Your baby's ultrasound on cameraphone

Babybond enables you to send a mobile video of the ultrasound of your baby - to family and (good) friends.

Babybond Scan Sharing technology takes a short ‘movie clip’ from your 4D scan and creates a custom multimedia file that is compatible with the latest generation mobile phone and video iPod / iTunes 6 digital jukebox.

The final multimedia clips are then sent directly to your mobile phone and email address for you to share. [Press Release]

Vodafone to launch a phone with both recognition and "star gazing" functions

Vodafone is to launch a phone in April with both facial recognition and "star gazing" functions. [Press Release]

Oki Elecltric's Face Sensing Engine (FSE), enables instant face recognition using the camera on mobile phones to restrict access to mobile phones.

FSE will be embedded in the Vodafone 904SH (manufactured by Sharp), which is planned for launch in late April 2006 and future Vodafone K.K. 3G mobile phones to be launched in Japan.

FSE can instantly verify the owner with the industry's fastest authentication speed, as soon as the owner looks into the camera.

A related article from the French AFP , ads that this new phone will also include a "seiza o sagaso" ("look to the stars") function, enabling a mobile user to reproduce on his/her cell phone screen, an image which is a reconstitution of a star filled sky, based on the date and location of the user - thanks to motion captors which can measure in real time, the position and orientation of the cameraphone in 3D.

Study on mobile phones sold with camera feature

Market research company NPD Group has published some interesting figures on mobile phones sold worldwide with camera features:

-- In 2005, 45% of all mobile phones sold in the US were camera phones, up from 26% in 2004.

-- Asia followed a very similar trend,

-- Western Europe had a higher incidence of camera phones at 64%,

-- Japan had a much greater adoption rate with more than 90% of all mobile phones sold with camera capabilities both in 2004 and 2005.

[via ZDNet's IT Facts]

CBS to Offer Wireless Video and Picture Alerts

CBS Corp. introduced a subscription wireless media service Monday that promises to be the first to send breaking news alerts and entertainment headlines directly to a subscriber's cell phone, not only through text messages but also with still photos and video clips, reports Reuters.

The "CBS Alerts" which will be called "CBS News TO GO" and "ET TO GO," will be available beginning next week.

Subscribers will receive up to five daily alerts through text messages and accompanying pictures and video to video-capable mobile phones. The twin services will be available later this week and are the first in CBS' broader initiative to sell wireless content to consumers.

[Press Release]

New Flickr moblog groups from mopocket

Justin Oberman over at mopocket has set up several new FLICKR groups all related to mobile technology.

-- "The Ubiquitous Camera Phone" is about documenting the ways in which people use their camera phones for ubiquitous purposes such as remembering a parking space or notes on a blackboard.

-- Based on the already existing "Cell Talking" group which documents pictures of people talking their cell phones, Justin created the FLICKR group "Texting"

-- "Mobileactive" FLICKR group which will document pictures of people or organizations using mobile phones for social activism. The group is based off of the already existing mobileactive community.

-- And for fellow mobilists Justin created the "mobilists" FLICKR group which will document the wanderings and visual musing of mobile bloggers from around the world.

All groups are open so that anyone can join!

Picture left from Domain Barnyard

Cameraphones film hell-raising antics on highways

According to The Herlad Sun, hoon drivers ((people who use their vehicles in an irresponsible and dangerous manner in public places) on Victoria's major highways are using cameras and video mobile phones to record their hell-raising antics.

"Police have launched an investigation into the practice, warning that those responsible could face criminal charges. Some of the images have started to appear on hooning websites.

The police is encouraging passing motorists to use new technology, such as camera phones, to record the dare devils. "All we need is the numberplate and a description of the driver and we can follow it up from there", said Sgt Baum.

Sprint to Launch Mobile Media Sharing

Picture sharing is getting easier for Sprint Nextel customers, reports Wireless Week.

"Sprint PCS Picture Mail subscribers can use their Sprint phones to add pictures, video clips and text whenever they want at no additional cost. A feature allows community members to be notified whenever content is updated." [via Moco News]

Mobile TV sector asks European Union for guidelines

Handset makers, telecoms operators and broadcasters asked the European Union on Thursday to set guidelines that should boost the emerging sector of mobile television on cellular phonesand other portable devices, according to Reuters.

