2005

BBC iMP Review – A Naughty Little iMP
Despite so much current talk from the UK Telco’s and Sky on the magic that will provide an on demand broadcast TV proposition in the UK, tangible evidence of a working model beyond KiT in Hull and Homechoice is pretty sparse.
The one organisation that is taking it seriously and putting some of their money behind it (sorry, UK TV license payers money) is the dear old BBC.
Digital-Lifestytles has been keeping a close watch on iMP through each stage of its development from its initial announcement by Ashley Highfield at the Digital-Lifestyles theme day at IBC in 2003, through our uncovering that all of its content would be DRM protected back in Feb 2004, to the announcement of the trial, back in May this year.
I’ve been lucky enough to be one of the trialists for the iMP (that’s integrated media player not interactive as so many insist on calling it) and I can tell you it’s not at all bad. Viewing TV on a PC screen is not ideal and that has probably influenced the programmes I’ve chosen – largely factual and quiz. The BBC counters that, a ‘box’, is under development to port the output to your domestic telly and reminds us that it’s already possible to view the content on a selection of mobile devices.
Despite the somewhat limited selection of programmes, which I’m told is largely down to copyright issues, it seems a positive move for a public sector broadcaster actually providing a service and solving the ‘problem’ of letting you see a programme you forgot to record or you later discover is worth viewing.
The operation, as you’d expect from a Microsoft product is ‘workperson-like’ ,if rather un-exciting, but to all intents and purposes, to those with an always-on connection, downloading the content is free. The technology that allows programmes to be downloaded in faster than real time on a 2mb connection is a completely legal (I’m told) peer to peer application – everyone who is running the trial software, shares their content with other on the trial, without their having to do anything.
The built-in DRM expires the programmes after seven days which, when compared to the analogue world, I haven’t noticed happening on my VHS tapes. It’s been necessary to quell the agonies protested by the copyright owners.
The BBC is thinking beyond the present Windows-only solution. Speaking recently in London the BBC’s Project Director for iMP Ben Lavender reinforced the BBC philosophy of platform agnosticism and spoke of the desire to work on Apple and Linux solutions when DRM issues can be satisfactorily dealt with.
For commercial broadcasters there’s an over-riding issue to deal with, should they choose to get involved. How would they deal with the ease which you can move through spot advertising, remains to be seen but that’s an issue they’re’ going to have to face soon one way or another.
My verdict – I give it a thumbs up as long as a large enough library of content can be made available. For drama and the like, I’d want an easy method of outputting to the living room TV.
4 November, 2005
PSP Media Manager Launched By Sony
Sony have launched the PSP Media Manager for the PlayStation Portable, an iTunes-like application designed to make it easy to shunt music, movies, photos and other content off a PC and onto PSPs and synchronise PC content with the PSP.
Although the PlayStation Portable was promoted as an all-in-one lifestyle gadget as well as a gaming system, getting content onto the thing wasn’t an easy task, with no USB cable or conversion software being supplied – although these were easily added by those inclined.
The PSP Media Manager aims to fix that, coming with the necessary USB to PSP cable and software supporting a load of multimedia formats including .mp4, .avi, .mpg, .mov, and .wmv for video files, and .mp3, .wav, and .wma for audio.
Supported image formats include .bmp, .jpg, .gif, .png, and .tif, with a bundled utility to backing up game saves to the PC.
Like iTunes, PSP Media Manager can copy over music tracks via drag and drop from a PC or download from Sony’s Connect online music store.
Other Apple-like functionality includes the ability to search and subscribe to RSS feeds formatted for viewing on the PSP, including podcasts, video blogs, and magazines.
The boxed version containing the USB lead and five free song downloads will be available form Sony’s Connect music from November 22 for $29.95 (~£17, ~e24), with the downloadable version already available (clearly without the USB lead – matter transfer via the Internet is being worked on) from the official Sony Media Software site for $19.95 (~£11, ~e16.5).
With the new software adding full iTunes-like music/video integration to the already-formidable feature list of the PlayStation Portable, we can hear the sound of Sony’s gauntlet slapping down outside Apple’s HQ.
Of course it may not be a long considered move, more a panic move from Sony, after having seen iTunes 6 and the ‘iPod with video’.
There’s two things that will decide – you the consumer and time.
