You keep losing touch with reality Practical still photography WILL die out, but you forget that i nthe amazing, wonderful technological la la land you're living in - things move a LOT quicker than the REST of the world. Camera phones outside of Japan are slowly (i. e. like a turtle with three wounded legs) making inroads. SLOWLY. Affordability is an issue, and here in Taiwan that makes it prohibitive; confounded by the fact that only two models of cellphone offer digital cameras at the moment (both being Japanese). In Korea thre's the issue of local firms getting their own versions out - heaaven forbid they let the Japanese one-up them (sigh, Jingoism), but they are still pricey. The U. S., Europe and Canada? It's going to be a long while. Most folks from the states I know with cell phones - still have monochromatic displays. Digital cameras though, are making in roadsas stand alone cameras.   To twist some dialogue from DAWN OF THE DEAD (A great American movie) "GPS cell phones will only help the "lost" suckers with enough dough to be able to buy one." I add to this, that the "death of the camera" is an observation from a man who has gone on the record for claiming there aren't many good Japanese movies (nudge, nudge Greg: how many have you REALLY seen from start to finish - and anime doesn't count.). For what it's worth, 99% of Japanese movies blow away their American counterparts simply because of sheer gumption. US $4 million nippon producitons look like 20 million, while US $100 million productions look and feel like $5 handjobs from a sandpaper-weilding high school principal (i. e. lumps-of-shit like X-MEN2). Too many techno geeks running/ruining narrative film in Shoddywood. Fuck CG, and Burn Hollywood, BURN! Two cents, Django posted by DjangoJune 24, 2003 at 6:02 [ e ]

this is exciting As a still and video photographer (who still loves her Canon EOS and Sigma Zoom lens and can tolerate her Sony Mavica because it's a decent digi) this new age of cell phones with such great quality shots and versatility is terribly exciting! I don't care how I get an image as long as I can get the one my head imagined and share it with the world. I really hope these make it to America and in an economically feasible manner. I remember being in Finland in 1999 and seeing how much they used their Nokias for everything from buying a soda to paying for a taxi. They were text messaging as a rule not the exception, which Americans are still not yet doing. Thanks for the info.  I'm salivating ovah here! posted by rakastaa21June 24, 2003 at 8:41 [ e ]

I think you need to start reading the news cell phone cameras are expected to OUTSELL digital cameras this year!  Not sometime far in the future. And, unlike most other fancy phone features, cell phones with descent displays and cell phone with cameras encourage cell phone use.  More use means more money to the cell phone company. In the past, the only major different between the free cellphone and the $400 cell phone in the U.S. was style and size.  Free got you the clunky phone with no features.  $400 got you the pocket phone with tetris built in.  There was no benefit to the phone company for selling the smaller cooler phone. With newer phones though, the large display and better keypad with direction buttons etc makes e-mail acutally possible (typing e-mail without the direction buttons means putting in a space or a double letter is extremely frustrating).  Each e-mail sent makes money for the phone company.  Same with photos. Each photo sent makes even more money for the phone company.  And with MoBlogging taking off sending photos from your phone (vs waiting until you get home to take them off the phone) is quickly growing in popularity. So, as it's in the phone company's best interest to give you a picture cell phone with good display as cheap as possible (so more people will use it) expect the prices to come down quick. As for Jap movies, name 10 that were any good in the last 20 years?  Hanabi?  Crap.  Brother? Crap. Ringu was good but still very B esque.  Battle Royale as an interesting idea but still crap.  Tampopo was good. Shall We Dance was good.   Those 2 are the exceptions.  Ask some Japanese nationals what they think and they'll all unanimously tell you Japanese movies suck with rare exception. That doesn't mean hollywood doesn't put out a lot of crap but they they still manage to put out 5 or 6 good to great movies a year vs Japan which puts out 5 to 6 good to great movies a decade. posted by greggmanJune 24, 2003 at 10:39 [ e ]

