Kids Xmas Wish List

Electronic gadgetry will be lighting up the tree this holiday season, if kids' holiday wishes come true. According to the annual KidzEyes Holiday Wish List and Habits survey, 39 percent of kids said electronics -- such as computers, video game systems and games, televisions and more -- are the best kind of present to get.

"It's on the list ... Forty percent of kids want to put a cell phone on their wish list. Other electronics to hit the list include: a video game system (37 percent), computer software games (36 percent), a computer (35 percent), a digital camera (33 percent), a DVD player (32 percent) and a camera phone (31 percent).

[company press release]

Phortune-Tellers: putting the future in future phones

Mike Popovic, widely credited with starting the first moblogging site, hiptop Nation and behind one of the most original and amusing camera phone services offered to date, Phortune-Tellers - whereby you can have your camphone pictures of your noodle soup studied and interpreted by a fortune teller, has expanded his services to offer: I-Ching, Phortune Cookies and the most recent addition - Boba Tea Readings:

1. Enjoy some boba tea
2. Take a picture of the boba floating in your tea
3. Send your pic to boba@bedope.com

Blogging grows by getting smaller

CBS MarketWatch's Frank Barnako talks to Mena Trott about moblogging and the future of blogs and there's some interesting background on the growth of the entire blogging industry. [ Six Apart Professional Network via Eyebeam reBlog]

"There's a new kind of Web log: Call it a me-blog.

People are posting their camera phone pictures to remind themselves where they were yesterday, lines of computer code that can easily be cut and pasted, even grocery lists.

"I keep my own moblog [mobile blog] with a camera phone," said Mena Trott, co-founder of Six Apart, the software firm that developed two blog products; Movable Type and TypePad. "Only five or six people read it, like my parents, so they can keep up with what I'm doing. It's an easy way to keep a record of your life, for yourself."

DoCoMo's 3G phones with 3D sound

DoCoMo unveiled a new line of advanced mobile phones with stereo-quality surround sound, high-resolution digital cameras, and a special chip that allows owners to use their phones as a debit card. [via Mobile Media Japan]

"All the phones offer "three-dimensional" surround sound that allow users to hear the whack of a golf ball, clapping of hands, or bells ringing in games. They also have 3D graphics."

Nokia Demos Mobile Call Using IPv6

Nokia has developed a prototype handset that supports Mobile Internet Protocol version 6, a version of the protocol that will help to improve the quality of voice over IP, streaming video, and other applications delivered to wireless devices, reports PC World.

New Tech Turns Camera Phones Into Document Scanners

Xerox yesterday announced a new imaging technology that can effectively turn megapixel camera phones into portable document scanners, according to a company press release via Phone Scoop:

"The software, optimized for images of printed documents, handwritten notes, and whiteboards, corrects for poor lighting, distorted images, blurring, shadows, reflections, and other problems frequently encountered in a real-world environment. The software also uses G4 fax compression to reduce the file size to 1/10 that of JPEG, making it easy to send and print."

Camera phone clampdown demanded

ZDNet UK reports there is growing pressure on manufacturers to introduce safeguards to stop camera phones being used to take intrusive snaps.

"Industry bodies and activists are calling for tighter curbs on camera phones, claiming that the devices pose a serious threat to civil liberties.

Privacy International (PI) warned on Tuesday that it has seen a steep rise in the number of complaints from members of the public who say that camera phones have been used to take private and intrusive images without consent.

PI is calling on manufacturers to change the design of future camera phones so that they flash every time a picture is taken.

"The ability to covertly capture images and then instantly transmit those images removes any safeguard for the victim," warned Simon Davies, PI director.

"Phone companies have a legal and a moral responsibility to fix these problems. This is not an attack on the technology. It is a call to make the technology safe," Davies added.

LGIS Taps into RFID business

LG Industrial System announced Tuesday its decision to embark on RFID business and briefed its corporate customers on the plan. [ via Telecoms Korea ]

LG Telecom Opens Exhibition for Phone Photos

LG Telecom holds CanU Camera Phone Photo Exhibition in its 30 outlets nationwide until December 31 in an attempt to show off the beauty of pictures taken by CanU Camera phones, the company announced Tuesday.

