Help me find an old article about the potential uses of cameraphones
January 12, 2015 1:37 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for an article / blog post from the early 2000s. At the time, mobile phones with cameras were just starting to appear at tech shows, and many people had a "why do I need a camera in my mobile phone?" response. The writer sketched some scenarios in which such devices would be useful, which were very novel at the time.
Two scenarios I can recall from the article:
- Husband in supermarket, sending a snapshot of a shelf to his wife to ask which brand she wanted.
- Person with car trouble by the roadside, speaking to a mechanic and sending a picture of what he can see under the hood.
The article made a big impression on me, because at the time I, like most people, thought of photography as "pictures you want to keep" – interesting people or things or occasions – and about mobile phones as, well, mobile phones. This was an entirely different way of thinking of photography – as something ephemeral that aids communication – and also of the future potential of the devices we carry in our pockets.
This prediction has of course come to pass, and all of us now use the cameras we always have with us for all sorts of purposes we'd never have imagined 15 years ago. I was reminded of this yesterday in a hardware shop when showing the assistant a photo on my iPhone of the wall socket I had just unscrewed, in order to buy the right light switch and get advice on how to wire it in.
The writer was a well-known tech columnist. My first guess was Jon Udell, although after some googling I don't think it was him. I'd love to find the article again.
Two scenarios I can recall from the article:
- Husband in supermarket, sending a snapshot of a shelf to his wife to ask which brand she wanted.
- Person with car trouble by the roadside, speaking to a mechanic and sending a picture of what he can see under the hood.
The article made a big impression on me, because at the time I, like most people, thought of photography as "pictures you want to keep" – interesting people or things or occasions – and about mobile phones as, well, mobile phones. This was an entirely different way of thinking of photography – as something ephemeral that aids communication – and also of the future potential of the devices we carry in our pockets.
This prediction has of course come to pass, and all of us now use the cameras we always have with us for all sorts of purposes we'd never have imagined 15 years ago. I was reminded of this yesterday in a hardware shop when showing the assistant a photo on my iPhone of the wall socket I had just unscrewed, in order to buy the right light switch and get advice on how to wire it in.
The writer was a well-known tech columnist. My first guess was Jon Udell, although after some googling I don't think it was him. I'd love to find the article again.
Response by poster: Looks like I'm not going to find that article, but thanks – that BBC piece highlights the way in which we struggle to understand the role that new technology will play in our lives.
posted by snarfois at 4:08 AM on January 13, 2015
posted by snarfois at 4:08 AM on January 13, 2015
Best answer: Twitter user Livia Penn believes she has your answer: http://twitter.com/nw_livia/status/555363373164924928
posted by Mo Nickels at 6:44 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mo Nickels at 6:44 AM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks very much! It's not the one I had in mind, as it dates from 2008 – the one I was thinking of was still treating cameraphones as a novelty. But it is *exactly* the same type of advice, and equally useful. Many of those tips are brilliant.
(Sorry for late reply; I was away from MeFi for a while.)
posted by snarfois at 4:14 AM on January 27, 2015
(Sorry for late reply; I was away from MeFi for a while.)
posted by snarfois at 4:14 AM on January 27, 2015
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Though not the article you're looking for, there are some amusing responses in comments on this BBC Tech piece, a few ahead of their time: "Put the camera on the front, then you're ready for video phone calls."
posted by kreestar at 2:44 AM on January 12, 2015 [3 favorites]