I'm with you on Ringu I saw the American version first.  The tone was incredibly even and the scares were not just well placed and well scored, but truly scary in themselves. While I love the Japanese horror jolts caused by the same freaky sfortzando music and a fast push in, it doesn't compare to the moment you see the same scene (girl in closet) in the American remake. Dark Water is apparently coming out here next year.  Having seen the Japanese version (and thinking it slightly inferior to Ringu, which was as you say B movie at best) I am excited. Ring 2 in the US should be far better than the extremely inferior sequel Japan produced. Americans truly own film as far as modern quality.  We're getting more open to foreign film and recognizing foreign classics such as Bergman and Tarkovsky; but we still have Scorsese, Hitchcock(British but he made his films here), Tarrantino, Spielberg, Shyamalan, Welles, Wise, Scott, Lyne, Troche, so many. posted by rakastaa21June 24, 2003 at 12:02 [ e ]

Delusional Gregg Cellphones outselling cameras? Sure. Makes sense. I still use a cannon I bought 10 years ago and it still works perfectly well.  I've had three cellphones in four years. They're cheap. All were bought in Asia. Still, that doesn't mean you have the same proliferation happening inAmerica as in Japan. In fact, most folks who buy cameras stick with it until it breaks. Cellphones - they switch more often. Many sales go to upgrades. Your observations on this and ADSL are not realistic when it comes to RIGHT NOW. You see too far ahead and I'd like to hear your thoughts about RIGHT NOW. How do you think this will turn out in America. Give us  (well, me, at least) some educated guesses on that. lay out details. Still photography dying WILL happen, but it's your doom-saying that is premature. You see a group of trees but fail to see the global forrest at the moment. It won't be as smooth as you say. Don't forget the rest of the world isn't speeding through on an Akhabara bullet train to techno heaven like wonderful Japan (and I mean WONDERFUL Japan- no sarcasm here). Think about all of the crapy gadgets that NEVER leave Japanese shores... ... remainder moved to movies page ... posted by DjangoJune 24, 2003 at 16:31 [ e ]

"a few years" I wrote "in a few years" this will happen.  Not today.  Remember, DVDs just came out *a few years ago*.  Blockbuster video just announced that DVDs now out rent videos.  I didn't take all that long. That you still use your 10 year old camera is irrelavent. If someone's cell phone already had a camera built in they would probably end up giving it a try.  It's kind of like cell phones in general. I still know people that avoid having one. They think they don't need one. Of course that same person causes no end of trouble for everybody that's actually living in the 21st century.  They're late and they can't tell us why, when or if they will arrive.  They lost their way to the party and they can't call anybody or visa vera they are the only one that knows the way and nobody can contact them at the last minute.  They get seperated at a shopping center or amuzement park and there is no way to get back together.   The are coming later to a get-together but the plans change an people have to stay behind because there is no way to tell them the plans have changed except to wait for them to show up. etc etc etc. My point is, the phone company will GIVE YOU A CAMERA sooner or later.  I happen to think it will be sooner than you think.  They will do this because in the end they will make more money as people get used to using this feature.  I watched it happen here.  2 1/2 years ago I bought the first J-Phone cell phone with camera.  At the time there was only one other camera phone on the market in Japan and it was big and cluncky.  Most people except us gadget freaks thought "what a stupid idea.  Who needs a camera on their cellphone?" Now J-Phone DOES NOT EVEN CARRY PHONES WITHOUT A CAMERA.   NTT is now 80% camera only phones.  Cell phones with cameras are FREE.  It took only 2.5 years to get to this point.  This year 1.3megapixel cellphone cameras are out.  Within another 2 to 3 years cellphone cameras will replace most casual photography. I believe the same thing will happen in America and else where.  The camera phones were introduced this year in America.  In 2-4 years they will also take over all cell phones as they have here in Japan, again because the phone company makes more money the more you use your phone.  And, 2 to 4 years after that there will be little to no reason to own an point and shoot camera, film or digital. posted by greggmanJune 25, 2003 at 5:09 [ e ]

thanks for elaborating Owning a camera for10 eyars IS relevant because many Americans will say "What's the point of acmera phone? I'll save money and use my camera adn buy a phone without the camera." Really. NTT/DOCOMO who basicall yrun the phone biz in Japan - force the conversion to cell phones with camera. You'll see that in countries where the phone company is owned by the government. This isn't the case in the U. S., and frankly that will make the duration for proliferation that much longer.   Not all who reject cell phones are "late" and can't tel you why. Ifind about 100% more folks WITH cell phones ALWAYS LATE and unable to even apologize for their inexcusabel lateness. Technology is great but to imply those bypassing it are unreliable is assenine. It's the opposite: early adopters who pass judgments onteh character of people who dont't pony up to arelatively unnneccessaary technology render themselves as techno-nazis. It's like 'you didn't iron your hair to make it straight like the white man" type of judgement calls from lilly white people, companero. Technogeeks really are mucking up things: film, daily life, and now creating another yardstick of "waht makes us better than you is what toys we have."   You nee some time away from technology to remind you of what is crucial to daily life. It wil make you appreciate technology more realistically, but also get that cloud of technocratic nonsense out of your mind. Cheers, Django posted by DjangoJune 25, 2003 at 5:48 [ e ]

