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First photos from Nokia Lumia 1020 surface on Joe Belfiore's Flickr account
Just an innocuous boating photo, you say? Not quite. That's Microsoft's Joe Belfiore on the left, and his companions recently took both this snapshot and one other using a Nokia Lumia 1020 -- a phone that doesn't officially exist yet. While there aren't many clues to the 1020's camera performance in Belfiore's Flickr pages, the image metadata shows both a wide-aperture f/2.2 lens as well as cropped 3.7MP and 5MP image sizes. Whether or not the photo posts are accidents or deliberate teases, we're likely to learn more about the new Lumia on July 11th.
WSJ: T-Mobile, VZW don't directly share call data to NSA, but that might not matter
Providing another wrinkle to the recently exploding privacy debate, a Wall Street Journal report indicates which wireless companies are providing call information to the government. According to the infamous people familiar with the matter, foreign ownership of Verizon and T-Mobile presents several obstacles including them in the program. Chief among them is that the requests are top secret and might prohibit some of the owners from being aware. Meanwhile, Sprint and AT&T are said to have "long cooperated with the government," although it may not really matter which provider you're using when it comes to popping up in NSA-requested files. Last week's leaked court order requested call logs and metadata from Verizon Business Network Services, which, along with AT&T provides the backbone most calls go through. No matter which carrier you're on, if your call is routed along that backbone, the information about it is recorded and could be passed along.
Leaked court documents reveal NSA is collecting bulk call logs from Verizon
A court document published today by The Guardian reveals the NSA is currently collecting call records in bulk from Verizon. The request, granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25th, extends until July 19th and mandates Verizon produce all call detail records on a daily basis to the NSA. The data collected includes the numbers of both parties to a call, how long it lasted, location data, IMEI / IMSI numbers, but not the content of the call or identifying information about the customer. As the report indicates, security officials had revealed bulk collection of call records previously, but until now there has been no indication of it happening under the Obama administration. In 2006 Verizon Wireless was one of the few to state it had not turned over call records to the NSA, but that appears to have changed. Among the many things that are still unknown however, is whether this order is a one time event or one in a series of such requests collecting vast amounts of data on unsuspecting citizens, and whether other communications providers have received orders to do the same.[Image credit: Frédéric Bisson, Flickr]
Pinterest adds more data to your boards with rich pins
Pinterest is already an absurdly popular way to save stuff from around the web, be it shoes you love, accessories for your bridesmaids or decorations for your man cave. One thing the social-bookmarking service has been missing, however, is context. Now it's offering a way for companies to deliver more info, through metadata attached to particular types of pages. Rich pins, as they're being called, can automatically attach price and availability to a product, or ingredient lists to recipes. There are also movie pins, which let sites attach ratings and credits to films. Pinterest has lined up an impressive list of partners to help it launch the new feature, including Netflix, Etsy, ASOS, REI, The North Face, Modcloth, Bon Appetit, Epicurious and Real Simple. All your old pins that now have contextual data will automatically be updated (which you'll be able to identify thanks to icons below them), and you can check out some example boards at the source link.
Google lands patent for automatic object recognition in videos, leaves no stone untagged
Google has already been working on patents that could pick out faces and song melodies in our YouTube clips. Now, it might just have the ultimate tool: the technique in a just-granted patent could pick out objects in a video, whether they're living or not. Instead of asking the creator to label objects every time, Google proposes using a database of "feature vectors" such as color, movement, shape and texture to automatically identify subjects in the frame through their common traits -- a cat's ears and fast movement would separate it from the ball of yarn it's attacking, for example. Movie makers themselves could provide a lot of the underlying material just by naming and tagging enough of their clips, with the more accurate labels helping to separate the wheat from the chaff if an automated visual ranking system falls short. The one mystery is what Google plans to do with its newfound observational skills, if anything, although the most logical step would be to fill in YouTube keywords without any user intervention -- a potential time-saver when we're uploading that twelfth consecutive pet video.
