Mike Slocombe – Page 194 – Digital-Lifestyles

Tango.TV: TELE2 Launches Free 3G TV For Phones

TELE2 Launches Free TV For 3G Phones European telco AB has announced that it’s launched the first worldwide free TV station available on 3G mobile phones, via its own TV channel Tango.TV (TTV).

Describing themselves as the “leading alternative pan-European telecommunications company” (have they got, like, cray-zee hairstyles and listen to The White Stripes all day?), the TV station is a product of their development centre located in Luxembourg.

The centre is in charge of applying the company’s convergence strategy and has also created an Internet radio, the painfully cheesy-sounding Sunshine Radio, also available on 3G phones.

The streams are available to any customer looking for some full-on AOR action from the new wap portal T.TVMobile.

We gave the channel a listen via the Web and weren’t impressed. The Dad-friendly soft rock was bad enough, but the dire tunes were rendered even more unlistenable by the stream jumping around like a hyperactive flea on amyl nitrate.

We couldn’t work out if this was supposed to be the 3G TV station or not, but after five minutes of looking at a blank screen on our desktop media player, we gave up waiting.

Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, CEO of Tele2 said; “With the launch of this TV over 3G service, Tele2 is showing that it is at the leading edge of mobile technological developments. We look forward to monitoring the development of this service in Luxembourg to learn about customer behaviour, which we can apply later to our other mobile markets”.

There’s no doubt that mobile TV and radio has a strong future, but this venture strikes me as being more of a publicity stunt than anything. And seeing as I’m writing about it, I guess it’s worked too. Doh! Outwitted again!

Tele2
Sunshine Radio
TTV Online

Ask Jeeves Sold To Diller’s InterActive Corp?

The wires are buzzing with rumours that Barry Diller’s InterActive Corp (IAC) is set to buy the Internet search engine service Ask Jeeves for almost $2bn.

Ask Jeeves is currently the fifth-largest search-engine provider on the Internet and the company also owns the popular ask.com, Bloglines and Excite Web sites.

In the UK, Ask Jeeves is the seventh most popular search site with 1.9 per cent of total searches, dwarfed by Google who weigh in with a mighty 63 per cent of total searches.

IAC already owns assorted Web properties including CitySearch, Expedia, Hotels.com, TicketMaster, dating site Match.com and the Home Shopping Network.

CitySearch offers localised search results for businesses, bars, cinemas and restaurants.

The reported US$1.9 billion price tag is something like 35 times AskJeeves’ 2004 earnings from continuing operations of US$52.4 million, and is 27 times its 2004 pro forma earnings from continuing operations of US$71.1 million (this excludes items like depreciation and amortisation).

About US$1.2 billion of the purchase price will be in cash, the New York Times reported (although we don’t think they mean used wads of dollars stuffed in suitcases).

Today’s expected announcement shows that search sites are still attracting investors and that there’s rich pickings to be gained with Microsoft recently following Google and Yahoo into paid-for-search advertising.

We tried to check the story by visiting Ask Jeeves and typing in, “are you being bought by InterActive Corp?”

Disappointingly, the search engine failed to find the answer.

AskJeeves
InterActive Corp

Wireless Internet Soars Nearly 30% – Ipsos Insight Report

Wireless Internet Access Soars Nearly 30% In 2004 The number of wireless Internet users grew by 29% in 2004 according to a recent research study by Ipsos Insight.

The study estimates that 171 million people, or 44% of Internet users in the measured markets, have accessed the Internet wirelessly.

The wireless population growth was largely driven by the two biggest Internet markets, the US and Japan, fuelling 69% of user increase and adding an estimated 15 million and 11.6 million new wireless Internet users, respectively.

Wireless Internet also gained some popularity in Western Europe, South Korea, and Urban China.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the growth in Wi-Fi enabled laptops leading the charge, but consumers accessing the Internet through their mobile phones.

In Japan, for instance, where wireless Internet, laptop, and mobile phone prevalence is highest, twice as many adults (59%) have accessed the Internet through a mobile device such as a mobile phone than have used a wireless laptop connection (28%).

Similarly, outside of North America, Germany, and Urban Mexico, mobile devices like mobile phones are propelling wireless Internet use.

This reflects the belief that mobile phones have reached a turning point, evolving from primarily a voice communication device to a popular multimedia tool encompassing data and Internet applications.

Although SMS may have been the growth vehicle for non-voice applications on a mobile phone in recent years, the survey predicts Internet-based applications are the ‘wave of the future’.

The survey discovered that one in three mobile phone households (estimated 175 million) have exchanged email via mobile phone, with one in four (estimated 124 million) using their handsets to browse the Internet.

Wireless Internet Access Soars Nearly 30% In 2004 A similar percentage of users have exchanged digital image and videos over their mobiles.

With the exception of SMS and ring tone download activity, 2004 saw a year-over-year increase in wireless activities across the board, with email usage growing by 21% and the nascent market of mobile commerce growing by 60%.

