Censure your nude pictures of Obscura app

Belgian brand La Fille d’O wants to help us stay reasonably decent when posting our raunchier shots. The brand launched an iPhone app called ‘Obscura’ that lets you pixelate, star and black-bar all your naughty bits.

[via Adverblog]

Diagnosing Vision Disorders with a $2 clip-on to cell phones

Via mobileactive.org:

Having poor vision can affect nearly every aspect of life, and although it’s easy for those with nearsightedness or farsightedness to know something is wrong, getting a correct diagnosis and prescription for corrective eyewear can be difficult in rural areas.

A new device called NETRA could change all that with a cheap, small clip-on tool for mobile phones. Developed by the Camera Culture Group at the MIT Media Lab, NETRA works by having users look through a camera lens and align images on a display screen until the images come into focus.

Read more.

Cameraphone video shows Gadhafi being sodomized after capture

Thanks to an abundance of cell phones and videocameras, there’s no shortage of images of the capture and death of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. But now a particularly gruesome one has surfaced that indicates the dictator may have been sodomized before being killed.

The Global Post has an extremely graphic video on its site that appears to show someone ramming a stick between Gadhafi’s buttocks through his pants.

The revelation comes as Libya’s new leaders say they will investigate how Gadhafi died.

[via The San Francisco Chronicle]

How digital cameras and smartphones might reduce corruption in Afghanistan and elsewhere

A study just released by Michael Callen and James Long, a pair of ambitious doctoral students at the University of California-San Diego evaluate whether low-end digital cameras could be a cheap and easy technological fix for election fraud in Afghanistan’s 2010 parliamentary elections. Their results are promising. Slate via @mobileactive.org.

At polling stations where locally reported vote counts were digitally photographed, reports of electoral fraud were as much as 60 percent lower, and the vote counts of politically connected candidates—the ones most likely to have rigged elections—were reduced by about one-quarter.

Read full article in Slate.

Working Paper (pdf): Institutional Corruption and Election Fraud: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan

Global art-prize competition for cameraphone pics to be announced at Le Web

A new global art-prize competition for pictures created using a mobile device is now open to any competitor bold enough to subject their work to scrutiny by a jury. [via stuff]

The two-stage competition calls for contestants to submit an online stream of original images created and shared on a social network using a mobile device, smartphone, or tablet. An international jury will choose a shortlist of 30 contenders, who will then be set a challenge tobe in the running for a prize.

The winner of the €1000 Prix Mobile, will be announced at the annual LeWeb conference in Paris, a gathering of 4000 of the world's top digital experts and entrepreneurs from 60 countries.

Read more.

Gadhafi's death a violent record caught on phone video

The image of Gadhafi’s dramatic final chapter is actually a photograph of a cell phone video that was filmed by a revolutionary fighter and shown to the AFP photographer. The Globe and Mail reports.

And this is the story of the Arab Spring ever since its start: ordinary people using their cell phones and smart phones to capture and share key moments in their struggle - whether it is police brutality, the ‘martyrdom’ of fellow protesters, or victory and freedom.

For decades, state media has shaped and controlled the narratives in Arab countries. The emergence of Arab satellite news, and specifically Al Jazeera, has chipped away at that control.

The very people who once watched the Arab satellite news networks and admired the way journalists challenged Arab regimes are now leading those networks with their videos capturing the drama of the Arab spring.

Read full article.

Shopping by phone at South Korea's virtual grocery

Online shopping is nothing new, especially in plugged-in South Korea. But one company says it's going further. It's testing out a virtual supermarket in a subway station. [via the BBC]

Previously:

-- Grocery Shopping in South Korea's subways with cameraphones - MIT Technology review describes how an International supermarket giant brings virtual goods to subway commuters in South Korea, eliminating the need for a physical store.

Washington Hospital Using Mobile Apps in Care of Critical Patients

AT&T and Washington Hospital Center unveiled CodeHeart this week, a platform that allows cardiologists to view video and test results (an ECG, for example) of a patient in transit during critical care situations. The app, which was conceptualized by doctors at Washington Hospital, is available for desktops, tablets, and smartphones. MobileHealthNews reports via @mobileactive.org.

According to the company, cardiologists can use the app to assess a patient’s physical condition via video link, talk with the patient’s first responder, review test results, and prepare for the patient’s arrival to the emergency room. Videos will be archived for later review.

The app will help the hospital more efficiently distribute its care team and resources since it will be able to determine a patient’s condition before their arrival.

Washington Hospital Center has already rolled out the CodeHeart app at six hospitals. The center serves patients who live as far as hundreds of miles away from Washington D.C., which means enabling physicians and first responders to communicate ahead of time could be a crucial element of the new service.

Read more. Watch video demo on YouTube. Full AT&T press release.

Picture of camphones at rock concert a best seller on Getty/Flickr

This picture was taken by Michael Bodge, and is Getty Images best selling photograph on Flickr.

Getty and Flickr teamed up two years ago and there are now 250,000 photos in that collection.

[via All Things D]

EBay to add image recognition to mobile offerings

EBay plans to add image-recognition technology by the end of the year to its mobile offerings, allowing shoppers to snap photos of items they covet — such as a cute dress a friend is wearing — that an eBay app will match up with similar items for sale on eBay.com.

