Thoughts on Streaming Video From your Phone Technology

One of our "Massive Lists" was websites that allowed you to stream video from your video enabled phone live to the web (Berman Post: Stream Videos From Your Cell Phone). This post will be about why I believe that this is an extremely important and valuable technology that everyone should have on their cell phone.

There are a number of useful applications which do not raise this technology to critical but make it worth having. When you stream video directly from your phone to the web, there is no need to worry about running out of memory on your cell and memory card. The data need not be stored on your phone, and it usually is not. Since the data is not stored on your phone or memory card, the survival of the video is independent of that of your phone. In other words, if your phone is stolen, destroyed, misplaced, or corrupted, your videos remain unaffected. There is no need to worry about backing up the data as the web service you are using is/should be doing that on their end.

As a side note, it is still worth backing up any important videos as the company you are using could have any number of problems. Chose the right service provider and it is less likely that they will lose your data then the average person. Still, it never hurts to have a back up just in case.

Instant turn around time is another useful feature. For example, you just has a baby. Your friends and family are scattered all over and want to see the child. Without this technology you had to take the video, drive home, load the video onto your computer, upload the video to the web, and then send out a link to people who want to see the video. With the technology all you need to do is give the people a link and you can stream live from the hospital. If they are not available to watch the video live, it is automatically archived for them to see when ever they have a free moment. Often, the people on the receiving end of the video do need to find an internet connected computer and can just watch the video on their phone.

All of this is just icing on the proverbial "critical" cake. The reason this technology is extremely important is because of what else you can do with it. To truly understand its importance, we must reflect upon a given situation occurring with different problems and how they have been solved. The example is witnessing a crooked cop in action, but this applies to many situations including seeing human rights abuses commited by represive governments or being in any dangerous situation.

1) No video cameras / you do not have your camera -> your word against thiers
Likely Result -> you lose or at least you do not win
Solution -> smaller cameras that are now in phones and are always with you

2) No effective distribution method -> you have the tape but do not have a way of easily disseminating it for viewing
Likely Result -> Failure to reach a critical mass of outrage and apathy prevails
Solution -> the internet, more specifically YouTube and other sites of similar nature

3) In camera data storage -> risk of being discovered and having the video destroyed
Likely Result -> if discovered same as example 1
Solution -> Technology that streams video to the web from your phone instantly

As you can see, this technology easily solves the last two problems by ensuring the survival of the video (provided you have service or an internet connection which is likely and becomes more likely every day) and placing it onto a disseminating network.

When you find yourself in a dangerous situation, your best chance for safety after going unnoticed is publicity. The likelihood of you being able to defend yourself against a crooked cop trained to fight and in the use of their weapons is minuscule. While slipping out unnoticed would be the safest, once discovered the more publicity the safer you are under most circumstances.

Lets look at another example. You are waling on the street alone at night. Most of the time nothing will happen, but their is always that chance that your situation will be one of sad few. What can you do? Not put your self into that situation in the first place. Of course, sometimes they can not be avoided, and that notion really does not help once you are in that situation. As long as their is enough "juice" (electricity / battery life) left in your cell phone, just turn on the live stream.

If nothing happens to you, great. Delete the video later. If you are approached by a suspicious individual or group make sure to get a shot of them. If you pass without incident, great. Delete the video later. If that individual or group approaches you or confront you in a threatening way, explain that pictures of them, along with everything that is being said, is / has been streaming to the web and nothing they can do will erase that video. Depending on the situation explain further that nothing they have done yet is a crime, and you are content to walk away and forget about this unfortunate misunderstanding. It does not matter if this is true, you are creating an out for them and hoping they take it instead of escalating the situation. Finally, if necessary, tell them that if anything happens to you their is someone who has access to the video and knows to check it. Most, if they believe you, will be dissuaded from continuing. They are not stupid and know that the $50 they might get from you is not worth the police having at least their picture and possibly some of the crime on video.

That last spoken part should be true. Most people have an unspoken checklist of where to look for someone who they think is missing: call the cell, check their home, where is the car, local hospitals.... This one should be spoken, or set up a delayed message that will be sent to them when you stop postponing it. This includes making sure they have access if you have your account default set on privet.

This same principles applies to helping others.

Other examples are abundant but need not be explored here. Surely you can imagine many situations in which the ability to stream live video could be extremely important.

This technology does create some problems or headaches in some circumstances. Imagine having people in the audience of a concert streaming it live across the internet. All in all, these problem seem heavily out weighed by the benefits.

