Sky TV on your mobile

Vodafone has an impressive channel line-up thanks to a deal with satellite broadcaster Sky, reports Stuff Magazine.

"The Sky Mobile TV service will stream a choice of 19 channels to Vodafone’s 3G handsets, including Sky Sports News, Sky One, Sky News, Cartoon Network and MTV – and it’ll be free to all Vodafone 3G users until the end of January 2006.

... "Sky Mobile TV goes live tomorrow (Tuesday 1st November), and unlike rival services there are no limitations on the amount you can watch - except your battery life.

Vodafone will continue to supply its own video content over 3G, too – from Premiership coverage to ‘mobisodes’ of 24… and, of course, live coverage of Big Brother."

RFID tracking party

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art hosted an RFID reception last Thursday, reports News.com.

"Attendees were handed RFID tags to place on their clothes and their status at the party was tracked throughout the evening, with their location displayed on various screens.

Four RFID readers were placed in the museum's reception area so that people's movements throughout the room could be tracked. This green reader was located by the bar at the front door. People whose RFID history was mostly green or blue spent most of the time at the bar. Red indicated dancing, and yellow talking." Click here to view photos of the event.

[via Engadget]

Motorola Launches 3 Megapixel Camera Phone, MS550

Telecoms Korea reports that Motorola plans to launch its CDMA-based 3-megapixel camera phone (looking more like a camera than a phone - model name : MS550) in Korea this November.

"First introduced to the public at the CTIA Wireless 2005 event last March in the US, Motorola’s 3-megapixel camera phone is the fifth such model on the market, following Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Pantech & Curitel, and SKY Teletech."

Indian actor-director coins new term: phonetography

Indian Comedy Show star Kunal Kumar is up to some mischief with his camera phone. The Daily News & Analysis reports.

"Indian actor-director, Kunal Kumar, when asked to briefly introduce himself said, "I am a talented and upcoming actor with a wide variety of interests including brand endorsement, producing and directing short films, digital photography, script-writing, phonetography and the list goes on."

Phonetography is a new niche in photography - here the huge SLRs or digital cameras are replaced with mobile phones with cameras. Kunal has taken this to a professional level. My desire to outdo the rest has fuelled me to present to the world the first phonography album - 'Life an Abstract', which is due for release in the very near future.", he said.

Related article: - He shoots best with mobile cameras

Shoot me if you can

shoot me if you can is an urban game inspired by first person shooting online video game.

Replace gun with fun and shoot the opponent team with a cellular phone equipped with a digital camera.

How to play:

Shooters are given team color and phone number printed on the sticker. Shooters are ought to take a picture of the opponent team. If successful, she/he sends the picture to the opponent team member, via MMS. Different rules exist for variations in game. Tactics is important part as well as team work and understanding of the urban environment. This work is a commentary on abundance of digital image in our culture, desire to photograph and violence of surveillance camera. Active public participation in encouraged through website and the game.

[via mobile art andlocative media]

Universal kick-starts mobile viral ads

Universal has become the first brand to appear on the UK's first true mobile viral ad service, according to NMA.

"Universal is promoting the DVD release of "American Pie: Band Camp" through the service. The viral will feature exclusive video clips from the disc's easter eggs.

With this first campaign, consumers can download virals for £1 by texting to a shortcode. To overcome the cost of using mobile networks to spread the content, they're encouraged to share it via Bluetooth."

Kodak Mobile Service Postcard Application

Kodak Mobile Service has paired up with handset and carrier leaders to provide mobile phone users with a fast and easy way to send personalised photo postcards direct from camera phones.

With the new Kodak Mobile Service Postcard Application, consumers simply snap a picture, select a border design, enter a personalized message and an address and Kodak will mail the postcard to any U.S. address.

[via Buy-n-Shoot.com]

Weathernews names 6 Japanese casters for new mobile phone service

Weathernews, the world's largest weather service, has named six Japanese casters for its new Japanese mobile phone programs, according to the Mainichi Daily News.

"The casters, who were picked from a staggering 2,115 applicants, include actress Kanako Tokiwa and former flight attendant Saeko Ishida, who will lead the programs in the Kanto region.

The casters will be replaced every three months through auditions."

Related article: Aspiring cell phone weather presenters gather for Kanto auditions.

Al-Jazeera: The new power on the small screen

Interesting insight on Al-Jazeera from the UK's Independent on how the Qatar-based news networ has already changed the face of broadcasting. This part caught my eye:

"Al-Jazeera had equipped ordinary people around Iraq with phones and cameras as the invasion got under way, anticipating that communications in Baghdad would deteriorate as the US forces closed in. As a result the station was broadcasting pictures from hotspots such as Fallujah, which openly contradicted the claims the US military was putting out."

