Myanmar junta can’t murder in darkness

A wonderful opinion piece from NewsTribune.

"Myanmar’s besieged dictatorship declared war Friday on the Internet and cell phones, shutting down the former and confiscating the latter. Too late.

... There’s no telling now how this struggle for Myanmar’s soul will end. But if the democratic forces do prevail over the military junta, the victory will owe something to today’s extraordinary communications networks. If the junta ultimately prevails by force, the same technology will have indelibly exposed its depravity to the civilized world.

Contrast this with the violence the junta unleashed when it originally seized power in 1988. Then, too, it had to contend with a powerful challenge from pro-democracy forces on the streets. But there were no camera-equipped cell phones and no Internet. There was barely any television; phone service, such as it was, was all landline.

Today, even after its crackdown on communications, the regime won’t be able to cut Myanmar off from the world. It will never be able to confiscate every cell phone. And while it has shut down the country’s Internet service providers, foreign companies and embassies can stay on the Web via satellite.

Some of history’s greatest crimes against humanity, including the Holocaust and the Turkish genocide of Armenians, were committed in darkness. Whatever the Burmese junta does, it will have to do in the harsh light of international scrutiny. Myanmar’s democracy movement has a precious ally – instant, speed-of-light communications – that past victims of brutal dictatorships couldn’t have dreamed of.

Picture from the BBC

'Citizen Journalists' Evade Blackout On Myanmar News

In the age of YouTube, cellphone cameras and text messaging, technology is playing a critical role in helping news organizations and international groups follow Myanmar's biggest protests in nearly two decades. The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Citizen witnesses are using cellphones and the Internet to beam out images of bloodied monks and street fires, subverting the Myanmar government's effort to control media coverage and present a sanitized version of the uprising.

... The BBC, which has a Burmese language Web site and radio service, is encouraging its audience to send in photos, like the ones it received of a monk's monastery that had been ransacked by authorities.

Time Warner Inc.'s CNN, which had its own reporter in Myanmar on Wednesday, has also been airing 65 clips and pictures from tourists and Myanmar residents sent in via its "ireport" citizen-journalist system.

"When traditional methods and professional journalists can't provide footage, and personal safety allows, citizens rise to the challenge time and again, often with remarkable material," said Ellana Lee, the managing editor of CNN Asia Pacific in an email. "Even in countries like Myanmar, the spread of the Internet and mobile phones has meant that footage will always continue to get through and the story will be told, one way or another."

Still, working with inexperienced journalists can be a challenge for news organizations that want to publish credible, balanced information. Reuters, which has a reporter stationed in Yangon, says content from citizen journalists is rigorously checked for accuracy.

Speaking of his correspondents, Aung Zaw, the editor of Irrawaddy, says, "They are doing their job on the ground, and nobody is even giving them the assignment. It is our job to check again with our sources, to see how close to the truth it is."

Football game gets instant replay on cell phones

College fans attending Purdue University home football games this fall will be able to call up instant replays on their cell phones, according to UPI.

"Purdue's e-Stadium is believed the first service to offer access to instant replays by demand on cell phones without charge.

Fans attending football games at Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind., can use cell phones that have Internet capability to demand and view replays from as many as six camera angles and will be able to sort the replays to find videos involving particular players or types of plays.

Current game statistics, scores of other games in progress, and biographical information of players and coaches also are available."

Mobile Phones Scan Your T-shirt And Visit Your Online Profile

augme.com sells T-shirts that can be scanned by a mobile phone. When the phone reads the T-shirt, it will visit the website of the person wearing it.

The person wearing the T-shirt can choose any website, social networking page, photo, video or music to link the tag to. This includes the ever-popular Facebook and Myspace websites, as well as Augme’s own profiles which are designed with mobile-viewing in mind.

Press release

The official phone game of the Beijing Olympics

At the the Tokyo Game Show 2007 (which boasted a total attendance of 193,000 over four days (Sept. 20-23) at Makuhari Messe in Chiba), NTT DoCoMo displayed the Peking Olympic Mobile Games, the official mobile phone game of next year's summer Olympics in Beijing.

In one of the game's events, you put the phone down on a table and pump your arms like a sprinting runner. The phone's camera picks up your movements and accelerates your onscreen running character accordingly.

[via Yomiuri]

Harness new technology to deal with eyesight issues.

Technology executive and investor Conrad Lewis knows a thing or two about vision problems, so he's putting his money where his eyes are, writes Bert Hill for the OttawaCitizen.com.

"His idea is to use this technology to allow individuals losing eye sight to maximize the abilities they still have. Since the onset of blindness can take many forms, and even the legally blind have some remaining eyesight, the technology would be adapted to each case.

