CitizenSide. An iPhone app for citizen reporters

Citizen Side is a French iPhone app for citizen reporters.

It enables cameraphone users to forward as many as 4 pictures at a time. They can check out other citizen contributions and - earn money if their contribution is sold to one of CitizenSide's partners worldwide.

[via L'Express]

Photo books a hit in the down economy

Blurb, the San Francisco company that makes flashy self-published photo books, sold nearly $30 million worth of books in 2008, 800,000 books altogether. USA Today reports.

That's some rare good news from techland these days.

Eileen Gittins, the CEO of Blurb, whom we profiled in early 2007 when the company was just starting, says the economy is strangely helping her thrive.

“Believe it or not, it’s a positive,” she says. “I hear stories all the time, `Now that I’m laid off, I have time to finally put together that photo book. And it only cost me $30.”

Tiny Pictures Launches Radar Application for the iPhone

Tiny Pictures, Inc. today announced the release of the iPhone application for Radar, the leading service for real-time sharing of cameraphone pictures, videos and conversations between friends.

Available for free at the iPhone App Store, the Radar application lets users take advantage of the advanced browsing capabilities and features of the iPhone and iPod touch.

Radar helps users share what they're doing while they're doing it. iPhone pictures sent to Radar are immediately available to friends on any mobile phone on any network; through the desktop site; and through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Press release

Congress gets bill to make cell phone cameras go click

Worried about someone taking pictures of you surreptitiously? A new bill would require all cell phone cameras to make that shutter-click noise so you'll be warned when there's a peeping tom in the locker room with you.

According to arstechnica,

The Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (H.R. 414) was introduced into Congress this month by Representative Peter King, Republican of New York.

The bill's text says that Congress has found that "children and adolescents have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone.

Related attempts dating back as early as 2003:

-- New Jersey Legislation Being Considered To Keep Camera Phone Users From Taking Surprise Photos

-- Should Cell Phone Cams Come with Alarms?

-- Camera phone clampdown demanded

-- Louder Camera Phones?

-- A seal to cover a camphone lens

-- Camera Phone to Require Shutter Sound From Next Year

-- Do phone cameras have to make a sound when digital cameras can be silent?

-- Manufacturers oppose camera-phone restrictions

-- Korean gov't wants to make cameraphones noisy

Sex Soap Opera distributed via cellphone videos

A soap-opera style film shot this month is not intended for entertainment — it’s part of a research project designed to change attitudes about safe sex among young women. And the finished product will be distributed via cellphone videos. The New York Times reports.

In the New Jersey project, 250 women will be recruited from Jersey City and Newark and will be given cellphones. Half will receive weekly safe-sex text messages. The other half will receive weekly 20-minute episodes of the soap opera via cellphone video.

Before, during and after the 12-week study, Dr. Jones said, the women will be surveyed about their H.I.V./AIDS risk behaviors. Dr. Jones said one of the benefits in using cellphones is that it will allow women to watch the soap operas repeatedly and in private.

Read full article.

Geneva's most famous art critic is a work of art himself

This is not related to camera phones, just photography. A new exhibit here in Geneva at the Krisal gallery, showcases one of our most intriguing citizens, Etienne Dumont - tattooed from head to toe - who is a brilliant art critic for Geneva's daily newspaper, La Tribune de Genève.

Twelve photographers have taken his portrait on the occasion of his 60th birthday. You can view image gallery here.

Lunch over IP wrote in April 2007:

Dumont is tattooed from head to toe; has plexiglas piercings on the nose and under the lower lip; a titanium ring on the left hand; rings of 70-mm (2.7 inches) of diameter on the earlobes. And two horns on his head.

Dumont says that he got his first tattoo in 1974 and his body has been a work in progress ever since.

The above photograph is by Steve Luncker.

Trial has TV shows broadcast to mobile phones

A mobile TV trial in Sydney is broadcasting nine channels to participants' mobile phones, including Channel 7, ABC, Fox Sports and MTV, in a service that could be widely available by the end of the year.

Mobile TV broadcasts similar to traditional radio and television signals and can be picked up by a receiver inside a mobile, avoiding the expensive practice of downloading video clips to a handset.

