Court camphone video footage man gets six months

A man has been given a six-month custodial sentence for taking photos in court with his mobile phone, reports the BBC.

"Shaun Nash, 19, also used the phone to take video footage while sitting in the public gallery during a robbery trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Nash, of Wilinton Road, Knowle West, pleaded guilty to contempt of court.

Sentencing Nash, Judge Michael Roach said: "What you did was extremely serious. The public need to know that mobile phones cannot be used in court."

For other related incidents from around the world:

-- A year in British jail for man using a cameraphone in court.

-- Man fined for taking a picture in South Wales court

-- Camera phones banned in Australia's courtrooms

-- Picture phones banned in Oakland County Courthouse

MMS casting by Tim

Italian carrier Tim has launched an MMS based casting to discover new "movie talents", reports Adverblog.

"The competition is divided in two parts: users can text a 20 seconds video with an interpretation of their favourite movie character, getting the chance to win the participation in a movie. The other option is to send a picture, in this case the best one will win a photographic book by Claudio Porcarelli.

The initiative will be supported by a promotional tour around the main Italian cities.

LG Electronics to release 6-megapixel camera phone

LG Electronics plans to release the 6-megapixel camera phone equipped with Canon's camera module during the first half of next year, according to industry sources in Korea and Japan, reports Telecoms Korea.

"LG's spokesman confirmed Monday "It's true that the issue is under consideration.The 6-megapixel or 7-megapixel camera phone will be launched next year."

"The launch of the 6-megapixel phone featuring higher resolution than the world first 5-megapixel phone that Samsung Electronics brought out to the market last October is expected to trigger the full-scale war among high-resolution camera phones.

The Korean handset maker is also considering introducing Sony's 7-megapixel phone."

Related: [Telecoms Korea Exclusive] LG, Canon to release 6-Megapixel Camera phone

Brand owners gear up for 3G streaming of interactive video ads

A new system of video shortcodes has been developed by mobile technology firm MXtelecom. “It'll involve 3G mobile users dialling a shortcode, opting for a video call and then being sent streamed video content to their mobiles.”

via MocoNews via Newmediazero.

Swisscom launches video telephony

Swisscom Mobile is the first Swiss mobile network operator to launch UMTS mobile phones, enabling access to attractive services such as video telephony and live TV, reports 3G.

"Starting now, Swisscom Mobile customers will be able to look their calling partner in the eye or quickly check the TV headlines while on the move."

Amazon Japan Offers Barcode Purchases via Camera Phone

via Slashdot.

Zode writes "Jesse James Garrett reports that Amazon Mobile Japan customers can purchase a item with their camera phones. "Snap a photo of a product bar code using your cell phone, and Amazon Japan will give you a price check," according to Garrett, relaying from this article in Ketai Watch (Wireless Watch - in Japanese).

Related:

-- Comparison book shopping on Amazon.com - "Now, shoppers can take out their Nokia 3650 camera phone at Barnes & Noble, Border's, or just about any other book store, and just take a picture of the ISBN on the book to comparison shop at Amazon.com right on the screen of their wireless Web browser".

Vodafone UK Selects Filmnight as Exclusive Provider of Film Related Content to its Customers

Filmnight, the on-line film retailer, has been selected to provide exclusive film and film related content for Vodafone live! with 3G services.

Filmnight was established in 2003 and is one of the UK's fastest growing retailers of DVD's via its web site, www.filmnight.com. [via newratings]

Upgrade and new report on 5-megapixel phone

Samsung Electronics plans on launching in the fist quarter of 2005, the upgraded version of their 5-megapixel phone, introduced last October, according to Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Korea.

"Samsung's next big thing would feature long range camera lens, optical zoom and auto focus functions to better meet the market demand".

Byung-duck, Cho, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics forecasts that high definition camera phones will replace low-end digital cameras, per se 2-3megapixel digital cameras, while 4-megapixel or 5-megapixel digital cameras would not be affected by those camera phones."

In a related article, Seong-ju Lee reports that Telecoms' Korea Research Team has published a pay per view 9 page report on the world's first 5-megapixel handset called:"‘Samsung Executives' Own View : The World's First 5-Megapixel Handset".

Cingular Mobile FIlm Festival

Yet another mobile film festival. Cingular has one where the top winner actually wins $5000 to make a cingular sponsored short film festival, that will be shown in their commercials and other venues. Judged by celebrities, and the usual assortment of runner up prizes like ringtones and stuff. (Thanks Media Threat)

They are encouraging Film students to enter this contest as well in the Film student division. They are giving away Motorola V551's to students at NYU, USC, and UCLA to make their short films to enter.

