July 2005

Microsoft Vista Announced
After a morning of fishwife-hot rumours, it’s been officially announced that the next version of Microsoft Windows – previously code-named Longhorn – will be known as Microsoft Vista.
Although wags are already suggesting that the word might apply to the distant view of the product consumers will get for many months/years, Microsoft remains confident of an ontime release in the second half of next year.
Naturally, a big new product needs a suitably uplifting tag line, so the cappuccino-supping, flipchart-flapping, brainstormin’ visioneers at Redwood have come up with:
“MicrosoftVista. Clear, Confident, Connected: Bringing clarity to your world.”
The story was first broken by anonymous sources close to the company (that generally covers anyone from the cleaner to the guy who delivers the water cooler) who revealed that Microsoft had unveiled their new name in Atlanta during the company’s internal sales event, known as the Microsoft Global Sales Briefing (that’s ‘MGB’ to those in the know).
Possibly because of a fear of failing to release the product in the year bearing its name, Microsoft has once again shied away from its earlier practice of releasing dated operating systems (Windows95, Windows98 etc).
The current major version of Windows originally regaled under the name of ‘Whistler’ during development before being christened WindowsXP prior to its public release.
Brad Goldberg, a Microsoft product manager, said that the first beta of Vista is slated for release on Aug. 3 and will be targeted at developers and IT professionals.
Goldberg stated that Vista’s three design goals include better security, new ways to organize information, and seamless connectivity to external devices.
A second test release is anticipated to be debuted before Vista’s full release next year.
More details about the new operating system’s features will be announced on August 3.
Video of whooping Microsoft Execs
22 July, 2005
UK Digital TV Trial Results In – It Went Well
The long-awaited results from the Welsh Digital TV trial were published today.
The trial ran in the carefully chosen sites of Ferryside and Llansteffan, two Welsh villages either side of the River Towy (Google map, Geograph photo). The main reasons, it’s cut off as it’s surrounded by mountains and the sea.
The project started back in May 2004 with a roadshow that alerted the local residents to the intentions of the trial and to show them the range of equipment that they could choose.
Following the positive acceptance of the trial, the equipment was selected and installed and setup by residents. They were offered one of five Set Top Boxes and 2 PVR’s as replacements for their video recorders. The big difference between this trial and the full UK rollout, was that the equipment was supplied to them free of charge – something the UK government has refused to consider for the country at large.
The TV transmitter sat on the Ferryside of the River Towy serving the 475 homes and 1,200 residents that lived in both locations. The population was more elderly, retired and ill that the average UK population. Nearly 30% of the population of Ferryside were over 60.
The digital signal was switched on in November 2004, running simultaneously with current analogue for three month.
The big day of tension was on 30 March 2005 when the analogue signal was switched off. Digital-Lifestyles spoke to key members of the team during this time and learnt that it had gone remarkably smoothly, much to everyone’s delight.
The summary of the results from the 64 page document are as follows.
Transmission and Coverage – No one lost their TV service during the trial. Only three homes, which were previously in poor reception areas, could not receive the digital service and these were given a digital satellite service. Broadband was introduced during the trial and is seen as an alternative form of delivery to satellite.
Consumer Experience – Not everyone was able to install the equipment themselves but the majority of those who had trouble were able to fix problems with guidance over the phone.
Remote Control – The elderly hit problems handling additional remotes, especially those with many buttons – their preference being remotes with three functions – on/off, volume and channel change.
Aerials and Connectivity – This is where the majority of problems occurred. Digital TV needs a quality signal to work and nearly a quarter (22%) of the household had problems. Set-Top aerials (Do they still exist?) had problems, which wasn’t really a surprise.
Content – Having an EPG went down well with the residents, particular when they used it to record programs on their PVR. The trialists also enthused about the ability to receive extra TV channels – after all the major benefit to consumer if the expanded choice they will be given.
The total cost of the trial was a little short of 1 million pounds. The UK Government put up £565,000 and the broadcasters the rest, £300,000.
Many organisation worked hard to bring the trial to a successful outcome including Intellect, the trade association for the UK IT, Telecommunications and Electronics industries in the UK.
There’s going to be a lot of people letting out a sign of relief that this trial went well, and not just in the UK. Those involved feel there have been some real lessons learnt here. The harsh reality is that there a world of difference between a controlled trial in two villages in the Wales and a full scale rollout over the UK.
Digital Switchover Technical Trial at Ferryside and Llansteffan Report PDF (1.68mb)
Intellect
21 July, 2005
VoIP Market To Hit $4 Billion By 2010: Report
The North American voice over IP (VoIP) market is about to go completely bananas, with phenomenal growth predicted for the next six years, according to a report by Frost & Sulllivan.
