Lens firm promises shake-free cameraphones

Cameraphones will sport much improved image stabilisation within a year, lens manufacturer Varioptic has promised, thanks to its first lens to feature optical image stabilisation (OIS), small enough to fit in a cameraphone.

[via RegGardware and press release]

Photo from death row using a smuggled cell phone

According to statesman.com, a condemned San Antonio law enforcement killer sent a photo of himself out of Texas' death row two years ago using a smuggled cell phones.

The case confirms what prison officials have long suspected, that convicts — even those on death row, which is supposed to be the most secure part of Texas' massive prison system — have had Internet access with smuggled cell phones.

Read full article.

Related:

-- Another death row inmate caught with cell phone

-- Death Row inmate makes threatening call to Senator

My child, pornography and the iPhone

On Times Live, a father's story of how his 6-year-old daughter unwittingly watched her first porn flick on her father's iPhone.

Saudi girl, 13, sentenced to 90 lashes for taking a camera phone to school

The Daily Mail reports that a 13 year-old Saudi school girl is to be given 90 lashes in front of her classmates after she was caught with a mobile camera phone and assaulted her teacher when she caught her with the phone.

Read full article.

Related:

-- Saudi Arabia. Stiff punishments awat camphone misusers - Saudi Arabia will deal strongly with people misusing camera mobiles as a draft bylaw proposed 12-year jail sentence, SR100,000 fine and 1,000 lashes for those circulating pornographic photos of women through the phone.

-- Kuwait's approves Bluetooth sanctions - Kuwait's National Assembly's Legislative Affairs Committee approved on Saturday a governmental proposal to place stricter sanctions on misusing the feature of Bluetooth wireless technology.

-- UAE - Police sound warning over obscene SMS - People who use mobile phones to send pornographic images or indecent SMS messages will henceforth have to face imprisonment, a United Arab Emirat police source has warned.

-- Saudi jails three for filming rape with mobiles - A Saudi court has sent three men to prison for orchestrating and filming the rape of a teenage girl in a case that has shocked the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.

-- Saudi to punish "immoral" use of 3G phones - Saudi Arabia will punish anyone using third generation (3G) mobile phones for purposes deemed immoral in the conservative Muslim kingdom, the state telecommunications regulator says.

-- Female Students With Mobile Phones Face Campus Ban, Fines- Saudi - Female college students carrying cameraphones on campus in any college in Saudi Arabia could face a SR500 fine and 3-year suspension under recent regulations issued by the Ministry of Education.

-- Will Saudi Arabia lift ban on cam-equipped mobiles? - Four Saudi ministries have appealed to King Fahd to reverse a ban on camera-equipped mobile phones in the kingdom.

-- Religious edict bars camera phones in Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has issued an edict barring the use of cell phones with built-in cameras, blaming them for "spreading obscenity" — a final resort after a ban on their sale and import to the kingdom failed to dent their popularity.

-- Saudi women beaten for mobile phone snapping - Two Saudi women were badly beaten by other female guests at a wedding party in the kingdom when they were seen using a mobile phone to photograph the segregated celebration.

-- Mobile pictures spark violence - A wedding party in Saudi Arabia turned violent after a female guest was caught using her mobile phone to take digital photographs of other women at the celebration.

-- Footage of an assault in Saudi Arabia through cameraphones - A rape scandal broke after the two men reportedly circulated footage of the assault through mobile phones equipped with cameras.

-- Woman fired over mobile snapshots - A Saudi woman has been expelled from her university for taking pictures of unveiled colleagues with a camera-equipped mobile phone osting them on the Internet.

-- Saudi Arabia and phonecams When the Saudi people finally rise up in revolt and throw out the House of Saud," fellow Saudi blogger, Alhamedi Alanezi says, " it won't be for democratic reform, and it won't be for an islamic republic. It'll be about mobile phones".

-- Saudi Arabia enforces ban on camera phones - The Saudi government began enforcing a ban on the sale of camera-equipped mobile phones.

-- Banned Camera Phones Selling Like Hot Cakes in Jeddah's Black Market - Mobile camera phones are hot sellers this Eid season - a celebration to mark the end of Islam's holiest season - despite a Kingdomwide ban and a significant increase in retail price.

