Photo taken on stolen Nokia uploaded to Flickr

Flickr user mikesub had his cameraphone stolen. But then the thief took a picture with it, and for some reason tried to upload it to popular web community ShoZu.

Unfortunately, because the phone had been stolen, it didn't work - so instead, ShoZu emailed a copy of the picture back to Mike. Thus revealing either the thief or one of his mates.

Mike asks that if anybody recognises this muppet (who's almost certainly in Russia somewhere), they get in touch with him.

[boingboing via Metro]

Howard Rheingold launches video blog

Howard Rheingold has launched a video blog. Spread the word!

I’ve launched a video blog at http://vlog.rheingold.com and plan/hope to update it weekly.It all started when I started thinking about updating A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community, which I wrote twenty years ago. It didn’t take long to realize that a description of how I spend my time online these days would be conveyed more effectively via video/screencast than plain text. Once I got rolling, I realized that it would take more than one episode to show how and why I spend time reading RSS, scanning blogs, blogging, gardening wikis, posting in virtual communities, Twittering, teaching, etc.

So the first month or so will feature episodes of A (re)Slice of Life Online. However, once I started including my indoor and outdoor offices in the videos, it occurred to me that I ought to explain something about the parts of my life that haven’t been so visible to my readers — the painting, gardening, sculpting that are as important to me as the publishing activities that are most visible to others.

Japan Leads World In Mobile Blogging

According to the Technorati 2007 “State of the Blogsphere” report, Japanese is the #1 blogging language in the world, accounting for 37% of all blog posts, narrowly edging out English at 36%.

... According to a recent survey, the mobile phone was found to be the blogging device of choice, being used by over two-thirds of bloggers in Japan. In fact, over a third of the sample stated that they only blog by mobile phone, while another 20% used both mobile phone and PC, while favoring the phone. The levels for favoring using a PC for blogging were lower.

[via PSFK]

Chronicle of a Spring. Call for projects

A new media art project calls for work and people online willing to participate in their project called Chronicle of a Spring.

An update of the 1961 French documentary Chronique d'un été (Chronicle of a Summer), this work collects video clips collected on digital cameras and video phones filmed in the spring of 2007. Both friends and strangers were approached with questions about the what makes them happy and the way they live.

"Chronicle of A Spring" is not limited to the scope of our short film and the area of Providence, however. By distributing the film through YouTube.com the project also encourages participation from users all over the globe. Along with the short film, we created a YouTube group and uploaded much of our raw footage of the impromptu interviews. There, the original interviews can be viewed, commented on, or responded to with other videos.

Party Pics

PSFK writes about a new online community called 476ad.com, that lets you share photo galleries and connect with party people in your area and around the world.

"Users can create their own scene (their personal profile page) where they can share their photos, thoughts and personal information.

Users can connect with other users and check out their "scenes" by browsing the site or searching by name, city or tag. "

In their own words: 476ad is for everyone:

-- Friends who want to meet Online
-- Promoters who want to get the word out about their events
-- People looking for the next hot party or event
-- Friends and families that want to share pictures
-- Business people and co-workers interested in networking
-- Marketers and advertisers who want to see the latest trends and styles

Other party pics: - lastnightsparty.com / ambrel.ne / thecobrasnake.com

Jaipur students shoot state on mobile phone camera

Three college students have filmed the stark realities of villages in India with camera phones, reports New Kerala.

"Rajasthan Part Two", whose name is derived from Rajasthan, is a 20-minute documentary highlighting the core issues including child marriage, poverty, unemployment and child labour, prevalent in today's times.

"The reason we made this documentary was that there are so many evil things happening in the society like female foeticide, illiteracy etc. which we thought of eradicating. But despite so many efforts these things are still prevalent. So we wanted to highlight them," said Sanjay Munjal, one of the filmmakers. "

EMI to offer 'artist-generated' content

Air Traffic, Gisli and The Aliens are among the EMI acts set to share their daily lives with the masses using Shozu's Share-It platform. Mobile Entertainment reports.

