Taking soccer to the small screen

Across Europe, however, the lure of professional soccer is so strong - and the hunger of some fans so great - that some mobile operators, especially in Britain, are beginning to report a rise in mobile viewing. The IHT reports.

"... In Europe, Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange so far are the mobile leaders in live sports. T-Mobile has live viewing packages in Britain, Germany and Austria. Vodafone's English Premier League games are available to all subscribers through its Vodafone Live! portal.

Dirk Wende, a T-Mobile spokesman in Bonn, said live soccer has become the most popular form of video on T-Mobile cellphones, followed by boxing, where the compact action is easier to follow on a smaller screen."

Designer Collections Packed Into an iPhone

STYLE.COM, the online home of Vogue, is introducing an iPhone application offering videos and pictures to enable dedicated followers of fashion to watch runway shows during New York Fashion Week next month on their phones, within hours of the last model’s exit from the catwalk. The New York Times reports.

"It is no small measure of the demand for immediacy in fashion that customers can now turn their cellphones into shopping portals. Ralph Lauren announced last week a mobile version of its online store, and Chanel introduced its own iPhone application last month that offers video from its fall haute couture show, as well as the ability to direct-dial stores that carry Chanel around the world.

Others have brought runway shows to phones, such as an ahead-of-its-time Fashion Week offering from Sprint in 2006 (fashion people were so not into Sprint), but Style.com’s application is likely to be the most comprehensive. It is designed eventually to include photos and videos from hundreds of shows in New York, Paris, London and Milan."

Freeing Those Snapshots Trapped Inside the Cellphone

For years, cellphone users could get pictures from their phones to the Web, but for most people, learning how to use those services is the digital equivalent of a trip to the D.M.V. The New York Times reports.

"... Carriers and device manufacturers have only lately figured out that users need a single button that says, “Send my new photo now.”

Verizon Wireless in the coming weeks will introduce just such a service. Verizon was not ready to release details about its plan, but Alltel, which Verizon plans to purchase, recently started its Pic Transfer service. For $3 a month, each time a user snaps a photo, a box appears on the cellphone screen asking the shooter if he wants to send the photo to Photobucket, Flickror whatever online service the user prefers.

How would the phone know which Web site to suggest? The company has eliminated even that small measure of guesswork. Subscribers can bring their phones to an Alltel store where a representative asks the questions and does all the work. Customers who are not near a store can set it up on Alltel’s Web site."

Flixwagon and MTV Think broadcasting live from the National Democratic Convention

MTV yesterday deployed a number of street reporters armed with Flixwagon-equipped mobile phones to cover the National Democratic Convention in Denver. A similar number of reporters will also be on the scene using Flixwagon at the upcoming Republican National Convention.

The street reporters are making live videos throughout the four days of the convention from their mobile phones directly to their pages on the MTV Think website, in another installment of MTV's Choose or Lose campaign. The street reporters can easily broadcast live video and capture the atmosphere of the conventions in real-time without the need for large camera crews or bulky equipment.

Live mobile-to-web broadcasting is changing how journalists’ research and report on events such as these conventions, delivering a real-time, interactive experience that can be delivered to a broad audience.

Some of the videos and street reporters can be found here:

-- http://think.mtv.com/profile/trevorFmartin

-- http://think.mtv.com/profile/cgeraci25>

-- http://think.mtv.com/profile/MiGoNev

-- http://think.mtv.com/profile/janeflemingkleeb>

Press release.

In the US, only 3% watch TV on their cell phone

Only 3 percent of Americans regularly watched video on their cell phones in 2007, according to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

[via AP]

Can You See Me Now? - Sign Language on Mobile Phones Tested

A group at the University of Washington has developed software that enables deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans to use sign language over a mobile phone. [via Cellular News]

"UW engineers got the phones working together this spring, and recently received a National Science Foundation grant for a 20-person field project that will begin next year in Seattle.

This is the first time two-way real-time video communication has been demonstrated over cell phones in the United States. Since posting a video of the working prototype on YouTube, deaf people around the country have been writing on a daily basis.

Links to related articles on video phones for the deaf or hearing impaired.

China mobile TV hangs its hopes on Olympics

Many Chinese unable to catch the Olympics on television will watch national hurdling hero Liu Xiang retain his 110 meter crown next week B>by simply switching on their cellphone, reports Reuters.

"That, at least, is the dream outcome for the backers of mobile TV, for whom the Games are a golden opportunity to burnish the reputation of a medium that has failed to live up to its potential since it was launched in 2004."

How to watch your iPhone videos while driving

This gentleman likes to watch videos while he drives at night. He places his iPhone on his car's dashboard and watches the reflection on the windshield.

He wears a headset while he watches, but usually with just one ear bud inserted "so that I can hear the traffic and whatnot."

[via boingboing]

Equally as nuts: - French Truckers Drive 'By Ear' So They Can Watch TV

Telephoto mobile phone lens hack

Telephoto mobile phone lens hack by UK artist Kerrin Mansfield with more the photographic results here.

[via Jan Chipchase for future perfect]

Bauer to trial camera phone-interactive ads in magazines

Bauer Media has signed a six-month deal with Snap Now, the mobile visual-search company, to trial an interactive ad system that matches photos of ads taken on WAP-enabled camera phones and then sends information such as coupons back to the user. Brand Republic reports.

"Kerrang! magazine is running Bauer's first SnapNow-enabled ad this month, for entertainment retailer Play.com. Readers will to enter a competition to win a Creative Zen MP3 Player by sending a picture of the ad to Play.com.

The system removes the need to include codes in advertising copy, enabling consumers to respond directly to ads without compromising the ad copy or imagery.

Bauer claims to be the only UK media company that can offer this service to it advertisers."

Yin Yang Camera

This concept camera phone is in the shape of the yin and yang symbol. The camera will be able to beseparated into 2 parts, the yin and the yang, which can be the camera and storage device respectively. By unplugging the storage module from the camera, it should be a really easy procedure to just plug it into a computer and start copying the pictures that were taken.

[Ubergizmo via Techdigest]

Polo Ralph Lauren to launch shopping by cell phone

Polo Ralph Lauren is to be the first luxury retailer to launch a mobile commerce site, reports Reuters.

... "The apparel maker will begin placing special codes in print ads, mailings and store windows along with its sponsorship of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which begins later this month.

Shoppers can download special software to camera-phones to scan the codes and be directed to a phone-friendly version of a Ralph Lauren website, where they can shop, watch tennis videos and read company content."

Convention Coverage in Live Stream Video from Cell Phones

washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com today announce that The Washington Post political team, in partnership with Newsweek's political team, will provide live Web video coverage of the 2008 conventions, with reporting and analysis, from the Post's convention headquarters. MarketWatch reports.

"Convention '08" election coverage will highlight convention events, candidate speeches, political action taking place on the Web and offer interactive viewer participation.

Reporters, using a cutting-edge cell phone application from Comet Technologies will be some of the first to live-stream video from their cell phones into a live Web cast."

Japanese Graves Make Mourning Loved Ones Easy

Burial plot prices are skyrocketing in Japanese cities, so one company built a facility that uses RFID technology to help store the dead. At Nichiryoku, mourners visit a “prayer area” where they swipe RFID cards to have the cremated remains of their loved one are lifted up from an underground storage vault.

[Gear Fuse via Trends in Japan]

View demo on YouTube.

Related: - Last call: Japanese tombs link up with cell phones

On vacation until August 19

Off to Indonesia. Back August 19.