[ November 18, 2003 ]

News, Buzz Airwaves buzzing on eve of Bush visit With President George W. Bush due to touch down on British soil Tuesday, Internet message boards, mobile phones and pagers are buzzing with the sounds of protest, and police are scrambling to catch every word, reports Bernhard Warner, European Internet Correspondent for Reuters. Warner ads that the widespread use of picture phones is also a concern as they could be used to capture images of the police officers. "Some of these guys run counter-intelligence. They want to know who the cops are. With a mobile phone that's equipped with a camera you could start your own database of cops," said a security expert." [ November 17, 2003 ] Business Applications Doctors use MMS to send X-rays Denmarks' doctors and specialists who are far away form the hospital can now also help patients get better treatment. Using a camera phone, doctors at the hospital take pictures of a patient's X-rays and send them to colleagues who might be on duty at another hospital. They can then phone the doctors on the case to discuss how best to tackle the situation, according to Cellular News. "Doctors often face the problem when dealing with a patient that it is difficult to decide on the best course of treatment. In such cases, it can help to talk to one or more colleagues but because they are so often on the move it is usually impossible to review the patient's X-ray pictures." Related article: Doctors use picture phones Photoblogs Christmas Wish Lists on Textamerica A great idea from Textamerica, a special place where to post pictures of what you want for Christmas. In their own words: "Tired of getting socks and scarves for Christmas? We were too, so we decided to setup Christmas Wish Lists where you can take pictures of the things you actually want, to help guide your friends and family toward the right store for the big day. Just take a picture of what you want, post it to your wishlist and send the URL of your wishlist to your loved ones You can post images to your Wish List by email, upload from your PC or even direct from your camera phone Wish Lists are free and easy to use so get yours now." November 14, 2003 ] News, Buzz Toshiba to sharpen digital video images Software that will make it possible to capture fast-moving objects such as footballs on camera and send them as high quality images to mobile phones has been developed by Toshiba, according to The Inquirer. "This software analyses moving images as they are converted to data and processes any portions with any rapidly moving objects separately from those that are relatively still. The results are crisp images that lend themselves especially to sports coverage". Related Articles: -- Picture alerts sent to sports fans (Empics) -- Sports highlights sent to cell phones (Automatic Sports Video Analyzer) [ November 13, 2003 ] Trends Why have camera phones entered the picture? A very entertaining article by Jim Sollisch for The Straits Times on how camera phones may just right some of the bad habits brought on by cell phones. Pointing out that cellphones have blurred the nature of time, erasing the meaning of late - as people believe that if they call to change the plan, they're able to change being late to being on time. "Now, armed with our camera phones, we can ask for proof. And maybe the fear of being caught in a lie will lead us back to punctuality". Privacy Issues Picture phones banned in court Picture phones are no longer allowed in the Oakland County Courthouse, according to The Oakland Press. "The circuit and probate judges, after consulting with the Oakland County Sheriff's Department, issued an administrative order that prohibits members of the public from entering the building at 1200 N. Telegraph Road with any kind of recording devices, including cell phones with picture-taking capabilities". News, Buzz Five Years In Jail For Putting A Movie Online Hollywood is really paranoid about cell phones and camera phones... After bag and body searches at screenings to avoid piracy, blaming box office bombs on teenagers giving the thumbs down by text message as they walk out of the theater, now, according to Techdirt, the latest Hollywood manifestation is a proposed law that would make it a felony to take a video camera into a movie theater or to put a film up on the internet, with penalties including up to five years in jail. TV Capable Cell Phones Sprint's cell-phone users can get live TV Sprint Corp. is adding a television service for cell phones with real-time programs, albeit somewhat choppy, from cable networks including CNBC and ABC News, reports The LA Daily News. "The new MobiTV service, available starting today, will cost $9.99 per month in addition to the monthly fee of $15 that Sprint subscribers pay to use the Internet data connection on their mobile phones. Other networks featured on the service include MSNBC, Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel. Although the audio for MobiTV programs will play in a continuous stream, the cell-phone screen will not display the equivalent of full-motion video like that seen on a real television. Instead, the video will play at a rate of one or two frames per second, as compared with more than 20 frames per second for real TV. The programs on most of the MobiTV channels will be identical to the actual programs playing at that hour on the corresponding cable channels, although with a lag of perhaps a minute due to the time it takes to process and transmit the content for a wireless device". News, Buzz Vodafone Goes live! In Switzerland Vodafone's live! is launching in Switzerland, thanks to a licensing agreement with Swisscom Mobile. The one-year-old multimedia service sports such features as picture messaging, games, polyphonic ringtone downloads and branded entertainment content. At the end of October, Vodafone announced it had more than 3 million live! customers in 13 countries. [Wireless Week] via [Moco News] [ November 12, 2003 ] News, Buzz Cell Phone Messaging Turns Mischievous A good article in Silicon Valley.com on Bluejacking, a new fad briefly posted about last week which is rapidly spreading. It allows someone to surreptitiously surprise a total stranger on his cell phone with a text message, sent using a short-range wireless technology called Bluetooth. Of note to this column and a piece of information I had not picked up on before: "A bluejacker could even send someone a photo taken with a camera phone using Bluetooth. It doesn't