Sony Films headed to Mobile Phones

Sony Pictures Television is looking to launch the first movie network on mobile phones in the United States.

"The studio has signed a deal with AT&T and MediaFlo USA to launch the linear channel as one of two exclusive channels coming to the newly announced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service in May.

The channel, to be known as PIX, will be stocked with such titles as "Ghostbusters," "Philadelphia" and "Stand by Me."

[via Reuters/Hollywood Reporter]

Coming Soon, to Any Flat Surface Near You

Tired of hearing other people’s cellphone conversations? It may become worse. Soon you may have to watch their favorite television shows and YouTube videos, too, as they project them onto nearby walls or commuter-train seatbacks. The NY Times reports.

"Pint-size digital projectors are in the works. These devices, when plugged into cellphones and portable media players, will let consumers beam video content from their hand-held devices to the closest smooth surface — entertaining themselves, annoying their neighbors and possibly contributing to a new warning sign: No Projectors in This Area".

Paparazzi for the rest of us

Being photographed by the paparazzi was once an (often dubious) honour bestowed only on the rich and famous, but today a new service is bringing the possibility to every consumer.

Upon request, New York City-based Methodizaz will send an anonymous photographer to surreptitiously capture select moments in a consumer's life and immortalize them with a portfolio of professionally produced photos.

To arrange the service, the consumer provides a self photograph ahead of time along with details of their schedule and any specific emotion, mood or theme they hope to capture. MethodIzaz's photographer will then show up at some undisclosed point during the day and photograph the subject walking through the streets or going about their daily business, without posing or artifice.

For customers, the final result is a new perspective on how they appear to others as well as tangible documentation of how they lived their lives at that point in time—in short, the ultimate in gravanity-stroking.

Pricing is based on MethodIzaz's time to travel, photograph, edit and produce the photographs, ranging from USD 300 to USD 400 per hour.

Founded late last year, MethodIzaz already accepts assignments worldwide, but it also hopes to expand its presence accordingly.

[via Springwise]

Japan's QR Codes Being Tested in SF

In the first large test in the United States, online guides Citysearch and Antenna Audio are rolling out QR technology in San Francisco.

More than 500 restaurants, shops and businesses reviewed by Citysearch are placing printed bar codes in their windows.

People who have special software from Scanbuy Inc. loaded on their cell phones can simply take a picture of the code and their phone's Internet browser will immediately take them to the restaurant's corresponding Citysearch page.

Users will be able to decide, based on the Citysearch reviews and other information, whether to step inside for dinner or keep walking down the street.

Once you snap a picture of the code, your phone will bring up the Citysearch's review page, letting you know whether you should go in.

[New Launches via SF Gate and Gizmodo ]

China to launch trial service of homegrown 3G mobile phones next week

China will launch trial service of its homegrown next-generation mobile phone standard next week, news reports said Friday, possibly moving its giant market closer to the long-anticipated rollout of new services, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

"Companies expect a multibillion-dollar wave of spending on equipment once China awards licenses for third-generation, or 3G, service. But Beijing has delayed a decision while it tries to develop its own system to compete with global standards.

China Mobile will test the standard, known as TD-SCDMA, by issuing 20,000 phones and 5,000 data cards on Tuesday in Beijing and seven other cities, state television and other media said.

The reports gave no indication how long the test would last, whether it would be expanded to other areas or when licenses might be awarded."

TMZ Creating Mobile Site

Gossip Web site and syndicated TV show TMZ is creating a stand-alone mobile Web site.

The new site will feature all of the photos, videos and snark that make the normal site such a hit with gossip hounds, generating 11 million unique visitors per month.

[via Broadcasting & Cable]

AT&T Set to Offer Live Video to Cellphones

AT&T in May plans to begin offering a long-awaited mobile-TV service, using a Qualcomm Inc. network called MediaFlo that broadcasts live video to cellphones. The WSJ reports

MediaFlo's networ sends TV programming to cellphones, using frequencies associated with a conventional TV channel that broadcasters must vacate as they shift to digital TV transmission.

Until a federal deadline for the shift -- now set for February 2009 -- MediaFlo has largely been setting up in cities where the channel was vacant, or in some cases has persuaded broadcasters to move early."

RFID LadyBag Tells You What's Missing

Project Lady Bag uses RFID tags to keep a track of the items you stuff into your bag. Should you miss out on your elusive keys; a related icon will appear on the LED screen.

The LadyBag also displays how you are feeling, fidgety hands is read as nervousness and so a nervous looking emoticon appears. If you're hugging the bag close, a happy face appears.