The analyst’s newly-released North American Residential VoIP Markets report says that the pervasiveness of broadband Internet access and the availability of low-cost VoIP services will spur huge growth, with consumer VoIP market revenues reaching $4.07 billion (~£2.33bn, ~€3.34bn) in 2010 – up more than 1300% over $295.1 million (~£169m, ~€242m) last year.
The report anticipates a stampede of non-traditional telecommunications companies – including cable operators, Internet service provider (ISP), and non-telecom companies – charging into the voice market, driving the number of North American VoIP lines up to 18 million from 1.5 million in the same period.
The VoIP’s operator’s joy could be the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) misery, as Internet telephony represents a direct threat their market share and revenue.
According to Frost & Sullivan’s report, ILECs are already reeling from losing 15 million access lines to their non-traditional competitors, although a sizeable proportion of these were data lines and second residential lines.
“Residential subscribers are likely to replace second lines with wireless or VoIP; the benefits of VoIP include lower cost, additional features and ease of use,” Frost & Sullivan Senior Analyst Lynda Starr said in a statement. “If an ILEC offers VoIP, it risks cannibalising traditional revenue but also opens up new revenue streams.”
The report concludes that it’s the quality of service and the VoIP feature set that’s attracting punters to the service rather than a desire to get in with the hi-tech crowd.
Frost & Sullivan notes that the mass market will initially be attracted by cost-savings, but the compelling new features on offer will ensure VoIP’s success.
Frost & Sullivan
21 July, 2005
Superfast Broadband Access Via TV Cables
TV cables could provide broadband Internet access speeds up to a trouser-flapping 100 megabits per second as early as next year according to Finnish broadband equipment maker Teleste.
The technology is claimed to provide punters with access 50 times faster than the average broadband speeds now offered to cable TV homes.
Although similarly nippy data transmission speeds are possible over fibre networks, these would cost a lot more for operators to build.
“This is a cost-efficient technology, as we use the cable TV networks which are already in place,” Teleste’s CEO Jukka Rinnevaara told Reuters.
Teleste has said that it will bring its Ethernet-to-the-home product to the market early next year, giving consumers access to speeds of up to 100mbps.
The company manages to achieve the Billy Whizz speeds by fitting Ethernet – your everyday, cheapo technology for shifting Internet data over broadband networks – into cable television networks.
Teleste reckons it’s way ahead of the market, predicting that rival technologies won’t emerge until the second quarter of 2007 at the earliest.
The foxy Finns are currently running field trials with cable TV service provider Essent in the Netherlands, but are yet to reach the top speeds they predicts will be available to most homes in a few years time.
“Based on our research, 30 megabits per second is the absolute minimum in future homes,” Pekka Rissanen, a Teleste exec informed a news conference. “Just one TV programme would take 10 to 20 megabits per second of this alone. So, very fast we would reach a need for 30 megabits, and also for 50 megabits per second.”
Rissanen calculated the cost of connecting a home to the high speed ethernet-to-the-home technology could range from US$60.30 (~£35, ~€50) and US$241 (~£140, ~€200).
For some inexplicable reason, the company has splashed out a fortune for a bizarre, near feature-length futuristic 3D-tastic cartoon fronted by a talking monkey to explain their new service.
We’re not quite sure what the connection with the service is, but it sure beats listening to some swivel action suit blathering on via Power Point.
Teleste
21 July, 2005
Laptops Being Packed By More Holidaymakers
Feebly posing as some sort of independent study into the portable computer use, a recent US survey commissioned by Intel reveals that 34 per cent of respondents or their families have taken a laptop PC with them on vacation, with just over half likely to take a laptop PC on a future vacation. Oh that’s lucky … aren’t Intel involved with laptops in some way?
The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive discovered that the three most popular uses for a laptop PC while on holiday checking personal e-mail (72 per cent); playing movies, music and games (56 per cent); and gathering trip information online (45 per cent).
Despite being on their happy hols, 43 per cent used their laptops for of checking and sending work-related email.
The growth of compact, wireless-enabled laptop PCs [cue: another plug for Intel Centrino here] and hotspots have made it easier for globe trotters to taunt their office-bound chums back home with beach photos, as well as keep in touch with work, news, sports and grab local information.
“The survey results show that mobile technology is making it easy for travellers to research destinations, be entertained and stay in touch with family and friends while away from home,” said Ralph Bond, Intel consumer education manager, rudely cut out before another plug for Intel Centrino products could be delivered.
The survey also discovered that Hawaiian shirt-toting holidaymakers rated a long battery life (62 per cent), lightweight design (58 per cent) and Wi-Fi (55 per cent) as the most valuable features for a holiday latop. Wow … isn’t that what Centrino’s good at?
Of course, seasoned PC users have dragged laptops around with them for years on end, with many of the early adoptin’ cognoscenti choosing to travel even lighter by using PocketPCs/smartphones for keeping in touch while away from home.
