3 offers free Sky TV on the Sony Ericsson W995

3 is offering its customers a saving of £5 a month when they purchase the Sony Ericsson W995. With exclusive access to Sky Mobile TV, customers of 3 will have access to live sports coverage as well as Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, Xtra and Sky Sports News. For the non sports fan, there will also be instant access to Sky Sports News.

[via Mobile Choice]

Coming Soon, to Any Flat Surface Near You

Tired of hearing other people’s cellphone conversations? It may become worse. Soon you may have to watch their favorite television shows and YouTube videos, too, as they project them onto nearby walls or commuter-train seatbacks. The NY Times reports.

"Pint-size digital projectors are in the works. These devices, when plugged into cellphones and portable media players, will let consumers beam video content from their hand-held devices to the closest smooth surface — entertaining themselves, annoying their neighbors and possibly contributing to a new warning sign: No Projectors in This Area".

The mobile internet kids

What children want from a mobile phone. Click here to watch the BBC video.

Nokia predicts 25% of entertainment by 2012 will be created and consumed within peer communities

Up to a quarter of the entertainment consumed by people in five years time will have been created, edited and shared within their peer circle rather than coming out of traditional media groups. This phenomenon, dubbed 'Circular Entertainment', has been identified by Nokia as a result of a global study into the future of entertainment.

The study, entitled 'A Glimpse of the Next Episode', carried out by The Future Laboratory, interviewed trend-setting consumers from 17 countries about their digital behaviors and lifestyles signposting emerging entertainment trends.

Combining views from industry leading figures with Nokia's own research from its 900 million consumers around the world, Nokia has constructed a global picture of what it believes entertainment will look like over the next five years.

Read Nokia's summary of their report.

[via Daily EM ]

Posting Your Résumé on YouTube

Jonathan Caren (picture left) demonstrates his money-making prowess in the video he sent to employers.

"So far, the video résumés featured on YouTube have been posted mostly by people in entertainment or media, reports the WSJ, but it's spreading by job seekers in other fields-- especially among younger workers.

The videos, which are typically no more than a few minutes long, give applicants a more direct way to sell themselves.

They also help employers decide whom to bring into the office for a face-to-face interview, says Sarah White owner of White Consulting Group, which could save them time and money. "They might have 10 videos they can watch in half an hour, rather than bring in 10 people that will take two to three days to interview."

Holding many job seekers back, though, is the fear of making a fool of oneself -- or worse, sabotaging one's career. That's what happened recently to Aleksey Vayner, a Yale University student who applied for an investment-banking job with Swiss bank UBS AG. His video résumé -- which was entitled "Impossible Is Nothing" and featured him lifting weights, showing off his tennis serve and ballroom dancing -- was widely watched on YouTube and made Mr. Vayner an object of ridicule" - as well as a current event entry in Wikipedia .

Video-sharing makes move to TV

A TV satellite channel dedicated to user-generated content has been launched on the UK-based Sky platform, reports the BBC .

"The Sumo TV channel will show clips from the Sumo TV website.

Every time a clip is broadcast, the originator of the content will receive a percentage of the revenues generated. "

... Participants who upload video clips to the Sumo TV website will have a chance for them to be broadcast on national TV.

Which clips are broadcast will be down to how popular they prove online. All content will be closely monitored by Cellcast, the interactive TV company behind the channel.

Viewers of Sumo TV will also be given the chance to participate in live TV shows, via text messaging, webcams, video messaging and 3G streaming. "

Related:

-- Current Mobile TV requesting citizen cellphone videos

-- ABC requests citizen videos to enhance it's TV news program

Hawaii kids post their fights on the Web

Camera phones and online social networks create an unhealthy mix, officials say, according to the Starbulletin.

"Armed with camera-equipped cell phones, Hawaii students are increasingly posting such graphic content, highlighting an emerging new safety problem for school officials.

... "We're noticing more and more that kids are using this technology to taunt or confront others from a distance, and it's been explosive," said Deborah Spencer of Adult Friends for Youth, which counsels high-risk youths.

Sites like MySpace.com where users can post videos have attracted kids in droves - more than 1,000 users with ties to one high school alone (Roosevelt High School).

But critics say such sites are a superhighway for spreading harmful content and bad blood much faster and wider than word-of-mouth, and that Department of Education security policies haven't kept up."

