Pongresearch

This is one for all you iPhone owners. The Pong case, with built-in Pong module, promises to lower the amount of brain-destroying radiation which shoots straight from your iPhone into that squishy bit between your ears. The explanation contains enough pseudo-science to be highly suspicious, and the $60 price tag suggests a product in search of a sucker.

Oddly enough, though, the Pong appears to work, as Wired magazine found recently when it tested one. The device was shown to cut the radiation emitted towards the head by up to two thirds, which was both unexpected and awfully embarrassing for Wired, which had only recently suggested in public that the whole thing was phony.

If you're seriously concerned about the risks of cell phone radiation to your brain, then you'll already be using a passive headset (i. E. not BlueTooth) which is more certain and considerably cheaper. And your iPhone will be safely tucked away in your pocket where the radiation can amuse itself with, well, other parts of your anatomy.

The FCC haven't yet approved any device for this purpose, so the manufacturers of Pong can only claim that the device has been tested in FCC-approved labs. And nobody's certain whether the radiation from cell phones is safe or dangerous, though the FCC does set a maximum limit on average radiation over time. If spikes cause more risk, or if the extra power a phone uses in a low-signal area causes more risk, there's no proof of either and the FCC has no regulations to cover these situations. All this uncertainty might well make you think seriously about protecting yourself just to be on the safe side, and if you like the idea of doing that and being fashionable in a kind of geeky way too, the Pong may be right up your street.