Mike Slocombe

Kodak Photo Voice: Skype For Photo Service
Eastman Kodak and Skype have announced the “latest innovation in digital storytelling”, Kodak Photo Voice, a new free online service that combines live voice and online photo sharing.
The Kodak Photo Voice service lets Internet viewers simultaneously view a customised slideshow online and chat away to each other at the same time – making it harder for people trying to avoid sitting through their friend’s awful holiday snaps.
“Today’s families and social networks are scattered around the globe. Staying connected through photo sharing remains an important element in maintaining closer personal relationships,” said Sandra Morris, general manager of Consumer Imaging Services at Kodak.
Morris noted that traditional social gatherings that used to take place around the radio, television or telephone are now taking place around the computer, mobile phone or camera.
Once a user has downloaded Kodak Photo Voice and Skype, they can select photos from a Kodak Easyshare Gallery album or from their computer, compile them into a Kodak Photo Voice presentation and “call” a friend over Skype to watch the slideshow live.
If their friend likes some of the photos, the host can order prints and other merchandise via the Kodak Gallery and have them mailed directly to their friend’s home.
Currently in live beta, the KODAK Photo Voice is the first Skype certified “online photo sharing experience” (we’re currently enjoying a “live coffee drinking experience”, btw) and is available as a free download at kodakgallery.com/photovoice.
As the curious talking octopus on the homepage explains, the service is absolutely free.
5 January, 2006
Digimax i6: Samsung Announces World’s 1st PMP Slim Camera
With consumers being less enamoured with ever bigger megapixel ratings, some camera manufacturers are looking to ramp up the feature list, while getting all Lilliputian with the form factor.
Bright and shiny for 2006 is Samsung’s new super-slim 6 megapixel camera, the Digimax i6, offering a 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD and ‘PMP’ (personal media player) functionality.
Boldly claiming to be the “world’s first PMP slim camera”, the Digimax can play back MP3 music files and also video files, using the conversion software supplied with the camera.
Unlike some of the half-arsed hybrid MP3 cameras we’ve seen, the Samsung lets the user take pictures whilst listening to music. We can’t think why you’d actually want to do that, but I’m sure some will find it useful.
In line with its slim billing, the camera measures in at a pocket-untroubling 18.5mm thick, with the casing sporting an ‘enhanced’ grip with an unusual curved design designed to make it easy to keep a grip on the thing.
Like Sony’s similarly proportioned Cyber-shot DSC-T9, the i6 sports an anti-shake widget, called ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) which claims to reduce the effects of camera shake and helps snappers take natural pictures indoors or in dark conditions without flash.
There’s also movie editing functionality included, a 1cm super-macro mode, and a cradle for charging and image transfer.
Samsung will also launching three new models in their budget, point’n’shoot ‘S’ series offering 5, 6 and 8 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, video (MPEG4, VGA, 30fps) and a large TFT LCD (2.4 inch).
The S-500, S-600 and S-800 – and the Digicam i6 – are expected to hit the market in early 2006, with pricing to be announced.
Samsung
4 January, 2006
Motorola Ditches iTunes With ROKR E2 Release
Motorola says adieu to Apple and bonjour to Linux as it unveiled its shiny new ROKR E2 phone at the Consumer Electronics Show today.
Adding unlimited song support, a VGA camera and a web browser, the new phone fixes many of the well documented problems of the ROKR E1, the first iTunes phone, jettisoning Apple in the process.
The new phone looks pretty similar to the original E1 phone, but offers several notable improvements including nippy USB 2.0 song transfer rates compared to the sluggish USB 1.1 of its predecessor and the removal of the artificial 100-song limit, with the Secure Digital slot supporting memory cards up to 2 GB.
Running on a new Linux-based operating system, the Motorola ROKR E2 also includes a high-res 320×240 screen, a 1.3 megapixel camera with video recording, a built-in FM radio, Opera Web browser Bluetooth (supporting wireless music streaming to stereo Bluetooth headphones), and joy-of-joys – a standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack and not one of those ruddy annoying mini sockets that are incompatible with normal headphones.
