Nielsen: Mobile Video Use Rises

According to data compiled by Nielsen for the third quarter of 2008, more than 100 million U.S. consumers -- 42 percent of mobile subscribers -- have video-capable cell phones. An estimated 10.3 million of those mobile consumers are watching TV/video on their cell phones.

These findings indicate that mobile video viewing has increased 14 percent compared to Q2 2008.

[via AdWeek]

Oil Painting iPhone App

Big Canvas has just announced that its latest creative photo editing application, OilCanvas, is vailable on the Apple App Store.

With OilCanvas, users create or personalize artwork by first selecting an image they capture or previously saved to their iPhone library. After selecting an image to serve as the base picture, users choose a brush and paint with their fingers. OilCanvas eliminates confusion and simplifies art by automatically locating the paint color from the imported base picture.

After painting, users can save the photo to their iPhone or share it with thousands of others in their PhotoShare network.

For a limited time, the first 50,000 users can download OilCanvas free from the Apple App Store.

[via e-mail press release. Watch video demo on YouTube]

Watching Videos on Mobile Phones on the Rise

Technology rules our lives and we sure have become couch potatoes - proves the latest report from Nielsen Company. The 'A2/M2 Three Screen Report' states that the usage of TV, Internet and Mobile - the Three Screens - continues to increase in the US.

According to the report, an average person in the US watched approximately 142 hours of TV in one month and mobile phone users spent 3 hours a month watching mobile video. People who used the internet were online 27 hours a month. A record high was set by the couch potatoes, average time a US home used their TV set during 2007-08 was up to 8 hours and 18 minutes per day.

... Men are more likely than women to watch video on mobile phones, while women are more likely then men to watch video on the Internet.

“Our numbers show that TV remains the dominant choice for most Americans, yet timeshifting as well as videos on the Internet and on mobile phones, continue to be the trends to watch.”

[via TechTree]

Orange Unveils HD Mobile TV

Orange has announced plans to launch high definition mobile TV through a new and exclusive handset from LG, the LG Secret KF757, giving customers in France access to more than sixty high definition mobile TV channels (including twenty with unlimited access).

[via Unstrung]

US couple sue over McNudes

A US woman who sent some nude snaps of herself to her hubby's mobe got a nasty shock when they turned up online - complete with her name, address and telephone number. The Register reports.

According to the BBC, Phillip Sherman accidently left his phone at a McDonald's in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on 5 July. Staff helpfully promised to hold onto the device until he could pick it up, but the offending snaps of missus Tina magically appeared on the internet, after which she "began receiving offensive calls and text messages about the pictures".

The couple are now demanding damages of $3m from the burger chain. They say they were forced to move house as a result of the leak, and are suing "McDonald's Corporation, the owner of the franchise involved and the restaurant's manager" for "emotional distress, embarrassment and damage to their reputations".

In the Cellphone Era, New Picture of Stupidity

As criminals steal mobile devices that help to synch society, the photo trails left behind are like the online Darwin Awards. An interesting article from The Washington Post.

... In the olden days of stolen cellphones -- say, three, four years ago -- the best you could do was call yourself. Dial your own number and hope that a good citizen picked up, while you imagined the phone's possible locations. On the street? Under a barstool? Wedged in a Metro seat and bleating out weak rings as the battery . . . slowly . . . died?

Now, a whole number of applications and services have made it possible for you to Follow That Treo, follow it straight to justice.

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show To Air On Multiple Platforms

CBS announced that it would be expanding the Victoria Secret Fashion Show presence through the use of multiple platforms including the on-air broadcast, a dedicated website and its own Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show mobile television channel.

[via Broadcastin@Cable]

Orb 2.0 streams live TV to your iPhone

Orb 2.0 went live in the App Store. The $10 app lets TV junkies watch live TV from a tuner connected to a Windows PC, as well as stream music, videos, and photos from their libraries.

[via engadget:mobile]

Kodak sues LG and Samsung over alleged patent violations

Kodak has announced that it is taking LG and Samsung to court over both companies' production of cell phones with integrated digital cameras. ars technica reports.

In its complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, Kodak alleges that the digital cameras in cell phones like the LG Shine or Samsung FlipShot violate two of its patents related to digital imaging.

The suit, as well a complaint filed with the International Trade Organization, seeks an injunction against the two mobile device makers to bar them from selling devices that infringe on the patents. Kodak also seeks unspecified compensatory damages and "other relief as the Court deems just and proper."

Read full article.

Take pictures just by blowing on your phone

Fantalog Interactive has just unveiled its mobile solution 'Emotion' which enables you to take pictures by blowing your breath on your camera phone.

[Aving news network via Newlaunches]

Research finds mobile TV as unseductive as ever, though VOD seems interesting

Recent reserach has found that mobile TV adoption sits at just 1% now, and interest in all types of mobile TV is just over 50% of what it was in 2006. engadget:mobile reports.