[via Courier Mail]

Police uncover German paedophile ring using mobile phones

A paedophile network in Germand distributing pictures on mobile phones has been busted, police said Friday, reports Earth Times.

Police found mobile phones being used to distribute pictures via MMS on a large scale.

"This is not the biggest case in Germany's history," the prosecution said, "but it has an extraordinary dimension".

The search, codenamed "Operation Susi", started after the mobile phone of a 33-year-old man was found to contain the telephone numbers of 465 men and women with whom he had exchanged pornographic images of children.

Around 1000 police were involved in the nationwide search Tuesday and Wednesday, seizing telephones, computers, videos and storage devices such as hard drives, USB sticks and CDs.

iPhone App Sends Multi-Photo Emails

Aqua Eagle is a new iPhone app that allows users to attach more than one photo into a single email.

The application works by connecting directly to your email provider's SMTP server and sending the photos as attachments.

[via Huliq News]

The Youth Ball Welcomes Obama with a Sea of Digital Cameras

This is an amazing picture posted on VentureBeat from the Youth Ball on Inauguration Day.

These people are all looking at LCD screens instead of the new Presidential couple standing in front of them.

[Gizmodo via Kate Heffernan]

AMF Pension Campaign Will Shock You With a Photo of Yourself at Age 70

Ever wondered what you might look like when you’re ready to retire? Most people don’t, but AMF Pension is encouraging potential customers to look ahead and face the future reality. Trendhunter reports via Adverblog.

Their new interactive ad campaign lets people send in their photos via mobile phone, and AMF sends back a digitally altered picture of them at 70 years old.

The whole process takes minutes, and in all likelihood gets the message across that it’s never too early to start planning for retirement.

Call for Inauguration Photos

The New York Times wants to publish your photos related to the inauguration of President-elect Obama.

Send an e-mail to pix@nyt.com with your full name and the location where the picture was taken, and attach your photograph(s). They will present an online collage of reader photographs beginning on Sunday, Jan. 18.

CBS Mobile calls for user-generated video submissions

CBSNews.com and CBSNews.comCBS Mobile are inviting Americans to submit their videos and photos as part of a multi-platform project exploring the challenges facing the country as President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Fierce Mobile Content.

CBSNews.com and CBS Mobile will accept user-generated clips and images during the first 100 days of the Obama Administration, with a select number of submissions entered prior to the Jan. 20 inauguration to be featured on a primetime special that evening, hosted by CBS News anchor Katie Couric.

In addition, CBSNews.com and CNET.com will partner for a live, Couric-hosted Inauguration Night webcast.

Watch The Obama Inauguration From Your iPhone With Ustream

UStream Ustream has developed an application for the 3G iphone that allows you to watch Ustream anywhere with everyone.

Regardless of where you are at and what you are doing, you can choose to be in the moment with others in a shared live experience around a live event. If you are out-on-the-town and know that a guest speaker at a major conference is “going live” and want to watch live and be-in-the-crowd, then you can with this application.

You will be able to watch the Inauguration LIVE on Ustream with chat.

[UStream Blog via TechCrunch]

Fast Tap Camera cell phone app

Fast Tap Camera is an incredibly useful application that launched today. It helps you take pictures with your iPhone in situations when you need to react fast or when you can not see the camera button. It allows you to tap anywhere on the screen to take the photo.

Fast Tap Camera is also designed to help you find it very fast on your home screen red icon and also to help you know when you can tap the screen for a photo and when you have to wait for the photo to be saved.

Camphone shots at gigs is illegal

Taking snapshots is now a core part of the gig experience for many, but some say the practice is annoying and illegal. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

... Mobile phones have moved from being an adjunct to the concert experience to being a core part of it, says Kate Crawford, associate professor at the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of NSW.

"This is because they are adapted for so many uses. You might start using it for micro-co-ordination - finding your friends in a venue. If it's a good show, you might take photos, start calling friends so they can listen in or sending Twitter updates," she says.

"Then, after the gig ends, it lives on in a complex series of reproductions of the images and video on various social media sites."

... "Most bands allow people to take photos so long as it's not a professional camera and they don't use a flash. People tend to respect that. Besides, they have come to see the band and not just take photos."

