Fashion TV to Launch Mobile Network with SmartVideo

The glamour and beauty of designer catwalks come to mobile devices everywhere as part of an agreement in which Fashion TV will stream fashion, style and beauty programming via cellular smartphones to Smart Video subscribers worldwide.

Some 50 million mobile phone subscribers, and millions more PDA subscribers, will now have access to the programming airing on cable systems, spanning designer shows and catwalk events around the fashion world.

This 24-hour-a-day programming includes behind-the-scenes access, in-depth profiles and interviews with the hottest designers and models. [via an e-mail press release]

Wireless Internet Portal for Children Launches in S Korea

LG Telecom, the smallest of Korea's three mobile carriers, announced Thursday that it is opening a wireless portal called 'Kids LAND', targeted to children aged 5 to 14.

"Kids LAND will be filled with education and entertainment contents, which can satisfy both children and their parents. As the service is available on devices supporting wireless Internet access, children can log on the website on the move or in places where wired Internet is not available".

By Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Korea

RFID -- the Devil

A new book about "the disturbing satanic influences in America" dedicates two whole chapters to VeriChip and a related technology known as radio frequency identification, or RFID.

The book, titled "The Resistance Manifesto," equates VeriChip with "the mark of the beast," which the Bible's book of Revelations describes as a demonic numbering system for people." [via RFID News]

If you log onto The Resistance Manifesto webiste, you can read:

Some Things Everyone Should Know

-- VeriChip is the Pandora's box of the Mark of the Beast. Soon implants will substitute ID and credit cards. GPS next.

-- A large number of our political world leaders and corporate global elite are part of an intricate system of Satanic secret societies.

and my personal favorite:

-- There is a Satanic pentagram clearly designed in the street layout in Washington D.C. in which the bottom point is directly over the Whitehouse.

TIM, Nokia to launch video sharing in Italy

Mobile operator Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) and Nokia are planning a mass-market launch of the video sharing service in Italy in the second quarter of 2005. Video sharing is to be initially available to TIM customers with the Nokia 6680 3G imaging smart-phone, according to DMeurope.

"Video sharing is a multimedia service that allows people to view a live video or a video clip in real time during a normal voice call on their mobile phone. Sent from one phone to the other, both speakers can see the same video and discuss it, and then end the video sharing without ending the voice call."

10 million music videos downloaded on mobiles

Mobile network 3 has announced that more than 10 million music videos have been watched by its customers on their mobiles since the launch of its video jukebox service six months ago, reports Netimperative.

"The firm has also entered into a new agreement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK.

Three said the new deal will now double the list of artists whose music videos are available for fans to download or stream onto their video mobiles".

Zoom lenses next for mobiles

Varioptic, the French private company which invented a tiny liquid lens for mobile phones, said it has added an optical zoom which will give a handset the same functionality as a digital camera, reports CNN from 3GSM in Cannes.

"Varioptic's liquid lens, which can focus on objects as close as five centimeters without moving mechanical parts, are expected to be commercially available by the end of this year, Chief Executive Etienne Paillard told Reuters in an interview on the fringes of the conference."

Other Auto Focus Cameraphones and Technologies:

-- A Korean Start-Up Develops Auto-Focus in Camera Phone - Hysonic, a Korean venture firm, developed world's first linear zoom(2x) actuator that could be adopted to camera phone. It would make it possible to put an auto focus function, like digital cameras, in camera phones. (Feb 2005)

-- First auto-focus camera phone - NTT DoCoMo has announced the release of the mova P505iS handset, which is reportedly, the world's first camera phone equipped with auto focus. (Nov 2003)

-- Origami helps cellphone cameras to focus - Camera phones may be about to get a whole lot more intrusive thanks to a novel and ultra-cheap micromotor technology, enabling the handsets to zoom and focus with the same precision as the autofocusing lenses used in expensive stills cameras, thanks to a technique closer to origami than engineering. (Sept 2003)

Desperate Housewives Clips on Mobiles

Something to look forward to.

The ABC hit phenom “Desperate Housewives” is coming to mobiles soon, according to Larry Shapiro, exec VP of biz dev at Walt Disney Internet Group (ABC is part of Disney, of course). [via Rafat Ali for MocoNews ]

Push To Talk Evolves For Cameraphones

Separately Nokia, LG and Motorola each announced solutions to share video or images directly with other mobile phone users as opposed to through a messaging network.

LG and Motorola both have launched Push To View (PTV) products. Using the same infrastructure as Push To Talk over Cellular (PoC), PTV allows users to select one or more users from a buddy list and instantly share media with those users

Motorola's solution is designed for still images, while LG's is focused on sharing video over 3G networks.

