February 9, 2010
Motorola Invests in Mobile Barcode Company
Motorola's venture arm said it invested an undisclosed sum in Scanbuy, a company that offers mobile barcode products and services.
With the investment, Motorola joins Microsoft and other companies in pursuing the mobile barcode market.
[via PC World]
February 5, 2010
Bar Codes Ride Again - on Mobile Phones
An interesting article in Business Week on the many ways bar codes are are being used for cell-phone users to view ads, coupons, and other information instantly.
The Weather Channel is using bar codes to deliver maps, forecasts, and severe weather alerts. Universal Pictures is using mobile bar codes to promote its coming thriller Repo Men. Later this month, a Hearst magazine will use the technology to provide additional information to readers. And mobile bar code technology in various forms has recently been used by search engine owner Google, Web portal Yahoo!, sportswear maker Nike, and packaged foods maker Frito-Lay.
February 4, 2010
The origin of Happy Slapping
This very interesting article from China Daily, explains at one point the origin of Happy Slapping.
It was called "happy slapping" and proved to be anything but. It spread across Europe, morphing into school ground violence that was captured on camera phones and disseminated on the Web. The term was then used to cover any form of violence or sexual misdemeanor that was captured on video. Now, those who film the action are held culpable and punished, while those who host the videos can also be held responsible for their actions.
February 2, 2010
Infrared cameras determine taste quality of Japanese beef
According to Switched, your cameraphone could soon become an essential tool for any trip to the grocery store as scientists in Japan are developing ways to use infrared cameras for more accurately determining which slices of beef are tastier than others.
Read full article.
January 30, 2010
Lens firm promises shake-free cameraphones
Cameraphones will sport much improved image stabilisation within a year, lens manufacturer Varioptic has promised, thanks to its first lens to feature optical image stabilisation (OIS), small enough to fit in a cameraphone.
[via RegGardware and press release]
January 27, 2010
Photo from death row using a smuggled cell phone
According to statesman.com, a condemned San Antonio law enforcement killer sent a photo of himself out of Texas' death row two years ago using a smuggled cell phones.
Read full article.
Related:
January 22, 2010
My child, pornography and the iPhone
On Times Live, a father's story of how his 6-year-old daughter unwittingly watched her first porn flick on her father's iPhone.
January 21, 2010
Saudi girl, 13, sentenced to 90 lashes for taking a camera phone to school
The Daily Mail reports that a 13 year-old Saudi school girl is to be given 90 lashes in front of her classmates after she was caught with a mobile camera phone and assaulted her teacher when she caught her with the phone.
Read full article.
Related:
-- Saudi Arabia. Stiff punishments awat camphone misusers - Saudi Arabia will deal strongly with people misusing camera mobiles as a draft bylaw proposed 12-year jail sentence, SR100,000 fine and 1,000 lashes for those circulating pornographic photos of women through the phone.
-- Kuwait's approves Bluetooth sanctions - Kuwait's National Assembly's Legislative Affairs Committee approved on Saturday a governmental proposal to place stricter sanctions on misusing the feature of Bluetooth wireless technology.
-- UAE - Police sound warning over obscene SMS - People who use mobile phones to send pornographic images or indecent SMS messages will henceforth have to face imprisonment, a United Arab Emirat police source has warned.
-- Saudi jails three for filming rape with mobiles - A Saudi court has sent three men to prison for orchestrating and filming the rape of a teenage girl in a case that has shocked the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
-- Saudi to punish "immoral" use of 3G phones - Saudi Arabia will punish anyone using third generation (3G) mobile phones for purposes deemed immoral in the conservative Muslim kingdom, the state telecommunications regulator says.
-- Female Students With Mobile Phones Face Campus Ban, Fines- Saudi - Female college students carrying cameraphones on campus in any college in Saudi Arabia could face a SR500 fine and 3-year suspension under recent regulations issued by the Ministry of Education.
-- Will Saudi Arabia lift ban on cam-equipped mobiles? - Four Saudi ministries have appealed to King Fahd to reverse a ban on camera-equipped mobile phones in the kingdom.
-- Religious edict bars camera phones in Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has issued an edict barring the use of cell phones with built-in cameras, blaming them for "spreading obscenity" — a final resort after a ban on their sale and import to the kingdom failed to dent their popularity.
-- Saudi women beaten for mobile phone snapping - Two Saudi women were badly beaten by other female guests at a wedding party in the kingdom when they were seen using a mobile phone to photograph the segregated celebration.
-- Mobile pictures spark violence - A wedding party in Saudi Arabia turned violent after a female guest was caught using her mobile phone to take digital photographs of other women at the celebration.
-- Footage of an assault in Saudi Arabia through cameraphones - A rape scandal broke after the two men reportedly circulated footage of the assault through mobile phones equipped with cameras.
-- Woman fired over mobile snapshots - A Saudi woman has been expelled from her university for taking pictures of unveiled colleagues with a camera-equipped mobile phone osting them on the Internet.
-- Saudi Arabia and phonecams When the Saudi people finally rise up in revolt and throw out the House of Saud," fellow Saudi blogger, Alhamedi Alanezi says, " it won't be for democratic reform, and it won't be for an islamic republic. It'll be about mobile phones".
-- Saudi Arabia enforces ban on camera phones - The Saudi government began enforcing a ban on the sale of camera-equipped mobile phones.
-- Banned Camera Phones Selling Like Hot Cakes in Jeddah's Black Market - Mobile camera phones are hot sellers this Eid season - a celebration to mark the end of Islam's holiest season - despite a Kingdomwide ban and a significant increase in retail price.
Also
- Kuwait: Three years jail proposed for misuse of Bluetooth - A senior member of parliament has proposed a draft law stipulating a jail term of between six months and three years for the misuse of the Bluetooth technology, especially in mobile phones, in invading personal privacy.