Other short film fests:

-- Edward Lachman and Motorola team up for camphone documentaries

-- Motorola Street Stories

-- Filmmakers, advertisers rush to create content for cell phone screens

-- Lights, Mobile Phone, Action

-- Zoie Films sponsors it's first annual "Cellular Cinema Festival"

-- 10 Second Film Festival announces "Call for Entries"

-- World's Shortest Film Competition

-- Mobile Exposure

-- Orange seeks mobile filmmakers

-- 15-second films for Nokia 3650s entered in The Raindance Film Festival

-- World's Smallest Film Festival Showcased

Do phone users want their m(obile) TV?

Some executives predict that full-fledged television could be the biggest mobile hit since voice calls, reports News.com.

Mobile TV is actually the most important application beyond voice and messaging in phones," said Andrew Cole, a vice president for consultancy A.T. Kearney.

He said U.S. users alone will spend $30 billion annually on mobile TV, money that will go to telecommunications operators, equipment makers and broadcasters. Cole said live demonstrations of television over cell phones in South Korea have gone very well.

[...] A a trial in Germany by Nokia and Vodafone showed 80 percent of people wanted TV on their mobiles and were willing to pay 12 euros ($15.63) per month for it.

Surveys by smaller rival Sony Ericsson show interest from up to 40 percent of users."

Mobile Exposure

Microcinema International will be presenting an international exhibition of Mobile Video, Curated by Patrick Lichty. [via list@rhizome.org]

Mobile Exposure will be a traveling theatrical festival which will be released later as a Microcinema DVD.

What are the distinctive qualities of Mobile Video, and how do narratives from this technological set differ from its predecessors? Does the intimacy and mobility of the video-enabled cell phone create a change in perspective? Does it represent a culture of universal surveillance where there is a universal intimacy but a complete lack of private space?

How does the mobile perspective shift our perception in the way the mediated image of the cellular/network individual is represented? Does its low-resolution somehow challenge the aesthetics, 'truthfulness', or technofetishism of the increasingly filmic nature of video?

These are some of the questions that Mobile Exposure hopes to address.

Click here for submission details and deadline.

Saudi bride roughs up guest for photographing her

It's hard to tell if this is the same story being recycled all over again, or if it's a new incident, so here goes anyway.

Brunei Direct reports that an enraged Saudi bride badly beat up a female wedding guest who had photographed her with a camera-equipped mobile phone, a newspaper reported.

After spotting the woman taking the picture in the all-female section of the party in the western city of Taif, the bride "beat her severely, destroyed her mobile phone and pulled her by her hair in front of all the guests," the Al-Jazirah daily said.

The bride then ripped off the woman's veil and announced through a microphone the woman's motives, before receiving a round of applause "for being vigilant". She then tidied up her appearance and proceeded with the celebration."

Click here for links to related stories

Cameraphones to report on sheep rustlers

Hi-tech, modern satellite tracking equipment may be used to crack the age-old crime of sheep rustling, reports the BBC.

"Officers at Dyfed-Powys Police are considering the move in reaction to a steep increase in thefts of the animals. A new survey by the Farmers' Union of Wales shows that thousands of sheep are going missing each year.

"But it is very much in the early stages and cost and the feasibility of the scheme needs to be assessed."

In the meantime, the FUW president Gareth Vaughan urged people to use camera phones to capture images of rustling.

"Virtually everyone has a mobile phone, and mobiles with digital cameras are the latest must-have gadgets.

"I would appeal to anyone who has one of these camera phones and who sees something that looks suspicious to take a photograph of the incident".

"Photographs of lorries, trailers and number plates could be extremely useful."

Camera Phones to Get 99% of Local Market in 2005

South Koreans who want to purchase a cell phone without built-in cameras will have a hard time next year as camera phones will make up 99 percent of local sales, according to The Korea Times.

"The nation's handset manufacturers said Monday local sales of camera phones rocketed from 1.3 million in 2002 to 7.1 million last year. The figure is projected to reach 13 million this year and 15 million for 2005.

As a result, the camera-embedded phones will capture 51 percent of the market in 2003, up from 8 percent in 2002.

The ratio is forecast to further jump to 81 percent this year and 99 percent for 2005.

Police think girl was targeted because she had cell phone

This is really chilling. The killer of a 7-year-old girl in Nara last Thursday may have targeted her because she always had a cell phone hung around her neck when commuting to and from school, police sources said Monday, according to Japan Today.

"The police suspect the killer was looking for a child with a cell phone to send photos to the kin by using the phone as was carried out in the case, the sources said.

Related article, posted last week: GPS Phone worked, school girl murdered anyway.

