Harry Potter and the wizard idea to foil cinema pirates

Military-style night-sights have been sent to every outlet in the country showing the new Harry Potter film, The Prisoner of Azkaban, according to The Guardian.

"Staff have been instructed to spend all two hours and 22 minutes of the film - scanning the dark for pirates making illegal copies.

Surreptitious recording from cinema seats has become a serious menace, according to the industry.

Most cinemas now screen an appeal to audiences to shop any neighbour suspected of filming, along with warnings about mobile phones and adverts for popcorn".

Related articles on Hollywood's piracy-parnoia:

-- Crackdown In Cinemas

-- Will You Be Arrested The Next Time You Bring Your Camera Phone To The Movies?

-- Five Years In Jail For Putting A Movie Online

-- Leave your picture phone outside the movie theater

-- Bag and body searches at screenings

Something in the Air

[...]When you install cameras in telephones, for instance, photography shifts from a producer of flat illustrative artifact into a means of communication. The ease of distribution becomes a force in itself, pushing networks to handle more bandwidth. And the sudden addition of hundreds of millions of instant eyes to the global network provides its own challenges (thus the devices are banned in locker rooms and at the U.S. Supreme Court).

[...]All over the planet, wireless is making waves, from the text-message-mad teenagers outside Tokyo's Shibuya station to a Wi-Fi-equipped McDonald's in New York City to Everest climbers calling home from the summit. With dizzying rapidity, wireless innovations move from the cutting edge to the routine. Just like what happened with Marconi's magic box during the first wireless revolution.

Steven Levy, Newsweek technology columnist in a special report on wireless entitled Something in the Air.

Europe's Sales of 3G Phones Pick Up

Sales of third-generation cellphones are finally gaining momentum in Europe, according to new market-research figures, according to the WSJ.

"In April, about 225,000 third-generation, or 3G, cellphones were sold to consumers in Europe, according to GfK, a research firm in Nuremberg, Germany. While that still is only about 2% of the European cellphone market, GfK says unit sales in April were more than double those in March."

Japanese Internet star spreads blogging gospel

A wonderful article on Joi Ito, everyone's favorite blogger. [USA Today].

"Snapshots of his pet dog, thoughts on democracy and a recipe for bamboo shoots clutter Joichi Ito's Web journal, a lively peek into the tireless mind of one of Japan's biggest Internet stars.

For Ito, promoting blogging came naturally in a life already devoted to bridging Japanese and American cultures.

Ito believes blogging will one day prove as influential as the printing press.

"Blogging will fundamentally change the (way) people interact with media and politics and provide us with an opportunity to overhaul our outdated democracies," he said".

SpeechGear translates documents and street signs

In an article published in Wired, on the Navy's high tech gadgets, this one caugth my eye:

"Camera phones and digicams may have the Defense Department spooked -- especially since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke. But The Office of Naval Research (ONR) thinks the gizmos can be put to good use serving as near-instant translators for documents and street signs.

"Take a picture of an Arabic newspaper, a Chinese menu or a Farsi instruction pack, and send the image to the servers of SpeechGear, an ONR-backed company based in Northfield, Minnesota.

SpeechGear processes the image, looking at changes in pixel color to see where the text is in the image. It then orients the picture around the text, adding pixels if needed to correct a skewed image. Once the picture is right, SpeechGear uses optical-character-recognition software and translation databases to see what's being said. An English version of the text is sent back to the phone in about 15 seconds.

The translations aren't exact, SpeechGear Chief Executive Robert Palmquist said, "but they'll tell you whether you've got a grocery list or plans for the embassy."

The BBC will cover the Glastonbury Festival with camera phones

The BBC is ramping up its digital coverage of the The Glastonbury Festival this year with additional interactive TV, online and mobile services, reports Revolution Magazine.

Mobile phone WAP and PDA services will offer news, performer and schedules information on the move and the BBS has confirmed that it will use MMS. Producers and presenters will be able to take and send pictures on a mobile phone and then send them direct to the BBC website within a couple of minutes.

You can check out last year's BBC pics and blogs on the festival here.

The Glastonbury Festival 2004 takes place on June 25th, 26th and 27th. This year Oasis, Sir Paul McCartney and Muse have all been confirmed acts, with rumours of Morrissey, PJ Harvey, James Brown, Kings of Leon, Basement Jaxx, Elbow, The Chemical Brothers, Ms Dynamite, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Franz Ferdinand, The Rapture and The Libertines also appearing.