[gearfuse via Gizmodiva]

Queen mentiones the cameraphone in speech at banquet

In her speech at a banquet at Windsor Castle, in honor of the Sarkozy's visit, the Queen describes the many ways France and Britain enjoy cooperation and exchanges - including through the Internet and the cameraphone. [BBC video]

I have a sense that our two countries are working increasingly closer together. The Internet, the Eurostar and even the camera phone have helped transform the way our respective populations interact. Images are sent from a blink of an eye...

NSW Police ask public to be cameraphone cops

NSW Police Minister, David Campbell, has revealed details of a new project encouraging citizens to capture video and photographic evidence of crimes on their phones and upload it securely over the Web to law enforcement agencies.

"The initiative -- expected to cost around AU$8 million -- is currently being developed under the working title of Project View (Video Image Evidence on the Web), and was conceived in the wake of the 2005 Cronulla riots and London bombings, after cameraphone footage capturing the events was used extensively in the investigations of both incidents.

... "The community is one of our greatest resources when it comes to solving crime. This role has increased with the development of mobile phone cameras and sites such as YouTube," said Police Minister Campbell.

"Footage of a bashing, a sexual assault or car hoon activities might be found online or captured on a video phone… if the location, offender or victim in these alleged crimes can be identified police will be able to follow up on the matter."

Murderer nailed by 'deleted' camera phone pictures of him with victim's body

Forensics experts rebuilt a smashed camera phone and nailed the killer who posed for photos next to his butchered victim. Glasgow Daily Record reports.

"Grinning monster Stephen Price, 19, hammed it up for the camera with the corpse of innocent Scott Burgess after stabbing the quiet young man more than eighty times in his own home.

The gruesome pictures were deleted after the crime and the phone was smashed and buried.

But the images remained in the handset's memory. And technicians atForensic Telecommunications Services (FTS), the world leaders in recovering evidence from phones, were able to piece the device back together and retrieve them."

Left, pictures of some the phones in bad shape FTS has been able to recover data from.

Rumor: Digg founder claims 3G iPhone to do video chat

Digg founder Kevin Rose, whose first-generation iPhone rumors fell short of their mark last Spring, is citing different sources this year in predicting that the 3G version of the handset will boast video chat capabilities.

[via Apple Insider]

Last call: Japanese tombs link up with cell phones

According to Reuters, bereaved Japanese will be able to keep in touch with their loved ones beyond the grave by using mobile phones to scan bar-coded tombstones and view photos and other information about the deceased.

"Ishinokoe, a Japanese tombstone maker, will place the codes behind lockable stone doors on the tomb so only relatives with a key can scan them.

The idea was to create a tomb that would not just be a site for storing the remains of a person, but a place to honor the deceased, the company said in a press release.

Using their mobile phone displays, relatives can post and view different items that reflect on the life of their departed loved one, such as holiday snapshots.

A sample Web site displayed one photo showing a man posing with his family on a boat, and another showing the same man and a woman in front of a cluster of skyscrapers.

The stones will go on sale next month and cost around 1 million yen ($10,010).

But those who neglect their filial obligations should be warned -- the code will also allow other relatives to see a list of people who have recently visited the grave."

Street photographers fear for their art amid climate of suspicion

With public concern rising over paedophilia and terrorism, street photographers face new difficulties. The TimesOnline reports.

"... In the past year, the photography blogs have buzzed with tales of harassment, even violence. There's the war photographer who dodged bullets abroad only to be beaten up in his own South London backyard by a paranoid parent who (wrongly) thought his child was being photographed. There's the amateur photographer punched prostrate in the London Tube after refusing to give up his film to a stranger; the case of the man in Hull, swooped on by police after taking photographs in a shopping centre. “Any person who appears to be taking photos in a covert manner should expect to be stopped and spoken to by police ...” ran the Humberside force's statement.

Now, a new poster campaign by the Metropolitan Police is inviting Londoners to call a hotline if they don't like the look of a photographer. “Thousands of people take photos every day,” runs the text. “What if one of them seems odd?” The poster states that terrorists use cameras for surveillance.

... Street photography doesn't just document what our environment used to look like; it shows us how it really looks now, freezing the moment to reveal the weirdness and magic of the split second ..."

[via
del.icio.us/regine]

For Bloggers, Legit News Photos For Free

PicApp, a San Francisco-based company is offering copyright news and stock photos from large photo banks like Getty Images and Corbis for free. The company is likely to announce availability of its public beta service later today. GigaOM reports.

"The photos are displayed in a flash media file and can be embedded on any web page, just like YouTube. PicApp makes money off contextual advertising it embeds in the photos, and in turn shares it with the photo agencies.

The new service is a sign of how tough things are in the stock photography business, where new and low cost competitors are emerging thick and fast, and challenging the old dogs like Getty Images."

Terahertz video transfer is foretaste of future wireless

Video footage has been transmitted using a terahertz wireless signal for the first time, reports New Scientist.