PSP Media Manager
3 November, 2005
Guba; Guidepoint; Mobile Vending: Teenage Tech Roundup
I like this … Guba
In these times, there are many options available to us when we choose how we want to consume media. Sometimes, however, it’s the oldest choices that are the best: A company called Guba has developed a superb Usenet interface, with which it is possible to download music videos, MP3s as well as TV shows. The ease of use of this terrific application blew me straight out of the water, and I immediately signed up to it. Great service, just what I had been looking for and well worth my $15 (£8.50 or there abouts).
Now where did I park…
Guidepoint, a company that make navigation and location soft- and hardware, have released a new product, that allows car owners to track their four-wheeled pride and joy using their mobile phone. Although this technology is cool, you might be wondering what appeal it may have to someone of my age, who, at least in the UK, isn’t legally allowed to drive yet.
Well I’ll tell you why this got me a teensy bit excited: I’m a teenager. Teenagers are forgetful, and as such I am forever losing things. Imagine if I could attach small locator tags to items I lose often, and then find these tags using my mobile phone. This sort of technology would stop me losing anything, ever, and would save me countless hours of looking for my keys when they fall down the back of my desk again.
Here’s another examples. Can’t find my graphics folder for school? No problem, just whip out my mobile phone, and I would get a map with a little cross-hair on, telling me exactly where it’s located. If it was closer than, say, 10 metres, I would instead get a small arrow with a distance reading next to it, which would guide me towards the item that I had lost.
I’m not sure how such a technology would work, but a mixture of a flavour of 802.x and bluetooth would be cool, with maybe some GPS thrown in for the maps. Now if only Father Christmas read Digital-Lifestyles, he might bring me one… Sigh…
By the way, Guidepoint has now expanded their mobile service to include remote car starting and door-unlocking. Could come in handy next time I’m planning a bank robbery ;-)
Hope it gives change!
This one just about qualifies as part of the weekly round up. Engadget covered the news that mobile phone giant Vodafone are to start selling mobile phones in vending machines. Interesting idea, but I can’t really imagine it taking off to be honest: When I go phone shopping, I value the expertise of specially trained staff and the advice they have to give.
On the other hand though, a lot of staff in shops seem to lack any knowledge of mobile phones… Maybe it’s just a cost-saving measure, but sometimes I think when I walk into certain phone shops that they might as well be employing monkeys half the time!
Still though, although I personally wouldn’t buy a phone from a vending machine I can see a lot of kids who don’t care what they get as long as it’s a phone buying these.
3 November, 2005
Homehoice Appoint CSFB To Fund National UK Expansion
This morning, Homechoice, the currently London-focused DSL-based VOD announced that they had appointed CSFB (Credit Suisse First Boston, as was) to raise new capital for their expansion around the UK.
Starting 2006, Homechoice plan to expand the number of homes they cover from the current 2.4m homes to over 10m. Homechoice state that this footprint is approaching the same size as that of the combined UK cable companies, which they’re close with, as ntl + Telewest actually have just over 12.6m.
New subscriber figures have also been announced by Homechoice, revealing 34,000, more than double the 15,000 previously disclosed and widely quoted this week when rurmours of Sky being interested buying them were circulating.
Roger Lynch pointed out, “We’re now the fastest growing pay TV service relative to our footprint ,” which, while it’s encouraging, would be expected given they started at such a small number of subscribers.
Their newly-announced ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) figures are impressive at £430, being considerably higher than Sky’s £384 (announced in 3 August 2005), but lower than Telewest’s £538 and ntl’s £477 (reported to ofcom, Q2 2005).
Comment
We find it slightly confusing that Homechoice is headlining this news release with their national expansion, which has been a long-stated aim for them and is therefore not news, and not CSFB’s appointment. They’re also putting out a whole lot of figures saying how well they’re doing. We’re not clear if this down to them wanting to make the most of the resent press interested the Sky rurmours have brought or a way of trying to cover that they’re need more money, or just genuine excitement of working the CSFB.
On the financing of the next stage of the roll-out, Lynch explained, “We’ve also reached the stage in our corporate development when we believe it’s right to raise capital from new investors. Hence our decision to appoint CSFB.
This could be read as saying that the current majority backer, Digital Explosion, which is owned by Chris Larsons, a Microsoft co-founder, doesn’t look like it’s prepared to fund the next stage. When we asked Homechoice, their spokesperson said Digital Explosion “Remained committed,” one further probing they wouldn’t be drawn on how much more money, if any they were prepared to invest.
We really hope that Homechoice is successful, we’ve always have been, and continue to be supporters of theirs – for their vision, their progress and their sheer bloody-minded determination to keep going.
Homechoice
3 November, 2005
MacExpo UK Review (1/2) – Expo or Shop?
