Mobile TV coming of age

With mobiles starting to dominate our daily lives, there is growing interest in the idea of TV on the phone, reports the BBC.

"Korea and Japan are way ahead of the game and have been testing several methods of reception for a couple of years.

The existing Korean 3G network is fast enough to stream live TV. It is basically broadband TV on your mobile.

In Asia, the race for the best mobile TV coverage is on. SK Telecom will soon launch a rival to the 3G service, broadcasting mobile TV by satellite.

And because consistency has never featured highly in technology circles, a third method is on its way.

In Europe, trials in Berlin and Helsinki are using existing terrestrial TV masts to broadcast compressed signals to handsets with additional receivers.

Now broadcasters are thinking about making the right kind of programmes and making sure people can afford to watch them.

Mobile TV is on its way, but it will probably be some time before television really breaks out of its box in the living room."

Samsung Introduces 3 Million Pixel Resolution Camera Phone

A 3 million pixel camera phone with digital camera level resolution has been introduced on the Korean market, reports Digital Chosunilbo with Daily News in English about Korea.

"Samsung launched its new video-clip-recordable 3 million pixel camera phone SPH-2300 on Sunday.

Samsung is the second company to put out a 3 million pixel camera phone on the market; the first was Casio with its digital zoom camera phones launched in June."

Man arrested for taking photo under girl's skirt

In a newstory which is sure to unleash more camera phone fears, a man has been accused of using his camera phone to take pictures under a young girl's skirt, according to NBC2.

"A Virginia man visiting Southwest Florida is in jail charged with voyeurism after witnesses say he used his camera phone to take pictures under a young girl's skirt. Paul Green, 56, was arrested at the Edison Mall Thursday.

Police reports say a 14-year-old girl was looking at cell phones with her mother at a mall kiosk when the picture or pictures were taken.

A witness heard the commotion and followed Green to the mall's exit doors and kept him there until officers arrived. According to the report, the man said it looked like Green was erasing digital photos from his camera while they waited.

Police could not retrieve any of the pictures from the phone and will try to see if any deleted items can be restored.

Green denied to police that he took any pictures with his camera".

Department of Defense rules on wireless security

The new Department of Defense rules on wireless security should help clear the way for the spread of these increasingly popular communications technologies throughout the military. Read more in today's post in Textually "Spelling Out Wireless Security", according to a report by Military Information Technology.

Sprint releases first U.S. megapixel camera phone

Sprint has just released the Sprint PCS Vision Picture Phone PM-8920, the United States' first megapixel camera phone, reports RCRNews.

"The device, manufactured by Audiovox, is now available nationwide for $300, though it can be purchased for $150 after rebates".

Museum to Offer Photos of Art to Download

Art lovers may soon be able to dial "M" for masterpiece. The State Hermitage Museum plans to offer cell phone users an opportunity to have reproductions of the museum's masterpieces on their screens, the museum's director said Wednesday, reports The Associated Press.

"Director Mikhail Piotrovsky said he considered such a possibility as a chance "to develop good taste, especially for youth".

"Thanks to this project, people will have another opportunity for access to the Hermitage," he said. "It will be a simple and modern opportunity, which at the same time won't lessen the Hermitage's significance. It will be just another way of bringing beauty into our life."

He said reproductions of about 100 artworks would be available, ranging from Rembrandt paintings to Scythian gold and ancient sculptures.

A color photo from the Hermitage collection, which can serve as picture on a mobile screen, will cost a mobile user $1, while a graphic attachment with text will cost $2.50, he said.

The Hermitage press service did not have a specific startup date but said the project would begin soon".

Mobile Videophones Meet TV News

Frank Beacham for TV technology has written the most interesting and insightful article on how new technologies are impacting broadcast news.

"We are entering the era of the mobile videophone, a technology so potentially powerful that anyone can become an instant journalist. Images can be revealed throughout the world in a matter of minutes.

Those whose job it is to keep secrets are rushing back to the drawing board. Donald Rumsfeld is one who comes to mind. In his testimony before congressional committees, the defense secretary said that the flood of pictures was now beyond the control of U.S. authorities.

