One such tool for photo blogging that integrates with existing blogging systems is KABLOG and it's interesting that the Sharp GX10 does not work with their software because, "Sharp does not allow J2ME applications running on the GX10 to make network connections to any domain except the domain from whence the application was downloaded."
Todd from KABLOG suggests a possible workaround and comments on how stupid this is of Sharp - "It seems to me that disabling network access is a poor excuse for network security. I hope that Sharp removes this restriction in future releases, as no other handset maker has found this restriction necessary. "
Yet another good reason to buy a proper camera phone like the Nokia 3650!
"Moblogging - updating blogs with photos from camera phones - is really racing ahead", says Mike Butcher in the Guardian Unlimited.
The article mainly focuses on the new moblogging service from 20six who have set out to cater for photo bloggers as opposed to regular text bloggers. There's alot of money behind these guys but I have my doubts as to how successful they can be. There are so many great tools popping up for existing blogging software such as Moveable Type and Blogger that it's difficult to see how 20six can make an impact except, as the article suggests, by being bought out by a mobile network operator.
This kind of hacking makes me green with "why didn't I think of that" envy! What an ingenious way to make up for the disappointing mono ouput on the Nokia 3650 when watching videos.
Picture Phones for Police Officers. "Police officers can run license plates or view mug shots and get critical data quickly. Information from database queries can be used to generate automatic alerts and calls for backup." [via Picturephoning.com]
I've often wondered why vigilante minded citizens haven't setup more websites aimed at,...ahem.... exposing criminals by catching them in the act? Why should this use of cameraphones be limited to police officers? Ok, maybe it's because there would be all sorts of defamation and privacy issues attached?
There's more detail in the Nokia Press Release, where they describe the 6650 as the "first dual-mode 3GPP compliant GSM/WCDMA mobile phone capable of seamless handovers"
BBC: Young 'prefer texting to calls'"Text messages have superseded phone calls as the most common use for a mobile phone among young people, a new survey reveals."
Proof positive that, as long as the operators don't mess up on the pricing, MMS will be a huge success. I've said it before but it's appropriate to repeat here why MMS is not headed for a WAP like fate - P2P is key! In other words, person to person communication is what these devices were made for, whether that's direct voice and visual communication or more circuitous forms such as moblogging.
And they keep on pushing - VISIARC Offers Evaluation Version of CAD Viewer for Phones "VISIARC AB today announced the possibility to download a demo version of its VISIARC Wireless Viewer for evaluation, a viewer for accessing and viewing CAD drawings on mobile phones. Through easy operations to zoom and pan details are revealed and show up even better than on paper, despite the limited screen size on mobile phones. It's available for the following mobile phones: Sony Ericsson P800, Nokia 3650 and 7650 as well as for Nokia Communicator 9210/9210i."
Movies and calendars on Nokia 3650 (Loud Thinking)"The ability to watch full-lenght videos and TV-series with RealOne is even cooler, though. I just got my 128MB MMC card and a card reader to go with it. I just converted an episode of Simpsons (10MB) and an episode of Friends (14MB) to 3GP. It works surprisingly well. Simpsons is by far the nicest quality, but Friends is also certainly watchable."
It's just brilliant to see people pushing this phone to it's far out limits!
FT.com:"Carphone Warehouse is to introduce an instant photo service with Kodak in an effort to boost sales of the latest camera phones and grow revenues from next-generation handsets. Customers will be able to come into shops and upload pictures from their phones using infra-red or wireless Bluetooth connections. They can then be viewed and adjusted on the Order Station touch screens. As many as nine images can then be printed on a single 6" by 4" Kodak paper in around 25 seconds, for £1 a print."
That's all very well and good but here's the key point in the article -
"Kodak also expects a lift for its business: "People on average take 100 images a year using their traditional cameras, with camera phones the number is 250, because it's a device they have with them all the time," said Matt Todd, commercial manager for Kodak Europe."
Yes, that's the thing that many analysts forget. The reason the cameraphone is going to be the camera is simple because it's the only device we'll have on us at all times. I'll bet that 'stand-alone' digital cameras will eventually become a dwindling category of gadget as an ever higher percentage of mobiles come with cameras built-in. Taking photos is communicating. Cellphones are for transmission of ideas, thoughts, knowledge (ie. communicating). They were made for each other and having them as seperate devices will come to be seen as ridiculous as the thought of recording one's voice into a dictaphone to transmit later via a phone.
Unstrung: "Nokia Corp.'s 3G technology has been dealt a body blow by the decision of a major network operator -- Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Ltd. -- to rip out and replace 700 of its W-CDMA base stations, just a month before commercial launch of the network."
Nokia 3650, a phone to fear?"HI-TECH video phones can be used to steal PIN numbers from unsuspecting automatic telling machine users, a Geelong Advertiser investigation has found. Using a Nokia 3650, the Advertiser was able to video an ATM user entering her PIN number and by viewing the video determined her number."
Wow, you mean they could see on their phone what they couldn't see with their own eyes? Must be the telephoto lens ;-)
BBC NEWS - Hutchison sues UK 3G partner: "Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, which controls the 3 UK network, is suing one of its partners in the project, Dutch phone firm KPN".
Slashdot.org pointed this wackythumb keyboard from Japan. Seems that Japanese teens have become so proficient with thumb typing on their mobile phones that keyboard makers are now opting for phone keypad layouts as opposed to conventional QWERTY ones. Isn't this going to lead to chronic thumb RSI??
More phones from Motorola Motorola is going to flood the market with up to 25 new cellphones later this year, nearly half of which will be cameraphones.
