South Koreans want their sub-TV

In South Korea, subway riders are becoming addicted to free TV on their cellphones. But declining ad revenue and mounting debt may force cellular operators to pull the plug. The LA Times reports.

Reeling from declining ad revenue and mounting debt from providing the expensive service at no additional cost to subscribers, South Korean cellular operators may soon cancel subway TV coverage that has yet to turn a profit.

Losing underground TV reception may not seem like much to consumers in the U.S., where many are still struggling with cellular dead zones and where a switch to full above-ground digital TV service may leave millions staring at useless analog sets.

But for many South Koreans, subway TV has become a familiar part of their daily routines. Phone companies in this digitally crazed nation in 2005 were the first to launch mobile TV that could be tuned in on phones just about anywhere -- even in the subway tunnels deep beneath Seoul and other cities.

Today, nearly 10 million cellular users are watching soap operas, sports and sitcoms on a special frequency dedicated to portable viewing -- enjoying it all on larger digital-quality screens and high-tech handsets to improve reception.

In Seoul, for example, companies offer eight video and 10 audio channels on new cellphones. There's also a subscription-based satellite service, but few consumers have shelled out for it.

But the proposed changes by cellphone service providers would leave users with only static in the subway, and no TV signal until they hit street level again.

Twittering Celebrities Take Fans Backstage in Their Lives

Celebrities are increasingly using Twitter to communicate with fans. The latest: Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore uploaded photos from an Oscars after-party using their mobile phones.

In addition to being a staple for rapid-fire communication among technophiles and a networking tool for tech-savvy companies, Twitter is swiftly being adopted by celebrities who see it as a way to give the public a controlled peephole into their otherwise highly private lives.

[via The New York Times]

Fighting Crime With Your Cell Phone Camera

Rob Wilcox wants you to pull out your cell phone, shoot photos of people you do not know, and text or email them to his startup company, FaceFile, just in case they turn out to be psycho killers.

If you sign up for a free account at face-file.com, you can take a photo of anyone you meet, store the photo online, and alert friends and family, who can access the photo and call the police if anything goes horribly wrong. Really.

[via Foxbusiness]

LG affirms that 12 megapixel cameraphone is in the works

LG which just officially debuted its 8 megapixel Memoir here in Barcelona, "absolutely" has a 12 megapixeler in the works. That's according to Jeremy Newing, LG Mobile's head of marketing in the UK, who also proclaimed that the KS360 would be LG's first Android phone. engadget reports.

In his words: "We'll very much be releasing a 12MP cameraphone. However, it's important that people realize when taking 12MP images, they'll be using huge amounts of data, and it will be more difficult to do things like send such files."

Comedian Lee Hurst fined for smashing audience member's camera phone

The comedian Lee Hurst pleaded guilty today to smashing an audience member's mobile phone at one of his stand-up gigs because he believed it was being used to film his performance. [via The Guardian]

The stand-up comic abused the audience member and grabbed his handset, worth £80, before returning to the stage and smashing it on the floor during his performance at the Stoke pub in Guildford, Surrey, on 3 September last year, Guildford magistrates' court heard.

Hurst believed the audience member – who claimed to be sending a text message – was filming him, the court was told. Hurst dismissed the texting claim, arguing that the man's mobile phone had been following him across the stage. He said: "I moved to the right and the light followed me. I moved back to the centre and the light followed me again."

Facebook ‘grabs rights to photos’

Facebook has been caught in a privacy storm after granting itself rights to users' photos, wall posts and all other information forever, reports Metro.

The social networking site has enraged tens of thousands of members by changing its terms of use, without consultation or advance notice.

Its new licensing agreement removes a clause allowing users to delete permanently any uploaded content.

Critics say it means the site will retain the material and keep the right to use it even if a user has cancelled his or her membership.

UPDATE: Facebook has reversed its decision to change its rules on allowing people to delete personal information, founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced in his blog. (The Telegraph)

PacketVideo - TV on your iPhone

At Barcelona's Mobile World Congress, PacketVideo demonstrated its mobile broadcast receiver that turns Wi-Fi-enabled phones and personal media players into mobile TVs. iPhone World reports.

The way it works is PacketVideo receiver decodes digital TV signal, and then sends it wirelessly which then is caught and play backed by the device, like iPhone. The mobile broadcast receiver is compatible with many industry-leading phones, iPhone including.

The receiver also allows viewing premium channels, as well as ensures optimum rendering of the TV signal on the playback device.

[via NewTeeVee]

Sony Ericsson Unveils 12.1-Megapixel Cameraphone

Sony Ericsson has recently announced the launch a brand new handset, the 12.1-megapixel cameraphone code-named “Idou.”

According to the mobile phone maker, Idou will be launched this year under the Entertainment Unlimited brand, along with a series of other projects as well.

