Palestinian Detainees communicate via camera phones

According to Islam Online, many Palenstinian detainees use camera mobile phones to have a virtual contact with their families and create a network to maintain internal solidarity among them.

"Thamer Nabil El-Hajji, a detainee in Magido, told IslamOnline.net over the phone Thursday, December 30, that the phones have gained popularity inside the Israeli prison in the northern West Bank- El-Hajji made the interview over his mobile phone, equipped with a camera he uses to communicate with his family in virtual reality.

The non-stop effort on the side of Palestinians comes to counter the increasingly massive restrictions imposed by Israeli prison authorities to cut off detainees from the new service. Cell signals are regularly jammed by hi-tech sophisticated equipment and the search of relatives and detainees has been reinforced.

Prison authorities are aware of the existence of the phones, and regularly launch search campaigns to confiscate them, according to El-Hajji.

The detainees have also their creative ways to stop the work of jamming equipment in the prison such as the use of antennas.

The use of such a hi-tech device was not limited to communication purposes, as detainees have used the cell phones to rally support for a hunger strike they launched in August.

They used the cells to contact human rights organizations to highlight their suffering in detention."

Related articles from around the world on inmates and cell phones:

-- Norway: Cell phone ban in jails proposed - The Norwegian government wants to ban all use of cell phones in Norwegian jails because of reports stating that cell phones are used to plan escapes

-- Man shoots cell phones into Swedish prison - In one of the stranger stories to come along, authorities in Sweden arrested a man who shot mobile phones into the yard of a high-security prison with a bow and arrows, police said Saturday.

-- Feds probe jail phone incident in Hammond (Indiana) - Federal officials are investigating how a smuggled cell phone got into the hands of a federal inmate housed at the Hammond City Jail in the past month.

-- Phones in prisons a widespread problem in Mexico Homesick inmates aren't just calling home. They are coordinating armed robberies, drug deals and kidnappings, authorities say.

-- Prison Cells - Recently, prison officials, aware of one inmate's illegal phone, allowed him to make calls so that they could monitor his activities. Once they were ready to seize the phone, however, the inmate flushed it down the toilet.

-- The newest prison contraband: cellphones - Cellphones are becoming the newest form of coveted contraband, allowing inmates to communicate freely with the outside world and, at times, conduct illicit activity from behind bars.

-- Cell phones becoming one of most prized contraband items - Cell phones have joined the ranks of the most prized illicit commodities inside Texas prison cells

-- Crossed signals over jail mobile phone jamming - The New South Wales Government has accused the Federal Government of blocking a trial of mobile phone jamming in the State's jails

-- Prisoners shown smoking drugs and using mobiles - A Brazilian TV station has shocked the country by screening footage of maximum security prisoners freely smoking cannabis and using mobile phones.

-- Inmate Sentenced for Nextel Phone Scam - A US inmate used a jail telephone to impersonate Hollywood executives and dupe Nextel Communications out of more than 1,000 cell phones.

-- Mobiles in top security prison - Four mobiles were discovered hidden by inmates at one of Britain's top security prisons.

-- Staying well connected in jail - A mafia don in prison in New Delhi, planned the killing of Police officers by SMS.

-- Convict ran drug ring from prison - A Canadian inmate organized a cocaine run from Miami to Canada. Partners on the outside paid for his cell phone bills through phone cards.

-- Camera phone in Sydney jail gets media attention - An illegall photo of flamboyant jailed stockbroker Rene Rivkin, serving the first 24 hours of his sentence for insider trading, was taken on a mobile phone camera inside the detention center and published on the front page of Sydney's Sunday Telegraph.

Mobile Phone Firms Link for New High-Speed Standard

Leading wireless carriers and telecoms equipment makers have agreed to develop an advanced mobile phone standard capable of sending high-resolution video in an instant, Japan's NTT DoCoMo said on Friday, reports Reuters.

