Author: Fraser Lovatt

Fraser Lovatt has spent the last fifteen years working in publishing, TV and the Internet in various capacities, and believes that they will be seperate platforms for at least a while yet. His main interests at the moment are exploring where Linux is taking home entertainment and how technology is conferring technical skills on more and more people. Fraser Lovatt was born in the same year that 2001: A Space Odyssey was delighting and confusing people in the cinemas, and developed a lifelong love of technology as soon as he realised that things could be taken apart, sometimes put back together again, but mostly left in bits or made into something the original designer hadn't quite planned upon. At school he was definitely in the ZX Spectrum/Magpie/BMX camp, rather than the BBC Micro/Blue Peter/well-behaved group. This is all deeply ironic as he later went on to spend nine years working at the BBC. After a few years of working as a bookseller in Scotland, ("Back when it was actually a skilled profession" he'll tell anyone still listening), he moved to England for reasons he can't quite explain adequately to himself. After a couple of publishing jobs punctuated by sporadic bursts of travelling and photography came the aforementioned nine years at the BBC where he specialised in internet technologies and video. These days his primary interests are Java, Linux, videogames and pies - and if they're not candidates for convergence, then what is?

Internet Radio – On a Radio

The Reciva Reference Wireless Household Internet RadioI would listen to a lot more internet radio if I didn’t have to be in the vicinity of my computer to do so. Internet radio stations are great, but just not convenient around the house for most people – not being able to carry a small radio from room to room to listen to programmes often means that a lot of people just don’t bother listening to the huge range of programming out there.

Reciva have come up with an ingenious way round this – without even needing a computer. Their Wireless Household Internet Radio modules allow consumers to listen to broadcasts in any room of the house by using a WiFi receiver to access streamed content. You could even use it in the park if it’s in a hotspot.

Reciva don’t make the finished devices themselves, instead manufacturing the modules for their partners. They also provide a reference unit for module evaluation, and an Application Development kit. There are more than ten thousand internet radio stations in existence covering most niches, and as they don’t rely on over the air transmission, are not geographically dependent. This means that anyone can set up a station in the UK to reach the 15 million expatriates living abroad, with bandwidth as their only consideration.

If PC-less internet radio devices like this take off along with ubiquitous WiFi coverage, it could mean that digital radio will lose some of it attractiveness. After all, there are considerably less stations and the selection available is dependent on which ones are carried by your local broadcast masts.

Reciva

US CD Album Sales Continue to Rise

The first half of 2004 has been a good one for the US music industry, despite tales of woe from the RIAA. CD album sales are up 6.9% on the first half of 2003, according to figures from Neilsen Soundscan, the system for collection point-of-sale information from retailers in the US and Canada.

The January to June 2004 saw 305.7 million units sold, up from 285.9 million in the same period in 2003.

Universal is listed as the top distributor with 27.1% of the market, independent labels collectively take the second place with 17.5% and BMG are third at 16.4%. BMG’s market share was helped along by Usher’s “Confessions”, which was the top selling album in the first half of this year.

Even with the crowded online music store market, CD album sales are continuing to show promising growth, demonstrating that most consumers still have a healthy appetite for physical distribution mediums and have no wish to pirate music.

Soundscan

BT to Challenge BSkyB with Broadband TV Service; Partners with Microsoft on Web Conferencing

BT has announced it has plans to introduce a broadband television service in the UK, aimed to compete directly with BskyB’s Sky+ service. With the cheeky codename “Sky Plus Plus”, a nod to object-based programers everywhere, the project is intended to increase broadband adoption. This will be BT’s first foray into broadcasting, after months and months of false starts and speculation.

BT has already approached the BBC and ITV for content for the project, but will need much more than just those two if it really wants to compete with Sky+.

The telco had originally intended to launch the service in October, but delayed because they thought the initial package was too complicated as it comprised a digital set-top box and PC modem, plus subscribers would have to pay an additional fee for broadband internet access. They have not yet specified if subscribers will have to use a PC to view content, or if it will be viewable on televisions. Also undecided is whether the company will be streaming live programmes or just presenting video on demand. If they are to compete effectively with BSkyB, the BT offering must provide a much wider range of features, as Sky+ offers live television, pausing, archiving and renowned ease of use.

BT has also announced a new partnership with Microsoft – this time to deliver a next-generation collaboration service. Going far beyond video conferencing, the service basically glues together BT’s audio conference products and Microsoft’s Office Live Meeting.

BT have piloted the service internally in the past year, and claim to have saved 6.2 million miles of business travel, which also means 112 million less litres of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere from vehicles.

BT

Microsoft’s Office Live Meeting

ZipTV Actually Launches

ZipTV, the first interactive advertising channel, finally launched this week. The venture is backed by 11 advertisers, including Honda, BT and Unilever.

The first advert on the channel was an eight minute film from Honda, based around their Jazz and Civic cars.

“Our partnership with Zip TV is our first step in exploiting the creative potential of interactive TV and we will use these results to home and refine our future campaigns on the channel,” said Simon Thompson, head of marketing at Honda.

ZipTV works as a virtual channel that displays content when viewers press the red button on their remotes whilst watching an advert on their standard digital package.

The company is keen to stress that they will not just be offering more and longer adverts – but instead aim to experiment with new forms of advertising. Donna Barradale, managing partner at Zip TV, said: “This is not simply an extended version of the linear advertisement, but content that viewers will find interesting, informative and rewarding”.

Glad to see that Honda and ZipTV are getting on now, as last minute contractual problems threatened to delay the launch of the channel.

Honda

Curfews for Gamers in LA

Looks like those teenage Everquest players have been getting out of hand – after a report found that 86% of people arrested in cybercafes were juveniles, the city of Los Angeles has cracked down hard with a curfew.

