Man accuses officer of forwarding his personal photos

A man who was arrested by police has accused an officer of confiscating his cell phone and forwarding sexually explicit personal photos to himself and at least one other person.

[via Cellular News]

Shooting video at a TSA checkpoint? Here's what you should know

CNN on what you should know if you plan on filming your TSA encounters while traveling this Thanksgiving weekend. TSA says on its blog:

If you are taking pictures at or near the checkpoint, don't be surprised if someone (TSA, airport police, or a curious passenger) asks you what you're up to. We don't prohibit public, passengers or press from photographing, videotaping, or filming at screening locations. You can take pictures at our checkpoints as long as you're not interfering with the screening process or slowing things down.

"We also ask that you do not film or take pictures of our monitors. However, while the TSA does not prohibit photographs at screening locations, local laws, state statutes, or local ordinances might. Your best bet is to call ahead and see what that specific airport's policy is."

Wednesday on NetworkWorld.com, "Ms. Smith," the site's privacy and security blogger, wrote about what you can do if threatened with arrest when recording video at TSA checkpoints.

Read more.

North Korea attacks South Korea, as witnessed via mobile phone

Yesterday's artillery shells fired by North Korea at South Korea was captured by a citizen's cell phone.

[via boingboing]

Camera takes photos around corner

The BBC reports on the first camera that can take pictures around a corner is shown off by US scientists at MIT.

Deaf inmates Allowed to use Videophones in Virginia Prison

Following a lawsuit for discrimination by deaf and hard of hearing inmates at Powhatan Correctional Center in Virginia, the prison will become the first major institution in the country to install a videophone so that hearing impaired inmates can communicate with family and friends.

[via The Washington Post]

Japan mobile phone app takes photos, counts calories

A mobile phone application that counts calories from a photograph of what's on your plate should be available in January. Stuff reports.

Software developed by Japan's NTT Communications can evaluate the color and shapes of food, then compares it with a database and counts the calories.

Information on about 100,000 different foods is stored on a server run by the company and can be accessed by smartphone. The application even registers portion size and adjusts the count accordingly.

Read full article.

LookTel phone app can help the blind 'see' everyday objects

A Santa Monica company is developing a service that can analyze an image from a smart phone's camera and audibly announce what it is The Los Angeles Times reports.

A smart phone application called LookTel helps make a call by audibly announcing which button on the keypad a finger is hovering over and includes a feature that identifies everyday objects on the fly.

LookTel uses the phone's camera and transmits an image of whatever is in front of it over the Internet to the company's servers. Computers compare the image to those in LookTel's catalog; when they find a match the item's name is sent back to the phone.

According to their website, LookTel also incorporates a text reader allowing users to get access to print media.

For more complicated visual tasks such as locating a specific street corner or bus stop, LookTel enables you to remotely connect to another person for assistance. Not only can you talk to them, but you can also transmit live video from the cell phone's camera so that they can see your surroundings and help you with orientation, recognizing objects and media, and more.

Read full article and What is LookTel?

Neiman Marcus offers a whole new take on Xmas windows

For the second consecutive year, Neiman Marcus's downtown store will let children climb in the xmas Windows from the street beginning Nov. 20 during the annual City Lights festivities, reports Dallas News.

But this year, the holiday play experience incorporates features activated by adults and their smart phones that may lead to actual window shopping year round.

For example, visitors can text a number to control one of six special effects inside the display. They also can use camera phones to place themselves in space scenes. "Windows can be a 24/7 point of access for people walking by. Phone applications can capture information about displayed products and brands.

Read full article.

Photo Sharing on the Go Is the Latest Hot Investment Niche in Silicon Valley

A flurry of new start-ups is focused on mobile photo-sharing, some of which plan to make money from local advertising. The smartphone apps transform cellphone photos so they look better, tag them with location data and post them in real time to social networks on phones and the Web.

[via The New York Times]

Bringing the Coffin Industry Back From the Dead - with Barcodes

A very interesting read in The Atlantic on how barcodes and touch screens are resuscitating a casket factory.

In a plant where approximately 1,100 coffins are assembled daily, using barcodes and touch-screen computers, line workers can custom-build the caskets more than a thousand different ways, outfitting them in 22 possible colors, with an array of decorative hardware, interior trimmings, and personalized “life symbols.