"A group of 26 companies, including Britain's Vodafone Group Plc, Germany's Siemens AG, France's Alcatel and Japan's NEC Corp. and DoCoMo, will support the standard, Japan's top wireless operator said.

Mobile phone services based on the technology will offer transmission speeds more than 10 times as fast as the current third-generation (3G) service, DoCoMo said.

Basic technological specifications will be compiled by 2007 but no date has been set for a commercial launch, a DoCoMo spokesman said.

The unified standard is expected to create demand for cellphones with a large liquid crystal displays for playing games and watching movies, and to help handset makers cut costs through mass production, the paper said.

Simplicity sets tone for cell phones

Recently a manufacturer of mobile phones advertised one of its products as having the feature of "no camera." Is this the beginning of a trend? You bet it is: less will soon be more. A must read article by Nicholas Negroponte for The Straits Times (Singapore) Asia News Network, published in The Korea Herald.

"The continued packaging of yet one more function into a cell phone frustrates many of us, especially since most of these features are unusable unless you are 15 years or younger and have excellent eyesight and tiny fingers. But do not despair.

The technological development of mobile phones is at a turning point, and soon we should be seeing trends away from complexity. Simplicity will be king.

An unadorned cell phone can be manufactured for less than US$15, which would be of interest to the next 1.5 billion users, from kids to people in developing nations.

Excerpts:

[...] The function of a telephone, for example, might be embedded and distributed in both your wedding ring and your watchband, enabling you to receive or place a call by putting your hand on your cheek and talking into your wrist - allowing you to whisper, a benefit not only for you but also for the rest of us.

[...] A scenario even more futuristic might be a mobile phone that neither rings nor vibrates: instead it answers itself or reads the message and takes appropriate action, like a well-trained butler who knows when and how to interrupt you.

Nicholas Negroponte is the author of "Being Digital" (Knopf, 1995), the founding director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and a founding Wired contributor.

MP3 phones are going to be much bigger than camera phone

"MP3 phones are going to be much bigger than camera phones," according to Charter Research analyst Ed Snyder interviewed by TheStreet.com. "By far the biggest feature coming to handsets in 2005 will be music."

"Cellphone bandits' apprehended

This doesn't sound too smart. A much sought after team of "cell phone bandits" recorded themselves robbing a store with one of their camera phones. The police recovered it.

The North Jersey Media Group reports on the arrest of the "cellphone bandits," a gang of gun-wielding robbers who had carried out at least four daytime heists at various businesses since July.

"The brazen, and sometimes ruthless, robbers mostly targeted wireless stores, and even recorded themselves robbing one store with a cellphone camera, police said. The recording was recovered, they added.

Camera phone pictures are not printed

The Wall Street Journal has a piece in today's issue about images taken with camera phones only rarely making it off the phone:

Keeping images trapped on phones hurts the printer makers, which generate much of their profit from selling ink as well as special photo paper. So the printer makers are trying to persuade consumers to print out images from phones, and not just share them via e-mail.

Last year we reported on CVS updating its photo kiosks for camera phones, but nothing was announced about how successful the program has been. Problems facing mobile phone printing are numerous:

* Many phones do not have Bluetooth or IR
* Consumers are not even thinking of printing their camera phone shots
* Most images are such low resolution that the prints are low quality

But with camera phones selling with increased volume, printer makers have no choice but to chase the market. Camera phones outsold digital cameras 2-1 in 2004, with the gapy predicted to double over the next 2 years.

reBlogged from Mobile Tracker.

Full length films - coming to a handset near you

As of next month, tiny chips will allow most people with recent models to turn their phones into mini DVD players, according to The Guardian.

"The technology makes use of the card slot that mobile phone manufacturers have recently begun adding to their handsets as a means of storing music and photos.

The so-called MMC slots are included in most of the latest models. It is estimated that as many as 15m compatible phones will be sold in the UK alone next year, as network operators push customers to upgrade.

