Mac Diva wrote an interesting and thought-provoking post on the issue of picture phones and privacy yesterday. The spread of these phones is being driven by creative and novel applications. Piturephoning.com has a fascinating list:
- -- Women have been taking shots of clothing items in stores, then e-mailing them to friends for instant advice on whether they should buy. And in Japan young girls have taken pictures of hair styles in fashion magazines and sent them off to their friends to know what they think. In this case, admittedly, something referred to as digital shoplifing.
-- On a related note, but business oriented and a very clever marketing idea, the Toni&Guy chain of upmarket hair salons in the UK offers their customers the option to download pictures of hairstyles from a large gallery of photos online, onto their mobile phone. Allowing them discuss their potential new look with family and friends before visiting a hairsalon.
-- At concerts, instead of using lighters, fans raise their cell phones, and snap away - despite the standard ban on cameras - and hold them up so their buddy at home can hear, something referred to as a "cellcert".
-- People have been taking pictures of washing machines or plumbing fixtures that need repairing, then sending them off to the repairman so he'll bring the right parts.
-- Camera phones have been used by real estate agents enabling them to forward pictures to prospective buyers, giving a speedy edge in a competite market.
-- In the same field, a company, RealSafe.net Network , is suggesting real estate agents user their camera phones - not to shoot property - but to snap pictures of their clients (with their permission), as a form of insurance and stored in a secure database, which can only be accessed by court order.
-- At a Welsh hospital, senior doctors are allowing interns to send them pictures of an x-ray, thanks to pioneering mobile phone technology, speeding up the diagnosis and suggested treatment process.
-- And firefighters in Scotland have been equiped with camera phones to send pictures of injuries to doctors by MMS before the patients reach the hospital. Seeing the images beforehand allows the doctors to assess how serious the injury is, allowing for vital treatment in the early stages.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
-- At concerts, instead of using lighters, fans raise their cell phones, and snap away - despite the standard ban on cameras - and hold them up so their buddy at home can hear, something referred to as a "cellcert".
This, in addition to the growing number of people who WON'T SHUT UP, is one of my top all-time most annoying concert behaviors. And come on, the sound of an extremely loud concert through the crappy mic on a cellphone must sound horrendous. I just want to smack those phones out of their hands when I see one shoot into the air.
2 - Mark Saleski
ah, good to see somebody as cranky as me about this type of stuff at concerts.
3 - bhw
I was guilty of the cell-phone-at-concert thing this summer. No camera on my phone, but DAMN was I juiced at being in the pit at a Springsteen show in NJ! I just had to call my friend's house -- where a bunch of friends were spending the night -- and leave a bit 'o Bruce on the answering machine.
It was a compulsion. Couldn't stop myself. The girls laughed.
I think the loud talking problem at concerts is a bigger one. Screws up the bootleg recordings. ;-)
4 - Tom Johnson
I think the loud talking problem at concerts is a bigger one. Screws up the bootleg recordings. ;-)
You are now officially my friend. Hello friend.
5 - bhw
Pleased to meet you, Tom. 8-)
6 - TDavid
I could see using the cell phone to snap a few concert photos to share with friends on the moblog. I'm not sure about a raise the lighter thing though.
There are people freaked out about this privacy stuff though, and some of the concerns are legitimate.