Sony Launches GPS for Cameras
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Device adds location info to your digital camera's metadata.
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Satellite-enabled turn-by-turn navigation, whether you're in a car or on foot
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ATP's $99 GPS Photo Finder aims to automate the process of adding location data to digital photos, which today is usually a tedious manual process.
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Sony Corp. said Wednesday it is investing nearly 500 million dollars to boost production of image sensors used in digital cameras and camera-equipped mobile phones.
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Sony Corp. is to launch two models of  high-definition camcorders that record images onto DVD discs  and hard disk drives (HDDs), the first camcorder maker to offer  such products, the company said on Wednesday.
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Nokia  launched a service on  Thursday which it said would cut the time a GPS-enabled  cellphone takes to pinpoint its whereabouts, opening new  opportunities for location-based online services.
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Sony also announces the company's first digital SLR camera and shows off the Rolly MP3 player that thinks it's a robot.
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InfoWorld - Researchers in the United Kingdom have developed software that loads camera phones with mouse capabilities, allowing users to swivel a camera phone to scroll or move items on a PC screen.
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Products include two cameras and photo viewer.
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(InfoWorld) - Is a picture really worth more than a thousand words? A Dutch company believes so. Tele Atlas NV is amassing data for 3-D views of roads and their surroundings to be featured in a new generation of satellite navigation systems that could give voice-centric devices a run for their money. The company is venturing into 3-D digital navigation maps in a move to expand beyond providing data for the highly competitive market for 2-D maps. Tele Atlas has sent off a fleet of 22 orange-colored camper vans equipped with cameras, laser sensors, GPS hardware, and computers to snap pictures, determine the height of bridges, and record the slope of roads around the globe for 3-D digital maps. Data for 3-D maps is already complete for several cities, including Berlin and Rome, with 50 cities currently in production. Maps of the United States and Asia could follow as early as next year. Unlike two-dimensional navigational maps that show lines and arrows, 3-D maps show actual roads, flanked by buildings, trees and traffic signs. "3-D maps render a very realistic picture of a street and its surroundings," said Tele Atlas database director Georg Fisch. "If a friend tells you to look for a familiar store or restaurant at a specific corner, you're going to see it." The data-gathering process involves a two-person team steering the camera-equipped van down roads, including highways and city streets, and snapping pictures along the way. Belgians Stijn Ulenaers and Gudrun Vanlaar welcomed a group of journalists in Neuss, Germany, last week to hop in their Tele Atlas mobile mapping van and accompany them on a small trip to record street data in the area. The van is fitted with two PCs, two detachable hard drives, a GPS system, a gyroscope, a tablet computer, and a mobile data card. The pen-operated tablet PC, mounted between the driver and rider, shows in separate windows what each camera is recording and can also overlay a road map of the area, together with the vehicle's location. Six cameras -- two in the front, one on the side, and three in the back -- snap pictures every three seconds. The wide-angle lenses are configured to produce a 360-degree perspective. The digital photos, together with their GPS positions and odometer readings (necessary in tunnels), are stored on two master and slave 250GB drives. The van can travel at speeds up to 130 kilometers per hour on highways when the sun is shinning but also as slow as 80 kilometers per hour when the weather is bad. The fleet of Tele Atlas vans currently cover around 360,000 kilometers of roads a year, generating 250TB of data, which includes 2.8 billion digital pictures. The data is compiled in the Geographic Data File (GDF) format but can be converted to nearly all formats used by navigation system vendors and providers of mapping services, including TomTom International, Navman Europe, Google, and Microsoft. All pictures are sent to India, where Tele Atlas employs several hundred people to map the images to existing road maps, aerial photographs, and other road information to ensure accuracy. Could 3-D navigational systems add to the stress drivers already have, particularly on crowded, speedy European roads? Tele Atlas key account manager Sven Peters doesn't think so. Voice instructions will remain a key feature of next-generation navigation systems, he said. What will change as a result of 3-D maps, however, is the quality of information that drivers receive when they look at the navigation screen. Tele Atlas is not the only company working on developing 3-D maps for navigational systems. Navteq is one competitor. It's still unclear, however, when consumers can expect to see 3-D navigational maps and what they'll cost. "We're busy compiling the data now, but it's difficult to say when suppliers of navigation systems will want to invest in next-generation maps," Peters said. "Many of them are still making good margins on their 2-D systems and don't see a need right now to plunge into 3-D."ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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(InfoWorld) - They're not due to be officially announced until next week, but details of Sony's new line-up of digital still cameras hit numerous Web sites Tuesday. Apparently leaked from Europe, the information about the cameras is surprisingly thorough. First reports provided basic specifications of the cameras but some later reports carried photographs of pages from what appear to be a catalog Sony used to promote the cameras to dealers in the U.K. The catalog shots are complete with "confidential until February 27" warnings across the top of the listings. Sony wouldn't confirm any of the specifications but there isn't any reason to believe the reports are fake. Among the cameras detailed is the Cybershot G1, a 6-megapixel camera with a 3X optical zoom lens and 3-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor. It has a built-in Wi-Fi adapter -- a feature gaining popularity in cameras as a way to send pictures to PCs. The camera is DLNA (digital living network alliance) compliant, so it should network easier with other gadgets, has an impressive 2GB internal memory and can record MPEG 4 movies. Sony says it can manage about 270 shots on a single battery charge, according to the information. Also new is the Cybershot T100, according to the published documents. This camera combines an 8.1-megapixel image sensor with 5X optical zoom lens and Sony's Bionz processing engine that sits in the heart of the digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera it launched last year. Bionz aids high-speed, high-quality image processing to result in pictures with less image noise, according to the company. The Cybershot H-series gets two new cameras, the H7 and H9, the reports say. Both maintain the distinctive large lens and offer 8-megapixel quality with 15X optical zoom. They also carry the Bionz processor and other features like anti-shake and Pictbridge printing. The major difference between the two cameras appears to be in the size of the LCD monitor, which is 2.5-inches on the H7 and 3-inches on the H9. There are also five new W-series models coming up, according to the reports. They include the Cybershot W200, which offers 12.1-megapixel image sensors. That's higher than many other cameras, especially compact cameras, and is sure to be a key selling point, but its usefulness is limited unless the user wants to enlarge pictures to cover entire walls or do some serious cropping and still be left with a usable picture. Full details of the new cameras, including price and launch date, are expected next week. Sony has scheduled a news conference to announce new Cybershot cameras in Tokyo on Feb. 28.
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Sony Corp., the world leader in video  equipment, finds itself in the unusual position of playing  catch-up in the next battleground for technology used in  cameras, video recorders and phones.
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Nokia, one of the largest mobile devices producer, has unveiled a tri-band 3220 camera phone with NFC or Near Field Communication functionality with support from Philips and Sony.
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Microsoft is showing off futuristic technologies this week, including a service that uses a camera phone to pinpoint your location.
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Garmin Ltd., the nation's leading maker of satellite-powered navigational devices, is getting into the wireless phone business with a handset that incorporates GPS.
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Research In Motion's new handset includes trackball screen navigation, GPS, a media player and other multimedia features.
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A new chip designed for mobile phones combines two satellite navigation services to offer a tracking time of less than one second.