Reiter's Camera Phone Report

Brookstone wallet incorporates 1.4-inch LCD for viewing photos

I’m at BWI Airport waiting for my flight to Newark to fly to Madrid and then to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress.  Walking to my gate, I looked at the Brookstone store, and noticed an interesting product (to me, at least).

It’s a $50 wallet that includes 1.4–inch LCD for viewing photos (see above; taken with BlackBerry Curve 8320 two megapixel camera).  The LCD has a few simple controls, mostly forward and back, and a rechargeable battery via a computer USB port.

Years ago, when I first began looking at camera phones, I told people (and wrote) that the camera phone would be the new “wallet” for storing your photos.  Instead of taking out your wallet, you’d take out your phone.

That certainly has come to pass.  And it’s not just photos, it’s videos, too. 

I guess you could consider the “My Life:  Digital Photo Wallet” as retro!

Nokia Beta Labs offers geotagging software for Nokia Series 60 3rd Edition handsets

From Nokia Beta Labs’ weblog I learned that the group has just introduced “Nokia Location Tagger” software for geotagging images from Nokia S60 3^rd Edition phones (see below).

The software is available as a free download and Nokia says it has been tested with its phones that incorporate GPS:  N95, N95 8GB, N82 and E90.  Nokia hasn’t completely tested the software with all 3^rd Edition phones that can utilize external GPS devices via Bluetooth, but the software “should work,” the company says.

Asking for comments

Antony Pranata, a Nokia software engineer who has helped developed Nokia Location Tagger, is soliciting comments and recommendations from users.  He writes in the weblog article: 

“Just to give you a little bit of background, location tagging is planned to be a seamlessly integrated part of Nokia experience.  Before we reach that point, we decided to release a standalone application to give you a sneak preview.  We would like to hear your thoughts already now.

“What do you think about the product?  Do you have any problems using it? What features do you want to have?  Even if you don’t like it, please also tell us.

“Note that Nokia Location Tagger will not be the final solution of Nokia experience.  In the future, we will be ‘integrating’ the user interface of location tagging into Camera and Gallery applications (no longer as a standalone application).”

Waiting for geotagging

For years I’ve been writing about the value of geotagging camera phone photos.  As a wireless data consultant and camera phone blogger I occasionally get e-mail and calls from people who wonder if the feature is available, especially for business applications.

The cellular operators in the United States have kicking and screaming for years about implementing location technology, even though it is considered a national security mandated by the government. 

Some operators have even paid fines for not meeting government deadlines for implementing network-wide location capabilities.  For the cellular industry it has been a question of developing the right technology for the right price and, just as importantly, finding ways to make money from location services.

Finally….

However, finally, GPS and other forms of location are being incorporated into phones.  Moreover, I think 2008 will be “The Year of Location” in the U.S. 

We will see a blossoming of services that include not just geotagging images but also the integration of GPS with Internet databases for phones and in-vehicle navigation devices.

Indeed, this is the start of a new ecosystem of location products and services.

Chicago school suspends students, ponders technology classes, after viewing fight video

After viewing a camera phone video of students staging a mock fight, Chicago school administrators are pondering whether to hold classes to teach responsible use of the Internet, according to the Chicago Tribune.

School officials saw students staring at a cellular phone watching a video of a staged fight —  shoving matches —  by eighth graders in a bathroom.  The students, from Benjamin Middle School, were going to post the video on YouTube, the article says.

The students were suspended for one to four days and their parents were called in to school.  Officials “are considering offering classes on blogging and video techniques to channel misguided activities into productive learning,” the Chicago Tribune says.  I think all schools — beginning with the elementary grades — should teach classes about technology and the Internet.

Teaching the teachers

Unfortunately, many teachers and officials are apprehensive that their students know more about technology than they do, and they are often correct.  That says more about the competence of educators than the students.

The article reports that since 2006 almost 1,000 security personnel at Chicago’s public school have been trained about popular Web sites, such as MySpace, Facebook and Xenga, “to help maintain safety.”  Schools officials tell the Chicago Tribune that a student who goes into a bathroom to shoot a video could slip and hurt slip and hit his or her head.  Officials also say the mock fights could turn into real fights.

All that certainly is true.  But it’s not just security personnel who should be up to speed on the dangers — and advantages — of the Internet.  The Internet cuts across all disciplines.

Chicago school officials say the current code of conduct for students doesn’t address such issues as YouTube or staging fake fights, and they might ask the school board to update the codes.  Good idea.  It’s also a good idea to make sure teachers and administrators are updated on the Internet.

Camera phone video shows U.K. teenager on railroad track as train passes over him

It’s not enough that kids are going around hitting and beating up other kids and adults in order to film their actions on camera phones — “happy slapping.”  Now British kids are risking death on railroad lines — and using camera phones to record their stupidity.