Competing directly with the likes of the Sony Ericsson W600i and Samsung MM-A900, the new E2 lets users create and manage playlists on the device itself and offers dedicated music control keys placed on the front and side of the handset.
The phone can play “a variety” of music formats (no more info yet), with drag and drop song transfer from PCs.
Motorola’s decision to shun iTunes certainly represents a gamble. The tight integration with Apple’s jukebox service gave the phone a huge lead over its rivals, but Motorola’s well documented tiffs with Apple look to have permanently soured the relationship.
In the absence of iTunes, Motorola intends to push their iRadio Music Service, a subscription music service that uses mobile handsets as the base platform.
The company announced the music service at CES yesterday, with an offering of 435 commercial-free radio channels, which Motorola claims is one of the widest selections of subscription music entertainment available.
Available in black or white, the Motorola ROKR E2 is expected to emerge in mid-2006 with “mid-tier” pricing.
kodakgallery.com/photovoice.
4 January, 2006
BBC Open News Archive Goes Online
The BBC has announced its Open News Archive, making archive news reports freely available to the UK public to download and use for free in their own creative works.
Included amongst the initial offering of around 80 online reports will be footage from important events like the fall of the Berlin Wall, Beijing’s Tiananmen Square protest, the Poll Tax riots, the Piper Alpha disaster and Nelson Mandela’s release.
Made available under the terms of the recently-launched Creative Archive Licence, the footage can be viewed, downloaded, edited and mixed by UK residents – so long as it’s for non-commercial programming (there’s also several other caveats that budding film makers should read first here.)
The clips will be made available in QuickTime, Windows Media, MPEG1 and MP3 formats to ensure a wide audience, and will cover stories from the past 50 years.
Helen Boaden, Director, BBC News, said: “This trial is an important step in allowing us to share with our audiences the extraordinary news archive which the BBC has recorded over the years. We look forward to getting their reaction.”
Paul Gerhardt, project director of the Creative Archive Licence Group, added, “The BBC’s telling of those stories is part of our heritage, and now that the UK public have the chance to share and keep them we’re keen to know how they will be used.”
The BBC already offer nearly a hundred clips in their Radio 1 Superstar VJ archive, and are expected to be releasing further content over its websites in the coming months.
BBC Open News Archive
4 January, 2006
Best Cameras of 2005: Our Round Up
Best compact:
Fujifilm F10
You’d be hard pressed to describe this box-like beast as a looker, but it consistently impressed us with its speed of operation, pin-sharp pictures and awesome low light performance.
Featuring a class-leading sensor, the Fuji can keep on delivering usable images right up to 1600 ISO – perfect for candid/low light photography.
Look out for the F11 which adds aperture and shutter priority to the feature set.
More info
Best dSLR
Nikon D50
A tough call this one with so many notable new cameras entering the increasingly competitive consumer end of the digital SLR market, but the Nikon D50 just pipped the Canon EOS 350D on account of its excellent image quality, low noise, excellent handing and, of course, incredible value for money.
This is a perfect first-time camera for amateur photographers keen to move up to a SLR system, and with hundreds of Nikon-fit lenses available, the D50 can handle just about every task you can throw at it.
Nikon D50
Best prosumer camera
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1
Just nudging ahead of the Fujifilm FinePix S9500, the Sony DSC-R1 impressed us with its innovation, build quality and fabulous images.
Dominated by a 24-120mm lens of truly outstanding quality, the DSC-R1 offers a unique viewfinder which can flip and twist through 270 degrees and offer medium format ‘waist level’ shooting.
Although it’s priced hard against more flexible dSLRS, you won’t find a more capable, all in one package than the Sony DSC-R1.