"With the cellphone and iPod gaining more power everyday, Lewis believes such devices will be the means to deliver video and special image enhancements to people with fading eyesight.

Headset technology that lets youths on Tokyo subways watch videos on their iPods and MP3 players could soon be helping the visually impaired.

"The technology isn't quite good enough yet, but the day is rapidly approaching. We want to ride the mass market."

eSight has developed a prototype that integrates the early technology and is showing it to investors. Mr. Lewis said a European research foundation has tentatively promised an $11-million investment."

Burmese Monks Protests captured by cameraphones

Buddhist monks gather and pray at Shwedagon pagoda before taking the street in a march protesting against the military government in Rangoon, Burma. Voice of America reports.

"...The demonstrations have persisted and spread in part because of new technologies - such as camera phones and Web-casting - to relay news.

"We actually are seeing an unprecedented wave of media technology being used in Burma and we're seeing this not just in Rangoon but also in Mandalay, in other parts, other states and divisions in Burma," said Debbie Stothard from ALTSEAN Regional Human Rights Network in Bangkok.

"So, the eyes of the international community are firmly on Burma but this information is also being broadcast back into Burma to the general population through radio services such as the Voice of America and other radio stations and that has actually helped the people of Burma to be better informed."

Previously: - Myanmar (Burma) cuts phone service to activists, journalists

TV on Cellphone Screens? No thanks, say Europeans

Europeans' interest in watching mobile television is as tiny as cellphone screens, a new study showed on Monday, even though the industry has been buzzing about offering TV on handsets for years. [Reuters reports]

"Only about 5 percent of Europeans expressed interest in watching television or video on their cellphones in the next 12 months, the Gartner study said. At the same time some 20 percent of Asians said they would watch TV on their phone screens."

Telecom steps into sports TV

France Telecom has taken its first tentative steps into broadcasting with the launch of IPTV service Orange Sports TV.

The channel will feature sports news, broadcast via the Internet and direct to Orange mobile 3G network subscribers.

[via Variety]

Man urinates on dying woman, declaring it 'YouTube material'

From the "Annals of Modern Depravity" comes this sordid story:

Shouting, "This is YouTube material!" a 27-year-old British man urinated on a dying woman who had collapsed on the street, the BBC and local Hartepool Mail and Northern Echo tell us. He also doused her with a bucket of water and covered her with shaving cream.

The woman, 50-year-old Christine Lakinski, died at the scene of pancreatic failure.

In a sad sign of the times, it was all recorded on a mobile phone.

In court, Anthony Anderson said he had smoked a joint and been drinking with two friends when they spotted Lakinski. He faces jail after pleading guilty to "outraging public decency." Sentencing is set for Oct. 22.

"We will await the outcome and just hope he gets what he deserves," Lakinski's brother said after today's court hearing.

[via Blogs USA Today]

The People's 311

The People's 311 is a public photo pool documenting non-emergency 311 conditions throughout New York City.

In their own words: We encourage citizens to post photos here of dangling traffic signs, illegal advertising, dead or dying street trees and the like, along with their locations.

People’s 311 is an unofficial companion to 311 and not a replacement for it. It aims to show the potential of crowdsourcing as a way to help solve selected government problems efficiently.

[via Swissmiss]

Flickr Image: Sidewalk Damage - 540 W 37th

Predictions for mobile TV in 2012

I don't believe much in predictions, because in 2012, 5 years from now, no one will compare Juniper Research with actual market igures or even remember the study. But for those who do care for numbers, here goes, via Moco News:

"There will be nearly 120 million people watching mobile broadcast TV in more than 40 countries by 201, which will generate $6.6 billion in revenue, according to Juniper Research."

McDonald's previews new system using cell phones to place orders and pay

McDonald's has teamed up with SK Telecom to offer a new way of ordering. The new ordering scheme, which uses RFID was unveiled at a McDonald's in western Seoul. RFID News reports.

How it works

"Customers have to first download a program to their handsets using SK Telecom's Nate mobile Internet service in order to use the system.

Once inside McDonald's, each table has an RFID enabled menu as well as an RFID reader that plugs into the handsets.

Customers plug the reader into their mobile phones, and point them at the item on the menu that they wish to eat or drink.

The bill is then charged through the mobile phone and when the meal is ready, the system sends a text message to the phone so the customer can pick up the ready tray at a designated counter."

Software lets users watch movies from PCs or TV on mobile phones

Digital technology company DigitAll World together with SK Telecom announced on Monday that it is developing a software application that lets users watch movies from their home computers or TVs on their mobile phones. Digital Chosunilbo reports.

