Month: June 2004

Speedera Content Network Picks Up Flash Video

Speedera Networks, a content delivery provider connecting more than 1,000 carrier backbones in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific region has partnered with Macromedia to deliver video clips in Flash format.

Speedera manage the delivery of file downloads and media for companies that have no wish to host content themselves. Customers include Fox Broadcasting, AMD and NASA. No doubt Speedera were very busy this morning with everyone hitting the NASA site to see the transit of Venus.

Flash has come along way since the mid-90s when cropped-trousered Hoxtonites first used its sprite and vector-based tools to create annoying banner ads and awful games. Flash has matured to be an excellent development environment and has produced some truly great internet content. By incorporating a video engine based on Sorenson Media’s software, Macromedia are now pushing Flash in a direction that was never dreamed of when it first appeared. As en example, video conferencing application can be created in seconds by dragging objects to your work area, and can be highly customised with brand identity and further functionality.

Since there’s a Flash player on an estimated 90% of PCs out there, most users already have all that’s required to enjoy video embedded in a Flash object, as no further client software is required.

However, the reason that Flash video is not as prevalent as formats such as Windows Media is that Flash development tools are expensive, whilst Microsoft’s are free.

Speedera

Macromedia Flash

Apple’s AirPort Express Streams Music to Your Digital Home With AirTunes

Apple have just released AirPort Express – a wireless adapter that lets Mac and PC users set up an instant 802.11g network at home.

The seven ounce box fits into the palm of your hand and is essentially a 802.11g transceiver with an audio out connection on it – plug your stereo into it, and it’ll play music streamed to it from your iTunes-equipped PC or Macintosh. AirTunes even has a feature to select which AirPort Express adaptor receives music.

The unit also contains a mains adapter so it can be plugged directly into the mains without any further cables.

You can do all the usual things with AirPort Express too – share your internet connection and printers, and the unit has a built in USB port and network socket.

AirPort Express costs US$129 (€105), which might seem a little on the pricey side for a 802.11g transceiver with only one network port on it, but then this one is based around being easy to use, acts as a repeater, contains the AirTunes circuitry and has Apple’s usual lovely stylings. Home wireless kit is currently very ugly and is not as straightforward to set up as some manufacturers would have you believe. With AirPort’s design heritage and simplification of the wireless networking concept, if anyone can get 802.11g to go mainstream, it’s Apple. Promoting the unit to PCs users is a great idea, as Apple no doubt learned from making the iPod PC-compatible. Apple’s Airport Express

BT to Use Technology to Block Child Pornography

BT have reported to the Home Office that trials of their Cleanfeed (not connected with the Cleanfeed company who offer internet filtering software, coincidentally enough) program have proved successful, and from next month they will be blocking access to child pornography sites.

The move has been applauded by children’s charities, with other internet service providers looking to adopt a similar strategy.

Internet Watch Foundation’s register of illegal sites has been around for a while to warn authorities, but technology and the fact that most of the sites are outside the UK has meant that, up until now at least, no real action has been taken.

The ban is an initiative of John Carr, internet adviser to NCH who prompted Home Office minister Paul Goggins after Carr’s successful campaign to block offending internet usenet groups. Goggins approached ISPs, including BT, for an answer.

This move from BT is sure to be a relief for many people, but at the same time poses free speech concerns: the UK is now the first Western country to impose mass censorship of the internet.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, said in a statement: “You are always caught between the desire to tackle child pornography and freedom of information. But I was fed up with not acting on this and always being told that it was technically impossible.”

The NCH’s guide to child safety on the internet

China: 300 Million Mobile Users by 2005

The Chinese Ministry for Industry has released new figures which demonstrate the vast scale of the mobile market in China, and its potential for growth.

Although the percentage of mobile phone owners in China will still be relatively low at just 24.5% of the population in 2005, this will still mean 300 million subscribers. In contrast, approximately 65% of Europeans own a mobile phone, with the US catching up at 50%.

Currently, China’s 295,700,000 mobile phones account for half of all money spent communications. There are still another 800 million potential customers to reach, though the barriers of bringing access to rural areas and the cost of services must yet be dealt with.

Chinese mobile users send 300 million text messages a day – accounting for one third of the World’s total 510 billion of SMS sent every in 2003. Not bad for something that was tacked onto GSM as a afterthought and costs network operators virtually nothing to handle.

China Mobile

eBooks on the Rise?

For as long as there has been ASCII, there have been electronic books, but every attempt to make eBooks into a commercial product with mass-market appeal has been a disappointment. However, new sales figures from the Open eBook Forum point to a 46% rise in eBook revenues in the first quarter of this year.

Additionally, Forum President Steve Potash claims that “eBooks represent the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry.”

Sadly, the titles that are shifting are not the forward-looking science, philosophy literary masterpieces I’d hoped for: Dan Brown’s nonsense numerology pot boiler The Da Vinci Code leads the bestseller chart, followed by Van Helsing by Kevin Ryan at number two.

