Dec 12, 2006 2:00 PM

Rants: Zune Heresy, Wicked Wi-Fi

Here’s what a few of you had to say about some of our recent stories. To post a remark in our feedback forums, enter your comments in the text box at the end of any story (registration required). Additionally, you can jump in on the hottest Wired News blog discussions through the links at the […]

Here's what a few of you had to say about some of our recent stories. To post a remark in our feedback forums, enter your comments in the text box at the end of any story (registration required). Additionally, you can jump in on the hottest Wired News blog discussions through the links at the bottom of the page.

Re: In Praise of the Zune
By Leander Kahney
From: Tim Bischof

I heard somewhere that the Zune is actually a third-party design that Microsoft bought because the company's own design was late and it felt the need to get to market. Which maybe explains why the Zune seemed, operation-wise, not Microsoftish, and yet the software interface you found cumbersome was good old Microsoft at its best. If the above is true it will be interesting to see what the unit is like once Microsoft releases its own version. I also find it hard to believe yet another competitor can join the ranks of the others and succeed in displacing Apple's 70 percent to 80 percent market share. Plus, I heard that a larger-screen version of the iPod is already developed and nearly ready for release.

Re: In Praise of the Zune
By Leander Kahney
From: Shane

I enjoyed your quick read on the Zune. I am now officially in the market for an MP3 player with video support, and the Zune is looking better and better. One thing though: The iPod does have a lead over the Zune in terms of iTunes install base. The idea of having to somehow export my songs from iTunes to the Zune is something that might just make me swing back to iPod's camp. I am hoping they announce a landscape iPod at Macworld in January.

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Re: In Praise of the Zune
By Leander Kahney
From: Brian Donofrio

Heretic ;-(

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Re: Wi-Fi as a Health Hazard
By Rob Beschizza
From: Glenn Fleishman

The prof you quoted ("The maximum power that is allowed to be transmitted by any Wi-Fi unit is one-tenth of a watt") about Wi-Fi signal output is wrong. In fact, the output of an adapter can be several tenths of a watt, and amplification for omnidirectional antennas is allowed up to 4 watts of effective intentional output. That's fairly high. When you go to directional antennas, parabolics or others that focus strength in one direction, you can get up to about 30 watts, depending on a variety of parameters.

There's a huge difference, of course, between being near a home Wi-Fi gateway that's putting out a few hundred milliwatts and standing on a roof directly in front of a directional antenna that's dumping tens of watts. It is known that the latter could cause health problems, and I fear some amateur community Wi-Fi people are exposing themselves to risk in this manner. (It doesn't cause long-term problems like ionizing radiation, but you can hurt yourself, even kill yourself, at extremely high levels, far above the legal limits.)

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Re: Wi-Fi as a Health Hazard
By Rob Beschizza
From: Philip Wolfe

I have a hard time believing that adding a city Wi-Fi or a wireless network in a school significantly raised the radiation levels that "caused" any of these health problems. If the fluorescent lights, your laptop operating offline, the cable modem, wired telephones in the vicinity, AM/FM broadcasts, satellites in the sky or the presence of AC circuitry didn't send these guys into convulsions, then Wi-Fi signals being degraded by atmospheric conditions or stone and metal building materials are probably the real culprit.

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Re: Wi-Fi as a Health Hazard
By Rob Beschizza
From: ML

Thank you for writing this article. I thought I was alone or, worse, going crazy! Here is my reply to the physicist who called the information in your article "ludicrous": I'm sorry you feel the need to describe this as ludicrous, thereby belittling the experiences of others. Of course, you could be right about the radiation being harmless. However, that does not negate the fact that people are sensing something. I read this article with interest and then relief, particularly when I read the line where the British author described the sensation as like "being prodded all over your body by 1,000 fingers." This is nearly identical to how I have described to others what I am experiencing.

My bedroom is directly over my downstairs neighbor's office, and he plays online multiplayer games via Wi-Fi devices late at night. Even though I cannot hear him in the office, I can tell you to the second when he turns the wireless device on and when he turns the device off. It feels as if some sort of weak electrical signal is passing through every nerve in my body, and I lie in bed, writhing from side to side while the thing is turned on. While you may, or may not, be correct when you say "so far there has been no correlation between illness and radio signals" (and I did notice that you qualified your statement with the words "so far"), since I go to bed at 8 and get up at 4, and he goes to bed between 11 and 1, this is a serious problem. I am glad to read that I am not alone, and I hope research will continue in order to discover why some people experience this, and whether Wi-Fi is harmful in the long run.

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Re: Gadgets Built to Fail
By Kris Wagner
From: Richard Fellows

As a design engineer I have seen a lot of products. I have never yet been asked to design in failure modes. I think it more accurate to say that the products you mention have not been designed to last.

For example:

no sparing strategy
no effective methods of repair (failed units in manufacture are not reworked even at the factory)
one-shot assembly methods (like screws into plastic)
short warranties (often one year – Xmas to Xmas)
underrated parts (flex sensors and buttons underrated for usage)
constrained temperature ratings (saw a thermostat shopping last night that was only rated for 32 to 95 degrees)
lack of appropriate protections for reversed power connection (no diode protection, no bridge rectifier)
accelerated schedules (one shot at design)
very tight budgets ("Can you do DSP with one transistor?")

All contribute to this problem. My personal favorite: Stupidly designed, stinking, lousy, horrible user interfaces that prompt violent responses from the user – shaking, slamming, aerodynamic testing.

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