Finally, the technology is free so their is absolutely no reason not to get it once one of the services offers their service for your phone. Even if you never need to use it, what is the harm in having it available. Chances are good that even if you never need to use live streaming technology for a critical situation, you will still use it for some non critical situations.

In case this post has been to subtle, you should head over to Berman Post: Stream Videos From Your Cell Phone, find a service that has support for your phone, and get the free application.

Google to Buy Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Billion

Google is making some strong moves in the mobile market. This is classic vertical acquisition. I would expect them to make a play at a carrier next; say T-Mobile.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-15/google-agrees-to-acquisition-of-motorola-mobility-for-about-12-5-billion.html

"Google Inc. (GOOG), the biggest maker of smartphone software, agreed to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion in its largest acquisition, gaining mobile patents and expanding in the hardware business.

Motorola shareholders will get $40 a share in cash, the companies said in a statement today. That’s 63 percent more than Motorola Mobility’s closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 12. Both boards have approved the takeover.

Larry Page, the Google co-founder who took over as chief executive officer in April, is pushing the Web company into smartphones to take on Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and gain more clout for its Android software in the wireless business. Motorola Mobility, under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn to shift strategy, gives Google more than 17,000 patents it can leverage in negotiations with competitors such as Apple."

Print From Your Phone With Gmail For Mobile And Google Cloud Print

Printing from your phone; might not be a feature you need that much but when you do it promises to be a great time saver.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/print-from-your-phone-with-gmail-for.html

"With Gmail for mobile and Google Cloud Print — a service that allows printing from any app on any device, OS or browser without the need to install drivers — you can.
To get started, you’ll first need to connect your printer to Google Cloud Print. For now, this step requires a Windows PC but Linux and Mac support are coming soon. Once you’re set up, just go to gmail.com from your iPhone or Android browser and choose “Print” from the dropdown menu in the top right corner. You can also print eligible email attachments (such as .pdf or .doc) by clicking the “Print” link that appears next to them. "

'Text-And-Walker' Goes For an Inadvertent Dip

Video embedded below.

RIM Patents Adaptive/Smart Billboards Based on Road Traffic

RIM, the company best know for the BlackBerry, has filed a patent indicating it may be making its way into advertising. Specifically smart or adaptive billboards. The idea is pretty simple. When traffic is flowing drivers and their passengers neither have the time nor inclination to read long winded billboards (to say nothing of the safety issues). As traffic slows the people stuck have more time and may look for distractions. Thus when the vehicles are speeding along the billboard will display giant logos (or something of the sort) and as they slow down from traffic jams the billboards will display more detailed ads. RIM will be able to tell how quickly the traffic is flowing by tracking the BlackBerrys in them.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/detailed_ads_for_traffic_jams_rim_patents_adaptive.php

"According to mobile-focused blog Unwired View, the innovation comes in the form of using nearby phones to measure traffic speed and density and then adapting a billboard's content accordingly.

When traffic is moving fast and drivers have no time to pay attention to billboards, or there's a dense crowd on the street so you are distracted and less likely to pay attention, the billboard may just blast a huge logo and slogan of the advertiser at you, to catch any peripheral attention it can get. When traffic slows down in a jam, and you are sitting bored at the wheel waiting for a car in front to move the next few meters, grateful for any distraction, the same billboard will give you a detailed information about the service, prices, benefits and stuff.

The two separate patents are for "Adaptive roadside billboard system and related methods" and "Adaptive pedestrian billboard system and related methods"; both are described as having a storage system that could retain a number of different messages for different speeds and traffic densities. Beyond the level of detail involved, such a system could also be used to offer interaction opportunities when density is high and speed is low (such as in a traffic jam)."

'Unbreakable Phone' Broken During Live Demonstration

Talk about awesomely bad timing for the manufacturer.

Video embedded below.

Google Launching 'Pay-Per-Call'

Google appears to be gearing up to launching a 'Pay-Per-Call' in the same way they handle pay-per-clicks.

http://searchengineland.com/google-to-introduce-click-to-call-billing-in-ads-on-mobile-devices-32831

"Google sent out notification to its AdWords advertisers that this month “your location-specific business phone number will display alongside your destination url in ads that appear on high-end mobile devices. Users will be able to click-to-call your business just as easily as they click to visit your website. You’ll be charged for clicks to call, same as you are for clicks to visit your website.”

On most smartphones, phone numbers typically can be touched (or “clicked”) to initiate a telephone call. This “click to call” scenario already exists for Google organic local listings on smartphones. What Google is saying, simply, is that it will allow phone numbers to display in ads and will charge advertisers when calls are initiated accordingly.