Nokia, too, has a solution for instantly sharing video over 3G networks called Video Sharing. Nokia's system lets users begin sharing live or pre-recorded video from within a regular voice call, allowing both parties to watch the video while talking. [viaPhone Scoop]

Related article:

-- LG Electronics to offer multi-user video phone - LG Electronics has developed the world's first push-to-view mobile phone, which enables multi-user video conferencing, the company said yesterday in a statement

The Cellphone as Art Venue

Louise Bourgeois, William Wegman, David Salle and Nam June Paik, world-renowned art innovators, have gained a new outlet for their video art: the cellphone. Nokia Corp., the Finnish phone maker, has commissioned a set of videos to be downloaded like ringtones and gazed upon whenever the spirit calls, reports the WSJ.

""So many stars make work that can rarely be seen," says Juha Hemanus, who is assembling the video art for Nokia in Helsinki. "This makes it possible to bring works by big names to cellphone users."

Owners of art-enabled phones can collect video originals from Nokia's Web site, www.nokia.com/art. (The site also has a list of phone models that are video-compatible.) Nokia won't say how much it pays the artists. For customers, the works are free.

The marketing artistry in cellphone art, though, is about exclusivity. Works can't be forwarded or copied, and come in limited editions of 3,000. A Web site counter clicks off each download.

Related:

-- In November 2003, See my SMS, a Paris based company run by Alexandra de Waresquiel, signed up over 25 contemporary artists, whose artwork could be downloaded onto cell phones; Jeanne SUSPLUGAS, Anne DELEPORTE, Sam SAMORE, Susan SHUP et François-xavier COURREGES all created original artwork for this project.

FCC Wants Children Shielded from Cellphone Smut

U.S. communications regulators are turning their sights on protecting children from indecency on mobile telephones after cracking down on television and radio stations for indecent antics, reports The Washington Post.

"The wireless industry should mount an education campaign so parents know how they can shield their children from adult content as more and more have mobile phones, John Muleta, head of the Federal Communications Commission's wireless bureau, said in a letter released on Tuesday."

He urged the wireless industry association, CTIA, to tell parents what services their children's mobile phones can access and that they can if they want to block pay-per-call voice services and Internet access."

Muleta also asked the industry to review whether it should change its code of conduct to address adult material. "

Click here to find out how other countries are planning on filtering mobile content. and today's AP article reporting back from 3GSM, "Cellular Companies Aim to Cut Phone Porn".

Mobile Model Search 2005

For the first time budding supermodels have been able to enter one of the UK's biggest ever model search using their mobile phones, reports Net Imperative.

O2 teamed-up with mobile solutions specialist Yospace to create the technology that allowed 11,000 people all over the UK to send in pictures of themselves via their phones to "Mobile Model Search 2005".

The resulting shortlist of twelve candidates have now been invited to strut their stuff on the catwalk at London Fashion Week in front of a panel of judges.

Orange shuts out adult content

Orange UK has started blocking the delivery of adult content to users not registered as over 18, reports The Register.

"The decision follows the launch of the official classification guidelines for adult content, as laid out by the UK's Independent Mobile Classification Body.

"Users wanting to access content now rated 18, such as pornography, violent games or gambling sites, must register their full address and credit card details with Bango.net. Users without credit cards are not able to register as adults: debit cards don't count.

Related:

-- T-Mobile UK introduces content lock for children

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

-- Protecting minors from adult content

-- UK mobile operators Protect minors from adult content

-- Bango launches 'mobile barring' service

-- Australia moves to limit youth access to phone porn

-- Mobile technology company launches «Content Guardian»

Camphone Citizen Action in London

Lewisham Council's Head of Environment, Nigel Tyrell, has embraced new technology to clean up its streets.

As of today, anyone living in the south-east London borough can take a snap using their camera phone of the many problems that blight London's roads, such as graffiti or fly-tipping and send it to the council.

"It will help us to see if there are any problems we have overlooked and deal with them quickly."

How it works:

A member of staff picks up the image and alerts one of the street cleaning teams to it.

The cleaners arrive, soak the spray paint with a solution then blast it off with a power hose.

Another snap is taken of the now clean wall, which is posted on the website next to the original, to give a BEFORE and AFTER view. View pictures here

Potential users just need to download a piece of software from the website which will make it possible for them to send in their snaps. And the software is compliant with most of the major makes of camera phone.

The WSJ on Televion on Mobile Phones

The WSJ reports on mobile television and the host of issues surrounding the technology that remain unresolved.

"Nokia Corp says mobile TV is set to be the next big thing. The company is running several mobile TV trials and plans to launch commercial devices and services in 2006.

Telecom Italia SpA and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s 3 already offer TV streaming, or prerecorded video clips, on handsets.

Consultancy Strategy Analytics of Boston estimates that mobile broadcast networks will have acquired around 51 million users world-wide by 2009, generating around $6.6 billion (€5.2 billion) in revenue.