A broadcaster who has not missed this coming sea change in newsgathering technology is the BBC. Earlier this year, the "beeb" outfitted about 40 of its reporters with Nokia mobile videophones that enable them to e-mail still and motion video with audio back to news headquarters via GPRS.

The (BBC) reporters are using the same Nokia 3650 phones found at many U.S. mobile phone stores. However, these phones have been outfitted with special software from Philips that allows the handsets to record up to 15 minutes of video. When finished, the reporter simply transmits the pictures to the BBC in London.

Both Philips and the BBC acknowledge the enormous potential of newsgathering using standard mobile phones. Journalists in the field covering breaking stories can now send video reports back from difficult or remote locations. Though the image resolution is low, the technology works well enough for breaking stories where time-to-air is paramount.

[...] So far, the BBC is the only major news organization to publicly announce its use of mobile videophones for on-air reporting. Though they have been quiet, we can't imagine that U.S. news operations are asleep at the wheel on this one.

No doubt that caution will change as the technology improves (and you can bet it will) and a few aggressive and enterprising young journalists start beating big news organizations at their own game.

SMS barcode revolution kicks off in Ireland

Textus, a young Dublin mobile software firm has introduced SMS bar codes that can be used in point-of-sale transactions, reports SiliconRepublic.

"Described as a multi-modal mobile ticketing and redemption solution, the M-Scan solution will allow Aircoach customers, for example, to buy tickets for the service by either IVR (instant voice response) or over the internet.

Once the credit card transaction has been completed a bar code for the appropriate quantity is sent instantly to the customer's mobile phone. When the customer is boarding an Aircoach vehicle they simply open up the message and swipe the bar code image over a barcode reader beside the driver and the transaction is complete."

“Nearly everybody has a mobile phone these days so we believe that there are serious advantages to be had in terms of other promotional or ticket-based events such as going to the cinema, a football match or concert. There are all kinds of possibilities that we are exploring,” Textus marketing manager Brian Hannan said.

Mobile phone cameras lend doctors a hand

In their two-month study, Australian doctors at Sydney's Nepean Hospital showed how this low-cost version of telemedicine helped them to treat people with hand injuries, reports ABC Science Online.

"Telemedicine, or delivering healthcare from afar using telecommunications, can be expensive and difficult to set-up, but the advantage of phone messaging was that it was cheap and easy to use.

Consultants are hard to contact and often very busy, said Lam. They rely on registrars, specialists-in-training, to describe x-rays and injuries thoroughly. Dr Tai Khoa Lam said a phone camera would help clarify that communication.

The quality of the images may be an issue, some critics say. But Lam didn't find that. "You need to hold the camera steady and know whether you should put the hand in the light or dark to get the best image."

Using mobile phone images in telemedicine has been trialled before, said Australian e-medicine specialist Professor Richard Wootton from the Centre for Online Health at the University of Queensland.

For example, doctors in Japan and Finland have used mobile phones to send images of x-rays and CT scans. And doctors in the UK have sent images to establish whether burns patients needed to be sent to a regional burns centre.

"Obviously the small screen has very low resolution," Wootton said. But he said research in Finland found the images taken of x-ray and CT scans weren't missing any crucial details."

Reported recently, a scheme to cut road deaths involving picture messaging from mobile phones has been disapointing so far. cf Camera phone test proves a flop for emergency services.

Taiwan's Pixart Reaps Camera Phone Boom, Eyes IPO

Taiwan's Pixart Imaging, a designer of digital camera chips, expects 2004 revenue to grow well beyond its own forecast of 33 percent amid booming sales of camera-equipped cellphones, the firm's president said on Monday. [Reuters].

"Camera phones are growing so fast that it is almost frightening, and from phones, cameras are spreading to other devices," Pixart President Sen Huang said.

"We expect that all notebook computers, not just high-end ones, will have a built-in cameras because they are just too inexpensive."

BBC TV show to feature viewers Pics

A new BBC1 TV primetime live show Johnny and Denise will feature viewers amusing MMS pics judged on air each week using a new picture message management system, reports 160characters.org.

