The Internet never sleeps. And neither, it would seem, does one of the web's newest pages. Since it went online on Thursday, the site (German only), a Wiki devoted to examining the Ph.D. dissertation of Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg for yet more instances of extensive borrowing and inadequate citation, has been overrun with contributors. As of early Friday morning, fully 76 passages had been identified as revealing uncanny similarities with previously published works.

If you're unfamiliar with zu Guttenberg, Newshour on the BBC World Service produced a good background segment about the man, the scandal and the implications for Germany's Baron Minister. You can listen again by clicking on chapter 2 (16:03).

Photo credits: Flickr, Bundeswehr-Fotos, CC (BY-ND)

Three military episodes are dominating headlines following reports from the German parliamentary ombudsman to the military.

- The treatment of officer-cadets onboard the German Navy tall ship Gorch Fock, including events surrounding the death of a female midshipman after she fell from the ship's rigging during a training exercise, and whether several fellow midshipmen behaved in a way that could be deemed mutinous. Currently the vessel is in Argentina. The captain has been relieved of his command. An investigation is underway and the vessel has been ordered to return to Germany. (DW-TV report in English)

- The investigation into the death of a soldier in December last year at the Pol-e-Chomri base in Afghanistan. It was first suggested an accident occurred while the soldier was cleaning his weapon. German media are now reporting up to 10 troops may have been fooling around and the soldier was killed by the weapon of a comrade.

- Feldpost: the unauthorized opening and tampering of letters posted by soldiers deployed in Afghanistan.

Minister zu Guttenberg obviously has a lot of explaining to do about what's happening inside the German military and his own department. He is also under pressure from opposition parties over whether he's adequately informed parliament about the Gorch Fock incidents.

All of this comes at a time when Germany's troop commitment in Afghanistan (and the timing of a possible withdrawal) is under debate, as well as what is the future of a smaller, professional German armed forces following the ending of compulsory military service.

Thomas Wiegold of the excellent German defence blog augengeradeaus.net has produced a good Audioboo summary of the Gorch Fock reports in English.

And a Süddeutsche Zeitung interview with Minister zu Guttenberg also tries to zero-in on what the Minister did or did not know about these events and what action he is taking. A translation is below.

(Interview conducted by Peter Blechschmidt, published 21 January 2011.)

SZ: Minister, is the Bundeswehr covering up unpleasant truths?

Guttenberg: That should never be the strategy of the Bundeswehr, and that is also not the case.

SZ: But in the case of the soldier killed in northern Afghanistan also with the situation onboard the Gorch Fock has your Ministry not told the whole truth?

Guttenberg: Nonsense. In the case of the soldier killed it was officially known on the day after the accident, that possibly a second person was involved. The public prosecutor's office were immediately informed and is investigating. With the investigation underway to gain evidence of the actual events, we can not make comments out of respect to those involved.

SZ: And of the alleged mutiny onboard the Gorch Fock, you hadn't heard anything up till now?

Guttenberg: I was informed about that accusation through the documents of the military ombudsman dated 17 January. I immediately directed the Inspector of Navy and the head of the legal department here in the Ministry to clarify the facts. You will not hear any pre-judgement from me. But if these accusations are true, then there will be clear consequences. Generally speaking: degrading drill can not be tolerated. And the accusation of mutiny is a very serious one, in light of what I know so far.

SZ: But aren't the accusations relating to the Gorch Fock so grave that you as Minister should have been informed?

Guttenberg: Part of the investigation will be to determine if the lines of communication were respected. If there were failures there will be consequences. All of that must be clearly explained. On this matter I have little patience.

SZ: After the death of the female midshipman aboard the Gorsch Fock the training exercise was suspended. At that time the impression came about this appears to have been merely an act of compassion.

Guttenberg: The responsible Inspector of Navy had decided out of technical reasons to suspend the training and to send the training crew back to Germany. The Gorch Fock though should continue her journey.

SZ: And you hadn't heard about the opening of letters posted from Afghanistan?

Guttenberg: The responsible military leadership in charge did not have any knowledge of this. My mind reading skills are therefore very limited. But here too the investigations are in full swing.

SZ: Are these emerging developments now not posing the question of whether the inner leadership of the Bundeswehr has failed?

