Off on vacation, back July 12

Off on vacation, back Monday July 12.

BitBop is like mobile Hulu you pay for

Hulu, the popular Web site for streaming TV shows with limited commercials, has famously blocked mobile phones from accessing its free content. Now BitBop is the latest mobile app taking a stab at filling Hulu's void - and like Hulu, it's only available to US viewers. CNet Download Blog reports.

In BitBop, you'll choose from the content you can search or browse--mostly TV shows at this point--and add it to your queue, Netflix-style. There they'll sit until you're ready to either stream or download them. You can do both over either Wi-Fi or 3G data speeds.

TV shows downloaded quickly and take up about 50MB per 30 minute episode.

V shows come to BitBop's catalog from over 30 broadcast partners and include shows like "American Dad," "Glee," "CSI," "30 Rock," and "Chopped." A $9.99 monthly subscription gets you unlimited video streams and downloads, and in addition the shows play back to you commercial-free. Movies are planned for down the line.

Read more.

eBay acquires barcode scanning app for iPhone

eBay said Thursday that it will acquire RedLaser, a barcode scanning application for the iPhone and related assets from Occipital. ZDNet reports.

Red Laser has 2 million downloads and is one of the more popular barcode scanning applications. EBay also said it will immediately make Red Laser a free app on the iPhone and increase its selection with 200 million listings and product details from Shopping.com.

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Nokia in plagiarism row after 'short film award winner disqualified for cheating'

Nokia, the mobile phone company, has been forced to disqualify the winner of a British film prize after an investigation found her entry was a direct copy of an earlier work, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

The Nokia Mini Mo Awards, which are open to British students, reward movies and film-makers who make movies solely on their mobiles.

Read full article.

Mobile phone firms test TV broadcast service

According to The Guardian, Broadcast TV in the UK could be shown using the existing 3G mobile phone spectrum – without clogging up networks.

O2, Orange, and Vodafone have teamed up to test a TV broadcast service which would allow British mobile phone users the chance to watch TV channels on their handsets.

The three companies, who control the bulk of the UK mobile phone market, are testing technology which would enable them to provide broadcast TV over their existing 3G mobile phone spectrum, without clogging up their networks, which are being used by smartphone users to access the web and send emails.

Read full article.

On Mobile Flash, Apple Stands Alone

Adobe Systems announced today that its Flash Player 10.1 software for mobile devices is now being released to its platform partners with one notable exception to this list, Apple's iPhone. ReadWriteWeb reports.

A new version of the Flash Player has been completely redesigned for mobile use, making "efficient use of CPU and battery performance," a direct shot against one of Steve Jobs' complaints.

To showcase what mobile users have been missing out on, Adobe has also launched a mini-site at m.flash.com, which features dozens of sites optimized for Flash, including those from Warner, Sony Pictures, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, TBS, Sundance, USA Today, BBC...

Read full article

Apps to interact with government

See a pothole? An overgrown tree? The iPhone app — a pilot program available to L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti's constituents — may represent the future of how residents interact with government. The LA Times reports.

All a user has to do is take a picture of a trouble spot — a pothole, a broken sidewalk, an overgrown tree — and answer a few questions. Then the data and the location's GPS coordinates are transmitted instantly to the city.

City Councilman Paul Krekorian offers San Fernando Valley residents in his 2nd District a similar app for the iPhone and cellphones using the Google Android platform. Besides allowing users to report problems, the app also has an alert system that streams news from City Hall and can relay information in an emergency.

New York, Boston and Pittsburgh are among the other cities that have made similar applications available for free on iTunes. Krekorian and Garcetti say they soon hope to take the idea citywide in Los Angeles.

Read full article.

Related:

-- Reporting problems to City Hall thanks to MMS and cameraphones

-- Police cameraphones hunt graffiti

-- Using MMS to report anti social behavior

-- Camphone Citizen Action in London

Getty taps into Flickr snappers

For two years, Getty Images has tapped into more than 100,000 photos taken by professional and semi-pro photographers who post on Flickr. Now the doors are being opened to all Flickr users as Getty takes advantage of a library of four billion pictures. The BBC reports.

"Flickr users are the eyes of the world," Douglas Alexander, Flickr's general manager, told BBC news.

"We have contributors from over 100 countries and images are coming in from every corner of the globe. This deal broadens the horizons and the global marketplace for commercial photography and gives our users the chance to make some money." Neither Getty nor Flickr were forthcoming about actual rates saying they vary from job to job but are industry standard. It is generally thought the average rate for an image is between $150-$240 (£100-£160).

Read full article.

Previously: Flickr teams up up with Getty Images to let users sell their pictures (2009)

Sizing up the iPhone 4 for shutterbugs

arstechnica takes you through the many improvements to the iPhone 4G's camera hardware.

Apple has ticked off nearly every box on our wishlist: more megapixels, better low-light sensitivity, an LED flash, a wider angle of view, 720p HD video recording, a front-facing camera, and more. An iPhone 4 isn't going to replace a DSLR or a high-end point-and-shoot, but for all but the most devoted pixel-peepers, the hardware is capable of some very nice images.

Read full article.

Yeahyeahyeahyeah.com

yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah.com popped onto Mashable's radar overnight (do they ever sleep?) It's a constant stream of random photos. And like it's video counterpart Chateroulette, there's porn too. If that's what you call a photo of a naked woman tied in bondage.

[via The Guardian]

iPhone Armed With Facial Recognition App Lets Cops ID Perps on the Street

Law officers in Brockton, Mass., have a new tool for fighting crime: the iPhone. Using a new app armed with facial recognition software linked to a statewide database, cops can snap a picture of a suspect in the field and within seconds pull up that person's identity on the device. Popsci reports.