... "The Broadcast Mobile Convergence Forum urged the EU to use its powers to help establish a specific radio band for mobile TV services throughout Europe.

The mobile broadcast president of French telecoms networks vendor Alcatel, Olivier Coste, agreed that access to spectrum "has to be EU wide."

"This could be a real global success for the European community, as it has had with GSM (mobile telephony)," he said."

Camphone shot of stolen Ferrari leads to suspect

When will thieves wise up to not incriminate themselves with their cameraphones? The latest story by 7 News Boston, reports that during their investigation of a stolen Ferrari, the Police found a cell phone in a chop shop with a picture of the car.

"Police said a cell phone with a picture of the car found during the arrest led to the Ferrari as investigators tracked a man suspected of stealing cars and selling their parts."

Related stories:

-- Cameraphone picture gives suspect up - One of the suspects phones had interesting wallpaper - a picture of one of the suspects holding an AK-47.

-- "Cellphone bandits apprehended - A team of "cell phone bandits" recorded themselves robbing a store with one of their camera phones. The police recovered it.

-- Drug Dealers' mobile phone mistake - A gang has been charged with drug traffickin in Brazil fter the police found pictures on their cameraphone of themselves with kilos of cocaine.

CamReader

CamReader is a feature-rich image processing software based on the barcode decoder engine adopted by major mobile telcos in Japan.

"The abilities to read regular UPC barcodes and to optically recognize printed characters are quite interesting. Many products already have UPC barcodes -- and it'd be also cool if you can scan and capture any text. However, killer apps using these features are yet to be invented. The software also does motion detection through image processing, which could be used to allow people to play mobile games by just moving and rotating their camera phones. Some of the PDF files here include interesting stats showing what end-users might want to do using the "mobile phone + barcode" platform."

Demo movies.

[Via RFID in Japan]

One phone, 14 'happy slap' attacks

Victims of a “happy slap” gang came forward last night after footage was shown on television of 14 attacks filmed on a mobile phone since seized by police investigating the killing of a teenager, reports The Times.

Scotland Yard released pictures taken from the phone to encourage witnesses to come forward. The footage includes clips of a woman being knocked off her bicycle, a man being punched in the face, another being kicked in the face and several victims being slapped. Detectives believe that they can identify some of the attackers, but the Crown Prosecution Service had demanded more evidence before charges could be brought.

Detective Chief Inspector Ellie O’Connor said: “Every phone incident captured is incredibly violent. There is nothing amusing about the attacks, and every victim is visibly distressed. We are keen to trace each victim to ensure that those responsible do not go unpunished.”

The attacks are thought to have taken place in North or East London, and police want to talk to anyone who recognises the locations. The attackers were wearing hooded sweatshirts, but the clips have sound. Police believe that they can identify some of the voices.

See also yesterday's post: Violent attacks filmed on phone.

ABC requests citizen videos to enhance it's TV news program

After the print media's integrating citizen contributions in their papers and online editions, TV is now doing the same, requesting citizen videos shot with digital cameras or cameraphones for their news programs, according to News.com.

"USA Networks, Fox and NBC are programming shows featuring the most popular video shorts circulating on the Net in the coming months. And ABC News Digital plans to enhance its television news program by drawing on video captured by viewers using mobile phones.

... In recent weeks, ABC News also introduced an online service devoted to collecting viewers' video that's been captured by multimedia-equipped mobile phones. ABC collects and edits video from the online service, which is called "Seen & Heard in America," so that it can incorporate it regularly into shows like "World News Tonight" and "Good Morning America."

Porn star's voice on Comedy Central mobile video

Porn star Jenna Jameson will lend her voice to an animated series produced by Viacom's Comedy Central that will be delivered to mobile phone users, the network said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

"The show, called "Samurai Love God," is the first original animated mobile video series from Comedy Central. The series has eight 2-1/2 minute episodes and will premiere this quarter across three cellular carriers, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Amp'd. It will be available to all subscribers of the carriers' standard video service."

Violent attacks filmed on phone

Violent footage of people being attacked at random has been found on the mobile phone of a 17-year-old boy, reports the BBC

"The phone was confiscated as part of the investigation into the killing of 18-year-old Triston Christmas in 2005. Triston's mother said a mobile phone video recording of him as he lay dying had been passed around his classmates.

