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?

Yahoo! To Acquire Kelkoo for €475 million

Yahoo! have completed a deal to buy internet comparison shopping portal Kelkoo for €475 million (~US$575, ~UK£320), as part of a strategy to expand their services in Europe. Yahoo! will buy up all of the Kelkoo’s share capital for cash, and is expected to keep all 250 Kelkoo staff, making the company a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Kelkoo allows users to search across 2500 internet shops for 3 million products and compare prices for the best deal. The service has been profitable since 2002, and makes its money by charging merchants for referrals. The site was founded in France in 1999 and has merged and acquired similar services across Europe ever since.

“Commerce has emerged as a key component of search, and the combination of Web search, product search and comparison shopping will help further Yahoo!’s goal to create the most comprehensive and best user experience on the Web globally,” said Terry Semel, chairman and chief executive officer, Yahoo! Inc. “Kelkoo will add depth and breadth to Yahoo!’s integrated network of services for consumers, and adds another set of powerful tools for marketers seeking to reach them.”

Kelkoo is currently operational in nine European states, reaches some 10% of internet users there, and claims to be the largest e-commerce service operating out of Europe.

Kelkoo’s press release

Ready-made MythTV Media Centre/PVR Available

Based around the MythTV open source personal video recorder package, Australian company Development One (D1) are selling a home media centre from AUD$1800 (~UK£738).

The HMC has all the usual features: DVD/CD playback, audio jukebox, PVR functions, electronic programme guide – but it’s the first MythTV/Linux appliance we’ve seen available commercially. It runs Redhat with a custom 2.4.22 kernel, and MythTV, the popular GPL PVR software. The D1 website makes no mention that the HMC is Linux based – presumably as it’s being marketed as plug and play, and Linux has anything but a plug and play reputation.

The HMC comes in a Shuttle form factor case with LCD status panel and even has a remote control for accessing commonly used functions.

Interestingly, the MythTV feature that enables users to skip ads has been disabled, but there’s a quick hack to get round that.

MythTV is still in early development stages and still has a few show stopping bugs in it – it can quit unexpectedly, even on well-behaved systems. It will be interesting to see how consumers get on with an appliance that could potentially dump them out to a Linux command prompt.

We’ll have more on MythTV in the future as the application develops.

D1’s information on the Home Media Centre

Slashdotters discuss licensing issues

MythTV

George Bush: Universal Broadband by 2007

Although George Bush didn’t say how it would be achieved, he announced in an address he was giving in Mexico that all Americans should have broadband internet access by 2007, as it is essential for the country’s economic growth. This new call for universal coverage echoes similar announcements made in other countries giving deadlines for complete broadband access.

Many have drawn a parallel between this announcement and Al Gore’s “information superhighway” calls in 2000. America has its work cut out for it: there are currently 20.6 million homes with broadband access, out of a total of 101 million. Many remote rural areas will be difficult to bring broadband access to, and so the solution will have to take many forms: cable, satellite, DSL and wireless.

It’s not clear who will pay for it either: the Universal Service Fund subsidizes telephone access to rural areas and for those who can’t afford it, but it is yet to be decided whether or not the fund should cover internet access for citizens.

MSN on the announcement

Sony to use Electonic Paper Display in eBook

Two exciting things rolled into one: an new eBook reader from Sony, and it employs a new display technology that we’re really looking forward to getting our hands on. The LIBRIe is the first consumer application of their revolutionary display, going on sale in Japan next month.

The 170 pixels per inch display is made by Philips, and employs a technology developed by E Ink. It can be read at any angle and appears just like paper, with very sharp black/white contrast. Because the reader only uses power when you “turn” pages, users can view more than 10,000 pages on four AAA batteries.

Sony state in a press release that the LIBRIe can store 500 books at a time, but don’t say how much storage the reader has, or if it can be expanded. We hope that device can be expanded (bets on a MemoryStick slot, anyone?), but our main wish is that the LIBRIe isn’t confined to displaying files in a proprietary format – we want something we can read plain text and Word/OpenOffice documents on. We were once shocked to see that the eBook version of a Stephen King novel on Amazon was considerably more expensive than the hardback – even when postage was included. Now Rocket know why their reader didn’t sell too well.

We’ve long wanted a proper eBook reader here at Digital Lifestyles. We even considered importing one of the Rocket eBooks when they first appeared, and occasionally when my eye drifts to the huge stack of also huge books by my bedside, I imagine how good it would be to have them all on one device, slightly bigger than A5 without the annoying rustly page turning and the realisation that the book I really fancied leafing through is in another room.

Sadly, PDAs, proprietary formats, expensive devices, expensive content, lack of marketing meant that the eBook dream never quite took off. Hopefully, since the LIBRIe is backed by the Sony brand, it’ll fly this time.

If it becomes available in the UK/USA, we’ll buy one and do a review here.

GeekZone

Yahoo on the LIBRIe

Microsoft Unveils Music Service

There are no details on the size of the catalogue available, or what the pricing is going to be like, but Microsoft finally unveiled its forthcoming music service at the South By Southwest music conference in Texas.

Microsoft chose to demonstrate its new music service in a private preview to independent music labels – a smart move. MSN product manager Christine Andrews said “Other companies took a different route and did not engage with the independent labels early in the process. We heard that the independent labels did feel neglected a little bit. But, more importantly, we want to deliver a site that is great for artists both big and small, and great for the consumers too.”

