Author: Christian

UK Youth Shun TV To Play Games Online

The age of interactive gaming is well upon us. And, if a new survey undertaken on behalf of BT is to believed, traditional forms of entertainment such as the TV and board games are being overlooked in favour of newer, more interactive technology. This is in contrast to those who feel that there’s nothing as exciting as looting from a half-soaked Monopoly banker or finding the missing piece of a jigsaw from the back of the family sofa.

The research shows that rather than relaxing on the sofa in front of the TV watching programmes, over half of all the online console gamers questioned would rather give up the TV than their online games. And it’s not just committed gamers who feel this way – approximately 77 per cent of 11-16 year olds said they would rather play computer games than traditional board games.

The massive uptake of online games is mainly due to the rollout of broadband across most of the country, and the fact that you can play against, and talk to, gamers from all over the world within the same game. Global rivalries are strong online – apparently – with a third of UK gamers (31 per cent) choosing the US as the nation they most like to beat online, followed by the French (18 per cent) and Germans (11 per cent).

An online community atmosphere also attracts and retains gamers. Rather than converse face-to-face in real-life, some 58 per cent like to play online against new people and just over a quarter prefer online gaming as they compete against real people, whilst half enjoy it as it brings people together, according to the survey. Moreover, 17 per cent of online gamers would find a world without online gaming almost impossible to live in. Great in some ways, tragic in others.

The crux of the research comes down to BT attempting to appear as the ones who drive the uptake of online console gaming in the UK with the sole purpose of selling more broadband. Duncan Ingram, managing director broadband and Internet services BT Retail, of BT said: “This research shows that consumers are looking for more interaction when it comes to home entertainment. The advent of broadband brings a whole new social experience to console gaming by allowing gamers to take their consoles online and play against a community of gamers from all over the world.”

BT

Wi-Fi Roaming Agreement Announced by Hotspot Owners

Wi-Fi hotspot owners BT Openzone, Singapore’s StarHub, Malaysia’s maxis, Japan’s NTT Com, T-Mobile, Australia’s Telstra and Telecom Italia have entered into a broad roaming agreement to allow each others customers to access the others’ networks through a single wireless broadband account, according to The Register. Many would assume that the benefit of this would be that customers would not have to take out expensive roaming contracts or worry about single network coverage. Or will they?

The deal follows the development of a roaming platform by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), of which the roaming partners are all members. Customers of participating operators will now be able to use their Wi-Fi subscription at home and roam in other participating WBA carrier member countries to experience ‘world-class’ (their words) wireless broadband. More than 11,500 hotspots are already in play across the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Czech Republic, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and the United States.

“This announcement redefines the way that international travellers will stay connected while travelling internationally,” said Kyong Yu, chairman of the WBA. “For the first time ever, the customers of our participating carriers will be able to roam across broader international wireless broadband networks with one account. These roaming arrangements set the standard for a uniform and consistent approach to international roaming that should help drive widespread adoption of wireless broadband.”

The platform puts in the place the technology needed to administer cross-network log-ins and billing. However, a less than clear point is that while the partner companies have said that roaming will not attract any extra charges until the end of 2004 – come next year, WBA members may charge roaming fees. The deal is also likely to favour only those users who have taken out more expensive access packages.

The pact will also likely spur on the development of roaming client software, which lets users roam between Wi-Fi, WCDMA, and PHS (Personal Handyphone Service) networks, all with the same interface.

Apple Avoids French Courts Opening FairPlay DRM

VirginMega, a joint venture between Virgin France and local media company Lagardère, has failed in its legal attempt to get Apple to license it DRM technology.

VirginMega claims that Apple’s refusal to license its FairPlay technology – the Digital Rights Management (DRM) system that allows songs from the iTunes store to be played only on iPods – is hampering the expansion of its digital music download market. The retailers complaint was ruled to be short on convincing evidence, according to the French Competition Council.

