Fun cameraphone shot from New York

Back to back cameraphone snappers in New York City.

Found on Kissui.net.

LG Releases First Terrestrial DMB Phone

LG Electronics announced Thursday that it started supplying the first commercial terrestrial DMB phone to mobile carriers, Telecoms Korea reports.

Terrestrial DMB service are scheduled to begin in June.

"TDMB phone features a built-in TV antenna, TV screen capture and recording."

Click here for more DMB and cell phone related articles

KDDI Tests RFID Reader Phones in Osaka

KDDI is testing their RFID Reader phones (not commercial products yet) in Shinsaibashi, Osaka -- where there are many shops and many (young) people, reports RFID in Japan.

"The phones read passive RFID tags and fetch relevant contents (maps, shop info, etc.)"

Video goes mobile with Microsoft

Microsoft has launched a video download service for Windows-based mobile devices, reports the BBC.

"Subscribers will be able to get daily TV programmes, news and sport headlines, comedy, music videos and independent films.

The package of programmes is specially tailored for viewing on Microsoft smartphones, Pocket PCs and portable media centres.

The service is US only and costs $19.95 but some shows will be free.

Microsoft has lined up 20 firms that will provide downloadable programmes and short films for the video service.

These include MSNBC, Fox Sports, IFilm, MTV, Tivo, Napster, DIY Network and many others."

Mobile phone ratings could resemble TV-style audience share rankings

Last week Australia has launched a pilot for the mobile soap Girl Friday – a Sex and the City-style drama about a girl who finds a stranger's mobile phone and becomes embroiled in the life of the owner.

Girl Friday, which can be viewed on the web, includes one-minute diary episodes designed to be viewed on mobiles. Random Place, a Neighbours-style local mobile soap based on a Dutch version, is also set to be launched later this month.

And now research firm Nielsen//NetRatings is creating a ratings system to measure the number of people who are accessing news, entertainment and other services on their mobile phones.

As phones and networks increase their video capability and mobile penetration increases, the mobile phone ratings could resemble TV-style audience share rankings, showing the highest-rating mobile services at particular times of the day.

Optus, the first carrier to sign up to the system last year, says traffic spikes during the evening commute home and for live score updates during sports matches.

Advertising on mobile phones is still non-existent, but Nielsen//NetRatings expects that ads will eventually be measured in terms of impressions viewed and click-throughs, similar to how internet ads are measured.

Mobile operators, keen to maximise the billable revenue they generate from their content services, are also requesting data on how to present content in order to encourage subscribers to view it, what time of day people view it, the impact of promotions and competitions on mobile traffic, and the best combinations for bundled content subscriptions. (via The Australian)

Charlotte Church topless pic busts onto mobes

The Register reports that UK tabloid The Sun has refused to pay £20,000 for a topless picture of soprano Charlotte Church which is currently doing a tour of the UK mobile phone circuit. The snap was snaffled from Church's boyfriend's mobile phone after he mislaid it on on a night out.

The person who found the phone sent the picture to as many people as possible. The Sun quotes a "close pal" of the Welsh singer as saying: "Charlotte and Gavin sent sexy texts when they started dating. The photo was just some private fun. I think they'll be more careful." The paper will not publish the photo to spare the Church further embarrassment.

Korea Top Magazines Go Mobile

Korea mobile operator KTF is launching a service allowing users to read magazines from home and abroad such as Woman Sense, Living Sense and Cosmopolitan on cell phones, writes Telecoms Korea.

The nation's second largest operator forged alliance with publishing and media companies JoongAng M&B and Seoul Media Group to release a mobile magazine service "Sunday Seoul Zapzzi."

This mobile variety magazine service proves the latest news with photos on entertainment, fashion trend, health, leisure and travel.

Plans are to expand the coverage into movie, politics, economy, social issues and sports. The company will also provide subscribers with opportunity to participate in the production of the magazine as mobile reporters.

Palm and psychic readings via MMS

According to iWon, TV Commerce Holdings palm readings and psychic readings by mobile telephone are now available to mobile users with major UK providers.

Users take a photo of their palm and then send the photo-message to one of TV Commerce's readers. A reading is then sent back to the user via text messaging.

