China celebrates army via mobile phones

Just in time for tomorrow's 80th anniversary of China's People Liberation Army, mobile phone users can download highlights of the war. RTE News reports.

"Subscribers to China Unicom, the smaller of the country's two mobile telecom operators, is offering film clips of the Korean War and stirring military anthems.

"I believe it will be popular since we have so many military fans in China,' company official Yu Peng said. 'We have more than 300,000 pictures of weapons and military figures in our database along with clips of hundreds of movies, such as 'Battle for Berlin', 'Normandy Invasion' and 'Shang Ganling', a movie about the Korean War.'

... Customers will also be able to get military news sent straight to their handsets from the army's own newspaper."

Buzzwire Launches Beta Service

Mobile phone service Buzzwire launched its beta service today, reports TVWeek.

"The company lets users create a lineup of video and audio feeds from local, national, international news, traffic, weather, sports and entertainment to play on their mobile phones.

Buzzwire is part of a new crop of companies that deliver Internet TV programming to mobile phones."

[Press release]

Malaysia Cracks Down on Camera Phones

The ban on such devices in government buildings is designed to protect national security, according to Business Week.

" Government agencies across the country have implemented the necessary measures to ensure they are in compliance with a directive, equiring visitors to surrender camera-embedded communication devices when they enter high-security areas in government buildings.

The ban will prevent spying and the leaking of sensitive information or official secrets, which could jeopardize national security, Chief Secretary Mohamed Sidek Hassan, explained in a circular--written in Malay--issued to all government ministries, departments and agencies."

Oki Japan Bring Iris Scanning to Existing Cellphones

Oki Japan has developed software that brings iris recognition security to existing cellphones, reports Gizmodo.

"Before now, biometric security has meant either hugely expensive military systems or cheap, novelty peripherals.

The software can be used to add another layer of security on any device that has a camera of at least 1 megapixel and is claimed to only give one false positive for every 100,000 scans."

Panasonic's camera phone with autofocus

Panasonic's the P505iS, with an auto focus, just launched in Japan. It also features a Mini SD card for storage and can play back TV programmes stored on the SD card.

[via TechDigest]

Satellite Multimedia For Mobile Phones

According to Science Daily, ESA’s Telecommunications Department is supporting the development of technology needed for satellite systems to broadcast digital multimedia content such as video, television programmes, radio, and data to mobile telephones and vehicle-borne receivers.

"... High-power satellites in geostationary orbit have the ability to broadcast to large coverage areas and reach huge numbers of users. The proposed system will employ a mixture of satellites and Earth-based repeaters. Satellites ensure global coverage and repeaters make it possible to receive the signals inside buildings.

The system will be able to be integrated into modern mobile telephone and vehicle-mounted receiver designs at very low cost, making it ideal for the mass-market. "

Virgin ditches mobile TV service

According to The Guardian, Virgin Mobile has decided to dump its broadcast mobile TV service after less than a year because of poor customer take-up.

"... Five-channel Virgin Mobile TV (VMTV) was launched last October with a £2.5m advertising campaign fronted by former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson. But it failed to take off with customers, partly because only one rather chunky handset - nicknamed the Lobster phone - was ever available.

Earlier this year the Guardian reported that less than 10,000 people had signed up."

Nokia Extends Web Push With Twango Purchase

According to The Wall Street Journal, Nokia plans to announce today that it has bought an online photo- and video-sharing start-up in the latest of a series of acquisitions to expand beyond cellphones into Internet-related services in search of new sources of revenue.

"The world's largest maker of cellphones by sales and market share is acquiring Twango Inc., a closely held Redmond, Wash., media-sharing Web site. "

AT&T launching cell phone video service

According to The Daily Herald, AT&T Inc. today is launching VideoShare, which provides live video service over wireless 3G mobile phones while you talk.

"Video Share will be available for personal use, such as showing off a baby’s first steps or other special moments.

It also will be for business users, such as showing real estate or retail displays or for insurance adjusters to process claims, said AT&T spokeswoman Cara Birch."

Latest posts from Textually.org

Here are the links to the latest posts from Textually.org (we're having technical problems, posts are not appearing on main index or in RSS feeds - but they are being archived with permalinks)

-- iPhone from the sand

-- Teen Imprisoned For Text-Messaging Death

-- Bank to use cell phones to record money collection online

-- Canadian valley aims to keep cellphone-free quiet

-- Google Pushes for Rules to Aid Wireless Plan

Turn Your Camera Phone Into a Digital Scanner

qipit allows camera phone users to copy and share documents for free.

How does it work? Take a picture of a document with your camera phone. Send the picture from your phone or via email to copy@qipit.com. You'll receive a link to the online digital copy of your document.

[via MobileCrunch]

Camera phones will top 1B this year

The number of mobile camera phones in use will top 1 billion this year, reflecting their tremendous growth rate since they hit the market around seven years ago, according to a new market evaluation, reports Computerworld.