Phone to Carry Video Projector

A South Korean company developed a coin-size laser video projector module that can fit into portable gadgets such as mobile phones and digital cameras, reports The Korea Times.

"Iljin Display Thursday demonstrated various prototypes of mini-size projectors, which use its Single LCD Panel technology. Using the technology, users can project photos and video images on the wall from the built-in projector, making a seven-inch, full-color screen.

"About a half of mobile phones sold these days are equipped with a digital camera. In the future we expect many mobile phones will have built-in projectors too,’’ said Park Seung-gwon, CEO of Iljin Display, during a press conference in Seoul on Thursday.

... The company expected the projector-embedded mobile phones will hit the market from next April, as it has been already co-operating with Korean handset manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics since December."

2006 may finally be the year that consumers buy goods with their cellphones

With people already spending billions on ring tones, wallpaper and games for their phones, analysts and retail executives say they believe it will not be much of a leap to get them to use their phones to buy shoes, books and laptops, writes The New York Times.

EBay plans to introduce to Verizon users this month a new version of mobile phone technology that will allow subscribers to browse the site, bid on items and receive alerts whenever they have been outbid. The service, which is already available to users of Cingular and Sprint, is a premium version of a stripped-down program that is available free on any phone with a Web browser.

Overstock, which sells travel services and products for fixed prices and at auction has recently started Mobile O, where cellphone users can use their phones to browse and buy anything on Overstock's Web site. "We do see the number of orders on Mobile O gradually picking up, but it's still a tiny percentage of our business," said Patrick M. Byrne, at Overstock. "My hunch is that this is going to start really happening more in '07."

"I view this as a lottery ticket we're paying maybe $300,000 a year to buy," including staff costs, he added. "Maybe that's all lost money, but if American consumers ever adopt this, we're first in the game."

Security has been a concern for both retailers and cellphone companies; neither wants to be held responsible by consumers if their credit card information is pilfered as it is entered into their handsets.

EBay avoids that problem by not giving users the option of paying by phone. They can win auctions or even secure most "Buy It Now" purchases using their cellphones, but they must pay for the purchases through their PC's. Overstock allows users to tap in credit card or login information securely, using data encryption methods.

The biggest beneficiaries of these services could be cellphone companies. Chris Matherly, fromk Verizon Wireless, said the company had "seen this migration coming for quite some time. ""Data products and services are growing, and as that happens these early adopters from three years ago want to do more than just download videos and games," Mr. Matherly said.

Lens For Your Cameraphone

This is not compeletly new, but finally they look like real lens! According to Oh Gizmo!.

"Mini size wide-angle lens, telephoto lens and macro lens for your camera phone lens.

Instead of screwing them onto your lens, there is a magnet built-in and they will stick on to the lens. The telephoto lens offers up to 2X zoom power, the macro lens offers up to 4X zoom and the wide angle lens allow you to zoom out 0.5X.

Each comes with a cellphone strap, when you are done using it, they turn into a charm!"

Related articles:

-- Zoom lenses next for mobiles

-- A wide lens for your cameraphone

A World Of Digital Dim Sum

A good read from Tracy McNicoll for Newsweek on how entertainment, increasingly bite-size, intense, portable and on demand, gets shorter and smaller, so do our attention spans.

"The experts call it "snacking," and say there's much more to come. We've become savvy grazers in everything from personal electronics to food to travel. The world is our tapas bar, and mobile TV may just be our next patatas bravas."

"Fox's "24: Conspiracy" is a one-minute version of its real-time one-hour hit "24," but with a different cast and different writers. It has been translated into six languages and will be available in 30 territories by year end. Still, the shorter format doesn't mean skimping on action. "In the first episode, we manage to fit in a seduction, a betrayal, a murder and an identity theft," says Lucy Hood, president of Fox Mobile Entertainment."

... What will all these bite-size programs do to our attention span? U.S. consumer-trend researcher Iconoculture calls it "technomorphing": if rapid changes in technology haven't rewired our synapses, they have at least changed our expectations.

...Yet quick and snappy doesn't mean dumbed down. In his book "Everything Bad is Good for You," author Steven Johnson argues that, while TV's erstwhile linear, single-themed plotlines used to call for passivity, today's increasingly multipronged programs are actually making us smarter."

Digital Cameras May Face Threat From Cellphones

Cellphone makers are rushing to improve the quality of the cameras built into their phones. That is bad news for low-end, digital-camera market, explains The Wall Street Journal.