Although there are dozens of types of camera phones on the market, LGT explained, it is the first off-line exhibition showing pictures taken only by camera phones.

CanU, a 2-megapixel CCD camera phone, features the Best Shot function allowing various shooting modes such as portrait, landscape and night landscape shots, so that even beginners can take pictures as well as experts, the mobile carrier emphasized.

By Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Korea.

Other camera phone art events held around the world:

-- Fonetography exhibit to raise money for UK Mencap - Images from camera phones have even made it into the art world, as "an exhibition next month in aid of the UK charity Mencap, will feature snaps taken from the camera phones of top artists. The exhibition, Fonetography, will feature images taken by photographers David Bailey, Rankin and Nan Goldin, and artists Sir Peter Blake, Tracey Emin and Jack Vettriano."

-- Fourteen Days of their lives: European Camera Phone art exhibition - Hosted by Proud Galleries in Camden, Celebrities such as Irvine Welsh, Helena Christansen, Trevor Nelson and Claudia Schiffer are documenting Fourteen Days of their lives using the Sony Ericsson K700i.

-- SENT phonecam art show launches with Motorola - The phonecam art show Xeni Jardin is co-curating -- the first of its kind in America -- is online, and you are invited to share your futurephone snapshots of the world with the world. The website is live now, and a gallery show will open at a downtown Los Angeles space on July 9, 2004.

-- The Mobile Phone Photo Show - The Mobile Phone Photography Show is a participatory exhibition of mobile phone photography, curated by Kurt Bigenho and Gregory Cowley, opening May 20 - through June 18, 2003 on 132 Eddy Street in San Francisco.

Camera Phone Code of Conduct: "Think Before You Click!”

The Consumer Electronics Association, the main trade group for gadget makers of all types has just published a set of guidelines meant to defuse growing efforts to restrict the use of mobile phones equipped with digital cameras.

"The group's "Camera Phone Code of Conduct" consists of seven rules meant to balance digital imaging ubiquity with privacy and other concerns."

1. Camera phones should not be used where photographic equipment is typically banned, for example: museums, movie theaters, and live performances. Users should look for signs posted in public places. which indicate whether photographic equipment is banned.

2. Camera phones should not be used in public areas considered “private” by those who use them, for example: bathrooms, changing rooms, and gym locker rooms.

3. Camera phones should not be used without authorization to record and/or transfer confidential information. This may apply within a corporate, government or educational environment.

4. Camera phones should not be used to take photos of individuals without their knowledge and consent.

5. Discretion is advised when using your camera phone to take photos of individuals under the age of 18.

6. Safety is paramount when operating a motor vehicle. Users should refrain from using the camera or video function of a wireless ohone when driving.

7. Camera phone users should always respect the privacy of others. Photography of individuals without their consent, when and where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, may be prohibited by law.

For more information on Camera Phone Etiquette, contact www.ce.org/cameraphone.

LG Unveils New Broadcast Phone

LG Electronics, the world's fifth-largest mobile phone manufacturer, on Monday unveiled brand-new broadcasting handset based on locally developed technology, reports The Korea Times .

The phone, weighing 170 grams, will be operated under homegrown technology called the terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), which will be commercially launched from next year.

Terrestrial DMB allows people to enjoy seamless video, CD-quality audio and data on the move through mobile gadgets like cell phones or in-car devices.

``Up until now, terminals for terrestrial DMB were too bulky to carry and were not equipped with cell phone functions. We overcame such obstacles with up-to-date technologies,'' LG said in a statement."

Advanced Cell Phones Vulnerable to Glitches

As handsets are packed with such advanced features as camera, TV, MP3 and credit card, reports on handset glitches are amounting. Phone users contend that the product intermittently powers down while its bell is ringing, reports prolific writer Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Korea.

"According to Korea Consumer Protection Board, about 3500 complaints about handset glitches have bombarded the organization.