An article in the Telegraph reports:  “Video footage of a teenager lying face down on a railway track as a speeding train passes a few inches above him has been posted on the Internet.  The video, which appeared on the YouTube website, shows the boy picking himself up after the train has passed and waving his legs in the air to show that he has not been injured.”

I very quickly searched YouTube for that video, but couldn’t find it.  No loss.

The article says kids are increasingly risking their lives around railroads.  One of the riskiest activities is standing in front of a train as it’s speeding down the track and moving away at the least minute, the Telegraph says.

Fox Interactive Media's Photobucket launches mobile-friendly siteb

Photobucket, a photo and video storage and sharing Web site that’s owned by News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media (FIM), has launched a mobile-enabled Web site to facilitate viewing, uploading and sharing images (see below), says the press release.

“An internal survey of thousands of Photobucket users conducted by Fox Interactive Media’s Research and Strategy Solutions in August 2007 found that 80 percent have a camera phone, 36 percent use the camera in their mobile phone every day and more than half (52 percent) have access to the Internet from their mobile phone,” the release says.

FIM is News Corp.’s Internet arm and oversees such companies as MySpace, IGN Entertainment, FoxSports.com and Rotten Tomatoes, and the organization plans to offers more mobile-friendly sites.  The release notes that an ad-supported MySpace site for mobile debuted in September 2007 and mobile sites for FoxSports.com on MSN and IGN will be launched soon.

Making sense

It certainly makes sense for FIM and other companies to ensure their Web properties are as easy as possible to use on a cellular Web browser.  Of course, a postage stamp-sized screen on a phone doesn’t do much for the user’s Internet experience. 

The solution is handsets with larger, higher resolution screens — and increasing numbers of subscribers are willing to bite the financial and portability bullets to pay for and carry bigger phones.

Man in China beaten to death after using camera phone to record protests

A Chinese man was beaten to death after using his camera phone to record protests of residents in a rural village in China who were upset about the government’s decision to establish a garbage dump near a residential area, according to The Guardian.

Wei Wenhua, the general manager of a company owned by the local water resources bureau, was pulled from his car and beaten by chengguan, enforcers who are paid by local governments to deal with crowds, the article says.

For years I have written in this weblog, been quoted in the press and spoken at conferences about my fears that people taking camera phone photos and videos of government activities would be killed, maimed and/or jailed.  It has begun to happen.

Prediction coming true

Because camera phones are becoming so ubiquitous, consumers are increasingly likely to record newsworthy events, often before professional journalists and photographers.  Some people will knowingly risk their lives to take photos and videos of government abuses, military actions, demonstrations and other potentially dangerous situations.

The bad news is what I predicted years ago is happening.  Camera phone users are being hurt or killed.  The good news is consumers with camera phones are making it much more difficult for miscreants to hide what they’re doing.

This always-connected wireless imaging revolution is still in the early stages.  We are just beginning to see, for example, live streaming broadcasting from cellular phones, that I’ve written about in my mobile television weblog and in one of my weekly mobile communications “Thinkernet” columns (see below) for CMP’s “Internet Evolution.”

Camera phone video shows assassination of Benazir Bhutto

A video of the assassination of the former prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, has been identified as taken by a camera phone.

I have seen at least two videos of the assassination and at least one of them, according to a news report I heard, was from a camera phone.  Channel 4 News in the U.K. has reported on the incident (see below) and shown a video that I think was taken with a phone.

You can find the two videos on the Web on numerous sites, but I haven’t seen any one specifically identified as taken with a camera phone.  However, one of the videos clearly shows people holding camera phones (see below) right before her death.

When I first learned about the assassination, I thought it was extremely likely that camera phone photos and/or videos would emerge. 

The wireless imaging revolution

As I have written many times before, camera phones are revolutionary.  With one billion (more or less) people who have camera phones, major news events will never be the same.

Also, imagine if “ordinary” people were using the capabilities of new software, such as from Qik, that allows live, streaming camera phone videos, to record the assassination.  The wireless imaging revolution is here friends.  (I’m also posting this on my camera phone weblog.)

InfoTrends survey reports GenZ frequently takes camera phone photos

An InfoTrends press release about its new camera phones study, “U.S. Camera Phone End-User Survey Research,” provides a little bit of information, that’s not a big surprise, about the market.

The release says “camera phone functionality is becoming increasingly attractive to young consumers in the 13 – 24 year old age demographic.  A significant number of this GenZ population indicated that they send or receive text messages on a daily basis and nearly the same percentage use their cameras for taking pictures.”