Guttenberg: Should the allegations turn out to be true we will most likely be dealing with individual failings. The inner leadership is successful and widely accepted within the Bundeswehr. To draw conclusions about the majority of Bundeswehr from potential individual misconduct - after all it's about 250,000 soldiers - would be totally unjustified.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung described the scene outside a roadside Kentucky Fried Chicken where Westerwelle spoke to journalists about the unscheduled road trip.

'The journalists wanted to know, how he felt about a cross-country trip through Pakistan on a decrepit bus?

Mr Westerwelle briefly acknowledged the unexpected opportunity to "see something of the countryside".

Countryside indeed. Though the ad-hoc road trip probably didn't make up for having to abandon inspecting projects in areas affected by last year's floods. However, the main purpose of the Pakistan leg was to discuss security and fighting terrorism with Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

The German foreign minister's mantra is Pakistan is the key to helping Afghanistan. Though Mr Qureshi's call for Germany to loosen its controls on exporting weapons to Pakistan might be pushing cooperation on security and fighting terrorism too far.

The next leg of the trip to Afghanistan included talks with President Hamid Karzai and an unannounced visit to German troops serving in Kunduz. For the media this also meant taking a close inspection of Westerwelle's wardrobe. Germans are by now quite familiar with the image of Defence Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, visiting troops dressed in relaxed, yet ready for action quasi-military garb - usually khaki cargo trousers and a Bundeswehr t-shirt offset by black body armour.

Zu Guttenberg by the way also spent some time in the military and from appearances knows how to dress up or dress down in the field - for that matter so does Frau zu Guttenberg. So, how would Herr Westerwelle dress for a base visit?

Bild, always known for its close attention to fashion details (and unfortunate wardrobe malfunctions of female celebrities) sketched Westerwelle's 'Outdoor-Look' for its readers as:

'street shoes, a black suit, a white shirt and a purple tie and a bullet proof vest!'

Mr Westerwelle obviously brought a dress sense projecting statecraft to Kunduz, and it could be argued was more appropriately attired than Germany's international development minister and FDP colleague, Dirk Niebel, who enjoys wearing his old army paratrooper hat when on tour.

Mr Westerwelle's small talk rapport with troops and the semantics of the word war were also noted. He avoided referring to Afghanistan as a war, though conceded "that it's understandable that soldiers feel it is a war."

Germany plans to start reducing the number of troops deployed in Afghanistan by the end of 2011 - and complete its withdrawal in 2014. At the moment there are about 5000 German troops in Afghanistan. Mr Westerwelle said Germany will continue to support and stand by Afghanistan but did not say exactly how.

The German parliament is due to debate the army's mission in Afghanistan later this month. It has to both approve extending the mission and at the same time consider the Government's plan for withdrawing and handing over responsibilities to Afghan forces.

That means we're going to hear a lot more about the year 2014. The opposition Social Democrats (SPD) are tying their support of extending the mission to a 2014 pull out.

Politically, the Pakistan trip and Afghanistan troop visit offered Westerwelle a chance to step back into perhaps his now preferred shoes of an international statesman, as well as try to gain some much needed traction on the home front. It's hardly been a Merry Christmas or Happy New Year for the FDP leader. Leading figures in the Free Democrats have openly questioned Westerwelle's leadership. Polls show support for the FDP has slumped from a 2009 election high of around 15 % to just 5 %. Not exactly great numbers for the FDP nor for their senior governing CDU/CSU coalition parters, especially in a year full of state elections. If the less than enthusiastic media reaction to his most recent party speech is anything to go by, Mr Westerwelle might need more of that 'Outdoor-Look' during campaigns to win back support.]]>

1. Novatel Mifi 2352 portable wireless hotspot

Stick in a SIM card to access a 3G network and start surfing the net via wifi. This little wonder lets you connect up to 5 devices by wifi. I gave the Mifi 2352 a good workout earlier this year in Iraqi Kurdistan using the Mobitel 3G network. It won a lot of praise my co-producers wanting to get online quickly. It turned literally anywhere we were into an instant internet cafe.


2. PowerMonkey eXplorer Solar Charger

Recharge on the run. Christian Payne aka @documentally has a good review of the PowerMonkey on his BushTech blog. It's a practical device for recharging small devices. I often carry the battery pack to give my iPhone or Nokia a boost. The array of included adaptors makes this gadget quite versatile. Anyone using a Kodak pocket video camera such as a Zi8 might be interested to know that the battery pack will charge the camera battery (slowly) or work as an external power source. I have yet to test how long you can film using the PM on a full charge. As for the solar panels, I'm going to Mali shortly for a filming assignment so I'm keen to use the solar panels to help keep some small gadgets charged up.

