2005

BT Loves Free Wi-Fi Hotspots
Unlike several telecoms companies in the US who are hell bent on blocking free Wi-Fi hotspots, BT has stated that it has “no problems” with the concept.
Although free wireless hotspots are becoming increasingly common worldwide, telcos in Philadelphia and Texas are camping in their lawyer’s offices in an attempt to get hotspots shut down, arguing that it is not in the government’s remit to compete with commercial services.
To a chorus of boos in our office, Andrew “meany” Allison, head of Intel’s mobility group in the UK, spat out; “Governments should do what governments are meant to do: govern. They don’t run, support and maintain networks. That’s for network operators.”
Clearly, Islington Council in London doesn’t agree. They launched a mile-long free Wi-Fi network, dubbed the ‘Technology Mile’, earlier this week.
The network covers the length of Upper Street – one of the busiest streets in Islington – with the Council donating PCs to some local businesses as part of its push to boost economic activity in the area and to encourage local residents onto the Internet.
Chris Clark, BT’s chief executive for wireless broadband approves, telling vnunet.com that he has no problems with free wireless hotspots, and that the more people using the technology the better.
“Free access doesn’t touch us,” he said. “It’s not a market we’re going after. We’re after the business market and in a lot of cases business laptops are locked out of such hotspots for good security reasons.”
Clark does not envisage US-style legal wrangling in the future for the UK and expressed confidence that if more people use Wi-Fi it will drive demand for BT’s services.
Clark also confirmed today that BT will be launching a seamless roaming GSM/Wi-Fi phone by the end of the year, adding that he expects Wi-Fi phones to be “very common”, although not ubiquitous in five years time.
BT
Islington sets up free Wi-Fi zone a mile long
22 April, 2005
ITN Launch 3G UK Election Coverage On Vodafone Live!
ITN is set to steal a march on its rivals by delivering up-to-the minute election analysis and comment through a partnership with Vodafone Live!
The UK news broadcaster will be providing an election news service to Vodafone Live! subscribers, headed up by their political team, including Nick Robinson and Alastair Stewart.
The service will aim to keep party loyalists and floating voters abreast of the fast changing political scene in the final days before the general election, with a salvo of updates and announcements sent direct to 3G handsets.
The package will also include a general election video and text news service featuring ITN’s team of journalists and presenters – and we sincerely hope that it doesn’t resemble the high tech, eye-popping, candy floss mess that currently passes for their TV election coverage.
The service will include daily text updates and a picture message sent at 8pm every evening, consisting of a video and text summary of the key political events of the day, plus an opinion polls round-up.
Unfortunately, the service doesn’t seem to be interactive, with no option for subscribers to vote or comment on the delivered news stories.
Nicholas Wheeler, managing director of multimedia content at ITN, commented: “This is a new facility using mobile technology that was not available at the time of the last election.”
“We are seeking to engage our audience in new ways using a range of interactive platforms.”
With a rallying, hands-on-the-flag clarion call, he concluded: “We aim to break more news stories and we aim to push back the frontiers of political reporting in the UK.”
ITN
22 April, 2005
Google Introduces Local Search To UK
Web search goliaths Google have delivered a large size nine up the rear end of their fierce rivals Yahoo by being the first to launch a local search service in Britain.
Like its popular US counterpart, Google’s local search service will offer maps and driving directions, and is their first such offering in Europe.
Now in public beta, the service is offered in partnership with the UK commercial telephone directory company Yell, who provide the business phone numbers and addresses.
Users can find local services by simply typing in their query into two boxes, labelled, “what” and “where”.
For example, typing in ‘cameras’ and ‘W1’ will produce a list of camera shops in the London W1 area, complete with addresses, phone numbers, a map flagging up the locations and a clickable link for more info.
“It’s the first time we’re bringing local search to a country outside North America,” said Kate Burns, ad sales and operations manager for Google in Britain, declining to give details about launches elsewhere in Europe.
The cooperation with a telephone directories company is unique to Britain, Burns said.
