Made-for-mobile movie Trailer

Mobile agency, Candyspace, has created what it claims isthe first mobile-only version of a theatrical trailer for the release of the movie, ‘The Nines’ which debuts in UK cinemas today.

Candyspace has created a version of the trailer running in UK cinemas, specifically cut to provide optimum viewing on mobile handsets.

The trailer can be accessed on The Nines mobile portal where there are also competitions and exclusive content based on the film.

[via Mobile Magazine]

Moto planning ZINE line with 8 megapixel camerane?

Motorola is planning a whole new line of phones in 2008. elelctronista reports.

"Called the ZINE line, the series will reportedly include at least two models next year and will include at least one phone based on the kick-slider design of the RIZR Z8.

The handset would have a touchscreen along with the usual sliding keypad. It would also draw on new technology developed in tandem with Kodak to include an 8-megapixel camera and boast an extremely rare optical zoom lens.

No details have been revealed of the second phone".

Blockbuster to offer movie rentals on cellphones

Blockbusteris currently in talks with “virtually all of the major manufacturers” in an effort to allow customers to watch movies on their mobile phones.

... Blockbuster is currently looking in to making the process easier and more convenient for the consumer. With Blockbuster taking a back seat to online services like Netflix, this may help get them back on track.

An availability date for the service has not been announced, but with mobile phone displays getting nicer and large storage cards being readily available a service like this could actually work nice.

[via gadgetell]

Caught a criminal on your phone?

Members of the public who catch criminals red-handed by filming them on mobile phones can now upload pictures directly on to the police website.

A new multi-media innovation on Greater Manchester Police's website allows still photographs and videos to be contributed anonymously by people who may have captured vital evidence on their phone or portable camera.

The idea was initially brought in as part of the police's fight against terrorism.

[via the The Bolton News]

Man films speedometer with cameraphone while at 143mph

Throw the book at him!

A 20 year-old Scottish man (allegedly) drove at up to 143mph while filming the speedometer with a mobile phone. And then posted the clip on YouTube.

[via the BBC]

Samsung Develops RFID Chip for Cell Phones

Samsung's RFID reader chip will eventually find its way into mobile phones, to enable new information services, according to PC World.

"Samsung's principal innovation in this area has been to design an RFID reader chip that can read different types of RFID tags. Normally, it takes more than one chip to read different kinds of RFID tags. The new chip will one day find its way into handheld devices, such as mobile phones, although the company did not say when that would happen.

When it does, people will be able to read RFID tags on products and other items meant to make the world an easier place to navigate. For example, some RFID tags on food or medicine products might give information on ingredients or dosages, while RFID tags at bus stops can offer schedules or tell when the next bus will arrive."

Reding’s mobile TV plans under fire

A drive by the European Commission to endorse a single technology for TV broadcasts on mobile phones has come under fire from Germany, Britain and the Netherlands. The FT reports.

She wants to put DVB-H on a list of official European standards, and could as soon as next year compel countries to use only this technology for mobile television, in the case of market failure.

But several member states object to any move to make the system obligatory, according to a paper seen by the Financial Times. Instead, they argue that the nascent market should develop on its own."

Sales Of Multimedia Phones To Pass TVs Next Year

Worldwide shipments of multimedia-enabled mobile phones will exceed 300 million units next year, surpassing shipments of television sets, according to a research report being released this week by MultiMedia Intelligence. Sales of such phones will generate over $76 billion in revenue.

[via Information Week]

Lauren's (The Hills) Life Goes Mobile

Did you know that you can check on what Lauren "LC" Conrad is up to, live, on TMZ and on your mobile phone? Geek Sugar reports.

Lauren'ts life usually unfolds on television as she is one of the players in MTV's hugely successful reality series The Hills.

"By using an AT&T Video Share Phone, Lauren is able to stream live videos to her friends while shopping, partying or attending events. To instantly stream video from one phone to another, both phones need to be video compatible and connected to a 3G network."

Is Paris Hilton behind pirated photos of Nicole Richie's baby shower?

Nicole Richie and rocker Joel Madden held their baby shower at the Beverly Hills Hotel last Sunday, with exclusive coverage granted to InStyle magazine.

But according to the New York Daily News, "pirated pictures were being offered by a source to competing magazines. And one pal suspects Richie frenemy Paris Hilton might have had something to do with it. "All the photos that were offered had Paris right in the center of them, as the star," sniffs the insider. "They look set up."

Hilton's rep told the NYDaily News: "Paris was a hostess of the shower, which a large number of people attended. Many of these guests were taking photos with camera phones . . . there is no way she had anything to do with this."

Nokia cranks up twisty-turny phone design

A Nokia application to the US Patent and Trademark Office has revealed its work on a handset that’s operated by cranks. The The Register.

"Nokia’s application, which was filed in May 2006 but updated earlier this month, explains how the crank doesn’t move freely, but rather ‘clicks’ into two pre-set positions. The first slides the screen up to reveal the keyboard, but it can also be used to activate the phone’s video camera. A second turn activates a photo camera."