3. Solar powered + wind up radio-torch + mobile phone charger

I love radio. I usually take quite a bulky Sony short-wave radio on my travels. But if I want to travel lighter and I know the BBC World Service is available locally on AM or FM then I usually opt for a small Walkman transistor set. But a couple of months ago a small all-in-one radio caught my attention. For 12 euro I thought it was worth giving a go and either it would do what it says on the tin or I'd give it away. No regrets. It's quite rugged and is staying in the kit bag for the time being - perhaps a one-year after test would be useful to see how it holds up. The AM/FM radio works fine with loudspeaker or headphones. The LED torch is reasonably bright and fine for flapping around during power cuts (though I still carry a mini Maglite). The solar panel charges both the radio and torch. And as for the most interesting part of the unit - the wind-up crank handle - well I'm happy to report that it's not a gimmick. After a couple of quick revolutions it begins charging not only the torch and radio, but via a short cable, just about anything accepting a 5 volt DC charge. Think mobile phone, iPhone and even a Mifi. Ok, it's going to be an emergency situation that you need to charge your phone by a crank handle, but you never know... The one I bought in Germany was under the brand Moorhead. But I've noticed the same/similar model is sold under other brands elsewhere. It comes with several small adaptors for charging. I have a little bag for these adaptors (they're all mixed up with the similar PowerMonkey adaptors) but I wish there was a little cubby hole in the unit to store the cable and the adaptor I would use the most. The unit can also be charged up by a USB port connected to a computer or another battery source.

4. Polaroid Pogo photo printer

The crowd pleaser. In combination with a mobile phone or digital camera via USB, the Polaroid Pogo is a pocket-sized photo printer. It really makes a difference if you're working in a visual medium to be able to offer someone a photo on the spot - about the size of a business card. Result? Smiles all round. I used to cart around a small Canon printer that plugged into a car ciggie-lighter, but the Pogo is much more portable, powered by a rechargeable battery and there's no mucking around with ink. However, keep in mind you can't directly print with the iPhone - Apple has crippled the iPhone's bluetooth for sending photo files. Nokia, no problem. It's a pity really as it would be brilliant to use some iPhone photo editing apps such as PS Mobile in tandem with the Pogo.


5. Stainless steel coffee plunger

OK, perhaps the title of this post should of read four gadgets and one life saving utensil... but good coffee is technical. When an espresso machine is not within coo-ee, I'm certainly up for any local brew whether it's a Turkish coffee, a glass of mint tea or chay with the teaspoon standing upright in a small mountain of sugar. But, I get irritable if I have to stare at a tin of instant coffee and consider the words freeze-dried. So if coffee is likely to be a problem on a trip I bring my own coffee and a portable plunger. Probably the best 10 euro I've spent on travel kit. The one pictured below is from Jack Wolfskin and it does the job for two cups. I'd like to find a slightly larger one for three cups - a "crew" model, then everyone is happy

Over a hubbly bubbly and sweet chay in Dohuk this week I met Faris Zubair Ali - a highly experienced deminer and Operations Manager for the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency. 

My co-producers Karlos Zurutuza and Borja Portuondo had interviewed Faris and his team at work in 2007, but his extraordinary account of a minefield rescue on a mountain at night had us sitting up in our seats and drawing back hard on the shisha.
 

At around 9pm on November 23, 2008, Faris was called by local civil defence authorities in Dohuk seeking his help. Four hours earlier, two teenage shepherds had unknowingly walked into a minefield near the village of Bagera. They were cousins. One lad had stepped on a landmine - it  killed him severing his legs and injured his cousin in the back. The mine was an Italian made Valmara 69. This bounding fragmentation landmine contains 500 grams of explosives and 1400 pieces of shrapnel.
 

By the time Faris and two other deminers reached a trail leading to minefield it was well and truly dark. Emergency services had lit a fire to guide them up the mountain - rugged stoney terrain with a lot of low bushes.

When they reached the minefield Faris and his team took stock of the situation. Time was critical and they only had one metal detector between them. 

By torchlight, the deminers cleared a path to the injured boy - 150 metres long and one metre wide - within an hour. To put that in context, a team of deminers in daylight and under good weather conditions can clear 20-30 metres in about six hours.

We were not following standard procedures. We were not following our own rules. It was an emergency.

