Reiter's Camera Phone Report

Motorola CTO video discusses video blog software under development

Technology Review has posted a video of Padmasree Warrior, the chief technical officer at Motorola, in which she very briefly discusses the company's video blogging software that's under development.  Technology Review conducted the interview (not that it really says anything) at M.I.T.'s Emerging Technology Conference. 

You won't learn anything except that, well, Motorola is working on video blogging software.

Kodak eyes camera phone integration; compact digital cameras "short term phenomena"

Will there be a "Kodak Inside" sticker on a camera phone?  That's the implication if you read comments by Fred Seibl, general manager of Kodak at Stuttgart in an interview during the Photokina camera show in Cologne, according to an article in Digit.

Seibl says, "The compact digital camera is a short-term phenomena; it's going to be eclipsed by the camera phone.  We would like to see a lot of our technology in those phones, and we are already taking steps to achieve that goal."

Kodal already struck a non-exclusive deal with Motorola to collaborate on camera phones where the camera company supplies its CMOS sensors and additional components to the wireless handset vendor, says Digit.

Joint branding

Kodak isn't going to develop its own camera phones, Seibl says, but that's certainly not a surprise.  Kodak isn't a cellular phone manufacturing expert.

But I've been suggesting for years that we should see camera manufacturers team with handset vendors to offer jointly branded phones.  Certain Sony Ericsson camera phones promote the Sony Cyber-shot brand.

Nokia prints "Carl Zeiss Optics" near the lens of camera phones in which that venerable lens maker supplies the optics.

Other conversations

Kodak is talking with other handset vendors, Seibl says, and the article suggests Nokia would be a prime candidate for a deal since the two companies already colloborate on photo storage and printing (and here).

Kodak, that purchased Ofoto's photo album/printing service more than five years ago, offers its EasyShare Gallery to cellular operators to brand as well as selling the service directly to consumers.  I see that Kodak now enables consumers to use the service for free, kind of, without paying a $2.99 per month fee, if consumers purchase at least one item from the Gallery (printing photos, for example) within 12 months.

Kodak EasyShare Gallery members also may upload videos of a maximum of 15MB per video and a video total storage of 150 MB -- for 30 days, after which time Kodak may remove the videos.

Nokia five megapixel N95 with WiFi, GPS available 1Q07

Nokia today debuted its slider-type N95 camera phone (see left) the features a five megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, video recording at 30 frames per second, embedded GPS and integrated WiFi.

The handset also offers geo-tagging with uploading to Flickr, a 2.5 QVGA screen, stereo speakers and a video-out connection to a television.

There are two ways to use the slider.  Nokia says in its press release, "A numeric keypad slides out from one end of the device while dedicated media keys slide out from the opposite direction, converting the display into full screen landscape mode."

The N95 won't be available, however, until the first quarter of 2007.  The retail (non-subsidized) price will be about 550 euros ($704).

N75 for U.S.

Nokia also announced the two megapixel clamshell-type N75 camera phone with EDGE/HSDPA/WCDMA that's targeted for the United States.  It's expected to be available by the end of this year. 

The N75 features a QVGA screen, microSD slot and FM radio.

Nokia says it has sold ten million of its high-end Nseries phones, a tiny number compared to its total annual sales.  Nokia has been promoting the Nseries as "multimedia computers" rather than mere "phones."

That's also a good way to help justify the cost of the relatively expensive Nseries.

The highest resolution camera phone -- 3.2 megapixels -- available in the United States is offered by Verizon Wireless.

[Sent via TypePad wireless e-mail with RIM BlackBerry 8700g]

PhotoCrank beta tests camera phone "captioning/framing" service

From the Gigaom article I just discussed I learned about PhotoCrank, a beta service that enables you to provide a caption or frame around your camera phone photo (see below).

PhotoCrank has about 145 different templates in eight categories, including a DEMO conference category, where it's showing it's stuff now.  You may use the words in the templates or include your own text.

However, if you text is offensive, it could be edited, according to the FAQs on PhotoCrank's Web site.

Demo's take

According to "Demo says" on the page for PhotoCrank, "While PhotoCrank isn’t the first mobile photo postcard service, it may well be the service that gains widest market acceptance.

"Embracing photos as entertainment, PhotoCrank delivers a fun, viral content play to an active and attractive college-age demographic.  It doesn’t take too much imagination to see PhotoCrank at the center of very clever and quickly spreading brand campaigns."