The company behind the technology, Rock Player, plans to sell Digital Video Chips containing television shows and films. Because the content is stored on the card and not transmitted over the phone network, customers can watch the shows as many times as they like and are not thwarted by the lack of a phone signal.

"We don't expect people to watch a feature film in one sitting, but they might watch half an hour on the bus in the morning then another 20 minutes at lunchtime. The screens are also getting bigger and better quality," said Jonathan Kendrick, chief executive of Rok Entertainment Group, which has developed the format. The software contained in the chips also allows users to turn their phone sideways and watch the footage in full screen "letterbox" format."

RFID Readers Get Cellular

SmartCode is adding cellular data capabilities to its UHF readers so that the devices can connect wirelessly to a corporate network, reports RFID Journal.

"Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems provider SmartCode has integrated cellular data capabilities into one of its UHF readers. The additional capabilities, says SmartCode, means that the reader can be deployed even where there is no LAN connectivity to link it to a corporate network.

[...] SmartCode says it plans to integrate cellular capabilities into a number of its RFID reader models. The cellular-capable versions will be priced less than 10 percent more than their noncellular counterparts. SmartCode says, however, it has yet to fully research the potential market for the new readers.

"This is the world's first such RFID reader, and we don't know how many solutions will be built around it yet," says Roy Apple, VP of business development at SmartCode.

Cellphones for sleuths

Art thieves of the world, beware. Investigators may soon get a new weapon in the painstaking pursuit of stolen paintings and sculpture - a camera-equipped cellphone. By Kevin J. O'Brien for The Internatioanl Herald Tribune.

"Starting next year, Derdack, a company based in Potsdam, Germany, plans to start selling software for mobile phones that it says could revolutionize the work of art investigators.

With Derdack's software, investigators can take a photo of a suspicious painting with a cellphone or a personal digital assistant, send it wirelessly by GPRS or UMTS networks to international databases of stolen art and make a match - within seconds.

If it passes muster, Derdack's software could become a powerful tool in the fight against art theft, which Interpol says is increasing with the price of art. Across Europe, there are more than 100,000 pieces of stolen art on record, according to Interpol".

Related:

-- Police camera phones hunt graffiti - Images of etchings are captured on camera phones, emailed to police headquarters and stored in a database of graffiti tags, the trademark sign of the urban street 'artist'. Detectives can then compare them with images of spray paint vandalism in towns and cities.

-- Police test “snap trap” approach - Officers can now photograph graffiti and identify individuals responsible for multiple instances of vandalism by looking at distinctive signatures and styles. “The pictures can be emailed straight from the scene and stored on a database, a bit like fingerprints. We collect the images and can charge an individual with numerous offences rather than just one.”

Israel Restricts Cellphone Pornography

The Israeli communications ministry said Sunday that it had amended licenses for cellphone operators to restrict access to pornographic services, following complaints that too many children had been exposed to the material, reports The New York Times.

"The ministry said in a statement that it would restrict the transmission of pornography through video clips and movies on cellphones that use high-speed third-generation networks. Adults would still be allowed to use the services by entering a code and proving their identity as an adult, the ministry said."

Cut and paste a mobile movie

Orange is sponsoring a movie making competition for mobile phones, reports James Pearce for MocoNews.

"This next-gen promotion has people making 60 second films out of 3D paper figures, using characters downloaded from the Web site. “Once you've chosen your cast and set, simply download them, print them out, cut them up and stick them together. And you're ready for action!". Indeed. Still, the examples given show that it is possible to make a decent short film, admittedly without going so far as to showing one itself.

Pantech Group cellphone design competition

The winner of the cellphone design competition organized by Pantech Group is "Exclamater EX", a phone inspired by an exclamation mark.

The cellphone design features a built-in camera and camcorder. A "side push" button enhances the User Interface. The charger, not shown here, looks like a spaceship!

[via ubergizmo

Samsung to Increase Camera Phone to 66% Next Year

Next year, seven out of ten Samsung phones on the market will be camera phones, reports Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Korea.