Deminers never work at night and avoid working in areas where they have not surveyed or conducted a reconnaissance. Faris said that they decided not to use protective clothing as it would slow them down.

The deminers used sticks to mark the cleared lane and whatever was at hand to mark the mines. At first they were able to mark the location of mines and move around them. But as they edged closer to the injured shepherd, Faris had to disarm and remove mines to make the area safer for the paramedics.

Along the path they cleared, the team found five different types of landmines. They had to remove seven mines linked to trip wires, including a mine underneath the injured boy's arm. Faris says it was fortunate that the boy had a spinal injury that prevented him from moving too much.

Faris gave me video footage shot on a mobile phone by a rescuer accompanying the deminers. It's quite rough and sometimes the camera was held the wrong way but this clip shows the conditions and Faris working quickly to disarm and remove a mine.
 

Extraordinary. Brave. The injured boy survived and Faris said he is slowly making a recovery.

These photos taken after the accident show the area where the boys encountered the mines and the path cleared though the minefield.
 

Faris told me the boys and their family moved to Bagera from Mosul and were unfamiliar with the local terrain. Yes, they had received MRE - minefield risk education training - but as I found out in Georgia last year, sometimes the lessons about the dangers of landmines are sadly learnt the hard way.

You either love Carnival or you hate it, depending of course on how much you enjoy getting dressed up in costumes and to sing, dance and drink... a lot. The celebrations culminate in the days leading up to the beginning of Lent, and if your television channel selections are limited, then you better prepare yourself for some epic live televised Carnival singing sessions. Though, admittedly the athleticism of dancers in Carnival groups and bands is spectacular.

However this year, the beginning of the Carnival season in Bonn caught my attention for an entirely different reason - the designated Carnival Prince of Bonn, Herr Amir Shafaghi.

The 39 year old was born in Iran and immigrated to Germany with his parents when he was 10. Being Carnival Prince or Princess is a big deal and means you love Carnival, or rather live Carnival. For the next few months Herr Shafaghi and his Princesss partner Uta Göbels will be the focus of attention at all Carnival events in Bonn. It no doubt helps too that in real life they are a couple as they'll be seeing a lot of each other.

Herr Shafaghi is a member of the Bonner Stadtsoldaten - the Bonn City Soldiers. The members of Carnival clubs and societies such as the Bonner Stadtsoldaten are the heart and soul of festivities. Their elaborate uniforms are a nod in jest to the time when the Rhineland was occupied by the French and later by the Prussians.

Integrating immigrants into society is a much debated issue in Germany. Your blogger correspondent arrived in Germany shortly before compulsory integration courses began. (Actually I'm not sure if I could have stuck it out for up to 645 hours of German language, politics and history.) So, I was curious to hear the thoughts of the boy from Tehran who grew up to become the Prince of Bonn. Backstage after the launch of this morning's festivities I managed to catch Prince Amir I for a quick interview.

Carnival Prince of Bonn interview by fieldreports

(You can listen to the full interview via Audioboo).

Amir and Uta will be officially proclaimed the Prinzenpaar Amir I & Uta I on January 8, 2010. 

Carnival also means big business along the Rhineland, particularly in Cologne. The parade on Rose Monday attracts over a million visitors. According to a recent Boston Consulting Group study, the Carnival season generates around 460 million euros for Cologne each year.

Given the current economic climate, not only are these figures worth dancing about, but Carnival is widely regarded as very important for business networking. Many industry or professional groups hold or their own Carnival singing and cabaret evenings or costume balls. Knowing your Carnival songs and holding your own in Koelsch could well be good for business or your career.
 

"News Quoyle, news. Better get your mojo working."
                         - Annie Proulx, The Shipping News

A draft of this post has been loitering in my documents folder for a while. But six months on from when I gave some mojo apps a workout in Nigeria and in Georgia I've got a few more points to share about what a mobile phone offers journalists for field reporting.

Maybe one of the reasons why I put this post on hold is that every other week a new app or gadget comes out that presents a tempting challenge for geeky inclined journalists to incorporate it into their kit and workflow. Trust me, once you're hooked, it becomes an obsession - particularly if you have the chance to work with a decent smart phone.

So, I'll try to balance this post with some general practical points on getting started and list a few apps worthy of consideration for reporting with a mobile phone.

