Geotagging Imagery and Video


IsWHERE is a log of my thoughts, reflections, and news/blog links on the emergence of image and video geospatial tagging. On May5th this year, I opened a second blog to deal with more detailed aspects of tools for FalconView and TalonView can be found at RouteScout. Trends I want to try and follow are the various disruptions resulting from spatial smart-phones, how many GPS devices are out there, smart-cameras, and other related news. And yes, I have a business interest in all of this. My company Red Hen has been pioneering this sort of geomedia for more than a decade.

So beyond a personal blog, I also provide a link to IsWHERE a shareware tool created by Red Hen Systems to readily place geoJPEG or geotagged imagery and soon GEM full motion media kept on your own computer(s) into Google Earth/Map from your File Manager media selection. Works great for geotagged images from Nikon, Ricoh, Sony, iPHONE, Android and all geo-smartphones that can create geotagged images. IsWhere - read about it

IsWhere Free Download (XP and VISTA)

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IsWhere Visitors

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Android Self Destructive?

The potential for the various adopters of Android to "go their own way" and not follow a common path is not new.  InfoWorld has really torn into the issue...


Google Android's self-destruction derby begins

By Galen Gruman


Simply put, it's too much of a good thing. Every few days, another Google Android device is announced, as hardware makers and wireless carriers rally around the mobile operating system as the de facto smartphone platform alternative to Apple's limited-availability iPhone and RIM's limited-capability BlackBerry.


That flood of options should be a good thing -- but it's not. In fact, it's a self-destruction derby in action, as phones come out with different versions of the Android OS, with no clear upgrade strategy for either the operating system or the applications users have installed, and with inconsistent deployment of core features. In short, the Android platform is turning out not to be a platform at all, but merely a starting point for a universe of incompatible devices....


2010, the situation became even murkier. Some carriers updated earlier-version Android smartphones to the 2.1 OS -- but many did not. The 2.1 OS came with Google's Nexus One, what Google called a "superphone" meant to be a standard bearer for the Android platform. Sorry, Droid buyers -- it too lacked multitouch and didn't have a keyboard, plus Google thoroughly screwed up the product support. Next month, Nexus One's manufacturer, HTC, will ship the HTC Desire, essentially the Nexus One with multitouch added using HTC's Sense UI; anyone who bought a Nexus One must feel like a fool for adopting the alleged flagship Android smartphone.

But before HTC Droid Eris and Desire customers gloat, it's not clear what their upgrade path is for apps and the Android operating system itself. Because of the Sense UI (which really should be a standard part of the Android OS), you can't just upgrade the operating system or be sure that your apps will work -- a new OS may break Sense UI, and a new Sense UI may break your apps.


It gets worse. Later this year, Sony Ericsson plans to release its Xperia Mini series -- inexplicably based on Android OS 1.6 and using its own proprietary UI on top.


Smartphones Image Quality

Interesting research in Smartphone Camera Resolution


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Xerox wants $$$ for stolen ideas?

Wow!  This is some big news.  You have to wonder if Apple might be thinking about some old patents from Zerox in the early days? In any case, treble damages with a base of something like $250k per infringment?  Yikes, a guy might decide he needs a clear path to the door just to survive?  I guess is once you have been notified, you got extra problems?

Xerox to Google, Yahoo: If You Need Additional Copies of the Lawsuit, You Know Whom to Ask

From - All Things Digital


Xerox is not a name that springs to mind when one thinks of search. It is, after all, a 100-year-old global document-management company best known for its office and production equipment. Odd, then, to hear that Xerox has accused Google and Yahoo of pilfering intellectual property.

In lawsuits filed last week, Xerox (XRX) alleges that Google’s AdSense and AdWords and Yahoo’s Search Marketing, Publishing Network and Y!Q Contextual Search software all violate its 2001 patent for a “System for automatically generating queries.”

Xerox further claims that Google Maps, Google Video, YouTube, and Yahoo Shopping infringe on its 2004 patent, “Method and Apparatus for the Integration of Information and Knowledge.”

Xerox is seeking treble damages for the alleged infringements, which it claims are willful. Evidently, it attempted to negotiate licensing deals with the search companies that would have precluded legal action, but was rebuffed.

“We’ve been in dialogue with Google and Yahoo for some time without coming to a resolution,” company spokesperson Bill McKee told Bloomberg. “We believe we have no option but to file suit to properly protect our intellectual property.”

Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO), for their parts, dispute Xerox’s allegations. “These claims are entirely without merit, and we’ll vigorously defend ourselves against them,” Catherine Lacavera, Google’s senior litigation counsel, said in an emailed statement. A Yahoo representative offered a similar comment: “Yahoo does not believe we infringe and plans to fight this case.”