"Sales shot up from about 3 million camera phones in 2001 to 500 million last year, according to figures released Friday by Strategy Analytics Ltd. However, the growth will likely start to level off, said Neil Mawton, an associate director at the market research company.

Instead, people will upgrade existing camera phones, with manufacturers trying to entice them with high-end features that will dwarf what was available a few years ago, Mawton said. They will offer cameras with improved zoom capabilities, autofocus, better flashes and faster shutter speeds." Read full article.

Mobilists document broken pipe in NYC with cameraphones

Citizens taking cameraphone pics after a transformer exploded in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, creating a roar and a huge plume of smoke. Pedestrians fled from the area in scenes reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Reuters photo spotted on mopocket.

Caught on Cell Phone: Minnesota Football Player Charged In Sex Assault

A University of Minnesota football player was charged this week with criminal sexual conduct for allegedly having sex with an unconscious woman at a party, and police say part of the incident was caught on a cell phone camera. [via ABCNews]

EU backs standard for mobile TV

The BBC reports that European officials have backed a single standard for the rollout of mobile TV services across Europe.

"Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has called on member states to roll out services using the DVB-H standard "as quickly as possible":

Wait-and-see is not an option. The time has come for Europe's industry and governments to switch on to mobile TV"

Some key players have questioned why Brussels rather than the market is deciding what the standard should be.

And analysts warn it could see the UK fall behind unless regulatory issues are ironed out."

[via Techmeme]

YCC:Film

The Italian team won the Young Creatives Competition:Film 2007.

The competition - sponsored by Nokia Nseries - took place between Wednesday June 20th and 22nd in conjunction with the International Advertising Festival in Cannes.

Twenty young creative teams was given the same creative brief and 48 hours to create a 20-second TV commercial using the Nokia N93i.

[via Guerilla Innovation]

Those YouTube videos on your iPhone might be illegal

"The latest copyright infringement story has just popped up over on NewsBlog. TUAW reports.

"It would seem that some of Bob Tur's work has been illegally uploaded to YouTube, and he isn't happy.

He has filed suit against YouTube already, but now he thinks he has a case against Apple. Why? Because the YouTube app on the iPhone plays his copyrighted material."

L.A. Teens Taped Homeless Beatings on Cell Phones

Four teenage boys have been arrested and charged with attacking homeless men and recording the violence on their cell phones. ABC7Local reports.

"Police say the boys, ranging in age from 15 to 17, drove around Los Angeles looking for victims. They are being accused for six separate attacks during the last two weeks.

The boys allegedly shot homeless people with air pistols, and tossed smoke bombs while their cell phones rolled.

LAPD says the suspects planned to post the images on the internet. "

National Geographic launches How to Cameraphone book

National Geographic seeing that most of us are now taking pictures with our mobile phones rather than our digital cameras have released a book entitled - The Camera Phone Book. Photography Press reports.

"National Geographic, who has leant its name to everything from camera bags to clothing, has said the 160-page book has been created by two top professionals and illustrates how to get the most out of your camera on your phone."

NTT DoCoMo testing new, high-speed mobile network

Japan's largest mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo had began testing a new cellular network nearly 100 times faster than its current system, an Associated Press report said via America's Network.

"The company had started testing equipment it hopes will yield download speeds of up to 300Mbps.

Current maximum down speeds are 3.6Mbps. Completion of the new network is scheduled by 2009, the statement said."

LG plans touchscreen mobile with 5-megapixel camer

LG is believed to be planning an iPhone-like, touchscreen phone based on the Prada Phone it released earlier this year. Camera Core reports.

"As well as the 3in touchscreen, the LG KU990 is expected to feature a 5-megapixel camera, 3G with HSDPA capability, integrated MP3 player, MicroSD card support and an onboard FM radio.

There are also rumours of a 120 frames per second video recording facility on the device.

The LG KU990 will also include an embedded YouTube feature for uploading video clips. "

Wi-Fi TV to Deliver First Streaming Movie to iPhone Today

Wi-Fi TV announced today that it will be offering the public the first ever delivery of a streaming movie to the iPhone from a website.

To the best of the knowledge of Wi-Fi TV Inc., no other company prior to today has offered the public a movie that streams to the iPhone.

The importance of showing streaming movies on the iPhone is that the iPhone has a limited and non-expandable memory that can only hold a certain number of songs, videos and other information.

Unlike other plans announced to deliver movies to the iPhone, Wi-Fi TV does not require a movie to be downloaded and stored in the iPhone memory, but rather Wi-Fi TV streams the movie, which takes up no memory space in the iPhone.

Press release

Citizen journalism site to shut down

The news site that has allowed its users to write and submit their own articles is shutting down, citing unspecified "business issues." The Associated Press reports.

"Backfence Inc. had "hyperlocal" sites serving 13 communities in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago areas. Residents were allowed to write on any topic, including event announcements and neighborhood traffic congestion, without the meddling of editors.

The idea was to get readers and viewers more involved in news production with the help of the Internet, camera phones and other technologies.