Camera phones as a new crime-solving tool

Cellphones that take pictures are one of the newest ways to fight crime as snapshots can help police nab criminals, build leads and gather evidence, according to an article in The Sun Herald via Cameraphone Report

"A camera phones become more widespread, police and wireless representatives say they expect more citizens to reach for their phones when witnessing crimes.

A victim whose life is in danger will probably not have the wits to snap a picture, he said. But when they are used during less serious crimes, camera phones could benefit police investigations".

Related articles where camera phone snapshots have helped to nab a criminal:

-- Cellphone snapshot exposes flasher

-- Camphone snap as evidence in police investigation

-- Teen abduction foiled thanks to camera phone

-- Pictures from camera phones used as evidence to catch criminals

-- Young robber caught on cell phone camera

-- Robbers caught on cell phone camera

Fashion Video Clips Go Mobile

Videofashion Network is to offer 'adult' fashion video clips and MMS pictures to mobile subscribers in Russia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The series features the world's top supermodels in their most fashionable clothes, reports 160characters.org.

"A weekly Bikini Open Image featuring the top two Bikini models of the week will be offered, that showcases swim suits and beautiful super models, for use as wallpaper.

“Fashion Uncensored” clips of weekly fashion or Bikini Open video clips featuring the short video of the week will also be available for downloading onto mobile phones.

The “Fashion Uncensored Uncut” also features supermodels with the most fashionable clothes – including lingerie from Victoria's Secret, and takes subscribers on a tour of risqué, titillating and provocative."

Is my E-Mail Tatoo Hot or Not

Lycos Spain has launched a competition for its most daring users, according to a wonderful new blog, we-make-money-not-art.com.

"Participants have to tattoo their e-mail address to get a chance to win 1.000 euros. Then they make a picture of it and send it to comunicate@lycos-europe.com before the 9th of June".

The pictures will be displayed on a Web page and from the 10th of June websurfers will be able to view them and vote for their favourite by SMS.

It doesn't seem to specify whether camphone shots are sollicited, but some pictures are bound to be from camera phones.

The Accidental Journalist

Eric Lin for the TheFeature.com has written an insightful article on how everyone today has become an instant journalist... whether they intend to be or not.

"[...] The soldiers in Iraq weren't trying to make a political statement or make the news when they posted pictures of Abu Ghraib. Pretty much every soldier has a digital camera and internet access they use to share their experience with people back home. Not only does this make every soldier a reporter, it also makes him a one man oversight committee.

Just as the soldiers didn't intend to be reporters, they were (even still are) also an unwitting sousveillance machine. Only instead of civilians watching the government from below, they are participants watching from within.

The Pentagon is concerned enough that they don't want any digital transmissions leaking from the field without their approval - though rumor of a ban on all digital cameras is highly exaggerated". Read full article.

Wartime Wireless Worries Pentagon

The rapid proliferation of digital cameras, phonecams and wireless gadgets among soldiers and military contractors is giving senior military officials concern, in the wake of images that showed abuse in an Iraqi prison and snapshots that showed rows of coffins of American soldiers, reports Xeni Jardin in Wired.

Excerpts

"The Defense Department said it hasn't banned the devices and doesn't plan to. But the Pentagon is telling commanders in the field to strictly monitor the use of consumer wireless technology through Directive 8100.2 -- Use of Commercial Wireless Devices, Services and Technologies in the Department of Defense Global Information Grid -- issued last month.

"In a nutshell, the directive tells all soldiers, contractors and visitors to Defense Department facilities that they can only carry wireless devices that conform to the military's security standards. These specify that the devices use strong authentication and encryption technologies whenever possible. In addition, the devices cannot be used for storing or transmitting classified information. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz signed it in April after two years of internal debate."

Related articles on this issue:

-- DoD denies ban on camera phones

-- Xeni Tech: Phonecams on the Front Lines

-- Did Rumsfeld ban Iraq camera phones?

-- Camera phones in Iraq; digicams and truth in wartime

-- Rumsfeld bans camera phones in Iraq: report

"Girl Photoblogs Chernobyl on Motorcycle" thing a fraud?

Following up on a previous story, Photoblogging Chernobyl, a very moving photoblog account by a young woman touring the Chernobyl area on a motorcycle, Xeni Jardin on boing boing today mentions fraud claims from an Ukranian mailing list posted on Neil Gaiman's website.

"I am sorry to report that much of Elena's story is not true. She did not travel around the zone by herself on a motorcycle. Motorcycles are banned in the zone, as is wandering around alone, without an escort from the zone administration..."

