Communications Technology

I used to tell people that the iPod touch was really just an iPhone in disguise. If Apple were to include the phone part of the equation and integrate a camera in the back, the iPod touch and iPhone would be virtually indistinguishable. It seems that someone in Cupertino was paying attention.

This could very well cannibalize some sales and make for even further confusion in the marketplace, but there are rumors saying that a new Apple iPod touch is in the works and it’s going to be more iPhone-like than ever.

Based on these rumblings on the Internet, the new iPod touch will still lack the cellular radio required to make it into a cell phone, but Apple may include a microphone and a camera. Why would you need a microphone? Because the iTouch would be connected to a Skype account.

In this way, the new version of the iPod touch won’t be quite a cell phone, but it could be a viable replacement for a home phone using the Skype VoIP phone service. A source is saying that there are factories in China that are already making iPod touch models with mics and cameras. Apple, of course, refuses to comment.

Interestingly, this could also represent the first Verizon iPhone. How? Take the new mic-equipped iPod touch and connect it via Wi-Fi to a Verizon MiFi personal hotspot creator. Not official, but somewhat viable.

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Samsung and Sprint has teamed up to bring an eco-friendly mobile phone called the Samsung Reclaim. What makes this phone special is the fact that it is the first mobile phone in the U.S. that was made from eco-friendly bio-plastic materials. To be specific, the Samsung Reclaim was made from 80% recyclable materials. But aside from being an eco-friendly phone, the Samsung Reclaim is also a feature-rich mobile phone.

Another notable aspect of the Samsung Reclaim is the fact that it costs less than $50 under Sprint mobile data subscription that will tie up users under a 2-year service agreement. The good thing is, part of the proceeds from the sale of each Samsung Reclaim will be donated to the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre Program. To be exact, $2 will be given to the Program.
To be released sometime on August 16 by Sprint in the U.S., the Samsung Reclaim will also be available from Wal-Mart sometime in September. Among its key features are a full QWERTY Keyboard, Sprint Navigation with Search, GPS-enabled directions, 2MP camera with 3x digital zoom and camcorder, Stereo Bluetooth 2.0, expandable memory up to 32GB, and an integrated web browser.

The Samsung Reclaim will be available in Earth Green and Ocean Blue Color.

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DIGITAL cameras are selling strong, despite competition from cell phones.

73 per cent of households own at least one digital camera, according to the Photo Marketing Association (PMA).

And even though taking cell phone photos is popular – 38 per cent of cell phone users do it weekly – the local camera market is booming as users chase quality shots.

“There is a lot of sharing of images for fun with a cell phone camera but if people want to take a photo for an event they want a digital camera to do so,” says Ted’s Cameras marketing manager Dave Utton.

The PMA study says two-thirds of digital camera owners use their computers to store photos.

Meanwhile, billions of users are turning to photo websites and social networks to share their shots.

How many images are online?

According to a recent InfoTrends study, almost three in four social network users share photos online.

Last year, Facebook celebrated hosting over 10 billion photos online with a cupcake party. One engineer estimated that if there was a cupcake for every Facebook photo, lined up side by side, the line could reach halfway to the moon.

But before Facebook and Twitter there were photo-sharing services such as Flickr and Photobucket.

These two photo websites alone hold more images than there are people in the world.

Flickr, owned by Yahoo, holds 3.6 billion images as of June 2009 according to Wired.com.

Photobucket, owned by Fox Interactive Media, says it has a whopping 7.5 billion images as of May this year.

That totals over 11 billion images – almost twice the global population of 6.77 billion people.

Google added that its image service Picasa has “billions” of public photos that would take “over 20 years” for one person to view.

But many online images may not be as good as you think.

The InfoTrends study revealed approximately three quarters of social networkers don’t realize their images become lower quality when uploaded.

Almost half said they thought the pictures were full quality – a feature that usually takes up too much space on free web services.

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