Camera on GTA02

[Jay Vaughan]

>> You really don't need anything from an operator to get on that  
>> list, when
>> there is demand for a phone it will can be sold both with and without
>> contracts. Overhere FIC needs to get these resellers on board, not  
>> the
>> operators.
> In order to reach shops, you'll however usually need to setup a  
> distribution
> channels. Most shops don't deal directly with manufacturers, but  
> rather with
> distributors/wholesellers such as Dangaard. Most shops only deal  
> with one
> distributor for their inventory.
>


of course, moko can piggy back the same models that other open-source/ 
linux-using devices of great esteem have done successfully, such as  
the gp2x (gbax.com), and maintain a fairly aggressive evangelist- 
distributor front in addition to all other attempts at major  
commercialization.

as long as there are plenty of devices to actually go around, having  
50 or so in stock is worth the effort to a lot of people actually  
pouring code into the thing, and i'm pretty sure that i could sell 50  
openmoko's a week, with my own code on them, pretty easily..

apropos the CAMERA, i would say it would be silly not to have it.  i  
recently have been observing some lovely work by folks interested in  
laser graffiti, and a cell phone camera works wonders for such things  
as a 'follow the dot' pointer-source.

what i would like to try with the openmoko (and until then, shall  
pursue with other similar hardware) is to have a single laser point  
fixed in place {perhaps as furniture} and then use the camera of the  
{openmoko}device to track the dot.

so its doing tracking using its camera, turning that into data and  
when the user waves it around, it does something.  graffiti research  
labs and the gang at metalab and of course others are making nice  
strides with this, and the code is definitely something i'd want to  
run on a pocket computer.

so my big point is that we ought to remember that the camera is  
usable for more than just taking pictures, though of course thats its  
primary use.  as a second input thats going into the same basic  
algorithm as the position-sensor/piezo-accelerometer, i could imagine  
putting some image processing into the moko hardware and making it  
quite a fun device to point at things, as well as letting it continue  
to be a brain-sucking cell-phone boat-anchor ...

;