This sector of the American death-care industry, despite its obvious certainties, is actually ailing. People are not only living longer, they’re also buying Chinese-made caskets and, in dramatically increasing numbers, choosing cremation.

To survive in such a climate, Batesville Casket in 1995 began following an unlikely path: the Toyota Way.

Read full article. Image: Hollis Benett/Wonderful Machine.

My3D Turns iPhone into Modern-Day Viewmaster

According to Wired, Hasbro is planning on launching a plastic toy called My3D, which turns an iPhone or iPod Touch into a modern-day Viewmaster.

The iPhone slots into the back of the My3D, and compatible apps show side-by-side images to your eyes, creating a stereoscopic effect. Hasbro has teamed up with Dreamworks already, to bring you spin-offs of the second-tier animation house’s cartoons, and there are plans for all sorts of virtual travel apps, games and underwater diving “experiences”.

Read full article.

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Camera-looking camera phone

Spotted on technabob, a camera phone that really looks like a camera. By LG for DoCoMo.

Webcamera App turns your phone into a Webcam

Appmodo on Webcamera, an app that will turn your iPhone into a high quality wireless webcam.

Connect it to a computer through WiFi.

Mobiola WebCamera is also great to share what cannot be recorded with the built-in laptop camera as it is wireless and can be easily moved around. Imagine talking to your mother on Skype and showing her how her grandson makes his first steps around you. Or sitting next to Eiffel Tower and sharing this moment with your friend while showing him around. With Mobiola WebCamera, anything can be shared wirelessly, it's simple and fun.

Mobiola WebCamera works with Skype, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ and many others, same way as a standard USB webcam.

Plug-and-play ready when Mobiola WebCamera Desktop application is installed.

Electronic Spy Camera Shirt

Spotted on Gearlog, a camera t-shirt.

The Electronic Spy Camera Shirt, a t-shirt with a real working camera that links to a controller you keep in one pocket.

The shirt is capable of capturing 150 photos at 640 x 480 resolution. The pocket remote works off of three AAA batteries, and offers vibration feedback so you know when you've taken a shot.

The electronics in the shirt remove for washing.

Read full review.

An Inside “Look” at Showtime’s New Voyeuristic Series

Approximately 30 million surveillance cameras in the U.S. capture people’s lives on tape every day. In fact, it’s legal to keep such cameras inside dressing rooms in 37 states. And the ongoing popularity of sites like YouTube and Twitter has only made it easier for society to get even more glimpses inside people’s personal thoughts and moments. Mashable reports.

This is the premise behind Look, one of the latest series from cable channel Showtime.

The TVshow — which interweaves five story lines — was shot via security cameras and the like, instead of a traditional setup. It also integrates a number of social elements such as characters’ text messages, Twitter and YouTube.

Read full article.

Call to boycott Barbie with built-in camera

Barbie's new built-in camera abilities are worrying some privacy advocates and psychologists. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The Barbie Video Girl doll has been criticised for enabling children to film themselves and others using a hidden camera in Barbie's necklace.

The doll, which retails for about $110, also has a small colour LCD screen in her back and the capacity to record 30 minutes of video, which can be transferred to a computer.

Read full article.

How digital technology gets the news out of North Korea

The girl in the video looks like she's about 12 years old. Thin, dirty and with a vacant look on her face, she tells the cameraman that she's actually 23 and she survives by foraging for grass to sell to wealthier families for their rabbits. IT World reports.

The sobering footage was shot in June this year in the province of South Pyongan, North Korea, and provides a glimpse into the life of one person who lives far from the military parades and fireworks last month marking the 65th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea.

It was shot on a cheap camera by a man who goes by the pseudonym Kim Dong-cheol, a North Korean with a double life. In addition to his job as a driver for a company, Kim also works as a clandestine reporter for AsiaPress, a Japanese news agency that's taken advantage of the digital electronics revolution to get reports from inside North Korea.

AsiaPress works with six North Koreans they've trained as journalists. They're given instruction in operating cameras, using PCs and how to use cell phones so they don't attract the attention of authorities. Then, every few months, they meet with AsiaPress representatives just over the border in China to hand over their images.

Read full article via @mobileactive.

Related:

-- North Koreans are receiving information about the outside world via cell phones

-- In a country where nearly every facet of society is controlled, North Korean authorities are encountering a new foe: the cellphone.