Mojo skills

Most smart phones now offer connectivity to the internet over 3G and WIFI networks as well as a camera with a good lens and sensor for digital photographs and high quality video in a palm-sized tool. So, when it comes to skills, if you start looking towards borrowing and adapting some basics of broadcasting, online journalism, blogging, video journalism and photography, you're going to be on the right track for working out how you want to best use a mobile phone for reporting and incorporating it into your workflow.

But as much as I get excited about new technology, new applications and gadgets, what I really want to do with all of this mobile tech goodness is to tell stories and engage with people.

I really hope reporting with a mobile phone helps to push the boundaries and styles of multimedia reporting and doesn't simply end up replicating traditional radio and TV reporting.

I also think Andy Dickinson has some great training advice for newsrooms and journalists seeking to use new technology in their work - make time to play.

Whether it's uploading photos and videos of my travels or tweeting about burning tacos in the kitchen, I know how my gadgets work and have developed a workflow that suits me by learning through playing. You'll be more agile as a mobile journalist if you know your way around the tools and the technology. The last thing you want to do on a breaking story is to be learning how to use your phone on the run.

Social media apps and content sharing platforms

If your media organisation issues you with a smart phone and has innovative "Q" type tech boffins who have developed systems for you to upload your materials direct from the field with one push of a button, great - you're lucky. But if you're working independently, you'll need to harness social media apps and platforms for sharing content that are free or low cost. So along with launching your own blog, some of these web and phone apps/clients would be a good starting point to explore.

Twitter (have a look at mobile apps/clients such as Tweetdeck,Tweetie, Twibble, Gravity and Dabr)
Friendfeed
Qik
Audioboo
Bambuser
YouTube
Blip.tv
TubeMogul
Kyte
Fring
Shozu
Flickr
Tumblr
posterous
12seconds
Twitpic
Yfrog

That's only scratching the surface. For mobile blogging, many of the larger blog platforms also offer clients/applications to post content from a mobile phone and by email. And of course the Apple iTunes store offers an ever expanding galaxy of free and low cost iPhone apps that can be handy for mobile journalism. 

Know your mojo phone

Read the manual. You've got to know your way around your phone's settings. What's the point in having a smart phone if you can't change for example the access point settings to log onto wifi or 3G services?

Make a mojo plan

OK it might be tempting to just head on out and unleash your mojo-ninja-self on the world. But what are you really trying to do? What are your mobile reporting objectives? What materials do you need to file from the field with your mobile phone? Consider the conditions you'll encounter. Will you have good wifi or 3G access? What will you do if the 3G network is a little slow? A little bit of planning can save a lot of flapping around.

Where is your mojo content going?

Most mobile phone clients/apps will offer plenty of ways for you to integrate photos, audio and video with social media services such as Twitter or with a blog. So, have a think about where you want your media to go. Check out the share and network functions on whatever application you use. Make a test before you head out to report. Do you want to be selective or do you want your content to be everywhere at once? Keep track of where you are crossposting material. (That may need a pen and paper!)

A one push application such as Shozu can distribute or crosspost your content to numerous social media and blogging platforms. Likewise posterous makes it dead easy to post any content by email.

And don't forget about harnessing RSS feeds from any of the social media platforms you use. For example, widgets are easy to build from RSS feeds. You can aggregate your live stream feeds and embed a widget into your blog.

Photographs

The quality of images produced by mobile phones is continuing to improve. For the past 18 months I've used a Nokia N82 that has a 5 megapixel camera. It's fantastic to have a decent camera with me everywhere I go. Same goes for the iPhone 3GS. It only sports a 3 megapixel camera, but it's more than adequate for photos in good lighting conditions.

No matter how good the camera is in your phone, you'll only produce good photos if you know the basics of photography. I cringe every time I hear about reporters handed a camera without any training and asked to "take a few pics for an online story".

If you're a beginner, a basic digital photography course is going to make a huge difference in the range of photos you will produce. And to build upon those new skills you need to get snap happy and take photos everyday.

The camera in the phone may also have some unexpected yet useful features. Who would have thought that Nokia would include a time-lapse function in the Sequence mode? Certain situations may let you set up the phone to capture photos, video or audio while you go off somewhere else to gather more material with another device. In Nigeria I set up my phone in a hospital operating theatre to capture a time-lapse sequence while I interviewed patients outside with a audio flash recorder.

Video

Similarly to photos, the video quality of camera phones is constantly improving. Samsung's Omnia HD offers... yep, HD video.