"EMI is equipping the three acts with Shozu-enabled mobile phones so they can uploads pics and video to their website, Flickr, YouTube or other online channels, effectively creating an artist-branded content feed.

The label will also be using with Shozu's Zucast service during the festival season this summer to deliver content created by bands direct to fan phones."

Warner Bros. Records Puts Artists on the Road with ShoZu

Warner Bros. Records is stepping up its use of ShoZu's mobile image uploading service with a partnership that is already enabling more than a dozen of the label's artists to send images and video directly from ShoZu-powered cellphones to YouTube, MySpace and other Web destinations.

Nashville singer/songwriter Lance Miller, for example, is using a camera phone to document each stop on his current radio tour promoting his new single "She Really Loves Me," using the ShoZu application on the handset to transmit the captured photos and video clips to his MySpace page, and enabling fans to click on various points on a Google Map to retrieve images from each city.

[via Broadcast newsroom]

Yahoo to launch Chinese version of Flickr

Yahoo plans on launching a Chinese language version of its popular photo-sharing site Flickr.com, to tap demand from Chinese digital photo enthusiasts. "The HK traditional Chinese interface of Flickr will be available later this year," a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman said in an email to Reuters.

"The new Web site will target Hong Kong users and will offer all core features currently available on the English platform, the spokeswoman said, without elaborating."

Sunday 26 November is National Camphone Day in Holland

Sunday 26 November is National Camphone Day in The Netherlands. Everyone with a camera phone and a Dutch mobile number is invited to MMS one or more photos to 06 - 137 610 99. The photos are immediately shown on flickr.

The photos that are viewed most ofter during three days, are nominated for great prizes like a Nokia N73, a Sony Ericsson K800i and a Samsung E500.

The Dutch entry to "Nationale Fotomobieljtesdag" is www.fotomobieltje.nl.

The event marks the launch of the book "Photography with a camera phone" by Dutch writer and photographer Peter de Ruiter.

Storm of 'citizen journalism'

Though most of the snow has melted, last month's surprise snowstorm lives online - on Youtube and flickr, reports Buffalo News.

"YouTube boasts more than 100 storm-related videos shot by area residents on their cameraphones and digital camcorders. flickr has more than 800 images of the storm.

The amateur videos and photos capture everything from devastating tree damage in Buffalo to a chilly dip in a backyard swimming pool and the hectic scene at an area Wegmans.

And this is changing how we record history, experts said.

"You're getting hours and hours of documentation of every major event like that [storm] now," said James G. Milles, director of the UB Law Library. "

Photo left from niteseeker on flickr

Mobile Blogs To Remain a Niche

Unless market conditions change drastically, "moblogging" will remain a minority recreation for the foreseeable future, according to a new Research Brief from ABI Research, reports Cellular News.

"According to senior analyst Ken Hyers, "At the end of 2006 there will be about 655,000 active mobloggers worldwide. The word 'active' is important, because many people start moblogs, but nearly as many abandon them within weeks. And even in 2011, when there will be some 3 billion mobile subscribers, we expect a mere 2.7 million to be moblogging."

Picture from Alexandra Emde' moblog.

Talent agency gunning for Web video stars

United Talent, one of Hollywood's top five talent agencies has created an online unit devoted to scouting out up-and-coming creators of Internet content--particularly video--and finding work for them in Web-based advertising and entertainment, as well as in the older media. [via News.com/NYT ]

"The goal this time around, executives say, is not only to recruit the next generation of television and film writers and directors from the relative obscurity of sites like YouTube and Revver. It is also to help the major Web portals that are hungry for original content to find the creative people they need--just as movie studios have long turned to talent agencies when looking for new directors, screenwriters and actors."

... Above capture of Paxilback on YouTube - a parody of Justin Timberlake's music video Sexyback- was scouted by United Talent. By the time the agents arranged a meeting five days later with Paxilback's creators, an LA group called People Food, the video had been seen 600,000 times.."