The tracks will initially be available in Microsoft’s own Windows Media format – though it is thought that MS might make other formats available too. What ever they turn out to be, you can bet it won’t be AAC.

Matthew’s opinion at Geek.com

South African Telco Declares Voice Over IP Illegal

South African telecommunications provider Telekom has threatened to lodge a formal complain with the country’s regulator over programs such as Skype, which it claims are used as “network bypass software”.

Telkom have stated that VoiP does not have any impact on its revenues, but will file a complaint with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa if necessary.

ITWeb on the story

British Music Industry Issues Warning to Music Sharers

The British Phonographic Institute (BPI) has stated in a new report (linked below) that, of the 8 million people downloading music in the UK, 7.4 million of them are doing it illegally. That’s right – 92% of you out there using music services are pirates. They also claim that people who download music spend 32% less of albums and CDs, and 59% less on singles.

To protect artists’ and record labels’ incomes they are prepared to take “serial filesharers” to court.

Backing this up, the BPI also issued a chilling warning to filesharers: stop downloading music illegally, or we’ll send you unwanted instant messages. They are proposing an IM service that warns uploaders that they are breaking the law and advises them to disable their file sharing clients.

BPI Report (Adobe Acrobat PDF)

Fraunhofer Institute Develops “Fair Use” DRM System ***Update***

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, creators of the phenominally successful MP3 music format, has developed a content protection extension to MP3 – and it could end the controversy over file sharing.

The Light Weight Digital Rights Management (LWDRM) system is based on a principle which has been used in video and audio media for some time – and in fact is already built into Microsoft’s Window Media platform.

Users pay for an audio file and can use it as they wish, but if they want to transfer it to another device or give it away to someone else, they must download a certificate from a certification body. Because the file is signed with your identity, if several thousand copies of an MP3 you once bought are found on the internet, then they know whose door to knock on.

We really think that Fraunhofer are missing a trick here. Rather than just flagging who once owned the file, why not make it so that an unauthorised recipient must download and pay for a license before they can play the media? This is already implemented in various ways in Windows Media, and we’re a but baffled why the technique isn’t employed here.

The system was originally developed for MPEG4, but has adapted it for use with MP3. Fraunhofer say that LWDRM will allow users fair use of the media they have bought whilst protecting the artists’ and record labels’ investments.

To support adoption of the new system, Fraunhofer aim to launch their own online shop, which will be free to small labels.

Fraunhofer on LWDRM

Fraunhofer on the MP3 standard – recommended reading!

3 Announce Videotalk to PC

We have to admit – it’s quite compelling: with 3’s new Videotalk to PC service, subscribers on the 3 network can call any PC with email and a webcam and have a videophone conversation. The service will roll out in Australia shortly.

It’s a great idea – and will help spread the use of 3G video phones because now you have more than just a few other 3G video phones to talk to.

NEC’s 606 and 808 handsets are already compatible – and a software upgrade will allow Motorola A920 users join in. PC users need a webcam and need to register to use the service before they can take calls.

The service is in use in Italy, and about to launch in Hong Kong. Calls are charged at national Videotalk rates.

3G.co.uk on the story

NPD Group: Online Console Games Exceeded US$1 Billion Sales in 2003

2003 saw a 182% increase in the number of online-capable console titles sold in the US, and we think this demonstrates that the market is finally taking off.

Predictably, the majority of the sales have been first person shooters (FPS) and sports games. Sports games, such as EA’s Hockey and Football offerings are immensely popular in North America, much more so than in Europe and the rest of the world, and so they claim 69% of the market. FPS games, with 22% of the online console game market, have long been popular online (or at least on corporate LANs) ever since the early days. This is because they are easy to pick up and play and appeal to the demographic who are buying most of the games – there is an easy shift for those brought up playing multiplayer Marathon and Doom on PCs and Macintoshes to picking up a console FPS.

Role-playing games (RPGs) take up only 4% of the online console market as they are more traditionally in the realm of the PC: requiring a hard drive, a huge commitment to learn the rules and world involved, and, of course, absolutely all of your spare time. Not many publishers have taken the risk of investing in online RPGs – Final Fantasy XI and Everquest Online Adventures being notable and popular exceptions.

Racing games are currently worth 15% of the market – but watch this change dramatically when an online version of Gran Turismo finally hits the shops.

Almost all console games currently on sale with online components can be played offline – it’s a brave publisher who will make a console game that cannot be played off line, and the aforementioned Everquest Online Adventures is the only exception we can think of. This will change as consumers get more used to the idea.

However, not all games with online functions are bought because of that feature: Richard Ow, senior industry analyst, The NPD Group comments: “It’s important to note that the increase in sales for online-capable games does not mean that the masses are moving to online gameplay, in some cases, consumers aren’t necessarily aware they’re buying games with online capabilities, but whether they’re aware or they aren’t, the onus falls in the laps of the software developers to provide games with multiple playability features.”

Now, Nintendo – why is it just about impossible for us to get the broadband adapter for the GameCube in the UK? Think we’re going to play Phantasy Star Online on a dial-up?

Online games at X Box Live

Sony Central Station

Warp Pipe – getting your GameCube online