With the growth of iPods, digital wallets and teensy weensy portable hard drives, keen photographers no longer need to lug around a laptop to back up their images, while Wi-Fi enabled PDAs – like the Palm LifeDrive – mean that travellers can access the Internet in-between splashes of sun tan oil and leave more room in their bags for essentials.
Like beer.
We would have provided you with a link to the survey but the page on the Intel site is 404ing.
21 July, 2005
vPod: Apple Closer To iPod Video Player?
The rurmour mill continues to hum with speculation that Apple are set to introduce a video playing iPod-like device in the near future.
Apple are already said to be talking to major music labels like Warner, EMI, Vivendi, Universal Music and Sony BMG about acquiring licenses to sell music videos through their hugely popular iTubes online store.
The videos are expected to start appearing on Apple’s online store in September at US$1.99 per download (~£1.15~€1.54)
The Business 2.0 blog reports that Apple is trying to strike similar deals with Disney, ABC News and ESPN.
As ever, Apple are keeping Mum on any proposed new hardware, although Steve Jobs has already commented about how the current iPod screen isn’t ideal for watching videos.
This has led to speculation that the company will be revising the iPod to create something like the ‘vPod’, a concept device created by design firm Pentagram which was published in Business 2.0 Magazine in March.
The magazine’s mocked-up machine looked like a version of the classic white iPod, stretched out to accommodate a wide-format screen.
An oversized iPod form would be unlikely to find favour with Jobs as he has already dismissed larger devices such as the Creative Portable Media Center for being too bulky and cumbersome to be a truly convenient portable player.
In fact Jobs has adamantly said ‘no” to video on several occasions, commenting in October that video on the iPod is “the wrong direction to go … there’s no content” and competitors providing video are “digging in the wrong place.”
Trouble is, Jobs is well known for trying to confuse competitors with double speak and bluff – he made much the same negative claims about Flash-based music players before releasing the Shuffle.
For many, the smart money is on Apple leaving the iPod as it is and introducing a completely different video player that will aim to grab the public’s imagination in the same manner as the iPod captured the music download market by the MP3s.
The big problem with trying to create a multimedia device is that people demand quite different things for mobile audio and video.
Music listeners want a small device that can fit into their sweaty jogging pants, while video buffs want a big wide screen for their moves that won’t be obscured by a few flakes of popcorn.
How Apple can resolve this quandary and come up with a competition-crushing compromise is anyone’s guess, but B2.0 editor Paul Sloan feels confident that they’ll manage it:
“If the past is any measure of what’s to come, Jobs will enter the arena late (as he did with the iPod) only to leapfrog over the competition with some entirely different device. And that could leave everyone from Microsoft’s Bill Gates to Sony’s Howard Stringer once again racing to copy their far smaller rival.”
Business 2.0
20 July, 2005
Champions League Broadcasters To Simulcast Matches On T’Web
Armchair football fans around Europe will soon be able to enjoy live Champion’s League matches over the Internet and mobile phones.
The European Commission has declared its intent to promote the beautiful game over a range of platforms in an attempt to mollify European commission competition authorities who want to see rights owners promoting mobile phone and Internet usage.
A spokesman at football bosses UEFA confirmed that all broadcasters showing games live would be “obliged” to screen them online simultaneously.
By linking live television rights to the Internet package, UEFA hopes to calms the fears of broadcasters who suspect that a separate online deal would cut deeply into their audience figures.
Champions League coverage in the UK is provided by BSkyB and ITV (both of whom look likely to retain their current rights), and the Internet simulcasts could provide a honey pot for new revenue streams with advertising and betting partners.
This may cause some friction with the big clubs like Man Utd and Arsenal who may be planning their own lucrative online propositions.
With media regulator Ofcom reporting that more than 8.1 million UK households now boast broadband connectivity, Internet television on demand is set to become, well, a household name.
BSkyB has already announced its commitment to IPTV – programming delivered over broadband PCs or TV sets – and from later this year, premium package subscribers will be able to access content via a Sky Sports and Sky Movies broadband service.
The service will offer 200 on-demand movies with sports junkies being able to access news, interviews and highlights (like wonderful Cardiff City goals) through the online sports channel
From 2006 the service could be offering Champions League games live, ensuring that only Sky Sports subscribers are able to log on, with non-subscribers having to fork out a pay-per-view premium.
Sky Sports
20 July, 2005
Google Moon ‘launches’
In honour of the first manned Moon Landing back in July 20, 1969, Google have launched an out of this world version of their Google Maps service – Google Moon.
The clever boffins at Google have created a scrollable, zoomable map of the Moon’s surface, adding NASA imagery to the interface.
