It looks like Kodak and Samsung’s ‘patent squabble’ can be attributed to misplaced affection. According to some newly minted PR, the companies have inked a technology cross-license that will allow each access to the other’s portfolio. Details are scarce, but apparently Sammy has already made a payment to Kodak as credit towards the royalties it will owe once it dives into the classic imaging company’s back catalog. And how about all that alleged patent infringement? The lovebirds have agreed to file joint requests to terminate proceedings and settle their lawsuits against each other, heralding a new era of peace, love, and cooperation — a great way to begin a new decade, don’t you think? Chuck Woolery, you’ve done well.

If TMZ.com has taught us anything, it’s that there’s a lot of cell phone footage out there. Researchers at Microsoft’s Labs in Egypt are doing something cool with all that content, combining feeds from multiple phones into multi-angle, live broadcasts. Dubbed Mobicast, the system requires two sets of software, one for the phone and one for the server receiving the footage. When two or more phones are in the same place capturing the same scene, the software synchronizes their clocks so the framing lines up correctly. Image recognition technology on the server then figures out how the footage should physically mesh, using features of the landscape or scene to recognize parts of the images that match.

From Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish, a reader writes in to remark on the continued place of youtube, twitter and the camera phone in Iran’s struggle: Watching your continuing coverage of the people of Iran continuing their fight for freedom I was struck, and touched, by the presence, in every picture, in every piece of footage, by the universal presence of cellphones and cameras. No matter how chaotic, no matter how frightened they may be, the protesters held their phones high. Not a brave few but a brave many pressed into the violence, stood right next to the regimes thugs and pointed their cameras. It seems like the ultimate act of defiance; no matter how you try to shut us down or shut us up, we will expose you. You can kill us, but the world will know that we never stopped fighting

Good old December, the busiest time of the year for elves, reindeer, jolly old fat guys… and lawyers , apparently . Joining the rush to make momentous decisions before Santa arrives, the International Trade Commission has made a preliminary ruling in favor of Kodak in its dispute over digital camera patents with Samsung. Though the original lawsuit included LG, an out of court settlement has left only Sammy in the firing line, and this early decision has affirmed that two of Kodak’s patents were infringed in the production of its cameraphones. It’s still necessary for the full commission to look at and approve the judgment, but considering Samsung’s vast range of camera-equipped phones, we’d throw legal caution to the wind and start bombarding the ITC with “holiday cheer” pronto . Kodak wins preliminary ruling in patent squabble with Samsung originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:50:00 EST.

The International Imaging Industry Association — colloquially known as I3A — announced today that Google ’s signed on as a member of the non-profit organization. They’ve also simultaneously announced that pre-existing member Microsoft has joined forces with Google on the Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative. What’s that all about? The initiative, which also calls Motorola, Eastman Kodak, Nokia, and other members, is dedicated to creating the metrics needed to “produce an accurate and repeatable testing program for camera phone image quality.” Considering the wild variances in quality among different cellphones, such formalized measurement techniques would surely be welcomed by everyone on planet earth. Google and Microsoft join I3A’s Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Is the AMOLED 12M (aka SCH-W880 ) a camera first, phone second? I mean, we’ve seen 12-megapixel phones before , but it’s the first with 3x optical-zoom, has a camera-like grip, and Touch Auto Focus controlled via the 800×480 3.3-inch AMOLED screen. As a camera, the AMOLED 12M also has 720p video recording (30fps), image stabilization, face detection, and a Xenon flash. But Samsung hasn’t said too -much about the phone side of things-even though it now says it will hit Korean stores next month. From all reports, it’s likely the phone will use the TouchWiz UI, and have UMTS/HSDPA connectivity, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a slot for microSD cards

Is the AMOLED 12M (aka SCH-W880 ) a camera first, phone second? I mean, we’ve seen 12-megapixel phones before , but it’s the first with 3x optical-zoom, has a camera-like grip, and Touch Auto Focus controlled via the 800×480 3.3-inch AMOLED screen. As a camera, the AMOLED 12M also has 720p video recording (30fps), image stabilization, face detection, and a Xenon flash. But Samsung hasn’t said too -much about the phone side of things-even though it now says it will hit Korean stores next month. From all reports, it’s likely the phone will use the TouchWiz UI, and have UMTS/HSDPA connectivity, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a slot for microSD cards. Samsung hasn’t mentioned any plans for the phone outside of Korea, but it’s early days yet.

Today’s Lifehacker Top Ten list shows a half-score ways to get the most out of that most humble of lenses (short of the iPod Nano ): The cameraphone. From DVD-laser macro lenses to editing tricks, it’s a great guide. [ Lifehacker ]

Big Kahuna [noun]: One who surfs, snowboards or consumes three-pound cheeseburgers while shooting video self-portraiture on a cameraphone. [ Surfer via TheRawFeed ]

The sliding point where cameraphones and point-and-shoot cameras seems to keep moving towards the latter. The latest hybrid is the 720p, 12-megapixel LG GC990 Louvre , which, at least from the back, actually looks like a camera. We can get nervous about the potential quality of such high-res photos and video coming from such a small sensor all we want, but on paper, the GC990 does well: the camera shoots through a Schneider-Kreuznach lens, gets lighting help from a Xenon flash module, and shoots up to ISO 3200, though I can’t imagine the noise levels being anywhere near tolerable. As for the phone side of this brick, we’ve got a 3.2-inch touchscreen showing LG’s interesting S-class 3D UI .