168 Incredible Cellphone Photos

Check out entries in Gizmodo's Cellphone Shooting Challenge. Time to admit that cellphones have developed into legitimate cameras.

Renault connects Facebook to the AutoRAI with RFID

In The Netherlands Renault has recently introduced the possibility of "liking" real objects offline immediately sharing the preference also online on the person Facebook wall.

At the AutoRAI Motorshow they handed out RFID-equipped smartcards at their stand allowing visitors to Connect with their profiles. From there, if the visitor liked a Renault car he could simply swipe the card in front of a reader and automatically share the preference on his profile.

Watch embedded video above.

[via Adverblog]

Remote Medical Diagnosis Via 3G Network Under Trial in Egypt

Qualcomm has announced in a press release that it is working with Egyptian mobile network, Mobinil to test a remote tool to enable dermatologists to diagnose skin conditions remotely. Cellular News reports.

Located in Cairo, the program sites allow physicians to take photographs of patient skin conditions and capture symptoms in text format using a 3G-enabled wireless device. This information is then sent through Mobinil's HSPA mobile broadband network to obtain diagnosis from specialists working elsewhere.

During this pilot phase, both an onsite physician and a remote specialist diagnose skin conditions, and the results are then compared to confirm the prognosis. To date, diagnosis comparisons completed during the pilot have demonstrated full agreement in 82.2 percent of cases examined.

Read full article.

Angry Birds to Use NFC Technology on Nokia Phones

Mobiledia reports that Angry Birds' next version will debut on the NFC-enabled Nokia C7 phone.

Players of "Angry Birds Magic" will have to tap their Nokia C7 phone against another player's phone in order to unlock different levels in the game. This interaction uses near-field communications, or NFC.

Google's Nexus One is already NFC-equipped, and if mobile payments take off as they^re expected to, it will be a standard feature on smartphones soon.

Read more.

Chinese are watching tv/movies on cellphones. Legally.

According to a fascinating article in Variety, Chinese commuters are watching TV series and movies on their cellphones. Legally.

China had 457 million Internet users last year, and 303 million of these -- two-thirds -- use their phones to access the Internet.

China's tougher stance on piracy means Hollywood may soon be able to make money in China through video sites showing content on cell phones.

The key to keeping the downloads legal: low prices, like Youkou.com's 75¢ per view.

... LeTV.com, the first video company listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, has 50,000 copyrighted TV series and 4,000 films.

Read full article in Variety (registration required)

Students use cameras, YouTube to reveal Misrata siege

Libyan students are using mobile phones, an amateur video camera and YouTube to offer a glimpse of the war in the besieged city of Misrata where journalists are prevented from reporting freely. Reuters reports.

... Under their Freedom Group channel, the group has posted some 130 videos, some of which include chilling footage of fierce street battles. Others depict a ghost town where residents cower indoors, often several families to a dwelling.

The channel has garnered half a million views since the first video was posted on Feb. 25 showing graphic footage of bloodied bodies. A voice-over says they were rebels killed by Gaddafi loyalists.

Read more.

Video Mask puts your words in their mouth

Came in my inbox. Fun! VideoMask lets you record a video message through a mask using you own eyes and mouth

Simply choose an image, line up the facial features and create your video. Images can be loaded from the iPhone photo library or taken with the camera, and several pre-made masks are included to get you started. VideoMasks can then be saved to the iPhone library or shared from within the app via Email, Facebook and Youtube.

VideoMask will be available from the app store from Friday 15th April 2011.

Full press release.

HTC Phone Adds Video as Makers Go Past Apps

According to the WSJ, smartphone venders are integrating content and services in their devices, in what is poised to be the next phase in the mobile wars.

HTC Corp. Tuesday released its first smartphone, the HTC Sensation 4G, that comes with the company's own video service. Using the service, owners will be able to rent or purchase more than 600 movies or TV shows via their phone.

... Analysts say manufacturers are increasingly adding more in-house capabilities to integrate into their smartphones to stand out as the space heats up. Apple with its iTunes service is the farthest ahead in the race, especially when it comes to integrating the content across multiple devices such as televisions and PCs, they say.

Read full article.

Zoom Reader app for low vision

Spotted on NY1, ZoomReader, a new app for iPhone and Android for people with low vision.

In combination with your iPhone’s built-in camera, ZoomReader lets you magnify and read text by first taking a picture of an object like a book or menu, then converting the image into text using state of the art Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. ZoomReader will then read the text back to you using a natural sounding voice.