Google goes Mobile First


So the biggest mobile industry event of the year, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is now over. We heard a lot about the mobile industry and its latest smartphones and amazing numbers of users, services, apps, revenues etc. One of the astonishing statements to come out of Barcelona was Google's CEO Eric Schmidt, who said that from now on, Google will follow a 'Mobile First' strategy. They mean, that for any new innovation or service or app or product they develop - mind you this is the biggest internet company on the planet - as well as the most profitable internet company - they will launch all new introductions to mobile first - yes, mobile version before a 'legacy PC internet' version. (Sounds like Google is placing the 7th mass medium - mobile - ahead of the 6th mass medium ie the internet). 

Pure Smarts might cost?


In absolute cellphone market share, none of the "pure" smartphone makers breached the top five. However, poor performances in the smartphone arena are generally believed to have cost Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson overall share in 2009. Nokia in particular dropped from 38.6 percent to 36.9 percent as Symbian S60 lost out to fresher competitors. Motorola's move into the mid-range and high-end areas cost it share, though much of this was hurt by Motorola offering relatively few strong-selling devices until the success of its Android phones. It and Sony Ericsson had depended primarily on soon defunct mobile platforms like UIQ for some of the year and until the end of the year had depended almost exclusively on Windows Mobile for smartphones.

Symbian dropped below the 50 percent mark for the first time to 46.9 percent, narrowing its lead. Other traditional platforms have also suffered: the iPhone overtook Windows 
Mobile in share last year as Microsoft's aging platform dropped from 11.8 percent to 8.7 percent, effectively taking Apple's fourth place spot from 2008. Pure Linux fell from 7.6 percent to 4.7 percent as many of its proponents chose the Linux-based Android platform instead.



Monday, February 22, 2010

Nexus Android 2.1 - The official Google Earth application...

Android Guys


The official Google Earth application has arrived in the Android Market this morning.  We haven't seen any news from the Google Mobile blog yet, so we're trying to dig through a few things.  As of right now, we know it doesn't show up for Android 1.5 or 1.6 but Nexus One owners have confirmed it to be available.  A few of our twitter followers have indicated that it's not showing up for them either.  So it appears that it does require Android 2.1 which makes sense to us.  We just saw our first glimpse of it when the Nexus One was unveiled.

So for those of you with a Nexus One, head to the Android Market and download.  In the meanwhile, the rest of us will have to wait on an update.


Friday, February 19, 2010

iPhone apps bad for business

App is Crap (why Apple is bad for your health)

by MARK SUSTER on FEBRUARY 17, 2010


So I greeted Apple’s entry into the market with great excitement.  ”Finally the hegemony is broken!  Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead!”  Apple would be the first major device sold where the carrier’s crappy software wasn’t on the phone.  We would herald in a new era of innovation.  Google would soon follow with their own phones, it was rumored.  The mobile web would finally be open!  Or would it?

 

So Apple has encouraged application developers to set loose building apps.  We now have a couple of hundred thousand applications developed.  The web browsers are as immature as the Internet browsers were in the late 90’s.  And “native” (those installed on the device) applications can take advantage of features that the browser can’t like the acceleramator (which detects motion), the GPS (to get your location) and the camera.

 

  • But here are the major problems if this model holds:
  • Every developer now has to have an iPhone development team.
  • Every application has to be submitted to Apple for approval.  They are now a bottleneck.  When you change an application it has to be resubmitted – however minor the change.
  • Apple is the new “gateway” that can extract a toll from you (sound familiar?).  Apple wants to take a major share of the revenue.
  • Data within the applications is locked into the device
  • Flash is not supported, which means that all assets you’ve developed for the Internet that work in Flash are worthless for this device
  • Apple has sent out signals such as that they might like to own location-based mobile advertising.  If you encroach on this territory they may stop you or blow you out.  They may do this / they may not.  They may encroach in other “interesting” areas.  They may not.
  • Approvals are a black box.

 

And this is just the start.  Now the real problems.....


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

60,000 Android Phones a Day?

Google now shipping 60,000 Android handsets per day



We're in Barcelona keeping an eye on Eric Schmidt's Mobile World Congress keynote, where the Google CEO just disclosed an interesting fact: Google and their hardware partners are now shipping 60,000 Android handsetseach day. Whether "shipped" here means "sold to end users" or "ordered by retailers" is unclear - but regardless, it's quite the feat either way. If that's a true average rate and it holds true for the next year, that works out to about 5.4 million handsets per quarter, or 21.9 million per year. 