there you go again calling me names instead of just discussing.  gees. NTT/DOCOMO didn't force the issue.  J-Phone forced NTT Docomo to respond because J-Phone was kicking NTTs ass since J-Phone had emphasised cell phone cameras and NTT had not.  Competition is working just fine here. I never said all people you reject cell phones are late. My point was cell phones solve lots of problems we used to have. They generally make life easier than it was without them kind of like washing machines, microwave ovens, refridgerators.  They all solve issues that we now take for granted.  Cell phones do the same for people that try them.  Those that haven't tried them generally just don't get it yet. One example is looking for an house to rent.  Back in 1989 my friends and I wanted to rent an house together.  We went together through the paper, circled the ads that sounded promising, each took 1/4 of the ads and called all 150 of them from home trying to make appointments to see the houses a couple of days later.  It was a huge pain in the ass.  Then, while we were out if we got lost or if we were late in trying to find a place we had no way to contact the owner or realitor to ask directions or tell them to please wait another 10 minutes. In 1994 I bought a cell phone. I bought it thinking it was a toy because I'm a gadget person.  Within a couple of months I found it solved all those problems and a host of others I hadn't noticed. Everytime someone forgets their cell phone I see the similar problems.  A few months ago I was going to meet some friends at the movies.  I forgot my phone.  I realized on the way to the train station but I would have been 30 minutes late to turn around and go get the phone.  So, I just went and stood in front of the theather.  My friends, since we all have cell phones, just assumed as most modern people do that you just all show up and call each other "hey, I'm here, where are you" but of course we couldn't do that since I forgot my phone.  So, they were walking around someplace fun trying to call me while I waited in front of the theather for 45 minutes.  This is the kind of problem that goes away if you have (and remember to take ) a cell phone.  Without them you have to plan specifically "meet me at this exact place and this exact time". Just like I no longer have to kill my food the day I eat it because we have refridgerators and freezers I no longer have to plan my meetings etc in detail in advance because I have a cell phone.  Need a reservation for a restaurant.  Call right now.  No searching for 10 - 30 minutes for a phone and change.  Need to know if that restaurant is too busy to get in?  Just call.  Decide on the spot to go see a movie, call your friends to come with you whereever you are. Owning a camera for10 eyars IS relevant because many Americans will say "What's the point of acmera phone? I'll save money and use my camera adn buy a phone without the camera." Really. No you won't save money.  First you assumed the camera cell phone is going to cost more than the non camera cell phone.  As I pointed out, that will not be true because the phone company makes MORE MONEY if they GIVE you FOR FREE a camera phone. Second, using a film camera is expensive.  In Japan it's about 40 yen per image.  That adds up.  A digital camera, any kind, cell phone or not is cheaper in the long run and long run is not that long.  For most people it takes less than a year to be cheaper than any film camera.  For a FREE cell phone camera it would be INSTANTLY CHEAPER. posted by greggmanJune 25, 2003 at 9:10 [ e ]

