A Sony Camera Running Linux 209
jonr writes "At the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show, Sony presented the new camera from its Cyber-shot product line. The DSC-G3 comes with a Zeiss lens with 4x zoom, a large 3.5" touch display, and 4GB of internal memory. Most interesting is the camera's software that includes, among other things, face and scene recognition, based on Busybox and Kernel 2.6.11 for the Access Linux Platform. The camera also has built-in Wi-Fi."
Re:My 5 year old Sony TV came with a GPL notice (Score:5, Insightful)
Shh. Quite. The concept that a company can support Linux and DRM could cause some peoples on Slashdot heads to explode.
Wi-Fi cameras (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember the story about Amtrak security forcing someone to delete the photos they had taken? With the preponderance of hot spots and more and more cameras supporting Wi-Fi, this would mean that the concept of deleting photos may soon be an anachronism (and none too soon).
The 'Smart' Camera Revolution (Score:5, Insightful)
I think what we are witnessing here is the beginning of the camera revolution. Smart cameras with wireless capabilities. Soon we shall see direct integration with social networks, ability to communicate over Skype etc. Innovation from the other end of the spectrum.
Will it support Linux client access? (Score:5, Insightful)
I have been watching this happen over and over and over again. Companies developing their products to use Linux but turn around and not support Linux client access. I had stupidly picked up a wireless networked video camera that was known to run Linux on the inside and made a very stupid assumption that Linux client access would therefore be a no-brainer. WRONG! It was Windows only for client access... not even Mac could access it. That was the beginning of the eye-openers for me. It is sad and annoying... they take from the community and then don't give back.
Personally, I just don't buy anything that has the Sony label on it any longer. Not Sony-BMG music, not Sony movies, not Sony games, not Sony cameras, not Sony TVs, not Sony anything else. Sony has burned this customer too many times for me to have any faith in them and so far, I see little changes in their behavior. Their computers are complete crap too, by the way. Sony once had astounding popularity as a name brand, but they have burned more bridges than my own to be sure. I know at least 50% of Japan is anti-Sony. It is amazing that they are still humming along as well as they are.
Attention! Remove HARDHACK tag! (Score:4, Insightful)
Whoever tagged this hardhack...
Why? A hardhack involves a hardware modification. This is not the case.
Typical uninformed slashdot person.
Re:My 5 year old Sony TV came with a GPL notice (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wi-Fi cameras (Score:3, Insightful)
Not really. You just say "Yessir!" and delete the local copy.
If they continue to pressure you, you just say, "Well, I hit the 'Delete' button. What more you you want?"
Re:My 5 year old Sony TV came with a GPL notice (Score:5, Insightful)
Not true. Sony Corp. owns the Sony Group, and has a direct historical and managerial relationship with them.
Nonetheless:
Re:Sony and Linux (Score:2, Insightful)
People expect laptops to behave a particular way. They expect them to act like a windows computer.
No on really picks up a camara or console with a predisposition a particular UI. They don't expect to have IE or a Start Button or whatever. They don't expect it to be able to run software not controlled by sony.
Consumers expect computers to run windows. Consumers don't think of consoles and cameras as computers. It's not really all that hard to see why sony makes the same distinctions that their customers do, even if they are kinda dumb and don't serve anyone's interest other than Microsoft.
Sony's Caring Customers (Score:5, Insightful)
Both cameras and laptops require an operating system. For cameras, nobody cares what it is, as long as the thing takes pictures. As such, Sony has a free hand as to which OS to install. Laptops, are different. Customers care which OS is on their laptop. Customers (like it or not) want Windows on their laptops. If Sony doesn't provide Windows on their laptops, the customers will find another laptop vendor who will.
Re:Wi-Fi cameras (Score:4, Insightful)
This happened to me.
I was stopped & searched by the police on the London Transport System. I streamed it live to Qik via an N95 8GB. [shkspr.mobi]
It was very interesting to see how quickly the video spread around.
Qik - and other live streaming services - could be a very important part of our society. I dislike the idea of a panopticon - but I'd rather have one controlled by "us" rather than "them".
Re:Pfffbt! (Score:2, Insightful)
I can run Vista on 512 MB of RAM, but not nicely.
That's not running Vista, friend.
That's walking.
Re:Yeah but, (Score:5, Insightful)
It's simple. Sony has multiple personalities. Haven't you never noticed how they sold DVD drives that had features in them whose only use was to make it possible to rip the very DVDs Sony sold?
I think it's pretty likely that the hardware guys at Sony are like most hardware guys: pretty cool (in geek terms). And that the media guys are just like most other media guys: crooks.
Same think for marketing, management, and so on...