Last week Nintendo warned that children under the age of six may damage their eyes when playing with the company’s new 3D games console. But is there any real cause for concern? The warning was in spite of the fact that the new device offers the 3D experience without needing the special glasses, just as Toshiba’s latest TV set does, which is set to be unveiled later this week at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Nintendo 3DS, which is due to be released next year, will give users the option of playing in 3D as opposed to the conventional 2D picture. But in a statement on Nintendo’s website, the company cautioned that children under the age of six who use the new 3D functionality could suffer from stunted eye development as a result. The warning echoes similar caution from Samsung earlier last year, which highlighted the potential dangers 3D technology posed to pregnant women, the elderly, children and people with serious medical conditions, just ahead of its 3D TV sets going on sale in the UK. In April 2010 the Korean manufacturer said that the devices, which unlike the new Toshiba sets and the Nintendo 3DS require special glasses, could trigger epileptic fits or cause ailments ranging from altered vision and dizziness to nausea, cramps, convulsions and involuntary movements such as eye or muscle twitching.

Is 3D technology safe for children?

Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro Stylish in appearance, the Vivaz Pro is as much a camera as it is a phone – excellent video capabilities more than make up for the deficiencies of the Symbian-based software. Samsung Wave Samsung’s Wave uses the company’s new Bada operating system, but the best thing about it is a decent and very usable camera, and some handy editing tools. Motorola Milestone XT720 Offering the highest resolution camera in this buyers guide, the XT720 consistently produces superb pictures and is the best camera Motorola has produced in years.

Top mobile phones: three of the best camera phones

New products including the iPad and the new iPhone drove customers into Apple’s 293 stores, allowing the company to generate approximately $4bn of new cash in the three months to the end of June. The consumer technology giant delivered a post-tax profit of $3.25bn in the company’s third quarter, against $1.83bn in the same period a year ago. That was driven by record quarterly sales, of $15.7bn, up from $9.73bn in the same quarter in 2009. Shares in Apple rose $5.22 – or 2.07pc – to $257.11 in extended after-hours trading after the market had closed in New York. The new iPhone – despite antenna problems on some handsets – ensured that Apple sold 8.4m iPhones, up by 61pc from a year ago, while some 3.27m iPads have been sold since Apple’s version of a tablet computer was launched in the US in early April. “These were blow-out numbers,” said Ashok Kumar, analyst at Rodman & Renshaw. “If you put it in perspective, the initial iPhone took 70 days to reach the 1m unit rate...[but] the iPhone4 shipped 1.7m units in the first three days.” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, admitted that the company is not currently able to meet demand for the iPhone4, stressing it is selling both it and the iPad “as fast as we can make them.” However he also batted away suggestions that the company restricts supplies in order to yield headlines, saying: “We do not purposely create a shortage for buzz.” Apple sold 3.47m Mac computers – itself a new record – suggesting that the iPad may not cannibalise sales, although it did see a slowdown in iPod sales, selling 9.41m, an 8pc decline on a year ago. Separately Yahoo!, the struggling search engine, disappointed investors after its second-quarter sales fell below Wall Street estimates, as internet advertisers reigned in spending at the end of June.

Apple shrugs off antenna woes as iPhone4, iPad drive jump in profits

The weapon, mounted on a warship’s missile, shot down four unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in secret testing carried out off the California coast, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. In a joint enterprise between US Navy and Raytheon Missile Systems the technology has now got to the stage where lasers will be deployed on warships as part of their short-range defence. For the first time a ‘solid state’ 32 mega watt laser beam of directed energy has been fired from a warship to a distance of more than two miles burning into a drone travelling at about 300mph. The laser is mounted on a Phalanx close in weapons system that has a radar detection system. The targeting system was used in Iraq, to train fire from a Gatling onto rockets and mortars raining down on British bases. Raytheon developed the system after buying six off-the-shelf commercial lasers from the car industry and joining them to make a single, powerful beam guided by the Phalanx’s radars. Unlike other tests which have been conducted on aircraft it uses a solid state laser rather than a chemical generated beam. Mike Booen, vice president of Directed Energy Weapons at Raytheon, said the tests off San Nicolas Island were “a great day for the laser”. “This is more real than Star Wars,” he said, speaking at the Farnborough Air Show. “Our lasers destroyed the UAVs lighting them on fire. “This is the first successful shoot down over water. We are now on the path to deliver the first battlefield lasers integrated into real weapons systems. With drones being used more frequently to spy on or attack fleets in future warfare it is necessary to make defences against them. The laser system, which is mostly situated under the deck, fires an invisible beam that is only seen when it strikes an intruder. The system is also being developed to tackle small boats and potentially anti-ship missiles and will be ready for full military development by 2016. “This will proceed to production because it is solving real problem,” Mr Booen said. Raytheon have steadily been developing laser technology for several years developing a land system that can shoot down mortar rounds.

Laser used to shoots down planes

It means that around six million people could be missing out on the 3D revolution in gaming, films and broadcast television, charity The Eyecare Trust warns. Around 10 per cent of the UK population has poor binocular vision, which means it is difficult for them to see 3D effects in movies and video games. Instead, they see a blurry image, and can suffer headaches and eye strain as a result. “3D is appearing everywhere, and there’s loads of people complaining they can’t see it,” Dharmesh Patel, chairman of The Eyecare Trust, told gaming website MCV. “For these six million people, it’s like taking the 3D glasses off, making everything all blurry. It can create really bad headaches and aches behind the eyes. Sometimes, something can be done, but it depends on the individual case.” 3D technology is expected to take off in recent years, with a growing number of films and video games expected to use the new visual medium. Sky is launching a dedicated 3D channel to coincide with the new football season, while game studio Ubisoft expects domestic 3D televisions to be “ubiquitous” by 2013. Sony, which has recently released a firmware update to add 3D gameplay capability to its PlayStation 3 console, has acknowledged that some people may experience “discomfort” when watching 3D images. Sony Computer Entertainment, the company’s gaming arm, has updated its terms and conditions to reflect these concerns. It said some people may experience eye strain, eye fatigue or nausea while watching 3D video images or playing 3D games. “We recommend that all viewers take regular breaks while watching 3D video or playing stereoscopic games. “The vision of young children, especially those under six years old, is still under development, and we recommend that you consult your doctor before allowing young children to watch 3D video images.”

Six million Britons can’t see 3D TV

The next-generation iPod touch could feature a front-facing camera and make FaceTime video calls, according to officials from John Lewis According to senior figures at a John Lewis Christmas showcase, the new iPod touch will have many of the features found on the Apple iPhone 4, such as a five-megapixel camera capable of shooting high-definition video, and a front-facing camera for FaceTime video calls. John Lewis said its predictions were based on “noises” it had heard from suppliers. Apple traditionally refreshes it iPod line-up every September, ahead of the lucrative Christmas shopping season.

New Apple iPod touch 'to feature FaceTime camera'

Google’s licence to operate in China has been renewed, the company has announced. In an update to a blogpost by David Drummond originally posted in June, the search giant said “We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP (internet content provider) license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China.” There had been concerns that the restrictive Chinese authorities would prevent Google from operating in the country. After announcing that it was unwilling to provide censored search results in China, the company began rerouting all queries to the uncensored Hong Kong site google.com.hk. Subsequently, it introduced an intermediary “landing page”, which continued to give users the option to seek uncensored results.

Google China licence renewed