More info
Biggest disappointment:
The Panasonic Lumix LX1
It promised so much, looked fantastic, entranced us with its advanced feature set, high end manual controls, widescreen aspect ratio, image stabilisation, razor sharp Leica lens and fantastic, crystal clear daytime images, but as soon as the sun went down and the ISO ratings went up – disaster!
A horrendously noisy sensor meant that noise crept in to even low ISO images, with pictures at 400 ISO bordering on unusable – not what you expect for £450.
Bring on the LX2 and Panasonic will have a killer camera on their hands!
More info
21 December, 2005
eBay Scraps Live Pet Sales Online
Internet auctioneer eBay have cancelled their plans to allow live pets to be sold on its Web site after receiving a barrage of complaints from users.
Thousands of irate emails headed eBay’s way after word got out that they were considering lifting their ban on trading live animals.
This would have been a turnaround from their long held policy of banning the sale of live animals (except fish and snails).
Over the weekend, an eBay manager posting on an online message board announced that eBay were planning on creating a separate classifieds category, which would feature free ads from animal shelters and paid ads from breeders.
This prompted a torrent of over 2,000 emails, most of which were deeply unchuffed with the proposal, insisting that the ban should remain in place
As company spokesman Hani Durzy explained, users were concerned that the listings would encourage unsanitary ‘puppy mills’, where animals are sometimes bred in less-than ideal conditions, and that it might prove difficult working out legitimate animal shelters and the get-rich-quick scamsters.
There was also concern that people might start to breeding dogs to sell for fighting.
“The feedback was pretty overwhelming,” Durzy admitted, adding, “Farms and for-profit commercial breeders wasn’t something that they wanted to see.”
eBay
21 December, 2005
Google Buys 5% Stake in AOL
After a flurry of rumours and speculation, AOL and Google have announced that they have sealed the deal on an extended partnership deal, which sees Google shelling out $1bn for a 5% stake in AOL.
Google were already providing the Web search technology to AOL, and their contract, which was due to expire in 2006, will now be extended by five years.
Previously, AOL had only earned a share of Google’s advertising revenues through Google’s AdSense program, but under the new deal AOL will now be free to flog both display and keyword-based advertising.
In a flurry of mutual back-scratching, Google have agreed to offer their technical know-how to ensure AOL sites soar up the search results rankings, with the company ensuring cynical punters that this will only happen through “fair and legitimate means.”
Google have also lobbed an estimated $300m worth of Google advertising credits into AOL’s overflowing pot.
Naturally, the synergistic shufflings don’t stop there, with plans being unveiled to make the two companies’ instant messaging tools work with each other and for Google to include AOL video in its video search database.
The deal seems to be a win-win for both companies.
Ad-based revenues and traffic from AOL accounted for a massive 10% of Google’s revenues (approx $422m) during the first nine months of 2005, and with the contract due to run out, Google were at risk of losing a major source of income.
Moreover, the deal sees Google becoming the only other shareholder in AOL along with Time Warner.
For AOL – who have seen subscribers dropping like flies as broadband grows in popularity – the deal gives them the opportunity to grab a slice of a booming market by acquiring the rights to sell its own online advertising.
Sitting red faced in the corner and looking like a chump through all of this is Microsoft.
As the new boys on the block in the Web search market, Bill Gates’ boys were mustard keen to find a way to take on Google and Yahoo, and a deal with AOL would have given the company a substantial leg-up in the market.
Microsoft were reported to have originally approached AOL, waving a fat wad of investment cash and a new search technology contract, but their failure to secure the deal now leaves the company miles behind the big boys.
AOL
21 December, 2005
MSP-M/MAP-M: World’s First Dolby Virtual Speaker For TVs
We like “world firsts” so when integrated-circuit providers Micronas announced that they were the planet’s first company to incorporate a Dolby Virtual Speaker into a chipset designed specifically for televisions, we simply had to tell you all about it.
Unfortunately, their announcement was such a dull, techie-tastic affair, our enthusiasm waned somewhat, but after wading through pages of “solutions” and acronyms, we can tell you that they’ve invented a new chip which adds surround sound capability to televisions with only two speakers.
