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PRESS RELEASE: Idruna Releases Remote Editing System
Temecula, CA, June 20th 2007 - Idruna is pleased to announce the launch of Idruna's Remote Editing System, or IRES for short. IRES allows an editor to see what a photographer is shooting, in real time, even if the photographer is on the other side of the world. The easy to use software completely replaces proprietary WiFi transmitters from Canon and Nikon with off the shelf hardware, such as the latest Ultra Mobile PCs, Windows Mobile Phones, or even regular laptops or Macs running Parallels. Because only thumbnails are transmitted until the editor clicks for a larger preview, IRES works even over mobile phone networks or satellite modems.
How it Works - Install the IRES software on your UMPC/Windows Mobile Phone/Laptop.
- Connect your computer to the internet via WiFi, high speed cell phone network, RBGAN satellite modem etc.
- Connect your computer to your camera via USB.
- The editor logs on to a secure web page from their browser (no extra software needs to be installed), and as soon as photos are taken, a list of thumbnails appears on their screen.
- Clicking on a thumbnail displays a preview, and full size images can be downloaded straight from the browser.
Scenario 1: Event Photography
A news agency desires real time coverage from the next sports event. Times are hard though, and there is no budget for new hardware, and very little available for travel. IRES comes to the rescue by turning existing laptops into state of the art Remote Editing Systems. The photographer simply plugs their laptop into their camera, and connects to the event's WiFi network. The news agency saves on travel expenses by having the photo editor stay at the office, and monitor the event remotely.
Scenario 2: Photojournalism
IRES is ideal for fast breaking news stories, where the photographer is unable or unwilling to take out their Windows Mobile Phone or UMPC. The photographer keeps their hardware safe in their pocket, and either attaches a USB cable to the camera, or inserts their flash card into their phone. Instead of stopping to transmit, the photographer calls up their editor, tells them to log on to the IRES server with their web browser, and is then able to concentrate on covering the news and staying out of harms way, while the editor browses the photos as they are taken, and posts the story to their website in near real time. Because no software needs to be installed on the editor's end, even freelancers can take advantage of these capabilities to gain an edge over the competition.
Scenario 3: Combat Camera, Special Forces, and Police
IRES running on a ruggedized laptop or Pocket PC such as the Amrel Rocky allows photographic intelligence to be disseminated in real time. A forward photographer can relay their shots to the rest of the team stationed nearby, or all the way back to headquarters. The photographer is able to concentrate on the target and their surroundings, without being distracted by having to manually transmit images. Support for automatically embedding unit information and GPS coordinates is included, and new capabilities are being developed all the time, please email us for details.
File Renaming and Barcode Support
IRES supports renaming files as they are downloaded from the camera. The overview screen has a Rename Prefix field that lets the photographer easily change how the files are renamed. For example, at a sports event, this prefix could be changed between races or competitors to make it easier to sort through the images. IRES also supports wireless Bluetooth Barcode Scanners from Socket, allowing pre-printed barcodes to be scanned for the utmost efficiency. Barcodes containing text as well as numbers are supported.
Plan B
What happens if the editor falls asleep, is called away, or you never had one to begin with? IRES is based on Idruna's widely acclaimed Pocket Phojo application, which for the past 5 years has been developed to be the perfect solution for transmitting images. With a small amount of extra configuration, the software can be told by the photographer to push images via email or FTP. With Canon cameras, you can even use the camera's protect button to tell the software which images need to be transmitted.
IRES In Action
Andy Mettler of Swiss-Image recently used IRES to cover the EURO 2008 kick-off event live from Mount Jungfraujoch. "It was a difficult job with 200 media and 200 guests at an altitude of 3500 meters (11,500ft), which meant no 3G or WiFi was available, only Swisscom Mobile's EDGE network." said Andy. "I gave my assistant back in the office 1 hour of training on how to view my photos and download the best ones using their web browser. The results were excellent. We had 15 pictures online when I reached the top of the Junfgraujoch, and 4 pictures after 8 minutes of the game. Over all, the pictures were online at least 50 minutes before the pictures of other photographers. A photographer should concentrate on taking pictures, not on questions like: where can I put my notebook, where can I find a line, how fast I am? Remote Editing is the future for news and sports photographers!"
John Mabanglo, EPA's San Francisco Bureau Chief, used IRES at the NBA Playoffs. "The sports section of the New York Times online and in print addition used my picture from last night's NBA Playoffs. Also, if you have today's LA Times sports section, they also used another picture from the game. Both pictures were produced using the Pocket PC running Phojo/IRES tethered to my Canon EOS1D MkII N." To illustrate the flexibility of IRES, John's editor was a fellow photographer connected via an airline terminal's WiFi hotspot while waiting for a flight.
Next Generation Architecture
Compared with transmitting every image to a remote server via FTP, IRES is extremely efficient. Only the thumbnails need to be transmitted to the editor, and a preview can be viewed before downloading the full size image. This allows the system to work well over any connection, not just WiFi, which is especially noteworthy as mobile phone networks have been rapidly ramping up their upload speeds with EVDO Rev A and HSUPA. For really remote editing, satellite modems such as the RBGAN can be used to transmit from almost anywhere on the planet.
The initial prototype of IRES developed in early 2006 had the editor connect directly to an embedded webserver running on a Pocket PC. This approach, while still supported if needed, was quickly rejected as being too user hostile, due to being forced to deal with static IP addressing, firewalls, and networks that simply reject all inbound connections. Instead, a harder to develop, but easier to use system was designed where both the editor and the photographer connect to a web server that acts as a bridge between two firewalled networks. The result is that the photographer can just turn up, switch everything on, and be up and running in moments. An IRES server managed by Idruna is available at no extra cost to individual IRES customers, or the server software can be licensed separately and installed on a customer owned Windows based server.
Supported Hardware - Windows XP or Vista Laptops
- Windows XP or Vista UMPCs such as the OQO2
- Macs running Windows via Parallels
Windows Mobile Devices with USB Host Support: - HTC Advantage, AKA TMobile Ameo
- Fujitsu Siemens Loox N560/T830
- Socket SoMo
- Symbol MC70
- Amrel Rocky
- (more)
Supported Cameras - Canon 1D Mark II and Mark II N
- Canon 1D Mark III
- Canon 1Ds
- Canon 1Ds Mark II
- Canon 5D
- Canon 20D
- Canon 30D
- Canon Rebel XT and XTi
- Nikon D2X and D2Xs
- Nikon D2H and D2Hs
- Any other camera that comes with software to download images as they are taken
Pricing and Availability
Idruna's Remote Editing System is available now priced at $199 for the Windows version, or from $389 as part of Pocket Phojo 5.0 for Windows Mobile. The software can be downloaded from http://www.idruna.com/downloads.html and evaluated free of charge for 30 days, plus Idruna has a 30 day money back guarantee policy. The software is delivered via a download link for same day delivery.
Existing Pocket Phojo customers can upgrade to Phojo 5.0 with IRES for $99, or upgrade to both Phojo 5.0 and the Windows version of IRES for only $149.
Customers wishing to run their own IRES server rather than use the ones provided by Idruna can purchase a server license, please email us at [email protected] for pricing.
(First posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at 19:34 EDT)
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