Said Brian Cruikshank, Senior VP of Ipsos-Insight and co-author of the study: “These developments are indicative of an early adoption of multimedia and transaction-based activity through a mobile device. As smart-card technology handsets are introduced in many markets, transaction-based activity will be yet another frontier driving data connectivity and ARPU in the next three-to-five years.”

Ipsos predicts that 2005 will be a ‘spring board year’ for wireless Internet via a mobile phone, with uptake encouraged by cheaper 3G coverage offering more mass market services.

“The mobile phone is the most prevalent global device. The continued adoption of the Internet and the recent launch of advanced mobile networks will no doubt lead to a greater number of people connecting to the Internet through a mobile phone.

In fact, we feel that wireless Internet connection via a mobile phone may indeed become the predominant and, perhaps, only point of connection for many in the developing parts of the world, akin to the technology jump from wired to wireless voice communication,” said Cruikshank.

Ipos Insight

3G: Adventures In Compelling Content – Pt 3

3G Networks Still Missing Compelling Content - Pt 3 With a lucrative mobile market hungry for content, it’s not surprising to find a host of companies getting their thinking caps on.

Conker Media, Mersey TV’s digital development and production division, has already created mobile content for teen-tastic TV soap Hollyoaks, but it’s aware of the challenge ahead:

“It’ll be interesting to see whether we can develop something which is effectively stand-alone and which doesn’t have a TV property with it,” said Lee Hardman, head of Conker Media in an interview with Peter Keighron at Broadcastnow.

“If you can crack that it will be seen as a breakthrough.”

Conker’s latest idea is “textual intercourse” (stop tittering at the back) which gives new writers and directors the opportunity to tell a story on slides with 160 characters.

“In a strange way it’s going back to quite traditional storyboarding,” says Hardman. “I think it’s going to require somebody with good storytelling skills – traditional skills – in order to get the audience’s attention five days a week, 52 weeks a year.”

Last year, Nokia introduced its “Nokia Shorts” competition which invited ‘film-makers’ to enter movies created on consumer level digital video cameras.

The shorts had to be no longer than 15 seconds long, with the winning entries being screened at the Raindance festival, a leading British independent film event.

The winning filmmaker was given the opportunity to make a longer film with a professional crew and a training course at Raindance.

3G Networks Still Missing Compelling Content - Pt 3 In addition, the winner and two runner-ups each received filmmaking training courses courtesy of Raindance.

Meanwhile, Channel 4 has commissioned cutting-edge animators Empire Square – creators of the Gorillaz music project – to create a series of 90-second to three-minute clips to work on a mobile platform.

In an interesting reversal, the animations will also be shown on TV channel E4.

Although it’s clear that there’s no lack of enthusiasm from creatives to get involved with the mobile industry, the big problem for the network owners is how to extract some revenue out of the content.

Although ventures like the ‘Nokia Shorts’ competition are great for attracting favourable PR and showcasing the potential of 3G, they’re not going to get the network cash tills ringing.

In the next instalment, we’ll look at the problem of raising revenue streams from mobile content.

Nokia Shorts
Raindance Festival
Conker Media
broadcastnow (reg required)

Yahoo 360 Service Blends Blogging And Social Networking Tools

Yahoo 360 Service Blends Blogging And Social Networking Tools Internet giants Yahoo are preparing to introduce a new service that blends several of the popular features of its site with two of the Web’s fastest growing activities – blogging and social networking.

The hybrid service, snappily entitled “Yahoo 360,” won’t be available until 29 March, but the company decided to announce the product early after details were leaked to news outlets.

The service is designed to enable Yahoo’s 165 million registered users to grab content from Yahoo discussion groups, online photo albums and review section and slap it into their own blogs (web logs).

The service also aims to be big on ‘social networking’, making it easy for users to connect with others who share common interests and friends. Yahoo bloggers (Yahblogoos?!) can either choose to open their blogs to the entire world or restrict access to chums invited through e-mail.

“We heard from people that they have a strong desire to stay close to the people who are important to them, but at the same time they didn’t want to feel like they were exposing themselves online,” said Julie Herendeen, Yahoo’s vice president of network products.

“Yahoo 360 has also been designed to let users consolidate a variety of existing Yahoo services and content in one place, with the goal of increasing users’ interaction” added Paul Brody, the company’s director of community products. “It’s about integrating all the great resources across the Yahoo network into this service to deepen the users’ engagement,” he said.

Similar to Microsoft’s Space and Lycos’ Circles, Yahoo 360 represents Yahoo’s effort to tap into the popularity of blogs and social networking sites.

Although sniffy critics continue to dismiss blogs as the dull mumblings of the self obsessed generation, recent figures reveal that 27 percent of online adults in the United States read them and another 7 percent write them (source: Pew Internet and American Life Project).

Blogging has also started to be recognised as a credible news reporting tool, often publishing stories missed by the mainstream media – the first hand accounts posted on the Web after the Asian tsunami being a notable example.

Of course, the big draw for Yahoo is that social networking sites are establishing themselves as major online attractions, with the prospect of lots of luvverly advertising opportunities.

According to comScore Media Metrix, a research firm, Yahoo notched up 110 million unique visitors last month, accounting for nearly 30 billion page views.