Badge keeps paparazzi out of the picture

Celebrities hounded by paparazzi may at last be able to emerge from behind their dark glasses without trepidation, reports the UK Times Online via Idéespresse.

By wearing a specially designed electronic badge that jams electronic cameras, they will be able to prevent photographers from taking unwanted pictures.

The “privacy protection system” being developed by Hewlett-Packard will allow the publicity-shy to transmit an infrared signal to any nearby compatible camera. Once activated, the camera's software will automatically blur beyond recognition the face of anybody wearing the badge.

Although the technology will offer some comfort to those who are assailed by the press against their will, it will do nothing for hundreds of aspiring starlets to solve the opposite problem — not being photographed enough.

Nokia's Celebrity Mode Feature
To this end, Nokia is developing a new Global Positioning System with which phonecam users will be able to invite paparazzi to take their picture. By clicking a “celebrity mode” button the camera sends out a Wi-Fi signal inviting anyone near by with a compatible camera to take a photograph.

Clip-on Earring takes pictures
Alongside its “privacy protection system”, Hewlett-Packard is developing a camera activated by a brooch or a clipped-on earring which can take a picture of someone without their knowledge.

The earring contains an accelerometer that detects a flick of the head and sends a wireless trigger signal to the camera to take a picture.

Camera phone storms into everyday life

Nathan Hunsinger, writing for the Dallas Morning News looks at the higher resolution camera phones "as a convenient way to remember details" - such as:

-- What's in your fridge and pantry - check your camphone pic while grocery shopping

-- Take pictures of your kids - instead of carrying them around in your wallet

-- Take a picture of your figure to remind you to watch your diet

-- Send a picture instead of a postcard when you're travelling.

Orange seeks mobile filmmakers

Orange is on the hunt to find the UK's first mobile phone filmmaker to coincide with the launch of its new mobile video-editing technology, according to Webuser.

"Called PaperCut, the technology lets mobile phone users on any network edit films they have shot with a video-enabled handset.

To take part in the Orange Paper Film Festival, filmmakers are asked to recreate scenes from their favourite films using paper characters, available from the Paperfilms.co.uk website or Orange shops.

Using PaperCut, mobile users can edit six video clips together to create a 60 second film and can add a choice of five soundtracks. "

More on LG Electronics New Broadcast Phone

From Mobile Pipeline:

"Korea's LG Electronics this week unveiled what it claims is the first cell phone that can receive and play terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) television signals. (cf LG Unveils New Broadcast Phone)

A recent spate of mobile phones are able to stream television broadcasts transmitted over the Internet. However, LG says it has put a tiny DMB television receiver in its phone. That means the phone can receive over-the-air television signals, although not sources such as cable and satellite broadcasts.

The system enables users to speak on the phone at the same time they are watching television, according to a statement released by the company. It said it used a team of 130 researchers to develop the technology over the last two years and has filed 150 patents related to the device.

For good measure, the phone also supports MP3 playback and has a built-in 1.3 megapixel cameraphone. The company also insists the device has long battery life. The device has a 2.4-inch high-definition LCD screen.

GPS Phone worked, school girl murdered anyway

[from RFID Japan]

"An elementary school girl was kidnapped in the Japanese city of Nara yesterday. The girl had a GPS-enabled mobile phone. At 5PM, the girl called her mom and hanged up immediately. The mother knew that she could get a map indicating where her daughter was if the daughter's cell phone was turned on. She fetched a map and found that the girl was located in a park near her house.

Later on, the kidnapper used the girl's phone to send a photo SMS message to her mother -- it said "I got your girl." That was at around 8PM. According to GPS data, the message was sent from a residential area that was 6 kilometers away from her house. Since then, it was impossible to access GPS data, which probably meant that the phone's battery run out or the phone was turned off by someone. 4 hours later, the girl was found dead near the the area indicated by the last GPS data.

This tragedy raises a question about usefulness of new tracking technologies including GPS and active RFID. Do they do anything beyond providing parents with small peace of mind? From a child's perspective, if GPS and/or active RFID tags don't make his/her life safer, what's the point in carrying them around? Makes me feel like something is missing".

"Camera-less" cell phone

"Camera-less" - the selling point behind the launch of a new handset, the T-Mobile SDA.

"Since camera phones are being forbidden in more and more places it is good to known that after camera-less T-Mobile MDA III, now also camera-less T-Mobile SDA is coming... [via ms mobiles].

Related:

-- Sprint puts lens cap on camera phones - The corporate backlash against mobile phones with built-in cameras has spurred Sprint to remove the lens from one of their best-selling models, the Treo 600.