Also

- Kuwait: Three years jail proposed for misuse of Bluetooth - A senior member of parliament has proposed a draft law stipulating a jail term of between six months and three years for the misuse of the Bluetooth technology, especially in mobile phones, in invading personal privacy.

White House Launches New iPhone App

Yesterday The White House Blog announced the launch of a new White House App available for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch with live video streaming

Now anyone with this app can watch the President's public events at the White House, frequent web chats with Administration officials, and other events like key speeches and press briefings in real time.

The White House App also lets users stay up to date with the The White House Blog and the latest from the Briefing Room. The app provides instant access to full videos from recent speeches - including the President's State of the Union speech next week - press briefings, and special events.

[via The Huffington Post]

Disaster Photography: When Does It Cross The Line?

A thought provoking read from NPR.

The endless pictures and videos of the disaster are made possible by the 24-hour news cycle, and the advent of camera phones, twitter, etc. Maybe 20 years ago, the barrage of images of corpses and wailing human beings with amputated limbs would have been a shocker, but today we watch them with our morning coffee, or over dinner.

Why?

BBC plans on mobile coverage for Olympics

The BBC is planning a multimedia extravaganza of coverage for the 2012 London Olympics, with the ability to watch the games on the go looking to be a key part of its broadcast. TechRadar reports.

As well as TV, radio – including coverage in several different languages on digital radio – online and potentially 3D, the broadcaster plans to have every moment of the event accessible on mobiles.

First appeals court case concerning sexting

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia may soon decide whether teens can be prosecuted under Pennsylvania child pornography laws merely for appearing in a "sexting" cell phone image. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The case involves photos of two 12 year-old-girls in training bras, and a 16-year-old wrapped in a towel with her breasts exposed as she leaves a shower. The latter photo was central at Friday's hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The girls from Wyoming County, northwest of Scranton, have not been accused of disseminating the photos, which have not been made public.

This is the first appeals court case concerning sexting, the reach of the state child pornography law and the First Amendment, said Scranton attorney Michael J. Donohue, who is representing Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr.

Read full article.

NY Times: Share Photos of the Missing in Haiti

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, The New York Times is collecting photos of missing persons to assist families and friends in their search for loved ones.

Readers can make a submission or read comments from people seeking information.

Google demonstrates "Near Me Now" (video)

Engineers Caitlin Johnson and Phil Genera demonstrate the new Near Me Now feature of Google Search for mobile, which makes it fast and easy to find out more about a place in your immediate vicinity.

This feature is currently available in the US for iPhone (OS 3.x) or Android-powered devices with version 2.0.1 or later.

[via Google Mobile Blog]

Sports Illustrated Promoting Swimsuit Issue With Mobile Barcodes

Sports Illustrated announced plans to promote its annual swimsuit issue via mobile barcodes promising readers advance photos. The barcodes, which will run in the Jan. 25 issue of SI as well as other Time Inc.-owned publications. FierceMobile Content reports.

Consumers who snap a photo the barcode with a camera-enabled handset will receive a series of photos spotlighting this year's "rookie class" of models making their first appearance in the magazine.

X-Ray vision for your cell phone camera

Fun, from arstechnica's CES in pictures: the good, the bad, the Elvis: X-Ray vision for your cameraphone.

The idea behind this product? The ability to see through the clothing of women and take pictures with your cell phone. There was a cardboard cutout wearing a dress, and you could see—right there!—everything beneath it simply by peering through the product. Classy.

The rise of the camera-phone

Everywhere you go these days, there are people with camera-phones – many of us record, document, and upload the minutae of our lives. But, ultimately, should we be doing it just because we can?

[Read full essay in The Guardian]

Samsung Moment Becomes First Free US Mobile TV Phone

On Tuesday Samsung announced that the Moment would be the first phone to feature Mobile DTV, the new free-to-air mobile TV standard that's launching early this year. The Mobile DTV-equipped Moment will be part of a customer trial in Washington and Baltimore during the first quarter of 2010, Samsung said.

[via PCMag]