[via Softpedia]

Hong Kong airport fury makes online hit

A video of a hysterical passenger screaming at airline staff and writhing on the floor after missing a flight at Hong Kong airport has become a YouTube hit.

The footage, entitled "A woman missed her flight at the boarding gate HKIA" appears to have been shot with a mobile phone from behind the staff desk.

The woman was travelling on a Cathay Pacific flight to San Francisco on February 4.

[via Yahoo Tech]

Brits to protest new law that lets the cops throw you in jail for ten years for photographing them in action

Britons are planning on rallying at Scotland Yard on Feb 16 to protest the new law that lets the cops throw you in jail for ten years for photographing them in action, if your photo is "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism."

[via boingboing]

'Pharce' app Lets Users Create Videos And Put Them On YouTube

The Pharce app lets iPhone users create mocking, cute, or funny videos from pictures in their iPhoto Library. Such pictures can come from photos the user takes with the iPhone, photographs they "synced" with the iPhone from their computer, or images saved from the web.

Check out instructional walkthrough on YouTube.

[via PRMac]

MMS app

Americans and Canadians can now send an MMS from their iPhone thanks to the new free MMS app that lets you send pictures directly to your friend’s phone numbers.

In their own words: "We send images via your data connection and deliver directly to your friend’s messaging inbox. The media files in the messages are transcoded and optimized to display on your friend's phone screen.

If your friend also has an iPhone, which does not yet support MMS, we will auto-detect it and send a link to a nicely formatted iPhone web page.

The MMS app is currently delivering content to major US and Canadian wireless carriers."

Hoping this app will soon work in Europe too.

WhatTheFont app

WhatTheFont is a new free iPhone app that is able to identify the fonts in a photo or web graphic. How cool is that?

How it works:

-- Snap a photo right within the app
-- Choose saved photos from the Photo Library
-- Upload it
-- Check the WhatTheFont's character guesses
-- Click on "Identify"

Cisco Forecasts Dramatic Mobile Video Traffic Growth

Despite a bleak economic climate, Cisco's latest Visual Networking Index predicts global mobile traffic will increase 66 times over the next five years with mobile video accounting for nearly 64 percent of traffic by 2013. eWeek reports.

The primary driver of this surge in mobile traffic will be driven by laptops, netbooks and smartphones connecting to the network.

Almost 64 percent of the world's mobile traffic will be video within the next five years, according to Cisco's latest VNI (Visual Networking Index) Mobile Forecast for 2008-2013 released Feb. 10. They key driver of the mobile traffic will be laptops, netbooks and smartphones connecting to the network.

Read full article.

Old School Hip Hop Uses New School 2D Barcode Technology

Rhyme Library features classic old school hip hop songs with videos. Users can snap a picture of the QR Code under the song which will take them to iTunes for purchasing.

Clicking on the QR code from a computer will also take you to the iTunes music store - as long as you have downloaded a QR Code Reader app such as:

-- Barcodes
-- BeeTagg
-- Barcode
-- NeoReader
-- Snapper 2D

Citizen journalism photo agency Scoopt closing

Digital media agency Getty Images announced plans on Tuesday to close down Scoopt, a citizen journalism photo agency based in Glasgow which it acquired two years ago. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The site (scoopt.com) itself will remain active until March 6 but from February 6 we'll not be accepting any new imagery," Molly McWhinnie, a Getty Images spokeswoman, told AFP.

McWhinnie said the decision to close Scoopt, which was purchased by Getty Images in March 2007 for an undisclosed sum, was made to allow Getty "to focus our energies on more of our core products in news, sports and entertainment."

She said Getty Images, which is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, remained interested in user-generated photos.

Links to previous articles related to Scoopt.

Say Freeze: Brits Go Pics Crazy

Housebound Britons went text and picture crazy yesterday as they rushed to share their snow fun. From Sky News.

Text and picture messaging went through the roof and mobile phone companies reported a huge rise in internet traffic through mobiles.

As Britons pulled open the curtains on Monday morning, the first thing many of us did was call the office to say we would not be in.

Then followed a quick text to mates to compare snow depths followed by numerous texts and picture messages to friends and family living further away to tell them the news.

Apple Planning Video-Call iPhone

According to Information Week, Apple is considering adding a video record feature to the iPhone -- an omission users have long complained about -- and it may soon become a handheld videophone platform, with support for mobile video-conferencing calls.

Those are the inferences you can make if you believe that the claims Apple has put into its patent relates to stuff it intends to turn into products. The video-call feature is the boldest one; a potential market game changer, which could knock competitors like Palm's Pre orDell ( Dell)'s planned smartphone back off the front pages. (The other feature, video record, is just a natural extension of the current still camera, and is probably something it could do now, if Apple so chose.)

Samsung to release 12 megapixel cameraphone

According to engadget:mobile, Samsung will be "pushing the limits of absurdity to a full 12 megapixels this month, likely at Mobile World Congress - to be held in Barcelona February 16-19."