Promoter Michael Coppel says artists legally have the right to restrict photographic equipment at concerts (see box for more legal issues) but most only limit professional photographers and turn a blind eye to mobile phones. "Taking away fans' mobile phones is a logistical and security nightmare for promoters and venues," he says.

Navy voyeur filmed naked sailors

A British Navy officer who cut holes in the ceiling and walls of changing rooms so he could film female shipmates has been jailed for two years, reports the BBC.

... The court heard that he used his knowledge of the building and his engineering skills to find a space inside a wall, from where he filmed the clips over six months.

New Interactive CBS Murder Mystery Debuts this Spring

Ashton Kutcher's Game Show, Harper's Island, a murder mystery set to air this spring, isn’t just coming to TV. The 13-episode series is being presented as a multi-platform interactive program with portions of the show being aired online and on mobile devices. Broadcasting & Cable reports.

CBS partnered with social entertainment company EQAL, creators of YouTube hits lonelygirl15 and KateModern, to produce a collaborative show in which overlapping characters and plots will evolve online and on mobile devices throughout the season. The show debuts April 9 at 10 p.m. but the online interactive social show starts weeks earlier on March 18.

Blockbuster To Offer Content On More Devices

Blockbuster has partnered with Sonic Solutions to offer Video on Demand on a wide variety of consumer electronic devices in an effort to stay competitive with Netflix. WebPro News reports.

The devices will include PCs, portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, set-top boxes, mobile phones and Internet -connected television sets.

The two companies will make their digital libraries of content available under the Blockbuster brand offering 10,000 premium films and 40,000 digital titles.

Teens charged for nude pics on phones

Police in Pennsylvania said six high school students are facing pornography charges after three girls sent photos of themselves via cell phones. UPI reports.

Greensburg police said the three female Greensburg-Salem High School students, ages 14 and 15, have been charged in Westmoreland County with manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography after they allegedly took pictures of themselves -- two of the girls nude, the other semi-nude -- with their cell phones and sent them to other students, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Tuesday.

Three male Greensburg-Salem students, described as 16 and 17 years old, were charged with possession of child pornography after the pictures were found on their cell phones.

Lisa Rullo, former principal of the high school and current district director of student services, said students are made aware of laws and district rules regarding pictures on cell phones. "We inform the students that it still is child pornography (if they give or possess it) and ... this is something they don't want to have at all," she said.

Showtime gives 'Tara' big online launch

U.S. pay cable network Showtime says it will make the first episode of its new show "The United States of Tara" freely available on hundreds of Internet sites, reports UPI.

In what it calls "one of the largest content distribution campaigns ever done to launch a new original series," CBS-owned Showtime Networks Inc. said Monday it will make "Tara" available for free streaming on more than 100 Web sites, including TV.com, Yahoo, YouTube, MSN, Fancast, Veoh, EW.com, Blockbuster.com, CinemaNow, TVGuide.com and Netflix.

Mobile phone users will also be able to watch "Tara" on Verizon's V-Cast Mobile TV and on AT&T Mobile TV via MediaFLO.

Babelgum’s Web TV Goes Mobile on 3G (in the UK)

Web TV service Babelgum launched a six-month trial of its mobile services today in conjunction with Vodafone UK. NewTeeVee reports.

Babelgum Mobile is available immediately and will work on Nokia N96, N95 and 6210 handsets. Babelgum Mobile also works on the iPhone, but that service is through O2, not Vodaphone.

Unlike Joost’s recent mobile video app, which only works through Wi-Fi, Babelgum’s service will work over 3G networks.

For now, it looks like Joost offers a broader range of content; Babelgum is pushing mostly music videos and BBC comedies. According to the Babelgum press announcement, the company will be rolling out its mobile service in new countries (including the U.S.) in the coming months, and it plans to tailor the content for each market.

Adult Entertainment Expo crashes the CES party

Apple might not want anything to do with it, but if one thing is clear, it's that porn on the iPhone is going to be huge. cnet news reports.

Blockquote>While there don't seem to be any porn-related apps available for the iPhone, there is a plethora of adult entertainment available on the Web, and a growing amount of that content is being optimized for Apple's hit device.

