April 2004 – Page 7 – Digital-Lifestyles

Intel Announce New Mobile Multimedia Processor

Intel has announced a new processor for the mobile phone industry – the PXA27x, previously codenamed “Bulverde”.

With clock speeds from 312MHz up to 624MHz, the processor is geared towards high quality video playback for next generation mobile phones. This new chip can encode 30 frames per second at 320×240, or 15 fps at 640×480.

The new processor also includes the option of a new security subsystem, the Wireless Trusted Platform, allowing users to access their corporate networks via VPNs. The security system also enables sophisticated media DRM on phone. Content providers can specify exactly how music and movies are used on phones featuring the processor.

Intel has also adapted their SpeedStep technology for the new mobile processors, enabling phones to get more out of their batteries by underclocking the chip where appropriate to save power. Figures from Intel imply that the chip can use 50% less power than their previous offerings.

Factory door prices for the PXA27x are $32, should you require them in quantities of 10,000.

Intel’s product briefing

Nintendo Top of the Charts. In Japan.

Nintendo sold some 6.5 million software units in Japan during the financial year to 31st March, placing at the top of the charts. But for how long? The future of the GameCube in the US and Europe looks bleaker every day and Sony are about to launch an assault on Nintendo’s strongest market area: the portable games console.

The Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3, Los Angeles, May) will be the battle of the handhelds: Sony and Nintendo will be unveiling their new portable hardware to expectant crowds. We already know a lot about Sony’s PSP: the disk format, connectivity, what it looks like, even down to the wrist strap. But what about Nintendo’s “DS”?

Details of the new Nintendo offering are sketchy and strange: it has two screens, one of which may be a touch screen. The Nintendo DS is touted as a new game play experience, but may end up dividing their market still further between products: the GBA, GBA SP and the new DS. Consumers are still confused as to what the two screen experience will bring – and Nintendo isn’t spoiling the surprise. Connectivity details are still sparse: Sony has been promoting connectivity with its PS2, PSX and PS3 products, but Nintendo have had a series of disappointments with GBA/GameCube link ups, and it’s never fully reached their expectations. Except with Animal Crossing of course, and only if you don’t use an GBA SP.

We’re are somewhat unsure of the new Nintendo offering, at least until much more is known about the console. There have been some unfortunate comparisons with Nintendo’s own VirtualBoy, which also promised a new game play experience (with two screens, oddly enough). The VirtualBoy died a horrible death, but like many doomed consoles is popular on eBay.

We’ll soon have the full picture: Nintendo are rumoured to be announcing 30 DS titles at E3, and the console itself will be out, at least in Japan, by the end of the year.

With Sony’s PSP looking to be a winner, at least in the West, the future is uncertain for Nintendo’s hand held dominance.

Piecing together the DS at Wired
PSP technical specs
Reuters on Nintendo’s success

RealNetworks Talking to PC Manufacturers

RealNetworks are in talks with PC manufacturers regarding shipping their player software with new PCs. Since the EU ruling on Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, it looks like other software houses finally have a chance of getting their own players shipped with PCs – as was the EU Commissions intention.

“In a few very preliminary talks with computer makers we’ve discussed options, Europe is the first jurisdiction to rule on this,” said RealNetworks’ chief executive Rob Glaser. He believes that PC manufacturers are about to embark on a new course. Glaser is very proud of the capabilities of the latest Real Player, version 10, as it will play a wide variety of files and incorporates sophisticated DRM via RealNetworks Helix technology. RealPlayer 10 is capable, the company claim, of playing any file format on any device. It certainly is the only player at the moment that can play all major formats.

Additionally, RealNetworks are getting more heavily involved in mobile phone-based media, where there is much less standards fragmentation than with PCs. “The bulk of our business is still in the PC segment, but we’re focusing on both. We hope to see significant mobile growth”, Glaser added.

RealNetworks

New BBC Chair: Embrace the Net

In his first speech since getting the job, the new chairman of the BBC, Michael Grade warned broadcasters and programme makers that they could end up with the same piracy problems as the music industry unless they acted immediately and used the internet to distribute their content.

He said in the speech: “If I was a major content owner, I would be looking at what has happened to the music industry and I’d be very concerned. The lessons are you can’t be arrogant enough to believe any of the distribution methods available are going to win out. You have to play them all. I’d be availing myself of every possible opportunity to distribute my content and I’d let the consumer decide.”

Greg Dyke made noises about opening up the BBC archive last year, but there has been no further movement. Grade did not give any details on how the BBC hope to avoid the fate he was warning about. BBC Worldwide has been experimenting with digital delivery for the past couple of years now, but is mostly interested in using streaming to preview programmes to potential broadcasters, with its BBC Preview and Motion Gallery projects.

BBC News on Grade’s speech

UK Train Company Offering WiFi Trains

GNER, a UK train operator, will be rolling out WiFi access to all 302 carriages of its Mark 4 fleet. This follows a successful trial launched in December.