The problem, as VirginMega sees it, is that as its own online music service uses Microsoft’s audio files format (WMA) and is protected by Microsoft’s DRM technology, it isn’t supported by Apple’s iPod digital audio player. Since Apple won’t build WMA compatibility into the iPod, and as the iPod is the number one digital audio player worldwide, VirginMega is obviously miffed. Virgin wants Apple to licence FairPlay so it can incorporate the technology into the tracks it sells, thus making them iPod-compatible. The lack of compatibility between rival music services and players will certainly put VirginMega at a ‘disadvantage’, so it’ll have to look elsewhere to improve its sales to WMA-compatible devices.

Clearly Apple isn’t keen to share. Some feel that Apple may have shot itself in the foot here, as wider content support for FairPlay could help to drive the sale of iPods. By establishing AAC and the FairPlay DRM as a standards, more iPods would be sold and other standards, like WMA, would possibly be left by the wayside. Conversely if other music sites started using FairPlay, Apple would lose the relationship with the music purchaser.

Vaio U: Sony’s Tiny Tablet Media PC, US Launch

Sony VGN-U750P1The latest addition to Sony’s VAIO range of personal computers is really, really different. The VAIO VGN-U750P (around US$2,000) is a palmtop computer that also goes under the more firendly name of the Vaio U and weighs considerably less than the average laptop (167x108x26mm, 550g), yet boasts a fully fledged Intel-based environment running Windows XP Professional SP2 as opposed to the specialised platforms powering other handhelds, such as Palm OS, Windows Mobile or even Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Empowering you to actually work and view photos and video on the move – rather than simply manage e-mails and calendars – the diminutive system boasts a 1.10GHz Intel Pentium M processor, 512MB of system RAM, an accommodating 20GB hard disk drive (4,200rpm), as well as an Intel 855GM graphics card with 64MB of shared video RAM. In addition, it has a touch-sensitive, 5in. colour display with XBrite LCD technology that has a relatively high native resolution of 800×600 pixels (16-bit colour depth) and can output to an external VGA display, courtesy of an add-on port replicator. Of course, similar to any handheld worth its money it’s heaviliy connected, there’s also built-in 100Mbit/s Ethernet and 802.11b/g connectivity, as well as single FireWire and Memory Stick ports, four USB 2.0 ports and a CompactFlash Type II card slot for importing files or digital photos from a variety of digital cameras.

Sony has thought about productivity, too. Utilising proprietary software, the VAIO VGN-U750P supports handwriting recognition and other features similar to those found in Tablet PCs, such as a virtual keyboard and a multi-point navigational stick to control the system. There are also a few dedicated buttons to perform frequently-used commands, and thumb controls let you change the display orientation on the fly, from landscape to portrait mode and back. You can also connect the supplied foldable keyboard for ‘rapid’ text input on the move, or hook up the bundled headphones with remote control capabilities for audio and video playback.

It’s encouraging that Sony is actually releasing this after the many rumours that it had been shelved.

www.sony.com

DVR Wireless Kit for Police from Avalon RF

Avalon Rugged Police Tablet PCDesigned for law enforcement, perimeter security and long-range video links, AValon RF’s new wireless range includes receivers, transmitters, remote display units (RDUs) and a variety of specialised antennas. The company’s technology provides broadcast quality, interference-free video links over the frequency spectrum of 56MHz to 2.5GHz, allowing security personnel to use a rugged PDA and Tablet PC to wirelessly view video from remote cameras while driving in a patrol vehicle.

For instance, the AValon ICV04 is a four-channel video recorder that lets you record streaming audio and video on an internal hard disk drive at 30fps. It is designed to fit under a vehicle seat and receive commands through a remote control, a computer, or a remote smart display. Recording is triggered manually or automatically by an external signal, such as a siren, flashing light activation, or code 1-2-3 in a police patrol vehicle. The recorded streaming video can be read via a USB port or archived on a standard CD-RW media.

Other features of the neat device include four video/audio inputs for a wireless LC618M lapel camera (or MX416 microphone), windshield camera, back seat camera and a trunk camera, VITC time/date stamping on all recorded video, support for up to 1 hour of recording on a 400MB Dataplay CD, and a USB 2.0 interface-to-vehicle computer/gateway. It utilises standard 12-volt powering and comes in ruggedised enclosure.