Pricing

PhotoCrank offers you three free "cranks" if you join.  You need to select one of three pricing plans:  $7.99 a month for 40 cranks, $4.99 a month for 20 cranks and a per-crank fee of $.30.

PhotoCrank says it supports three of the four major U.S. cellular operators:  Cingular, Sprint and Verizon.

When I first saw it I thought, naw.  But I don't know.  Perhaps it could catch on.  There already are lots of crank templates and I assume there will be many more.

Stealth video sharing firm Veeker purchases developer ThumbJive

The stealth video sharing service Veeker (see left) has purchased the wireless application developer ThumbJive whose projects include the photo sharing site Radar (see below), according to an article by Katie Fehrenbacher in Gigaom.

Gigaom has been following Veeker, though not able to write much about it.  Fehrenbacher says recently she's been seeing more people using video messaging via cellular, although it's still a very small percentage of total subscribers.

"But now that carriers are readily offering multimedia messaging packages, and the latest phones are often embedding video cameras, its easier than ever for startups to start building services over a standardized mobile video sharing platform," she writes.

Standardized development

Fehrenbacher says, "ThumbJive founder and now VP of engineering at Veeker, Daniel Raynaud, said that his company was attractive to Veeker in part because of its technology that helps standardize the development of mobile applications on cell phones, including technology for video-capture and camera-capture applications."

I've been looking for a great site for posting the videos of camera phones I test.  I'm not particularly interested in sharing them with the world, although I don't care if anyone sees them.

I'm looking for a good video storage service where I can easily categorize videos according to the phones I test.

South Africa cellular operator explores age verification system

A South African cellular operator, MTN, is exploring developing an age (they call it "adult") verification system to help ensure children don't receive inappropriate information on their cellular phones, according to an article in the Dispatch (http://www.dispatch.co.za/2006/09/25/Easterncape/abporn.html).

It sounds interesting, but there's no additional information.

The article focuses on bans of cellular phones -- including camera phones -- in the U.K. and South Africa and how schools should deal with cellular phones.

One school banned phones after a student was found showing pornographic photos on his camera phone.

The principal of one school -- that doesn't ban cellular phones -- has sent a letter to parents discussing problems and recommending that they don't buy camera phones for their children.

[Sent via TypePad wireless e-mail with RIM BlackBerry 8700g]

Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association launches Internet/mobile information site for children

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (http://www.amta.org) has established a "Str8tlk" Web site for children (http://www.str8tlk.amta.org.au) to help them understand the potential dangers of the Internet and mobile communications, according to an article in Cellular-News (http://www.cellular-news.com/story/19500.php).

Chris Althaus, the CEO of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) says the Web site is designed for children who are 10 to 18 years old. The site has a specific mobile section that deals with, among other issues, MMS and cyber-bullying.

I think it's a good start, but there could be more information on the site.

Children, teachers, parents

The AMTA Web site includes sections not just for children but also for parents and teachers. The information about the Internet -- and children avoiding pitfalls -- is basic.

But at least it's available. I wish there were more sites -- specifically dealing with wireless communications -- for children.

The Cybersmart site includes brief sections for "littlies," "kids" and young people."

Plain English information

Althaus says about AMTA's new site, "Mobile phone use among young people is very high in Australia. About nine out of 10 young people use mobile phones to keep in touch with mum and dad, as an important social tool to communicate with their peer group and as a personal statement of their identity and street 'cred'.

"Given the importance that young people attach to their mobile phones, the industry believes they should have access to information written in plain English that can help them use their mobiles in a safe, responsible and affordable manner, and in ways that meet with accepted social practices.

"Often a mobile phone is one of the first responsibilities that young people have -- they are not old enough to drive or have a credit card. The new website is the industry's initiative to provide them with vital information in a format and language that they can relate to and feel comfortable with."

[Sent via TypePad wireless e-mail with RIM BlackBerry 8700g]

Flickr ponders service to sell online photos

An article in vnunet (http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2164775/flickr-explores-further) says Flickr is pondering whether to establish a separate venture to sell photos that have been posted online.

The article notes the media and others look at using photos that have been posted on Flickr, such as from the terrorist bombings in London last July and the recent military coup in Thailand.

However, people who post photos don't know what to charge and have problems obtaining payments, the article says.

Flickr's role?