Solmeta N3 geotagging module for Nikon DSLR review: fast GPS locks, minimal battery drain
There's a reason "Nikon GP-1 alternative" is a search phrase that finds its way into Google's simplistic query box frequently. Put simply, the only GPS add-on with Nikon's name on it is universally seen as a poor purchasing decision. For one, it's still right around $200... despite the fact that it's pushing four years old. But perhaps more importantly, it's a major battery hog and takes eons (read: four to five minutes) to get a solid GPS lock if you attempt to conserve your juice by having it shut down each time you flick your camera's power switch to 'off.' Recently, we embarked on a road trip that took us through sparsely populated areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and California. For the purposes of using a geotagging module to accurately journal the precise locations of thousands of shots through some of America's most pristine wilderness, we strapped Solmeta's Geotagger N3 atop a Nikon D3S. For those unaware, the N3 was first introduced at CES 2012, and just recently started shipping directly from the company's Hong Kong headquarters to purchasers all over the globe. Much to our surprise, it managed to not only outgun the GP-1, but it also exceeded even our lofty expectations. Care to hear more? Join us after the break. %Gallery-159538%
Time Warner Cable starts rolling out lightly refreshed guide with new color scheme, cloud VOD search
While it's definitely good news that Time Warner Cable is revisiting its Navigator guide again, the bad news is that at least in terms of appearance, very little has changed. The screenshots above show the old guide (left) next to the new one (right) and as you can see, other than a color scheme adjustment to match its new apps, things are almost entirely the same. In terms of functional adjustments, names have changed for some of the menus, and now the A button on the remote pulls up channels listed by category, the B button searches by title and the select button lets you know if features like Start Over, Look Back or VOD are available. According to CED Magazine, the guide's (slight) facelift also goes hand in hand with a new cloud-based video on-demand portal that includes with richer graphics and metadata, as a prelude to more cloud-provided navigation and IPTV set-top boxes. So far we're seeing notes that the new guide is being delivered in Syracuse and Charlotte, if you haven't received it yet Time Warner Cable says it will be running newspaper ads ahead of the change in each area -- people still read newspapers, right? Update: We're told that another new feature of the update is the ability to filter out any channels you want from the guide. Check one box on the Ben-o-vision form.
Plex Media Server beta adds DLNA support, streams to PS3, Xbox 360, WP7 and more
Using Plex as your media server software is great, with its ability to organize and transcode media for playback on a variety of devices, but what about platforms that still lack a compatible client? The freshest beta version of Plex Media Server fixes that by supporting DLNA, making it compatible right out of the box with many of the HDTVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and other connected devices released recently. There are some limitations when it's being used this way in terms of metadata and subtitle support, but we're pretty sure being able to access Plex at all from devices like the PS3 (as shown above), Xbox 360 and WDTV Live (the profiles it's been tested with so far) is worth it. Also featured in the beta is support for Silverlight Smooth Streaming, which comes in handy for the new Windows Phone 7 client app (Update: If you're not seeing it yet don't worry you're not alone, it's been approved by Microsoft and should be live soon, check the forum thread and blog post linked below for more information). Check out the blog post for all the details or just head to the download page to try it out yourself if you're on a Windows PC or Mac -- Linux builds are still being tested.
VidaBox Media Servers add metadata support for XBMC, Popcorn Hour and others
We wouldn't expect for upper-crust aimed media server setups like the ones offered by VidaBox to play nicely with the common rabble, but apparently that's just what is going on. With the click of a check box, its "Drop-n-Rip" Blu-ray and DVD archiving now includes cover art and other metadata compatible with third party streamers including Popcorn Hour, HDI Dune, TViX, XBMC, Sage TV and others. This probably won't drop the cost of a custom installed setup by much, but if you have one and want to bring your own extender hardware (similar to its recent iPad support) into the mix, it should be a simple upgrade.