"Called Orb, the application streams media such as videos saved on home computers or broadcast on TV over the wireless Internet to mobile devices."

Cameraphone Photographer of the Year

The cameraphone has transformed photography and photojournalism. Now The Times has teamed up with Sony Ericsson for The Search, a competition to find the world’s best pictures taken on a mobile phone. Photos in the category of News and Sport will be accepted this week.

"The winner’s picture will be displayed in The Times and a leading London gallery, where it will appear along with those of the other finalists.

The best snapper will also go on an all-expenses-paid trip to capture their own news shots, and will advance to represent Britain in Sony Ericsson’s international Cameraphone Photographer of the Year.

For full competition details, and information on prizes and how to submit your entries, see www.sonyericsson.com/thesearch

"Pop Up Video" in mobile format

Music cable network VH1 is resurrecting back its "Pop Up Video" series in a mobile-only format starting Monday, reports Reuters.

"The original "Pop", which stopped airing in 2002 on the Viacom-owned channel, featured music videos with informational bubbles that popped up with facts and trivia about the artists, song or related subject matter.

The new installment of original videos, "Pop Up Video to Go," will be offered cross carrier exclusively on VH1's mobile network and will be updated weekly."

Mobile video shot by Thai air crash victim

As he crawled out of the burning wreckage of the plane which crashed in Phuket, Thailand, one Swedish passenger captured the horror of what he saw on camera.

The man, who was one of 42 survivors on the 123-passenger flight from Bangkok, which killed 88 people, took a video on his mobile phone as bewildered and bloodied survivors climbed out of the wreck to safety.

More pictures on the wreckage and those who made it out alive.

[This is London via Spluch]

Practice English with 3G phones

SK Telecom said yesterday it will offer the English education service, "Live on English," using video telephony functions available in WCDMA-based 3G handsets.

The service allows users to practice conversational English for a maximum of 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

[via The Korea Herald]

WineM: An RFID-controlled wine rack

News.com reporting from Wired NextFest in LA - a four-day festival of cool inventions and cutting-edge technologies from the world's leading innovators - has captured a view of WineM, a prototype of an RFID-controlled wine rack that lets owners keep track of their wine collections in a unique way.

"The smart wine rack incorporates RFID tags (applied to each wine bottle), electronic readers (embedded in each wine rack slot) and LED lights to highlight bottles in their cubbies.

Owners can control the rack with a Flash-based application that illuminates bottles based on vintage, grape, region or price.

The company said it will start taking orders for the rack early next year for delivery in 2009."

H&M's semacode campaign enables impulse shopping via camphone

H&M has launched a billboard and magazine campaign in Europe, enabling consumers to buy the clothes with their cameraphones, by scanning the semacode. The item is then charged to the user's cell phone bill.

[via My Digital Life]

Hollywood on a Shoestring

Monday 8th October will see the launch of the UK’s first commercial digital feature-length film production company in London, Devolution Digital.

"Devolution Digital has been set up with the intention of fulfilling the potential of mobile broadcast technology and the internet for digital movie-making and distribution, delivering movie shorts and feature-length films to the consumer, via mobile phones and other hand-held devices, at a fraction of the ‘Hollywood’ cost. "

[via Clickpress]

Free TV channel aims for Internet content

All you need to launch your own television channel is a mobile phone with a camera, Finnish technology startup
Floobs said on Thursday, reports Reuters.

Floobs plans to offer a free television channel for everyone, enabling people to run live shows or pre-recorded material, for no charge, starting later this year.

The company opened a Finnish-language testing service this week and aims for a November launch of an English site, targeting groups and communities which do not get airtime on established television channels."

Mobile phone sharp shooters are sought in new filmmaking contest

Would-be filmmakers in Lancashire are to be given the opportunity to show off their talents in a regional competition, reports The Lancashire Evening Post.

"The county's 18 to 24-year-old mobile phone users are being encouraged
to enter the Short Sharp Shots competition.

Mobile phone film clips of three minutes or under can be entered into the contest for the chance to win cash or videophones.

The best 10 submissions will be awarded funding of £250 each and a place on a mobile filmmaking bootcamp to help them produce their next movie.

They will also win a top video mobile."

Mobile TV Technically Ready, Waiting On Business Model

Mobile TV is more or less ready to go in the US, it’s just waiting for an invitation to the party, reports Moco News. “The big problem, analysts say, is people aren’t yet willing to pay for TV on cell phones. That’s slowing a potentially big market for makers of cell phone TV chips...