Passports to get RFID chip implants

All U.S. passports will be implanted with remotely readable computer chips starting in October 2006, the Bush administration has announced. [via News.com].

"Sweeping new State Department regulations issued Tuesday say that passports issued after that time will have tiny radio frequency ID (RFID) chips that can transmit personal information including the name, nationality, sex, date of birth, place of birth and digitized photograph of the passport holder. Eventually, the government contemplates adding additional digitized data such as "fingerprints or iris scans."

In regulations published Tuesday, the State Department claims it has addressed privacy concerns. The chipped passports "will not permit 'tracking' of individuals," the department said. "It will only permit governmental authorities to know that an individual has arrived at a port of entry--which governmental authorities already know from presentation of non-electronic passports--with greater assurance that the person who presents the passport is the legitimate holder of the passport."

Related: UK launches 'encrypted' passports in BBC News: video and audio

Some mobile "Tryvertising" campaigns

This week's Trendwatching.com newsletter has a fabulous section on "Tryvertising", giving many examples of this new form of advertising, where products are placed in the real world, integrating goods and services into daily life in a targeted, relevant way, so that consumers can make up their minds based on their experience, not advertisers messages."

Relevant to this column are the examples of a Nokia N-series print campaign and a Sony Ericsson interactive campaign at a bus shelter.

Nokia
To convince sceptical consumers that their cameraphones (with Carl Zeiss optics) can deliver top quality pics, Nokia recently attached hundreds of thousands of real, shiny picture TRYVERTISING prints, shot with a Nokia N-series camphone, in publications like Newsweek and BusinessWeek.

SonyEricsson
Also mentioned, the larger-than-life, working version of a SonyEricsson walkman phone in a London bus stop, playing actual videos, so that bored to death people waiting for their bus have something to watch.

See Me TV: the ultimate reality mobile TV channel

See Me TV is set to become the ultimate reality channel - providing an opportunity for 3 customers to shine in front a potential audience of millions.

All the budding star has to do is submit a thirty second video clip to the service displaying their talents in front of or behind the camera. The clip will then be uploaded to the 'See Me TV' channel for other 3 customers to view.

Each time a clip is downloaded by a 3 customer the performer gets paid 1p. With a potential audience of 3.2 million, the most popular clips from contributors could make thousands of pounds worth of cash.

Credits from downloads are accumulated in an account and then a transfer made via Paypal - with no cap on what a 3 customer can earn from See Me TV.

[via Tom Hume]

BBC Trials Video Messaging for Football

London-based video messaging solution provider VoxSurf said that the BBC has deployed its technology to power a new trial called Your Shout!. The trial allows football fans to send in 3G video messages with their opinions on the crucial England internationals and during Football Focus broadcasts. [via B160characters.org]

Currently only available on 3 and Vodafone, by making a video call to shortcode 62001 and following the on-screen instructions, football fans can leave their comments. Programme editors will be able to select the best content to be broadcast on live TV both during and after the matches, which are being covered live on Match of the Day. The best videos will also be shown on the BBC Sport website, Football Focus.

Xerox turns camera-phones into mobile scanners

According to Computer Business Review, researchers working for Xerox Corp have perfected a means of cleaning up a document image taken with a camera-phone, effectively turning them into mobile-scanning or data-capture devices for enterprise workflow, document management, indexing, or retrieval systems.

"According to Chris Dance, Laboratory Manager at Xerox Research Centre Europe, the system we have developed cleans up the image file by automatically improving the focus and removing any shadows or lighting variations," he said.

This is followed by conversion of the image to black and white, like a conventional printed image. For color or handwritten text color saturation and white balance contrast techniques are applied. "It then compresses the file for transfer before the data is forwarded by Bluetooth, SMS, MMS or email for printing or incorporating into an automated business process," he said."

Related:

-- Technology turns your cameraphone into a scanner and fax

-- NEC Co-Develops Technology That Turns Cell Phones Into Scanners

Camera Phones Not Mobile Music

A survey from Parks Associates finds that US consumers are more interested in camera phones than music phones, reports 160characters.org.

"Although the industry is currently focused on iPods and Motorola's new music phone ROKR, consumers would rather have a camera phone," said Vibha Pant, an analyst with Parks Associates. "Moreover, the impending introduction of advanced mega-pixel camera phones will strengthen demand, which will create great opportunities for service providers to increase their ARPU by offering photo sharing, photo printing, and other applications."

The prospects for music phones should not be discounted, though, with approximately 14 million U.S. homes expressing an interest in such a device, making it a more popular item than a smart phone. "

Japan's KDDI unveils phones with digital TV, chat

KDDI Corp., Japan's second-largest mobile operator, unveiled a lineup of new phones with the ability to watch short segments of digital television programs and communicate with a group via text or voice.