Google Brings Earth To Android

Google Brings Earth To Android

At the MWC event in Barcelona, Google CEO Eric Schmidt demoed Google Earth running on a Nexus One. Google Earth Mobile was previously only available for iPhone.


Google Brings Earth To Android

Google Brings Earth To Android

At the MWC event in Barcelona, Google CEO Eric Schmidt demoed Google Earth running on a Nexus One. Google Earth Mobile was previously only available for iPhone.


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Smartphone? Is the OS Stupid?

Nokia, who had been touting the Symbian operating system until late, has decided to put its eggs in the Linux basket. Nokia is set to switch over to a version of the Linux operating system called Maemo in their high-end smart phones. 

Apple is sticking with their own operating platform with the iPhone and iPod models as its steady success calls to mind the old adage, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

Though sales were still going strong, Research in Motion Ltd. of Canada couldn't keep up with Apple's incredible growth last year. Even still RIM is going to stick with its own software for its BlackBerrys and will not license it to others. 

Windows Mobile, the once pioneer in smart phones, is struggling to keep up with the new kids. Manufacturers like Motorola and HTC have been shifting away from Windows Mobile toward Google's Android. Last year, fewer Windows Mobile phones were sold than the year prior, a sad fact in a market that grew 35 percent! Microsoft is scheduled to show off a new version of its mobile software platform in the hopes of gaining back the market share it lost. 

Google's Android software has been the biggest mover and shaker of the lot, racking up some serious manufacturer support. Consider this: There was just one Android phone in 2008. At the end of 2009, there were more than a dozen, with more company's joining in daily. 

Palm Inc., like Microsoft, was a pioneer in smart phone development. To many, Palm may as well be credited with inventing the entire concept! Last year, Palm made a clean break with their new webOS (running on two phones, the Pre and Pixi). Despite very favorable reviews, sales have been less than stellar. Palm is expected to continue developing this OS. 

Filed in archive Mobile Technologies by Jason Giacchino on February 15, 2010
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"Mobile operating systems have become the key ingredient in the highly competitive mobile device market. Although the overall look and feel of the device will still play an important role in the buying process, the wrong choice of operating system coupled with an awkward user interface can mean the difference between success and failure," says Stephen D. Drake, vice president, Mobility and Telecom.

Key findings from a new IDC market outlook include the following:

  • Symbian will retain its leadership position worldwide throughout the forecast period. Due primarily to the strength of Nokia in markets outside of the United States, Symbian continues to lead all other mobile operating systems.
  • Android will experience the fastest growth of any mobile operating system. Starting from a very small base of just 690,000 units in 2008, total Android-powered shipments will reach 68.0 million units by 2013, making for a CAGR of 150.4%. Android will benefit from having a growing footprint of handset vendors supporting it and will finish second to Symbian in shipments by 2013.
  • Linux and webOS shipments will struggle throughout the forecast period. Shipments of Linux-powered devices will trend down due to greater emphasis on the Android platform but will not disappear entirely as some vendors will continue to support it. Palm's webOS, despite growing steadily, will capture limited market share due to limited deployment and availability of devices across multiple carriers.

The recently published IDC study, Worldwide Mobile OS 2009-2013 Forecast and Analysis (IDC #220733), reviews each of the major mobile operating systems, including drivers, opportunities, and potential challenges. The report also profiles the principal high-level operating systems (HLOS) platforms and features an updated market share forecast through 2013.



Read more: FierceDeveloper


Sunday, February 14, 2010

Google doing the Nexus with Moto

Expect Google to make waves that extend far beyond its own App Planet event. Google CEO Eric Schmidt is keynoting Mobile World Congress, and the rumor mill indicates his appearance will coincide with the release of the Nexus Two, a follow-up to the digital services giant's first branded Android smartphone--this one is said to boast a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, with Motorola on board as manufacturing partner. Android should cast a large shadow throughout next week--analysts anticipate a host of device announcements from companies including Sony Ericsson, LG, Samsung, HTC, Dell and Alcatel.

Read more: FierceDeveloper

Friday, February 12, 2010

Smartphone Use and Accellerators

Why the sudden explosion of smartphone users? Barriers to mass-market smartphone adoption are being eliminated left and right by mobile network operators, smartphone OEMs and mobile developers:




  • Plummeting prices and generous operator subsidies make smartphones affordable to more consumers. Witness the Motorola Droid Eris, an Android smartphone available online and on-contract from Verizon Wireless for under $100.
  • Flat-rate data plans provide consumers with predictable and budget-able monthly smartphone usage costs. T-Mobile USA's Even More Plus plans provide unlimited voice, data and messaging with no contract for $80 per month.
  • Easy-to-learn user interfaces of modern smartphone operating systems make smartphones less daunting to newbie consumers. The Apple iPhone is an iconic example of a smartphone whose skyrocketing adoption is due to an extraordinarily consumer-friendly user interface. Palm webOS and Google Android are also well-suited for mass-market consumers.
  • Touchscreens and Qwerty keyboards (and other must-have hardware features) are persuading users to upgrade to smartphones. A Gartner study of second quarter 2009 handset sales reported smartphone sales growth of 27 percent, while total handset sales fell 6 percent.
  • Smartphones provide access to catalogs of useful, cool and fun mobile apps that are aren't available on feature phones.
 