Read more.

How mobile video is helping Africa’s rural farmers

Rural farmers in Africa can now learn new farming techniques through simple animations that can be viewed on mobile phones. How We Made It In Africa reports.

Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWB) is an initiative by a group of scientists, animators and extension tutors at the University of Illinois to create short videos that can be sent and downloaded to mobile phones.

Each video features a character demonstrating how to do certain agriculture-related tasks. One video, for example, shows viewers in Africa how to processes the fruits of the neem tree to make a liquid insecticide that can be sprayed on cowpea crops. The neem is a drought-tolerant tree found in many parts of Sub-Sahara Africa.

Read full article.

Previously: - Cell phones spur 'Scientific Animations Without Borders'

How mobile video is helping Africa’s rural farmers

Rural farmers in Africa can now learn new farming techniques through simple animations that can be viewed on mobile phones. How We Made It In Africa reports.

Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWB) is an initiative by a group of scientists, animators and extension tutors at the University of Illinois to create short videos that can be sent and downloaded to mobile phones.

Each video features a character demonstrating how to do certain agriculture-related tasks. One video, for example, shows viewers in Africa how to processes the fruits of the neem tree to make a liquid insecticide that can be sprayed on cowpea crops. The neem is a drought-tolerant tree found in many parts of Sub-Sahara Africa.

Read full article.

Previously: - Cell phones spur 'Scientific Animations Without Borders'

'Binoculars' turn iPhone 3D

Hasbro has created an attachment that adds depth to the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch.

[via stuff]

High-Resolution Cameras Will Drive Mobile Phone Shipments Above 1 Billion

Mobile phones equipped with cameras will pass the 1 billion-unit shipment mark for the first time this year, with the highest resolution models rising the fastest, market research firm Strategy Analytics said.

[via Bloomberg]

UCF Student Turns Cell Phone Into Mobile Microscope to Detect Malaria

A group of college students at the University of Central Florida have figured out how to turn smart phones into virtual microscopes that can detect malaria from a digital snapshot of a patient’s blood sample. UCF Today reports.

Instead of placing a blood sample under a microscope in a lab, a doctor or nurse working in remote parts of Africa would simply snap a picture of the sample with a cell phone camera. Then an image analysis algorithm – devised as a phone app that Gibeau created – calculates and detects where the malaria clusters are based on blood cells’ location and staining.

The only special preparation a field doctor would have to do is place a drop of a dye that stains for the malaria parasite in the blood sample – the same way it’s done in a lab.

Read full article.

Sprint Plans Tap-And-Go Payment Service This Year to Get a Jump on Rivals

According to Bloomberg, Sprint Nextel plans to start a service this year that will allow customers to make purchases with their mobile phones, ahead of a similar initiative from rivals Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA.

Sprint is working with payment networks and handset makers on technology called near-field communication, or NFC, which allows people with smartphones to make purchases by tapping them on or waving them in front of electronic readers in stores, said Kevin McGinnis, vice president of product platforms.

Read full article.

Sony to supply image sensors for Apple‘s iPhone 5

Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, accidentally told everyone in the world that his company will be supplying image sensors for Apple‘s iPhone 5. Mashable reports.

In an interview late Friday with the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, the Sony chief was talking about earthquake damage to 15 of the Sony’s factories in Japan, and inadvertently mentioned that a camera sensor made in one of those plants is on its way to Apple, and that sensor would be delayed because of the quake and tsunami.

Stringer didn’t specifically say that Sony is building an 8-megapixel image sensor that will go into the iPhone 5, but since Sony is currently not manufacturing any image sensors for Apple, this confirmed that Sony plans to supply components of the iPhone 5.

Read full article.

Check Your Settings: Cell Phone Pictures Are Risky Business

If you're like many smartphone users, you're posting images to Facebook, Picasa and other social-media networks. But did you know that the photos you upload (or even e-mail) could be putting you -- and your kids -- at risk? That's because your smartphone is equipped with technology that can allow hackers to find out where you live.

[via Newsfactor]

Amazon Said to Be Exploring Mobile-Payment Service for Handsets

According to Bloomberg, Amazon is considering the introduction of a service that would let consumers pay for goods in brick-and-mortar stores using their mobile phones.

The company’s Amazon Payments unit is exploring whether to start a service based on so-called near-field-communication technology, said the people, who asked not to be named because the project isn’t public.

NFC lets devices transmit data such as payment information, loyalty points and coupons by tapping them against specially equipped cash registers.

Read more.