US Political race gets dirty via YouTube

Political campaigns for the November 7 congressional elections have sent out mass e-mails with links to videos of opponents in unscripted, often embarrassing, situations, reports Yahoo News.

"Some campaigns have even dispatched young staffers known as "trackers" armed with video cameras. Their sole job is to track a rival candidate's every move and make sure their cameras are rolling in case the politician makes a gaffe - and uploading them to YouTube.

... Internet experts call the trend of sending around unscripted video clips a "macaca" and predict new media such as YouTube will have a great impact on campaigns.

"The Internet and new technology are radically changing every part of our lives, and politics is no different," said Phil Noble, the head of PoliticsOnline a political Internet site. "It's happening in a big way and it's going to be many, many, many times bigger than it has been so far. It's going to radically change everything."

... Experts predict that video-sharing and "social networking" sites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com, which are just starting to be used by politicians, will play an even bigger role in the 2008 presidential election.

"If you've got a brain you've got to" use the sites, Noble said. "There are always people who ignore the technology, and if they ignore it long enough they'll get beat."

Related: - Politicians Try Out MySpace

Above capture from YouTube of U.S. Senator Conrad Burns taking a nap in the middle of Senate business.

The Blogging Purse

The winning project at *Ahem* Hack Day developers conference/workshop was The Blogging Purse, reports Hack Day.

"The purse contains a camera, basic stamp, pedometer and Nokia phone. Click here to view the blog it creates. The results are quite blurry.

[via pasta&vinegar]

Related: - The Pigeon Blog

Endemol recruits photo bloggers for ITV show

Endemol - the UK TV production company behind shows such as Big Brother, Restoration and Deal or No Deal, has partnered with photo blooging site Fotothing to produce a new 2006 review show on ITV1. Netimperative reports.

"Fotothing users will have the chance to feature in a new ITV1 show “I was there: the people’s review of 2006,”which will showcase the news events of 2006 from the perspective of the citizen journalist."

... Endemol added that it will will pay for any photos used. View all the entires so far.

How does it work?

Users can register free on Fotothing and then select the edit/upload option from the left hand menu to add their pictures to the site.

These photos should the be tagged “ITV”. They will then automatically be uploaded to a specially designated page.

Nakama: An easy way to publish and share pictures

AmbientVector a mobile software startup based in Toronto, has launched a product called Nakama what they believe is the simplest way to publish pictures and videos up to the web, and share them with people on mobile phones.

This is how it works:

-- Take a picture or video with your phone.
-- Use normal MMS (no software required) to send it to them
-- Nakama will post it to Flickr, Blogger, TypePad, etc.
-- Nakama will CALL YOU BACK, let you say a few words, record what you've said and add it as an audio tag on the picture

Their competitors? Radar and ShoZu are the two best known.

How are they different?

-- No client
-- rue video support (all the cross-coding required to make it work on any phone, on any carrier)
-- Strong usability focus (our Product Manager has a Masters in usability/interaction design)
-- Voice tagging -> voice adds so much more colour and texture that text just can't capture.

Stolen Cell Phone Shares Thieves' Photos?

This story has been going around for a few days, about a man from Berkeley, Calif. who had his cell phone stolen and has now been picked up by Slashdot.

"Soon after, the ShoZu starting uploading pictures to his flickr account taken by the thieves — for the world to see. There's one of an unidentified woman eating something chocolatey, and a couple of either a chihuahua or a large rat.

Seems this guy had installed some software on his phone to automatically perform those photo uploads, and whoever took his phone didn't realize it That's his story, anyway ... some people doubt it.

PhoneCam Street Magic

Marco Tempest is a virtual magician and he has created some brand new magic under a new set of strict rules, using his Nokia N73 camera phone.

"I then upload the videos to YouTube directly from my camera phone. They are raw and unedited and do not use any post production. The videos are somewhat a response to the recent flood of magic programs which use Hollywood style editing and post-production to make the magic possible. "

According to his e-mail, Marco is doing incredibly well, There are more than 300 websites hosting copies of his videos already and he has received offers from content aggregators from major phone networks to license this content." We wish him continued success!

