Ikea Mobile Syncs Bar Codes, Weekly Deals to Your Phone

This Ikea Mobile kiosk was found in Seattle by Unpluggd, and allows you to scan bar codes for products to get sent via SMS to your phone.

By doing so you also opt-in to get access to coupons and specials for the week, as well as "regular updates via text message for deals and discounts." Cool while you're in the store, but somewhat annoying if you're getting pinged by Ikea about Poang chairs every week.

[via Gizmodo]

iPhone gets video ads from Ad Infuse

Ad Infuse, a San Francisco start-up is launching the first mobile video ads for the iPhone today.

Elinor Mills for News.com gave it a try, but connecting over AT&T's network was just too slow.

I visiting the HFM mobile site on my brand new iPhone and clicked on one of their portable training programs. I then waited as long as four or five minutes while the ad downloaded then a blank white screen came on making me wonder what to do next. The ad finally started playing and I was able to watch the 10 or 12 second anti-drug spot before the training video for working out abs on an exercise ball started playing.

Wow, if that's the experience I think I'll pass.

Verizon Rejects Hollywood’s Call to Aid Piracy Fight

More often than not companies in similar positions have similar views. But when Hollywood asked the two big phone companies to help with its fight against piracy, they responded in opposite ways. Saul Hansell in his New Times blog Bits reports.

"AT&T, as we wrote, is talking about developing a system that would identify and block illicitly copied material being sent over its broadband network.

Verizon, however, opposes the concept. I spoke to Tom Tauke, Verizon’s executive vice president for public affairs, on the subject. He said the company’s view combines a concern for the privacy of its customers with self interest. It may be costly for it to get into the business of policing the traffic on its network. Indeed, phone companies have largely spent a century trying not to be liable for what people say over their lines."

[via Gizmodo]

Kodak says sensor boosts camera power in phones

According to Reuters, Eastman Kodak Co on Monday introduced chips that can boost the picture-taking power in mobile phones, and help manufacturers cut development costs.

" Kodak says its KAC-05020 Image Sensor is the world's first 1.4 micron, 5-megapixel device that allows capture of high quality images in small cameras, with quality that equals what is available from current devices using larger, 1.75 micron pixel designs.

"It will help manufacturers reduce their costs...because of the size - you can put more chips onto one wafer, for the same amount of money," said Fas Mosleh, CMOS Sensors Marketing Director at Kodak. "This is the kind of technology that can help upgrade all camera phones to a real camera."

Prize for cell camera innovators

Researchers from a Scottish university are set to be honoured today for their role in developing the mobile phone camera. [via scotsman news[

"Electronic engineers Peter Denyer, David Renshaw, Wang Guoyu and Lu Mingying worked on camera technology at Edinburgh University from the early 1980s that resulted in the tiny cameras now used by millions worldwide every day.

They are to be awarded the £80,000 Rank Prize – set up by the late Lord Rank to recognise scientific advances that have benefited mankind – at a ceremony in London for their work in developing and commercializing the technology."

MTV’s mobile Citizen Journalists covering Super Tuesday

This just in from MTV… via SmartMobs.

MTV’s army of Street Team ’08 citizen journalists will cover the youth vote like no one else on Super Tuesday, delivering the first-ever live mobile-to-web broadcasts – from polling stations, caucuses, candidate rallies and everywhere young voters congregate February 5th.

The real time, on-the-spot reports will be streamed live all day from correspondents’ video-equipped mobile phones to MTVNews.com and ChooseorLose.com.

Throughout the day, MTV will regularly break into programming and showcase news featurettes excerpted from the live reports.

The effort is part of MTV’s constantly evolving, Emmy-winning “ChooseorLose.com” campaign and will offer the network’s citizen journalists an unprecedented stage – with the potential to reach as many as 100 million viewers – as they bring all the Super Tuesday action to America’s youth as it happens.