AValon RF

Vodafone 3G Services Go Live!

Following on from Monday’s story, Vodafone’s betting heavily on 3G this Christmas, read on for further details of Vodafone’s new offering.

Timed to attract consumers in the lucrative pre-Christmas market, Vodafone’s third-generation (3G) service offers quicker music, video and e-mail downloads compared to GPRS. With 3G you can access all of Vodafone’s current services, as well as new video calling, video messaging and video clips specifically for the 3G network. Vodafone is supporting the new service with an enhanced Web portal designed to offer easier access to the 3G services.

The mobile operator is aiming at the youth market, which has been influential in the growth of services such as text messaging. It hopes the key attraction will be music downloads, as mobile operators look to compete with Internet music download services such as Napster and Apple’s iTunes.

The roll-out will be concentrated in densely populated urban areas, covering about 30 per cent of the population, according to Vodafone. Although the new 3G technology promises to provide data transfers at near-broadband speeds, it has taken ages for firms to launch their 3G services due to technical glitches. Although streaming audio and video will the prime marketing driver, it’s likely that data on the move, not video calls, will drive the market.

Vodafone’s ‘enhanced’ 3G content includes a downloadable music catalogue, a made-for-mobile drama inspired by the TV series 24, together with exclusive videos, pictures, animated greetings and wallpaper including the launch of Movie of the Month, starting with Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Sports fans are promised access to UEFA Champions League and Barclays Premiership video clips, together with exclusive Manchester United and Ferrari mobile video content.

“Vodafone live! with 3G will dramatically change the way our customers experience their Vodafone services and we are confident that Vodafone live! with 3G will be a success”, said Arun Sarin, chief executive at Vodafone. “Customers want communication, organisation, entertainment and information on the move and they will increasingly turn to one device to deliver these needs: their mobile phone. Vodafone live! with 3G will become increasingly mass market next year and we expect over 10 million customers to be using Vodafone live! with 3G by March 2006 in our subsidiaries.”

As reported in September, Vodafone has ordered 10 varieties of 3G handset from Sharp, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung, with built-in features including MP3 music players and 2-Megapixel camera phones. They will be subsidised as aggressively as its existing 2G handset range, so high-end users who agree to a contract will be entitled to a free phone. The launch is also international, extending to Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

www.vodafone-i.co.uk/live/

FCC Rules VoIP Outside State Regulations

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that US states are now barred from imposing telecommunications regulations on Internet phone providers, treating Voice Over IP(VoIP) calls no differently than any other application on the Internet.

The significance of the ruling is that US states cannot subject VoIP providers to their rules – the difference between a draconian and very light regulatory environment for the carriers. However, FCC Chairman Michael Powell and two of the four FCC commissioners suggested that states still have a role to play – namely to protect consumer interests.

Of course, Internet phone service providers were pleased with the decision. Vonage, for example, had postponed plans to expand into several rural areas while it awaited the FCC action. It can now ramp up those plans again and expects to announce it has entered those new markets in the next two to three months, according to a company representative.

The ruling will come as very bad news to the four regional Bell operating companies, which had a near-monopoly lock on local phone services until Internet phone providers came onto the scene. In a statement, BellSouth Vice President Jonathan Banks urged the FCC to “create a similar regime for all IP-enabled networks and services.” He describes the FCC’s decision as a “critical step towards encouraging the deployment” of such services nationwide.

Cable providers, such as Time Warner Cable, most of which now sell VoIP plans, fear that they’ll be left out of the ruling because their services run over privately owned and operated networks, not the public Internet. “In a perfect world, it would be great in just one proceeding to deal with all the issues, but we can’t do that here,” said FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy. “It would be a mistake to be on sidelines and try and deal with these other regulatory framework issues.”

However, a tougher FCC ruling would have hurt projections that VoIP services will expand from the 1 million homes foreseen at year’s end to about 10 million by the end of the decade. As traditional phone carriers see more local calls flow over the Internet rather than their own more expensive networks, they have been adding their own VoIP-based services to lure business customers away from those companies that specialise in Internet phone technology.