Police never found footage of Triston, but did find 14 other assaults, in north or east London, and want the victims to come forward. They think the assaults were deliberately staged for filming.

Every phone incident captured is incredibly violent. ... People being punched, kicked, slapped and mugged by a laughing, taunting gang.

Detective Chief Inspector Ellie O'Connor, who is investigating the videoed assaults at Barking and Dagenham CID, said: "We now need to identify the victims of these assaults in order to pursue a criminal investigation."

Faces have been pixillated so the victims cannot be identified by anyone else, but police say they will recognise themselves. They also want anyone who recognises the areas filmed to get in touch. "

Related article in today's This is London, giving more details of the footage and places the scenes of the crimes in either north or east London.

Shangai launches first cameraphone film fest

A local Shangai Website is organizing a nationwide cameraphone film festival The site expects office workers in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou to produce most of the movies. [via English.eastday]

Cellflix.metroer.com) kicked off the competition on Monday and will accept entries until April. The contest is open to anyone who can produce a short film and send it to the site by mobile phone. The films must be two minutes long or shorter, and must be original works that haven't been shown in competition.

... The public and professional filmmakers will vote on the winners, who are expected to receive cell phones as prizes."

Google's image search violates some copyrights

A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that Google's image search violates Perfect10's, (an adult Web site) copyrights by displaying "thumbnail'' versions of its photos, according to The Mercury News.

"In a ruling released Tuesday, U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz found Google directly infringed on copyrights held by Perfect 10, a Beverly Hills publisher. He said the free availability of the photos on Google could harm Perfect 10's efforts to sell thumbnail, or small, versions of its photos as downloads to cell phones.

"The court reaches this conclusion despite the enormous public benefit that search engines such as Google provide,'' Matz wrote in a 47-page order filed Friday.

If upheld, the judge's ruling could affect Yahoo and other Internet companies whose image searches display thumbnails of copyrighted pictures.

The judge ordered Google and Perfect 10 to submit by March 8 wording for a preliminary injunction barring the use of the thumbnail images."

Britain‘s Defense Secretary Says Troops Face Brutal Foe

Britain‘s defense secretary defended his troops Monday, days after the emergence of video images that appeared to show British soldiers beating Iraqi civilians. News Leader reports.

... "British military police have arrested three people in connection with the images, which have soured relations between Iraqi officials and the 8,000 British troops based in the south of the country.

The media and even individuals with cell phones or digital cameras were ready to capture footage of any misbehavior, he said. ...

Civilians should try to imagine what it is like to serve on a battlefield "so we may all be a little slower to condemn and a lot quicker to understand," he said.

"In our history ... we have faced enemies before which have embraced some of these methods," he said. "Never, though, have we faced an enemy that had the will and the technological means to embrace them all on such a comprehensive scale."

Camera module eases upgrade to 3 megapixels

OmniVision Technologies offers a device which enables handset designers to upgrade camera phones from 2 to 3 Megapixels. [via The Electronic Engineering Times]

Warner Independent Pictures offers mobile movie trailer

Warner Independent Pictures became the first studio to premiere a movie trailer on U.S. mobile phones last week when the trailer for Richard Linklater's "A Scanner Darkly" was offered free to amp'd mobile customers, reports Reuters.

The movie, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, stars Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane in a highly stylized suburban dystopia blighted by drugs and paranoia.

The full-length theatrical trailer appears on the -- amp'd mobile entertainment channel, where it will remain through the movie's July 7 release. WIP exec VP marketing and publicity Laura Kim said additional promotional content will be added to the channel during the coming weeks.

... Amp'd Mobile launched last month. The company describes itself as the only 3G carrier in the U.S. specifically targeting youth and young professionals, which it does by leveraging entertainment properties.

Its handsets come with built-in MP3 players, USB connections for transferring content from a PC, removable memory and full 3G capabilities."

Checkout in 10 seconds - Familymart pilot test

RFID in Japan reports on an RFID retail test in a familymart conveniece store in Minato-ku, Tokyo, where sales items are individually tagged and, at the checkout, the POS machine reads multiple tags at once. Check out for each customer is now down to 10 seconds.