Frustrated Frenchmen and befuddled Belgians were left to mull over their fate with this enigmatic statement: “We take our European audience very seriously, (but) we’ve got nothing to announce this time.”
Local search is the big hot potato for Web search providers, who are salivating at the prospect of a nice new advertising niche opening up.
Global search advertising revenue is already sending cash tills into overdrive, with US investment bank Piper Jaffray estimating spending to rise to US$7.9 billion (£4.1BN/€6bn) in 2005 from US$5.5 billion (£4.1bn/€4.2bn) in 2004 – with most of the growth coming from international expansion and higher volume.
Google has also unveiled its Google SMS (Short Message Service) in the UK. This service enables users to send queries as text messages from a mobile phone and get information local business, driving directions and dictionary definitions. There’s also a facility to compare online product prices with high street ones.
Phone users will be charged with normal SMS text tariffs for the service.
Google local
Google SMS.
21 April, 2005
Sony, Toshiba May Create Universal Blu-Ray/HD DVD Standard
After years of throwing pans at each other, Sony and Toshiba are set to kiss and make up and develop a universal standard for next-generation DVDs, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily.
The twin titans of technology have been busily promoting their own DVD formats, which are billed as offering “cinematic quality” images with the facility to include interactive entertainment.
The bad news is that the two systems are incompatible, so that a movie released on Toshiba’s format would not run on a Sony player and vice versa.
Mindful of the Betamax disaster of the 70s, the two companies have cuddled up in bed together and – after sharing a cigarette – are expected to shortly announce an accord on the joint development of a next-generation DVD.
When asked about the intimate details of the deal, a Sony Corp spokesman played coy, commenting, “as we have said before, we have been considering holding discussions with others over the next-generation DVD format.”
Toshiba were also in the mood to be all moody and mysterious, mumbling on about how “a single format would benefit consumers and we will continue to work toward that goal. We will continue necessary talks to achieve it.”
Next-generation DVD players use funky blue lasers to give a shorter wavelength than the red lasers currently used DVDs and CDs. The higher storage capacity lets the discs hold enough data to provide high-definition quality television pictures.
Two competing formats developed out of this technology, with Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic), introducing the Blu-ray standard in February 2002, with Toshiba and NEC Corp. following with the HD DVD standard.
The format war has already started causing divisions within home appliance makers and movie companies, with companies like Apple, Dell, Samsung, Walt Disney, Sony Pictures and Samsung supporting Blu-ray with Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers Studios coming out in support of HD DVD
The Nihon Keizai reported that Sony and Toshiba had stepped up closed-door negotiations around February to find a resolution to the problem.
After reaching a basic agreement that a unified standard would be desirable, they are now looking to develop a hybrid that takes advantage of each standard’s strengths, the newspaper added.
Sony and Toshiba have already started bending the ears of Walt Disney, AOL Time Warner and other Hollywood movie studios in a bid to win approval for a unified standard and pave the way for the signing of an agreement, the Nihon Keizai said.
And that’s good news for anyone with a large Betamax box in the attic.
Hddvd.org
Blu-ray.com
Toshiba
Sony
21 April, 2005
IDV Global Media-On-Demand: Chinese Seek US Content
A coalition of government policy makers, technology and broadband companies from China have rocked up to the NAB2005 Media Show in Las Vegas.
They’re in town to invite opportunity-seeking US companies to supply programming and interactive content to the Chinese coalition-backed IDV Global Media On-Demand platform, expected to launch in China early next year.
Developed by California-based IDV, the platform was a top-secret project until premiered at the China Media-on-Demand Coalition press conference last week in Beijing, and reflects China’s eagerness to create new technologies for the Internet and telecom.
IDV-Global Media – headed by ex-Microsoft’s Xbox game console designer, Kevin Bachus – expects the new technology to allow Chinese media companies to securely distribute programs worldwide, direct from publisher to consumer.