”People were excited about it—until they learned they had to pay for it,” said Yoram Solomon, director of standards and technology strategy for Texas Instruments .

Advertising is surely part of the answer, but there’s also an argument for a mixed model...this is going to be the big challenge of the mobile content industry—getting the business model right."

Image from Fox News

Medicine goes 2.0

Quebec-based Myca already has a hit with a service called MyFoodPhone, which lets users snap photos of their daily meals and send them to the company's nutritional analysts. CNN Money

"Now it's set to release Doctorphone and Babyphone, two services that offer patients and parents instant videoconferences with physicians via cell phone.

Doctorphone and Babyphone, both still in development will let subscribers conference with Myca's network of freelance nurses and doctors. Heart rate and temperature data can be transmitted to a patient's electronic medical-record file, and doctor-patient conversations are archived for future reference.

The fee for these services will likely be billed by the minute. In return, Myca will handle billing with insurance companies - at least for the 10 percent of U.S. health-care plans that reimburse physicians for video visits."

iPhone goes 3G

It looks like the European version of the iPhone will go 3G after all. Apple has apparently signed a $56 million dollar deal with wireless company InterDigital, which will supply "2G and 3G technologies" to Apple over the next seven years. [via Tech.co.uk]

"The deal covers various 2G and 3G cellular technologies encompassing bandwidth allocation, roaming and power efficiency controls, and most likely also includes some type of packet data coding and delivery," Boenning & Scattergood analyst Michael Ciarmoli told eWeek."

Motorola Sued by Fujifilm Unit Over Phone Lens Patent

Motorola Inc., the biggest U.S. maker of mobile phones, was sued by a unit of Fujifilm Holdings Corp. over claims the company infringed patents for camera-phone lenses. [via Bloomberg]

Motorola is selling more than 20 mobile phone models, including its popular Razr 3, that use lenses protected by three patents awarded in 2004 and 2005, Fujifilm's Fujinon unit said in the lawsuit filed yesterday. Fujinon asked a judge to block Motorola's infringement and award unspecified damages.

"By its infringing conduct, Motorola has made unlawful gains and profits,'' Fujinon said in a complaint filed in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware." Motorola has thus caused Fujinon irreparable damage.''

ESPN Adds Short Web, Mobile Series

ESPN.com has unveiled two new original short form series created exclusively for ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile TV.MediaWeek reports.

""This past week, ESPN.com launched Countdown Daily, a Monday through Friday, 12 to 15 minute roundup of the top NFL matchups featuring analysts from the network’s Sunday NFL Countdown andNFL Live. ".

In addition, on Sept. 9th site will debut Fantasy Football Now, an hour long fantasy football analysis series that will also run on ESPN Mobile TV via a distribution deal with Verizon’s V CAST.

That show, which will be presented live each Sunday prior that days NFL action, will incorporate questions from viewers via email and text messaging.

Countdown Daily, which is sponsored by IBM, has been streamed a half a million times per day since its debut, according to ESPN. ""

Online service helps students 'capture' class notes

It used to be a notebook and a sharp pencil were all you needed to take notes in class. But today, many students are turning to their cell phones instead. WKYC reports.

"Instead of scribbling what's on the board or recreating a diagram, students take a picture with their cameraphone and send it to themselves by e-mail, thanks to an online service called "Qipit."

Students can then upload the digital copy of the picture on their computer.

Qipit's Benoit Bergeret says his online company works like a free copy service, turning handwritten or printed documents into high contrast digital copies. "Qipit transforms the photo of the document into a black and white or black and color copy of that document," said Bergeret.

Qipit is like having a handheld scanner, a homework partner who takes notes all from your cell phone.

Qipit lets you store up to 25 documents on their website for free.

You can password protect your files or in the case of a class project give others access to your notes."

Amateur show jumping clips to feature on video website

There are alot of horse lovers where I live and I think this idea is great. From Horse and Hound.

"A new online video channel enabling amateur show jumpers to show clips of their finest — or most embarrassing — moments is to be launched later this month.

The 'Grassroots' website, which will be part of the community website ITV Local, is inviting clips shot on video cameras or mobile phones to be submitted for inclusion on the site.

TV Local's director of content Lindsay Charlton said: "Limited television airtime means that only a fraction of what goes on at equestrian events actually makes it to the screen. Grassroots will create a window through which amateur sports people can show off their talents — and their bloopers."

Ms Charlton added that the aim of the site was to raise the profile of local show jumping events and to provide an informative and entertaining service. "We're also interested in coaching tips, and even the antics of supporters," she said. "