do – broken or jammed volume buttons being the examples suggested by the developer – it could be crucial. Noyze controls your device's volume, with plenty of options to customise the way it works depending on what you're doing with the device.

Line SnapMovie (Free)

Line is a hugely popular mobile social network in its homeland of Japan and other Asian countries, but it's trying to grow in the west too. SnapMovie might help: it's a polished app for shooting, editing and sharing 30-second videos, with the ability to share them beyond Line itself to Facebook and Instagram.

Digiduck's Big Decision (Free)

This is a very good idea: a storybook app designed to help parents and children talk about internet safety. It's aimed at 3-7 year-olds, with voice narration coming from musician Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her mum, TV presenter Janet Ellis. The idea: a fun story, but one that sparks further conversation opportunities about safe surfing.

Findery (Free)

Findery is a startup run by Caterina Fake, previously the co-founder of Flickr. Photo-sharing is still a part of this, but there's a wider aim: helping people find out about “the places you've always wanted to visit and the places you will soon discover” through the pics, stories and tips of other users. It's early days though: getting lots of people posting is Findery's key challenge.

All Woman (Free + IAP)

She may not be a lady, but soul singer Lisa Stansfield's new app is All Woman. Released by online karaoke specialist PureSolo, it provides 17 master backing tracks from Lisa's back catalogue plus on-screen lyrics, for fans to sing over and share as audio or video covers. A fun idea, although obviously mainly for fans.

FIFA 15 Ultimate Team (Free + IAP)

As a young twentysomething, I was world-beating at football games. As a 37 year-old father, I've degenerated to the point where I can only win in FIFA on 'numpty' level. Such is life. Still, this year's mobile instalment is looking very good, focusing on the Ultimate Team mode (hence the in-app purchases, which go up to £69.99), with a new Quick Simulation mode if your time is at a premium.

The Nightmare Cooperative (£2.49)

On iOS, roguelike-with-a-twist The Nightmare Cooperative was brilliant fun. On Android, it looks just as good, as you explore a series of dungeons with a team of characters who all move together, using their individual skills as they go. That may sound strange, but it's accessible, marvellous fun to play.

Star Wars: Commander (Free + IAP)

Insert your own 'Clash of Clones' joke here: this Star Wars game looks a lot like Clash of Clans with extra Wookies and lightsabers, although you could argue that Star Wars and real-time strategy as a gaming genre goes further back. Still, it's a very polished take on the genre in its free-to-play mobile form, with plenty of familiar characters popping in and out as you play. Read this interview for more details on the game.

Anomaly Defenders (£2.89)

You could easily write a 20 Best Android Tower Defence Games roundup, and even the 20th would be excellent. Android owners are spoilt for choice with this genre, but Anomaly Defenders is a strong contender for your time and money nonetheless, finishing off the Anomaly series with some very neat twists on the tower-building format.

Mage Gauntlet (£1.11 + IAP)

I happily wasted a whole heap of time on the iOS version of Mage Gauntlet when it came out, but have rediscovered the fun on my Android phone in recent days too. It's an action-RPG with plenty of retro nods, and some very well-designed controls for the touchscreen. There's lots of tactical scope as you progress, but it never gets too intimidating for newcomers to the genre.

Phantom Rift (£1.84 + IAP)

This appears to be the week for spells and wizards on Android, with Phantom Rift a worthy companion / alternative for Mage Gauntlet. It's another sprawling action-RPG, as you set off on an adventure as a wizard, collecting spells and equipment and battling through dungeons.

Unmechanical (£1.99)

As a £1.99 action game with no in-app purchases, Unmechanical is the kind of game that could sink without a trace in the modern app stores. That would be a real shame, because this is a carefully-crafted treat: part adventure and part puzzle collection starring a strange helicopter... thing. Full of character.

Hellraid: The Escape (£1.99)

More sorcery here, in a game that sets out its stall on the Google Play store with its promise of “no in-app purchases or pay-to-win elements”. It's a fantasy-themed adventure with demons, puzzles and a magical prison to escape, with impressive visuals to admire along the way.

Alien Creeps TD (Free + IAP)

Another tower defence game, this time from Outplay Entertainment. The theme here is more Rambo-meets-Robots than fantasy, but the gameplay mix of tower-building, upgrading and waves of enemies trying to get past them will be familiar to fans of the genre.