"Within the next two years, the quality of a mobile-phone camera will be such that people won't need low-end, stand-alone digital cameras," said analyst Kenneth Hyers. "This will dramatically impact camera sales."

It is forecasted that by 2010, the number of digital still cameras world-wide will be 70 million, down from 85 million to 90 million in 2006. Hyers said there will be more 1.3-megapixel camera phones available on the market by 2006, with higher-quality camera phones hitting store shelves in late 2007 and 2008.

"The operators have a real interest in trying to get as many camera phones into the hands of people," Mr. Hyers said. "Well over half of the country has a mobile phone in their pockets. Most phones have a camera embedded in them. By default, it becomes the first choice"

Digital-media analyst Vamsi Sistla said the increased competition likely will spur more innovation.

That could come in the form of turning a camera into a hand-held computer, with the ability to share pictures with other devices in the home. It also could mean offering services, such as sending pictures directly from a camera to a drugstore to get the prints developed. Those who don't embrace new technology, Mr. Sistla said, risk seeing their cameras become commoditized.

Related article:

-- Camera Phones to Steal Low-End Digital Camera Market within Two Years

New Cameraphone Lens Under Development

Canadian researchers have developed a new lens for cameraphones that would take clearer pictures while taking up less space, reports The Canadian Press via Phone Scoop.

"The new lens, which is much thinner than a piece of paper, is not made of glass or plastic like current lenses, but of a thin sheet of LCD crystals coated with a light sensitive compound.

Tiny shocks of electricity can change the shape of the lens to adjust focus or zoom. The researchers are currently seeking partners to prototype and manufacture the lens".

The rise of camera phone snaps

Antonio in Ion's Blog points to a picture (click to see the full photo) in El Mundo that demonstrates better than any discourse the growing trend to snap pictures with a camera phone instead of a traditional camera at major events. Here during a procession in Sevilla (Spain)

"Super 3 G"

Third-generation mobile (3G) networks need to get faster if they are to deliver fast internet surfing on the move and exciting new services.

Fast 3G networks are here but the focus has shifted to their evolution into a higher bandwidth service, says the Global Mobile Suppliers Association.

At 3GSM, Siemens showed off a system that transmits faster mobile data.

The German company said data could be transmitted at one gigabit a second - up to 20 times faster than current 3G networks.

"High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) - sometimes called Super 3G - will be vital for profitable services like mobile internet browsing and mobile video clips," according to a report published by UK-based research consultancy Analysys.

A number of companies are developing the technology. Nokia and Canada-based wireless communication products company Sierra Wireless recently agreed to work together on High Speed Downlink Packet Access."

The Wi-Fi Cameras are Coming

Kodak has just announced something new (for them) - a Wi-Fi enabled digital camera that enables online photo sharing and viewing without the need for a computer, reports Slashdot via Living Room org.

"The Kodak EasyShare-One is a 4 megapixel camera with a large 3 inch swivel touch screen display and 3x Optical Zoom. The Easyshare-One features VGA video mode (30 frames per second) as well as storage of up to 1500 downsized favorite images on its 256 megabytes of internal memory."

I wonder how this will affect camera phones. Obiously it doesn't make phone calls, but the ability to send pictures onto the Internet is really cameraphones' claim to fame. Though it appears (if I understand correctly) photos are only uploaded to Kodak's Easyshare service (formerly known as Ofoto)

Comment by Forge on Slashdot:

I mean a wifi camera is neaded by a lot of people. Let's say you are a jurnalist and want to take pictures where it's not exactly alowed. With wifi, the pics can get out imediatly so that if someone takes your camera to destroy incriminating pics you can let them have it (while recording that "transaction" too).

Simplicity sets tone for cell phones

Recently a manufacturer of mobile phones advertised one of its products as having the feature of "no camera." Is this the beginning of a trend? You bet it is: less will soon be more. A must read article by Nicholas Negroponte for The Straits Times (Singapore) Asia News Network, published in The Korea Herald.

"The continued packaging of yet one more function into a cell phone frustrates many of us, especially since most of these features are unusable unless you are 15 years or younger and have excellent eyesight and tiny fingers. But do not despair.

The technological development of mobile phones is at a turning point, and soon we should be seeing trends away from complexity. Simplicity will be king.