YMCA argued, “Handset glitches are mainly due to lack of sufficient tests on the part of manufacturers as they are bent on selling more phones than their competitors. They are ignoring the glitches of cell phones as they replace an old model with a new one in a very short period of time.” “If those problems remain unresolved, it would have negative impact on Korean handsets in the global market.”, they said."

Tracking Fashion With RFID

RFID antennas riding on rails can take full inventories. DHL Solutions Fashion, a global logistics service provider for clothing manufacturers and retailers, is offering the French fashion industry a way to test item-level RFID tagging of garments in order to help speed the delivery of their products as well as enable shipments to be tracked through the supply chain. [via RFID Journal]

"The garment industry has unique requirements because retailers are locked in a battle to get key fashion trends from the design table to the shelves as quickly as possible, RFID technology offers the logistical advantages to respond to this challenge," says Christophe Cavailles, director of DHL Solutions Fashion."

Dilbert on cameraphones

via Cameraphone report. For larger picture, click here.

«Catch the Tigra» MMS campaign

Car manufacturer Opel launched an MMS based game in Switzerland, reports Adverblog

"People who signed up online giving their cell phone number, received an SMS alert saying the new Opel Tigra TwinTop car was in town. Those able to spot the car and take a picture of it could then send an MMS to enter a draw-competition and win a car.

To find out more about "Catch the Tigra" you can read the case study on Trio's site (in French).

Cingular Takes Postcards Mobile

Cingular Wireless customers armed with their camera phones now have the ability to take the "Wish You Were Here" postcard concept wireless, thanks to a new partnership forged between the carrier and Fuji Photo Film USA, reports Wireless Week.

"The Mobile Postcard service enables Cingular customers to snap a photo with their wireless handset and then select a postcard design, add a personal message and e-mail it off."

Related articles and services:

-- Picturetrail ap sends postcard from java-enabled camera phones (USA)

-- Vodafone to launch MMS postcard service (Sweden)

-- Nokia launches MMS Postard services (Denmark and Norway)

-- MMS postcards sent by the post office(Germany)

-- MMS postcards sent by the post office (Netherlands)

-- MMS postcards from Swisscom (Switzerland)

-- Vodafone sends postcards by mobile phone (Portugal)

Japanese radio stations to test QR code broadcasting

KDDI and six audio broadcast companies including Bunka Housou (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, Inc.) announced that they willtest together digital audio broadcasting, reports RFID in Japan.

"In particular, they will test a system for broadcasting QR codes to mobile phones (that are equipped with digital radio receivers).

Bunka Housou made a 20 minutes radio program that exploits the data broadcasting technology to send QR codes and audio files to mobile receivers. The purpose of this pilot test is to check technical feasibility. Business models still need to be developed if the companies want to put this technology into real uses. Ideas they talk about at this point are: to use QR code broadcasting to distribute tickets and coupons for events.

The next step: RFID tags that listen to the radio???"

Mobile picture power in your pocket

On-the-spot snappers are helping newspapers add immediacy to their breaking news stories headlines, where professional photographers only arrive in time for the aftermath, reports the BBC in a general overview of how citizen reporters and the press are using cameraphones.

"Celebrities might not welcome such a change because they may never be free of a new breed of mobile phone paparazzi making their lives a bit more difficult.

Already one tabloid newspaper in LA is issuing photographers with camera phones to help them catch celebrities at play.

It could be the start of a trend that only increases as higher resolution phone cameras become more widespread; as video phones catch on and millions of people start carrying the gadgets around.

[...] But this is not just about traditional media lending immediacy to their stories with content from ordinary people, it is also about first-hand journalism in the form of online diaries or weblogs.

It has been called "open source news" or even "moblog journalism" and it has flourished in the recent US election campaign. "

Video phones act as dating tools

Hundreds have submitted a mobile video profile to win a place at the world's first video mobile dating event.

The top 100 meet their match on 30 November at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA).

The event, organised by the 3G network, 3, could catch on as the trend for unusual dating events, like speed dating, continues.