View videos on YouTube here PhoneCam Street Magic Series !

parkingidiots.blogspot.com

Parking Idiots in Singapore invites the public at large to send in photos of inconsiderate motorists, or as they put it, "all those idiots who can't park properly".

Just a month after parkingidiots.blogspot.com was started in March, over 50 photos had been sent to the blog owner to be posted, reports Singapore's Electric New Paper. "By June, there were almost 300 cars featured in its hall of shame".

"The cases featured in these blogs are usually extreme ones such as owners who park on two lots and on lots meant for bikers or the handicapped, and those who park indiscriminately and block the access of other drivers."

Other motorists hall of shames from around the world

-- RottenDriver.com Shames the Maniacs by SMS - Rotten Driver from California encourages people to text message in the license plate number of rotten drivers.

-- MS campaign appeal for informants - to single out polluters - Public transportation operators in Jakarta might have to pay more attention to their vehicles' emissions as Jakartans now have a chance to complain by SMS about the fumes they are spewing out.

-- Snap a picture of a traffic offender - The Transport Ministry of Malaysia is inviting the public to help enforcement officers keep an eye on traffic offenders so that action could be taken against them. So the next time you see a traffic offence being committed, snap it on your handphone or camera and send it to the Hall of Shame section of a newly launched road safety website.

-- Framed! Photos taken by general public net errant motorists in Malaysia - Malaysian authorities have issued summonses to some 40 motorists whose alleged road offenses were exposed in an online Hall of Shame.

China Mobile to launch mobile blogs

China Mobile will develop its mobile blog service by cooperating with 10 Internet companies, including Sina.com and China Blog, The Beijing Morning Post reported today via Shangai Daily"

"It will launch a mobile blog competition as the first step to promote its blog service."

N-series phones promoted by bloggers, a profit boost for Nokia

When Nokia Corp. released its camera smartphone last fall, the marketing campaign cut back on news releases and flashy ads. Instead, the company sent sample products to 50 tech-savvy amateur bloggers with a passion for mobile phones. The Washington Post reports.

"The tactic paid off, as word spread online about the N-series phone, driving up sales and contributing to a 43 percent profit boost for Nokia last quarter.

... Companies are increasingly partnering with hobby bloggers to harness the burgeoning influence of online buzz. Through the digital grapevine, companies reap the marketing rewards of free publicity, higher rankings on search engines and immediate access to conversations with consumers."

Song fuer C

In cooperation with Vodafone R&D germany , Marc Weis, Martin DeMattia and the Mobile Application Design Department of the University of Zurich have produced an interactive crime tale exclusively for mobile phones, entitled "Song fuer C".

The film has its world premiere today at the Munich Film Fest.

Vodafone installed a DVB-H environment expressively for the premiere, which will be tonight 8pm. the movie will be viewable on siemens DVB-H prototype handsets.

Song fuer C will also be featured at Ars Electronica in Linz in september.

Pictures and some scenes (in German) are available here.

The story draws the actual audience, namely the mobile user, into an interplay of different, authentic-looking messages (such as SMS and MMS), film broadcasts and clues, turning him into an active „voyeur“ of developments.

When the project is broadcast in real time, it is to go on the air step by step over a period of two weeks. For the premiere at Munichs Filmfest, the individual instalments will be condensed into a performance about fifty minutes in length".

Concept and direction: M+M
Screenplay: Helmut Krausser
Actors: Stephan Bissmeier (father)

Rocketboom 2.0 and Info on Ad rates

Rocketboom succesfully re-launches as Rocketboom 2.0 with Joanne Colan. There is definitely life after Amanda Congdon, who get's an elegant invitation to come back anytime.

MIT Advertising Lab links to Rocketboom's ad rates and Andrew Baron discusses advertising prospects following the departure of its star host.

New Rocketboomer Joanne Colan on Video

The Hunffington Post reports that Joanna Colan has been confirmed as new Rocketboom host. [via Just a Kiwi Bloke via digg].