Bachus rose to media attention when he left Microsoft to start a rival games console business, Infinium Labs. Their product, the Phantom Game Service, downloaded game content directly over an Internet connection. Digital-Lifestyles has been covering the Phantom since the start of 2004, from its first demo, through the announcement of its launch, to them receiving a $50 million credit investment.
Some of the press had speculate that Bachus had left Infinium. At the start of this week he issued a statement denying that he had left Infinium for IDV Global Media.
Duncan Clark, managing director of the Beijing-based consulting firm BDA China Ltd., warned that IDV-Global Media will need support from a range of participants, including telecoms, media and electronics companies (and the government agencies that regulate them) for the project to work.
“What this initiative claims to attain, aligning the interests of many different players in the value chain, is something that has eluded many a media mogul outside China,” Clark sagely added.
IDV GMOD’s platform is an end-to-end solution that includes a second generation PC with a 3D “platform-on-platform” architecture developed by IDV – the first system to receive certification from China as the standard for second generation PCs.
Content will be delivered to consumers by digital feeds from global sources, including a next generation Internet, based on the IPv6 technology, with revenue sharing arrangements for partners.
This system will supply sports events, movies, TV shows, next gen games and other interactive entertainment direct to private residences or hotel rooms worldwide, with the same interface, in High Definition (HD) quality video.
The wonderfully named Dr Fan Yeqiang, deputy director of the China Institute of Policy Studies (CIPS), said in a statement, “Now US media publishers and distributors have a direct platform on which to earn millions of dollars in incremental revenues from their content in the China market. We are offering a safe, certified delivery system never available to US media companies before.”
NAB2005 Media show
21 April, 2005
Terraplay Supplies Motorola With Real Time Multiplayer Mobile Games
Motorola handset owners will now be able to go multiplayer bonkers, courtesy of a new selection of real-time, multiplayer games from Motorola’s consumer portal, www.hellomoto.com.
The company claims that the addition of multiplayer gaming will make “full use of the multi-media capabilities” of their devices, with the games delivering “a compelling, interactive gaming experience for consumers, which keeps them returning, consequently driving ARPU for operators.”
Based on Terraplay’s fixed line multiplayer technology (as used for online Playstation2 gaming), Terraplay MOVE supports mobile multiplayer gaming and is being used by a growing number of mobile operators on both 2.5G and 3G networks.
The technology lets users take part in multiplayer mobile gaming, supporting everything from turn-based games, sports games, action games and racing to full multiplayer games with thousands of concurrent players.
As well as playing directly against other phone users, game-hungry portal visitors will also be able to compete in ladder tournaments, view global rankings and chat in-game.
The service means that if Blodwyn in Bargoed fancies a quick bit of mobile fragging with Fritz from Frankfurt, she’ll either be able to do battle through hellomoto.com or via a mobile operator service.
“Motorola believes immersive human-to human-applications will be key drivers for growth in the mobile industry and we are very pleased to be offering such exciting multiplayer games to our customers.
As part of our ‘Innovate’ programme we are always looking for the very best technologies, such as Terraplay, to support the considerable capabilities of our handsets, and in addition drive additional revenues for our operator customers.” Says Ronan Smyth, Applications Manager, Motorola.
As part of the service, Motorola will provide a suite of well known games (such as ‘No Refuge’ and ‘Mole War’) available for its many handsets, on both 2.5G and 3G.
“This represents another major step forward in the development of Terraplay given the stature of Motorola in the global wireless market. Motorola’s initiative is excellent news for the growth of the multiplayer sector,” purred Jeremy Lewis, Chairman of the Advisory Board, Terraplay Systems, “Multiplayer gaming, offered as premium services, is a real revenue generator and an ideal path to higher ARPU for all service providers”.
The multiplayer gaming service is available now through Motorola’s consumer portal, www.hellomoto.com.
Availability is initially UK only with a roll-out to all other regions soon thereafter.
Terraplay Systems Technology
hellomoto.com
Motorola.