Rejecting Cell Phones I would also add that not all people who reject cell phones are technophobes or cheapskates or anti-social.  And I think that the washing machine and refrigerator analogies are kind of weak because neither of those machines really have any significant social factor, other than maybe the fact that they free up time that a person could instead spend with friends or family.  But otherwise, when you're outside your house, no one really knows or cares whether you have a washing machine or refrigerator as you certainly don't take either of them with you and annoy other people by running the spin cycle during a movie or hitting someone in the back of the head with your refigerator door while you pack up your leftovers at a restaurant. I have always been a gadget enthusiast, but from the get-go, cell phones never appealed to me because first, they were a status symbol for the rich, obnoxious "yuppie" stereotype, then later, when they became more affordable, they just became enablers for the potentially obnoxious hiding quietly in the masses.  I'm not saying that every cell phone user is an obnoxious, self-important dolt - Gregg's arguments for practical uses are quite valid, although not worth the money to me personally - but I think it is perfectly accurate to say that MANY, MANY of them are very inconsiderate to others, and that the easy availability and affordability of the technology actually FACILITATED that type of change or emergence in many people's personalities.  The advent of cell phones gave them an outlet; a license to be rude. My other reason for rejecting cell phones is that many times, I actually like it when people can't find me.  It's very liberating to be out and about and give nary a thought to one's problems and obligations for a while.  Sure, you can turn your phone off, but when people know that you have a phone, it inevitably offends them if you don't answer it.  After a while, they think you are dissing them, or they start freaking out and thinking that something terrible has happened to you.  Either way, you can't get away with not answering for long, and during that brief break, you've still got your voice mail notification nagging you, tempting you to check your messages because maybe they're important this time.  (They aren't.) My point?  Cell phones are still a luxury, not a necessity. posted by BionicRoachJune 25, 2003 at 15:10 [ e ]

Those are all good points. I agree that people can be rude with cell phones.  People can be rude with washing machines and dishwashers too.  Run them at 2am in an apartment. I don't think I ever argued that cell phones are a neccessity.  Neither are most of those other gadgets for that matter, neither fridges, freezers nor washing machines.  My only point was that they are extremely useful. I bought one thinking it was a complete luxury, totally a toy, not useful.  I found that I was wrong.  My life is easier, more fun and less frustrating because I have a cell phone. More fun: I'm out somewhere, before the cell phone I generally just went home after doing something and once I was home I stayed there.  Now I call friends "what are you doing, wanna go out" or "where are you, can I come join?"  That didn't happen much before.  Now I usually do that in cell phone e-mail so I don't interrupt anything. Less Frustrating I already went over.  Being able to find people when getting separated, being able to not have to wait for someone when they are late because you know that once they get their they can just call you and you can tell them where you are.  Being able to call a store or restaurant while out and about to see if they are open, have something in stock, have an open table, etc. If I don't want to be bugged I turn it off completely.  Like Monday I had a pitch to Sony.  I didn't want to be interrupted during the pitch so I turned it off.  Or when I go to a movie I turn it off. Most of the messages I get generally are something I want to hear about, "Hey, if you get this message, we are all meeting at Otaru for drinks at 7.  Come over".  That's a message I want, a message I would not have gotten until it was too late if I had to go home first to get it. So, no they are not a neccessity but they are not just toys either.  As for being rude, it could be argued that in a group where 9 of 10 people have cellphones, the one person without is the one that puts everyone else out. (assuming they aren't financially challenged)  That's the person that's hard to get ahold of.  That's the person that everyone has to wait for when they are late because there is no way to contact them.  That's the person who makes it impossible to change plans because again, they can't be contacted.  This has happened to me several times.  One friend of my group of friends decided he didn't want his cell phone any longer and each and every one of those issues came up.  We all show up at some restaurant and there's an hour wait, we all decide to go somewhere else except we can't leave because the guy with no cellphone has not arrived and if we leave he won't know where we are going.  Same with movies, we show up, it's sold out, we decide to see something else or go to another theater but we can't because we have to wait for him. You might scoff at the idea that the person without the cell phone is the trouble maker but in a culture where most people have one it's like a guy on a horse trotting down the busy highway in a world of cars. posted by greggmanJune 25, 2003 at 15:50 [ e ]