The service can also be used to enhance psychic text readings or to send in old photos for clairvoyants to use.

There are plans to expand the format with additional services such as psychic weather, which would allow viewers to ask the TV's psychic whether it will rain on their wedding day. (via The Guardian).

Micro-VNC, VNC by phone

KDDI and Hitachi have teamed up for a project called "micro-VNC" (VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing), a solution for controlling remote PCs by au mobile phone. The system supports Windows, Mac and Linux machines.

This service uses a client software installed o­n the PC. The signal contents are encrypted and compressed, allowing for a secure and smooth remote controlling of a PC even o­n low-speed connections.

"micro-VNC" is offered as a download after registering o­n the website. Control is done o­n the mobile phone's screen, which features zoom/reduce function. (Via TechJapan)

Malaysian cops to get tough on phones with lewd images

According to China Press, action will be taken against mobile phone users who have pornographic films and images in their cellular phones.

The police will conduct surprise checks on mobile phone users to curb the problem. They are already monitoring several shops that provide such services.

(via The Star Online,)

Samsung Introduces File Viewer Phones

Samsung will release "file viewer" phones that can open documents or image files, writes Digital Chosunibo.
The SPH-V6500 and SCH-V650 can store files (MS Office files and files in PDF, JPG, txt, etc.) for use during business trips or for study on the move.

Their 16 million color LCD is the same used in high pixel camera phones, and a 1.3 megapixel camera is built in.
The phones come with an upgraded remote control feature allowing users to control televisions, VCRs, and karaoke, to air-condition, PCs, game consoles, and car TVs. Silver-nano technology keeps bacteria off the handset.

Sunglasses let you watch TV while avoiding UV

Last year, engineers at electronics firm MicroEmissive Displays (MED) produced a TV screen less than half the size of a stamp, reports The Scotsman. Now they hope telecommunication giants will use the technology to create mobile phones which will enable users to watch televised sporting events and music videos with the same clarity they would achieve on their home TV sets.

"A display can be fitted into a pair of glasses or sunglasses so it is next to the eye and will appear a viewable size," comments Dr Ian Underwood, co-founder of MED.

"With mobile phones taking on more and more uses with features like streaming TV broadcasts, a wearable display is very attractive. A normal mobile phone display is too small to watch rugby or sport on, but with an MED in a set of glasses it gives a bigger picture."

Consumer experts believe the biggest market for the miniature screens will come from creating new wearable displays for mobile phones.

Professor Luiz Moutinho, at Glasgow University, said the MED could help the mobile phone to replace many other electronic products.

The rise of camera phone snaps

Antonio in Ion's Blog points to a picture (click to see the full photo) in El Mundo that demonstrates better than any discourse the growing trend to snap pictures with a camera phone instead of a traditional camera at major events. Here during a procession in Sevilla (Spain)

NTT DoCoMo object-recognition binoculars

At the Expo 2005, NTT DoCoMo is showing its object-recognition binoculars which recognise certain objects and displays details about them in the eyepiece.

Fix on a passing plane and the device will tell you the flight number and destination. Turn your attention to a flower, and it will tell you what variety it is.

DoCoMo hopes to use the technology in camera-equipped handsets. With particular databases of information installed, the phones could be pointed at objects of interest and used to collect information. Waved past an item in a shop, for example, it might inform users where the same thing could be bought more cheaply. (via The Times.)

Tripod for camera phones

It's often tricky to take a well-framed shot and be in the picture. Besides, it's hard to rest them on a table to take the shot.

Cellpod is small tripod for cell phone camera.

Cellpod connects with the belt-clips, the standard buttons that hook the phone to belt. If you don't use a case or belt clip, an attachable button comes in the box to allow it to work with Cellpod. (via Telco and engadget)

Stamkey stamps to create 2D barcode

With Stamkey stamps, mobile phone users can open up and create a QR codes that can be scanned by their device. The data received from the barcode is personal information, which is then stored in the mobile.

People in Japan are placing these 2D barcodes on business cards. But the possibilities are endless. Just think, no more standing around dictating digits for another for punch in their phone or the expected call back for proper digit exchange.