Xeni Tech: Phonecams on the Front Lines

Technology expert Xeni Jardin reports about the impact that digital camera technology has had on the war in Iraq on NPR, via boing boing.

"Today on the National Public Radio program "Day to Day," I talk with host Alex Chadwick about discredited news reports that US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld issued an edict banning phonecams in Iraq -- as well as the confirmed release of a new Pentagon directive (PDF) outlining new restrictions on consumer wireless tech at DoD installations worldwide. While there may not be a Pentagon-issued ban on phonecams or connected digital cameras per se, there do appear to be new efforts under way to address the proliferation of those technologies in the military theater and throughout the DoD's "information grid." Alex says,

The images of abuse at Abu Ghraib, the photos of returning soldiers' coffins -- we see them because of this technology. And it's caught defense officials off-guard.

Related articles on this issue:

-- Did Rumsfeld ban Iraq camera phones?

-- Camera phones in Iraq; digicams and truth in wartime

-- Rumsfeld bans camera phones in Iraq: report

Did Rumsfeld ban Iraq camera phones?

The Register's take on whether or not Rumsfeld issued a ban on camera phones for soldiers in Iraq.

"Some reporters have been fooled into picking up the Farce story as news. But here's the thing: it seems pretty likely that Rumsfeld will be pushed into making the satire come true - or at least, into trying.

In a thoughtful piece for the Miami Herald, Carol Rosenberg quotes soldiers in Iraq as saying that they are taking digital images. Further - they're shooting digital video, too. And no, there's no censorship.

"From prison camps to the front lines, pocket cameras, many capable of whizzing uncensored digital images home, are nearly as standard among soldiers' gear as rifles and dog tags."

The "Business" story looks like a boozle. But good money could be spent betting that if Rumsfeld has not yet banned camera phones and cameras from kit bags, he probably will, even if this isn't announced as a measure "to protect Iraqi prisoners". Whether it will succeed in stopping soldiers from taking pictures, is another question entirely."

Moblogs : The Map of Time

*Julian Gallo posts a wonderful essay comparing moblogs and traditional photo albums, based on his own experience of sending 6 to 7 photos per day to Textamerica, for the last 10 months.

He says "I realized that I am making neither an album nor a web log, not even a moblog; I am making a map".

Gally points out that unlike traditional family photo albums, where photographs are organized within the albums - thus constructing a carefully taylored narrative of a family's history, moblogs store images in a forced chronological order, not allowing for any regrouping or filtering. "Photos cease to be seen individually and become a true “family” of images, a photo follows another, that is the sister of the next one and so on. Sequence links the pictures, not their subject". Offering a more accurate timeline in the family's history".

Some Gallo family stats

"We used to take around 300 family photos each year before the telephones with cameras, now I take that number in 6 weeks".

If I keep up this rate of photographing (6.5 family photos per day) I will have 2372 in a year. Strictly placed one after the other.

If I decided to print all those photos in a 10x15 format costing $0.75 (in any currency) I would have to spend $1779.00.

I would need sixty eight 36-photo albums of each, or twenty three 100-photo albums that would take most of my library.

If lined up, these photos would be over 14 miles long. Just in a year.

*Julian Gallo is Professor of New Media in the joint Master's program of Journalism of the San Andrés University, Columbia University and the Clarín news group.

auto-focus to come to camera phones

Canada-based Atsana Semiconductor and UK-based 1 today announced a strategic partnership to make auto-focus functionality available to manufacturers of camera phones, according to PC Pro.

Camera phones in Iraq; digicams and truth in wartime

Xeni Jardin for boing boing has an interesting update on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's order for a ban of cell phones equipped with cameras in US army installations in Iraq.

Xeni Writes

"The story was subsequently cited in numerous online news reports, including UPI and AFP, and blogged abundantly.

Quoting a Pentagon source, the paper said the US Defence Department believes that some of the damning photos of US soldiers abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were taken with camera phones. "Digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones with cameras have been prohibited in military compounds in Iraq," it said, adding that a "total ban throughout the US military" is in the works.

This morning, I asked a Defense Department spokesperson whether or not the reports of a phonecam ban were true. This spokesperson said that these reports were technically inaccurate -- that the Pentagon is not issuing a new ban on camera phones per se, but that a Directive 8100.2 was issued on April 14 establishing new restrictions on wireless telecommunications equipment in general. The text of this directive is available online here in PDF format.

The intent of this April 14 directive, and how commanders in the field will be expected to enforce it, are matters I'll be reporting on in more detail for the NPR Program "Day to Day," later this week.