Every week Johnny and Denise and the studio audience will pick their favourite photo. This week's Phone Photo challenge is in honour of silly hats in catwalk fashion, with the viewers invited to take a photo with anything on their head.

For more on how Television shows are using MMS, check out this category in Picturephoning.com.

Security at courthouses focuses on camera phones

Cameras aren't allowed in courtrooms in Maryland. So, in an age of heightened security and terrorism alerts, when officers are busy screening courthouse visitors for guns, knives and other potential weapons, they're adding camera phones to their list of items to watch out for, reports the The Baltimore Sun.

Procedures for dealing with camera phones vary from courthouse to courthouse.

-- In Towson and Baltimore, the phones are held in locked drawers until their owners reclaim them.

-- In Howard County, the phones must be taken outside the building.

-- In Anne Arundel County, they're allowed in courtrooms, but are confiscated if deputies catch people using them - either to talk or take pictures.

-- In Baltimore City, visitors are given the option of leaving their camera phones at the guard's desk or returning them to their cars.

Peggy Smith, security supervisor for the Baltimore County courts building, said she is seeing an increasing number of camera phones at the courthouse. From June 21 to 27, she said, deputies held 181 camera phones.

Related articles on camera phones in court:

-- Camera phones banned in Australia's courtrooms

-- A year in jail for using a cameraphone in court

-- Cell phone cameras getting day in court--or not

Vodafone launches controls to stop kids looking at 'adult content'

Update. Rafat Ali has a scoop on Vodafone's UK content blocking policy which went into effect on June 30th night. The company is considering a rollback on the blocking rules after thing went awry due to technical difficulties.

"Despite the fact that has launched more than three months late, Vodafone's Content Control mechanism is still a total mess, a source affected by this content blocking has told me", writes Rafat Ali on Moco News.

Vodafone announced it has its third-generation porn and gambling locked down, according to Silicon.com via near near future.

"From now on, access to 'adult' internet content – pornography, gambling, violent games, chat and dating services – will be blocked from all 3G phones as standard. Those wanting to peruse porn or the like will have to show the operator they're of age, either by registering a credit card or showing themselves in a Vodafone shop.

All of the major UK operators have agreed to introduce technology to stop kids looking at adult content via their phones by December".

UDAR's camera phone purchasing system

UDAR is a company who has fully developed, tested and is about to launch a camera phone purchasing system, that reads any standard bar code, linked to a supermarket for home delivery.

Their system, due to it's native software, makes the process extremly fast and cheap to transmit. According to Alec Gianikis, President of UDAR, "our past experience in the supermarket industry has made our customer interfase extremly user friendly and effective to increase the mean average ticket valu , buy using Marketing & Advertising Tools, all of which have been in used in our batch solution for almost 3 years now".

Anyone interested in additional information, can contact Alec Gianakis, info@udar.cc.

Hawaii legislation on cameraphones

Add Hawaii to the list of US States where legislators have passed a law banning photography in public with a camera phone of individuals, without their permission. [ UPI ]

Fujitsu Labs Develops Technology to Embed 'Invisible' Data on Printed Image

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd announced a new technology to "invisibly" embed data in a printed color image, reports NEAsia via near near future.

"The technology puts an original image and data to be embedded together into code, and then prints them as one picture. The printed picture can be taken into a phone camera and decoded by specific software for the user to make a phone call or access a Web site.

Fujitsu Laboratories expects the following applications:

-- users can make a phone call by reading a phone number from a picture on a name card they obtain from a business;

-- download ring melody data for their mobile phone by scanning a picture on a CD jacket they like;

-- collect information on a shop/restaurant while reading about them in a magazine."

Other articles on related barcode technologies:

-- Mobile Barcode Scanning Catching On In Japan

-- Sydney concert venue tries SMS barcode system

-- Nokia camera phones for grocery shopping

-- Barcodes for the World of Ends

-- Scanbuy works with Ericsson to equip new cell phones with bar code commerce solutions

-- Sem@code: real-world hyperlinks with a camera phone

-- Technology links ads to website via cell phone

-- New Commerce System Uses Barcode on Picture Phones

-- Comparison book shopping on Amazon.com thanks to Nokia camera phones and Neomedia Technologies

Camera phone as universal tri-corder

Deviceforce.com as published a whitepaper describing some research into innovative and futuristic uses of camera phones being investigated in Intel's research labs, reports Linx Devices.