An unadorned cell phone can be manufactured for less than US$15, which would be of interest to the next 1.5 billion users, from kids to people in developing nations.

Excerpts:

[...] The function of a telephone, for example, might be embedded and distributed in both your wedding ring and your watchband, enabling you to receive or place a call by putting your hand on your cheek and talking into your wrist - allowing you to whisper, a benefit not only for you but also for the rest of us.

[...] A scenario even more futuristic might be a mobile phone that neither rings nor vibrates: instead it answers itself or reads the message and takes appropriate action, like a well-trained butler who knows when and how to interrupt you.

Nicholas Negroponte is the author of "Being Digital" (Knopf, 1995), the founding director of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and a founding Wired contributor.

Endemol plans inbound mobile video for Celebrity Big Brother

Celebrity Big Brother 2005, launching in January in the UK, could be the first TV show to feature inbound mobile video interaction with viewers, reports New Media Zero.

"Inbound MMS is okay but with video we can have a dialogue," said Peter Cowley from production company Endemol. "It'll be like video conferencing with the presenters. This won't be commercial but a case of adding editorial value."

In addition, the company believes that 2005 will be the year in which mobile video becomes a serious revenue generator for TV companies.

They have already sold more than 2m minutes of content this year from mobile video content in Italy, for Big Brother and The Farm.

He adds that mobile video may quickly replace MMS as broadcasters' mobile medium of choice, "MMS is too complicated and the operators haven't rolled it out well," he said. "Operators are making video on 3G so much easier for consumers."

How and Why People Use Camera Phones

This paper from HP presents an in-depth study into how people use their camera phones.

Using a combined method of interviews and grounded discussions around a sample of actual photos, the study examined people's intentions at the time of capture and subsequent patterns of use.

The result is a 6-part taxonomy describing the way images are used both for sharing and personal use, and for affective and functional use.

The implications of these findings for future products and services are discussed. Notes: Rowanne Fleck, University of Sussex, Sussex, UK Abigail Sellen, Microsoft Research, 7 JJ Thomson Ave, Cambridge CB2 0DF, UK

Hard drives, telephoto lenses meet cell phones

While Samsung's hard-drive phone isn't out yet, and the phone with the telescopic lens is only available in Korea, both products portend what is coming for the rest of the world. New cell phone features are often tested first in Korea and Japan before being exported to the rest of the world, reports Asia C/Net.

"Next year, for instance, Samsung, LG Electronics, Sanyo and others will release phones capable of receiving satellite TV so you can watch a number of channels relatively cheaply on the go.

The capabilities on phones are growing so fast that during the next two years, phones will take over much of the low-end of the digital-camera market, according to Shyam Nagrani, an analyst at iSuppli.

The ability for handsets to incorporate these features is partly the result of Moore's Law, which dictates that the number of transistors on a chip doubles every two years. More transistors mean more capabilities or greater performance for the same or less money. "

Telecoms industry survey predicts early dawn of all-in-one mobile handset

A survey, conducted by world-leading 3G handset manufacturer, LG Electronics, at Busan ITU Telecom Asia 2004, indicates that the convergence of a host of devices and availability of a range of applications on mobile handsets could have a major impact on the separate markets for digital cameras and video cameras, reports ITWeb.

"Of the respondents from the IT industry and IT media, 95% said it was very likely consumers will eventually choose a single converged 3G device (combining phone, camera, video camera, MP3 and others) over multiple devices. Of these, 72% expect to see the transition within the next two years and 24% within three to five years."

South Korean mobile firms eye profits from TV, karaoke

South Korean cell phone operators are launching some of the world's most advanced handsets in an effort to prise more money out of their customers, rolling out fresh technology for mobile TV, gaming, banking and mapping services, according to Reuters.

"Their success so far and the challenges ahead are a lesson for wireless operators worldwide as markets mature and mobile Internet services struggle to take off.

South Korean mobile firms say users with advanced phones subscribed to high-speed data services spend a third more on their phone bills than the industry average of $30.20 a month.

Packages of data services, including TV, music downloads and text messaging, can cost as much as $60 a month on top of voice calls.

So companies are aggressively pushing subscribers to change voice-only handsets to newer models for third-generation (3G) networks.

About a quarter of mobile subscribers use its most advanced 3G networks, putting South Korea alongside Japan as a major market for the technology.

