The new 8-megapixel camera sported on the iPhone 4S, is more than just about extra megapixels. Apple packed significant improvements to the optics, sharpening image quality and increasing the lens aperture to f/2.4.

The larger aperture lets in more light, bringing brighter and better photos. The advanced hybrid infrared filter also keeps out harmful IR light, resulting in more accurate and uniform colors.
  

The backside illuminated sensor and an improved LED flash, iPhone 4S can also take quality photos in low-light or high-light surroundings, making sure the camera generates the best images in any level of light.

Advanced algorithms in iOS5 gives the camera more color accuracy, better white balance and greater dynamic range. The A5 chip’s image signal processor makes the iPhone 4S camera faster, with less shutter lag.

A small, but interesting, update to Skype‘s iPhone app got pushed out today. Version 3.0.1 builds on the video calling capability that was added back in December by adding support for a wider range of Skype clients and devices, including Skype for TV.

If the idea of making a video call from some far-flung corner of the world back to a family TV sounds appealing to you, you’ll need a TV that specifically supports Skype. A number of Panasonic and Samsung sets will do the job, while a compatible webcam is required too. A list of supported kit is here.

While video calling to your TV may remain elusive for many for now, Skype purchasing mobile video streaming service Qik and offering paid-for group video chat both indicate that the company sees video as an important part of its future.

With user numbers reported to have rocketed of late, and Internet connected TV devices starting to break into the mainstream, it’s likely that it won’t be long before the idea of calling home and chatting to the family through a 40″ flat screen in the corner of the room is commonplace.

Woman who set up a webcam to check on her pet dog while at work got the surprise of her life after logging on.
It wasn’t her beloved terrier Callie that she saw nosing about the place but a burglar!

The man nonchalantly poked around in Claire Bevins’ room, taking his time to look through drawers and lift up the covers of her bed in a search for valuables.

The 23-year-old immediately rang police in Denver, Colorado, to tell them what she had seen. She said: ‘There’s so much stuff that he could have taken, it’s so odd that he didn’t take it.’
As a matter of fact, he did help himself to a couple of iPods and a number of other easily re-sellable things to the value of a couple of hundred dollars.

Police used the captured images from the camera to make an appeal to the public on a local TV station, they have now informed Miss Bevins that they have their man and the alleged burglar, probably still too stunned by his capture, had the strangest of excuses

Miss Bevins revealed that a detective rang her and said: ‘I believe we have your perp in custody. He says he didn’t take anything and that he just walked around and looked in your house’. She says the footage clearly shows him lifting something from her room, and that some of her valuables are missing. The truth will come out at the man’s trial but one thing is for certain: little Callie is a hopeless guard dog.

Almost all of us have gone through a moment where we have access to the internet, talk to friends, chat through web cam, show something at the mall, or show a live performance while on the go but do not have a portable web cam. Or we have a web cam but is not wireless, and needs plugging in of wires, which is not possible. Here is a gadget, a webcam made compatible for the apple products.

The design of this webcam has been made keeping the style level of the apples products in mind. This means, the webcam is obviously a unique design and will look great when used with your iPhones or iPads. The design of this web cam is simple and easy to use. It is in the form of a USB, and there is a camera on the front side of the web cam, which will enable your friends to see you when having a video chat.

The webcam has an aluminum body and a glass enclosure to protect the lid of the webcam from damages when not in use. As you can see in the pictures, the quality of images and video displayed when using this webcam is absolutely fantastic, so you won’t have any problems with that. It is not very big in size, which makes it portable and easy to carry around.

Also, the camera part of the webcam is very flexible so you can turn and twist the camera to show the person you are chatting with the view of the surroundings around you, which doesn’t require you to move around. You can do all your work and talk how much you want with your friends sitting in one place!

With all the factors listed above, and if you are an Apple person, this product is just right for you. Because it blends in perfectly with the designs of the iPad, iPhones and so on. So, don’t think about getting this product twice, just go for it.

Relatives and friends can watch videos of newborn babies on their phone as part of a “babycam” trial in several Perth maternity hospitals.

St John of God Hospital in Murdoch is one of the first to offer the Look My Baby service to new parents, allowing friends and family around the world to make a “virtual visit” to see their bundle of joy.

The Australian-developed service uses a small webcam attached to the baby’s cot which can stream live video of the new baby over the internet to a mobile phone or computer. Parents subscribe to the service for the length of their hospital stay and a security access code allows them to choose who is given access to the virtual baby visit.

Friends and family can watch the video of the baby free apart from the usual cost of their internet access.

SJOG Murdoch director of nursing Robyn Sutherland said the new service not only helped connect families who lived long distances apart but could also be a useful way to avoid tired mothers having too many visitors.

“Our new babies receive many welcome visitors, but this service can give friends and family the option of enjoying a virtual visit instead, giving our new mums a little more time to relax before going home,” she said. 

Ms Sutherland said several mothers have taken the opportunity to use the service for free during the trial period.

To protect the privacy of parents, other patients, staff and visitors, there was no audio transmission and the camera was in a fixed position which showed only a view of the baby while in the cot.

The hospital said it would assess the results of the trial and then consider providing the service permanently.

Apple’s decision to omit a webcam from the iPad is even more frustrating when you consider the number of people playing with FaceTime on their iPhone 4 smartphones, and so Chet Rosales‘ Cam-Case concept seems mighty topical.  Intended to not only protect the Apple tablet but add a rotating webcam for front- and rear-facing video use, it would also make the iPad easier to hold by virtue of its rubberized edges.