MacExpo has moved to Olympia from the Islington Design Centre and that’s probably the most exciting bit of the show.
Though the new Apple Powerbooks and G5’s were there, a lot of stands were just selling Mac and iPod add-ons, MacExpo is turning into a computer fair. Being generous, it could be the economic conditions that are forcing it in that direction.
The new G5’s are nice, based on the PCI Express architecture with the ability to put some very high-end NVidia graphics to real work. They now support two CPU’s each with dual cores (i.e. 4 cores) though each core only operates up to 2.5GHz rather than the older two CPU systems that operate up to 2.7GHz (but then, in theory, you’re getting 10GHz compared to a max previously of 3.4GHz – real world tests show more like a 67% speed increase). The new NVidia graphics cards are all capable of driving dual displays – so that’s two 30″ Cinema displays … but you’ll need a new desk.
The new 15″ and 17″ Powerbooks have updated displays and all have better batteries offering longer life.
The new iMacs were there too and they are still the sexiest systems on the market.
Slim Devices (makers of the Squeezebox) showed off their 3rd generation systems, rather than long and thin they’re now more squat (i.e. not so wide but taller) with big bright displays which can now display pseudo VU meters, they’ll cost £179 ($320, E265) for the wired version and £229 ($406, E338) for the wireless one. The SLIM Server software is available for Windows, MacOS and Linux/UN*X. They also use a digital output as well as analogue connections for connecting to your HiFi system
Postworx were showing off their balls (and selling them). They are designed for laptop users and attach to the base to increase airflow, keeping the it cool. They also raise the back, and to our initial surprise make it much more comfortable to type. They come in several versions and colours to match your mood or laptop. They either attach by a small velcro-like disk which you stick to the base, or a slightly larger plastic mount onto which the half-ball twists on to and attaches.
Read the second part of the review.
Slim Devices
Post Worx
3 November, 2005
Nokia N92 With DVB-H Receiver, N80, N71 Announced
Nokia has announced three more Nokia N series multimedia devices, the Nokia N92 (the world’s first mobile device with a built-in DVB-H receiver), the Nokia N71 and the Nokia N80.
All three multimedia -tastic handsets support all GSM bands, 3G, WLAN, corporate email access and advanced voice functionality (including IP PBX connectivity over WLAN), and come with integrated security features.
Nokia N92
Most interesting is the Nokia N92, which has the honour of being the world’s first mobile device with a built-in DVB-H receiver, letting users watch and record live TV on the move.
A curious swivelling, flip-top affair, the N92 comes with a large (2.8″) anti-glare QVGA screen supporting 16 million colours and dedicated media keys
The Nokia N92 sports a shedload of functionality for watching and searching for TV programs, with an Electronic Service Guide (ESG) offering information about available TV channels, programs and services
Using the built in software, users can also create personal channel lists, subscribe to TV-channel packages, set program reminders and interact through services such as voting, program feedback and additional web discovery.
For web surfing, the Nokia N92 comes with the new Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map, which displays a semi-transparent zoomed-out view of a web page, enabling users to quickly zip about a large page on a small screen.
Branded as a Nokia XpressMusic device, the handset offers up to 2 GB memory card support, and ships with built-in stereo speakers and stereo headset.
The N92 also comes with a digital music player, FM radio with Visual Radio support (providing interactive information on playing songs and artists) and an onboard 2 megapixel camera.
Connectivity is ably taken care of with Wi-Fi, infrared, Bluetooth and USB 2.0 support.
Based on S60 3rd Edition and Symbian OS, the Nokia N92 is expected to be in the shops by mid 2006 in Europe, with a price tag around €600.
Nokia N80
Sporting WLAN and 3G, the Nokia N80 is being touted as the world’s first handset to feature UPnP technology, and has the ability to be used as a remote control for wirelessly swapping content between PCs, audio equipment and TVs.
So long as all the gear is compatible, images and video stored on a Nokia N80 can be viewed on a TV, while MP3s on the handset can be played through an audio system.
Photos snapped on the Nokia N80 can also be printed wirelessly to any UPnP-enabled printer or photo kiosk.
Nokia N80 is also the first quadband handset designed to work on 3G (WCDMA 1900 or 2100), WLAN, EDGE and four GSM bands (850/900/1800/1900).
The phone features a sliding design with a high definition, 352 x 416 pixels display.
There’s a hefty 3 megapixel camera with capture key, full-screen landscape capture, a close-up mode switch and CIF video capture with inbuilt video stabilisation.