... Backfence never drew much traffic. Its 13 operations collectively haven't received enough visitors in a month to reach the threshold needed for comScore Media Metrix to properly measure. Normally, comScore needs at least 50,000 to 100,000 visitors.

Jay Rosen, a New York University journalism professor, said others can now learn from Backfence's failure.

"The first attempt, if it has some good ideas in it and some dubious ones are exposed, will make future projects easier and raise our chances for success," Rosen said. "Backfence may have succeeded brilliantly in evolutionary terms.

Last year, Backfence acquired another pioneer in citizen journalism, the San Francisco area's Bayosphere, which was created by former newspaper columnist Dan Gillmor."

Collective Art Over Mobile Networks

New technologies have a way of giving rise to new art forms, writes Killerap.

"One of the newest -- and most beautiful -- is a mobile-generated collective artwork emerging from an international art workshop at the Mix Studio in New York, led by French artists Olivier di Pizio and Gonzalo Belmonte.

Di Pizio and Belmonte are bringing together 20 French and American painters to create collaborative art, as they have done for more than 15 years. As in earlier collaborative work, each artist contributes photographs, documents, and other items from his or her own life and uses them in the work.

This year, for the first time, the artists also will be using camera phones to populate a real-time collective media blog on Cellfish.com.

You can view the workshop on Cellfish.com, or receive the artists’ creations in real time on your cell phone. You can also go and see the collective digital creation at the FIAF Gallery in New York:

Embedded News channels on Nokia E series

RokTV has secured a deal to provide business news TV channels to Nokia E-Series handsets with a preinstalled application. Cellular News reports.

"ROK TV is available via the Downloads! Service on such devices as Nokia E61i and Nokia E65, initially, which the owner simply needs to activate to begin watching the services.

Two channel packages will be offered:

-- A 5 channel 'Strictly Business' package with a heavy emphasis on business news and information channels such as Bloomberg, CNBC Europe, EuroNews in 9 languages and regional news channels

-- A10 channel 'ROK All' TV package containing all the live business news channels as well as additional sports news, music videos and comedy channels.

As a trial, both TV packages will be free to view for the first 2 weeks."

HP offering color-matching technology for cameraphones

Hewlett-Packard is turning turn mobile phones into shopping advisers with a color-matching prototype technology. cio reports.

"The Color Match mobile service technology combines color science, imaging science and mobile networking technology to match colors that complement each other and provide product advice over a cell phone.

Users take a photograph of themselves while holding a specialized color chart under their faces. The picture is sent using multimedia messaging service to an "advisory service" on a server. Software on the server seeks out corrections in the image; it locates the face, adjusts lighting and calibrates the color.

Based on the analysis, the advisory service sends a return short-message service recommending what cosmetic color and shades would best match the skin color. The service returned recommendations in a matter of seconds in the demonstration.

Among other applications, the service will be able to make recommendations to match and recommend colors for ties, pants and suits, Bhatti said. "Images can be taken with any cell phone camera, and the mobile service will work with any service provider."

Related article in ITPro

ABC-Owned Stations Launch Mobile Video

ABC-owned TV stations will now offer free video content for cellular phones, reports
Broadcast Newsroom

"The network's owned-and-operated stations launched free mobile-video services in all 10 of their markets, offering advertiser-supported streaming news clips."

Tech Savvy Museums hope to attract young audience

A growing number of arts organizations are capitalizing on e-mailing, text messaging, and online social networking as a way of building new audiences, writes The New York Sun.

"Just like other advertisers, arts groups hope that becoming more tech-savvy will help them speak more effectively to young audiences.

One European company is marketing a technology that allows museums to take advantage of viral marketing. VideoMail technology developed by Bitmove, takes the e-postcard concept a step further, allowing your visitors at visitor centers, museums and events to use video kiosks to record a 15 second message to camera and then e-mail it to three friends."

Digital-cameras go wireless to compete with cameraphones

The integration of wireless technology into digital cameras -- which started two years ago but hasn't gone mainstream until recently -- is part of an effort to fight back against camera-equipped cellphones and make digital cameras more of a stand-alone device, reports The Wall Street Journal.

"... As portable camera cellphones continue to grow in popularity, many consumers are abandoning point-and-shoot digital cameras. The upshot: U.S. digital-camera sales are projected to fall 2.6% by 2010, according to research firm IDC. In contrast, U.S. camera-phone shipments are expected to rise nearly 75% by 2010."

Click here to look at some Wi-Fi digital cameras.

Related: - Casio adds YouTube to Exilim camera mix

iPhree hands free - to watch iphone videos on the go

File under fun. iPhree is the ultimate hands-free device for iPhones enabling you to watch videos on the go.

Spotted on MobileMag. In their's own words, "It's phreedom".

"Do everything as you are used to and enjoy your iPhone Hands Free every minute of the Day … Just put on your iPhree, attach your iPhone and start your Day."

Watch the video.