Among the new services supported by the phones, SK Telecom will begin multimedia broadcasts by satellite in late 2004 for the first time in the world, beaming data, music and videos to handsets.

-- LG Telecom has recently introduced a phone that can recognise the owner's fingerprint to ensure security for mobile banking services.

-- KTF plans to offer a handset that can download videos with captions, for karaoke sing-alongs and foreign language lessons.

-- Some new phones can control appliances such as DVD recorders, air conditioners and washing machines when they are away from home. Other new services include location finding and three-dimensional games.

Hey! Stop changing the channel with your phone!

An entry from Keitai Log on how Japanese teenagers use the infrared device of their keita - mostly as a remote control to change TV channels.

"Infrared communication is contributing even more to the immersion of keitai into our daily lives. In the morning, we wake up with an alarm built into our keitai. We make phone calls or send e-mails and data during the day. Then at night, we go to bed and turn off the TV with our keitai, leave it on the bedside table, and sleep. This remote control function might have come from the basic concept of keitai (which actually means "portable" in Japanese). It's all about bringing it anywhere we go."

Who's taping whom?

The Christian Science Monitor looks into the right of "video activists".

"Widespread use of digital cameras at both large demonstrations and small antiwar rallies raises serious questions about intimidation, civil rights, and privacy. Should police be able to record peaceful demonstrators? Are activists using cameras to antagonize police? As the technology becomes more pervasive, its limits are being tested in courts and questioned by civil libertarians.

Growing numbers of "video activists" say cameras protect their rights and help spread their messages. Filming a demonstration, they say, lessens the possibility of police abuse and, if abuse occurs, the tape becomes evidence.

But police, too, are attempting to protect their rights. They use video in the event protests turn violent, to investigate crimes afterward, and to transmit images through wireless cameras to police command centers. They use it for training and, they say, to investigate groups that may have links to terrorist organizations.

[...] The rise in video activism is only one way technology is altering social movements. Cheap and accessible, digital technology - like text messaging through mobile phones - has enabled activists worldwide to organize on the Internet."

Dialog, Zeiss sign for camera-phone collaboration

Dialog Semiconductor plc, a leading European fabless chip company, has signed a collaborative deal with the camera lens division of Carl Zeiss AG and the two companies have jointly developed an imaging module, reports Comms Design.

"The battle for the next generation of camera phones will be decided by the combination of CMOS image sensors with innovative optics - as 10 megapixel camera phones "to be well within reach.

"Camera phones have attained the quality of everyday photography. The various possibilities arising from combining the mobile telephone and the camera promise an exciting market," said Winfried Scherle, general manager of the camera lens division of Carl Zeiss.

About Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB)

"The rushing trend of digital revolution has resulted in personalized and mobile communication service and is now creating a new stream of personalized and mobile TV broadcasting service and at the center of the stream is Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB)". [via The Korea Times ].

"DMB refers to mobility-specific services capable of providing high quality audio and video contents.

Thanks to unlimited mobility, DMB service delivers diverse contents encompassing music, text or video clips to mobile or fixed terminals including mobile phones, PDA or portable TV.

DMB does not simply mean a beginning of new broadcasting service. In the long run, DMB is expected to evolve into a universal service and have an immense influence over other industries engaged in terminal and part production or contents development.

Commercial DMB service has not been launched yet".

Help me, I'm lost!

Researchers at Cambridge University are perfecting a system which will help people who find themselves lost in a strange town to take a photograph of a nearby building, press send and the wait for photo recognition software to analyse where they are. Seconds later they will receive details of how to get to their destination. [ via the Scotsman ]

Mobile Users Want Visual Communication

Something I missed in TheFeature.com but picked up on Alan Reiter's Camera Phone Report.

"In the fifth of a series of interviews with academics researching mobile communications, Professor Kristov Nyiri - director of the Institute of Philosophical Research, part of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences - talks about why users don't just want the spoken word."

[...] "I still believe that person-to- person communication will be key, and that this will evolve in some interesting ways. I can imagine people filing "MMS journalism" and sending reports and images to friends. Users already listen to the radio and play MP3 on their mobile devices. Increasingly, they will watch TV clips. The mobile device will increasingly be seen as a broadcast medium.

[...] "Anything that can replicate face-to-face communications will be welcomed by users. To me, all the main things that are missing are linked to visual communications. Prehistoric man could gesture before he could talk. Users have an innate need for non-verbal communication".