"New Rocketboom Presenter Joanne Colan had been spending nights spinning at the trendy Table 50 club. Joanne was referred to as the ‘music curator’ for the club. Joanne was the former co-host of the MTV ‘The Fridge’ and travel show ‘Any Given Latitude’.

Here is Joanne in a short clip from ‘Any Given Latitude’ in Iceland. Sounds British. Nice.

According to Steve Rubel, who received an anonymous tip, Amanda Congdon has signed with the Endeavor Talent Agency.

MobuzzTV on rocketbooms around the planet

Inspired by world events, mobuzzTV has a special today on... rocket booms. They close off elegantly with their best wishes to Amanda Congdon and Andrew Baron.

Subjects featured on today's show:

Bird poop blasts off with the US shuttle Discovery; Rocket sadness in North Korea, the Gaza strip, Afghanistan, and Australia; Trash Talk - a machinima vlog with Will and his rocket pal Mal, We suspect Mal is fueled by sugar like the Diet Coke rocket or this one powered by pixie sticks, Redneck Rocket Launch! - Yeehaw!, Laptops go Boom on Really Rocket Science, and Missile Blast propells into unexplored vlog territory, Best wishes to Amanda and Andrew from Rocketboom.

Related:

-- Rocketboom Replacement Is Hot, Blonde and Ready for Action (youTube spoof video)

-- Calacanis offers Condgon a job and Andrew Baron's side of the story

-- Amanda Congdon leaves Rocketboom

Calacanis offers Condgon a job and Andrew Baron's side of the story

Following the news of Amanda Congdon leaving Rocketboom, Jason Calacanis offers her some advice, and a kick ass job at Netscape.

So, my offer to you is do your daily report for Netscape and we'll pay you whatever you need to get paid AND you can own all of the rights to your video forever (just give us like a six month exclusive window on Netscape). We will set you up with our kick-ass studios, get you an office, and I've got a full-time video editor at your disposal (i.e. they can go with you anywhere). Also, we'll set up a travel budget so you can go cover whatever stories you want.

The Washington Post writing about her departure, wonders, whether "without its attractive host -- some say she was why most people watched, anyway -- Congdon's departure could spell doom for a wildly popular site that helped launch the popularity of video blogs.

... Aside from its host, Rocketboom attracted a lot of attention because it showed promise in turning video blogging into a lucrative business. Rocketboom was said to be drawing 300,000 viewers a day to it's videoblog, and was about to start charging advertisers $85,000 a week.

Baron' side of the story:

Congdon's partner, Andrew Baron, reached yesterday afternoon, said he didn't know Congdon was leaving Rocketboom until he saw her video blog.

He said Congdon, an aspiring actress, announced two weeks ago that she wanted to move to Los Angeles to pursue interests in Hollywood and that she wanted to do so within a week. Baron said that the short notice wouldn't work but that Rocketboom and Congdon were negotiating a way to make it work. Over the past 12 days, Rocketboom has replaced Congdon's hosting duties with short features from its correspondents around the world, Baron said."

Congdon replies to Baron:

Amanda Congdon's statement on "Andrew Baron's spread of misinformation".

I am disheartened by Andrew Baron's decision to spread misinformation. He knows I cannot move to LA without a job...but insists on spinning things this way to shore up his assertion that I am "walking away" from Rocketboom. I did not walk away. I did not accept Andrew's idea of "partnership".

Amanda Congdon leaves Rocketboom

There has been falling out at Rocketboom.

Amanda Congdon, Rocketboom co-producer host and superstar - who scored an interview with billionaire philanthropist George Soros, made a guest appearance as herself in an episode of CSI, and who the New York Times described as "a big star on really small screens,"- has left. [via digg]

Congdon vlogs a statement on Amanda Unboomed

Rocketboom is to charge advertisers $85,000 a week

Rocketboom is said to be drawing 300,000 viewers a day to it's videoblog, and is about to start charging advertisers $85,000 a week, reports The Economist in an article entitled "Blogging off", June 15th edition.