... Digital Playground is one of the adult content producer making their movies available on the iPhon, a Google search for "iPhone porn" returns millions of results. But Digital Playground seems to be among the most committed to building an iPhone-optimized site suitable for large amounts of its content.

CES: 100 HD movies on a stamp-sized chip?

Imagine storing 100 movies in glorious high-definition on a card the size of a postage stamp, then calling them up instantaneously for viewing on your cell phone whenever and wherever you like. That could happen within five years, according to the SD Association.Reuters reports.

Consumers will be able to store as many as 100 high-definition movies on a stamp-sized memory card and retrieve them with devices such as mobile phones and digital cameras, according to the promoters of the next-generation SD card technology.

Read full article

Web videos of Oakland shooting fuel protests

More than 100 people were arrested in downtown Oakland on Wednesday night when a protest turned violent, fueled at least in part by videos that quickly spread online of a subway policeman fatally shooting an unarmed man while he was lying on the ground restrained by another officer. cnet news reports.

The case--and the overall intense community response to it--highlights the impact technology can have on news events. The devices people carry in their pockets give them the ability to turn what would normally be a case played out in the courtroom into one in which anyone with an Internet connection can serve as virtual judge and jury.

BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, allegedly shot Oscar Grant, 22, early on New Year's Day after Grant was pulled off a BART train following a scuffle among riders. Outrage over the incident spread quickly after videos--taken by onlookers with their cell phone cameras--started appearing on TV and the Internet.

Links to videos of the incident quickly circulated via e-mail. One of the first videos posted on YYouTube was a KTVU Channel 2 news broadcast, which includes live video clips and an interview with a woman who took some of the video. (Note: We included YouTube links because of compatibility issues.)

This video, also from a KTVU broadcast, was later posted on YouTube. It appears to show the gun. Another video shows the scene from a different angle.

Read full article.

Links to Related "Rodney King" incidents

Broadcasts to mobile devices to start in 22 cities

TV stations in 22 U.S. cities announced Thursday that they will start broadcasting their signals this year in a format designed to be received by mobile devices like cell phones, MP3 players, GPS units and in-car entertainment systems. [via Cellular News]

Unlike current mobile TV services, the broadcasts would most likely be free, and would provide access to local news, weather and traffic updates. The broadcasts could also fill an important role in emergencies like hurricanes, since they can be received by portable devices and don't jam up under load like cell-phone networks.

But will there be any gadgets on the market that can receive those signals? That's less clear, since there are no firm launch dates for compatible products.

Read full article.

Sony Ericsson launches smile-friendly phone

Spotted on The Register, Sony Ericsson's first cameraphone with integrated smile detection.

Nielsen: Mobile Video Usage Small, But Growing

Despite the popularity of the iPhone, and the general touch screen mania that has been sweeping the U.S. over the past year, still very few people actually watch video on their cell phones. But the numbers are on the rise, according to a new report issued by The Nielsen Company. MediaWeek reports.

According to Nielsen, 10.3 million U.S. mobile subscribers access video content on their phones during a given month, or just 5 percent of all wireless subscribers. However, the audience is growing—up 14 percent versus 2007--driven primarily to more Internet-friendly phones in the market.

Coming soon to cellphones: Free, over-the-air TV

Millions of consumers by year's end should be able to watch free, over-the-air television on cellphones, PDAs and other portable digital devices as the result of initiatives that will be unveiled Thursday by some of the nation's largest TV station owners and electronics manufacturers. USA Today reports.

... At least 63 stations in 22 cities — including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Washington — will transmit news, entertainment and sports to portable devices this year, according to the broadcast industry's Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC).

The initial group will include affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, ION and PBS. Each city will have a different mix. Most will simulcast regularly scheduled shows.

In conjunction with the announcement, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, manufacturers including LG, Samsung, Zenith and Kenwood will display mobile receivers due in stores later this year.

The Logic Bolt Projector Phone

Spotted on GearLog, a projector-phone called The Logic Bolt.

The Logic Bolt an project a two-hour movie on a 36-64" screen. The projector can route video from almost any source, including an XBox or Nintendo.

Full details.

Links to other Projector phones.