Designed for mid-range to high-end televisions, the chips can be slapped into flat-panel, projection or traditional CRT TVs and are capable of outputting surround sound from any audio source (including stereo and 5.1 channels).
Dolby Virtual Speaker creates the illusion of five speakers by using room modelling techniques. This, apparently, sets it apart from other virtualizers.
“This is the world’s first TV-specific audio solution to feature Dolby Virtual Speaker, which we believe allows the television to perform at a level of real home-cinema quality,” enthused Stefan Hepp, director marketing consumer audio, Micronas.
“This technology offers consumers the illusion of a five speaker surround sound system from just two speakers. However, up until now it has only been available in selected PC software and some A/V and home theater systems,” enthused Tony Spath, vice president, international marketing, Dolby Laboratories.
“Bringing Dolby Virtual Speaker direct to televisions will allow many more consumers to experience the excitement of surround sound, regardless of the source of the content,” he added.
Micronas expects to see their snappily-named MSP-M/MAP-M sound processors being fitted into TVs around the second quarter of 2006.
Micronas
20 December, 2005
Mobile Malware Set To Triple in 2006
Anti-virus software vendors McAfee Avert Labs have released a dire warning about impending doom for smartphone users, claiming that mobile security threats are expected to triple next year.
The company say that the number of malicious software programs targeting mobile devices is expected to soar to 726 by the end of 2006, up from an estimated 226 at the end of 2005.
And it’s not just malware that’s going to be putting our phones under siege, with targeted phishing attacks and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) – like adware and spyware – also anticipated to increase
Craig Schmugar, virus research manager for McAfee Avert Labs predicts that mobile malware is going to be the biggest headache for the year ahead, “They’re gaining increased interest from the virus (writing) community,” Schmugar said.
“And as these devices become more pervasive, they become a bigger target,” he gloomily added.
Schmugar claimed that the consumers’ lack of interest in applying security software to their mobile devices (i.e not buying their software) is likely to compound the problem.
Whipping up the fear and dread, he pointed out that the “I Love You” virus, which rapidly infected tens of millions of PCs in 2000, would have spread wider and faster in smartphones which do not have security software installed (i.e. their product).
According to McAfee, a 45 to 50 percent rise in commercial PUPs is expected next year, although the company reckon that new legislation – coupled with restraint in the advertising software industry – may keep a lid on growth.
Although we’ve no doubt that smartphones are going to increasingly be targeted by pesky phishers and vile virus writers, we won’t be dipping in our wallets quite yet.
McAfee Avert Labs
20 December, 2005
Blinkx.tv Unveils Portable Video For iPods
Blinkx have unveiled blinx.tv To Go, a new service that helps users track down online video content and then lets them upload it to their iPod or personal video player.
With the growth of video blogging and video-capable personal players, there’s a growing interest in viewing free alternatives to commercial broadcasts, and blinkx.tv To Go service aims to “throw open the doors” to a wide variety of new, user-generated video.
Visitors searching the company’s database of video blogs and podcasts are able to either save the video to their player with a single click, or save the search to a channel which automatically feeds updated video content to their player, where it can be viewed as a single media stream.
Blinkx takes care of all the formatting, regardless of the original file type, so that video content selected for saving is automatically re-encoded to the appropriate video format for the user’s player.
Blinkx founder Suranga Chandratillake commented, “We wanted to make the experience of finding compelling multimedia and making it portable, as efficient and easy as possible.”
“Our vision of IPTV combines the interactive, customisable experience of the Internet, with the simple, seamless way we watch TV, and now we’ve made it portable,” Chandratillake added.
As you know, we’re big on seeing technology being used to promote and propagate user-generated content – the process of the democratisation of the media, if you want to get arty fart about it – so we look forward to seeing how blinkx’s initiative fares with the public.
Blinkx
20 December, 2005