"Dongwon Securities projected in its report released Friday that Samsung Electronics will supply 105 million handsets next year to the global market and among them, 69 million will be camera phones.

Dongwon Securities predicted that Samsung would produce 87 million handsets this year and 40 million or 46% of them are camera phones."

MMS Arrested Development

Despite the increased take-up of camera phones, MMS usage is currently in decline, according to Mike Grenville for 160characters.org.

"Just as MMS celebrated its second birthday, Continental Research published a report which found that the number of users sending a photo a day via MMS had declined from 8% in 2003 to only 3% in 2004.

Continental's figures are no ‘one off' blip. As John Delaney, an analyst at Ovum, explains: “MMS messages sent per month are very low – on average two to three per user per month. It's not generating even a fraction of what SMS is in revenue.”

At a time when camera-phones are flying off the shelves (180M will be sold world-wide this year) MMS usage should be increasing, yet it seems stuck in reverse."

Virgin goes viral

The latest virus going around the office isn't the flu--it's Chrismahanukwanzakah. [via Agenda Inc.].

The Internet spot, a cartoon jingle from Virgin Mobile USA that dismisses the theological concerns of the holiday season, proclaims: "Whose faith is the right one/that's anybody's guess/what matters most is camera phones for $20 dollars less."

Virgin Mobile's product is no-contract cell phones, and the ad tries to draw a connection between not having to commit to a single faith during the holiday season and not having to commit to a single cell phone plan.

[...] Virgin's Web campaign has met with some apparent success. According to their numbers, the Chrismahanukwanzakah site has had roughly 110,000 unique visitors, with 122,000 page views. The e-cards on the same site have been sent to about 500,000 Virgin Mobile users. The cell phone ring tone based on the catchy jingle has been downloaded more than 411,000 times. "

Related article and website:

-- Chrismahanukwanzakah — devoted to "everything people love about the holidays" — fell on Dec. 13, courtesy of Virgin Mobile and its new ad campaign - ABCnews.

-- According to Chrismukkah Chrismukkah is a hybrid holiday. While it's not found on the calendar (yet) it's the "state of mind" shared by many interfaith families during the holiday season. Chrismukkah is a gumbo of favorite secular, (non-religious) traditions from both Hanukkah and Christ.

Half of UK's mobiles 'go online'

Multimedia mobile phones are finally showing signs of taking off, with more Britons using them to go online, according to the BBC.

"Figures from industry monitor, the Mobile Data Association (MDA), show the number of phones with GPRS and MMS technology has doubled since last year.

GPRS lets people browse the web, access news services, mobile music and other applications like mobile chat.

By the end of 2005, the MDA predicts that 75% of all mobiles in the UK will be able to access the net via GPRS."

Sex-case Delhi schoolboy bailed

How tough it must be to be a teenager in India. Those poor kids involved in the video sex scandal are being humiliated and repudiated and they continue to dominate the Indian and now International news. My heart goes out to them. What they did was stupid and in poor taste, but not worthy of such attention and so much dishonor. Moral standards are obviously high in India, but what about compassion?

The latest news reported by the BBC is that an Indian court granted bail to the 17 year old schoolboy who allegedly recorded a sexual act between himself and a 16-year-old girl on his mobile phone. The juvenile court ordered the boy, 17, not to leave the country.

In a case that has shocked many Indians, the prosecution had demanded he be put in psychiatric care for displaying "animal instincts".

However the court, after reading social welfare reports, said the boy came from a decent family and did not have any history of "delinquency".

The court ordered the boy, who cannot be named, to undergo a month of counselling and told his parents to supply weekly behavioural reports.

However, police and prosecutors had called for the boy to be kept in juvenile detention.

A police petition said: "The act of the boy was obscene, depraved and showed his animal instincts and he should undergo psychiatric treatment and counselling.