Forget the bloggers, it's the vloggers showing the way on the internet

The Guardian reports on the latest internet trend: video logging or vlogging. One step up from the now familiar internet blogger, vloggers upload personal video clips of everything from the US Democratic convention to what they had for their tea, via rants about tax rises and conspiracy theories.

"In its most basic form, vlogging does not require very hi-tech equipment: a digital video camera, a high-speed connection and a host are all that is needed. It is still not an easy pursuit, but the gradual simplification of the technology is bringing an increasing number of people into vlogging - and politicising it.

There are still only a few hundred vlogging sites on the web - compared with literally thousands of blogging sites - but Steve Garfield, a video producer from Boston, Massachusetts, predicts that more internet users will get involved in vlogging once the technological barriers come down."

cf The Guardian's selection of vlogs,

Strobes for Phone Cams

Look for strobe flash in your cell phone's camera soon, based on a design from Linear TechnologyLinear Technology, reports PC World.

"Jim Williams, Linear's staff scientist, says that most current camera cell phones use LED-based lighting, which gives "not a lot of light over not a lot of distance."

His company's photoflash capacitor charger system can efficiently recharge a very small xenon flash lamp in as little as 1 second, producing "light hundreds of times brighter than LEDs," Williams says.

RFID Tags for mobile phones

Mobile phones could soon have built-in scanners for RFID tags, according to The Guardian.

"Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, which manufacturers use to track and identify products, have been coming under attack for the information they could reveal about your shopping habits to anyone with an RFID scanner. But the same technology could also make it easier for you to get information as well."

"As Nokia's Gerhard Romen puts it: "Today, RFID tags tend to be mobile and readers are stationary, but things get really interesting when you turn that around and make the tags stationary and the readers mobile."

"[...] Reading a tag can make the phone do almost anything: sending messages, downloading information, dialling a predefined number for a helpline, or running an application. Nokia has ideas for where the system could be useful, but Romen expects the market to go in its own direction, and the reader software is written in Java so developers can create their own applications."

Camera phone as universal tri-corder

Deviceforce.com as published a whitepaper describing some research into innovative and futuristic uses of camera phones being investigated in Intel's research labs, reports Linx Devices.

The global proliferation of cell phones with cameras brings more opportunities to use mobile phone devices in different capacities -- and the best part is that these applications require no additional hardware.

In Intel's research, camera phones are being used as pointing devices, authentication devices, storage devices, and even as user interfaces for systems that, because of cost and/or form factor, aren't able to accommodate a display of their own.

Learn more about potential future applications for camera phones from this fascinating whitepaper by a senior researcher with Intel Research in Cambridge, U.K.

The march of the mobiles

New breakthroughs aimed at boosting phones' power and storage capacity could herald the technology's next great leap forward, writes Ashley Norris in The Guardian.

What prevents cell phones from becoming the über-gadget of the decade is small storage, the size of the screen (an option would be to separate the screen from the phone) and battery power (good news here, Nokia has announced it's testing fuel cells which could more than triple the life of existing mobile phone batteries.)

But hard disk storage on mobile phones is on it's way and this should drive TV viewing on cell phones. In Japan, the first phone with integrated hard disk storage will launch this year and should hit Europe sometime in 2005.

Something in the Air

[...]When you install cameras in telephones, for instance, photography shifts from a producer of flat illustrative artifact into a means of communication. The ease of distribution becomes a force in itself, pushing networks to handle more bandwidth. And the sudden addition of hundreds of millions of instant eyes to the global network provides its own challenges (thus the devices are banned in locker rooms and at the U.S. Supreme Court).

[...]All over the planet, wireless is making waves, from the text-message-mad teenagers outside Tokyo's Shibuya station to a Wi-Fi-equipped McDonald's in New York City to Everest climbers calling home from the summit. With dizzying rapidity, wireless innovations move from the cutting edge to the routine. Just like what happened with Marconi's magic box during the first wireless revolution.

Steven Levy, Newsweek technology columnist in a special report on wireless entitled Something in the Air.

Camera Phones Making A Difference (To Businesses)

Ever wondered how much impact the 'fun' cameras in mobile phones have on the rest of Digital Photgraphy? There could be over 169 million camera phones sold this year, reports Business Week - roughly one in four cameras - in an article entitled "The Camphone Revolution" via AllAboutSymbian.