Read more: http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/targeting-smartphone-apps-mass-market-users/2010-02-05#ixzz0fKnCG9cb

Saturday, February 06, 2010

US SmartPhones by OS versus What OS Would you want?

Charts, charts, charts…





Smartphone World Stats

Smartphones Evidently Quite Popular [Digital Daily]

The fourth quarter was a record one for smartphone sales. Research firm IDC reportsthat the industry shipped 54.5 million of the devices during the period. That’s a 39 percent increase year-over-year and one that benefited most top smartphone peddlers, particularly Apple.


The company shipped 8.7 million iPhones in Q4, up from 4.4 million a year ago, for a whopping 97.7 percent in year-over-year growth. With a 14.4 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market, Apple (AAPL) is now the No. 3 maker in the world, behind Nokia (NOK) and Research in Motion (RIMM), which hold 38.9 percent and 19.8 percent of the market, respectively (see table below; click to enlarge).

But it’s becoming increasingly difficult for Nokia and RIM to maintain their leads. Though it shipped 10.7 million BlackBerrys in the fourth quarter–a nice increase from about 7.6 million–RIM’s market share for the period remained nearly flat at 19.6 percent. Meanwhile, market leader Nokia saw its share drop slightly to 38.2 percent from 40 percent in 2008, even though it shipped 20.8 million phones during the quarter, one third more than in the prior year.


So, 97.7 percent growth for smartphone upstart Apple and 37.7 percent growth for Nokia, the undisputed smartphone leader worldwide. Quite a disparity


Thursday, February 04, 2010

Ovi - Show me the to go Home....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ6un9p30Uw&feature=player_embedded

Symbian - the Open Source Gorilla

Symbian Foundation talks about its move to open source

from Engadget 


Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Ovi gets Smart(er)?

Thumbs Up to Nokia’s Ovi Store

I’ve had a really great Ovi Store experience today. I found out about a new app called Maps Booster from the official Ovi Daily App blog and thought of trying it out for $2.99. I made the purchase on theNokia N97 mini and was surprised I can pay with my phone bill. The app worked great, so I thought it was worth installing on my other phones too. To my surprise yet again, the Ovi Store knew I already paid for it. I was able to re-download the app on the Nokia N97 and the 5800 free of charge.The other surprise I encountered was the ability to re-download purchased apps on other devices. When did this happen? This makes it really handy for people like me who switch phones frequently.



Monday, February 01, 2010

2009 Mobile Phone Unit Sales

As we head into the bloodbath of 2010..  So the final numbers are out for the 5 biggest handset makers for 2009 and for several smaller players as well. Some manufacturers like RIM (Blackberry) and ZTE report their quarters on 'odd' months ie they do not end their quarter in March/June/October/December, so with them we still have to wait a bit to know for sure, but the big picture is now clear. We know the full numbers for the full year 2009. And there have been changes. (Poor Motorola)

ALL HANDSET MAKERS TOP 10

1 - Nokia . . . . . . .   432 Million 38  %
2 - Samsung . . . .    227 Million 20  %
3 - LG . . . . . . . . . . 117 Million 10  %
4 - SonyEricsson . . . 57 Million   5  %
5 - Motorola . . . . . . . 55 Million   5  %
6 - ZTE . . . . . . . . . .  50 Million   4.5%
7 - Kyocera . . . . . . . 45 Million    4  %
8 - RIM  . . . . . . . . .  35 Million    3.5%
9 - Sharp . . . . . . . .  29 Million    2.6 %
10 - Apple . . . . . . . . 25 Million    2.2 %
Others . . . . . . . . . .  56 Million    5%
TOTAL . . . . . . . . 1,130 Million (1.13 Billion)


SMARTPHONES

1 - Nokia . . . .  68 Million    39%
2 - RIM . . . . .  35 Million    20%
3 - Apple . . . .  25 Milllion    15%
4 - HTC  . . . . .  8 Million    5%
5 - Others . . .  35 Million    21%
Total  . . . . . . 175 Million