If you're new to video think about doing an introductory video camera course and turn to the skills and techniques of video journalists. It will surely whet your appetite for video blogging and/or using camcorders and pocket camcorders such as the Flip, Kodak Zi8 or iPod Nano, or even the video function on a compact digital camera.

As for live streaming video from a mobile phone, that's great when there's action or for an interview, but try to think before shooting and avoid 'hosing the garden' with the camera. I think less is always more. If you have time, look around for interesting angles - plan your shoot or interview. Think about how your video and accompanying title and/or tweet can tell a story.

It's difficult to avoid camera shake with small camera phones, but if you require better quality video use a small tripod with an adapter to hold a mobile phone. You can even build your own tripod for an iPhone.

Cut through - set a title and description

Sounds simple but setting a title, description and #hashtag will help the material you upload or live stream to cut through the noise when you crosspost to a platform such as Twitter. It's easy to forget when you're on the run. If I'm planning to stream live video I usually set a generic title just in case I have to start filming quickly.
 
Audio

Radio journalists have long made use of the mobile phone to report live from the field or for filing reports. Apps such as Audioboo now offer journalists a powerful audio recording tool - produce an interview or report and publish it direct to the net with a photo. Along with interviews, I like making use of mobile audio applications when I'm moving between places. During the April demonstrations in Tbilisi I used Utterli. You can walk and talk and offer your audience updates while you're on the move. And if you're new to radio/audio, don't forget it is a "visual" medium too. Describe what you see and paint a picture for your audience.

Producing better audio

If you're using an iPhone, then straight away you have an advantage over many smart phones. The audio captured by the iPhone's internal microphone (and even the native Apple Voice Memo app) is surprisingly good.

The internal mic on a Nokia is not particularly good. Moreover, I find the audio recordings using the Nokia Voice Recorder app to be far from adequate and produce a really thin, tinny sound. If you use a S60 Nokia and need better sound I'd recommend downloading a free trial version of the Alon MP3 Dictaphone application. It offers a several settings to record in mp3 and WAV. Unfortunately the send function in Alon does not offer email, but if you locate the file via Nokia's File Manager function you can email the file.

But no matter what smart phone you're using, audio will be improved using a good external microphone.

Reuters teamed up with Nokia for a mojo project that used an external mic with the Nokia N95. If you're into a little DIY hacking you can quite easily adapt the TV-Out cable that comes with a Nokia for an external mic. For the iPhone there are several plug-in mini external mics available too.

(No sales pitch here, but you'll note in the photo of my kit above that I use a bespoke external mic cable that I've tested with Jesse Versloot of uwkabelopmaat to suit Nokia and the iPhone. Early days, but results are encouraging so far.)

Editing in the field

An audio editing application called Poddio is available for the iPhone. It's an app that seemed to get a good rap at this year's NAB. I've yet to try it. Since the middle of this year the price shot up from US$29.99 to US$149.99! Perhaps the developers might consider offering a  trial version or lighter version? (Thanks to Stephen Quinn for pointing me to Poddio.) I can't wait till someone develops Audacity for the iPhone.

Basic video editing on a mobile phone has also arrived. The Samsung Omnia includes a Video Editor system and the iPhone can now make use of the  ReelDirector application (screenshot below).

ReelDirector has a straightforward timeline that lets you move clips around and offers a range of shot transitions. I had some fun filming simple shots and sequences on a day trip in Georgia this month and afterwards edited a short video on my iPhone in a Chinese restaurant. It has field reporting potential but you'll need to plan carefully. Keep in mind, a video over say three minutes will leave you nudging 100MB. That's a big file to move from a mobile phone and might leave you needing a mobile FTP solution... not too mention looking for more power. I'm also very keen to get my hands on the Samsung Omnia to explore its video editing features.

And photo editing is also going mobile with applications such as Best Camera and TiltShiftGen. Best Camera gives a mobile phone photographer several preset filters that you can apply directly to a photo. TiltShiftGen lets you go toy-town crazy to get the tilt-shift effect.

But I've really fallen for this iPhone app because it not only provides filters, but each filter setting is adjustable. I love being able to adjust saturation, brightness and contrast on the fly in a mobile phone. Both of these apps let you email your photos or post to Twitter and Twitter photo sharing clients such as Twitpic.

Location, Location

Geo-tagging the content you produce and upload from a mobile phone can be really useful for mapping a story. If several field reporters covering the same event begin geo-tagging content, a map can become one the core ways of telling the story. Check out the GPS and map/location services on your phone and applications such as Flickr and Qik. Did someone say... Ushahidi?