the nail that sticks up will get hammered down "You might scoff at the idea that the person without the cell phone is the trouble maker but in a culture where most people have one it's like a guy on a horse trotting down the busy highway in a world of cars."   So, using such logic: it was okay to go beheading Chinese peasants just because everybody else did it during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing? THAT is exactly the type of thinking that fucks Japan up. First WWII era blind imperialism, then the salaryman 70s-present, and mass suicides and harajuku fashion nightmares who look shocking but are really saying "we are being forced to tow such a conservative line that we freak out because it's all we can do, though we just really need hugs and some attention to our individual concerns in this culture of putting the zaibatsu above our own lives"   Your observation explains a Japanese cultural trait, but to shrug it off or justify it - when clearly it's strangling the culture - means you need to surround yourself with more people. Such thinkin - or a justification or blowing off of it - is endmeic of people who lack a large body of healthy-minded individuals to feed off of and to share things with. Congrats - you ARE a Tokyoite. I worry that you've become hikikomori.   I agree with the previous poster. The snobbery of cell phone ownership never went away. It left the elite and got put in the hands of the average Jane/joe and it multiplied. What does it say about cellphone users who feel the need to say those without one are stigmas? What's next, seperate bathrooms for non cell-phone pariahas? "Those without cellphones must sit at the back of the bus."  Now I want to throw my cell phones out of the window in revolution. Suchthinking isn't healthy: it's downright sick. I have two weeks until my cellphone contract expires and thansk to this thread I'm convinced that I wil not only cancel it, but smash my phone in public, just for the catharsis. The cell phone nazi one-upmanship exists in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well. Inherited from Japan. It's a big dick/litle dick insecurity. VERY masculine. People forget it's not the lead itself but how you swing it. I'm starting the "cell phone fetishists are freaks" movement, and that's what this whole thing boils down to: technonazis/techno fascists. Oh, btw - NTT OWNS a majority share of DOCOMO, and because of this (I believe it happnened in 1996 if memory serves correct, so not only are they partners, but most of its shareholdings are via NTT - the government) they FORCE the consumers to buy the newer technology though they DO NOT need it, but get stuck with it because there are no downgradeable options. Eventually it becomes the normal package but the costs are still higher. THERE IS ALWAYS A HITCH.   Otehr thigns that haven't been mentioned: like SK telecom in South Korea or Chunghua Telecom in taiwan - ALL  terrestrial and cellular services still give a cut to NTT ebcause NTT - the government  phone authority - created and generally maintan all of the networks. SK and Chunghwa are mere carbon copies of such a system.   Cheers, Django posted by DjangoJune 26, 2003 at 12:10 [ e ]

calm down I don't get your connections. It's simple logic.  If you are in a restaurant and talking on a cell phone your are bothering everyone else.  That's bad.  If 10 friends go out and one of them holds everyone up because they choose not to carry a cellphone that's bad too.  Maybe not as bad but it's still rude to keep everyone waiting.  It's like trying to live in the modern world without a phone period or without any kind of answering machine.  Such a person makes all their friends WORK at trying to get ahold of them.  That's NOT COOL!  If they can't help it, they are poor or between jobs or something you put up with it but if they are not then after awhile it gets annoying to always have to go through so much effort for one out of 10 friends. ...they FORCE the consumers to buy the newer technology though they DO NOT need it, but get stuck with it because there are no downgradeable options. Eventually it becomes the normal package but the costs are still higher. THERE IS ALWAYS A HITCH... Hmmm, I can choose not to go with NTT-Docomo.  I've got J-Phone, AU, Tuka, Air H'.  Because of competition prices have got down not up here in Japan.  But usage has gone up.  more people e-mailing, more people sending photos, more people checking the web for info (like did I miss my last train) As for attacking me again, it seems more likely a person without a cell phone would become a hikikomori.  As for me, using my cell phone to organize, I just had a 24 person party last night. posted by greggmanJune 27, 2003 at 4:56 [ e ]

