Friday January 19, 2007

Bloomberg to Launch Stealth Photoblogging Service?

Mayor Bloomberg announced Wednesday in his State of the City Address that 911 and 311 will soon be equipped to receive digital photos and videos from cellphones and computers. Great news for the poor call center worker who’s going to have to sort through all those cat photos and lip-synch videos in a futile attempt to discover if a crime is going on somewhere. But for Bloomberg—ever the entrepreneur—the plan might not be all about public safety.

According to the Times, John Feinblatt—the mayor’s criminal justice coordinator—“said the popularity of text and photo messaging and Internet services like Google and YouTube made this initiative a natural next step for emergency services.” Which, if I’m reading this correctly, sounds like they’re planning to rollout the service, then sell it to Yahoo! in 18 months.

(Thanks to A. for actually reading the paper.)

Posted by jim at 12:08 AM ||