"Although the link spanned just 22 meters it marks a significant step towards using much faster chunks of wireless spectrum, by harnessing radio waves oscillating a trillion times per second.

The speed at which wireless data can be transferred is limited by the vibration rate of radio waves. Today's fastest wireless technologies, including WiFi and third generation (3G) mobile networks, operate in the ranges of gigahertz (a billion times per second) and megahertz (a million times a second) respectively."

Read full story.

Stark warning over 'happy slapping'

Gavin Waterhouse was punched and kicked to death, while another teenager filmed the incident on a cameraphone. The film was sent around to friend's mobile phones and posted on the Internet. The BBC reports.

"The decision to prosecute the teenager who filmed that fatal attack on her mobile phone has been hailed as a legal landmark by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Judith Naylor, from the CPS said it was thought to be the first time a suspect in England and Wales had been successfully prosecuted for aiding and abetting murder or manslaughter by a "happy slapping" attack.

She was sentenced to two years' detention in a young offenders' institution when she appeared at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday. "

Cell camera turned medical microscope

Doctors and biophysicists at the University of California have developed a device that turns a common cell phone camera into a medical microscope. ABC Local reports.

"Say you're in a remote or undeveloped part of the world, and you have to diagnose an illness. Even if you could find a microscope, you don't have a doctor to look through it, but you do have a cell phone. What if you could attach the phone to the microscope, call another cell phone halfway around the world, and have the doctor with this phone see what the microscope sees? That's the idea behind CellScope.

"We clip it into a modified belt-holder," says Dan Fletcher at the University of California at Berkeley. And they add other off-the-shelf parts to hold the cost down to less than $50. It began as a simple class project for graduate students of Fletcher, who is Associate Professor of Bioengineering."

Samsung announces world's thinnest 8 megapixel cellphone module

Measuring just 8.5-mm thin, Samsung's 8 megapixel module is the slimmest CMOS camera module of its kind.

[via engadget:mobile]

EU backs Nokia standard for mobile TV

The European Commission moved to simplify the nascent mobile phone TV sector by adopting a standard backed by Finland's Nokia, but mobile operators said Brussels was acting too quickly. Reuters reports.

"The Commission said setting the Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld (DVB-H) as the preferred European Union standard would give the industry a boost.

"For mobile TV to take off in Europe, there must first be certainty about the technology," European Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said in a statement on Monday.

DVB-H is the only standard with a global presence although South Korea, Japan, the United States and China are embracing local rivals, such as one set by U.S. company Qualcomm".

Send a Video Message to the Presidential Candidates’ Cell Phones

The general public has a new way to get their voices heard by the presidential candidates: cell phone video messaging.

Start-up Mogreet, out of Venice Beach, Calif., recently launched a service that lets people send personalized video messages to the presidential candidates’ cell phones.

Geared toward the younger set, voters can go to www.mogreetthevote.com to pick a video on a topic that matters to them and then personalize the video with their own text message. Mogreet gave each campaign's communication director a cell phone to which the message will be sent.

[via Fox Business]

Kodak sees picture of future in high-quality camera phones

Camera phone snapshots are, by and large, like fast food - convenient, yet not usually all that good. But their popularity is exploding, with more Americans today having camera phones than digital cameras. The Indy Star reports.

"Now Eastman Kodak Co., one of the world's largest makers of digital cameras, is banking on camera phones appearing on the market by next year that shoot high-quality, 5-megapixel digital photos. Those photos would be due to a new line of inexpensive image sensors Kodak is starting to market.

The push into the CMOS image sensor business comes as Kodak is in the midst of a 10-year research-and-development collaboration with cell phone giant Motorola Inc. Kodak Chief Executive Officer Antonio M. Perez said earlier this year that within the next six months, the two companies will roll out the first products to have a Kodak contribution."

Fans rush for 'mobile-compatible' new England kit

England football fans will from today be able to buy their national team's new away kit – which can interact with their mobile phones.

The new Umbro strip contains a Japanese-developed QR code which can be read by mobiles and allows owners to access a special WAP internet site.

According to the kit manufacturer the code is a "two-dimensional barcode which we are using to provide you with exclusive and exciting mobile internet content".

[via Metro]

Live from your mobile. The next big thing?

What would happen if everyone, anywhere, could have their own live television station from a mobile phone? The BBC has an idea.

"A number of services including Qik and Flixwagon, are competing to make "live" the next big thing in web video, and YouTube is poised to introduce its own live service.

... Eran Hess, the chief executive of Flixwagon, has made a deal with MTV which has seen the station give phones with Flixwagon software installed to what it calls "Street Journalists" to cover the primaries in the United States.

Their clips are shown live on the web - whether it's an Obama victory speech or vox pops with New York voters - and some make it onto MTV itself.