(via Pasta & Vinegar)

Soap opera on cellphone is OK, but don't make it too long

China's first TV drama to be shown exclusively on mobile phones will begin shooting on March 27, reports China View.

"Appointment" is a romantic love story between a beautiful girl and two motorcycle riders. Each episode lasts five minutes. The length was determined according to the cognitive limitations of subscribers.

A market survey showed that mobile phone users feel tired if they stare at their small phone screens for too long. A 25-minute TV drama with five parts was found to be optimal.

A recently released report by IMS Research estimates that by 2010 there will be 120 million subscribers viewing TV programs on mobile phones.

How RFID may help Rescue Workers and Fire Fighters

RFID Japan has the most interesting post on several innovative emergency RFID applications implementated by the Japanese government to help victims in disaster situations, such as earthquakes.

"For example, the Japanese Fire Defense Agency has been testing location systems for firefighters since 2000. The system uses portable RFID readers worn by firefighters that obtain location information from active tags embedded in underground environments.

-- Riken's five-year project (since 2002) exploits RFID tags with large memory capacity for storing sound. Their ideas include embedding such tags in ceilings and walls in buildings. The sound stored in the tags include some messages for the victims and also messages recorded by the victims. If buildings are collapsed after an earthquake, some kind of flying machines will send/receive information to/from the tags.

-- NICT's five-year project (since 2003) uses RFID tags embedded in roadsides - they are used by rescue workers (perhaps including volunteers?) carrying RFID readers in order to share important information such as "if person X is alive or not" and other information related to a disaster. "

-- Also - the city of Fukuoka and Kyushu University recently announced a new project that explore uses of RFID tags for efficiently managing victims' information. Here, RFID tags will be attached to paper forms that describe victims' information. (The earthquake hit the region before this system is actually deployed ...)"

Nokia's MMS link to Saudi

Following the lifting of the camera phone ban in Saudi Arabia, an agreement has been signed between Nokia and Al Jawal, the GSM operator of Saudi Telecom Company for the supply of the kingdom's first MMS, reports Keralanext

"It will allow the company's 9.6 million mobile customers the ability to send video clips, pictures and voice or sounds combined with text messages.

Mr Al Qahtani said that the company expects there to be a social impact from the introduction of the new service so it will be launching a campaign to educate the public about the benefits of the service and discourage misuse of it."

Related articles on Saudi Arabia and camera phones

Friendster the Movie - Starring Topher Grace and cameraphones

"Harold Ramis will be making a movie starring Topher Grace about the social networking site known as Friendster, and of note “Topher will play a character that will utilize the website [Friendster], as well as instant messaging and camera phones, as he looks for love on the Internet.”

[Engadget]

Free Mobile Video-On-Demand Website?

One company has entered the mobile video market with short videos of such things as as “breaking news, entertainment stories, fashion catwalk parades, movie trailers & sports videos”, reports Moco News.

"RooMobile appears to be free, with revenue generated by ads before and after the video".

“Users simply connect their mobile device to the Internet, go to www.roomobile.com and select videos from 7 different content categories including News, Business, Fashion, Music, Movies, etc.”

Siemens new business phone - without a camera

Siemens has launched a mobile phone without a camera, aimed at business users. [via via i4U]

The company's marketing stand on this handset is that it is a phone which "supports corporate security policies which prohibit employees to use handsets with cameras".

The SP65 is a high-end business phone. The handset has been specifically tailored for business professionals who seek a premium high-end phone with sophisticated synchronization features but without the camera function. The absence of the camera supports corporate security policies which prohibit employees to use handsets with cameras. More in company press release

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 and said it was introducing the camera-less Treo 600 in response to corporate customers' demands" (June 10, 2004).

Thief threatened to publish explicit photos from cameraphone

A Kennewick woman who lost her camera phone Saturday night called her number on the off-chance someone had found it and would answer, reports KEPR News.

"Thirty-three year old Jason Dawson picked up and told her if she wanted it back, she'd have to pay him $50 bucks.  He threatened to publish explicit photos from her phone's camera if she did not pay him .

The woman arranged to meet Dawson for the exchange, then she called the police.

He was caught and booked for second degree extortion".