Finnish Town has Culture on the go with Mobiles

Fancy a dose of culture in the Finnish city of Oulu? According to Reuters, all you need is a mobile phone.

"Get theatre tickets digitally, download a smart video trailer of how the play was directed, order and pay for snacks for the interval and, after a culture-packed night, order a taxi home -- all by just swiping a cellphone over smart tags placed on the menus or around the foyer of the theatre.

The Oulu City Theatre in northern Finland, 600 kilometers (373 miles) north of Helsinki, says it is the world's first cultural institution turn mobile phones into wallets.

... NFC (near-field communication) technology is activated by waving phones over wireless readers, or smart tags, and is widely used in public transport access cards."

Spain launches cellphone paedophilia crackdown

Nearly 50 people suspected of exchanging child sex pictures and videos over mobile telephones and the Internet are under investigation in Spain, authorities said on Thursday, according to AFP.

"... The investigation into the source of the images exchanged has extended to Argentina, Colombia and the United States.

Spanish police said they analysed 73 000 cellphone text messages, searched 45 homes and seized roughly 100 cellphones and 3 000 archives with paedophile content as part of their investigation."

Shoot first, talk later

Mobile phone makers race to take lead in megapixel camera phone battle. The Traits Times reports.

"Not satisfied with (by now) measly 3-megapixel shooters, phone makers are frantically squeezing up to 5 megapixels worth of cameras into their puny handsets.

Sony Ericsson and Samsung, for instance, have just unveiled their 5-megapixel shooters this month. And even before you can say 'cheese', the new range of 10-megapixel phones are already in the works.

Samsung, for instance, has just unveiled the world's first 10-megapixel mobile phone, the SCH-B600.

Not to be outdone, camera lens maker Carl Zeiss says that its next generation of 10-megapixel cellphones will soon hit the shelves.

That is something, especially as most professional cameras have not even reached that level yet.

The surge in pixel numbers seems to be meeting the needs of local users, evident in the large number of people buying these devices.

Research firm GFK Asia says that 1.05 million camera-enabled cellphones flew off the shelves in the first six months of this year, an increase of 13 per cent over the same period in 2006."

Camera phones also made up nearly 83 per cent of all mobile phone sales in the first half of this year, with sales rising 18 per cent over the same period last year to about 870,000 units."

Picture left, Samsung's 7-megapixel camera phone.

Solar Powered RFID tracking system

Lockheed Martin has begun deploying solar-powered Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers and signposts, saving energy and negating the need for installing electrical infrastructure in remote areas. Gizmag reports.

"Designed for use in the defense and commercial sectors, the solar-powered signposts activate RFID tags attached to vehicles or pieces of equipment.

The tags then report the assets’ positions to nearby RFID readers, which relay the information to Savi Site Manager software that automatically updates the assets’ latest location.

The system is capable of tracking more than 25,000 tags per day."

Cameras that know who you photographed

This is wild. And could be the next cameraphone feature.

News.com reports on several technologies that make digital photography qualitatively different from the film photography of the past.

Autotagging for one - which enables users to sift through pictures by date (but you have to remember who you shot when) and more interesting, face recognition technology, which is software that can "trained" to recognize a set of people, based on the premise that most people take pictures of the same 25 to 30 people.

[via Smart Mobs]

Phone sales put pressure on digital camera

According to the The Telegraph, sales of the digital camera will fall for the first time this year as growing numbers of people rely on their mobile phones to take pictures.

According to Mintel, the market research agency, consumers have finally grown tired of the gadget that transformed the photography market and sales are predicted to fall from £951 ($1.947 )million to £890 ($1.822) million.

Fevzi Turkalp, founder of the
GadgetDetective.com , said that a range of new camera-phones out this year were causing the demise of the "small, point-and-shoot cameras."

Appeals Court says witness intimidated by camera phone photos

Pointing a camera phone at a witness waiting to testify in court amounts to intimidation. [via the The Associated Press]

"That's the ruling from the state Appeals Court in the case of a man awaiting trial on drug charges. David Casiano was convicted of witness intimidation last year after he pointed a camera phone at an undercover Boston police officer who was in Dorchester District Court to testify against him.

The officer said he was concerned that someone involved in drug dealing would recognize him if Casiano posted his photo on the Internet, which could put him and his family in danger."

Mobile phone film men sentenced

Three men arrested after an assault on a 14-year-old girl, which was filmed on mobile phones, have been given a total of almost 500 hours community service.

"... The court heard that the victim, who is now 16, had attended a party at her friend's home in Knightswood in the west of Glasgow on 11 June 2005.

The teenager said she had drunk two vodkas and some beer before she passed out.

The court was shown two clips recorded on mobile phone cameras at the party.

One of the men had shown footage from the party to colleagues. The first showed the youngster being humiliated and taunted as she lay on a couch and in the second she was indecently assaulted.

... No-one was found guilty of actually filming the attack on the girl."

Taking a break. Back on Thursday November 15

Taking a break in New York this week. Next blog update Thursday November 15.

How smart does your phone need to be?

Mobile phones come with ever more features; whether we use them is crucial to a billion-dollar industry. The BBC reports.