Storage comes in the form of 40 MB of internal memory, with support for miniSD cards of up to 2 GB.
The Nokia N80 has a built in digital music player and stereo FM radio with Visual Radio support.
Available in the first quarter of 2006, the price is expected to be €500.
Nokia N71
Finally, we come to the N71, another member of the Nokia XpressMusic family.
Billed as a “pocket-sized entertainment system”, the Nokia N71 comes with a stereo FM radio, support for digital music and videos and new Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map.
We could only find a teensy-weensy picture of the 3G clam phone as we went to print, but we can tell you that is has two displays and two cameras, one of which is a 2-megapixel camera.
Speaking at the Nokia Mobility Conference, Nokia Chairman and CEO Jorma Ollila bigged up digital convergence:
“We expect the market for convergence devices to double to 100 million units in 2006. Developers, media companies and enterprises are shifting their focus to Nokia’s S60 smartphone platform, as they see the business potential of using it to offer content and ensure secure remote access to corporate applications”
“Convergence is opening up a world of opportunities for our customers and partners, and Nokia is committed to developing the tools, solutions and products to make the promise of the digital industry a reality,” Ollila added.
Nokia
2 November, 2005
BBC Launches Online Film Network Showcase
Not satisfied with its already-almighty online presence, the BBC has launched the Film Network – a growing interactive showcase for new British filmmakers, broadcasting three new short films in broadband quality every week.
Around a third of the content on Film Network has been submitted directly and selected by the in-house team, with the remainder coming via partnerships with film organisations or curated programmes of shorts from distributors, festivals and competitions.
Film makers can get feedback from viewers via site tools which allow wannabe critics to comment on and rate films, with filmmakers able to create online profiles and exchange tips, advice and ideas.
The Website aims to expose new talent and create a platform for some great films that are rarely seen elsewhere.
The Film Network was first trialled by the BBC in early 2005, and quickly found favour with the public, notching up an impressive 1,200 viewings per week for its most popular films.
Suitably buoyed up by the positive response, the full service has launched today, with 50 high-quality shorts being made available, including the eagerly anticipated online premier of Joe Penhall’s The Undertaker, starring lovely Welsh boy Rhys Ifans, who also featured in the schmaltzy, hankerchiefs-at-the-ready box office monster, Notting Hill.
It seems that maybe the launch is going a little too well, with the server reporting “too busy” errors this afternoon.
Viewers keen to grab a slice of the free film action will first have to register on the site.
The shorts are streamed in Windows Media or Real Video formats which means that you won’t be able to keep a copy on your home PC or transfer them to a video iPod or handheld video player (unless, of course, you employ a streaming media recorder!).
The BBC will be offering a wide selection of content – comedies, animations, dramas and experimental videos – with three new films being added every week.
It should be noted that the BBC Film Network is not part of the currently in-trials Interactive Media Player (iMP) service which we reported on in May 2005.
BBC Film Network
2 November, 2005
Samsung M70 Hybrid PC With Detachable Screen Unveiled
The best thing about Samsung’s press photos is that they always feature groups of attractive young ladies deliriously happy to be touching their latest products.
Whether it be phones, TV displays, laptops or detachable screens, you’ve only got to thrust the product into the willing arms of these beaming ladies and a winning PR photo is ready for the taking.
So when we heard about Samsung’s new “desktop and laptop in one” hybrid PC, the M70, we knew we were in for a treat. And we weren’t disappointed.
Coming in two parts – the laptop and its detachable 19″ screen – we were confident that we’d be in for double the fun and, sure enough, we were rewarded with happy-clappy shots of two ladies near-ecstatic to be fondling the electronics.
Although we’d like to think that we’d never get quite that excited about gadgets, we have to say that Samsung’s new laptop looks like a winner.
Anyone who’s used a laptop for a long time will soon get fed up with the uncomfortably low viewing angle, so being able to yank the display off and stick it on a taller stand might certainly do wonders for your posture.
Happily, Samsung have had the nous to ensure that they used standard monitor connectors too, so that the laptop can be connected to a bigger screen (for giving a corporate presentation, for example) – and even the display can be used with a different PC.
This interoperability also means that if the screen packs up on the laptop, you can still use the thing with a cheap desktop replacement. Neat.
Full technical details, pricing and availability is yet to be announced, but we can tell you that the laptop packs a whopping 19″ WSXGA+ (1680×1050) HDTV compatible screen and is powered by a Pentium M770 (2.13GHz) CPU.