One issue Nokia has had to address is power: Conventional cellphone batteries deliver enough power to watch pictures for only about an hour. Mr. Sharp says Nokia is working on a solution that will make it possible to watch up to four hours of television".

Microsoft signals it is intent on going mobile

I'm not a Microsoft fan, but here goes.

Microsoft will today make its biggest-ever pitch to persuade the world to use its mobile phones, reports The Guardian Unlimited

"The American software giant has signed a deal with Flextronics, the world's largest contract maker of handsets, to develop a new camera phone, code-named Peabody, which is aimed at the mass market.

Peabody, a slimmed down version of Microsoft's existing handset, the SPV, has the latest Windows software, Bluetooth and a camera installed."

Here's a better idea: Motorola to sell phones for less than $40 in emerging markets

A Korean Start-Up Develops Auto-Focus in Camera Phone

Hysonic, a Korean venture firm, developed world's first linear zoom(2x) actuator that could be adopted to camera phone. It would make it possible to put an auto focus function, like digital cameras, in camera phones.

"It is the most advanced linear zoom for camera phones in the world and more advanced than non-linear zooms developed and sold in Japan. It spans only 12.8", according to Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Korea.

Other Auto Focus Cameraphones and Technologies:

-- First auto-focus camera phone - NTT DoCoMo has announced the release of the mova P505iS handset, which is reportedly, the world's first camera phone equipped with auto focus. (Nov 2003)

-- Origami helps cellphone cameras to focus - Camera phones may be about to get a whole lot more intrusive thanks to a novel and ultra-cheap micromotor technology, enabling the handsets to zoom and focus with the same precision as the autofocusing lenses used in expensive stills cameras, thanks to a technique closer to origami than engineering. (Sept 2003)

Madrid block burns 'like a candle'

A Madrid block burns 'like a candle' while spectators watched from the street, many snapping pictures with their camera phones. This is all over the news this morning, but it was drawn to my attention by my friend Anil de Mello who was in Madrid. He flies in to Geneva this afternoon, so I may have more later on citizen reporters.

"A landmark office building in downtown Madrid, the Windsor Tower, which was undergoing renovations, was engulfed in flames early Sunday and flaming chunks of debris fell to the street as harried firefighters tried to keep the structure from collapsing.

Authorities said there was no reason to believe the fire was an act of terrorism". [via CNN]

Experts chime in on future of camera phones

Experts at the International Solid State Circuits Conference debated whether a "killer application" is needed to boost demand for camera phones long after the novelty of taking pictures with the cellphone has worn off. The East Asia Times reports.

[...] "Video telephony is known to be a killer application for 3G," added Jinsung Choi of LG Electronics. "However, it turns out that other relatively simple multimedia applications such as MMS are more popular in reality. The way end users accept new applications are different from what we think," said Choi.

[...] Consumers are accustomed to carrying mobile phones, fueling the used of phone cameras. "The human desire to be able to store memories and share means the camera phone is set to be the preferred consumer imaging solution (vs digital cameras)," said Nokia's Janne Haavisto.

[...] The experts also agreed that flash technology and dynamic range in camera phones need improvement, but do not pose obstacles to their growing popularity.

Melodifestivalen goes mobile

Subscribers to Telia's 3G phone service will be the first to be able to follow live broadcasts from the Melodifestivalen, - the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest and one of the biggest and most beloved events of the year - right on their mobile phones.

Telia will also be offering a wide range of contest-related services on its mobile portal TeliaGo. [via esctoday.com]

Goodbye to privacy

Nothing new to anyone who follows picturephoning, but snaparazzi articles are always good reading.

Snap-happy citizen paparazzi are on the increase and are likely to make celebrities think twice about appearing in public, writes Steve Dow for The Age.

"If Nicole Kidman isn't able to to go out without being mobbed, then improved technology in the hands of all will soon make public appearances twice as risky.

In just a few years, most Australians will have a mobile camera phone, unleashing potentially millions of citizen paparazzi.

Clandestine images are just the beginning, as we lose control over our public image and privacy laws struggle to keep pace.

The growth in camera phones means newspapers and magazines will receive more pictures of accidents, robberies and beatings, says Greg Borrowman, editor of Australian Hi-Fi. "Everyone will have a camera ready and will be able to use the phone to transmit the images direct to (the newspaper)," he says.

Boys in phone threat ordeal on bus

This is appalling. Hoodlums showed their young victims footage on a cameraphone of someone being mugged, to intimidate them into handing over their cell phones.

According to Manchester Online, the intimidation tactics were used by a nine-strong-gang who targeted young boys riding a bus in Chorlton.

The frightened 12-year-old and his two 14-year-old friends had got on the bus, when they were approached by the gang who demanded to see their mobile phones.

When they refused, one of the gang pointed to his jumper and said he had a concealed gun, before getting out his own mobile phone and showing the boys footage of someone being attacked on a bus.

