Dial-A-Cam
malloci writes "CNet has this article describing Nokia's new wireless camera. Unlike other webcams though, it is designed to communicate via a GSM network, sendings photos to the user's cell phone."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
are they paying you guys or what?
Now if it can be programmed to call a cell phone and send images when a sensor goes off then it becomes more interesting, because I don't think people are going to be watching these things on the phone all the time. Also, at $400 a pop if multiple cameras are needed it would be cheaper to use a PC with 4/8/16/32 port CCTV inputs and cameras that only cost around $100. The PC could still connect to a network using a cell phone device and be able to transmit data and images. It will also in all likelihood provide much more flexibility then this camera solution.
Go calculate something!
I can't wait for the first fishtank/coffee pot/sunrise/sunst uses. Then we can progrss to spy cams, and the X10 mobile multiuse cam.
I am just not very excited about the loss of my privacy to a camera in every pocket society.
I bet the patriot act will have something to say about this also.
Here's a mirror for this an d all of today's other ./ stories.
Now there will be even more area codes. Seriously does EVERY camera need a phone number? Can't each organization buy a few numbers and have extensions for each camera?
And another thing. Talk about a security flaw. Send it a blank text message and it sends you what it sees? I just found a new use for my AT-5000 Auto-Dialer!
sig
Hmm, I can think of at least one good use for it. Set it up pointing at your monitor, start compiling, go out for a few beers. Then call your camera every half hour or so to see if your machine's done compiling yet.
Finally, a way to prove people are stealing my pencils!
- Joe
Let's see how much crap we can cram in a cell phone. zzZZzZz..
Now I have proof that aliens are stealing my socks for fuel!
Al Bundy, a great figure of our time.
Most cell networks have explicit sections in their data provider agreements that forbid applications like security cameras. Trust me they have already thought of how much of a drain a bunch of cameras constantly sending pics would be on their network and made it so they can shut your service off if they find you doing something like this.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Wireless communications are impossible! The Koran tells me so! It is a fabrication of the American TV news media! I triple guarantee you there is no such thing as electromagnetic waves! Lies!
Repeal the DMCA!
this is how you would expect the technology to evolve. anything that can be done with existing technology will be done... and through that process new necessities will arise and new features will be implemented that will be joined with all of the exisiting features.
frank norris said something like imagination is only the combination of things not yet combined...
you have a phone... a phone calls another phone and asks to talk to it. that phones human operator can accept and talk.
you have picture phones where a phone operator can call another phone and offer a photo.
why not combine them (if the operator owns both pieces) and call a camera phone: and have it automatically accept, take a picture and send it back. that is really all this is. it automatically pushes a few buttons on the camera phone.
all it is is a scaled down camera phone with less functionality that automatically sends pictures. pretty simple to hack your own together i would think.
now i'll have to take the x10 camera hidded in my bathroom out and put my celly in there instead.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
...webcams/netcams aren't slow, grainy and low rez enough for me!
Seriously, it's an interesting idea, but if i really wanted such a device i'd get a WiFi camera (does such a device exist?) and a WiFi pda or slim laptop (not neccecarily at the same location). Much faster and potentially higher quality
I'd like to set one of these up at the local Best Buy just to find out who would actually buy one of these. Um ... I think I'll mail order mine.
if you think this is bad, you should have seen my last sig
Lovely, that's something I would really love to do, broadcast a wireless signal from a webcam in my house...
There's a reason I have a fully wired network... =)
-------
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
It's also an easy way to pick up an insanely hot woman!
camgirl: "YES! the cops finally took his damn computer. now i don't have to tell my parents about my camming so they can put a restraining order on this guy!" pervert: "wuahahahahahaha."
The need for new area codes only affects countries like the US and Canada, that use fixed-length telephone numbers. Europe uses a variable-length approach that lets frequently dialed numbers be short, while numbers for devices can be as long as you want. You can hand a prefix to an organization and they can populate it with phone numbers however they want, much like DNS. You never have to change phone numbers.
This is nuts. A $400 device that needs its own cellular phone account so that you can ask it to send you a snapshot when you feel like it? What the frick is the use of THAT? For less in hardware and MUCH less in recurring cost, I can put auto-refreshing pics from a webcam (like an Axxis) on my website and just look at the bloody page from a web-enabled phone. If I really had a hard-on for something clever, I could use the same gear (with enough wireless bandwidth to my phone/pda, that is) to actually watch live video. Why in hell would I pay so much more just to have snapshots on demand?
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
I don't know about the newest products, but the (relatively) older ones were pretty tough. My 3360 has taken 3 toilet dives, 5 caroms of a coworkers forehead, and uncountable graceless drops onto the pavement. It takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. ^^^ yeah, I know, but none of the Nokia slogans fit.
if you think this is bad, you should have seen my last sig
Imagine the rash of car accidents when iFriends and other adult entertainers take to the road.
:-)
It's one thing to be on the alert for soccer moms who don't check their blind spot before changing lanes.
It's another thing entirely to have distracted drivers watching hot lesbian amateur action in passing Camaros.
Guess it's best for me to stay home and watch the "road report" from my PC.
On a GSM phone, of course.
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid. --John Wayne
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Fake Nokia cam-phone ad
This is for the cam-phone, not the phone-cam, but it's damn funny, unless you like cats.
I sincerely hope it took the lickin before the toilet dive....
idea from David Brin's "Transparent Society"
Imagine a place where this kind of cam is on top of every other streetlight, passing the information to ANYONE who wants it. Want to see if there is a mugger/billcollector/cop waiting at the corner of your street.. dial up the cam.. your kid gone missing.. dial the relevant cam.. the point is this CAN be used for surveillance by cops.. but the REAL issue is here.. when this kind of information be accessed by everyone.. when the cameras are EVERYWHERE.. the amount of privacy will lessen yes.. but society will adapt.. we will become more adept at using the information available to us... of COURSE there will be abuses.. but if as a people (not just in the US but EVERYWHERE) we can get together and force our lawmakers to allow the public access to WHAT THEY ARE PAYING FOR (sure like THAT will ever happen), this technology can be a great boon.
personally i have seen this kind of surveillance cam go up everywhere (i was in Bath, UK a few months ago and Big Brother is ALWAYS watching you).. and i would MUCH rather be in a place where the cams are accessible to and by everyone.. not just the cops
Suchetha
learn from yesterday, plan for tomorrow, party tonight
or one out of three ain't bad
Could be perhaps used to check how the roads are before you try to drive to work.
Ah, a clear example that neither the poster or the moderators read the article. :)
my sig
Great! Now I can get porn spam on my cell phone too! \o/
Take a dollar, divide it by 100, take two and call me in the morning.