New Smartphone App Tags Photos Automatically

Students from Duke University and the University of South Carolina have developed a smartphone app that they say automatically tags photos. Technorati reports.

The app, called TagSense, offers “greater sophistication” in tagging photos than Apple’s iPhoto and Google’s Picasa.

“In our system, when you take a picture with a phone, at the same time it senses the people and the context by gathering information from all the other phones in the area,” Xuan Bao, a doctoral student in computer science at Duke, said in a university news release.

The app currently is a prototype. Researchers said a public version of the app could be available in a few years.

Read full article.

N.J. bill to address teen cell phone 'sexting' approved by state Senate panel

Juveniles caught sending sexually explicit photographs via their cell phones would not face criminal prosecution but rather intense education on the ramifications under a bill approved on Monday by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. Newsroom Jersey reports.

The measure (A-1561) was approved 78-0 by the Assembly in March. It now moves to the full Senate for final legislative approval.

Prosecutors in several states have even charged teenagers with criminal offenses, including distribution of child pornography.

“Teens need to understand the ramifications of their actions, but they shouldn’t necessarily be treated as criminals,” Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), a co-sponsor, said. “We need to create a path that places education and forgiveness before arrest and prosecution. Young people – especially teen girls – need to understand that sending inappropriate pictures is not only potentially illegal, but can leave an indelible mark on them socially and educationally.”

Read full article. Image from The Examiner.

Related articles on sexting blogged on textually and picturephoning over the years.

Skin Scan iPhone app reinvents skin cancer prevention

TechCrunch Europe writes up a new iPhone medical app called Skin Scan, which claims to reinvent skin cancer prevention.

The app lets users easily scan and monitor moles over time and is a real help in diagnosis and survey of skin lesions.

Because it also asks for your location, Skin Scan is also producing a live map of how our moles are looking around the globe. The implication for the app are very interesting – Skin Scan could end up mapping skin cancer rate across the planet, if it gets this right.

The app takes a picture of a mole on the skin, then uses a proprietary algorithm to look at the fractal-like shapes which exist in human skin (have a look up close, you can see little triangles in normal skin, honest). It then calculates if the shape of the mole means it is is developing normally, or abnormally thus in a into a potential cancerous melanoma.

Read full article.

A Start-Up's Camera Lets You Take Shots First and Focus Later

Lytro's technology allows a picture's focus to be adjusted after it is taken. The New York Times reports.

The Lytro camera captures far more light data, from many angles, than is possible with a conventional camera. It accomplishes that with a special sensor called a microlens array, which puts the equivalent of many lenses into a small space. That is the heart of the breakthrough, said Pat Hanrahan, a Stanford professor, who was Mr. Ng's thesis adviser but is not involved in Lytro.

Read full article.

Future phones may send data and apps via photography

If MIT and some Google researchers have their way, you'll soon be able to just snap a photo of a web page on your Mac screen to open it on your phone, writes TUAW.

A new system called Deep Shot transfers an open application to a cellphone then automatically resizes the application window to match the framing of the photo.

Read full article.

Skanz Are Wearable Business Cards/Social Network

Check out business card ditching idea from Skanz -by wristband or phone - on Fast Company.

Into the Light: Profile Photos in Profile

We’ve all done it. The arms-length self-portrait with face-blanching flash. And while these types of photos are ubiquitous in the online jungle, few have documented the moment of their conception. These untold origin stories are the subject of photographer Wolfram Hahn’s award-winning project, Into the Light.

Read full article in Wired.

Naratte's Zoosh: Mobile payments using sound waves

All mobile phones have microphones and speakers. Hardly any have near-field communications chips. At least for now. And that's what a new company, Naratte, is planning on leveraging as it launches a technology that allows fast, secure, short-range, point-to-point communication over ultrasonic sound waves. Cnet reports.

Compared with other device-to-device communication technology, its Zoosh tech is about as fast as NFC (the tap-to-communicate technology Google and other companies are pushing), but slower than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. However, like NFC, the "setup time" for communication is extremely fast--there's no waiting around for a handshake to be established between devices.

Read full article.