"The lineup will include three new models with a service that would let users send text messages interlaced with photos to up to four others in a feature that would resemble instant messaging chats on personal computers.

The service, called "Hello Messenger," also allows users to communicate with a group via voice, walkie-talkie-style, using the technology known as push-to-talk made popular by U.S. operator Nextel Communications Inc.

KDDI emphasized the new service's chat-like elements, saying it was not the same as push-to-talk even though it uses the technology."

Pantech & Curitel' Far Infrared phone

Pantech & Curitel has introduced its new infrared-ray camera phone with antibacterial and deodorization effects.

It is the first model in Korea, which acquired ‘FI(Far Infrared)’ mark by Korea Institute Far Infared Application. Far infrared rays are known as good for health, and effective to remove bad smell in a bag or pouch.

It supports text view, MP3P, 1.3 mega pixels camera. [via Digital Media Center and Engadget]

This is York launches citizen reporter website

The Evening Press at York is giving its readers the chance to write the news as well as read it, with the launch of a new 'citizen journalism' website, My York News.com, reports Hold The Front Page.

Together with its website This is York, the paper has set up myyorknews.com, where ordinary people can write the news, get their pictures posted and express their views on any topic 'live' on the Internet.

People can share experiences and successes and can send in words or pictures from digital cameras or mobile phones as well as by e-mail.

Channel-Hopping on Mobile Phones

A new technology for mobile communication networks allows cell phone users to watch TV as they would at home.

The Mobile TV Streaming system from Siemens makes it possible to change channels instantly. Other streaming solutions can take up to 15 seconds for this. In addition there are no long downloading times, since the data reaches the phone virtually in realtime. As such, the system could theoretically be used for live transmissions of sporting events.

Vodafone is already using the technology in several countries.

Mobile Bingo

Mobile Bingo, developped by Techno Wing, allows consumers to play a Bingo game on their cell phone while shopping at a retail store.

"A customer first need to sign up for the service, then she receives a QR code from a server. After shopping, she can display the QR code on her mobile phone and show it to a reader device. Then, she receives an SMS message that notifies her about the points she earned. Now she can open her home page on her phone to check the current status of her ongoing bingo game.

Everytime she earns some points, she gets an additional symbol and when she gets three identical symbols in row, she is rewarded with coupons.

This system makes it easier for retailers to collect detailed data about consumers."

reBlogged from wonderful RFID in Japan

"head and body" MTV mobisodes

MTV is launching a new mobile video show series internationally. In the U.S, it will be available early november through Comedy Central, a sister company of MTV.

The show, known as head and body, features comic sketches involving a man whose head is detached from his body and his various mishaps as he tries to keep them together. [via Moco News]

Tech school kick-off a multimedia Halloween

Forget the Monster Mash. This Halloween, there's a multimedia mashup at one California college that includes an interactive film depicting a scary future of technology. ZDNet reports.

"Adventurous filmgoers are encouraged to dress up in Halloween costumes and bring cell phones and laptops to play a part in the movie, which will take place at the University of California" at San Diego and celebrate the opening of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology(Calit2) on Oct. 28.

The film, named «Specflic» after the science fiction genre known as speculative fiction, will be acted live by several people located inside the new Calit2 building, a joint project of UCSD and UC Irvine. The actors will play the roles of scientists controlling "Inside," a fictional university in 2030 that educates students for free in exchange for labor and their being guinea pigs in lab experiments.

As it's filmed, the video will be streamed onto five external walls of the institute, including Calit2’s main elevator tower and brushed-steel facade. Audience members will watch from the courtyard, where interactive "modules" also let them play a role in the movie through cell phones or laptops. The film is ultimately designed to illustrate the possibilities within the intersection of technology and art."

[Press Release]

French NFC Payment Trial Kicks Off

RFID Journal reports on the city of Caen, where retailers are testing a payments system using mobile phones equipped with near field communication RFID tags.

"For the next six months, 200 residents of Caen, a city of 150,000 located in northwestern France, will have a new way to pay for groceries and other goods, thanks to a field trial of RFID-enabled cell phones.

Participants in the trial, which began this week, can now use Samsung D500 mobile phones to pay for goods at a Monoprix supermarket, a Galeries Lafayette department store and nine other retail locations in Caen. The retailers are equipped with RFID-enabled payment terminals provided by point-of-sale terminal manufacturer Ingenico.

To make a purchase, a customer tells the cashier he or she would like to pay using the phone. The cashier readies the register to receive payment info via RFID, then the customer simply waves the phone in front of the terminal. "

Police officer filmed dumping boy in bin

It's a twist in the often brutal phenomenon of “happy slapping”. A teenager has filmed a police officer dumping his friend in a dustbin. The Times Online reports.