Link to cameraphone ban report, Link to full Rumsfeld "running around with digital cameras" quote. See also this Chicago Tribune Editorial by Clarence Page, "Weapons of Mass Photography."

Micke Grenville for 160 charcters.org comments:

"Rather than root out behaviour that many believe is not the actions of a few rogue soldiers but is widely practiced in the US army, it seems Rumsfeld has decided to brazen the scandal out and shoot the messenger to prevent any future embarrassing picture leaks.

A satirical article in TheDailyFarce wonders whether a total ban in Iraq will follow so that videos of wedding parties for example will not contradict US military versions of incidents".

Rumsfeld bans camera phones in Iraq: report

This is wild. The AFP is running a story on orders from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, banning camera phones in army installations in Iraq.

"Quoting a Pentagon source, The Business newspaper said the USDefense Department believes that some of the damning photos of US soldiers abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were taken with camera phones.

"Digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones with cameras have been prohibited in military compounds in Iraq," it said, adding that a "total ban throughout the US military" is in the works.

Disturbing new photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse, which the US government had reportedly tried to keep hidden, were published Friday in the Washington Post
newspaper".

The photos emerged along with details of testimony from inmates at Abu Ghraib who said they were sexually molested by female soldiers, beaten, sodomized and forced to eat food from toilets.

Via Unwired.cc and Michael ONeil

Best Pictures of the Day on your Mobile Phone

E-Media Tidbits reports on La Vanguardia.es' multimedia messaging service, which sends out to subscribers a daily selection of the best images of what happened in the world the day before.

"The MMS, available only for paid subscribers, has been running for six months. The number of subscribers is still small, around 500, but increasing. This newspaper also has an SMS (text messaging) news service, with 3,000 users subscribed".

For more on multimedia services offered by the press, check out this category in Picturephoning.com

TIme waits for everyone, now that we've all got camera phones

James Sullivan for the San Francisco Chronicle, writes a great article on cameraphones.

"Camera phones are fast becoming the existential proof positive of the face in the crowd. They are making the spontaneous snapshot as natural a part of daily life as the ATM withdrawal and the coffee break. They are also turning ordinary citizens into documentarians, fine-art photographers and, in cases such as hit-and-run accidents, community watchdogs."

[...] had camera phones existed in 1963, it's possible the assassination of President John F. Kennedy "wouldn't be such an issue now..."

[...] Instant access and interconnectivity, already immutable parts of our reality, are improving so quickly we can't keep up, he says. "The whole space- time continuum is completely collapsed now."

Not so long ago, we couldn't even picture it."

Camera Phones Making A Difference (To Businesses)

Ever wondered how much impact the 'fun' cameras in mobile phones have on the rest of Digital Photgraphy? There could be over 169 million camera phones sold this year, reports Business Week - roughly one in four cameras - in an article entitled "The Camphone Revolution" via AllAboutSymbian.

Excerpts from Business Week:

"The shock waves are rippling through the imaging business. Sales of film and traditional cameras -- already hurt by the rise of digital photography -- could suffer further blows.

-- Digital camera makers are being forced to move upmarket as camera phones take over the lower end. And a whole new industry built around camphone snaps is starting to whip into gear.

-- Seiko Epson, and Canon are rolling out inexpensive color photo printers that connect wirelessly to handsets -- with no need to store pictures first on a PC.

-- Photography giants Eastman Kodak Co. and Fuji Photo Film Co are rushing to install in-store kiosks that churn out high-quality reproductions of photos taken with digital cameras and cell phones.

And the disruption is accelerating. In the last month, seven phonemakers have announced new models that incorporate megapixel cameras, which shoot pictures with a million points of resolution. That's three times the quality of most camphones on the market -- and comparable to digital cameras of a few years back."

Amateurs scorch the pros at hotel fire

Following a fire in a liquor store at a well known Brisbane hotel, customers and passers-by began snapping away with their digital cameras and camera phones. "There was a line-up of people standing all along the edge of the freeway taking pictures", reports one passer-by. The local press (Courrier-Mail) was later inundated with photos of the fire by citizen reporters.

"Where once there would have been plenty of witnesses but not much in the way of a permanent record, much of yesterday's fire is stored away in camera memory cards", reports News.com.

It will be interesting to see if the Courrier-Mail illustrates their story with some of these citizens' camphone shots (it's not online at the time of the posting of this story or else I just can't find it).

And just for the record, it was in February 2003, that the first picture taken by a citizen reporter armed with a camera phone made front page news (in Japan's largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun). A passerby photographed a bank erupting into flames. cf Japan Media Review.

