Hugenstat

broadbandgenie

UK Mobile Broadband technology…. Mobile broadband is fast becoming the latest must have gadget.

What is a Femtocell?

In telecommunications, a femtocell—originally known as an Access Point Base Station—is a small cellular base station, typically designed for use in residential or small business environments.

… so its a weirdly named way to boast the signal to your mobile phone whilst in your home, no more one bar signal problems.

Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks.

A funny pic that describes RAID…”The phrase “RAID” is an umbrella term for computer data storage schemes that can divide and replicate data among multiple hard disk drives. RAID’s various designs all involve two key design goals: increased data reliability and increased input/output performance. When several physical disks are set up to use RAID technology, they are said to be in a RAID array. This array distributes data across several disks, but the array is seen by the computer user and operating system as just one, single disk”

Intel

festival pocket film

“Depuis 4 ans les téléphones mobiles sont équipés d’une caméra et un écran integrés.” For 4 years the mobile telephones have been equipped with a camera and a screen…. 13, 14 et 15 juin 2008 au Centre Pompidou à Paris

Looks like an excellent festival with admirable aims but I can not help hearing the sound of Director David Lynch swearing. The site features some great ideas showcased in 40-60 seconds “mobile screen” format…”we don’t make out a storyboard” says director jean cluade taki.
In my distant past I viewed an interesting video on the differences between shooting a project on film verses video, which went into great detail about the beauty of film grain and the disadvantages of video. This was video pre high def. Aside from the differences between fields and frames the beauty of film can now be replicated in post production with the use of apple motion etc. Returning to video shot on an mobile phone the cons of this medium are that its just such low quality, even on a high end phone, the theory is that you shoot on the highest res available and then rework it in post. Looking at films like cloverfield that use the low res effect of a budget digicam i would have to agree with Lynch and say the results are disappointing. I am hoping Nokia et al develope some kind of auto focus and detachable steadycam or in phone system that evens out that wonky footage without just bluring pixels.

Eisenstein always used a tripod but experimented with a camera strapped to the waist of an acrobat.

more on Formalist film theory.

wikipedia “An early adopter or lighthouse customer is an early customer of agivencompany, product, or technology.Typically this will be a large, sophisticated customer that, in addition to using the vendor’s product or technology, will also provide considerable and candid feedback to help the vendor refine its future product releases, as well as the associated means of distribution, service, and support.”

Early adopters  at least some must be hanging out here an amazing subculture.
Ilanio is a composite of several cartoony stereotypes of European fashion designers.
 

free ad-funded mobile video service. “ users truly enjoy consuming bite-sized video snacks on their phone“ Ujjal Kohli more

BT Trials Ad-Funded Video Service

Vodafone Italy chooses Amobee for Ad-funded Video  
EMI and T-Mobile Trial Ad-funded Video   

This area is growing very fast. The companies involved started trailing thier offerings late 2007.
3 now has million plus subscribers to ad funded video.

Mobile video is predicted to grow >11,000% between 2005 and 2009 (Infonetics, 2006).  
Global mobile video market to be worth €4.5bn by 2008 (ARC Group).
Global mobile video market to be worth $2.7bn in 2006 and $12.2bn by 2010 (Strategy Analytics).

Vending machine

Dress Transforms Into Vending Machine Disguise

I have often found myself having to dodge cellphone users in deep conversation while shopping in a store.
eetimes has a great article on this aspect of mobile phone use… “While driving, mobile talkers normally require two full lanes and a half-dozen car-lengths–front and back–to accommodate their car, their phone, their life-or-death discussion, their career, their personal importance, their bustling, affluent lifestyle and their total obliviousness to the traffic that careens around them at 75 mph.”

and “Women use their mobile phones as ’symbolic bodyguards’ when feeling vulnerable in public places“

 Sociology of the Mobile Phone has also some amazing insights into mobile phone use within different cultures “Thus, cell phones have become popular even in rather “technophobic contexts like Italy, where computers and other modern technologies have a difficult stand (Fortunati 53), and especially in Scandinavian countries where people traditionally are introverted and silence in talk is highly valued (Puro 2002).”

Dr Sadie Plant has some good observations too.
“A number of males also confessed to being inhibited when their companions displayed mobiles of a higher specification or aesthetic quality than their own. Others said they had been keen to display their mobiles while they were top-of-the-range or state-of-the-art, but had stopped doing so when their models fell behind.”

Meanwhile if you are tired of all the loud voices of cellphone penumbra carry some shhh cards by coudal

No doubt about it I am addicted to the stuff.
But what can you do with your mobile online while guzzling or sipping an expresso.

cafexperiment has an nice site dedicated to a drink that can “raise one’s spirits” its a celebration of coffee and coffee shops found “in every large european capital“. A great place to showcase your best coffee themed mobile phone pics. Lavazza has a coffee comunity and starbucks has a mobile version of its store locator while illy has a university… Università del caffè ..Homage to the humble and but super appreciated bean

If you listen carefully you can hear the paparazzi in 1961 politely ask Christine Keeler to wave.
Today when Camera phones with video capability are used to daily photograph anyone Wikipedia observes that “While camera phones have been found useful by tourists and for other common civilian purposes, as they are cheap, convenient, and portable; they have also posed controversy, as they enable surreptitious photography. A user may pretend to be simply talking on the phone or browsing the internet, drawing no suspicion, and be able to photograph a person or place illegally or against that person’s wishes.”

When cameras are so ubiquitous how do those in the media spotlight manage their image and identity?What lessons could they have learned from past masters of the art?.
 

How important is it to get the permission and cooperation of those who you will photograph and what advantage does a posed shot have over a serrupticious photo. Will a staged photo capture the subject naturally in his or her real life setting?. sent is an art project that gives selected artists film makers and celebrities camera phones to make art, “Can high art be low res?”.