Mobile barcodes now speak to us – quite literally…

A consortium of three companies has decided to improve on the usual URL-carrying QR Codes by tweaking the data in each black and white square to contain a brief snatch of audio and a simple image. Digitalworld Toyko reports.

"The Voice QR, as it’s called, simply needs to be scanned with the camera on a mobile phone for it to give up its hidden treasure without the need to connect to a website.

That might be a squeaky voice saying “Hello,” “Well done on getting into college,” or “Thanks for your hard work.”

The consortium sees Voice QR Codes delivering multi-media jingles from posters, books and product packaging. For that to happen, it will have to persuade mobile phone makers to install software that understands the new kind of QR code – currently, only seven handsets are capable of doing so."

France Telecom signs movie deals

France Telecom has signed contracts with a number of film companies, including HBO, Warner and Gaumont, as it seeks to become a major player in the movie distribution market, France Telecom's CEO said in an interview published in Les Echos newspaper.

France Telecom's Didier Lombard told Les Echos the company wants to offer more than 1 000 movies per year to viewers via cable television, Internet and mobile phone.

The films will be offered via six channels, and the client will build its own package of channels and pay a monthly subscription, Lombard told Les Echos.

France Telecom's offering will be a direct competitor to Vivendi's Canal Plus.

[via ITWeb]

Win $1000 in the Hunt for Bin Laden

A scavanger hunt for camera phones is launching in five cities on Monday, to promote Morgan Spurlock's new movie Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, premiering April 18. JustPressPlay reports.

Street-teams will create and locally distribute multiple branded reward flyers featuring contest information and unique stills from the upcoming film.

With help from local radio stations, contest participants will search around their towns and cities to snap a photo of any of these images in the two week contest period from their camera phones and email it to a pre-determined email address that will be clearly marked on the flyers between 4/7 and 4/18.

Utilizing the image recognition based mobile marketing technology from SnapTell, each picture will then be verified and the participants will receive a message back confirming their entry into the contest and a link to exclusive content from the film.

Fans will also be able to enter by following clues in promotional ads in local newspapers.

Watch Apple trailer.

Panasonic Sells its 100 Millionth Cell Phone in Japan

Panasonic has become the first cell-phone manufacturer to ship 100 million units in the Japanese market, reports PC World.

"... Its popularity has led Panasonic to put some of the know-how from its flat-panel TV business into its latest phones. The newest models carry the same Viera brand-name as its big-screen TVs. "

Projectors to magnify cell-phone cinema

Recognizing that it's not much fun to watch movies on a tiny cell phone, a number of companies are racing to develop gadgets that project what's playing on the small screen onto walls, table cloths and other handy surfaces. [via the Associated press]

"Pico projectors" that are small enough to carry around in a shirt pocket are expected on the market later this year. Eventually, the technology will be tiny enough to be built into phones and portable media players, the companies say.

Image left: Russell Hannigan, of Microvision Inc., demonstrates a handheld projector hooked up to an iPod during the CTIA wireless show at the Las Vegas Convention Center in this Tuesday.

Related articles linked to cell phone projectors.

Panasonic To Put Plasma Video Displays in Cell Phones

Panasonic revealed plans to incorporate newly developed, miniature plasma displays in telephone products.

For nearly a decade, Panasonic's engineers have been secretly working on a thin, lightweight low-voltage compact plasma display.

..."We will be able to incorporate miniature plasma displays into both consumer and business telephone products starting this fall.

They will rival OLED displays for brightness, contrast and thinness, and can be manufactured for much less money," said Mark Balsama of Panasonic.

Press release

Fox Business Channel debuts on MobiTV

Mobile entertainment services provider MobiTV announced a content licensing deal to offer Fox Business Network as a live, linear channel identical in programming scope to the version broadcast on cable and satellite.

Fox Business on MobiTV features live, full-length linear programming including Fox Business, Money for Breakfast, The Opening Bell, Happy Hour, Cavuto and America's Nightly Scoreboard.

[via FierceMobile Content. More in press release]

Nearly Half of U.S. Consumers Don’t Know if they have Mobile TV

A QuickPlay Media survey found that 47% of consumers don’t know whether or not their carrier offers mobile TV and video content. It seems as though service providers aren’t getting the word out about the wonders of mobile TV and video. [via MobileCrunch]

“Mobile operators have done an excellent job addressing the cost concerns of consumers with the launch of ‘all you can eat’ data plans. Now, with the growing availability of advanced mobile devices, higher speed networks and high-quality mobile TV andsnack.jpg services, carriers have a further opportunity to drive service adoption by increasing marketing promotion of mobile media services,” said Wayne Purboo, president and CEO of QuickPlay Media.

'Sopranos' on Canadian cell phones

Bell Canada on Tuesday began delivering full episodes of "The Sopranos" to its mobile phone subscribers as part of an agreement with HBO.

The Canadian phone giant's customers can also now watch on-demand episodes of "Entourage," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Tell Me You Love Me" and "Sex and the City" as well as stand-up comedy shows for CAN$10 ($9.75) a month plus browser usage fees.

The product is initially available in English-speaking Canada, with a dubbed French-language version set for launch in May.

[via Reuters/Hollywood Reporter]

LOLcats goes mobile

Since our cat Virgule became a full fledged member of our family last September, I finally understand why cats are such a popular topic on photo and video sharing sites.

Now, thanks to ICanHasCheezBurger, starting Wednesday, fans of LOLcats will be able to get updates of the funny, iconic felines on their cell phones.

To get started, text 'LOL' to 44566 and follow the link the the poster kitten of the day. Or, visit http://frengo.com/ichc/ from your mobile browser.

[via News.com]

Mobile Video News Out of CTIA

NewTeeVee has a round up of the related mobile video news out of the CTIA.

Some highlights:

-- NBC will create live video in support of the upcoming Olympics; it has inked a multicarrier deal to give AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Research in Motion subscribers access to more than 60 WAP sites including NBC, USA and Bravo; and may be interested in.

-- Fox Mobile Entertainment launched the aptly-named Fox Entertainment Mobile Network, which will feature content from hit shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, Nip/Tuck and The Dog Whisperer. More...

"No cell phones when you vote," Italians told

Italians were told on Tuesday that they will have to leave their beloved cell phones outside the ballot box when they vote in a national election this month. Reuters reports.

"A statement from the Interior Ministry said cell phones "or any other device that can take still pictures or video clips" will have to be checked outside the polling station during the April 13-14 election.

Mobile phones are ubiquitous in Italy. Last year Eurostat said that by 2005 there were more mobile phones than people Italy -- 122 phones per 100 residents.

The ruling, the first of its kind, was apparently issued to head off corruption".