February 2005 – Page 7 – Digital-Lifestyles

Gran Turismo 4 day – 22 February US, 9 March EU

Gran Turismo 4 launch The anticipation around the release of Gran Turismo 4 has been, to put it mildly, huge. Sony are hoping this Playstation2 only game will be their Halo2 type blockbuster.

Sony has announced that it will be releasing it in the US on 22 February. Europe will have to wait until 9 March, but will gain from having an additional 10 cars on top of the 700 or so that are in the Japanese version, which launched on 28 December last year. We’re not sure that an extra 10 cars will actually make up for the delay.

The Gran Turismo series has to date sold more than 37 million and this will be the first version that has networked play, which is one of the reasons we’re covering it. At release it will come with LAN play, the ability to play it between a number of machines on the same network. This will be followed ‘later’, possibly late 2005, by the full network play, letting people play across the world. This was knocked back after Sony experienced difficulties with inter-country gaming.

Reaction so far has been that it looks stunning, easily the graphically best title to appear on the Playstation 2.

You can tell that a game is going to make a big impact – and have a significant marketing campaign behind it, when a company like Nissan decides to launch a special version of a car to coincide with the launch. The 350Z Gran Turismo 4 Edition will be limited to 700 cars in Europe and feature things like extra power in the engine and specific wheels. The features we’d really like to see on this very quick car – a pause or reset button, if you get in to trouble when driving it – are unlikely to be provided.

Gran Turismo 4
Nissan launch 350Z Gran Turismo 4 Edition (PR)

Microsoft Search Squares up to Google

After receiving a sound pummelling in previous rounds against the mighty Google, Microsoft has produced a leaner, meaner more bad-ass search engine – and this one looks like it might go the distance.

Ditching their previous reliance on the Yahoo/Inktomi search index, the all-new MSN Search service has been created from the ground up using a Microsoft-designed proprietary index (although the company are still using Yahoo-owned Overture to deliver Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising).

With a spartan, advert-free interface straight out of the Google school of design, the minimalist screen lets users search for keywords from a rich range of sources including web pages, news feeds, images, news headlines, Encarta, music downloads and files on user’s PCs.

All the usual gizmos are on board too, with MSN Search offering word definitions, mathematic calculations, conversions, sports information and just about everything else that their competitors provide.

The new product reflects the intense competition in the increasingly important Internet-based search technology market. With Google already offering a free e-mail program, photo-editing software and a desktop search program for finding files on Windows computers, this development can be seen as Microsoft trying to protect their turf.

But will it be good enough to provide a viable alternative to the current search industry big boys, Yahoo! and Google, both of whom have more market share than Microsoft in the search business?

Danny Sullivan of searchenginewatch.com isn’t completely convinced:

“The core search engine is good and a welcomed new “search voice” in the space. However, it does not make a massive leap beyond what’s offered by Google, Yahoo or Ask Jeeves — the other three major search companies that provide their own voices of what’s deemed relevant on the web.”

This week’s MSN Search launch probably won’t have much of an immediate impact on the search-engine market, but backed by an advertising budget the size of a small country’s GDP, we can expect things to heat up nicely in the coming months.

The timing of the launch, the day before Google announce their first full year trading results may also not have been coincidental.

MSN Search
Wikipedia: Pay per click
searchenginewatch.com

MP3tunes – Robertson Returns to MP3

Robertson launches MP3Tunes Michael Robertson, one of the founders of MP3.com, is to return to the world of downloaded music.

Full details will be coming out next week, but the essence is, Robertson feels ‘compelled’ to make paid-for music available in MP3 format. In his words ‘certain market forces are trying to drive consumers away from MP3 towards proprietary systems, which lock out some consumers and force everyone to buy a particular company’s player or software program.’ Can anyone think of who he’s might be aiming his comments at?

The new venture, MP3tunes, will sell high-quality music downloads online, in MP3 format – therefore not protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management). Customers will be free to do as they will with the track once it’s been paid for and downloaded.

Bleep.com has been selling MP3’s for close to a year and many were surprised to hear Steve Beckett, managing director and co-founder of Warp Records and Bleep.com say, “We still don’t know if it was the right decision,” at the recent Midem music conference in Cannes, France.

Currently it’s unclear where the music for MP3Tunes will be coming from. Given the records companies keenness on DRM, it’s unlikely to be them. It could be new artists that MP3.com promoted in its heyday.

It’s quite surprising that Robertson has friends in the music business. He irritated them considerably during the days of MP3.com and ended up being sued for an estimated $118 million in damages in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Universal Music Group.