Mobile partner in the field

I think working with a mobile phone and having access to the net and apps such as Twitter is like having a tech partner in the field. As a freelancer I don't feel like I'm working on my own anymore. My initial view of Twitter was that it was a handy micro-blog tool to complement my blog and way to let a lot of people know where I am (just in case of....) But that's changed. I'm now communicating with friends, contacts and whoever else is interested in my story as I'm working. Even a basic Twitter search can be useful for real-time updates, but having access to extra filters via Twitterfall can make Twitter a more polished source of information - allowing you to pull in information that is more relevant to what you're working on.

More mojo power?

As a minimum I carry a second battery and a small 5 euro AA battery charger. Looking for more charging ideas? Christian Payne aka @documentally has posted an excellent video covering loads of mobile power charging gadgets.

Need more mojo ideas?

In this post, I've only concentrated on capturing, producing and filing material with a mobile phone.

Mobile journalism is obviously much broader when you add what you can produce with netbooks, laptops, 3G dongles, Eyefi cards, sat phones and whatever other hand held digital devices you want to mention. You're only limited by the imagination. There are plenty of people exploring mobile journalism and here are a few projects/blogs to check out.

- Alex Wood and the Berlin Project team will cover the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9. I'm very interested to see how they'll build upon their mobile coverage during the G20 demonstrations.

- ARD journalists in Germany recently produced an innovative mojo reporting project during the general election. Check out Marcus Boesch's post (German) on his experience using an iPhone 3GS to blog and report. Marcus has made some recent tests using Skype for video interviews (Two-way video interviews via Qik or Bambuser are next Marcus!)

- Stephen Quinn is a journalist and lecturer at Deakin University in Australia and has an excellent blog Global Mojo. I'm told that Stephen's e-book on mobile journalism will be available soon.

- Paul Bradshaw has also posted a series of video talks on his blog discussing mobile journalism and he has produced a list on what a mobile journalist needs. Great stuff.

- Frank Barth-Nilsen is a Norwegian journalist with the public broadcaster NRK and blogs about all things mojo at Mojo Evolution.

- @documentally. If you're looking for more than just a little mobile journalism inspiration, have a look at Christian's  blog. Loads of innovative ways to use mobile phones and various other digital gadgets for telling great stories, and engaging with an audience. Always good.

- Fellow Frontline Club blogger Onnik Krikorian is leading the mojo charge in Armenia - particularly covering stories with tweets, live streaming video and uploading photos and David Axe has experimented with a Nokia 95 and Qik in Chad. And no doubt we'll see Frontline and KigaliWire's Graham Holliday delivering content from Rwanda with a mobile phone.

Frau Merkel wears a bright coloured jacket, pleasing to the eye. Her media trained hands are neatly positioned. The poster sits at perfect spray paint height, yet no street artist has bothered to enhance the Chancellor's appearance. There is however a little scrawl in what you might call crude Denglish.

A note of apathy? Hmmm, maybe. But more likely a little joke at Merkel's expense connected to flashmobs.

I'm waiting for a last ditch political "spray" from any of the political leaders before Sunday. At this stage, I'd even settle for a lively DJ set by the Economics Minister, (Baron) Dr Karl-Theodor von und zu Guttenberg.

As for me on election day, I'll be looking out for a little experiment the German public ARD network is attempting with reporters producing video-blogs with the iPhone 3GS. Oh, and tuning into Bavarian telly with a beer for a little sing-a-long.

Abkhazia is not the Côte d'Azur, but if you're after a cheap flop and drop beachside holiday, plenty of hearty shashlik or trout, cold beer and smooth vodka, then Abkhazia would fit the bill.

Unfortunately the closest I came to a quick dip at the beach was filming two Russian anti-submarine corvettes anchored of the coast near Novy Afon. My bad luck for not getting up early for a dawn patrol paddle.

Russia has announced it will begin providing protection for merchant vessels trading with Abkhazia. That's the sort of news that will go down well with local taxi drivers complaining of fuel shortages after Georgia's coast guard recently intercepted a tanker.

Early in the trip we had the chance to interview Abkhazia's Vice Foreign Minister, Maxim Gunjia. He says that since Russia recognised Abkhazia as independent and pledged to offer protection, Abkhazians have more confidence to invest and develop businesses.