InfoTrends says that only 15 percent of consumers (in all age groups surveyed, I assume) consider camera phones to be their primary camera as opposed to 65 percent who consider digital cameras as “their primary picture taking device.”

Not enough features for me

The research group says, “Satisfaction ratings were high for camera phone features and ease-of-use (taking pictures and videos), but somewhat lower for print quality and the cost of sharing/receiving photos.”

It’s interesting to me that the survey indicated high ratings for features.  Personally, I find most camera phones don’t offer several very useful capabilities, such as being able to set exposure levels or an optical zoom.

CBS' "Moonlight" uses iPhone-like camera phone as part of plot

A new CBS television show, “Moonlight,” (see above) uses an iPhone-like cellular phone with iPhone-like photo capabilities.

I watch very little TV for fun, but I watch a lot for “professional” reasons.  Really.  I watch TV on cellular phones — because it’s one of the subjects I especially like as a wireless data consultant and I write about it — but TV shows are generally moronic.

I’ll sometimes download free TV shows from Apple iTunes to my Tablet PC and my iPod for “emergencies” when I might have nothing else to do after working on my computer, listening to music and reading on a plane.  I have never watched any of these free programs, but I continue to occasionally download them because, well, they’re there and they’re free!

“Moonlight” camera phone surprise

I saw that the premiere episode of “Moonlight” was available on iTunes and began downloading it, but realized my hard disk drive was almost out of space and stopped the download. 

Coincidentally, I saw the episode was on the AOL Video Web site while I was looking on the site for the first episode of this season’s CBS’ “Numb3rs” that, for some strange reason, wasn’t streaming on the CBS “innertube” site.  But it did play on AOL Video.

So I figured I’d just take a look at “Moonlight” on AOL Video since it was staring me in the face.  Lo and behold, a camera phone played a part in the plot so I fired up my trusty image editing program and clipped a few shots, such as the heroine, “Beth Turner,” a reporter for the Web TV site “Buzz Wire,” using her phone to snap a photo of a dead girl (see below).

As you can see, it’s a black, large-screen, PDA-like phone that doesn’t have many controls.

iPhone-like effects

But it does employ the “shutter” effect when taking a photo (see below) that the iPhone uses when a photo is taken.  There’s also a shutter click sound, but virtually every camera phone has something like that.

As the episode progresses, Turner uses her phone to show the hero, “Mick St. John,” who happens to be a vampire working as a private detective (yeah, it’s one of these real-life shows), a photo.  First she touches the photo to expand it out of a screen of 20 thumbnail images (see below).

Then, when the photo fills the screen, she uses the now-famous “pinch” movement to zoom the image (see below).  Hmmm, isn’t it easier and more common to “pinch” with the thumb and forefinger?

I watched the entire program with the hope that it would use more camera phone features but, alas, it didn’t.  What sort of idiot watches a program because he wants to see a camera phone in action?!

Real or fake?

But I’m wondering, could this phone be an actual iPhone that has been disguised?  More likely, it’s just a simulation.

Update (10–27–07):  Okay, okay, so I was watching “Moonlight” (again!  What’s wrong with me?!) on CBS’ Web site and, in episode 105, Beth Turner gets a call from Mick St. John.  No doubt — it’s an iPhone (see below).

CDMA BlackBerry Pearl 8130 includes video recording, plus two megapixel camera, GPS

Well, I must admit I’m surprised.  I didn’t think the just-announced Research in Motion (RIM) CDMA BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (see left) included video recording capability.  Since I went to the RIM Industry Analyst Summit — where RIM displayed some new/unannounced products, as I wrote in another weblog — I knew a new Pearl included an upgraded camera (compared with the 1.3 megapixel 8100) and GPS.

But I didn’t think video recording was incorporated.  In fact, I thought video recording wasn’t on RIM’s short-term roadmap.  Ever since RIM introduced its first camera-enabled handset, the 8100, I’ve been bugging RIM about why it didn’t include video recording.

When the 8300 was introduced, I kept asking RIM about video recording.  And I continued asking when the 8320 was introduced.

Learning more about BlackBerry recording

So now that RIM has debuted video recording I had to learn about it first in a press release.  I am embarrassed to have had to find it out that way.  I’m also embarrassed because at the RIM summit I don’t think I asked RIM specifically about whether video recording would be available on the new Pearls.  Shame on me.

I will, however, see if I can get more information about the decision behind offering recording capability.  I assume that since the 81xx series is the most consumer-oriented BlackBerry version, if RIM were going to offer video recording, a Pearl would be a logical first choice.

But because I’m a QWERTY keyboard guy, I’m more of a fan of the 83xx series.  I wonder if the 8320 I have could be upgraded via software to incorporate video recording.