New city ordinance, to come into effect in two months, bans kids under 18 from the city’s 30 or so cybercafes after 10pm on weekdays – and they won’t be allowed in between 8.30am and 1pm either.

Los Angeles is also looking to regulate the growing cybercafe business, and now requires premises with five PCs or more to have a police license, and video cameras for security.

The new legislation is the result of a review instigated after a brawl in a cybercafe last year. Two groups of kids got out of hand after a particularly energetic bout of Counter Strike. Evidently, the post-match recriminations went a bit further than just typing “omfg i pwned u!!!!! i r0x0r!!!111!” to their victims.

Dennis Zine – the councillor responsible for the law

Apple 30” Cinema Display Possibly Single Most Desirable Piece of Technology on Planet

If you loved me, you'd buy me this.Apple’s cinema displays have always made Macintosh fans (and indeed most people with eyes) go weak at the knees. This time, though, they’ve excelled themselves with a new 30″ display that is truly beautiful.

With an anodized aluminium surround, the 2560 x 1600 pixel display will match your G5 beautifully and set you back US$3,299 (€3,859 in the European Apple Store). You could conceivably plug it into a PC, but that’s just wrong and you know it. At just 0.08 cents per pixel, they obviously represent fabulous value for money.

There are two other new models in the range for us lesser mortals – the 20” and 23” inch displays will set you back US$1,299 and US$1,999 (€1,519 and €2,339) respectively.

All of the new displays have built-in USB and Firewire hubs so you can arrange what’s left of your desk neatly. They can also be wall mounted, but this might just encourage people to poke them with their grubby fingers and gasp.

The new Apple displays

UK Analogue Radio Switch-Off Date Announced This Year

UK Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has said that she will be reviewing digital radio adoption with the view to switching off the analogue service. The date for the switch-off is expected to come later this year. The statement came in the foreword to new report published by the Digital Radio Development Bureau.

The analogue TV signal is due to be switched off in 2010, but the government is yet to give any indication of the date that it expects to switch off the analogue radio signal.

Digital radios have enjoyed a strong growth in the UK, with sales up 444% this year – 600,000 have been sold this year already, and prices are set to fall to around £50 for some sets, with the development of new chips.

Many listeners are also enjoying radio through their internet connections, and indeed some sources estimate that, rather than a dying past-time, radio listening is set to grow by 10% over the next five years.

The Independent on the analogue radio switch off

Mini iPod Gets a Global Launch

iPod Mini, the tiny hard drive-based music player that suddenly makes standard iPod players look the size of a bus (with thanks to my newly-developed conscience there for rewriting that to take out a reference to Kirsty Alley), has finally got a global release date.

After months of component shortages, Apple are now confident that they can supply global demand. Coming to a shop near you, the player will cost about UK£179 (€268) in the UK – but will without any doubt be considerably cheaper everywhere else in the world.
10:35 08/07/2004 When? 24th of July.

The iPod Mini will be competing with the lower end of the digital music player market, and will probably steal even more of the market from Rio and Creative. No doubt the imminent arrival of Sony’s new models prompted a personal visit from Steve Jobs, Return of the Jedi-style, to the Toshiba factory to encourage productivity. My thoughts go out to those poor workers who were possibly beaten to within an inch of their lives to produce enough 4gb Microdrives to ensure that no rollerblader will have to go without a pink MP3 player in Hyde Park this summer.

(Simon has asked me to point out that, to our knowledge, no-one was actually harmed in the production of the iPod Mini.)

iPod Mini

Siemens to Buy BBC Technology

Siemens Business Services (SBS) has been announced as the BBC’s single preferred bidder for its Technology division. There are a few hurdles yet to go – the deal is still subject to approval by BBC governors, the Secretary of State for Culture, media and Sport and needs to be cleared by the European Commission under EC Merger Regulations.

Once approved, the contract will run for ten years and is worth up to UK£2 billion (€3 billion).

The BBC is hoping that SBS will provide skills and expertise to reach its goals over those ten years, as well as substantial cost savings, estimated to be at least UK£20 – 30 million (€30 – €45 million). The corporation has been considering selling off its technology division for at least the last ten years, and, having finally done so represents a further slimming down of the corporation. The last big sell off of this type was a few years ago when the BBC disposed of properties to Land Securities Trillium – this of course gave rise to the Legend of the £50 Lightbulb Replacement Fee.

With a staff of 1400 and turnover of UK£230 million (€344 million), BBC Technology has a number of high-profile customers outside the corporation, including BSkyB, DirectTV, ESPN and Hutchinson 3G.

BBC Technology

Siemens Business Services

Square Enix Games on Vodafone Live!

Role-playing game connoisseurs were seen weeping tears of joy today after Vodafone announced that they had teamed up with Square Enix to produce content for Vodafone live!

live!, (the bane of copywriters, editors and just about everyone believes that, in order to be useful, a language should have a consistent grammar that isn’t broken just so that marketing departments can sell things), is a content delivery service for Vodafone customers.

The first up of two titles will be Aleste, a port of the 1990 Master System game from Toppan. Whilst not exactly Ikaruga, it should provide some twitch-gaming fun with some imaginative (well, for the time) bosses and power-ups.

The next is Actraiser, a 1991 SNES RPG with world-building elements and a side-scrolling play dynamic.

Tantalisingly on the horizon is a mobile version of Drakengard, which can be described as Panzer Dragoon meets Dynasty Warriors. You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?

The excitement in this deal lies in the future – Square Enix have a back catalogue made up of the very best RPGs in console history, and if they choose the right properties, many thousands of fans will happily hand over cash (or bags of gil) for Final Fantasy yet again, just to play it on another format.

Vodafone live!

Square Enix