Google explains that they put together the map because they figured the best way to commemorate the first Lunar landing would be to let their users “surf around the Lunar surface themselves”.
Although you can use a sliding scale to zoom into the surface – just like the terrestrial version – and view landing sites, there are limitations to how close to the surface you can zoom because of insufficient NASA imagery.
However, viewers zooming all the way in are in for a treat! We won’t spoil it for you, but do take a look.
The cheeky chappies at Google have also added a fun FAQ:
“4. Is Google Moon a result of your Copernicus initiative?
Glad you asked, and yes, the development of our Lunar hosting and research centre continues apace.
We usually don’t announce future products in advance, but in this case, yes, we can confirm that on July 20th, 2069, in honour of the 100th anniversary of mankind’s first manned Lunar landing, Google will fully integrate Google Local search capabilities into Google Moon, which will allow our users to quickly find lunar business addresses, numbers and hours of operation, among other valuable forms of Moon-oriented local information.”
Google are also advertising jobs at their Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.), offering “high-density high-delivery hosting (HiDeHiDeHo) and de-oxygenated cubicle dwelling.”
Someone at Google must have had a lot of time on their hands, because there’s pages and pages of space-related nonsense available, including references to the “hyperbolic trajectory of Britney Spears” and “projections correctly predicted random spikes in search traffic due to wardrobe malfunctions”.
We like it!
Google Moon
Get an out of this world job – G.C.H.E.E.S.E.
20 July, 2005
BT Doubles Broadband Entry Speeds
BT has announced that it will be doubling the speed of its entry-level broadband service.
The move was announced just hours after Wanadoo UK revealed its intention to tempt new punters with a two meg connection for just £17.99 (~€26 ~US$32) a month.
From tomorrow, all new and existing BT subscribers should be able to get 2 meg as standard, with no upgrade charges.
BT group managing director Gavin Patterson said: “Today’s announcement creates a standard of a minimum broadband speed of 2Mb for all our retail broadband services – these higher speeds open up a wealth of new possibilities for the use of broadband.”
BT’s generosity knows some bounds though, with its no frills package retaining its monthly usage limit at 1 gig.
As competition in the broadband sector heats up, customers should be able to take advantage of lower prices and faster connectivity.
This is the second free upgrade that BT has introduced, with the telecoms giant upping the speed for all of its retail broadband customers back in February.
Broadband users can calculate their current connection speeds with the handy app at ADSLguide.org.uk and check to see if their broadband speed matches their provider’s claims.
A recent informal survey on urban75.com asked over 60 subscribers to compare their broadband connection speeds using the ADSLguide Website.
I quickly learnt that not only was I paying more than most, but my BT connection was as swift as a sleepy sloth on a hot day compared to the rocket-like speeds quoted by others.
Seeing as BT has declared that the “battleground in broadband will be in differentiating services rather than price and speed as it is today”, I’ll be monitoring this upgrade very, very carefully indeed.
BT Broadband
20 July, 2005
PC Sales Soars, Apple Hits 4.7% US Market Share
The doomsayers were predicting a slow year for PC shipments, but a continuing shift to notebooks and falling PC prices have made it a bumper second quarter for the worldwide PC market, according to research companies IDC and Gartner.
IDC’s figures reveal that PC vendors have shifted 46.6 million units in the second quarter, up from 39.9 million units last year, while Gartner claims that 48.9 million PCs were shipped during the quarter, up from 42.6 million units last year.
The disparity in the figures is due to the different ways in which the companies record “white-box” shipments (lesser brand PCs sold by local distributors or resellers).
Both analysts have confirmed Apple’s zippy growth in the US market, where it has risen to become the fourth biggest PC manufacturer in the land of Budweiser.
Dell still sits proud as King Of The PC Hill in the US, with shipments growing 23.7 per cent from last year, while the company now holds 19.3 per cent of the worldwide market according to IDC.
Gartner’s figures differ again, showing Dell with 17.9 per cent of the global market.
HP remained in second place with 15.6 per cent of the market (IDC) – 14.6 per cent according to Gartner.
The company enjoyed big sales outside the US and remains the market share leader in many countries throughout Europe.
The new Lenovo-owned IBM business ranked third in worldwide shipments with 7.6 per cent of the market, while Acer impressed with a shipment growth of 62 per cent compared to last year.
Gateway and Apple grew much faster than Dell or HP in the States, coming in at third and fourth place respectively in the US market.
Boosted by their success with iPod and iTunes, Apple’s US market share reached 4.5 per cent, up from 3.7 per cent at the same time last year.
Overall, Apple’s shipments grew 37 per cent year-on-year quarter, against a worldwide industry growth of 16.6 per cent, according to IDC (14.8 per cent by Gartner’s figures).
Laptops Out Sell Desktops In US
MacWorld
19 July, 2005