The report places the blame on "patchy network coverage, limited channel lineup, poor video quality, excessive prices and a penchant among high-end phone users for business handsets rather than video phones."

15% of those surveyed on the topic would actually enjoy watching recorded TV shows later on their phone.

Cisco promises wireless, video extravaganza at new Yankee Stadium

From a Yankees widget on their mobile phone or PDA, fans will be able to view the game from different angle around the stadium, launch instant replays, access statistics specific to the game situation, and interact with other fans in a community of shared interest, Yankees and Cisco officials said.

[via NetworkWorld]

Photographer launches iPhone-only style magazine

PMc is the world’s first paid, iPhone-only magazine. Named after its creator—noted nightlife photographer Patrick McMullan—the bi-monthly title is pronounced ‘Pee-Mick’ and is the property of New York-based Hot Phone Hit Factory. Springwise reports.

PMc’s target audience of style-conscious readers can download the mag from the iPhone App store for USD 0.99.

Sprint Nextel Sponsors a Four-Episode Heroes Microseries

Sprint Nextel is sponsoring a four-episode microseries that spans three different platforms--online, TV and mobile--that debuts tonight, called Heroes: Destiny, a spin-off of the NBC prime time hit, Heroes. Each of the five to seven minute episodes will debut Monday nights during November.

[via Media Week]

Obama Grabs World Headlines

Newspaper front pages from around the world following Obama's victory. American only newspaper photos can be found on Barack Obama's photostream.

[via boingboing]

Behind the scenes with Obama

Obama's campaign photographer, David Katz, has uploaded thousands of behind-the-scenes photos onto flickr, Yahoo!'s photo-sharing site.

Among everyone's favorites were these candid shots of the Obama family hanging out on election night, watching history unfold.

To see more of these photos, you can check out The Barack Obama photostream on Flickr.

[via Yahoo News]

'Mobile Phones Will Shoot Full HD Video in 2012,' Ericsson Says

Ericsson AB of Sweden revealed its efforts in the mobile broadband market at a press conference Nov 6, 2008. Tech-On! reports.

Ericsson mentioned its concept of a future mobile terminal as "a mobile device in 2012." According to the concept, high-function terminals, in the future, will be equipped with a 12- to 20-Mpixel camera and support full HD video shooting capability.

[via engadget:mobile]

NFL Games Go Wireless

For the first time Thursday, a National Football League game -- the Cleveland Browns vs. the Denver Broncos -- will be broadcast on Sprint mobile phones as part of the wireless company's exclusive partnership with the league. That partnership deal is valued at about $500 million over five years.

[The WSJ via engadget:mobile]

A glimpse of Soweto via your cellphone

Mobile social network The Grid has launched Mobikasi, South Africa's first geo-tagged documentary for cellphones, which explores youth culture in Soweto. IOL reports.

Users can explore Sowetan youth culture on their cellphones from anywhere in South Africa through The Grid's map interface, or by physically touring the famous township and watching documentary clips on their phones at the locations where they were shot.

The location-based documentary looks at people, music, fashion, social issues and places of interest. Instead of showing the twenty-five minute documentary in a linear fashion from start to finish, Mobikasi splits the content up into twenty-five inserts of one minute each.

Each one-minute clip covers a different topic that is relevant to the youth in Soweto and is geo-tagged to the location where it was shot.

Read full article.

Highlights from the polls

Check out the latest citizen shots posted on the Pollling Place Photo Project. Above, voters line at West Village NYC.

Sony Ericsson Claims Ad Campaign First

Sony Ericsson has announcesd an advertising media first as it teams up with Bauer Media’s lads' mag, FHM, to create the first magazine campaign entirely shot on a mobile phone camera, in order to promote the new Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot handset. [via Mobile Marketing]

The Sony Ericsson C905’s unique selling point is its ability to reproduce high quality prints at any size, further blurring the line between dedicated digital cameras and cameraphones. Bauer Media developed the creative idea to put the product to the test for the advertorial and set up a photography shoot using professional lighting, models, hair, make-up and an expert fashion photographer - the twist being that the shot was taken on a Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot mobile phone.

Read full article.

Silver-screen audio trick could smooth jerky video

An effect involving flashing discs of light used since the early days of cinema to make the action appear smoother could improve our perception of poor video footage sent to cellphones.

[via New Scientist]

Mobile Video Still a Niche Market

According to the latest data from Comscore, 6.5 million Americans watched videos on their cell phones in August. YouTube-style amateur videos ranked as the most popular type of content, followed closely by music and comedy videos. The New York Times reports.

Comscore also released some data about general mobile media consumption trends, where the survey found that, year-over-year, more users are now using their mobile devices to access social networking services and read news stories, while fewer users are downloading ringtones and games.