Since leaving MP3.com when it sold to Vivendi Universal, with a few wheelbarrows of cash, he’s been pushing Linux as a desktop replacement with his company Linspire, originally called Lindows. It’s highly possible that he’s been locked out of being involved with music download since the sale of MP3.com

Microsoft and Macrovision Join Forces

In a move sure to annoy and frustrate pirates and possibiliy home users, Microsoft has struck a deal with copy-protection specialists Macrovision to make it harder for consumers to swap video content.
The technology aims to stop people making copies of TV shows and movies using analog connections between devices (e.g. linking a set-top box to a television).

Up till now, the big studios and content providers have been more concerned about preventing high quality, digital to digital copies, but now they’re getting in a sweat about users recording the output of a DVD player onto a computer hard drive.

Unlike most digital copy protection schemes, Macrovision doesn’t scramble the signal, but it blasts out a pulse of electronic energy along with the video as it is played. Devices such as DVD recorders will recognise this signal and refuse to record the content.

The new deal also enables Microsoft’s Windows Media software to detect this signal in incoming analog video streams. Future versions of the software may allow content to be stored for just 90 minutes or up to a week.

Upcoming versions of Microsoft’s Media Center Edition operating systems will allow users to make a temporary copy that can be stored for one day and then rendered unusable after that time.

By hammering down digital rights management, the idea is that the entertainment industry can to take advantage of emerging revenue channels without remaining confident that their rights are protected.

How your average consumer, keen to make a copy of the Antiques Roadshow at home, might respond to all this technology is another matter. One option they might take is to replace their Windows machine with another type that doesn’t place this restriction on them.

Macrovision
Microsoft

Skype gets Mac and Linux versions

Skype for Mac OS X and Linux Skype today released their Voice over IP (VoIP) software for Linux and Macintosh.

Skype lets people make telephone-type calls to other Skype users, around the world for no cost.

Until now, only Windows-based versions of the software have been available, and the new platforms have been a long time in coming. We envisage it will significantly boost the 23m users and 56.5m downloads of the software to date.

Skype for Mac OS X V 1.0 and Skype for Linux V 1.0, to give them their full titles, will connect seamlessly to the current Windows and PocketPC versions. All of the current functions that Skype users know and love will also be supported on the new platforms.

Skpye user are also able to call ‘normal’ phones around the world, using the SkypeOut service, which offers reduced price calls.

The popularity of Skype is continuing to accelerate, and we are finding that it is spreading beyond the technical, early-adopter to many computer-owning members of the public. Many people are finding new ways to communicate with friends and family around the world, such as leaving the voice channel open while they walk around the house, treating the connection as an extension of the room.

Download Skype (all versions)

TiVo SDK: looking to influential new pals, new ideas, anything!

TiVo SDK Squeezed on both sides by ever-competitive satellite and cable providers, TiVo is trying to woo third party developers into creating compelling new add-on services for their product.

The company has rolled out a Software Development Kit (SDK) in the hope that it will create a vibrant market in application for the TiVo. The SDK has been released on to SourceForge, a home for open-source software.

To stimulate the market, they’ve got the ball rolling with three initial add-ons: a weather information plug in, an RSS reader and a game, with users needing a Series 2 TiVo, a home network and broadband connection to take full advantage of the applications.

The move is part of a larger strategy, code-named Tahiti, which lets DVRs download information and content from the Internet. Howard Look, who regales under the magnificent title of ‘vice president of application and user experience’ at TiVo was heard excitedly exclaiming, “All the great ideas don’t have to come just from us.”

Some users may feel that there haven’t been enough great ideas coming from anywhere recently.

Although TiVo boxes are well regarded for their easy-peasy interface and excellent aesthetics, many feel that it’s being left behind by newer technologies. Sales haven’t matched expectations (only 2 million boxes so far) with the company racking up truly eye-wateringly large net losses (half a billion according to Om Malik).

Clearly something hugely impressive has to be pulled out of the bag to turn the company around, but posters on Slashdot weren’t exactly overwhelmed by TiVo’s announcement, but then Slashdotters are rarely overwhelmed.

If they’re represeantative, it seems that what many users really want – instant commercial skip, sharing recorded programs with other devices and free channel guide services – isn’t on TiVo’s horizon and barely anyone seemed excited by the somewhat less enticing prospect of bolt-on weather forecasts and an RSS reader.

TiVo does have a very enthusastic base of owners, many of whom are capable of developing software, so this could be a very wise move for TiVo. We wait with bated breath to see how many applications arrive.

The Developer Toolkit
Slashdot discussion: TiVo to offer SDK