Eran Hess also revealed that he had just done a deal with an Israeli news channel which will supply similar phones to citizens in the towns of Sderot and Ashkelon where rockets fired from Gaza have been landing.

So a phone and a piece of software - and a 3g network - are you all need now to start putting your message across to a live audience. It promises to give new vigour to the whole idea of citizen journalism, and poses a challenge to existing broadcasters.

Because of course these citizen journalists are not bound by any code of taste, decency, truth or impartiality, which could give their broadcasts a dangerous, edgy quality which might appeal more to viewers than the professional version of television news.

Welcome to a future where everything may be televised - live. I'm not entirely sure I like the idea."

On Qik you can watch and listen to Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, filmed by Robert Scoble for Fast Company.

Mobile phone top-up in exchange for sexual photos

The BBC reports on a court case about a carpenter who was arrested for having underage sex with young girls.

Paul Etheridge, 24, had more than 200 indecent images of girls, aged 13 to 15, on his mobile phone and thousands more on his computer.

The court was told Etheridge offered mobile phone top-up vouchers to girls in return for them sending indecent images of themselves in messages.

Det Supt Pete O'Sullivan, of Surrey police, said: "Most worrying of all, he escalated from downloading internet images, to grooming girls to make their own photos and actually meeting a girl to carry out sexual acts.

"Technology provides a wealth of benefits for young people. But with many children now owning their own mobile phone or having a computer in their bedroom, parents must also be aware of the potential dangers."

Hands on with the BBC iPlayer - on the iPhone

The BBCiPlayer is now available as a beta for the iPhone and iPod touch. Streaming only, reports Tech.co.uk.

"We're not using the new Apple SDK, nor are we using the much-rumoured Flash for iPhone (no - we haven't seen it, either). Instead, we're creating 516Kbps streams (400Kbps H.264 video, 116Kbps AAC audio) that show off BBC programmes brilliantly on an iPhone," says Anthony Rose, head of Digital Media Technologies at the BBC in a blog post about the launch."

The mobile internet kids

What children want from a mobile phone. Click here to watch the BBC video.

UK launches Counter-Terrorism advertising campaign

Londoners are being urged to help stop terrorists in their tracks by reporting suspicious behaviour, in a new counter terrorism advertising campaign launched February 25.

The Metropolitan Police Service is asking people to trust their instincts and pass on information about any unusual activity or behaviour to the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.

Information can also be passed on via the Met website homepage by clicking on the red and white 'If you suspect it report it' icon.

If you suspect it, report it', is the key message of the new campaign. Advertisements will run in London newspapers and on the Capital's radio stations for five weeks.

The Internet will also carry the advertising. Peter Clarke, Specialist Operations Assistant Commissioner, said just one phone call could contain a piece of vital information which could help disrupt terrorist planning and save lives.

"Terrorists will not succeed if suspicious activity is reported to the police. As people go about their normal day-to-day lives they may spot something which strikes them as suspicious.

"We want people to look out for the unusual - some activity or behaviour which strikes them as not quite right and out of place in their normal day to day lives."Terrorists live within our communities, making their plans whilst doing everything they can to blend in, and trying not to raise suspicions about their activities.

"They have a lot of work to do before they attack. They need money and may commit cheque, credit card and identity fraud to finance their activities.

"Terrorists use chemicals. Do you know someone buying large or unusual quantities of chemicals for no obvious reason?

Handling chemicals is dangerous, and maybe you've seen goggles or masks dumped somewhere?

"Observation and surveillance help terrorists plan attacks. Have you seen anyone taking pictures of security arrangements such as CCTV? Has it made you suspicious?

"Meetings, training and planning for terrorist attacks can take place anywhere. Do you know someone who travels but is vague about where they're going?

"Terrorists use computers - do you know someone who visits terrorist-related websites?

[via ektopia]

10 practical uses for your camera phone

Blorge.com's 10 practical uses for your cameraphone. They all make sense. But this one caught my attention:

If you have a suspicious wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend and have to stay late at work, take a snapshot of yourself next to a clock and calendar, then MMS the photo to your sweetheart.

Picture Message of Escaped Terrorist Sent to 3.9m mobiles

Singapore's three mobile phone operators - SingTel, StarHub and MI - are sending out picture messages of an escaped fugitive to 3.9 million subscribers, police said, in a massive manhunt.

Terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari acted alone when he escaped a detention centre last Wednesday.

More than 54,000 posters and leaflets with the Mas Selamat's pictures and description have been placed at train and bus stations, shopping malls, housing estates and distributed by grassroots leaders and community volunteers. They urge members of the public to call the police if they spot him."

[SMS Text News via The Straits Times. Picture from Reuters]