Stewart Butterfied, the co-founder of Flickr, is quoted in the article as saying, "There is a huge amount of friction there.

"There is obviously a lot of demand for photos to be used in that way and we could reduce that friction."

Butterfield said any venture is "highly speculative" and it wouldn't be part of the main Flickr Web site. Also, Flickr doesn't want to establish a stock photo business, the article says.

Cellular tie-in

The article notes that Flickr has been soliciting cellular operators and handset vendors to incorporate software into handsets to facilitate uploading photos to the photo sharing service. The Nokia N73 and N93 are bundled with Flickr software.

Vnunet doesn't mention that several photo agencies already specialize in selling photos by consumers -- especially camera phone photos -- such as Scoopt in Glasgow, Spy Media in San Jose and Cell Journalist in Nashville.

[Sent via TypePad wireless e-mail with RIM BlackBerry 8700g]

Fosfor Gadgets picks 3.2 megapixel Sony Ericsson K800i over 3.2 megapixel Nokia N93

Fosfor Gadgets compares the image quality of two 3.2 megapixel camera phones -- the Sony Ericsson K800i and the Nokia N93 -- and much prefers the former (http://gadgets.fosfor.se/camera-phone-shootout).

The reviewer says the K800i takes much better photos indoors and outdoors as well as being slimmer, lighter and less complicated to begin using quickly because of the required screen and lens swivel of the N93.

Many regular digital cameras -- and especially camera phones -- take poorer indoor photos than outdoors -- and the Nokia and Sony Ericsson are no exceptions. However, Fosfor Gadgets prefers the K800i's quality, especially because it has a better flash.

N93 wins on zoom, video

The N93 has a 3x optical zoom while the K800i doesn't have any zoom. The N93's zoom quality does an okay job, however, it isn't anything to write home about.

Too bad there's no comparison on the site of the videos capabilities of the two phones. The N93 offers 30 frames per second and Nokia certainly promotes its video recording quality. Fosfar Gadgets doesn't like the K800i's video quality.

Regardless of the image quality between the two 3.2 megapixel handsets, Fosfor Gadgets compares the photos of the K800i with Sony Ericsson's 1.3 megapixel Z800i and the difference in image quality is quite dramatic, as you'd expect.

[Sent via TypePad wireless e-mail with RIM BlackBerry 8700g]

WayMarkr software continuously shoots, uploads camera phone photos

From an article in SlashGear I learned about WayMarkr's free software/service that enables your camera phone to shoot photos continuously and automatically upload them to the company's Web site so you have a record of every place you've visited and people you've seen during the day (see below).

The software works with Nokia Series 60 phones and transmits the photos via the phone's e-mail program, not via MMS.  WayMarkr doesn't specify exactly how many photos are taken and uploaded during the day.

The company says on its Web site, "The Waymarkr takes photos as quickly as possible, but it will not take another photo until the previous one has been sent to the Waymarkr website.

"The number of photos taken a minute directly correlates to the cellular network speed.  Intentionally and by design, there's no way to time when the next photo will be taken."

Location

WayMarkr also is interested in integrating the photos with location.  Initially, users will be able to log onto the WayMarkr's Web site and drag the photos on a map. 

In the future, WayMarkr would like to indicate location automatically via GPS or tower triangulation.

Photos uploaded to the WayMarkr album are designated as private or public, depending on whether you want everyone to be able to view them.

Why?

Why is the company doing this?  The Web site says:

"We think that there is a certain beauty in the everyday that gets overlooked in our daily routine.  Our memories and perceptions are selective.  They have to be for us to get things done.

"Leaving the Waymarkr running while going about your business or using the Waymarkr to document a special event will help you see what transpired in a different light.  It will give you the freedom to step back, relive an event and notice something new and beautiful in your everyday.

"The Waymarkr will help you learn something new about yourself that you didn't notice when you were caught up in the moment."

Wearable camera phone

WayMarkr suggests you place the camera phone somewhere on your body -- hang it around your neck, attach it to a strap across your shoulders or even wear it in the back of your head (see below).

The WayMarkr application is based on the concept of "life caching" -- documenting whatever occurs in your life, that I've written about before.  The Guardian, where SlashGear found the article, writes about the concept, and also notes that WayMarkr might have some practical applications.

People who have very bad memory problems in general or don't remember whether they've taken their medicines might find it useful to have a product that continuously documents their activities.