Named the GNER Mobile Office, the first trains to run the service will be between Kings Cross and destinations in the East Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland.

The on-train WiFi network is connected to a satellite to provide internet access. But what happens when you go into a tunnel? The network drops back to a GPRS connection.

The service is free to first class customers, everyone else pays £4.95 (€7.53) per hour.

“We are confident that the new service will encourage more people to take the train instead of driving or flying,” GNER CEO Christopher Garnett said. Cleaning the toilets once in a while might also be a good low-tech way of getting people to take a train too – just a suggestion.

GNER Mobile Office

Open Source Microsoft

More changes at Redmond this week – after making up with Sun over Java, Microsoft have made their first ever open source contribution.

Yesterday they posted the source code to their Windows Installer XML (WiX) package (a tool for developers building Windows installers from XML source code), to SourceForge. They included complete source for the compiler, linker, library tool and decompiler.

Contributer Rob Mensching said in his posting “With this release developers outside Microsoft can take advantage of the same toolset being used today to create the installation packages for products like Microsoft Office, Microsoft SQL Server, and many others.”
He went on to add in his MSDN blog: “Back in 1999 and 2000, I did not feel that many people inside Microsoft understood what the Open Source community was really about and I wanted to improve that understanding by providing an example.”

Providing a Windows installer is a shrewd move for Microsoft as it will give developers the tools to make more Windows applications – plus being a utility program it won’t cannibalise MS’s core business.

We hope that this is just the first in many releases under the Common Public License, and look forward to seeing more tools and utilities being released soon.

WiX at SourceForge

Rob Mensching’s blog

Atari on Demand: So That’s What the Internet is For

Launching with 35 titles, Atari On Demand is a new service that allows subscribers to play unlimited Atari games for a $14.95 (€12.37) monthly fee. The games are specially packaged versions of back catalogue titles – and they use a special player application to protect their content, reduce download size and simplify the process. Subscribers don’t download and install titles – they’re downloaded to the player and it does everything else.

The Atari Player is by Exent Technologies Inc., and is based on their EXEtender application. EXEtender (Don’t. Make. Me. Type. It. Again.) technology is already used in game services in America, Europe and Asia. The service is Windows only – games are streamed to the subcriber’s PC and the Atari Player ensures that the destination PC can handle all the application-specific bits and pieces before the download begins.

Packaging the games in this way has another useful benefit aside from DRM and ease of installation – the binary files for the packaged games are 50% to 60% of the size of the full installer. It could be that these kind of sites might tempt users away from illegal P2P services just because the games take half as long to install, and are much less bother. We certainly hope so.

Before you hit the link and disappear from this article to the Atari site forever, the selection of games is a little weak at the moment. In fact, it really is very weak being comprised of recent titles from Infogrammes. Hopefully they’ll expand the range very quickly and get some old stuff in there as Infogrammes have abused the Atari brand to foist rubbish on the general public who only remember Atari’s proud arcade history. Consequently, we find it amazing that they chose to launch with a title like Trophy Hunter 2003 (shooting moose) and not Bezerk (shooting yellow robots).

Now Sega – are you paying attention?

Atari Unlimited

Atari Explorer – a beautiful site detailing the history of the company

Ofcom’s Digital Switch Over Report

“Driving Digital Switchover”, Ofcom’s report to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, contains 30 findings and recommendations for the UK’s move to digital broadcasting, and the decommissioning of analogue signals.

Ofcom are recommending that the switch, due to be completed by the end of 2010, should be phased in region by region, shutting down analogue channels one at a time. They believe that a firm timetable will encourage the adoption of digital broadcasting between 2007 and 2010.

Additionally, they suggest that the UK Government review the BBC’s obligations to digital and add further requirements, including: obligations on rolling-out digital transmission nationwide, providing public information, continuing to provide its channels on the free-to-view satellite platform, and providing on-air marketing of digital TV on a platform-neutral basis.

Importantly, Ofcom believe that free-to-view digital satellite will play an important part in increasing adoption of digital viewing, particularly with those who do not wish to subscribe to services such as Sky. Ofcom is considering regulatory intervention “to secure a viable free-to-view satellite proposition.”

SwitchCo is the body that Ofcom are suggesting is created to be responsible for managing the switch-over by the agreed date. The suggest that the body is entirely independent and not run by the government, any broadcaster or even Ofcom.

About the Report

The Report

PocketSkype – Free Calls for WiFi PDA Owners

It’s PocketPC only for the time being, but the new version of Skype allows PDA owners with WiFi to make voice over IP (VoIP) calls when in the range of any hotspot. The original Skype application now has nearly 10 million users making free telephone calls over the internet, but it was felt that it was time to take the technology into the space where it will be most useful: mobile.

Niklas Zennstrom, creator of Skype said “While it’s very convenient to use Skype when they’re sitting in their office or at home, many people want to be mobile and want to be able to move around.”

PocketSkype FAQ