The machine ships with 1Gb of DDR 533MHz RAM onboard, offers 100Gb HDD storage, has high quality stereo speakers and Wireless LAN built in and weighs a shoulder-bothering 4.4kg.
Samsung
2 November, 2005
Record PDA Shipments Expected For 2005: Gartner
Helped by big European growth, global PDA (personal digital assistant) shipments whizzed up 21% in the third quarter of 2005, according to analysts Gartner.
The figures revealed that a total of 3.45 million units were shipped between July and September, representing a 20.7% increase from the same period last year.
The market now looks set to reach a total of 15 million units shipped for 2005, outstripping the previous record of 13.2 million units in 2001.
“The rapid spread of wireless e-mail and use of GPS-enabled PDAs, which offer most of the functionality of dedicated car navigation systems at a fraction of the cost, is propelling the PDA market to record growth,” commented Gartner analyst Todd Kort.
“This growth is most noticeable in Europe. In fact, Europe is catching up with North America in terms of usage of PDAs in vertical markets and the use of cellular wireless PDAs,” Kort added.
The biggest shipment rise was recorded by Research in Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry device, growing 52.6% in the third quarter as the company extended its lead as the top dog worldwide PDA vendor.
Things weren’t so rosy for Hewlett-Packard’s iPAQ, with shipments declining 20.2% in the third quarter, and things were even worse for former PDA kings PalmOne, who saw their shipments slide a massive 36%.
Palm’s poor showing is exaggerated by the fact that the research didn’t include their hugely popular Palm Treo 650 (other Smartphones like the BlackBerry 7100 were also excluded, but wireless PDAs like the iPAQ 65xx and Nokia 9300 were included).
Microsoft maintained its pole position as the leading PDA operating system supplier, accounting for 49.2 percent of worldwide shipments in the third quarter of 2005, with RIM at number two (25%) followed by Palm at just under 15 percent.
Overall, the Western European PDA market grew 53.4% in the third quarter of 2005, with 1.2 million units shipped.
The region accounted for 34.2% of worldwide shipments (and 70% of the worldwide growth compared to a year ago), up from 26.9% one year ago.
In the States, shipments were relatively flat, totalling 1.4 million units (up 2.2%) although the market still accounted for 41% of worldwide PDA shipments.
Gartner
2 November, 2005
DSC-T9 Cyber-shot Announced By Sony
Sony continues to build on the success of its ultra-slim DSC-T digital still camera range with the release of the six megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-T9 model.
Following in the footsteps of the T3, T5 and T7 models, Sony’s new mini-snapper manages to add optical image stabilisation and high light sensitivity, with the company claiming pictures with “significantly less blur and graininess than typical point-and-shoot cameras.”
The camera shoehorns a smarty-pants lens-shift optical image stabiliser that does it stuff courtesy of two gyro-sensors which detect hand movement and automatically calculate the necessary compensation for a crisp image.
The increased high light sensitivity (64 up to IS0 640) allows punters to grab flash-free, atmospheric shots in low light, although we’ve yet to see how effective Sony have been in keeping the inevitable noise down at high ISO ratings.
“Our T Series set the standard for slim, stylish, point-and-shoot cameras with fine image quality,” said James Neal, director of digital imaging products at Sony Electronics.
“Now the use of this category of cameras is pervasive. With the DSC-T9, we are taking this category a step further by incorporating advanced imaging technologies that ensure that you get the shot, even in unfavourable light conditions, like nightclubs and restaurants,” he added.
As with previous DSC-T models, there’s a whopping great 2.5-inch 230k LCD dominating the rear of the camera, with four playback ‘themes’ letting users display their photos with dynamic transitions shuffling along to user-selected music clips.
The Lilliputian shooter comes with a 3x (38-114mm ) Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar folded-path optical zoom so there’s no whirring lens thrusting out of the camera on start up.
The DSC-T9 offers shutter speeds from 30 to 1/1000 second, Multi-pattern, Centre-weighted, or Spot metering, five white balance presets and 10 scene modes.
There’s also VGA (30 fps) MPEG movie recording onboard, with 58 MB of internal memory and a slot for an optional Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick PRO Duo media card.
Turning the camera on and off is a matter of sliding the camera lens cover, with Sony claiming a battery life of up to 240 shots per charge – an improvement on the fairly dire performance of its predecessor.
The Cyber-shot DSC-T9 camera will be available in January for about $450 (~£254~€374) online at SonyStyle.com
Sony T9
1 November, 2005