"It's the beginning of the end of the blind date as we know it," said Graeme Oxby 3's marketing director.

Hundreds of hopefuls submitted their profiles, and special booths were set up in a major London department store for two weeks where expert tips were given on how to visually improve their chances.

The 100 most popular contestants voted by the public will gather at the ICA in separate rooms and "meet" by phone.

Related article: Videophone Dating

Samsung to Sell U.S. High-Speed Phone in Early 2005

Samsung plans to introduce a mobile telephone with high-speed Internet links in the United States in the first quarter of next year, an executive said on Thursday. [via Reuters]

"Samsung plans to sell another phone in the first quarter aimed at people who use their phones to play video games. The n330 has a screen that can be made bigger for game playing and can be set to vibrate at key points during a game."

Man charged over sneaky beach snaps

The first man to be arrested for surreptitious photography was charged with offensive behaviour by officers in Sydney over the weekend, reports the Mail&Guardian Online.

"The 25-year-old was spotted on Saturday afternoon photographing topless sunbathers at Coogee Beach, a popular spot south of Bondi Beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Witnesses alleged that he had been taking photographs while pretending to be on the phone. One witness, who grabbed the man round the throat when he saw him photographing his girlfriend, said he had claimed to be innocent when confronted.

Local police said it was the first time such sneak photography had resulted in the offensive behaviour charge, which carries a A$660 maximum fine or up to three months' imprisonment.

Five men were arrested in Queensland's Gold Coast last December for using phone cameras to take pictures up the skirts of women and girls attending annual school-leavers' celebrations.

One minute episodes of "24" for Vodafones

In what appeared to be the first arrangement of its kind, Twentieth Century Fox said Wednesday it would create a unique series of one-minute dramas based on its hit show "24" exclusively for a new high-speed wireless service being offered by Vodafone PLC, reports MSNBC.

Vodafone will begin offering the one-minute epidosdes in January in the United Kingdom, coinciding with the start of the fourth season of the show on a satellite TV service.

The "mobisodes," as they're being called, will be introduced later in 2005 in up to 23 more countries where Vodafone operates, mainly in Europe, as well as in the United States through the company's Verizon Wireless joint venture.

Teri Everett, a spokeswoman for Fox Entertainment Group, said Fox's deal with Vodafone represented the first time a Hollywood studio had agreed to make a TV series expressly for distribution on cell phones.

Music, games, porn - Vodafone launches 3G

Vodafone has confirmed it's the first of the big four mobile operators to launch a 3G service, with the wraps officially taken off the third generation tech to 13 countries today, reports Silicon.com.

"The UK's biggest service provider, with 139 million customers worldwide, is leading the 3G push with 10 new handsets, seven of which will be exclusive to Vodafone - with the Sharp 902 debuting as Europe's first two-megapixel camera phone.

The Vodafone Live! portal has also been overhauled and over 100 content providers - from Man Utd to Maxim - to tempt users into spending on downloads, as well as making browsing the web absolutely free."

Three years in jail for candid camera photos

New Zealand has plans to introduce a three-year jail sentence on anyone to capture an intimate photograph of someone without their knowledge. Justice Minister Phil Goff announced, the law to be passed in 2005, specifically entails any offence to record intimate situations involving nudity, partial nudity or any other type of sexual intimacy. [via Mobilemag]

Related:

-- Law May Curb Cell Phone Camera Use - Cell phone camera voyeurism will soon be a federal offense if the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004 continues its nearly unopposed march through Congress.

-- Canadian sentenced for posting pictures taken with cameraphone - In the first sentencing in Canada involving a camera phone crime, a 20 year-old man was sentenced to 6 months in jail for posting pornographic pictures of his 17 year-old girlfriend on the Internet.

-- A year in jail for using a cameraphone in court - A British man sentenced to 12 months in jail for using his cameraphone to take a photograph of a man in the dock, alongside security officers and a prosecution witness giving evidence, has lost his appeal.

-- amera-phone voyeur faces jail sentence in Hong Kong - A high-tech "peeping Tom" faces jail in Hong Kong for using his cellphone camera to take a picture up a woman's skirt.