Excerpts from Business Week:

"The shock waves are rippling through the imaging business. Sales of film and traditional cameras -- already hurt by the rise of digital photography -- could suffer further blows.

-- Digital camera makers are being forced to move upmarket as camera phones take over the lower end. And a whole new industry built around camphone snaps is starting to whip into gear.

-- Seiko Epson, and Canon are rolling out inexpensive color photo printers that connect wirelessly to handsets -- with no need to store pictures first on a PC.

-- Photography giants Eastman Kodak Co. and Fuji Photo Film Co are rushing to install in-store kiosks that churn out high-quality reproductions of photos taken with digital cameras and cell phones.

And the disruption is accelerating. In the last month, seven phonemakers have announced new models that incorporate megapixel cameras, which shoot pictures with a million points of resolution. That's three times the quality of most camphones on the market -- and comparable to digital cameras of a few years back."

Rise of the cyberbully demands new rules

Mark Franek, who is the dean of students at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, writes in an article for The Christian Science Monitor, that "schools around the country are starting to see a dramatic increase in the misuse of all kinds of technology, the most pernicious of which is cyberbullying (by e-mail, text messaging or postings on a website)".

Franek brings up an interesting point, in that as beneficial as technology is for young people, "its instantaneous nature is a major downside and has revolutionized the possibilities for major and minor mischief. It has all but erased the reflection time that once existed between the planning of a silly prank - or a serious stunt - and its commission. Simultaneously, the power and speed of technology has made it nearly impossible to contain a regrettable deed - because once committed, there's almost no way to retrieve and destroy all evidence of it in cyberspace".

Franek warns that even nastier stuff is sure to appear with the proliferation of camera phones and that schools, technology companies and parents need to educate themselves, take responsibility for getting this growing problem under control and by addressing the issue head on".

For stories from around the world on bullying by SMS, check out this category in Textually.org.

Japan Sees Future in Phones That Give Directions

In a country where quiet efficiency and a frenetic pace manage to coexist, Japanese consumers are discovering the convenience of mobile phones that know where they are and can help you get where you want to go, reports Reuters.

Excerpts:

"Lost in an unfamiliar part of town? Ask your phone how to get home and it will provide step-by-step walking or train directions.

Arranging a dinner party in a restaurant? Send your friends a message with the time and street address, and their phones will direct them to the right place.

They will even tell them whether it's faster to take a train or a taxi, and calculate approximate fares.

Early location-finding services in other parts of the world have failed to lure phone users with the vision of getting a coupon for French fries as they walk past a McDonald's fast-food restaurant. Many consumers were, in fact, unnerved.

Cybird Co. Ltd. (4823.Q) of Japan is trying out services that allow users to download information onto their phones directly from digital television programs by aiming the phone at the television screen and pressing the appropriate button.

The company believes phones with GPS technology could allow users to receive information specific to their location, such as weather forecasts or ads for promotions in local stores.

"A housewife could receive information about her local supermarket's daily discounts over the television instead of waiting for the afternoon newspaper," said Shinji Terada, vice president of strategic planning at Cybird, in an interview. "

Second sight

This is the second article in a few days that says the novelty of using a camera phone is wearing off - for now. (cf previous post, Interest in picture messaging and moblogging is down)

Dave Birch in The Guardian sees a pattern, that "people like picture phones and think they are cool, but don't actually use them nearly as often as they thought they would.

To Birch "this may not be simple conservatism but a reflection of a deeper concern: that we have no "social infrastructure" for picture phones.

I'm not being negative he says. My feeling is that the use of picture phones will be stimulated by the provision of new services targeted at the average consumer, such as retail kiosks for printing or sending home pictures and video."

Saudi Arabia and phonecams

Mobile camera phones were a hot sellers in Saudi Arabia despite a Kingdomwide ban. But in March, the Saudi government began searching outlets and students and confiscating phones when found.

Today boingboing has an interesting quote from a fellow Saudi blogger, Alhamedi Alanezi:

"When the Saudi people finally rise up in revolt and throw out the House of Saud," he says, " it won't be for democratic reform, and it won't be for an islamic republic. It'll be about mobile phones."

Snap unhappy - digital photography's dirty little secret

To Joanna Wane writing for New Zealand stuff, "the digital revolution is creating a gaping hole in our heritage. While the public and the professionals have embraced this magical technology that allows pictures to be viewed in an instant and transmitted around the globe, concern is being raised that our pictorial history is at risk".