Color's photo-sharing app, a red flag to start-up investing

In March, Color unveiled its photo-sharing cellphone app — and revealed that it had raised $41 million from investors before the app had a single user. Despite the company’s riches, the app landed with a thud, attracting few users and many complaints from those who did try it. The New York Times reports.

Color spent $350,000 to buy the Web address color.com, and an additional $75,000 to buy colour.com. It rents a cavernous office in downtown Palo Alto, where 38 employees work in a space with room for 160, amid beanbag chairs, tents for napping and a hand-built half-pipe skateboard ramp.

Since then, Color has become a warning sign for investors, entrepreneurs and analysts who fear there is a bubble in start-up investing.

Read full article.

Related:

-- Color app for iPhone lets others peek at your photos, video

New Dutch coins feature QR codes

The Royal Dutch Mint has released two new coins in honor of its 100th anniversary: a silver 5 EUR coin and a gold 10 EUR coin. The back of the coins feature a QR code that leads people to the Royal Dutch Mint’s website.

[via Ubergizmo]

Kissing Couple At Vancouver Riot Identified

The mystery identity of the couple kissing while lying on a Vancouver street as riot police battled crowds following the Canucks' Stanley Cup loss has been revealed as Australian Scott Jones and his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas, reports The Huffington Post.

Brett Jones said the couple had been at the NHL final game, and after the frenzy following the loss spilled into the street, the two were caught in the violence.

"They were between the riot police and the rioters, and the riot police were actually charging forward, and Alex got knocked by a [police] shield and fell to the ground," he told CBC News. "[Scott] was comforting her and gave her a kiss to say, 'It's going to be OK,' and the photographer just took the shot at that moment."

Brett Jones said Scott is fine, and Alex suffered a bruised leg from falling to the ground.

Read full article.

Tinie Tempah rejects Apple film ban

Tinie Tempah has criticised Apple's patent that would stop music fans filming live gigs. The BBC reports.

The rapper said: "Just move with the times, stop trying to block people from doings things. It all works."

The 22-year-old told Newsbeat he doesn't mind fans filming at his gigs, calling it "the biggest form of promo".

Earlier this month, Apple applied to patent a system that could switch off a smartphone's camera if it senses the user is trying to record a live event.

Tinie, real name Patrick Okogwu, is just one of a number of artists who have spoken out about the US firm's innovation.

Read full article.

C Yourself campaign for Showtime's The Big C

In conjunction with the upcoming second-season premiere of the drama about a woman's battle with cancer, the network has launched the "C Yourself" campaign. Done through Facebook, the multi-platform campaign will urge users to upload photos of themselves making a "C." For every photo, Showtime will donate $5 to the American Cancer Society, and will award a $5,000 prize to the most creative photo.

[via Broadcasting & Cable]

Social media influences documentary-makers

With built-in video cameras now the norm for mobile phones, anyone can be a film-maker – a fact proven by the role social content played in TV news coverage of the recent uprisings in the Middle East. As the dust settles, however, social media is influencing documentary-makers, too. The Guardian reports.

Social media is an enabler – allowing people to communicate in states where repressive regimes have restricted them from doing so," says David Alamouti, a film-maker and development director of inSight Education, a not-for-profit organisation championing diversity in production. "Now, however, it is also re-writing the conventions of documentary – fuelling the development of a new style as surely as the advent of TV re-shaped the documentary film-making that existed before."

Read full article.

Egyptian Filmmaker Uses Twitter to Gather 300 GB of Revolution Video

Amr Salama, an Egyptian filmmaker and a central figure in creating the alternative media universe during the revolution in Egypt, is finishing a documentary about the historic events. Beet TV reports.

Through an appeal on his Twitter account, he received 300 GB of camcorder and camera phone footage, he says in this interview with Beet.TV.

His film is one of a trilogy of documentaries about the revolution. He says the film has wrapped.

... In a related project, citizen video of the Egyptian revolution is being assembled by a team leaded by Knight Fellow Jigar Mehta at Stanford.

[beet TV and Fast Company via PSFK]

Related: - Social media influences documentary-makers

Cracking the Q.R. Code - how it can improve your business.

The New York Times on QR Codes and how one restaurant improved it's business.

