Wifi Camera Uploads without Computer 134
* * Beatles-Beatles writes to tell us NewsDay is reporting that Kodak has released the first "computer-free wireless camera." The new widget can connect directly to the Internet wherever there's Wi-Fi available to download and e-mail pictures. Users can even use the camera to view photos stored in Internet photo albums via Kodak's Easyshare Gallery service.
Re:What's the big deal? (Score:3, Insightful)
and e-mail pictures. (Score:4, Insightful)
When will people understand that SMTP isn't a file transport medium?
Re:and e-mail pictures. (Score:3, Insightful)
Its flawed but not everyone can securely configure a remote file-server. Email's a tool that's universally available to net-connected people, and the rise of large inboxes makes it highly practical.
Tactical possibilities in conflict situations (Score:5, Insightful)
Visual documentation of violence, including street violence, is something that is very powerful in these circumstances. A network of WiFi cameras that connects to a battery-powered wireless switch(es) could turn this into an extremely powerful journalistic tool.
Journalists, especially some very courageous ones, have had their (expensive) equipment seized and smashed - even by the police. In effect, the very act of powerfull and provocative reportage causes the reportage to be fuitless. A couple of cheap wireless cameras clipped onto someone's lapel or mounted in places where there is a clear field of view could provide (highly incriminating?) video data even upto the moment the cameras were destroyed.
And think of the possibilities for exposing corruption. If you were to go to, say, a police station where you knew a bribe would be demanded of you, with the intent of secretly filming the proceedings, you'd be banking on the camera remaining undetected and being able to take the recording away with you. With a WiFi camera broadcasting to an Internet-connected laptop(s) across the street, things change quickly
Cheers,
Aniruddha "Karim" Shankar
Good for demonstrations (Score:3, Insightful)
This would solve that problem -- realtime uploading of the images to a location where the cops can't get them.
This doesn't apply to America, where cops are all lawful and good (/sarc) -- but rather, to countries that have repressive governments and no free exchange of information.
Re:Tactical possibilities in conflict situations (Score:5, Insightful)
I wouldn't diss the idea completely - after all if your camera would connect to an ad-hoc network you could perhaps arrange for someone with a PDA or small laptop to shadow you at some distance and broadcast the pics back to them, but it would still be an awkward arrangement. And its doubtful that this camera would help you do that.
Perhaps it's simpler and equally effective to use redundancy - multiple photographers, with each passing their filled memory cards to runners.
Re:and e-mail pictures. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:That's interesting, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
The D2X is one heck of a camera, and if I ever get the money I'll replace my D70 with one...
Re:We'll see. (Score:3, Insightful)
It...really... annoys me.
Re:Tactical possibilities in conflict situations (Score:3, Insightful)
[1] Atleast, a lot more than you could get out of a conventional rig. You don't want to slap in a new roll of film or another memory card in the middle of something like this. Hopefully this will be hackable enough that people can create stuff to upload only locally, so that all you would need would be a wireless router in your car and a network storage device.