the things you own end up owning you Life is like a rerun of Mr. Belvedere - youNEVER know what you're gonna get: We survived without those features for YEARS and can survive without them. Again, they are needless and re-enforce dependence on technology that is gratuitous, costly and unneccessary. convenience is not always "convenient, when it creates a ependence on things. I reference the insane lack of public phones in tawian post-cell phone boom as anexample. South Korea was getting that way too. Practical, common-sene utilities that are NOT obsolete end up being phased out by such (sometimes) euphamistic (sometimes not) muscling. There is no such thing as a "free market" when it comes to the consumer. capitalism is not a sign of freedom and technology is not the sole sign of convenience. People think cell phones make life easier, but do they? Not really. people get shiftless, lazy and dependent on such toys. Why is it important to have things that trim some suppose time off here and there when there may not be a need to be in a hurry anyway? Whatever happened to timing trains on yoruown and asking other people. Technology can be a liberator or an enslaver. It's clear that with folks like NTT/DOCOMO and Microsoft it's the latter, not the former.   New Jack City: Have you ever known any addicts, Gregg? Your defences read as though you are in denial and what you construe as a convenience is in fact an addiction. Could yo ureally live without the toy? I have, can, and soon will. Why? Because I actually DON'T NEED IT. If somone can't be fucked to leave me a message at home or wait for ansers or a response, or can't handle using a pubic phone then it's little different than withdrawl. Being happy with that addiction is fine, but don't shove it on the rest - which the tech companies and their marketing are doing, and you have bought into it so much that your rabid enthusiasm is similar to a Moonie/Cutlist type. When there's no more room in hell, the dead WILL walk the earth: The cameras, videogames, ringtones are simply the dealers giving the public a little taste of a suposedly greater high - which is great but then becomes the need and then the norm. It consumes. the people it consumes get up and consume others with their miracle stories. The people they consumed get up and consume. We're talking zombiedom. Night of the NTT Dead, companero. If all of those added features supposedly make life 'better" why are so many Japanese offing themelves and statistically - I'd bet those countries behind on the tech ladder - have lower suicide rates. The connection is small, and I am looking to find morefinite details, but something is there. It's not the sole cause but it adds up to the drastic conclusion.   DEBBIE DOES DOCOMO: Unpublicize bonuses for cellphone users: setting the phone on pulse turns it into a vibrator. I had an ex that swore by her Noikia when on going away business trips.   Look for a website calle Mondo Taiwan. Some locals have been known to get them lodged inside of their rectum. I'd like to see NTT promote that in Japan: the new action-mode phone with colonoscopy camera and french tickler.... The meek shall inherit reruns of Diff'rent Strokes: Most Hikikomori are techno geeks. ALL seem to have a cell phone. Why? From the sanctity of their home they can reach out to the like without having to physically be WITH them. When I was researching the phenomena for a possible documentary project I was surprised to see how such self-impose exilees (sic)  netwroked with each other without actually meeting (Eventually I abandonded the idea because I lost interest in it -and when you bankroll your own projects and assess the man hours and money spent - that's easy to do). Back to the future: Of course, addiction is denial and denial is passing the blame or fingering others. Slamming non-cell phone adaptors as being something inferior is not only technocratic - it's just plain wrong: fact. How so? If so many people adapted to the cellphone techonology then they statistically outnumber the non-adaptors and therefore more assholes exist within that group than the so-called "minority" of non-adaptors. That subject now been rendered mute. posted by DjangoJune 28, 2003 at 18:40 [ e ]

dood None of the things I mentioned are neccessities.  People lived for thousands if years without refrigerators, without photos, without cars, without phones, without cell phone, without computers, without TVs or radio or CD, Records, Tapes, MP3 players, without VCRs, without washing achines or vacuum cleaners, without running water and without sewage systems, etc, etc, etc.  What the hell does that have to do with anything? Feel free to rid your life off all that stuff.  Go back to spending 12 hours a day just trying to grow food and having no time for family or friends. It's not about being in a hurry, it's about having the time at all.  Each gadget generally gives people more time for friends and loved ones than they had before.  Do you think most people would exchange regular paper mail with their 88 year old grandmother 2 - 3 times a week from Japan to America?  Regular mail alone takes over a week one way generally.  E-mail, being far more convenient (no stamp needed, no paper, no having to go to the post office) means that I and my 88 year old grandmother do exchange e-mail 2 -3 times a week. While my other 80yr old grandmother I only exchange e-mail with maybe once a month I know that is far more than I would exchange through regular paper mail and I know that for most people the same would be true. It's not an addiction dood, it's a convenience.  I can leave my friends a message at home.  Of course by the time they get home to receive it they've already missed the party I found out about that same day.  I guess their life was better though since they got to go home alone instead of meet a bunch of friends or family. Slamming non-cell phone adaptors as being something inferior is not only technocratic - it's just plain wrong: fact. I never said "inferior" I said annoying and inconsiderate IF IT IS NOT A BURDEN FOR THEM.  I gave a perfectly valid analogy.  The guy riding his horse drawn carriage down the freeway is both being ANNOYING and INCONSIDERATE of all the people driving cars around him.  I'm sure at some point early last century there were plenty of people that saw it the other way, when there were more carriages and less cars.  At that time cars were more dangerous to carriages but some point carriages were actaully banned from the freeway they are so dangerous to everybody else.  At that point he had two choices, stop using the freeways period or buy a car like everybody else. While I don't think people without cell phones (for which owning one is not a burden) are more dangerous then people with they are in similar ways just as ANNOYING and INCONSIDERATE and they are missing out.  Missing out on meeting friends (missed messages, missed calls), missing out on being able to stay with friends until the last possible moment (since they can check the train times on the web), even possibly missing out on life (having an emergency and having no way to call for help). Yes, this discussion is moot.  Both the film camera and the digital still camera will be all but dead for all but photographers (pros and hobbiest) in Japan within 4 years and in America within 8 years.  Come back to this page on 2011-06-24 and we'll see who's right. posted by greggmanJune 29, 2003 at 0:05 [ e ]