Ms. Asapahu has started with the simple step of placing the Q.R. code on the front and back of the restaurant’s menu. The code links to a Web page displaying a set of large buttons that can provide the history of the restaurant and the origins of its cuisine, photos of dishes, links to Facebook, Yelp, Twitter and more.

It’s been a small hit at the restaurant. “We constantly see customers holding up their phones to the menu, and then talking about what they see,” said Ms. Asapahu. “People don’t choose a restaurant just because of the food and service. They want a good total experience, and this adds another dimension to the experience. Customers tell me they think it’s neat.” She intends to make it neater, by beefing up the Q.R.-linked Web page with videos, the restaurant’s loyalty program, an invitation to receive special offers by e-mail, and riddles — and eventually the sorts of promotional, night-on-the-town treats that Q.R. codes gave her in Asia.

Read full article.

BBC Developing iPhone App for Live Broadcasting

The BBC is developing an app that will allow its reporters in the field to file video, stills and audio directly into the BBC system from an iPhone or iPad, reports journalism.co.uk.

The new app, due to be in use within a month or so, is also intended to allow reporters to broadcast live from an iPhone using only 3G signal.

The broadcaster is looking to obtain a site licence to use Lucy Live – a piece of software it already uses – to allow reporters to go live on air directly from an iPhone using 3G.

The development will mean BBC reporters could potentially broadcast live from anywhere with 3G signal and will no longer have to rely on WiFi or carry cumbersome satellite or codex equipment.

[via Mashable]

Google Search by Image

Now you can use an image instead of words to start your Google search.

QR Code Dress Plays Video When Scanned at Webbys

For the Webby Awards ceremony Jessica Stuart, who won two Webbys for a video she created for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, decided to design a white shift dress printed with QR codes that plays the winning video when scanned by attendees’ smartphones. Mashable reports.

It’s my nerd version of the Lady Gaga meat dress,” Stuart said jokingly, adding that the garment was scanned more than 100 times over the course of the evening.

Read full article.

States weigh relaxing penalties for sexting

In many US states, teens caught sending X-rated photos can risk felony charges, jail time and being branded sexual offenders. stuff reports.

Now lawmakers around the country are looking at adjusting child pornography laws to prevent minors caught sexting from facing serious punishment.

They say they sexting didn't exist when they passed tough penalties for child pornography.

Legislatures in Rhode Island and 20 other states have considered bills this year to adjust penalties for teen sexting.

Read full article.

Related:

-- 14-year old child pornographers? Sexting lawsuits get serious - If a 14-year old boy coerces a 14-year old girl into making a sex video on a cellphone, then releases that video on the Internet, can he be charged as a child pornographer? A federal case in Kentucky may set key precedent.

--New Bill Would Let Sexting Teens Avoid Charges New Jersey teenagers caught texting or posting sexually explicit photos online could avoid prosecution under a measure that would give first-time offenders the chance to complete a diversionary program.

-- Court Says Parents Can Block ‘Sexting’ Cases - In the first federal appeals court opinion dealing with “sexting” — the transmission of sexually explicit photographs by cellphone — a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in March 2010, that parents could block the prosecution of their children on child pornography charges for appearing in photographs found on some classmates’ cellphones.

Pilot Project with NFC Phones Shows Great Potential for Hotel Keys

A trial project to test using NFC-enabled mobile phones as alternatives to hotel room keys in Sweden has been completed, and the companies involved claim it was a success. Cellular News.

During an eight-month long pilot at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm in Sweden, about 30 hotel loyalty guests checked in to the hotel via a mobile key application. After the check-in, the hotel key was sent directly to the mobile phone. Upon arrival the room could be directly accessed without the need to wait in line at the hotel reception. The check-out was also managed through the mobile key service.

Read full article.

NutriSmart: Edible RFID tags describe your food

NutriSmart from HannesRemote on Vimeo.

According to New Scientist, an RFID in a cake could tell you how many calories it contains.

A student at the Royal College of Art in London, Hannes Harms, has come up with a design for an edible RFID chip, part of a system he calls NutriSmart. The chip could send information about the food you eat to a personal computer or, conceivably, a mobile phone via a Bluetooth connection.

