Comments on: Cell phones could keep atomic time

Miniaturization advance could lead to highly precise atomic clocks being installed in cell phones and other consumer devices.

[Andrew J Glina]

Nooooooooooooo!

There goes the sales of my Internet Time Sync program! (iTimeSync) I wish the article said an estimated timeframe and cost though. When it does happen I look forward to getting one. Just imagine it, never correcting a clock ever again.

Andrew J Glina

Radiation!

Don't worry, not only will there be a big window of time before this thing shows up in consumer electronic devices, but there will always be the ignorant folk who think this atomic clock will cause cancer or something from its "radiation" :P

[Baylink]

You know?

I just hate sloppy journalism.

No one, in general, really gives a crap about the *absolute accuracy* of Time-Of-Day. What they tend to care about is that *everyone's* using the same time reference.

And cellphones, the author's choice of illustrative tool, already provide this, in general -- at least, if your cellular carrier is worth a damn. I had a PrimeCo/Verizon phone, and switched to Nextel, and both carriers update the handset clock over the network -- not only is the time accurate, but everyone's handset says the same thing.

I cannot, myself, think of an application for clocks this accurate and portable, given that GOS time transfer can be accomplished with a $25 module as small as a cell phone's main circuit board, and is at least that accurate, if not more -- and you get accurate positioning in the deal.

But hey, maybe it's just me.

So many things are just me.