21 April, 2005
UK Internet Subscriptions Growth Slows
The latest National Statistics monthly update to the survey of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) shows that there was a 1.9 per cent increase in the number of active subscriptions to the Internet in the past year (Feb 2004 – Feb 2005)
With broadband rolling into more homes around the UK, permanent connections now account for 43 per cent of all connections, compared to just 23.6 per cent a year earlier.
The amount of people struggling on Ye Olde Dial Up connections continued to decrease, with a year on year fall to February 2005 of 24 per cent (with a 2.8 per cent decrease from January to February 2005).
Permanent Internet connections rose to 43 per cent of all subscriptions in February 2005 (up 2 per cent from Jan 2005) with a year on year increase of 85.9 per cent for subscriptions for permanent connections.
Although the majority of UK subscribers (57 per cent) still connect via dial-up, the underlying trend reflects the continuing move from slower dial-up connections to the quicker broadband, cable and leased line technologies.
In February 2005, the percentage of active subscriptions using free access or billed access was 31 per cent, down from 38 per cent a year before, while the percentage of surfers paying a fixed rate for unmetered dial-up access decreased to 22 per cent compared with 33 per cent a year before.
The percentage of active subscriptions using a mixed subscription type (fixed rate plus calls) remained at 4 per cent.
National Statistics
PublicTechnology.net
20 April, 2005
Electoral Commission Supports o2 WAP Site To Boost “Da Yoof” Vote
The Electoral Commission is supporting efforts to get the UK’s young voters well up for the forthcoming election by encouraging them to get down wiv their mobiles.
With voting turnout fairly miserable among 18-25 year olds, mobile operator o2 has tried to get “Da Yoof” interested by adding an election section to its O2 Active WAP portal.
This will include information on postal voting, how to find the nearest polling station, how to vote, how to obtain a postal vote and answers to frequently asked questions about politics.
Voter turnout fell to an all time low of 59% in the 2001 General Election, and recent polls have suggested that turnout in the coming general election may slump as low as 55 – 56%.
Turnout was lowest in 2001 amongst the younger generation of voters and a recent poll of 3,000 O2 Active users around the 18-24 mark revealed that only 38% intended to vote.
Becky Lloyd, campaigns manager at the Electoral Commission rapped: “It’s important that we communicate with the younger electorate in particular through a medium with which they are comfortable and familiar and mobile phones are a good way of doing this.”
Russ Shaw, Marketing Director at o2 beat boxed, “The Electoral Commission is trying to increase participation in the General Election. O2 Active provides a perfect mechanism for doing so by putting a simple tool for learning more into the pockets of 3.8 million people. This is just one way that this new, instant, always with you communications medium can be utilized by organisations and businesses trying to reach more people, particularly amongst younger audiences.”
It’s not the first time o2 have promoted the use of their mobiles for political discourse – in November 2004, the company hosted a “live text chat” with Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Wicked!
The UK’s mobile users are among some of the earliest adopters worldwide. According to new research by MobileYouth, a British child will own its first mobile at age eight, compared to a US child, who will own theirs at 12.
o2 WAP portal
o2’s “live text chat” with Tony Blair.
20 April, 2005
Springsteen DualDisc Album Market Test
US Record industry honchos will be taking a bigger interest than unusual in the new Springsteen release as they wait to see how the new DualDisc format goes down with Brooooooce fans.
“Devils and Dust,” the Boss’s 19th album, will also be released in the fledgling CD/DVD hybrid format, marking the first major change in retail music packaging since the compact disc was introduced more than two decades ago.
The format bolts together a standard CD with a DVD on the flip side, and fills it up with fan-tempting extras like video clips, surround-sound mixes for home theatres and lyrics etc.
Springsteen fans shelling out for new DualDisc release will be rewarded with video of their hero performing his new songs and discussing the making of the album.
Although “Devils and Dust” is not the first DualDisc to hit the market, it’s the first one released by a major artist exclusively in the format (there will be no traditional CD pressings available) and should provide a useful benchmark to see if the new technology has a viable future.
The four major record labels, EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner created a consortium last year to launch the new audio-video hybrid in the US market, with Sony BMG claiming that where albums have been released in both formats, DualDisc purchases have accounted for around 30 percent of sales.