The idea is that it could send nutritional data and ingredients for people who have allergies, or calorie-counting for those on diets, or maybe even telling your fridge when the food has gone off. It could even be used to market organic food, with a chip holding data about the origin of that tuna steak you just bought.

Read full article.

Tenn. law bans posting images that "cause emotional distress"

Accoridng to arstechnica, Tennessee recently enacted legislation making it a crime to post images online that viewers find "emotionally distressing." Violations can get you almost a year in jail time or up to $2500 in fines.

Legal analysts think the law has serious constitutional problems.

This is the same State that recently passed a law which would make it a crime to use a friend’s password to login to Netflix.

Read full article.

Facebook facial recognition prompts EU privacy probe

Bloomberg reports that European Union data-protection regulators say they will investigate Facebook's photo-tagging feature which is now being rolled out internationally.

The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, which advises national data protection agencies that could then potentially establish punishments, will evaluate whether the feature breaks privacy rules, according to member Gerard Lommel's comments to Bloomberg.

[via CNet]

Related: - Facebook sorry over face tagging launch (BBC)

Facebook facial recognition technology sparks renewed concerns

Reuters looks into the the privacy issues surrounding Facebook's tagging feature which automatically identifies people in photos.

The feature, which Facebook automatically enabled for Facebook users, has been expanded from the United States to "most countries", Facebook said on its official blog on Tuesday.

Its "Tag Suggestions" feature uses facial recognition technology to speed up the process of labeling friends and acquaintances that appear in photos posted on Facebook.

Many Facebook users are reporting that the site has enabled the facial recognition option in the last few days without giving users any notice.

Read full article.

Beware of Malicious QR Codes

QR codes can be used by cyber crooks to steal your money or your identity. ABC.net.au explains what to watch out for.

Be careful if:

-- You are taken by a QR code to a web page which asks you to provide your username, password, bank account details, and/or credit card details, then the person behind the web page is either a thief, or an idiot. So don't provide those details to them.

-- You are taken by a QR code to a web page where you need to login, then don't login. Instead, go directly to the web page by putting the correct URL into your browser address bar, or via some other trusted means. Doing this means you're much less likely to fall victim to a phishing scam.

Read more. Image from Website Marketing Consultant.

Anthony Weiner Confesses to Lewd Text Messages

On Monday, Rep. Anthony Weiner admitted to sending pictures to and having explicit online relations with not just one but at least six women. AllMedia NY reports.

After a photo of his package was sent to 21-year-old Gennette Cordova on his public Twitter feed, Weiner got cocky with the media, denying that it was his fault and claiming that it was a “prank” and “Twitter hoax.” Yesterday, his story changed—though he still swore he had not met with any of the women, nor had he used government resources while contacting them.

I have made terrible mistakes that have hurt the people I care about the most,” he said in the conference, “and I am deeply sorry. I have exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years.

Read full article.

iOS5 cameraphone related feature: Volume-up button to snap your photo

One of the new features coming in iOS5, is pressing the volume-up button to snap your photo. But it shouldn't deter anyone from getting RedPop which is way cooler.

[via Apple Features]

Sexting Over Forty

The Wall Street Digits blog on how “Sexting” isn’t just for teens — or congressmen.

The admission Monday by New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, 46 years old, that he sent “inappropriate” messages and lewd photos of himself to women he met online is a reminder that teenagers aren’t the only ones who engage in such behavior.

People like to throw around statistics on the number of teens sexting these days. (It ranges from 4% to more than 30%, depending on things like whether the researchers counted images sent over the Internet or text messages only.)

But many of the researchers who have studied teenage sexters have also found that adults were actually more likely to send such photos.

Read full article.

Red Pop. The big red button for your iPhone Camera

Red Pop adds a big red button to your iPhone camera so you never miss the moment and that perfect shot. Fab!

If you are impressed by this project, Pledge $ 25 or more.

This project will only be funded if at least $20'000 is pledged by Saturday July 2nd.

UPDATE 20.35 pm: E-mail received from Red Pop by Beep IndustriesFriday, June 3, 2011 6:32 PM following my pledge of $ 25 to their project: If we could kiss you all we would. We have been live for just over a day now and are just over half way to our target. Aces. Well done!

Spotted on Swiss-Miss.