Streets rapper fears strangers' cameraphones

File under gossip. Streets rapper Mike Skinner hates mobile phones with built-in cameras, because he fears suffering a similar fate to Kate Moss, according to Breaking News Ireland.

The Dry Your Eyes hitmaker no longer feels free to take cocaine as he could be secretly snapped at any time, and is desperate to avoid becoming a tabloid story.

He says: "The thing that's got it all f**ked up now is camera phones - how the hell am I supposed to be able to do a line in front of complete strangers when they've all got cameras?"

HD coming to cell phones

Texas Instruments announced that it has developed a new mobile phone chip that will allow users to download movies and television programs onto their phones and watch them on a high-definition screen, reports Knight Ridder Newspapers.

Users will also be able to hook up their phones to TVs or other projectors and play their stored videos.

The new mobile phone processor chip - which will also be able to capture 12-megapixel digital still pictures - will be available to phone makers later this year for testing in new phone designs, TI said.

The company added that volume production of the chips is scheduled for 2007. "

mobileglu

A new service has just launched that acts as a hub between the mobile and popular Web services like flickr, del.icio.us, upcoming.org, mobloguk and RSS feeds.

MobileGlu allows mobile users to subscribe to their online accounts, and the system will grab the data, optimise it for the mobile and will allow the user to view their online data using a java phone application.

See also Alfie's blog.

"Butt wardens" to take camphone shots of offending motorists

Another very specific way cameraphones are being used.

Motorists in Durham seen discarding cigarette ends from their cars will be fined by "butt wardens", armed with camera phones taking pictures of the offending drivers and their numberplates."

... The RAC Foundation, an independent body established to take on the role of protecting the interest of the motorist), criticised the move, saying it added to the hounding of motorists. “It seems like an overreaction,” said Sue Nicholson, a spokeswoman for the motoring organisation. “Surely a quiet word or a letter would be enough.”. I have to agree.

[Times Online]

One of the most popular but little talked-about uses of cameraphones: self portraits

The New York Times looks into one of the most popular but little talked-about uses of cameraphones: self portraits.

... "One particular kind of image has especially soared in popularity, particularly among the young: the self-portrait, which has become a kind of folk art for the digital age.

Framing themselves at arm's length, teenagers snap their own pictures and pass the cameras to friends at school or e-mail the images or upload them to the Internet. For a generation raised on a mantra of self-esteem, striking a heroic, sultry or brooding pose and sharing it with the world comes naturally.

"It's a huge phenomenon," said Matt Polazzo, the coordinator of student affairs at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, referring to the compulsive habit of teenagers to snap everything in their lives, especially self-portraits.

... Art historians say that the popularity of the self-portrait is unprecedented in the century-long history of the snapshot. "I think it is probably a new genre of photography," said Guy Stricherz, the author of "Americans in Kodachrome, 1945-65" (Twin Palms, 2002), which includes snapshots culled from 500 American families. Mr. Stricherz said he reviewed more than 100,000 pictures over 17 years in compiling the book but found fewer than 100 self-portraits. These days you can find as many by clicking through a few home pages on MySpace, Friendster or similar social networking sites.

Warner takes TV, movies mobile

Warner Bros. said Thursday at 3GSM World Congress that it will start its own mobile Internet site - within three to six months - to distribute TV, video and even films to cell phone users -- a move that lessens the company's reliance on cellular carriers, reports Video Business.

"Warner has been selling through mobile operators, who put bits of content like ringtones and pictures onto their carrier "decks," or portals as they're known in Europe. Its most popular sellers have been content related to Looney Tunes and feature films such as Batman. It plans to continue selling that sort of content through the decks.

But now that technology advances have made it more feasible to offer video, Warner is treating its "longer" content -- TV and film -- differently. The material still will move over mobile networks, just not always through the operator portals.

... The move by Warner is a step into what the mobile industry calls "off-portal" distribution of content. As Internet companies like Yahoo! and Google spread to cell phones, off-portal distribution is expected to increase.

"Eventually, we want consumers to be able to search on their own and find Looney Tunes or Batman," Richardson said. "We don't want them necessarily to go through an operator."

Off-portal, also known as "direct to consumer," was a hot theme at the conference, which ended Thursday and featured a strong mobile-entertainment theme.

first made-for-mobile fitness video

The World's first ever made-for-mobile fitness video, "It's Fitness Time", starring former X-Factor contestant , Chico Slimani, will be available on 3 handsets as of Monday February 20.

