Nintendo DS leaks radio frequency noise

[Fantaz]

Nintendo's new DS handheld gaming system apparently dumps out video noise that can be picked up by some older, presumably unshielded televisions. This has been known to be harmful to pregant women and old people.

Click here to see what the interference does with a Sony Watchman. Scary stuff.

[othy]

I'm sure it is still much lower power than any cellphone, it just hits on a frequency that can affect the tvs.. So not all that scary at all, actually..

Unless cellphones freak you out too, then god help you!

[felix]

Yes, eventually we, our children and our descendants will all have cancer because of the radiation from our ever expanding technology.

[sfu_lifer]

It's pretty low powered stuff as this has gone thru some ceritification to make sure it conforms to safety standards prior to release.
Still, I find it troubling to be bombarded by all these wireless/cell signals at all times. I'm sure with one gadget it may be ok but compounded and over the years, there should be more studies.

[Headhunter]

Maybe we should all live in Faraday cages.

[bluetroll]

the DS is crap.

[actng]

hahah this reminds me of the Panasonic (or whatever brand it was) TV that was emitting a universal distress call signal that the SWAT team breached the property on and realized it was just a TV.

[Headhunter]

hahah this reminds me of the Panasonic (or whatever brand it was) TV that was emitting a universal distress call signal that the SWAT team breached the property on and realized it was just a TV.

Wow, what happened in that case? I can picture criminals buying those in droves as distractions during bank robberies...

[ck1223]

Ok, I don't have a DS, but give me a break. The DS uses RF to play multiplayer wirelessly. And as far as I know the wireless connection is always on... And the fact that a simple TV can display the signal basically means that there isn't any encryption going on. I'm not sure if this "leak", is due to the wireless feature though. Any electronic device has an electromagnetic field surrounding it. Current going through a wire creates a field, it's a law of electromagnetics. So don't freak out. Whenever you hold a cordlessphone or cellphone to your head you have electromagnetic lines zipping into your head. It's not something new that the DS has created.

And chances are it looks so ugly on the Sonywatchman is because the signals in the air (radio stations, cell phones, cordless phones, tv air signals) are mixing up with the DS. So the watchman can't display it properly.

You only fear things you don't understand

[toalan]

EMF stands for electro motive force, not electro magenetic field. My guess is that the DS is so ugly it even makes TVs go crazy.

[ck1223]

EMF stands for electro motive force, not electro magenetic field. My guess is that the DS is so ugly it even makes TVs go crazy.

my bad. but what i wrote still stands been a while since i've taken "Field Theory" it's only an acronym anyway.

[actng]

Wow, what happened in that case? I can picture criminals buying those in droves as distractions during bank robberies...

I can't remember what brand it was. But it was one of those huge ass TVs. The guy bought it a week or so ago and ever since he's turned it on, it's been emitting a distress signal. A satellite picked up the signal (don't ask me why it took a week) and I guess it took them a week to pin point the source of the signal.

Finally SWAT team was called in to breach the apartment unit and when they did, they found some guy sitting on his couch watching his new TV. I think even after that it took them a while to figure out it was the TV that was emitting the distress signal.

The manufacturer promised the customer a replacement unit, minus the "feature".

I'm too lazy to find a link, so if any of you don't believe this story, just ignore it! Thanks.

[Headhunter]

I'm too lazy to find a link, so if any of you don't believe this story, just ignore it! Thanks.

That's the RFD spirit!

[northernstar]

Google is the lazy man's friend.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/041018/137/2hdv5.html

Oregon TV emits distress signal, triggers search

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) - TV hardly gets much better than this.

An Oregon man discovered earlier this month that his year-old Toshiba Corp. flat-screen TV was emitting an international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading a search and rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis, Oregon, 110 km south of Portland.

The signal from Chris van Rossmann's TV was routed by satellite to the Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in Virginia.

On Oct. 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel.

"They'd never seen signal come that strong from a home appliance," said van Rossmann. "They were quite surprised. I think we all were."

Authorities had expected to find a boat or small plane with a malfunctioning transponder, the usual culprit in such incidents, emitting the 121.5 MHz frequency of the distress signal used internationally.

Van Rossmann said he was told to keep his TV off to avoid paying a $10,000 fine for "willingly broadcasting a false distress signal."

Toshiba contacted Rossmann and offered to provide him with a replacement set for free, he said.