Meanwhile Chet envisages a pass-through dock connector on the bottom that would allow users to recharge and sync their iPad without having to remove it from the case.  Unfortunately, the fly in the ointment is that the iPad doesn’t officially support external camera accessories – though we have seen one from a third-party – and lacks the software support, too.  Still, that’s surely nothing that could stand in the way of the jailbreak community.

Apple has just released details about the June launch of the iPhone 4. It has many great features but more than anything we were excited to see a front facing camera which can be used for video chatting. It works like this. You need an iPhone 4 and your friend or family member needs one as well. You also both need to be connected to a wi-fi network as well. Using a built-in app called Facetime you will be able to tap one button and then instantly see the other party and be able to chat.

Apple has unveiled its new iPhone 4 after a couple wild, unprecedented months of leaks. Sure, it looks exactly like we expected it to (Steve compares it to an old Leica camera), with a glass front and back, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts, kids. The stainless steel band that goes around the phone is an antenna system, while also providing the main structure of the phone, though it’s plugged into the same old GSM / UMTS radio you all know and love — there’s a reason they didn’t call it the iPhone 4G. There’s also of course that front facing camera we were all anticipating, a rear camera with LED flash, and a new high resolution display that doubles the pixels in each direction (960 x 640) for a 4X overall pixel count increase — Apple calls it a “Retina Display.” It’s rated at 326ppi, which Apple claims is beyond the human eye’s limit of distinction. 

Check out an example of the new screen up against the iPhone 3G after the break. Similar to the iPad, it’s an IPS display, offering 800:1 contrast. Naturally, it’s still the same old 3.5-inch size. Under the hood is the A4 processor that runs the iPad. Despite the new engine (and the 25% thinner chassis), Apple managed to make the battery slightly larger, and the new handset is rated at 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, and 40 hours of music. Oh, and that WiFi? It’s 802.11n now. The camera has been bumped to 5 megapixels, with 5X digital zoom and a “backside illuminated sensor,” which now can also record HD video at 720p / 30fps.

On the software front, applications will automatically get high resolution text and buttons as part of iOS 4 (the OS previously known as iPhone OS 4), and with “a little bit of work” developers can make their entire app compatible with the new resolution display. Developers will also get access to a new gyroscope, giving devs “six axis” motion control between the gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass, with a new “Core Motion” API to deal with it all. Users won’t be left out in the cold, however: they can mess around with that new HD video using a brand new iMovie app, if they shell out $4.99 for it. If anyone’s feeling particularly frisky, iOS 4 even lets you switch your default search provider to Bing. Last but certainly not least, that new front camera is enabled for video chat using the new “FaceTime” feature. It’s a WiFi-only (for now) video calling feature that works from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 with “no setup” involved, and can flip over to the rear camera if your grandparents get tired of your face.

The phone will be available in white or black, retailing at $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for 32GB. They go on sale June 24th, and AT&T will be giving some extra grace upgrade timing — up to six months early. The 3GS will be dropped to $99 and the 3G will disappear completely. Pre-orders start in a week, with 5 countries at launch (US, France, Germany, UK, Japan), with 18 more following in July. Apple will also be selling a first party case for $29, and a dock for the same price. PR is after the break, promo videos can be found here, and we got hands-on right here.

New features:

All new design.
Stainless steel back.
Front-facing camera
New integrated antenna.
microSIM
a second mic for noise cancellation.
“Thinnest smartphone ever.”
New retna display: dramatically increasing the pixel density. 4x pixels in the same amount of space. 326 pixels per square inch. When you hold something 10 or 12 inches away, “the pixels are so close together that things start to look like continuous curves.”
iPhone OS 4 makes it so apps run at the new resolution by converting the text into a high-resolution.
iPhone 4 is powered by the A4 chip.
New battery: 10 hours of video, 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 40 hours of music, 300 hours of standby.
A three-axis gyroscope and GPS combine for 6-axis motion sensing.
New camera with a backside illuminated sensor to capture more photons. Tap to focus. 5x digital zoom. LED flash.
Records HD video – a full 720p at 30fps. Tape to focus. Send it to YouTube.
iMovie for iPhone costs $4.99.
Geo-located videos.
iOS 4: multitasking, in-app SMS, power analysis tools, folders etc.
Enterprise upgrades: “Better data protection, wireless app distribution, multiple Exchange accounts…”
iBooks app: “Download the same book to all your devices at no extra charge.”
FaceTime: video-calling (videochat): webcamchatroulette

Live webcam from all the world on your iphone : Iphone webcam

Do you always want to be up to date on what’s happening at your favorite places and keep an eye on nearby weather or traffic conditions? Then WebcamIphone is the perfect application for your iPhone or iPod touch. Using WebcamIphone, you can get pictures of your favorite places anytime you want. You can easily add webcams using the integrated webcam directory 123cam.

123cam.com is the largest and fastest growing webcam community in the world wide web. With WebcamIphone, you can be part of it. From over 17000 webcams around all the world, you can view the newest, most popular or even nearby webcams. The location of any webcam can be easily viewed with the Google Maps application.

You’re in your car on your way home and want to know which roads have little traffic? Adding all traffic cams from your area to WebcamIphone could help you avoiding any traffic jam. Your winter vacation will be more beautiful if the weather plays along. That’s why you should inform yourself about the latest weather conditions in your skiing region before you leave your hotel. Is the sun shining or is there a raging blizzard outside? With WebcamIphone you’ll know!