Sony Video Unlimited-preview brings Gracenote metadata to SEN
Despite one of its execs pegging this spring's lengthy PSN outage as a "great experience" the folks at Sony have been pounding the pavement to drum up consumer morale. Back at IFA, the outfit unveiled its new all-in-one Sony Entertainment Network, and its already giving the VOD wing, Video Unlimited, a facelift. Starting today, PS3 owners holding a PlayStation Plus subscription can download the creatively titled "Video Unlimited-preview" app from the PlayStation Store. According to Sony, the new user interface is all about giving the people what they want, and in this case that means a streamlined UI, with big bright graphics and understated, glowing blue text. It also means Gracenote integration, opening up the possibility of endless rabbit-holes of related content searches. We had a few minutes with the new setup, and found ourselves searching content related to Danny McBride's Your Highness under categories like "Bumbling Buffoons" and "Mythical Beasts," although we could just as easily have called up titles featuring the film's director or any of its stars. If that's not enough of a departure from the conventional video on demand arrangement, the new UI also features "tumbler search technology," which abandons regular keyboard-style input for PS3 controls -- click the right button to select a letter as you scroll vertically through the alphabet. This "patented technology" also autocompletes your query and similarly takes advantage of Gracenote's database, allowing you to search by title, actor, director or tag. The new UI is specific to the company's video service and is currently only available via the PS3, but we're told it will roll out to the entire network and supported devices sometime in the future. All PlayStation Network users will be able to download the preview app starting October 11th, check out a video preview embedded after the break. %Gallery-134935%
Photo Stats tells you where and how you are using your iPhone camera
Photo Stats is a cool little US$0.99 iPhone app that provides statistics on your photo-taking habits, like number of photos taken, storage they occupy, frequent shoot locations and more. While none of the supplied information is of the "mission critical" variety, I found them interesting. Your compiles stats can be shared via email or Twitter. Photo Stats also tracks the time of day you're most likely (and least likely) to shoot, the frequency of portrait vs. landscape mode, ISO settings, shutter speed and more. I actually saw some things that will help me improve my pictures. I have lots of low light images, and don't usually use flash. It seems obvious, but I never think to turn it on. I like apps that collect and present information in an interesting and "hands-off" way. One thing I'd like to see added is a way to create these graphs from albums other than the camera roll. It would give me more data and therefore more information to evaluate my images. The UI is well done, and sometimes there are comments about my photo habits. Photo Stats is clever, and not a big investment. The app runs on an iPhone with iOS 4.2 or later. It runs on the 4th generation iPod touch, and the iPad 2. Check the gallery for a look at some of the graphs. %Gallery-130463%
Netflix lightly redesigns its website, please be polite and pretend to notice
Just in case you're doing all your Netflix queue management via Xbox 360 or PS3 these days, you may not have noticed a site redesign that slightly modified the way the top items appear and... not much else. The graphical style of the rest of the site appears to be unchanged and now somewhat mismatched, although further changes could bring them in line. HackingNetflix mentions that the very keen eyed have also seen some slight changes to the metadata attributed to each item. After the PlayStation 3's (several) UI revisions we'll be keeping a careful eye out to see if anything more substantial changes.
Drowning in information? Tags can help
If you're anything like me you have lots and lots of information. Endless folders and files are scattered about, and while Spotlight in Mac OS X is very helpful, it's not a perfect fit for every situation. One solution I've found very helpful is Tags, from Gravity Apps. Our own Brett Terpstra took a look at version 1 of the program back in January of 2009, and now the app has been updated to make it even more useful. Click here to see what's changed in this new version. Tags is a system-wide method of tagging just about anything on your Mac for easy retrieval. The real power comes from associating different file types that you may want to relate, like a web page, photo, contact and note. The tagging easily takes place from within the application, and requires a couple of keystrokes. Control-Space bar brings up the tagging GUI, and Option-Space bar triggers the search menu. If those hot-keys conflict with something else you use, they can be easily changed.