This is a version, effectively, of “pay-per-phone call” but the cost per call is the same as a click — a bargain (generally speaking) for the advertisers to receive a “warm lead.”"

Type-N-Walk.com

If you are constantly walking into things while typing on your phone Type-N-Walk.com could be your solution. The service uses your camera to show you what is in front of you while you are typing your message. Watch the clip and you will quickly understand.

Video embedded below.

Teachers Asking Students to Use Cellphone in Class

In a similar way that Denmark has started to give full internet access to students taking exams, some American teachers are embracing cellphones. They are asking students to use the cellphones as part of assignments and do to research if the device is web enabled.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CELL_PHONES_IN_SCHOOLS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US (via)

"Tech savvy teachers are asking students to use their phones to record foreign language assignments, take photographs for projects and do mini-Internet searches if they have a Web browser.

That's a stark contrast to the emphasis that has been placed on prohibiting their use, often out of fear students will cheat or take inappropriate pictures then passed on to friends."

BlackBerry Storm 2 Gets Official

The rumors were off by a month. The BlackBerry Storm 2 was officially announced by Verizon. At $179 with a 2yr contract (after a $100 mail in rebate), it is not a bad price. The new 'click' technology sounds interesting, because the clicking feature on the first Storm was what turned me off to it. You can get your hands on the device in two days (28th of October).

http://crackberry.com/verizon-officially-announces-blackberry-storm2

"Key Features:

* Smooth design and premium finish with sloped edges, chrome accents, glass lens and stainless steel backplate
* Large (3.25"), dazzling high-resolution 480 x 360 display at 184 ppi
* Capacitive touchscreen with integrated functions (Send, End, Menu,
* Escape) and new SurePress technology that makes clicking the display practically effortless
* 3G and global connectivity support for making phone calls in more than 220 countries and accessing data in more than 185 countries (with more than 80 destinations in 3G)
* Network Connectivity: EV-DO Revision A; UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz); and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks
* Supports Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
* 256 MB of Flash memory
* 2 GB of onboard media storage and a microSD(TM)/SDHD memory card slot with a 16 GB card included"

'Air Writing' With Your Cell Phone

In addition to the numerous things your cell phone now doubles as, it could soon act as a sort of pen. Through a sophisticated computer algorithm using a cell phone's embedded accelerometer, the device could interpret your 'air writing' and record the letters. While a program is expected to be released within a few months, I think this will remain more of a novelty depending on your type of phone. I do not think I am alone in saying that I can type much faster then I can write. The strong likelihood is that typing on my QWERTY keyboard on my phone will be much quicker then trying to 'air write'. If you have a phone withing a full keyboard, one that requires multiple key strikes for each letter, 'air writing' may be faster.

http://www.livescience.com/technology/090610-cellphone-writing.html

""By holding the phone like a pen, you can write short messages or draw simple diagrams in the air," said Sandip Agrawal, an electrical and computer engineering student at Duke University in North Carolina.

The air-writing app takes advantage of accelerometers already inside cell phones such as Apple's iPhone. Accelerometers normally keep track of phone movements and orientation, such as having the display screen rotate from portrait to landscape mode."

Billionth iPhone App Downloaded

It took Apple nine months of selling apps for their iPhone to crack the billionth download. A 13 year old named Connor Mulcahey from Weston (Connecticut) is credited with the one billionth download. The app he downloaded was 'Bump', a free contact information transfer app. Both the downloader and the downloaded app will receive benefits. Connor Mulcahey will get tens of thousands of Apple software and hardware and Bump Technologies (creators of 'Bump') will get a tremendous amount of publicity. Their website homepage currently sports whimsical line "The BumpTM heard round the world. Apple, thanks a billion!".

More at http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/04/billionth-iphon.html.

Blackberry Storm 2?

There are some rumors that a sequel to the Blackberry Storm will be released in September of this year. According to the source which they say is extremely reliable, the Storm 2 will be WiFi enabled. They also say it will "be an even better Pro-consumer device than the first Storm".

The information is fairly sketchy, as would be expected from the first rumors. If this is a legitimate tip, we should be hearing more in the not to distant future.

More at http://www.slashgear.com/blackberry-storm-2-due-in-september-has-wifi-0640236.

BlackBerry One

Obama will be able to keep his BlackBerry. He has been upset at the thought that he would have to part with his trusty devise because of security concerns. Not to worry, Obama's BlackBerry got a special encryption package to keep everything secure.

More at http://crackberry.com/president-obama-still-using-his-blackberry-now.