Figures are still modest: 421,955 eBooks were sold in Q1 2004, compared to 288,440 for the same period last year. This translates into US$3.2 million (€2.6 million) in revenue, opposed to US$2.5 million (€2 million) for Q1 2003.

The market is still dogged with issues: competing formats, lacklustre content, over-priced products and expensive reading devices. People still prefer reading printed books, but the sheer convenience of being able to carry a number of titles for consulting at will has prompted people to experiment in the format. There’s still no “killer application” for eBooks (like iTunes was to the iPod), and certainly no “system seller” (for example, the Matrix DVD prompted many thousands of people to buy a DVD player), and there possibly never will, but we hope that this important media format gets the attention it deserves.

Open eBook

European iTunes: 15th June?

Apple has let major publications know that it intends to make a big announcement on 15th June, but isn’t giving away exactly what it is. The giveaway is that the press conference is billed “The biggest story in music is about to get even bigger”, and the invite carries the iPod dancing people motif. We think it’s going to be European iTunes – but will no doubt be disappointed when it turns out to be the UK launch of iTunes Mini.

Some websites are already quoting 15th June as an established fact – it’s just wild speculation at the moment, Apple aren’t telling anyone.

Which countries will get iTunes? How much will it cost? How many songs? Perhaps all will be revealed in the next few days.

iTunes

Mobile Peer to Peer File Sharing with PDAs

Simedia, a small software publisher in Bucharest, has ported a clone of Apple’s Rendezvous application to PocketPC and teamed it with a web server. The result? A mobile P2P file sharing program.

The application discovers other devices on the same WiFi network and allows people to share files and documents. And of course, music.

Simedia themselves give various uses for the application, including using it to “share your music collection with passers-by or listen to their collections whilst sharing a ride on the bus”. Features like these will no doubt have music execs jumping out of windows, whilst RIAA lawyers will be lighting cigars with $100 bills.

The software will be available from 16 June in two versions: a free version, and a paid version with corporate functionality.

Simedia already have a history for off-beat PDA products – they are well known for their SounderCover application which plays background noises (trains, the dentist, a errr, circus parade) over phone calls for those wishing to deceive spouses and employers that they somewhere different to their real location.

Simedia

Gizmondo GPS Gaming

The Gizmondo is an interesting new twist on mobile gaming: the hand-held console has an integrated miniature GPS unit, so games will know where you are. Location-based gaming is new, because the technology just hasn’t been economical until now. Game worlds can be tailored to respond to a users location and fantasy worlds can be “overlaid” onto real-world places.

The console’s specifications are remarkably similar to many smart phone/PDAs available now, and it essentially looks like an upside down nGage. It’s essentially a tri-band GPRS phone with a 400MHz ARM processor, 240 x 320 pixel TFT screen, Bluetooth and a camera. What makes the unit exciting from a games perspective is the 3D graphics accelerator, providing proper polygon-based graphics rather than 2D sprites.

Games can be installed via the phone network or through MMC/SD cards. There are currently three titles associated with the console: Colors (an “urban warfare” game), Stunt Car Extreme and Speedgun Stadium (a first person shooter, interestingly single player). A new game, code-named “City” has just been announced, a multiplayer title designed for quick-fix gaming.

The arrival of the Gizmondo shows that manufacturers are starting to take mobile gaming very seriously indeed, no doubt because of the revenue stream potential: networked mobile games consoles mean that networks can charge for access, charge per game and charge per session. They can also sell add-on levels, outfits and even in-game objects and items.

The arrival of the Gizmondo will concern Nokia. From the public’s point of view, the two consoles are virtually undistinguishable, both from a purely visual perspective and from functionality – except the Gizmondo has a GPS unit. The Gizmondo is due for a Autumn launch in the UK, with the rest of the World following shortly. Pricing is estimated to be around UK£250 (€373), but will no doubt be considerably less when sold with an air time contract, as seen with the nGage.

Carrying around a GPS unit also means that network providers’ marketing departments will have fun thinking up new ways to send you location-specific sales messages. All network subscribers at an outdoor festival can be messaged with special offers on CDs, for example. With potential like this, expect GPS units in phones to be a lot more common in phones in future: a drop in price for GPS technologies coupled with better mobile networking and a proven revenue model means location-based entertainment’s time is soon.

Gizmondo

Tiger Telematics

Microsoft’s New Patent on Clicking

Microsoft have a new patent, relating to launching applications on PDAs. The patent describes launching different programs according to how many times a hardware button is pressed, for example one press for Contacts, twice for Calendar, three times for Hover Bovver.

If you still have a digital watch, it’s exactly the same technique you use every six months when the clocks change and you have to remember how to set the damn thing. Thankfully, this MS patent only applies to hardware buttons on PDAs running Microsoft’s PocketPC operating system.

The irony is not lost on Digital Lifestyles, as we reported last week that Microsoft have just joined a group whose very existence to is prevent obstructive patents and overhaul the US Patent and Trademark Office, renowned for issuing daft patents. We’re also reminded of our very own BT’s claim on owning the patent on hyperlinks.

Microsoft’s patent and licensing programme

BT’s hyperlink patent