Talking face to face, far away

SK Telecom and KTF said yesterday that they will begin offering video phone services in Korea within a couple of months, reports YoongAng Daily.

"Although mobile phones have been able to handle video for some time, the service was not available on a commercial basis from mobile phone service providers. Internationally, the service is available only in Hong Kong and certain parts of Europe.

SK Telecom will begin providing the service in Seoul next month and expand it to the metropolitan area and six other cities by next year. KTF will begin offering the service in Seoul and some surrounding districts in January, expanding it to major cities by 2006.

The video service is based on WCDMA, or wideband code division multiple access. Since most current phones are based on the CDMA standard, or code division multiple access, many customers wanting video will have to buy new phones."

Camera Phone Predictions

Worldwide camera phone sales are expected to rise 104% to 159 million units by the end of this year. In Europe, the year-on-year sales growth will be 400%.

Korea International Trade Association (KITA) announced Tuesday quoting Gartner reporting mobile phones with built-in camera will take up 70% of the global handset market in 2008. In particular, the market share in Japan will be as high as 95%.

From mid-2005, most camera phones will perform 2-megapixel or higher resolution and be enabled with zooming, wide-angle mode, image edition and upgraded sensor for video recording. By Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Korea.

A picture perfect contest

A celebrity lookalike contest will be held in Malaysia thanks to Digi.com's “Twin Factor/MMS Idol” mobile contest, reports the The Star.

"The Twin Factor engine will compare each person's facial features against portraits of hundreds of celebrities from Malaysia, Asia and the rest of the world, contained in its database.

Those with a 90% match or better will be shortlisted for a final draw, where the best lookalike wins a Nokia 7610 handphone.

Participation is free and open to all DiGi postpaid and prepaid subscribers with MMS-enabled camera phones.

Teens Want Video Clips on Cell Phones

via YPulse.

"Om Malik at GigaOm posted a summary of a survey/focus group conducted by OpenWave in which "teens have a serious concerns about the quality of the audio and video technology and the appropriateness of those technologies on a wireless phone, i.e. the small size of the screen for video and picture services."

Yet video clips are what everyone (teens and adults) want -- "teens want a video library with downloads of video clips of celebrities and cartoons like Sponge Bob."

The question for wireless folks is how many of the features you are all packing into your phones will actually be used by teens..."

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, a local newspaper reported on Monday, according to Middle East Online.

"The ministries of interior, finance, trade and industry, and technology said such mobiles have become "a fait accompli like television and the internet," Al-Eqtissadiah said.

The ministries argued that most mobile phones would soon have installed cameras and that having to manufacture special phones for the Saudi market "would increase prices significantly," it added.

According to the daily, a recent survey showed a drop in mobile phone sales at distributors' outlets while trade prospered in individual shops that continued to sell camera-equipped phones illegally.

The ban has contributed to an increase in smuggling such phones from neighbouring countries, the paper said, quoting market sources.

Saudi Arabia's grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh has said that trading in such mobiles is un-Islamic because they "could be exploited to photograph and spread vice in the Saudi Muslim community.

Related articles:

-- 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.

Japan launches cell phone soap opera

Japan launches it's first, soap opera made exclusively for KDDI 3G cell phones, reports Wireless Watch Japan.

"The live-action soap opera, Yokohama 80s, follows the predictable lives, loves, and losses of young, beach-loving Japanese boys and girls. Eighties' big hair, big shoulders, and big hits have been downsized to tiny, two-and-a-half-minute broadcast bites. The story is adapted from Shogakan Shukan's weekly Big Comic Spirits-series "Tokyo Eighties" (published as a serial manga) but features all-new original characters and storylines by the same author.

Related mobile soap operas:

-- Soap opera FanTESStic comes to UK

-- MMS Soap on Spanish Telefónica Móviles

-- TV Reality Show uses picture phones

-- An interactive TV channel where viewers picturephone shots and films will be shown

-- Jong-Zuid: First picture soap opera for mobile phones