On a slightly different note, Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said on Tuesday he planned to stay at the agency, possibly through 2007 when his term expires, now that President Bush has been re-elected. Powell, the son of Secretary of State Colin Powell, became a commissioner in 1997 and was elevated to chairman in 2001 by Bush. “It’s been one of my great privileges to serve under his leadership and right now that’s what I plan to continue to do,” Powell told reporters. “I’m happy where I am for the moment”, although he also stated that he plans to stay “no later than 2007.”

US FCC

Paid Music Downloads up 150%

New findings from TEMPO reveal that in July of 2004, more than one-third (35 per cent) of American downloaders aged 12 and older had paid a fee to download music or MP3 files off of the Internet, roughly a 150 per cent increase over levels witnessed in late 2003 (compared to 22 per cent in December 2003). This translates into roughly 20 million people within the current US population (according to 2000 US Census figures). The report highlights the evolving role the PC has in music exploration, listening, and purchasing behaviours.

“In the past year, we’ve witnessed the high-profile launches of many new online music services and download stores. Combined with the RIAA’s ongoing campaign to curb file-sharing, this has prompted many increasingly digitally-dependent consumers to experiment with the legitimate online methods of music acquisition currently available,” said Matt Kleinschmit, Vice President for Ipsos-Insight, and author of the TEMPO research.

Thus far, adult downloaders aged 25 to 54 are most likely to have paid to download digital music (40 per cent among 25 to 34 year olds; 46 per cent among 35 to 54 year olds). Interestingly, downloaders aged 12 to 17 were the least likely of all American downloader age groups to say they have paid for digital music (16 per cent), perhaps reflecting the lack of non-credit card based payment methods available on current fee-based services.

Apple Computer, a driving force in online music, has announced that users have downloaded more than 150 million songs from its iTunes Music Store, marking another major milestone for the online music business. iTunes users are now downloading more than 4 million songs per week, a rate of over 200 million songs per year. Apple also sells iTunes gift cards in the US at Best Buy retail stores. “Crossing 150 million downloads marks another major milestone for the online music business,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Applications.

In another move to push online sales, Napster UK, a subsidiary of Roxio, was the first to launch the UK’s first ever digital music pre-paid cards. Available through the Dixons Group, the pre-paid cards are available as gifts or for those without a credit card, giving music fans a unique code that they can redeem against subscriptions or purchases of tracks from Napster’s catalogue.

Napster and Virgin Radio also launched the nation’s very first online music chart on national radio. The Napster Online Music Chart on Virgin Radio counts down the Top 20 tracks taken each week from Napster’s catalogue of over 1 million songs. The chart is not just based on permanent downloads, but also registers full-length streams and subscription downloads, helping to make it a relatively comprehensive assessment of online music tastes (albeit from a single source).

Ipsos-Insight

Comcast turns on Microsoft’s TV software

Microsoft’s new TV software, which includes an interactive programme guide (IPG), will support advanced digital cable services, including the launch of dual-tuner digital video recorders to 1 million customers. The move is expected to further attract consumers to video-on-demand (VOD) services.

The announcement is the first major US deployment of Microsoft’s Foundation Edition software. With the launch of dual-tuner DVRs supported by Foundation Edition, Comcast customers will be able to record their favourite programmes digitally using an on-screen interface that Microsoft says is easier to use and navigate compared to the TV Guide Interactive software which dominates the US cable market. Viewers also can pause and rewind live television broadcasts, build a customised list of recordings by using the DVR’s repeat-recording capability to record multiple episodes of favourite shows, as well as record high-definition television (HDTV) broadcasts.

As part of the change, for an extra monthly premium, Comcast will start offering set-top cable boxes with built-in digital recording capabilities and hard disks for storing recorded television – effectively giving the cable box the same functions as stand-alone devices such as TiVo. The price for existing digital-cable customers will be an additional $9.95 per month on top of their current bill. For current high-definition subscribers, the price to upgrade to the digital recording box will be $4.95 per month.

Microsoft TV Foundation Edition software will be available immediately on new advanced digital set-top boxes with dual-tuner DVR technology. The software will be automatically downloaded in phases to all other set-top boxes in Washington state over Comcast’s digital network in the next few months.