The Metropolitan Police are investigating the incident in which the officer, fed up after allegedly being taunted by Anop Singh, 16, hoisted him and put him in a nearby bin. Pierre Cornwall, 17, the boy’s friend, captured the event on his mobile phone.

... The Hackney policeman and a colleague were responding to reports of youths throwing conkers at passers-by in Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, when Anop and Pierre started filming them with their phones. Asked to stop, Anop was said to be uncooperative and made a number of less-than-polite comments.

When the policeman threatened to put him in the bin, Anop is heard on his friend’s phone saying: “You’re going to put me in the bin? Go on then.” The officer takes him on and is seen carrying the teenager over his shoulder and placing him in the bin."

Japan's Willcom unveils smart phone

Willcom Inc, a Japanese low-cost wireless telephone service provider, has unveiled 'W-ZERO3', a smart phone by Sharp that combines handheld computer functions with a phone, reports Reuters.

The device, the first phone in Japan powered by Microsoft Corp.'s Widows Mobile operating system, comes with a sliding keyboard that allow users to send and receive lengthy e-mail messages as well as surf the Web and perform other data functions.

Pictures Yahoo (1 and 2).

Let Your Photo Pop Up on Your Friend's Mobile Phone

A new service lets callers make their photo pop up on the receiver’s mobile phone screen, writes Telecoms Korea.

Korean phone operator SK Telecom is launching “Image Call”, a service that allows callers to choose their favorite image and display it on other’s phone to which they make a call.

SKT users can also purchase and send illustration, caricature or cartoon character. When callers have SCH-S370 of Samsung Electronics that is dedicated to Image Call service, they can combine text, voice and music to the photos and sent them whenever they make a call.

OKI adds face recognition to camera phones

Oki Electric Industry is launching a technology that inexpensively adds face recognition to camera-equipped cellphones. Oki's Face Sensing Engine (FSE) "middleware" decodes facial images within 280mS on a 100MHz ARM9 processor, and can restrict access to mobile devices by recognizing their owners. Oki says the technology can help protect sensitive personal information such as phone numbers and email addresses from unwanted access.

FSE works by locating and mapping key facial features -- such as eyes, eyebrows, and mouth -- and adapts to changing facial conditions such as winking and smiling, according to Oki.

Earlier this year, Omron, announced that it had developed an imaging technology for camera-equipped handheld devices that uses face recognition to authenticate users.

[via tel&co < deviceforge]

Related stories:

-- Omron Produces Face Recognition for Mobile Phones.

Fundraising campaign using QR codes

A mobile phone-using fundraising system made its debut in the annual "Red Feather" campaign, enabling those who are hesitant to stop in front of people holding collection boxes and make contributions to easily donate money, writes Yahoo.

"The 'Red Feather' campaign is widely supported by middle-aged and elderly people, but we would like to lure young people in their teens and 20s," said Atsushi Fukui.

The organization has distributed 400,000 copies of a poster with the "QR code" printed in Japan to enable users of camera-equipped mobile phones to read them. If users read a poster and take in such a code, they can be linked to fundraising sites and make a contribution of more than 100 yen anytime, anywhere.

Listed on the company's homepage are the names of enterprises cooperative with fundraising. If a mobile phone user clicks the name of an enterprise, the user is linked to its homepage showing its social contribution activities. And when the user clicks the fundraising corner, 1 yen is contributed. This can be done once a day per enterprise. The user clicking the corner does not pay, but an enterprise will donate the whole amount of contributions to organizations active in social affairs.

[via f*ckedgaikin]

Dramatoon - Movie Parody creator for Mobile Phones

Korean mobile phone company KTF has just launched ‘Dramatoon’, an application that allows its customers to download and make parodies of original movies or dramas with their own imagination.

The consumer can stop a favorite scene from an original TV drama or movie and apply any other scenes like animation pictures and sound to the stopped scene (see details in the bigger pictures). And then ‘Dramatoon’ gathers all the media to remake the stopped scene and change it to a ‘moving slide’ video file.

KTF already has made parody comedies using famous Korean movies and TV drama, the parody comedy is ready to be downloaded and it cost about 50cents for one episode.

[via Mobilemag]

Cell Phone Takes Picture Of Alleged Police Brutality

An alleged act of police brutality was caught on a cell phone camera in San Antonio, Texas, report Houston Chronicle and KSDK.

The shaky cell phone video shows a police officer striking a man with a baton as paramedics hold down his wife. A witness who didn't know the couple filmed the incident, which began when Williams suffered what she said is an asthma-related seizure.

The video, released Saturday, shows emergency personnel around a woman laying on the pavement. They hold her arms down. Then the video shows three police officers holding down a man on the ground. Another officer uses a baton to hit the man, who doesn't appear to be struggling at the time.

The couple is seeking $7.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages along with a requirement for police cars to have cameras that record all stops.