The system, known as MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System), will allow officers out on the road to identify those people who already have their face -- and, if applicable, their criminal history -- in the police database. It will initially be used by Brockton's gang unit, but will eventually be deployed statewide.

... Don't look for MORIS under the "Free Apps" section of the iTunes store. The augmented devices, loaded with all the proper software, cost around $3,000 each.

[via Dvice]

More Adults Than Teens Consume Mobile Video

According to Nielsen in its latest "Three Screen" quarterly report for the first quarter of 2010, more than half (55%) of the mobile video audience is actually adults, it finds, aged 25-49.

And while mobile video viewing on a smartphone still remains a niche activity in comparison to total audience size, its year-over-year growth (51.2%) is impressive.

[via The New York Times]

Cellphones may tell you food's safe

Allergy sufferers may soon to be able to scan supermarket shelves with mobile phones to get detailed safety information on groceries. Stuff reports.

Nestle is working with researchers at Deakin University in Melbourne and the Australian branch of international barcode standards body GS1 to trial an iPhone application.

Shoppers would scan product barcodes and any warnings would be called up from a database and displayed on their phone. GS1 plans to develop similar applications for Android and Symbian smartphones.

Read full article.

Mobile Uploads Spur Facebook Video Growth

Facebook’s nearly half a billion users are now uploading 20 million videos each month, many of which are shared through mobile phones.

[via Bits]

City of New York Blankets Times Square with Giant QR Codes

To celebrate Internet Week 2010, the City of New York outfitted Times Square with giant QR codes earlier today. It’s called “The City at Your Fingerprints” and 11 New York agencies participated in the interactive billboard initiative. Mashable reports.

Times Square denizens could use their smartphone barcode scanning app to scan the QR codes — which were featured in an animated sequence on the Thomson Reuters building in Times Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET — and pull up information relating to specific agencies being featured.

FCC cuts could cut video phone services for the deaf

Video phones are something the deaf and hard of hearing have come to depend on in recent years, but the service is now in jeopardy of losing federal money and going silent. WDBJ7.com reports.

... The FCC says it reduced the amount of subsidy to video relay companies in a reaction to fraudulent billing from some service providers.

Virginia lawmakers Senator Mark Warner and Congressman Rick Boucher have written letters to the FCC asking it to rethink the subsidy reduction.

Read full article.

Make money with your camera phone

Fizwoz offers a video tutoria for improving the quality of your camera phone photos:

Fizwoz is an online auction site for mobile phone captured photo and video, matching consumer content with potential buyers from television networks to social networking sites.

On ABC/View from The Bay

Camera Phone Fundraising Taps Younger Donors

According to John Baguley, CEO of the International Fundraising Consultancy in London, camera phone fundraising is a fairly simple concept that has yet to break into the mainstream in the U.S. The Non Profit Times reports on how it works:

Nonprofits can get their own square shaped barcode or quick response code from the Internet for free from Web sites such as mobile-barcodes.com. This barcode can then be placed on posters or direct mail that is sent out to prospective donors.

Donors need only take a photo of the barcode to be directed to a charity’s Web site donation page on their smart phone, where they can contribute in one easy step. The software for donors is also free and available at www.mobile-barcodes.com.

Read more.

NASA's Fly Your Face in Space program

NASA wants to put a picture of you on one of the two remaining space shuttle missions and launch it into orbit. Find out how to launch your face into space and become a part of history with NASA's Fly Your Face in Space program.

[via Gizmodo]

Another use for front-facing cameras: gesture control

Most people think of video chat when they think of front-facing cameras on phones like the HTC Evo 4G or the upcoming iPhone 4. But an Israeli tech company has another use in mind: gesture control, such as answering a call simply by waving your hand in front of the lens. Interesting. [via Yahoo! News Blog]

EyeSight Technologies has been offering what it calls "touch-free" gesture control for Nokia phones since last year, according to engadget, and the company has just announced that it's now offering its EyeCan and EyePlay development tools for Android phones, such as the dual camera-packing (and apparently sold-out) Evo 4G.

Full press release

Will The iPhone 4 Change Filmmaking?

The new iPhone 4 provides users with the opportunity to create an entire film on a mobile phone. Will this change the way films are made or simply enhance the way we watch them? ScreenRant reports.

The new iPhone offers thousands of dollars worth of equipment in a handheld device, all for the $199 or $299 price tag of the phone, with only and additional $4.99 for the iMovie application. At 720p and 30fps, the camera provides superior quality to any of its predecessors. 10 hours of battery life during video use proves you can last longer with the iPhone than a thousand dollar camera.

Read on.

Videos Carry On the Fight Over Sea Raid

When Israeli commandos attacked the so-called Freedom Flotilla, both sides were well armed — with video cameras — and both sides have released a blizzard of video clips as evidence that the other side was the aggressor in the conflict on Monday, which left nine activists dead. The New York Times reports.

Once again, the political power of the moving picture is on display, as it was last year when a video showing the death of a young protester in Iran, Neda Agha-Soltan, became a symbol of resistance in that country.

The flotilla videos have proved a popular draw online, with one from the Israel Defense Forces attracting more than 600,000 views on YouTube. Scenes from both perspectives have been shown in a continuous loop on television news programs all over the world, stirring public outrage.

But what is missing so far from the flotilla clips on both sides is context: it is difficult to establish the sequence of events or, more simply, to determine who attacked first. The videos have made it all the more murky.

Read full article.