[via the AP]

Apple prepping movie cloud service

Apple Inc. is preparing to put movies in the cloud, entering a market in which it may be both competitor and ally to a similar offering backed by most Hollywood studios. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Representatives of the iPhone and iPad maker have been meeting with studios to finalize deals that would allow consumers to buy movies through iTunes and access them on any Apple device, according to knowledgeable people who requested anonymity because the discussions are private. The service is expected to launch in late 2011 or early 2012.

Read more.

Mobile payments looking at turbulent times

While the mobile-payment players acknowledge that partnerships are necessary for long-term viability, many are gearing up for some chaotic times.CNet reports.

The lynchpin for where mobile payments is heading lies with a technology called near-field communication, which allows you to wave your phone or card in front of newer checkout terminals to make a purchase. NFC has slowly moved into credit cards and a few handsets, and the technology is slowly making its way into new point-of-sale terminals.

But there are differing views on how quickly NFC will hit critical mass, informing a different range of strategies.

Dan Schulman, who is the head of enterprise growth for American Express, believes that it will take two to four years before it becomes widely adopted. As a result, the company has opted to focus on its own Serve digital wallet and partnered with Verizon Wireless to offer services such as payments made by entering a user's phone number rather than a separate account.

Schulman said the first phase of its partnership with Verizon Wireless is set to launch in November, with an expanded set up capabilities to launch next year.

Read full article.

Grocers Are Testing Smartphones

Supermarkets—recognizing that many customers use their mobile telephones to compare prices and check lists as they shop—have begun to experiment with smartphone-related technology. The Wall Street Journal reports.

The stores hope to use apps, high-tech bar codes called Quick Response Codes and other technologies to lower costs.

Building programs around smartphones will allow grocers to break into the space without investing a lot of money and boost customer loyalty.

Read more.

Toddlers Fastest Growing Video Gaming Population

More and more small children are taking to video games, according to the latest report from market research firm NPD Group.

While the percentage of kids gaming has grown significantly across all age groups, the fastest growth has been among kids ages 2-5, with an increase of 17 points in gaming incidence when compared to 2009.

... Since 2009, gaming on mobile devices is up from 8 percent to 38 percent, while gaming on traditional portable gaming devices experienced more modest gains, up from 38 percent to 45 percent.

NPD Group press release via The Hollywod Reporter.

BBC to launch citizen journalism mobile app

The BBC is planning a ’news gatherer’ app that will let ’citizen journalists’ file stories directly from their phones, which can be on the air within minutes. NewMediaAge reports via @DMcDonald01.

Theoretically, the ”news gatherer app” will be able to feed user-generated content into the BBC’s content-management system, which is then edited by editorial staff and aired within minutes of submission.

Read full article.

Seoul on Display: How Global Screen Culture Will Affect Us

The evolving design of the digital devices that are starting to fill our stores and schools will change the way we think, behave, and buy.Favorite Jan Chipchase for The Atlantic

... The ubiquity of the mobile phone in South Korea is prompting innovation that bridges display screens and hand-held screens. Consider the recent installation of a completely virtual store by Korean supermarket Home Plus, a division of Tesco, in a Seoul subway station. At this store, life-sized images of food, milk cartons, and other groceries appear on a screen, as if placed on shelves. Busy commuters use their mobile phones to snap QR codes on the ersatz sundries to quickly order the real products online. The groceries are delivered by the time they reach home. Home Plus has reported that during a recent trial run of the virtual store, the company saw a 130 percent increase in online sales.

Of course, this display was more than just a cool example of screen culture. Every purchase made is recorded, and offers retailers and marketers data on what consumers are interested in, what their purchasing choices are. In the future, as screen culture proliferates around the world, this will be more of a common occurrence. Screens will read us; we will not only read them. This brings up the question of how our literacy of not only screens, but also our environments, will be altered forever. We will have to decide whether messages we see on signs that react to us, which change to our needs in real time based on how they acquire and process our demographic data is a deep violation of privacy or helpful, tailored information.

Read full article.

Scan-to-Buy Gets a Trial on Television

In a television experiment, shoppers this weekend watching HSN, the shopping network, can scan their TV screens with a smartphone to learn more about the products on display, and, HSN hopes, become more inclined to buy them.

The network on Friday began running QR codes on its high-definition channel. The codes, featured on the corner of the screen, correspond to products for sale. A scan brings the shopper to a product page on HSN’s mobile Web site or its app, where there is an easy link to the checkout page.

[via The New York Times]

Modified iPhone Can Detect Blood Disorders

A cheap lens that enables a cell phone's camera to discern the shapes of cells in a blood sample could make it easier to diagnose conditions such as sickle-cell anemia in places without medical infrastructure. MIT Technology Review reports.

The system was developed at the University of California, Davis, and is designed to allow field workers to photograph blood samples from patients, and then send the micrographs to doctors via the cellular network for interpretation.

Read full article.

iPhone 4S camera, speed will appeal to healthcare

The new iPhone 4S’s camera boasts a resolution that is six times that of the previous iPhone, and is capable of 1080p video recording. By raising the bar for camera phones, Apple is making it easier for patients to record physical symptoms via photos and video, which they can send to doctors.

[via MobileHeathNews]

DoCoMo Tracks Calories With Meal Photos

Japanese carrier DoCoMo is demonstrating a research project that aims at tracking one’s calorie intake by recognizing meals based on photos. In DoCoMo’s concept, a photo is compared to a database of known meals (currently 1000 Japanese dishes), and a calorie amount is then estimated.

[via Ubergizmo]