[...] Imagine, for example, the exhilarated couple who snap off some shots on their mobile phone to announce the arrival of their newborn baby to the world within minutes of his birth. Later, when they're looking for pictures to frame or save in an album, they'll be caught short if that low-resolution mobile-phone image is all they have."

How digital cameras and camera phones will affect our heritage is an interesting subject and has been written up before. cf related articles:

-- Picture Phones mark a change in social record-keeping - Until now, popular interest in photography was more centered on the long-term preservation of memories in family albums. But with camera phones, the focus is more on sharing than storing.

-- The future of digital cameras - The rise of digital signifies a paradigm shift in the use of cameras away from being image capturing devices and towards data gathering devices.

-- Digital era 'a threat to memories' - Australians are taking more photos than ever before - but few of them are being printed. Historical records as well as family albums may suffer, with less than 20 per cent of pictures making it into print, says the Photographic Imaging Council of Australia.

-- How camera phones will affect print and digital cameras - Camera-phones might also hasten the decline of printed photos. As handsets improve, viewing images on-screen could become the norm, whether on phones, PCs, televisions, or even by beaming photos to a wireless-enabled picture frame next to Grandma's chair.

I'm not sure about this last point as the Economist does not take into account the many Cell Phone Printer projects by company greats such as Kodak and HP, allowing to print directly from a handset, not over the Internet but in physical locations such as shopping malls or selected outlets. But I do go along with the the author of this article when he says that no one knows where this is going. That's for sure.

«Drive by Porn»

According to Stateline.org, some US States are taking aim at driving under the influence of TV.

"What's becoming known as “drive-by porn”, i.e. watching porn videos in your car, is titillating the interest of a few state lawmakers in Tennessee and Louisiana who seek to ban it. But so far, no state has regulated what can be watched inside vehicles -- only who can watch."

It shouldn't be long this becomes an issue with camera and video phones while driving.

Camera phones let users share lives

Wonderful. Reuters publishes a very postive article on camera phones.

"As cameras become standard features on mobile phones, millions of users are rediscovering photography in unexpected places: in the kitchen, down the block and on the bus -- from the backyards of Middle America all the way to Korea and down to Cuba.

This is no longer about disposable cameras. We call it 'disposable photography,"' said Ben Wood, a wireless analyst with market research firm Gartner Inc. in London.

There's no such thing as a bad photo. The delete key takes care of the headless body or any other misfire. There's no cost for making mistakes".

And down the road:

"But camera phones are only a transitional product to wireless video phones, Jha said. Already, Korean manufacturers are offering tiny phones with full camcorders, products that will become widespread as high-speed networks are built to handle the higher data-rate transmissions of video".

Lights, camera, action: PocketCinema

Cinema Electric have announced the launch of its PocketCinema mobile video content offerings in partnership with the operators in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Austria and the Czech Republic, according to Infosync World.

"CinemaElectric owns what is believed to be the world's largest library of formatted multimedia and video content for mobile devices. PocketCinema is a downloadable motion picture that can be played on many Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Siemens and other mobile phone terminals".

Customers slow to use fancy cell phone features 

An article from Reuters that puts a damper on the acceptance and popularity of multimedia enabled cell phones in Europe.

"There are numerous obstacles to the mass uptake of the new handsets and services in Europe. They are expensive, they are hard to use, existing wireless networks are too slow for efficient Web surfing and there are interoperability issues for both handsets and networks.

But perhaps most significant, is that there are few features on offer that help ease the pressures of modern life, such as an integrated garage door opener.

Analysts are saying many Europeans may not flock to the new services for another five years".

Chinese dotcoms look to multimedia messaging services for profit growth

China's top dotcoms believe multimedia messaging services (MMS) will become a gold mine sustaining their profit growth, and have earmarked large sums for aggressive development, according to channelnewsasia.com.

"The peak season for short text messages is over," Sohu's CEO Charles Zhang said according to Xinhua news agency. "MMS based on (2.5-generation) technology will herald explosive growth in 2004."

At the end of last year, eight million Chinese residents subscribed to MMS, and experts believe MMS for mobile subscribers will expand to an industry worth 22 billion dollars by 2008, according to Xinhua".

"The rising MMS business ushers in a new wireless Internet era," said an industry expert." It doesn't simply mean a reordering of Internet portals. It will redefine themarket."