iPhone image metadata hints at more cameras on the next iPhone
Well, this is interesting. Our twitter follower @chenks points out that, hidden in the metadata of a picture taken with his OS 4.0-enabled iPhone, there is a title stating that the picture came from the phone's "Back Camera." Of course, if the phone currently has a back camera, there's a possibility that it could, in the future, have a "Side Camera," or more appropriately, a "Front Camera." We're being facetious, of course. This certainly seems like yet another hint that the next version of the iPhone (expected sometime next month) will have a front facing camera; that's not only a long-awaited feature for the iPhone faithful, but it was also seen on that lost iPhone prototype not long ago. So, at this point, it's more or less a terribly-kept secret that the next iPhone will finally have a front facing camera. The question is: will you use it? I'd rather not have my ugly mug going out across the wires every time someone calls me, but I suppose there are a few applications (possibly including an official iChat Mobile application) where it might come in handy.
TiVo patent points to new sharing and interactivity built around closed captions
The rumors are already flying for that upcoming March 2nd TiVo event, but a recently granted patent gives us one idea of what TiVo's been up to of late. The basic idea of the patent is to use embedded meta data in TV broadcasts, primarily the closed caption text, to create "event identification data" that makes the DVR -- when synced up against related data online -- smarter about the content. Example uses include overlaying interactive ads from the content provider, creating "tagged" video files for viewing on a portable device, extracting tagged clips, or even "sharing" segments with other TiVo users. Some of this info, like the commercial detection, is already in use, but the opportunity to "share" a sequence with a friend would be a powerful workaround for existing limitations from broadcasting companies that don't want users sending copyrighted content to each other. Using the TiVo to merely "tag" the relevant portion of something already recorded by a friend (hopefully with the addition of our helpful "OMG" and "LOL" commentary) makes a lot of sense, and even if we don't see it in this upcoming revision, it could be a pretty nice win for TiVo in the ongoing war between the well dressed, successful people who create our content and us schlubs who are trying to consume it conveniently.
iPhone usage metric for Flickr drops big time
We've posted before how popular the iPhone is as a camera on Flickr, with people uploading tons of photos, both shot by and straight from the iPhone. But now, The Next Web has covered a huge drop in photos referencing the iPhone over on the popular photo sharing site. The suspected culprit? Flickr themselves. TNW suggests that the problem is the Flickr iPhone application, which will upload pictures straight to the service -- but not include metadata information like the fact that the pictures were taken with the iPhone. Still, even they sound a little skeptical: not all of that drop can be attributed to just the Flickr app's shortcomings. They also suggest that the iPhone is wearing out its welcome -- lots of people jumped to use it as a camera when the 3GS introduced a better lens and the video capability, and now in day-to-day use, they're not using it as much. Other commenters to the post suggest that the vastly improved Facebook app may be eating away at the use of the built-in Camera app. I know that my photo habits for the phone haven't changed -- I use the iPhone quite a bit to take pictures, but looking at my own usage, I don't use Flickr nearly as much these days, as I use services like Twitpic and other sites built up directly around the iPhone. A drop in usage on Flickr doesn't mean people aren't using their iPhones to take snapshots -- they could just be sending their photos and media somewhere else. Update: One of our commenters, echoed by our old friend & past colleague Barb Dybwad at Mashable, notes that Apple's change to the EXIF data recording for iPhone photos (breaking out the different iPhone models to indicate which specific phone took the picture) may be partly responsible for the drop.
Mac 101: Learn more about your files at a glance
Welcome to another edition of Mac 101, TUAW's series for beginners. Today, we show you how to get more bang for your desktop real-estate buck with Finder icon labels. Have you ever wanted to know how large a picture on your Desktop was, but didn't want to open it (or even just hit ⌘I to get info)? Or instantly know how many items were in a folder? Mac OS X lets you display that information right under (or next to) the icon itself. How? Easy! Click on your Desktop, and choose Show View Options from the View menu (or just hit ⌘J.) Then, click the radio button next to Show item info. Voíla! Instant metadata for your Desktop files and folders. For pictures, the Finder will show their width and height in pixels. You can also adjust the position of the labels associated with the icons on your desktop. Instead of having the file and folder names beneath your icons, why not have a change and put them to the right? Just click either Right (or Bottom, if you prefer the default) under Label position. For other awesome beginner tips, visit our Mac 101 category.