Take camera phones. They were derided at first. Today half of all mobile phone users in the UK take pictures with their mobiles, and a quarter send them on.

Camera phones have been a "phenomenal success" says Paul Goode, senior analyst at m:metrics, a consulting firm.

Now the industry hopes that mobile data - web, e-mail, music downloads - will be the next goldmine. "

ClassifEye technology guards camera phone identity

ClassifEye has developed fingerprint authentication technology which is compatible with most camera phones, to prevent identity theft.

The solution does not require any additional hardware such as fingerprint sensors, USB keys and code generators, making it cost-effective and easy to deploy.

A camera phone user simply downloads the ClassifEye software directly to the device.

The user then takes a picture of his finger with the phone’s camera. The software authenticates the user’s fingerprint and authorises immediate access to the phone.

The process takes less than a minute and eliminates the need to remember a password. It is also significantly more secure than a password.

[via Camera Core]

Wireless ID Skin Patch Technology

Surgical suply manufacturer Frank Sammeroff and technology company Gentag will be working on a new smart, wireless ID skin patch technology that aims to reduce medical errors in hospitals, reports Ubergizmo.

"This patented, non-invasive solution combines disposable skin patches with RFID tags and cellphones, enabling doctors and nurses to use their handsets or wireless PDAs to update medical charts, time of patient visit and drug administration. "

2 Egyptian police sentenced for torture

Two police officers were convicted Monday of torturing a bus driver in an abuse case that came to light when a cell phone video of the man being beaten and sodomized appeared on Egyptian blogs and YouTube. The Associated Press reports.

"They were sentenced to three years in prison.

... In November 2006, several Egyptian bloggers posted a video showing a man naked from the waist down being sodomized with a stick. As he screamed in pain, those around him, whose faces were not visible, ridiculed him and threatened him that they were going to spread the video among his fellow drivers to humiliate him."

The Top Ten Camera Phone Images That Made The News

Photopreneur has listed the eight amateur shots that made headline news.

1. The London Underground Attacks

2. Cocaine Kate

3. The Subway Cellphone Pervert

4. Sleeping Boothy

5. Banksy in the Act

6. Harry the Nazi

7. Saddam’s Execution

8. Kennedy Assassination

X Factor girl quits over happy slapping video

X Factor talent show hopeful Emily Nakanda has quit in shame after being videoed "happy slapping" a teenage girl. UK's Mirror reports.

From X Factor website:

Emily will not sing in the competition on Saturday’s big band night, and for her, the competition is over.

Emily chose to withdraw from the competition following stories which have appeared in the tabloids over the last couple of days. She is pictured, on mobile phone footage and video stills, allegedly carrying out so-called happy-slapping attacks.

Previously: - 'X Factor' Finalist Emily Exposed As A Happy Slapper

Cigarette Machine Can See Who's Too Young To Smoke

Not related to cameraphones, just interesting. Kyoto-based vending machine maker and marketer Fujitaka Co. has developed a new kind of machine that integrates a camera and face-recognition software to judge whether purchasers look old enough to buy cigarettes.

The vending machine has an "adult recognition" button, and when this is pressed a tiny camera takes a photo of the customer and analyzes certain features such as wrinkles and sagging around the eyes and mouth as well as the frame of the potential buyer's body to determine a general age.

In a test with 500 people ranging in age from their teens to their 60s, this software was able to identify adults with 90% accuracy.

Distinguishing teenagers from twenty-somethings is more difficult. So when the software cannot make a judgment call, the customer needs to insert a license to prove their age. If the machine can make a match with the license photo, it will sell cigarettes."

[via Nikkei.net

Strictly No Photography website

Strictly No Photography, a website dedicated to nothing but photos taken inside places you're not supposed to take photos. Art galleries, government buildings, religious sites, science and technology exhibits, all user-submitted by characters with names like Sir Veillance.

[dump trumpet via Core77

'X Factor' Finalist Emily Exposed As A Happy Slapper

X Factor Talent show finalist Emily Nakanda has been exposed as a happy slapper, according to Entertainment News.

"A British tabloid has obtained video footage – sent via mobile phone to children around Emily’s North London home – of the wannabe pop star brutally attacking a another girl.

X Factor bosses are currently investigating the incident and will decide whether she can remain on the show."

Hollywood Writers Say They'll Strike

Hollywood writers said they would strike for the first time in nearly 20 years but left open the door for last-minute talks to avert a crippling walkout. Associated Press reports.

... Union leaders said they would delay the action if producers showed movement in contract negotiations — especially on the key issue of paying writers when TV episodes are sold or streamed over the Internet.

The stakes are high for writers, actors and directors. While the revenue generated by Internet sales and rentals of films and TV shows is minuscule compared to DVDs, the guilds say Internet revenue eventually will become dominant.

"Every incremental window of distribution has added revenue and profitability to the business model," said Anthony DiClemente, an entertainment analyst for Lehman Brothers Equity Research. "Digital is likely to be a positive thing for the studios."

Studios argue that it is too early to know how much money they can make from offering entertainment on the Internet, cell phones, iPods and other devices."