ZDNet |UK| Camera phones click in Europe:"Embedded cameras are clicking in the European mobile phone market, according to a new report from research firm Gartner, which projects that camera phones will make up the majority of Western European handsets shipped by 2006. Handsets with built-in cameras or a camera attachment are increasingly luring consumers to buy new phones or upgrade their older models, which should spell good news for handset makers and mobile phone operators."
Well maybe, but if they're European handset makers then this article also has some worrying news -
"Established European handset vendors may not necessarily benefit from this demand, however. Asian handset makers, which have superior imaging technology but little brand recognition in Europe, have successfully allied with network operators such as Vodafone to promote their wares. Established companies such as Nokia and Siemens are less keen on such alliances."
So there's a big power struggle going on here, and I'm not too sure I want to see the operators gaining the upperhand. The operators provide the 'road networks' of the communication age but I don't want them telling me what car to drive or taxing me for having a 'fancy' model. It's understandable that the handset makers with small market share would try anything to gain a toehold but I just wish they'd not give the operators so much control of the interface. Ok, much of Vodafone Live's success is apparently down to it's consistent interface and quality testing but I'd suggest it's also due in no small part to David Beckham's advertising campaign!
Phonecam Nation. Ah, trust Wired to really get it. They should really rename themselves unWired with insights like these -
"The trend started innocuously a few years ago, when novelty cameras that plugged into mobile handsets were marketed to gadget-obsessed kids in Japan and Europe. But in the past few months, a global phonecam revolution has begun to emerge. Take the device's portability, add its ability to post images online, multiply by its growing ubiquity, and what do you get? A cheap, fast strain of DIY publishing in which everyone is an embedded reporter. The rise of the technology resembles the leap from late-'90s personal homepages to today's weblogs: Like blogs, phonecams are a fresh combination of familiar elements that equal way more than the sum of their parts."
Or maybe more to the point, is the hype upon us? I've been using a mobile phone for as long as anyone I know and neither I, nor any of my friends, have ever received a single spam message. Go dream up something else to hype would ya?
SiliconStrategies.com: "Cellular camera phones are the fastest growing market segment in consumer products, with an expected volume of 35 million units this year, and 140 million units forecast in 2006, according to ESS Technology. Digital still cameras also present an attractive market opportunity with 40 million units forecasted for 2006, according to ESS Technology." [via picturephoning.com]
Picturephoning.com is rightly sceptical of forced 'trends' in MMS where operator employees are talking up ridiculous new picture messaging ideas. Hey, operator, please don't try to force your daft notions on me - I've got plenty of great ideas of my own on how to use the technology, thanks.
Anyone who has read this blog for a while probably knows that I'm truly fascinated by the implications of MMS enabled photo and video blogging. So, when Russell Beattie took the time to create a narrated storyboard describing part of his day, using his Nokia 3650, I was pushed to post the following comment on his blog -
Russ, you know if you were to make this a regular thing, posting a captioned storyboard of your life, I believe you could supplement your income by being a 'Reality Blogger'... lol. Just add a micropayment system and away you go. Want to follow "Reality Russ"? Just send an SMS to this premium rate number.
I remember that shortly after you started video blogging you soon tired of it and commented that your life was too mundane to be of much interest to anyone. I agreed at the time... :p
But... as with any soap opera, the more you watch and 'get into' the characters, the more compelling it becomes. Like it or not, you are now an online 'character'. You have being playing out the drama of your life before us (those who regularly drop in) for nearly a year and the more we 'watch' the more interesting it becomes. I hope that doesn't sound weird, voyeuristic or big brotherish because it's not. I don't wish to intrude upon your privacy any more than any of your 'audience' but the fact is you've definitely drawn us into your life. We came for the tech but stayed for the drama.
I've found and left a hundred other tech blogs in the meantime but your's has a number of ingredients which differentiate it from the norm. In fact, to call it a blog really doesn't do it justice. The personal touches, the photos, the video, the interesting storyline (of a fellow developer just trying to make it on his own), the exotic setting (for those of us living in less sun-kissed climes), the varied characters (moof, et al), the progress of your son, etc, etc, all combine to create a vivid Reality Soap that's far more compelling than most I've ever seen. Why? Because unlike those shows, where, eventhough the 'characters' were 'regular' people with whom the audience is supposed to easily identify, I still had very little in common with them to make me care. Who did I want to see get voted off first? I didn't care. Who did I want to win? I didn't care.
On the other hand if RussellBeattie.com returned a 404 tomorrow and forever more I, and I'll bet a thousand others, would forever wonder, "Emmm,... whatever happened to that Russ Beattie character?"
Slashdot - The Death of Bluetooth? Slashdot has a debate on the Bob Frankston article in which he declares that Bluetooth has failed. Boy am I sick of such nonsense! And boy was I glad to see the second entry in the debate from Moofie who has much a better analytical faculty than Mr. Frankston -
"Read my lips. THAT IS NOT WHAT BLUETOOTH IS FOR [working more than 15 feet]. Bluetooth is for personal (that is, on your person) area networking. It is, by design, a short-range, low-powered protocol. Your mobile phone is a radio with a range of two or three miles...why the hell do you want ANOTHER radio with a range of 30 feet (with the commensurate power consumption which maps directly onto weight) to communicate with a device that should be in your pocket anyway?
Bluetooth, when properly implemented, is great. It's not designed to be the only wireless protocol: It's narrowly designed to do one thing. Replace wires. That, it does well.
The article criticizes BT because it does exactly what it's designed to do. That's silly.