The terrified boys then handed over their phones."

Cameraphone shots of referees' cruel sex ritual

A pretty ugly story from the The Sydney Morning Herald on a sex act shot by camera phone voyeurs.

"It had been a tradition for about 10 years for (Australia) Junior rugby league referees on training camps to have a Saturday night barbecue, then party on at a pub where one of them would pick up a woman. He would take her back to his cabin, where others would watch as they had sex.

"The big quest is to find the fattest or the ugliest woman, dance with her and see if you can get her back to your room," one referee told the Herald yesterday. "It is a boy thing. It is a laugh.""

The big difference this year was that at least one other referee was intimately involved with the woman. And the referees watching took pictures with their mobile phones - some of which are still in circulation despite a pact to destroy them.

LG Electronics to offer multi-user video phone

LG Electronics has developed the world's first push-to-view mobile phone, which enables multi-user video conferencing, the company said yesterday in a statement, reports JoongAng Daily.

"Push-to-view, or PTV, is a development of the concept of push-to-talk phones that use walkie-talkie technology.

While current video conferencing technology only enables one-to-one image transmission, PTV takes video telephony one step further, allowing a user to send real-time moving images to more than one person at the same time. Recipients of the video can also join the video conferences."

Pen phone from Haier

A model displays a Haier mobile phone P7 in Bombay today.

Haier launched seven different models Thursday including P7 (picture to the left), which the company claims is the world's first pen phone with 300K pixel camera and dictaphone. [ AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi]

Click here for other Haier models

Police probe Chandigarh MMS sleaze

Close on the heels of the sensational MMS case involving students of a Delhi shcool, police have launched an investigation into the circulation of a similar sexually explicit video clip purportedly featuring a city socialite, reports the Hindustan Times.

"A case has been registered under the Information Technology Act for transmission of porn material, police said, adding the video clip is believed to have been shot with a mobile phone with a camera.

The circulation of a similar MMS clip in mobile phones featuring students of a Delhi school had created much furore recently after which governments of several states, including Delhi, banned the use of mobile phones in schools."

Related articles:

-- Videophone clip in India city's social circles aflutter

-- Link to articles on Dehli teenager sex scandal

Documenting images with cameras

Scientists at Xerox's Research Center Europe in France are working on a technology that will effectively add the ability to scan documents or create digital images of presentations using a camera phone with a minimal resolution of one megapixel, reports the The New York Times via The Wireless Weblog.

"The technology checks and corrects blurriness and shadows, and then compresses an image into a file that can be transmitted either by MMS or Bluetooth. Xerox expects the technology to hit the marketplace later this year.

"Imagine discreetly photographing contracts, notes jotted on a whiteboard or other handwritten information while on a research mission or a sales call, and later converting them into a format for processing, either in hard copy or on your computer."

Single-Use Wearable Patient Locator RFID Tags

Radianse has created a single-use patient locator RFID wrist band, reports Mobilemag.

"The tag can be slipped onto a patient's wrist or ankle and setup to show their location information and report it to a cell phone, from admission to discharge, or if they have left the compound and wandered about

Using a hospitals existing WiFi network, the Radianse RFID tags transmit continuous radio signals to Radianse receivers. These receivers plug into a hospital's existing wired or wireless LAN with no danger of interfering with mission-critical clinical applications or devices."

Upskirting comes to Arlington (Texas) and makes Newsweek

Arlington (Texas) police are issuing a warning about criminals secretly photographing women --- and even young girls -- and then sharing those images on the Internet.

"In fact, officials said they are investigating several cases that occurred during the past year.

Investigators said men armed with hidden cameras are preying on victims in public places -- like a shopping mall -- when they least expect it.

Arlington police are using a relatively new law called "Improper Photography or Visual Recording" to prosecute several cases that allegedly took place at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor.

Experts fear many cases go unreported because most women never discover that they have been victimized."

Newsweek has a story this week on upskirting and the rewritten laws to protect citizen against Video voyeurism in today's technological age (the new federal law is "the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004".)

Videophone clip in India city's social circles aflutter

A cameraphone video clip purportedly showing a city-based professional and socialite woman having sex has set the city's social circles aflutter, reports NewKerala.

"The 22-second video-clip - another person is believed to have recorded the shot on a camera-enabled mobile phone - shows a woman in mid-30s with an unidentified man believed to be a professional.

The video clip has been doing the rounds in the city's party circles for nearly a month now.

The police say they would have to investigate if the woman was really involved in the video clip or was a victim of a conspiracy".

Cell phone videos help teach English to Chinese

Emage Media Group has created "Crazy English," a series of short videos focusing on college life, according to Detroit News.

The videos have just become available to China Unicom subscribers who can pay 73 cents a month to download the videos and accompanying text and view the vignettes on their cell phone.