Gunjia says the Russian-Abkhaz relationship is broad and rejects the idea that Abkhazia is just a buffer state.

 
Max Gunjia clip by fieldreports



Matthew Collin's online report has more and you can also watch the accompanying video feature.





  (Photos: Guy Degen)

The south-western province of Baluchistan makes up nearly half of the country. It's capital Quetta is synonomous these days with al Qaeda and Taliban leadership. It shares a border with Iran and Afghanistan, and the ongoing conflict led by Baluch nationalists seeking autonomy or secession will have you dusting off your history books on the days of the British Empire.

Baluchistan is rich in minerals and natural gas. That's attracted investment from China but also fueled the grievances of Baluchs who say their province sees nothing of the profits.

Robert Kaplan's recent article in The Atlantic offers plenty of insight into the development of the Arabian sea port of Gwadar and why it's highly valued by Pakistan.

Meanwhile, freelance journalist Karlos Zurutuza has just returned from Baluchistan. He's made several reporting trips into Kurdistan to cover fighting between the PKK and Turkish forces over the past couple of years, so I wasn't surprised when he wrote to me describing how he managed to make contact with a group of Baluch guerillas.

At 12.00 at night I was sitting inside a pickup truck driving across the Baluch desert with my eyes bandaged. Two hours later I met the guy who took me on a 5 hour night hike in the mountains. By 6.00 am I was up there, looking at masked guerillas praying towards Mecca. I was exhausted, almost dehydrated, but happy.

I'm looking forward to Karlos' features and photo-essays on Baluchistan.

Yes it does bear a similar shape to the Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz) that was abandoned after WWII, but the design is in keeping with other Bundeswehr decorations for long service. View image

For Germany's Association of Armed Forces a decoration recognising bravery is long overdue.



German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said, "Too little is said about the achievements, burdens and risks of soldiers."



Frau Merkel does have a point. But, while the German Government and military publicly backs their men and women in uniform, a fighting army that, even as peacekeepers, may have to be aggressive and kill an enemy, is still a major issue in German society.



Focus journalist and mil-blogger, Thomas Wiegold, also touches upon this point. The four soldiers awarded Ehrenkreuze put themselves at risk to save the lives of comrades and children injured following a suicide bomber attack in Kunduz last year. Clearly very brave deeds. But Wiegold wonders what debate might arise when German soldiers are nominated for decorations recognising valor on the battlefield. Actions involving killing the enemy. Doing what soldiers are trained to do.



It's clear that even in northern Afghanistan German soldiers are doing more than say helping to dig wells, and at a cost.



Committing more troops to ISAF in Afghanistan, or deploying forces to regions where there is heavy fighting such as Helmand, has long been a political hot potato and even more so in an election year.



In contrast though, the military is very visible in Germany and a part of growing up for many males.



When I first moved to Germany in 2004 I was surprised to hear of conscription.



All German males over 18 are supposed to either elect for nine months of training and service in the Bundeswehr or the equivalent time doing Zivildienst - civillian service, such as working with the aged.

Catch a train on a Friday afternoon in Germany and you'll see lots of young warriors in uniform heading to or from their training unit. Though, you could also easily be mistaken for thinking that white iPod earphones were part of their uniform.

(Photograph: Bundeswehr/Dopke)

Like many buildings in the capital, the circular exterior of the Wrestling Palace reflects the traditional Mongolian Ger. But, on the inside, its wrestling arena stands beneath a high dome and is surrounded by several tiers of seating.

It's a sweaty cauldron for warrior wrestlers and spectators alike.

Wrestling competition during 2009 Presidential Inauguration Celebrations in Mongolia from Guy Degen on Vimeo.

My colleagues and I bought tickets for 6000 MNT (tugrug) a piece - around 3 euro each. There's no allocated seating and we found ourselves looking for seats among wrestlers and their trainers.

You kind of politely step out of the way for these lads. They're huge. A large arm swept me aside while I was filming on a landing.

I've since learnt that many players in Mongolia's Rugby team are drawn from the ranks of wrestlers. Looking closely at the ear of the wrestler in the opening shot of the video above, you can clearly see he sports the cauliflower ears of a forward. Whether that's from packing down in a scrum or from wrestling I can't tell you.

Wrestling is steeped in Mongolian culture and tradition. Along with archery and horse riding it's one of three so called "manly sports".

Next month these sports will feature at the Naadam Festival in Ulanbaatar  - the biggest festival in Mongolia.