BlackBerry Storm Official Release Date And Pricing

The BlackBerry Storm now has an official release date and pricing from Verizon (http://estore.vzwshop.com/storm). The Storm, BlackBerry's first touch screen, is set for release on the 21st of this month. It will cost just under $200 after a $50 mail in rebate ($199.99) with a two year contract. Even though the Storm is a touch screen, it is supposed to "click" when you type on it. I am not entirely sure what that means, but I can not wait to give it a try. I have a BlackBerry (Curve), and I purposly got a phone with a qwerty keybord. If the "clicking" is as realistic as they are claiming, the Storm may be my next phone. If not, I will probobly get the Bold (BlackBerry).

Qik Releases BlackBerry Client

Qik has just released a client for BlackBerry phones. Now people with select BlackBerry phones can use Qik's live streaming technology. It does not yet work exactly the same as the other phone clients, but it is still live streaming. This is the first serivce I have seen that is compatible with any BlackBerry phone.

Video embedded below.




http://qik.com
http://qik.com/blog/250/qik-now-live-with-alpha-release-client-for-blackberry

"One of the most frequent requests we've had from Qik fans has been for a BlackBerry client. Today we are really excited to announce our alpha release clients for the BlackBerry Pearl 8120, BlackBerry Pearl 8130, and BlackBerry Bold. BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 will follow soon."

BlackBerry Bold Official Release Date And Pricing

Research In Motion (RIM) announced that the BlackBerry Bold will be available at AT&T on November 4th. It will cost just under $300 ($299.99) with a two year contract after mail in rebate. This is great news for the many that have been waiting a long time for the Bold.

http://news.cnet.com
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10072634-1.html

"On Wednesday, Research In Motion announced that the long-awaited RIM BlackBerry Bold will finally be available starting November 4 at AT&T for $299.99 with a two-year contract and after a mail-in rebate."

Cell Phone Use May Cause Rash

Cell phone use may cause a skin rash on your ear or cheek according to the British Association of Dermatologists. It is has nothing to do with the cell phone mechanisms, more it is an allergic reaction to the nickel present on the surface of my cell phones.

Fortunately, it seems there is an easy fix. Do not touch the nickel surface to your skin. This can be accomplished by buying a phone specifically that does not have a nickel finish in the ear piece or using a nickel free blue tooth device.


http://tech.yahoo.com
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20081016/tc_nm/us_phones_rash

"Doctors baffled by an unexplained rash on people's ears or cheeks should be on alert for a skin allergy caused by too much mobile phone use, the British Association of Dermatologists said on Thursday.

Citing published studies, the group said a red or itchy rash, known as "mobile phone dermatitis," affects people who develop an allergic reaction to the nickel surface on mobile phones after spending long periods of time on the devices."

Rumor - BlackBerry 9900 = Bold + Storm

The new rumor for an upcoming Blackberry phone is over one to be released during the second half of 2009. The phone will to be similar to either the Bold or Curve with a physical keyboard in form, but will have a touchscreen like the Storm. After the Storm comes out, this will fill one of the few remaining gaps in BlackBerry's arsenal.


http://www.boygeniusreport.com
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/10/17/rim-announcing-blackberry-storm-alike-for-us-at-wes-2009-more-devices

"We’ve even heard that RIM is about to blow Palm out of water with — you guessed it — practically a Bold with touch screen. That’s right. Probably the most sought after BlackBerry form-factor ever… a physical QWERTY device with touch screen. It’s supposed to be Curve 8900-sized,"

Credible Rumors About New Blackberry Phones - Storm Two And Three

Credible rumors have surfaced About new Blackberry phones, potentially Storm Two and Storm Three before the first has even been released. Details are scarce, but the next phone will likely have near High Def screen quality, a five megapixel camera, and 1GB or ram. No clear hint about phone shape or form factor. None of this seems out of the range of possibility even in the short term. We will have to wait and see what comes next.


http://www.boygeniusreport.com
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/10/10/blackberry-super-phone-in-the-works-storm-2-and-3-coming-soon

"We don’t have too much info to go off of at this point in time, but if you are still waiting to get your hands on the Pearl Flip 8220, Curve 8900, Bold, or Storm, we’re about to screw you up real quick. We’ve now confirmed from 2 independent sources that RIM is working on a device that will blow the roof off all previous models. Ready for it? 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, 1GB of RAM so your precious worthless apps don’t cause memory leaks, and a “near-HD quality” screen. We’re honestly not sure about the form-factor but we heard this device could be sort of a Bold and Storm mashup. Either Treo-esque or a slide-out device. One last thing… we have also heard from a different source that RIM is hard at work on a second generation Storm device and they’ve even started the first stages of a third generation Storm."