"The boy has been continuously tampering with evidence, including destroying the cell phone with which he recorded the objectionable pictures." Can you blame him?

The girl involved has reportedly been sent to Canada by her parents.

The teenagers were both expelled from their school."

Related articles on the sex scandal that has rocked India.

Code for camera phones

The sex-clip scandal of showing two Delhi school children in a sexual act has prompted a camera mobile phone maker to come out with a code of ethics for users, reports The Telegraph.

"The camera phone should not be used to take photographs in public places like swimming pools, changing rooms, gyms, etc.,” Samsung India Electronics said in a list of dos and don'ts.

The company said camera phones should not be used to take photographs of individuals without their consent. “Users must respect individual office, educational or industrial environment where confidentiality of design and information is a matter of great importance,” it added, describing the guidelines as voluntary.

The company reminded users that camera phones should not be used to “shoot and circulate” objectionable content. “It is illegal and punishable by law,” it said.

Samsung also cautioned users not to use the phone in “prohibited areas” like airports, high-security zones, museums and theatres and at live performances. “It is dangerous to use camera phones while driving,” it added. “Users should refrain (from using it) while driving.”

Related articles on the sex scandal that has rocked India.

Psychic 'sent photo messages from the Virgin Mary'

A psychic in Chile claims he receives photo messages from the Virgin Mary, reports Ananova.

"Ricardo Gonzales told Las Ultimas Noticias he has been receiving images on his mobile phone that are divine representations.

After much study and analysis Mr Gonzales claimed the images and messages said that God exists and that there is life after death.

He said: "The last ones I got showed an angel waving."

Tech voyeurism the new curse of teendom

Tech voyeurism, as exemplified by the sexually explicit video clip showing two Delhi school children in a sexual act, is the new curse that afflicts teenagers these days, reports Silicon India.

"Technology has become the icing on the cake of sexuality. New-age tech gizmos have outed sexuality and promiscuity among school children and adults in a big way," Jitendra Nagpal, consultant psychiatrist with leading mental hospital VIMHANS, told IANS.

As Nagpal points out, what's new in this genre of voyeurism is that it trades in unabashed sexual exhibitionism and narcissism through the "facilitatory medium" -- a dazzling array of new technologies like the Internet, multi-media messaging service (MMS) and camera phones.

Using surrogate means of expressing sexuality and adding the spice of obscenity to it is what marks out this new genre of salacious thrill-seeking."

The scandal is just one of many controversies in recent months that signal that India's conservative veneer -- inspired by centuries of Victorian morals spread under British colonial rule -- may be fading under the impact of Western influences and a technological revolution, experts say, reports Reuters

It could be a much-needed wake-up to a country which is home to the world's second largest HIV/AIDS population and where most children leave school without any sex education.

Related articles:

-- Sex-case Delhi schoolboy bailed

-- Ban on camera enabled cellphones on campus

-- Schoolboy quizzed over sex video

-- Delhi sex: MMS boy destroyed mobile phone

-- Delhi schoolboy sparks global porn row

-- More revealing than a wet sari

-- EBay Fights India Arrest Over Sale of Sex Video

-- 'Baazee case will set precedent'

-- Court Grants Bail to EBay's Indian Exec

Telephone Business Gears Up to Deliver TV

If everything goes as planned, the telephone industry will be all about television in 2005. TV over your home phone line. TV on your cell phone. Few topics have been as popular this past year among phone companies and their technology partners, according to the Associated Press.

[...] "Cell phone TV faces multiple barriers.

Although mobile service providers are rolling out next-generation technologies that are speedy enough to deliver a TV signal, there are limits to how much network capacity they can divert away from phone calls and wireless Internet access. And just as they interfere with calls, gaps in network coverage may disrupt a TV feed.

Nevertheless, the buzz on cell TV has been coming in loud and clear on multiple fronts, with many proponents pointing to strong demand for mobile video services in South Korea. Usage became so heavy on one Korean carrier's network that it withdrew an all-you-can-eat pricing plan and switched to a pay-as-you-go approach".

