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May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
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Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
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May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
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The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
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The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
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Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
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The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
How Stuff Works: How a cell phone works
By
Marshall Brain
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
In your pocket you have an amazing device. It is a communicator that allows you to talk instantly to almost anyone on the planet. Plus it may also give you instant stock quotes, help you read your email and let you play games. Your cell phone truly is an achievement. But how does it do it? Let's find out.
A little history can help here. Remember when you were a kid and you played with a walkie-talkie? A walkie-talkie is an incredibly simple toy that can send your voice to a friend who is a quarter mile away. It does this with about 50 cents worth of parts. The parts take your voice, change it from sound waves to electronic waves and then emit those electronic waves with an antenna. At the other end, your friend's walkie-talkie receives the waves and converts them to sound waves with the speaker. Your friend hears your voice.
What if you want to transmit for more than a quarter of a mile? You increase the power. A toy walkie-talkie transmits at a tenth of a watt. A CB radio, which can transmit several miles, might use 4 watts. Before there were cell phones there were car telephones which were, essentially, very large walkie-talkies using 20 watts or more.
But you cannot stick a 20-watt radio in your pocket. It would need a gigantic battery. So how did engineers solve the problem and create the tiny cell phones we have today?
The genius of the cell phone system is the idea of a cell. At the time it was conceived the idea was incredibly audacious. The idea proposes that cell phone companies would put up cell phone towers (which cost on the order of $1 million each) on a grid approximately four miles apart. A large city would need dozens of towers, and when cell phones started there were zero existing customers. Cell phone companies had to invest millions of dollars on the hope that customers would buy into the idea.
But if you put up all these towers, it means that the radio in the cell phone only has to transmit, at most, two miles or so. The cell-phone radio doesn't have to be much more powerful than the radio in a walkie-talkie, which keeps the phone and the battery requirements small.
There was another part of the original cell phone idea that was audacious. A normal walkie-talkie can only transmit on one frequency. Cell phones can transmit on hundreds of frequencies. That means that one tower can handle dozens of simultaneous calls without people interfering with each other. Each cell phone uses a different frequency to talk to the tower. And each cell phone actually uses two frequencies simultaneously for a call, so you and your friend can talk at the same time without the walkie-talkie's push-to-talk button.
And there is another radio in your phone that is always talking with the tower, even if you aren't on a call. This radio handles the control channel. When a call comes in, the tower talks to your phone on the control channel to set the call up. The tower tells your phone what frequencies to use for the call, and also sends stuff like the caller ID to the phone.
The control channel handles one other important feature of cell phones. Let's say you are in your car driving down the road while talking on the phone. Your phone is connected to one tower, but it is driving away from it. As you get closer to the next tower, the towers communicate and arrange a hand-off. Your phone gets a message on the control channel telling it to change frequencies. It starts talking to the new tower, and you don't even know it. As you are driving along, your phone might switch between 10 different towers on a single call.
The original cell phones were called analog cell phones. That was the first generation. These were replaced by digital cell phones, because several digital calls can fit in the space of one analog call. Digital cell phones were the second generation. Now we are in the third generation, or 3G, where the towers and phones can handle calls as well as high-speed data connections. The data connection allows a phone to browse web pages, get stock quotes, read email, watch videos, etc.
When you think about it, it is truly amazing that in your pocket you can have a mini laptop computer that is always connected to the Internet, combined with the ability to talk to anyone in the world.
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Previously:
What went obsolete in the last decade?
How cholesterol works
How leather works
How vaccines work
How the smart grid works
How sea level works
How employee screening works
How to avoid catching a cold
How bread works
How a home energy audit works
How Omega-3 fatty acids work
Social networking
How trick birthday candles work
How electric cars like the Nissan Leaf work
How a manned mission to Mars works
How gold works
How bad breath works
How the ultimate sunglasses work
Any rocket is easily converted to a missile
How to have a great staycation
How a black box works
How a solar roof works
How nuclear bombs work
How the Hubble Space Telescope works
How hay fever works
How to know when to rent vs. buy
How swine flu works
How a kidney dialysis machine works
How children die in hot cars
How a trillion dollars works
How electronic cigarettes work
How chimpanzees work
How in vitro fertilization works
How supertankers work
How poisons work
How corn works
How dog ID chips work
How President Obama's limousine works
How emergency power works
How aircraft carriers work
How antibiotics and vaccines work
How mucus works
How iron and steel work
How aspirin works
How igloos work
How the Predator UAV works
How retention ponds work
How water absorbers work
How melamine works
How digital music works
How coal mining works
How an economic depression works
How the liver works
How 3D movies work
How oil pipelines work
How jet packs work
How seismographs work
How Olympic technology works
How Personal Rapid Transit works
How 3G works
How the Global Position System (GPS) works
How octane works
How cruise missiles work
How submarines work
How miles work
How octane works
How food preservation works
How beer works
How holding your breath works
How smoke detectors work
How heat pumps work
How your night vision works
How concentrating solar collectors work
How your key fob works
How the common cold works
How the Large Hadron Collider Works
How making a TV show works
How dry cleaning works
How exoskeletons work
How an oil refinery works
How landfills work
How the Orion spacecraft works
The cutting edge in HDTV
Redefining the CD
How the HDMI cable scam works
How glow-in-the-dark toys work
How the subprime mortgage crisis works
How gift cards work
How Tasers work
How giant TV screens work
How foreclosure works
How Air Force One works
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How vitamins work
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© 2007, How Stuff Works Inc. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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