The iPhone's camera jumping up in the Flickr ratings
This makes sense when you think about it, but it just seems really wild to me: in the list of Flickr's most popular cameras (compiled from the metadata attached to any photos that upload to the popular site), our favorite cell phone is climbing up the ranks. In fact, it had just recently overtaken the Canon EOS 40D digital SLR when the screenshot above was taken (though stats may have changed since then, as now it appears the iPhone never did cross that line).Obviously, it's not for reasons of quality -- the iPhone's camera doesn't compare in the least to any of the others on that list. But when you consider that the iPhone is now the US's most popular handset, and that there are so many ways to quickly and easily shoot pictures snapped there up to Flickr, it becomes pretty clear why pictures from the iPhone are so popular on the site.Unfortunately, they don't provide a timeline to these graphs, so we can't really trace the causes of that jump recently, though the App Store probably has something to do with it (doesn't it always?). Another arena where the iPhone is quickly becoming wildly popular. [via MacBytes]
First Look: TuneUp for Mac now ready to tackle your iTunes disorganization
Despite the presence of a checkbox to "keep iTunes library organized" in the application's preferences, the fact remains that iTunes tracks -- coming from a plethora of sources and of varying vintage, and sometimes numbering in the thousands -- are a black hole of bad metadata. Track and performer names may be wrong or missing (the dreaded "Track 01" and my favorite band, Unknown Artist, are frequently seen); other details may be off-base, and as for album art... well, let's just say that I don't use Cover Flow that much, and not because I don't like the way it looks; it's just that the wide stretches of empty covers are depressing. There's some help on the way from TuneUp; the formerly Windows-only iTunes companion is now available for the Mac, with a free version that 'cleans' up to 500 tracks and a paid/subscription Premium license ($19.95 onetime or $11.95/annual) with unlimited scrubbing bubble power. I decided to give TuneUp a trial run on the most confused, mixed-up section of my iTunes library: a collection of professional and collegiate a cappella tracks, with track names identical to the original recordings, sure to befuddle any conventional artist matching strategy. Would TuneUp's leverage of the Gracenote database give it an advantage in dealing with these puzzlers? Read on for more, or check out our gallery of TuneUp screenshots. %Gallery-39057%
Win a license for video catalog tool Frameline 47
If you're like me, your professional or personal efforts toward video organization nirvana have been less than fruitful over the years. With video files spread across multiple formats and multiple storage locations, keeping everything readily available and tagged for reuse is a giant pain. On the consumer level I've tried iDive, iView Multimedia (now Microsoft Expression Media), even plain old iPhoto, and I'm checking out FootTrack; moving up the ladder, there are high-end choices like Cumulus/Mediadex and Final Cut Server. Finding that midrange, prosumer & network-enabled video cataloging tool, with options for MPEG-7 metadata, dynamic clip creation and embedded Spotlight comments in files -- well, I'm still looking, but Frameline 47's new version 3 seems to come pretty close to what I want. Frameline 47 is a $139 app that works both for an individual and as a networked tool, with Bonjour sharing and the ability to do the aforementioned Spotlight embeds, so your tags, comments and metadata travel with the files instead of with a master catalog; the full Workgroup edition is due at Macworld Expo, with additional capabilities for shared data. All your video files, on all your attached drives, in any QuickTime-readable format (plus WMV and more with Flip4Mac and Perian) can be scanned and thumbnailed into Frameline's search browser; once there, you can add annotations, identify clips for reuse, export your edited files, create webpage galleries, or pass along edit lists to Final Cut. There's a lot in Frameline to explore; probably more than I'll use for my personal projects, but if you have to wrangle a large collection of clips for your editorial work it's definitely worth a look. You can download a 14-day trial from Frameline's site... but we've got a special offer for TUAW readers courtesy of Frameline: 10 licenses to give away, free of charge. Read on for details on how to enter and win. P.S. Extra credit if you suss out why the app includes the number '47' in its name.