[...] Among content providers, Fox recently announced plans to produce one-minute episodes of its "24" television series for Vodafone Group PLC, the world's biggest cell phone company. Disney plans to launch an ESPN-brand cell phone company in 2005 featuring a wide range of sports content including streaming audio and video.

EBay Fights India Arrest Over Sale of Sex Video

The arrest of the Indian-born chief of Baazee.com, the unit of eBay that is India's largest Internet auction site, has raised an uproar, prompting calls for clearer laws on whether executives of such sites can be prosecuted because of the material, like pornography, that is offered for sale, reports The New York Times.

"Avnish Bajaj, chief of Baazee, was arrested Friday in a case related to the sale on the Baazee site of a video clip of a teenage couple from an exclusive New Delhi school engaged in a sex act.

Several copies of the clip were sold through Baazee in late November before the sales were stopped, according to the police in New Delhi.

EBay said the video clip was not actually shown on the site - the seller had offered it to buyers by simply describing its content.

In a first-of-its-kind incident in India, the police arrested Mr. Bajaj under the Information Technology Act, which makes publishing or transmitting obscene material in any electronic form punishable by up to five years in jail.

Under Indian law, publishing or distributing pornography is a crime, but an industry offering sexually graphic material thrives here."

Related articles:

-- Delhi schoolboy sparks global porn row

-- Court Grants Bail to EBay's Indian Exec

-- Schoolboy quizzed over sex video

Schoolboy quizzed over sex video

Police in India are questioning a schoolboy in connection with the filming and sale of video clips of a sexual act in a leading Delhi school. The boy allegedly circulated the clip via mobile phones according to the BBC.

The boy allegedly recorded a sexual act between himself and a 16-year-old schoolgirl on his mobile phone. The pictures were then circulated across India and abroad.

Police say the clip, lasting two minutes and 37 seconds, was copied on to video CDs and sold.

Both the boy and the girl have since been expelled from the school, one Delhi's leading institutions.

The pictures have caused a scandal in India, where shows of public intimacy such as holding hands are frowned upon.

Last week, authorities also arrested a student at India's premier technological institute, the Indian Institute of Technology, on charges of selling the clip on the auction site, Bazee.com, for 125 rupees ($2.85; £1.47).

Transmitting or selling pornography is illegal in India, but possessing or viewing it in private is not."

Related articles:

-- Ban on camera enabled cellphones on campus - Hindustan Times

-- Delhi schoolboy sparks global porn row - The Guardian

-- More revealing than a wet sari - Salon.com

-- EBay Fights India Arrest Over Sale of Sex Video - NY Times

-- Delhi sex: MMS boy destroyed mobile phone - Express India

Nokia Offers Mobile Workforce Tools

Nokia has introduced a set of tools enable two-way interaction between RFID-enabled mobile phones and back office systems, such as work scheduling, task management or information databases. The system is aimed at a variety of field workforce applications, reports Wireless Newsfactor Network.

"The Nokia field force offering is targeted at the security , services, utilities and health care industries, as well as government agencies.

It enables real-time, two-way interaction between the J2EE client software -- Nokia Local Interactions Server -- and back-office systems, such as work scheduling, task management or information databases. Applications include repair, maintenance, meter reading and work order reporting."

Samsung issues guidelines on ethical use of camera phones

It's not just the Internet auction sites that have been rattled by the circulation of obscene pictures through camera-enabled mobile phones. Handset manufacturers are also concerned reports The Hindu Business Line.

"Mobile handset makers are now rushing to issue guidelines for the ethical use of camera mobile phones. Samsung India on Monday announced the release of `Samsung mobile phone etiquette and responsibility guideline for camera phone users,' which asks users not to shoot and circulate objectionable content.

Other handset manufacturers like Motorola and Nokia said that the they have been telling their users about ethical usage each time a mobile phone is sold.