"It's exercise and body toning on the go for those with "busy lifestyles". There's 10 90-second workouts with catchy names like 'Rearly Amazing', 'Abs Flabuless' and 'Banish the Bingo Wings'. Every workout is introduced by Chico, who then demonstrates and talks through each exercise with the assistance of some dancing girls for the men 'the Chicettes'."

[via Techdigest]

The Mobile Olympics

Reuters lets Olympic Fans know where to go to get Olympic coverage on their cell phones.

Fans can visit NBCOlypics.com using many types of mobile phones as well, thanks to a WAP subset created in cooperation with mobile entertainment company Zingy.

Beyond that, NBC Olympics is making available at least five video highlights daily throughmobiTV and will provide users with the opportunity to sign up for event and broadcast alerts, via Goldpocket Wireless.

In addition, Bob Costas will be hosting a daily podcast through a partnership with Apple. Available on Apple's iTunes, the audio show covers each day's highlights and gives a preview of what's next."

Fake Wedding Fools Korean Media

Here are two articles with opposing examples on the reliability of citizen reporters/bloggers. The first one (Fake Wedding Fools Korean Media) describes a mock wedding on a Tokyo subway captured on cameraphone which spread like wildfire on blogs, and was then picked up by the main stream media as a true story. The second (Bloggers: an army of irregulars), is one journalist's experience of how bloggers have been a very valuabe source for digging up the truth. He gives several examples, one of which is how a blogger was responsible for having tracked down the origin of a fake cartoon which fueled the furore over the characterisation of Muhammad in a Danish paper.

Fake Wedding Fools Korean Media from OhMyNews

... "A subway wedding that touched millions of hearts on the net was a rehearsal staged by the students of an acting club in a local university. By the time they confessed the truth of the "wedding" to a national television crew, their real life acting stunt had been already reported again and again by scores of news media -- including OhmyNews -- as one of the most extraordinary events that shook Korean cyberspace this year. It was the kind of "feel good" news that readers anticipated on the morning of Valentine's Day, and news editors found no reason not to bite.

The short-lived urban fairy tale has a lot in common in terms of mechanism of diffusion with the so-called "dog-poop girl" incident that touched off frenzied on line vigilantism in Korea last summer. "

Both events happened on the subway and were recorded with camera phones by passengers before they were posted on blogs. Once published, the impact was amplified exponentially on the Web by the power of word-of-mouth, coupled with the ease of digital copy and paste.

In the end, the buzz grew so loud that even the mainstream media could not ignore it anymore. Only this time the wedding episode made people feel happier and warmed their hearts -- albeit on a false pretense -- whereas the dog-poop girl was condemned a millions times over on the web.

However one OhmyNews reader countered that such blame fell on the wrong persons. They were simply staging a benign rehearsal with no intention to trick the entire nation. The real crux of this episode would be that "any unknown bystander armed with a camera and Internet access can suddenly increase his social consequence one million times over" as OhmyNews reader drofnats commented. "

Bloggers: an army of irregulars from the BBC

... "Blogs have an army of what Sherlock Holmes called his "Baker Street Irregulars," that is an almost unlimited number of people around the world, many of them expert on the subject under discussion, scouring sources and sending information in to an easily accessible central site which can disseminate it instantly."

... As for using blogs as a source Richard Sambrook, head of the BBC World Service and Global News Division says: "The key is careful attribution. It would be a big mistake for the MSM to try to match the blogs, but they can teach us lessons about openness and honesty. The MSM should concentrate on what it can do - explain, analyse and verify."

Morph brought back to life on mobile screens

Morph, the animated character made famous on the British Children's TV show ‘Take Hart', is to make a comeback on mobile screens, reports Netimperative.

"Morph was one of the first creations from Aardman co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton nearly 30 years ago. The Bristol-based animation studio is also responsible for Wallace and Gromitand Creature Comforts animations.

Aardman has struck licensing deals with Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, O2 and several international operators. Content will include 35 re-edited shorts from the original Morph shows specially designed for mobile phones."

This is the second example I've run across on some sort of star revival on mobile phones. The first was a couple of months ago, with a slain rapper's revival through ringtones.