The article is about Robert Scoble's leaving Microsoft to join PODTech.net, "a rising star in video podcasting, which is now far more fashionable than blogging and potentially far more lucrative. It seems that Mr Scoble is most impressed by Rocketboom, " writes The Economist.

World Cup Camera Phone Contest!

The The RegHardwareis launching it's own mobile World Cup competition, to find out which camera pone takes the best shots.

In their own words:

"Can a Nokia take a more striking snap than a Motorola? Does a Sony Ericsson punt a better picture than an LG? Is Samsung a player? We'd like you to help us find out.

Every day throughout the remainder of the FIFA World Cup 2006 tournament, starting Monday, 26 June 2006 we'll run what we think is the best World Cup-related picture taken on any camera phone and emailed in by Reg Hardware readers the day before.

... The only rules are that shots have to be taken on a phone and they must be correctly emailed to competitions@theregister.co.uk with "world cup" in the subject line. The compo closes at midnight BST, 9 July 2006.

You also need to tell us where and when the pic was taken, by whom and - crucially - on what kind of handset.

... You'd don't have to attend a match to take part, but photos snapped at the event will score extra points."

car-parazzi - Am-I-hot(rod)-or not

car-parazzi is all about cars and car-sighting snaperazzis. A new twist on Am-I-hot(rod)-or not. [via digg]

Founded by car-crazy kids, they invite sports car, classic or hot rod lovers to send in their car photo or video sightings - and vote on their favorites.

News site wants your Flickr photos

Chicago's Chi-Town DailyNews online is integrating Flickr photos on it's home page. The news site is asking it's readers to tag their photos for the site. [via Cyberjournalist.net]

Mystery Viral Vlog Ad for World Cup

This is amazingly clever - and entertaining. It's a viral marketing campaign for Heineken. I'll say no more. See for yourself by watching mobuzzTV (second half of clip).

Time's Cameraphone Photographer of the Year Contest

The Times has teamed up with Sony Ericsson to search for the country's best cameraphone photographer.

The winner will also get the chance to represent the UK as their shot will be entered into Sony Ericsson's International Cameraphone Photographer of the Year competition.

As well as the accolade, the winner will receive a whole host of prizes. Their shot will be printed in The Times. It'll also be displayed in a top London gallery along with other finalists from the competition. They'll spend a day with a Times photographer to learn tips from a master. And, what's more, they'll also win an all-expenses-paid trip to capture their very own news shots.

The Cameraphone Photographer of the Year competition is open until November. [via Alan Reiter's Cameraphone Report]

Rise of the web video star

The quick way to find fame is with a hit video blog. James Knight monitors an explosion of online creativity for The Times Online.

... "Just as blogging liberated publishing, videocasting is liberating television, dissolving the divide between professional and amateur, creating a new galaxy of stars with a potential global audience that few television stations can match."

YouTube enables uploading from cellphones

EngadgetMobile picks up on YouTube's new service allowing members to upload videos directly from their cellphones.

"Compatible with all four major carriers, the upload service requires users to set up a mobile profile in order to generate a unique email address that all videos must be sent to for posting."

Digital memories overwrite real thing

Camera phones let anyone capture the moment -- but they risk missing the experience. A thought provoking piece by Steven Barrie-Anthony for the LA Times.

... "Photographing the moment is only the beginning. Next stop is dissemination, in which that experience, that memory, is transferred, at the push of a button to other cellphones, to computers, to any of the several dozen media sharing website.

... Remembrances are no longer ambiguous collages of past and present experiences but rather the well-defined digital records sitting in front of us. We don't close our eyes to invoke memory; we open them wide to decipher the proof, the truth. It's clarity of one sort, though maybe blindness of another.

... "We're a culture in transition," Gergen says. "We thrive on the notion of authenticity, individuality, interiority. At the same time, there's something isolating about that as well. The techno-civilization is moving us into connectivity very rapidly.

The danger, I guess, is that we'll watch everything change through our viewfinders and then get so carried away with sharing that we forget to reflect."