Goat Simulator (£2.99)

Finally: goats. Goat Simulator is more than a meme: it's a quirky, addictive game in its own right. But yes, the meme looms large: the sheer silliness of running around butting scenery as a goat should bring a smile to your face. The developers are making its bugs a selling point, too: “We're only eliminating the crash-bugs, everything else is hilarious and we're keeping it...”

That's my choice, but what Android apps and games have you been using recently? Make your recommendations – and give me your views on the picks above – in the comments section.

Smartphones can ruin your metabolism

Mobile phones have become so popular these days that you cannot think of spending a day without it. Kids love to play games and you keep surfing messages and other application even when it is not ringing. But is this gadget unknowingly driving you towards health problems?  

Medical experts have found that these phones may bring some harmful effects in the human body’s metabolism. According to Mr. Manoj Sharma, professor of radiation oncology at the Maulana Azad Medical College, apart from cancer, constant usage of mobile phone may also lead to fatigue, sleep disorder, lack of concentration and poor digestion’. He claimed that close proximity to the brain while talking on a mobile phone may build up a possibility of brain tumor and ‘If we don’t take care now it will be too late like in the case of tobacco,’ he added.

Sharma said that like in the US, cell phone operators in India should also use advanced technology to reduce radiation. Naresh Gupta, another professor at the Maulana Azad College also agreed with Mr Sharma and said ‘It is true that the metabolism in the body is affected by using mobile phones’ and added ‘ mobile phones are an evolving technology and most of the research into their health effects has been funded by the private companies manufacturing them. We don’t have any independent research.

However, S.B. Gogia, a plastic surgeon with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said mobile phones have a positive effect on health also.

Here are some health risks of cell phones you should be aware of:

1. Cancer: As reported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), mobile phones emit radio frequency (RF) fields a 1000 times greater than what is emitted from base stations. It’s obvious that this increased emission is likely to have some adverse effect on health of users. Although there is no clear evidence suggesting that exposure to RF fields increases the risk of cancer, but the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified RF as a possible carcinogen in humans. 

2. Sleep disorders: Somehow night-time has always been favourite among regular chatting and gossiping freaks. But do you know that’s the main reason why you are sleep deprived? Several studies have concluded this. One of them is a cohort study by Sara Thomée et al which found that high mobile phone use was associated with sleep disorders. Major contributing factors to interrupted sleep pattern are getting awakened in the middle of the night due to mobile rings and vibration and increased use of mobiles post-evening until midnight.

 3. Increased accident-risk: Whether you’re an iPhone, flip phone or a Blackberry user, the chances that you check your phone aggressively while travelling is undoubtedly higher. Be it while driving or while crossing the road, mobile phone can be a potential distraction. According to the WHO, we now have a lot of research showing an increased risk of traffic accidents with mobile usage (3-4 times greater). 

4. Heart problems: Radiation from cell phones is not only associated with cancer but also with chronic diseases like heart problems. A study published in European Journal of Oncology, radiations emitted by cordless phones, including mobiles, contribute to abnormalities in heart function. Results reported that radiation causes the red blood cells (RBCs) to seep hemoglobin and lead to heart complications.

No proof yet that mobile radiation leads to CANCER

All the researched evidence shows that there is no link between cell phone radiation and cancer, said oncologist and renowned author Siddhartha Mukherjee.

"I would have suggested to WHO to downgrade cell phones in the list of carcinogens (cancer causing substances) but there is a process to that," Mukherjee said in a media interaction at the India International Centre (IIC) here Monday.

"There are large studies which are pending, but we have to be scientifically accurate. There is no direct evidence but that does not mean that we stop investigating," he added. The status of radiation from mobiles should be "pending further investigation", he said.

Mukherjee is the author of famous book on cancer "The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer", which won the Pulitzer prize in 2010. The author further said that the landscape of cancer treatment has transformed over the years, and that there would be a transformation in all cancers and their treatments.

Mukherjee, here to receive the prestigious Padma Shri award from the Indian government, said that the extent to which carcinogens can trigger cancer depends on the amount or dose to which a person has been exposed to.

"We need to educate people on the appropriate doses of carcinogens to which they can expose themselves to within the safety net," he said. Awareness, said the expert, who specializes in blood cancer or leukaemia, is the key to prevention and control of the disease.