Lenses According to this article the new SH505i cell phone uses the same lens / sensor as the Casio EXILIM cameras. More evidence that the days of point and shoot digital cameras are numbered. posted by greggmanJune 30, 2003 at 10:52 [ e ]

Jap. movies/cellphone cam.'s (2nd try...) Yo, in chronological order: * cam cellphones *do* take up here in Germany; i recently got a new one for finally aggreeing to officially prolonging my contract for 2 more years and among the over a dozen phones available with the prolongation bonus there were 7 with VGA-cameras, two even for 29 euro. I had to take care to get one without because i'm saturated with digicams at home. So, i'm with you in believing they'll take over in a couple of years. I'm kind of worrying about social consequences, though: f.e. camera cellphone bans in companies to bar industrial espionage, or in clothes shops because of indecent changing box pics, and so on... * one IMHO good japanese comedy movie was Tampopo by Juzo Itami (see http://us.imdb.com/Title?009 2048), using an innovative cutting to "splice in" a kind of funny/comical/sad/absurd "side plots", sometimes referring to or intersecting the main plot - one of my top ten movies ever. Sadly, i didn't like Itami's next 2 films about the taxing woman - close to funny but no cigar. The rest of his (many) films i didn't have an opportunity to watch yet. Other _good_ japanese movies i encountered include most definitely anything by Akira Kurosawa, like Shinichin no samurai... In short, i've seen not many japanese movies but among them few bad ones. * btw. think of all the wonderful gadgets that never leave japanese shores (or enter european ones), like most of the Sharp Zaurus models... Thank heaven though for the Linux Zaurus available here for a short period... * Cellphones seem to raise the standard, somehow: "So, they were walking around someplace fun trying to call me while I waited in front of the theather for 45 minutes." So, showing up at the place and time agreed upon suddenly isn't good enough any more, thanks to modern times. Also, once you have one, people start assuming there's neither no-reception-areas nor private life any more, and you'll find you have to start apologizing quite some more about "having" both... Having said that, i'm like you believing that cellphones DO solve those problems about being callable and being able to call nearly everywhere. But they change expectations/culture/society as well. * @BionicRoach: i believe the obnoxious dolts brandishing cellphones died out with prices having come down so that _everyone_ could afford. ODs tend to IMHO endorse gadgets that "differentiate" by price... (I really laughed about that notion of taking your fridge/washer everywhere and bothering people with them 8^) OTOH nowadays, hereabouts (in Germany),  you're really looked down upon if you _don't_ have a cellphone (even 6 year olds, which IMHO is 12 years early). Though the "non-cellphone-stigma" is really about the inability to cater to a changed, more ad-hoc life style, like greggman described. I heartily agree with your notions of "unreachability" starting to be a luxury, though. * on grandmothers doing e-mail: i had mixed success getting my forefathers/-mothers to use e-mail, much less PCs... i believe in 10 years we'll see a really intuitive (and i don't mean modeling some subset of reality) computer interface - but Apple's Newton went far, though IMHO not far enough, both in project life and concept. I'm sorry if this sounded somewhat incoherent; it's mostly jotted down while reading all of the earlier comments. -- regards, -- a wolf posted by wolfAugust 13, 2003 at 22:32 [ e ]

Megapixel counts don't mean much if the lens,through which light passes to hit the sensor, is unmatched in quality found in cameras. Optics is quite a headache, the big camera companies guard their intellectual property carefully regarding lenses. Maybe one day phones will have lenses that rival a professional grade digital camera. posted by hugosanOctober 11, 2004 at 1:11 [ e ]

not the point The point isn't that cell phones might one day replace PRO cameras.  The point is that cell phones will replace cheap cameras.  The kinds of cameras that 80% of the population uses vs the fancier kind that 20% or less use. posted by greggmanOctober 12, 2004 at 0:46 [ e ]