The Samsung guidelines recommend that the privacy of persons around the user of the camera phone should be respected.

-- "Camera phones should not be used to take photographs of individuals without their knowledge and consent.

-- "Camera phones should not be used to take photographs in public places deemed `private' like swimming pools, changing rooms, gyms."

--One must respect the individual office and the educational or industrial environment where the confidentiality of design and information is a matter of great importance.

-- Camera features on the phone should not be used in these areas without the prior approval of the authorities concerned.

-- "Camera features on phones should not be used in areas, where cameras are not encouraged or prohibited, like airports, high security zones, museums, cinema theatres and live performances.

-- "It is dangerous to use camera phones while driving. Users should refrain from using them while driving.

-- "Camera phones should not be used to shoot and circulate objectionable content. It is illegal and punishable by law," said a Samsung press statement.

Endemol plans inbound mobile video for Celebrity Big Brother

Celebrity Big Brother 2005, launching in January in the UK, could be the first TV show to feature inbound mobile video interaction with viewers, reports New Media Zero.

"Inbound MMS is okay but with video we can have a dialogue," said Peter Cowley from production company Endemol. "It'll be like video conferencing with the presenters. This won't be commercial but a case of adding editorial value."

In addition, the company believes that 2005 will be the year in which mobile video becomes a serious revenue generator for TV companies.

They have already sold more than 2m minutes of content this year from mobile video content in Italy, for Big Brother and The Farm.

He adds that mobile video may quickly replace MMS as broadcasters' mobile medium of choice, "MMS is too complicated and the operators haven't rolled it out well," he said. "Operators are making video on 3G so much easier for consumers."

Camphones may be kiss of death to secret lives for Bollywood stars

The Times has a story about Bollywood and camera phones.

Over there, kiss remains a taboo. So it was a shock when, recently, one of India's top actresses was caught in a steamy embrace in a restaurant and the images were splashed across newspapers and TV channels as viewers tuned in to see what they are rarely able to at the cinema.

The five-second video clip had been captured on a video-enabled phone by a diner who saw the couple kissing at Bombay restaurant.

Few in Bollywood were convinced by the actress fierce denials that the clip was authentic. Still, there was shock at what appeared to be an unprecedented invasion of privacy.

The paparazzi are an almost unknown phenomenon in Bollywood where compliant photographers play along with the stars' whims for fear of being blacklisted and shut out of events.

The advent of camera phones may change all that. Other young stars expressed horror that they could be the next target. “Today it's her, tomorrow it could be me,” one actress said. “For Christ's sake, don't we have the right to enjoy a private meal at a restaurant? And to pay such a heavy price for being celebrity is just not right.”

Serialized graphic novel

On Sunday 19 and Monday 20, students of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (Tisch School of the Arts in New York) will present their work at the Winter Show.

Among the projects is Kyle Outlaw 's RAM - A Graphic Novel for Mobile Devices. The story is inspired by Macbeth, set in the near future and involves a multi-national corporation. Instead of witches and ghosts, we have AI prognosticators and Kurzweil-esque spiritual machines running rampant on the net, e-mailing and calling people on their cellphones.

The viral series is meant to be passed from user to user via Bluetooth or infrared technology, or they can download it from the publishing site on their phone or request to have SMS or MMS messages sent when updates are available. Users are encouraged to register at the site and will begin to receive SMS messages from characters in the novel initiating the episodes.
P.S. cool wallpapers are already available.

Digital cameras web survey

Future Image, an independent center of expertise focused on the convergence of imaging, technology and business, is running a survey on what people like and don't like about their camera-phones.

The survey is pretty simple and straightforward and open to anyone with a camera-phone, wherever on the planet they might be. It just takes a couple of minutes to complete.

Europe Gets First 2-Megapixel Camera Phone

T-Mobile Germany this week launched the Sharp TM-200, Europe's first camera phone with 2-megapixel resolution available from a major carrier. [via Phone Scoop].