"Cancer is like a detective story. You cannot solve it using only one evidence," he added. At a separate lecture on "Emerging Carcinogens in an Emerging World" also at the IIC, Mukherjee said: "The world has to understand exposure to carcinogens with respect to changes and age profile of the population."

Tracing the history of cancer in medical literature, he said that it is the environment which mutates genes to cause cancer. "The levels of diversity which cancer cells exhibit is unique in nature," he added.

Fingernails glowing when you make a call

You will soon have fingernails that would glow as you call someone. Unlike "E.T." in the 1982 Steven Spielberg film, modern-day Japanese fashionistas need only pick up their Android-powered smartphone to set their finger glowing.

A Japanese firm has unveiled fingernails that light up when you make a call. Building on the immense popularity of manicure art - where small gem-like stones are stuck on the nail - a Japanese toy firm Takara Tomy ARTS has developed a micro-thin LED sticker.

The "LumiDecoNail" uses a technology called Near Field Communication.

In this, small amounts of power are transferred very short distances to communicate with a smart phone.

It also flashes whenever the wearer uses an electronic money card.

The product would go on sale in Japan next week, with a set of 16 nail stickers, one of which contains the LED.

“I am now wearing it on the middle finger of my right hand. It blinks whenever I pass through train gates, which lifts my heart a bit,” a company press release said.

The company would consider marketing the cosmetic product overseas after seeing how consumers in Japan react.

HTC M8 leaked Software and Hardware

The HTC M8/All New HTC One has followed a pretty standard pattern of leaks in recent weeks. The device has been the subject of spec rumors trying to pin down the date on which it’ll officially debut and some press image leaks. Tonight we've hit the next step in the M8′s leak progression: a hands-on video.

A YouTube user going by "GadgetReviews" posted a 12-minute video taking us on a walk-through of the HTC One M8 on Sunday, confirming pretty much everything we've already known before it's set to be unveiled in late-March.

The twelve-minute long clip shows the handset alongside its predecessor and reveals that the newcomer has a similar footprint and a microSD card slot. We also get to take a closer look at the device’s brushed metal finish from the leaked press photos.

Not shown in the video are reported specifications. The HTC M8 is believed to feature a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a bigger 2900mAh battery.

Recent leaks have suggested that both AT&T and Verizon will carry it in the U.S. Of course, the original One was available on all four major U.S. carriers, and so I wouldn't be surprised if the M8′s availability is just as widespread. 

Don’t miss this marvel.

Blackberry Z3 sneakpeak

As per recent rumours, it is speculated that Blackberry would partner with Foxconn to produce affordable BlackBerry 10 devices. An alleged render posted by N4BB purportedly reveals the yet-to-be-announced Blackberry Z3 device, which is rumoured for MWC 2014 launch, along with its expected specifications. The speculated price for the Z3 is said to be $150 (approximately Rs. 9,300), which we feel is highly unlikely for a BlackBerry BB10 device.

According to the rumoured specifications, the BlackBerry Z3 will have a 5-inch 24-bit colour LCD display with a 540x960 pixels resolution. Under the hood, it will be powered by 1.2GHz dual-core processor clubbed with 1.5GB of RAM.

The optics on the alleged BlackBerry Z3 are rumoured to include a 5-megapixel auto-focus rear facing camera with flash and 5x digital zoom, apart from a 1.1-megapixel fixed focus front-facing camera with 3x digital zoom.

The alleged BlackBerry Z3 is said to come with 8GB of inbuilt storage, with no details on the expandable storage. It is also rumoured to pack a 2650mAh battery.

The not-yet-official BlackBerry Z3 is said to be one of the first low-end phones to be designed, manufactured and warehoused by contract manufacturer Foxconn.

Last year in December, Blackberry signed a unique five-year partnership deal with Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Co Ltd, under which the electronics manufacturer will build low-end devices for sale in Indonesia and other emerging markets.

BlackBerry Z3 rumored specifications

1  5-inch qHD (960 × 540 pixels) capacitive touch screen display

2  BlackBerry OS 10

3  1.2 GHz dual-core processor

4  5MP auto focus rear camera with LED flash

5  1.1 fixed-focus front-facing camera

6  3.5mm audio jack

7  3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS

8  1.5 GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable Memory card slot

9  2650 mAh non-removable battery

If this rumour is to believed, We can’t wait to get our hands on this beauty. With such specs and at affordable rates, Blackberry would have a winner all the way.