Tree-huggers won’t like this news. Results from a preliminary study by DU Delft University, Wageningen University, and other institutions in the Netherlands show that WiFi radiation may be harmful to trees. The study found that WiFi radiation may cause bleeding and fissures in tree bark, which were not caused by any virus or bacteria.

According to their data, 70% of trees in urban spaces are now showing signs of damage compared to just 10% five years ago. Trees located the closest to WiFi radiation exhibited a lead-like shine on the leaves and death of the leaves’ lower and upper epidermises. Radiation from WiFi was also found to inhibit the growth of corn cobs.

About as many smartphone buyers want an Android device as want iPhones. At least according to the latest ChangeWave metric. Consumer’s plans to get an iPhone have cooled off after the iPhone 4 high in June, which is only to be expected. In September about 38 percent wanted Apple’s handset, that’s down from half three months earlier. Android interest at the same time has spiked and now has almost as much interest at 37 percent, which is an all-time high for Google.

With just a fraction of interest, the launch of the BlackBerry Torch barely had an effect. RIM only moved one point to six percent.

According to a survey, when you compare the reading speed of a paper book with the Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle 2, those devices will slow you down by as much as 10.7%.

The participants took an average of 17 minutes and 20 seconds to read each story, but were found to read 6.2% slower than printed paper when using an iPad and 10.7% slower on the Kindle. The participants apparently complained about the iPad’s weight and the Kindle’s weak contrast.

Sure we know about the dangers of texting while driving, but that isn’t the only texting epidemic. How about texting while walking? According to the New York Times, just over 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cellphone to talk or text. Silly, but apparently true. And that is twice the number from 2007, which had nearly doubled from 2006.

The numbers come from a study conducted by Ohio State University. Though how they managed to keep tabs on so many idiots I have no idea.

According to a new study by Scott Owens out of the University of Mississippi, the Wii Fit has very little effect on family fitness levels. A Wii Fit was loaned to eight families and their usage and fitness impact were tracked over time (three months before they got the Wii, and three months after).

The final verdict seems to be that there are “No significant changes” in family fitness from the Wii. Over the period of three months Wii Fit usage went down by an amazing 82 percent, from 22 minutes a day for the first half of the time, all the way down to an average of four minutes a day in the last six weeks. The children did display some “significant” increases in the area of aerobic fitness. Basically it seems that people got bored, otherwise they may have done better.

Americans are dumping their land lines for mobile phones. This alone probably does not surprise and you may wonder why anyone cares. Well there is a segment that does care: telephone surveyors. You know those pesky callers you get right about the time you’re about to dig into that yummy Tater Tot casserole.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2006, one out of every eight households did not have a land line. CDC researcher Stephen Blumberg said that there was a trend towards fewer land lines in the last several years but it seems to have increased in 2006. The 13.7 percent of homes without phones represents those that have mobile phones and those that just don’t have a phone. The assumption is that many consumers are using …