Of course, you don’t get something for nothing in the notoriously tight-fisted music industry, and punters will be compelled to shell out an extra dollar for the bundled DVD content.
The music business is hoping that the new format – and the extra cash – will help recoup the slice of the retail market lost to piracy and illegal file-sharing. “It’s harder to file-share DVD content and it’s virtually impossible for anyone to burn a DualDisc at home,” purred Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business for Sony BMG.
“We think all this will lure people back to the stores, because it’s a product you can’t really get in pirated fashion,” he continued.
But there’s a darkness on the edge of town, as critics complain that the DualDisc is just another industry wheeze to push consumers into repurchasing the albums they already have on CD.
Hesse was having none of it, reminding critics that because no extra hardware is needed, “it’s really a new product, rather than a new format”, adding that plans were looming to roll out the DualDisc in European markets.
DualDisc Bruce Springsteen
20 April, 2005
World’s First MPEG-4/AVC Broadcast on HomeChoice
Video Networks Limited (VNL), who operate the HomeChoice VOD service around London, have added the children’s animation channel Toonami to their line up using the MPEG-4 / AVC format, making it the world’s first television channel to be encoded with advanced compression technology.
The company teamed up with Harmonic to launch an initial video-over-xDSL service in 2004 using DiviCom MV 100 encoders configured with MPEG-2.
Since then, VNL has been using the MPEG-2 compression efficiency and picture-quality of the MV 100 to continually enrich the channel line-up of its HomeChoice service.
The MV 100’s architecture enables the progressive migration of HomeChoice’s existing broadcast channels to MPEG-4.
Additionally, the technology allows further compression improvements to extend HomeChoice’s picture quality and reach and range of service, with the Star Trek sounding “field installable software CoDec module”.
VNL told Digital-Lifestyles that the quality of the MPEG-4 picture is noticably better that the MPEG-2 stream that is currently used. They hope that the move to MPEG-4 will save them around 50% of their current bandwidth needs in the coming years.
VNL’s migration to MPEG-4 for its remaining broadcast channels, including the Cartoon Network and Boomerang, is expected to be completed within the next two months. In time the VOD service will also be moved to the new CoDec.
Roger Lynch, Chairman & CEO, Video Networks Ltd was absolutely delighted about what he described as a key enhancement to its platform, adding, “We are not simply adding yet another quality channel from the Turner stable but are creating a world first with the first ever broadcast channel to switch to MPEG-4 / AVC encoding.
The move to MPEG-4 allows us to provide superior picture quality, while reducing the bandwidth required to transmit our broadcast channels.”
Once VNL has made the switch to MPEG-4, the saving on bandwidth for them should be substantial. This brings the advantages of VNL having to push less bandwidth out and therefore less of the distribution network is taken up. These reductions in demands bring an opportunity for more TV channels, increased Internet delivery speeds, but most interestingly the chances to carry High Definition (HD) programmes.
We understand that VNL have been testing HD within their labs, but would not be draw on the possibility of its introduction. To us it would appear an obvious step, and given BSkyB’s very public launch of HD in the UK later this year, it would be a considerably marketing coup to launch in advance of Sky.
Dr. Yaron Simler – President of the Convergent Systems Division of Harmonic Inc and no stranger to the odd acronym or ten – had this to say:
“While much of the industry is still in a planning, evaluation or trial phase, Video Networks Limited is forging ahead with an advanced technology and pay-TV service platform.”
“The first commercially available encoding platform to support MPEG-2, MPEG-4/AVC and SMPTE VC-1, Harmonic’s DiviCom MV 100 enabled VNL to provision a compelling video-over-DSL service while in parallel developing the elements of an MPEG-4 environment.
It is rewarding to see that we are moving toward the world’s first broadcast TV service based entirely on an advanced codec. This has established both VNL and the DiviCom MV 100 as significant forces in shaping the future of the television market.”
Video Networks Limited
Harmonic Inc
20 April, 2005