Mobogging via I.M.

Blogger.com introduces BloggerBot and the quickest, easiest way for Windows users to send photos to a blog, by Instant Messaging.

In their own words:

The IM client built by the fine folks at Picasa who have worked with Blogger is called Hello. It's a peer-to-peer networking application that enables users to share photos and text-chat about them live. It's a snazzy little app but it's even more impressive when it's engineered to work seamlessly with Blogger.

BloggerBot waits patiently in the Hello client along with the names of your buddies. When you have a photo you want to post, just drag it to BloggerBot, add an optional caption, and it is inst-o-matically published to your blog. Now you're sharing your photos within seconds to the entire wired world. And get this: we host your photos for free and there's no limit on storage.

Now, sunglasses to detect eye contact!

This is wild. Canadian researchers have developed a pair of sunglasses that can detect when someone is making eye contact with the wearer, according to Web India.

"The researchers have said that besides being useful in singles bars, the system could play a key role in video blogging, a hi-tech form of diary keeping.

The glasses consist of a normal pair of shades with a small CCD camera attached on the bridge between the lenses. This is connected to a handheld computer, worn at the hip, which handles the image processing.

A potential application for the glasses would be to create attention-sensitive devices, such as mobile phones. Vertegaal's team is experimenting with using eye-contact detection to tell when someone might be too busy to receive a phone call.

But instead of switching the phone off when the person is busy, he says, the team has designed an icon to appear on the caller's phone indicating that the person they are calling is currently busy.

Vertegaal said that they have also considered broader applications, such as possible use in a singles bar. But there is a possible drawback. "The glasses don't distinguish between male and female," said Vertegaal.

Red Alert in Companies... "Technology Thieves"

Industrial espionage is hurting South Korean companies and the national economy big time, reports donga.com.

"High technology seems to be targeted as industrial espionage is mostly concentrated in the semiconductor, display, and cellular phone fields.

In order to block the leakage of key technology, some companies prohibit or restrict copying data using USB memory devices.

Samsung Electronics operates an X-ray scanner at its main building in Seoul to prevent CDs or notebook computers from leaving the company without the department head's permission.

Employees and visitors of the Suwon and Kiheung Research Institutes have to put sealing stickers on their camera phones at the entrance".

Pictures and Blogs from US Soldiers in Irak

BlueHereNow has a special section that showcases some of the more interesting pictures taken by US soldiers in Iraq as well as links to official news articles and blogs about Iraq.

British Methodist Church launches marketing campaign with camera phones as 1st prizes

The British Methodist Church has launched a text message campaign, asking young people to come up with an "11th commandment" - and first prizes are cameraphones. More in textually.org.

MMS Related Domain Names

Picturephoning's new weekly listing of MMS related domain names that have come up for sale and are available to the public again.

- mistermms.com
- mms-versender.com
- mmsbenefits.com
- mmsindi.com
- mmsnation.com
- mmsreporter.com
- operationmms.com
- pinkmms.com
- mms-ltd.net

The above names are available for registration now if anyone is interested. Source of information: Netcollateral.com.

Mobile printing for Sony Ericsson smart phones

Sony Ericsson and HP today announced an agreement to offer mobile printing to Sony Ericsson's P800 and P900 Smartphones, according to a company press release.

Using the HP Wireless Printing for Mobile Phones software application and an HP printer that supports the Bluetooth Basic Print Profile, Sony Ericsson smartphone users can select and print JPEG photos, email (text and JPEG attachments), SMS, contacts and calendar items from their phones.

Creating a New Picture of War, Pixel by Pixel

A very interesting commentary by Robert Wright for the LA Times on how America may not have brought democracy to Iraq yet, but it has already democratized Iraq's technology.

Excerpts:

[...] The revolution that is happening now — a grass-roots digital empowerment — will change the nature of war and the place of war in American foreign policy.

[...] Imagine civilians whose neighborhoods are bombed uploading pictures of wounded, crying children directly to the Web. And digital technologies more broadly will boost any postwar insurgencies.

[...] Right now, the digital revolution is complicating life for the very authoritarians who need toppling. The technologies that decentralize political power — computers, modems, mobile picture-phones — are the infrastructure of a modern economy.

[...] To restrict them tightly is to condemn your nation to a poverty that, in the long run, is politically unsustainable.

[...] The good news from Abu Ghraib is that technological evolution is on our side — on the side of democracy and transparency, and against barbarism, whether the barbarism comes from a dictator or a prison guard. In trying to create a world of open societies, Bush is going with the flow of history. The sooner he realizes that, the better.