The global proliferation of cell phones with cameras brings more opportunities to use mobile phone devices in different capacities -- and the best part is that these applications require no additional hardware.

In Intel's research, camera phones are being used as pointing devices, authentication devices, storage devices, and even as user interfaces for systems that, because of cost and/or form factor, aren't able to accommodate a display of their own.

Learn more about potential future applications for camera phones from this fascinating whitepaper by a senior researcher with Intel Research in Cambridge, U.K.

Vodafone does free MMS

In an effort to kick start interest in mobile picture messaging, Vodafone has announced it will offer subscribers free "PXT" messages until the end of September, reports Australian IT.

"Vodafone customers will be able to send MMS messages for free to any mobile on any network in Australia or to any email address in the world.

Vodafone and its competitors normally charge 75c per MMS message.

Buy With A Wave Of A Phone

Somewhere in that long list of things that mobile phones were one day "supposed to become" was a replacement for the credit card. [ Forbes ]

"Sour Chhor wants to make it happen, and he's closer than you might expect. He's general manager of a group at Philips Electronics focused on developing a technology called near field communications (NFC) that is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and could within a year start turning common mobile phones into the spendthrift's best friend.

Consider the following scenario: Walking down a street, you spot a poster advertising that you can buy your favorite artist's new single right then and there. All you have to do is hold your mobile phone up close to the poster, and the song downloads directly to the phone--which also happens to be a digital music player, for easy playback.

And why not use the phone to buy concert tickets too? Not only will the phone handle payment but it will also become the ticket. Wave it in front of the turnstile at the concert venue, and the phone gets you in the door, where it can also be used to buy a T-shirt.

"The nice thing about NFC is that it's so intuitive, there's almost nothing you need to learn to understand it," Chhor says. "It's like walking into a room and just talking to someone."

Samsung Turns Camera Phone Owners Into Directors

Samsung is running an ad campaign that shows the ease with which one can use their camera phone to capture every minute little detail of their life and turn it into a movie, reports adrants via near near future.

"This spot heralds the new age when everyone with a video phone can be a movie director. A perky actress shoots her way through a love story, a rain storm, flambéed meals, a fashion show, a boardwalk game arcade, a hip night spot and a hotel balcony overlooking the Empire State Building. And that was all in the first day".

Vodafone Inside:Out

unit9 has just completed an online project that celebrates the global world of Vodafone through images. Staff, and the world at large on the web can view and vote on galleries of images contained in a website. (Thanks Xavier).

The images can be browsed in different ways, and are arranged in league tables. The highest scoring images receive prizes. The site goes live for a month today on  vodafoneinsideout.com.

Each time you log in, a new image should appear.

Not so happy with the snaps

It has been two years since picture messaging was launched in the UK but the medium has yet to take off with the masses. Sean Dodson for The Guardian, looks at the reasons for the slow growth.

The major reasons for barrier to a mass uptake in MMS? Interoperability - you still can't always send an MMS from one phone operator to another - and it's costly. People basically use their camera phone to snap and store pictures temporarily, using them as screensavers or transferring the pictures to their computer using Bluetooth or infrared.

"On Monday, the The Mobile Data Association released the first industry-wide assessment of picture messaging. It reported that more than 11 million MMS active devices - nearly a quarter of all mobiles in the UK - have been registered for picture messaging on the four major UK networks (O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone). A quarter of all mobile users have sent at least one picture message in the past three months."

Pictures in practice

The Guardian has an interesting example of how and architect uses his cameraphone.

"Architect Henry Squire, 31, has a practice in London. He initially used his Nokia 6600 as a mobile sketchbook, snapping architectural detail on his travels from site to site.

He began incorporating picture messaging into his core business. Squire recently visited Freiberg and the manufacturers of the largest revolving doors in the world. His contractors were nervous about the acquisition, so he simply sent them a snap from his phone. He says it helped close the deal."