cost a thing since the message isn't being routed through any phone company". Video Phones 3 first with mobile video streaming in Sweden and Denmark 3 Scandinavia's customers in Sweden and Denmark can watch streamed video news in their mobiles. Instead of downloading the news, as they could do earlier, they can now stream it, according to Rafat Ali on Moco News. "This fits very well with news clippings and similar material that the customer may want to see directly, and not want saved on the memory card of the mobile", says Chris Bannister, CEO of 3 Scandinavia and added "Music, comedy clips and all other content that the customer may want to save in the mobile is downloaded just like usual." [3G] Cell Phone Printers Kodak, Cingular in Camera Phone Printing Pact Eastman Kodak on Wednesday unveiled agreements with telecommunications company Cingular Wireless LLC and mobile phone maker Nokia aimed at spurring users of camera phones to print more pictures reports Yahoo News. "Under the pact, Cingular Wireless customers will be able to transfer pictures taken with a camera phone onto Kodak's new Kodak Mobile service. Then, via a Web site, the picture can be stored for later viewing on the phone, e-mailed to others or printed". Update: A more insightful article has been published by Ben Rand for The Democrat and Chronicle. Rand points out that the Kodak deal is more subtle than it may appear at first. For instance, printing is not terribly prominent, because Kodak is concentrating on the interfact on the phone. Second, though Kodak announced deals with Cingular and Nokia, Anwone with a WAP phone can play today. Thirdly, the service lets you access your online collections in other parts of the web -- not just cell phone images. For more on cell phone printers, check out this category in Picturephoning.com [ November 11, 2003 ] Privacy Concerns Camera Phone to Require Shutter Sound From Next Year Cellular phone manufacturers will be required to design camera or camcorder-equipped mobile handsets to make loud sounds when pictures are taken starting next year, according to The Korea Times "The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) of Korea on Tuesday said it has drawn up regulations aimed at protecting personal privacy, which is increasingly being threatened by the surreptitious taking of photographs in public areas, such as locker rooms and around swimming pools. The measure, however, won't affect digital camera-embedded mobile handsets already on the market, according to MIC director Kim Jung-won. The MIC has also drafted a new bill intended to punish those who take photographs of others with the phones without prior consent". [The Korea Times] [ November 10, 2003 ] New Cameraphones of Note First auto-focus camera phone NTT DoCoMo has announced the release of the mova P505iS handset, which is reportedly, the world's first camera phone equipped with auto focus. [Infosync World] Video Phones Camcorder Wireless Phone With 2 Hours Video Streaming A cellular phone is now available that lets you listen to music, record video and even control certain electronic products. Samsung's new SCH-V410 camcorder phone, capable of storing up to two hours' of video streams, is due to be related on the market next week. [3G] TV capable cell phones Australian company Optus does TV on phones Autralian telco Optus has launched the nation's first mobile phone TV offering: its five million-plus mobile customers could watch the ABC, SBS and CNN live over their handsets, if they had one of the five models equipped to run video streaming. As well as the TV offering, Optus service of video streams, is due to be related on the market next week. [Australian IT] via [Moco News] Video Phones Video ringtones This is wild, video ringtones. Psiloc VISION is a new application which brings ring tones to a next level - videos! Vision allows mobile users to assign videos to contacts that are then played when that contact rings them. You effectively have video ringtones. The software also supports display of full screen pictureson an incoming call. Psiloc Vision works on Symbian Series 60 smartphones: currently many Nokia models and Siemens SX1. A trial can be downloaded from Psiloc website. [All About Symbian] [ November 7, 2003 ] Trends Camera Phones Destined to Shake Up Society Some people have described the cameraphone trend as a disruptive technology that is changing social attitudes and actions; but it’s more of an integrated technology, says Jorge Gamez, vice president of Marketing and Sales for Photofinishing News.Gamez explains that digital cameras were the disruptive technology, not cameraphones. “It’s an integration of two technologies that have been in the market for a long time,” he says. [BlueHereNow]

Privacy Concerns Cellphone cameras ring warning bells Jennifer Wolcott for the Christian Science Monitor writes about the privacy issues surrounding camera phones and raises the question on what exactly are the rights of the person being photographed. Should controls be put into place to limit where and how camera cellphones may be used? And who are the legislators who are considering doing someting about it. -- David Bentkowski, a city councilman and lawyer in Seven Hills, Ohio, has been in contact with state and federal politicians and hopes to influence legislation banning these phones in public restrooms, locker rooms, and showers. Taking pictures in places such as these, where one expects to be unobserved, is an obvious invasion of privacy, he says. -- Michael Oxley, a congressman from Ohio and a former FBI agent, is also interested in this issue. He is the author of a bill already passed by the US Senate and currently being considered in the House of Representatives regarding "video voyeurism." It includes bans against taking and disseminating pictures of people in "sensitive or compromising states" in federal areas - national parks, forests, buildings, etc. -- David Sobel, general counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, disagrees. "Congress hasn't squarely addressed this issue yet, and it needs to," he says. "This is a classic example of technology outpacing the development of the law." I have to agree with Nokia's Keith Nowak who "doesn't see any need for additional controls placed on wireless camera phones". Like with all new technology, there is some abuse, but common sense usually prevails and social norms develop. Legislation is not a good idea. Think of the Decency Act. [Christian Science Monitor]