Yahoo buys photo-sharing service Flickr

Yahoo has purchased online photo-sharing service flickr, less than a week after the internet giant launched a beta test of a new blogging tool, reports Silicon.com.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based flickr lets users upload digital photos from computers and camera phones, put together photo albums and post photos to blogs, among other things.

MobiTV lets you watch baseball on a cell phone

mobitv, the Berkeley company that offers live broadcasts of a handful of channels over cell phones, has announced an exclusive, three-year agreement to broadcast professional baseball games to its subscribers, reports Siliconvalley.com.

"The television games would be an add-on feature for subscribers of the MobiTV service, which is available on the Sprint PCS and Cingular Wireless networks.

MobiTV already makes audio broadcasts available for every team, allowing users -- even those who are not MobiTV subscribers -- to hear radio feeds of every game on their cell phones."

Curitel Challenges Stereotype About Camera Phone Design

Pantech&Curitel's strikingly designed camera phones that are prepared for launch are getting great attention, according to Telecoms Korea.

"Telecoms Korea acquired the design of the company's new camera phone that has not been open to the public yet.

The most special feature of the phone is the LCD screen and camera both swiveling, looking like Nikon Coolpix 4500.

It is convenient as users can rotate the camera, while viewing the subject on the screen. Another distinctive feature is the keypads located on both sides of the LCD."

Hitachi Develops Camera Phone Software That Reads Japanese

Hitachi Ltd. has created OCR (optical character recognition) software for camera phones that could open up a new range of services, according to an article in Forbes

"OCR programs that can read Japanese characters and convert them into text usually require tens of megabytes of memory. But Hitachi has developed an algorithm that requires less than 1MB, which is compact enough to run on a cell phone.

The software analyzes the shapes of the characters and the relative positions of words, converting the text images captured by the phone's camera into text data that can be transmitted over the Internet.

This setup can be used for services that provide users with additional information when they use their camera phones to photograph interesting articles in a magazine or catalog.

Services of this nature already exist based on 2-D bar codes purposely printed in magazines and catalogs, but Hitachi's new OCR software provides more versatility, including the ability to access information on products, restaurants and other topics seen in older publications. "

Related:

-- SpeechGear translates documents and street signs - The Office of Naval Research (ONR) thinks cameraphones can be put to good use serving as near-instant translators for documents and street signs.

"Take a picture of an Arabic newspaper, a Chinese menu or a Farsi instruction pack, and send the image to the servers of SpeechGear, an ONR-backed company based in Northfield, Minnesota.

SpeechGear processes the image, looking at changes in pixel color to see where the text is in the image. It then orients the picture around the text, adding pixels if needed to correct a skewed image. Once the picture is right, SpeechGear uses optical-character-recognition software and translation databases to see what's being said. An English version of the text is sent back to the phone in about 15 seconds.

Rape caught on cameraphone

A 17 year-old girl was raped in a public restroom in Foligno, Italy by two men. They shot the whole scene with their video phone and forwarded it to their friends over the mobile network, according to an article in Italian Zeus News.

In Turin two month ago, a young girl and her friends was arrested because they were shooting and archiving all their thefts on their videophones. The pictures were used as evidence during their trial. [via the same article in Zeus News].

Related incidents around the world:

-- Saudi jails three for filming rape with mobiles

-- Pictures of alleged gang rape circulate (UK)

-- Ignominy (UK)

-- Camera phone cited in rape allegation (USA)

KTFT Launches Slide Type ‘Pop-Up Eye' Phone

KTFT announced Friday the launch of Ever Pop-Up Eye (KTF-X6500), an MP3 phone with a one-touch camera, reports Telecoms Korea.

"The handset has a unique design so that the built-in digital camera is normally hidden but pops up when the user pushes the head of the camera, the company explained. The rotating camera adopts a 1.3 mega-pixel camera module.

The KTF-6500 is also equipped with Windows FAT filling system so that when the handset is connected to PC a portable storage system is automatically created on the computer. It has other features such as a UV sensor, text reader and emergency messaging."

Microsoft plans RFID in 2006

After investing significantly in technology for radio frequency identification devices, Microsoft is readying its first major product, a software package designed to help companies manage the product tagging technology. [via RFID News]