“Comcast is a leader in providing new products on our unparalleled two-way digital platform, and we are always looking at new ways to bring our customers more value, choice and control,” said Len Rozek, senior vice president of Comcast’s Washington market. “The Microsoft software will help our customers get an amazing cable television experience. As Comcast continues to roll out advanced video products – such as VOD, HDTV and DVRs – it’s crucial to deliver a user experience that allows customers to easily navigate the many choices they have to find what they want, when they want it.”

Foundation Edition 1.7 helps cable companies maximise revenues by providing a better, more integrated customer experience and better merchandising opportunities for premium TV offerings and managed content services. It gives multiple service operators the opportunity to up-sell new and existing services, whilst striving to improve consumer satisfaction and retention. It also provides consumers with easy access to interactive games and information portals such as local weather, sports and news.

Enhancements to the software include a ‘smart’ progress bar that appears during playback and shows how much of the programme remains and how much buffer space is left, a channel mapping feature that lets you record a series even when it moves from one channel to another, and smart series options that let you record a specific number of episodes, skip rebroadcast episodes and reruns, set priorities for programs in case episodes conflict, and input the start and end times of programs. In addition, buffering lets viewers record the entire show they’re watching even if they don’t start recording until halfway through the program. Knowing Microsoft, there’s also the opportunity somewhere down the road for Media Center PCs to connect to Comcast video services, as well. And if the company manages to strike a deal with other digital TV providers, such as BSkyB, most of us will have Microsoft software in our living rooms as well as our workplaces.

Novell wins $536m settlement from Microsoft

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) a leading provider of information solutions for enterprises, has announced an agreement with Microsoft to settle its claim that Microsoft’s unfair business practices harmed the sales of its NetWare computer operating system in exchange for $536 million in cash. Back in the ’90’s Novell was the prominent networking company. Novell also announced that by the end of this week it will file an antitrust suit against Microsoft in the United States District Court in Utah seeking unspecified damages in connection with alleged harm to the company’s WordPerfect application software business in the mid-1990s.

Novell believes that its NetWare business was damaged by unfair business practices that gave Microsoft’s Windows a stranglehold on the operating system market. “We are pleased that we have been able to resolve a portion of our pending legal issues with Microsoft,” said Joseph A. LaSala, Jr., Novell’s senior vice president and general counsel. “This is a significant settlement, particularly since we were able to achieve our objectives without filing expensive litigation. While we have agreed to withdraw from the EU case, we think our involvement there has been useful, as it has assisted the European proceedings and facilitated a favourable settlement with Microsoft. With the EU case now on appeal, we are comfortable with our decision to withdraw from the proceeding. There is simply not much left for us to do.”

The deal has resolved the NetWare matter between the two companies, but they remain at odds over WordPerfect. Novell acquired WordPerfect for $855 million in 1994 with the intention to launch an office productivity suite to compete with Microsoft’s Office. The effort failed, and, two years later, Novell sold WordPerfect to the Canadian software firm Corel for $186 million. Novell says that WordPerfect was victimised by Microsoft’s unfair business practices.

The suit is based in part on facts proved by the United States Government in its successful antitrust case against Microsoft. In that suit, Microsoft was found to have unlawfully maintained a monopoly in the market for personal computer operating systems by eliminating competition in related markets.

“We regret that we cannot make a similar announcement regarding our antitrust claims associated with the WordPerfect business. We have had extensive discussions with Microsoft to resolve our differences, but despite our best efforts, we were unable to agree on acceptable terms. We intend to pursue our claims aggressively toward a goal of recovering fair and considerable value for the harm caused to Novell’s business,” LaSala concluded.

Having been out of the news headline for a long time, Novell are making the most of their current time in the spotlight. With the headlines they are getting currently, they have synchronized the release of their new Office software, called Novell Linux Desktop (NLD), which runs on SuSE Linux. Initially focused to business users it is charged on the basis of a price-per-seat at $50. Using broadband connections, this could, in time be offered to home users.
Novell