By expanding into social networking and blogging, Yahoo are hoping to make its Web site a more alluring prospect, with the blogs attracting even more visitors to their site.

It has to be said that Yahoo are unfashionably late arrivals to the blogging party, with competitors like MySpace.com Chief Executive Chris DeWolf predicting they’ll have a tough time catching up with entrenched social networking sites.

But Yahoo have some major tricks up their sleeve: millions have already shared their personal information with the company via the registration process and the company has deep, deep pockets, with US$3.5 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of 2004.

When the service goes online later this month, Yahoo 360 will be initially restricted to users invited by the company. Those early participants will then be able to invite their chums to join in.

Yahoo 360

Cell Phone Porn On The Way Up

Cell Phone Porn On The Way Up Thrill-seeking mobile phone users around the world slapped out US$400 million on pornographic pictures and video in 2004 – an amount that is expected to rise to US$5 billion by 2010, according to a report by research group Strategy Analytics.

Surfers seeking saucy smut contributed to the fast growth of the adult entertainment sector on the World Wide Web.

Media industries were fast to take advantage of the new medium, with porn connoisseurs among the first to get high-speed Internet access for downloading X-rated films.

In the squinty-small screen of mobile communications, however, pornography might not do as well, with high telecommunications charges and tiny displays reducing the thrill.

“In 2010 we estimate that expenditure on mobile adult content will represent just 5 percent of total end-user spend on mobile content services,” said analyst Nitesh Patel.

“We expect services that are built around sports, music and media to perform better, because they appeal to a wider audience of users,” he added. In addition, there is value in offering news bulletins or a recently scored goal on a mobile screen.

Cell Phone P0rn On The Way Up The US$5 billion forecast for 2010 represents a huge upward shift from Strategy Analytics’ earlier predictions, with the company noting that adult entertainment businesses are aggressively building services and customers appear happy to shell out for them.

Playboy and rival Private Media Group have ramped up their offerings, and many mobile phone makers are busy implementing strategies to make sure no subscribers aged under 18 years will be able to access X-rated services.

Additionally, the growth in colour screens (one in every two phones sold in 2005, predicted to rise to four out of five by 2010) along with enhanced video capability is expected to increase the ‘value’ of mobile-delivered porn.

Elsewhere, anecdotal evidence from countries that have a technological edge shows a throbbing interest from consumers, with adult content registering over 23% of the traffic over South Korea’s SK Telecom in late 2003.

Ezmax EZMP4200P, VoIP-capable MP3 Player

MP3 Player Sales Set To Nearly Quadruple By 2009 MP3 playing device includes software for sending and receiving Internet-based phone calls.

Cackling wildly at iSuppli’s recent analysis that consumers don’t like MP3 players stuffed with extra gadgets, Ezmax of South Korea has announced a gizmo-tastic MP3 player that allows users to make and receive telephone calls using VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol).

The South Korean company says that their EZMP4200P player will contain software allowing users to make VoIP calls when the device is linked to a web-connected PC via a USB 2.0 port, using a microphone incorporated in the device’s earphone cord.

Ezmax’s director, Lee Sung Soo, explained that a player plugged into a desktop or notebook PC will appear onscreen as a removable disk icon. Double clicking on that puppy will launch the dialling software, enabling the user to make calls on the MP3 player-cum phone.

Users need to sign up with a VoIP provider before they can start getting chatty on their device. The company is currently talking to providers in South Korea, Germany, and other European countries to ensure compatibility with their networks.

MP3 Player Sales Set To Nearly Quadruple By 2009 Ezmax demonstrated the device at their stand at CeBIT, plugging the player into a notebook PC and successfully making a call via the VoIP dialling software.

We imagine the gasps from onlookers were either a sign of amazement or an expression of extreme bafflement as they – like us – pondered over the usefulness of an MP3 player that has to be plugged into a laptop to make a call.

Software for the EZMP4200P (doesn’t that just roll off the tongue?) is presently compatible with Windows 2000/XP, with Ezmax claiming that Mac OS X compatible software will be ready sometime in the ‘near future’ so don’t go throwing your iPods away quite yet Mac-fans!

The flash memory-based device is 2.8 inches long, 0.9 inches in diameter, and weighs 0.8 ounces without the AAA-size battery.

As well as MP3 music files, it can playback formats such as WMA (Windows Media Audio), ASF (Advanced Systems Format), and Ogg and comes with a built in FM radio.

MP3 Player Sales Set To Nearly Quadruple By 2009 In addition, the device is capable of voice recording and sports a two-colour (blue and yellow) 128 pixel by 64 pixel OLED screen.

The EZMP4200P should be launched in May and be available in three models, each with a different storage capacity: 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB.

The added VoIP software adds about US$8 (£4.25, €6) to the price of the company’s non-VoIP capable devices. Prices for the EZMP4200P will be about US$150 (£78, €112) for the 256MB model and about US$220 (£115, €165) for the 1GB model, the company says.

MP3 Player Sales Set To Nearly Quadruple By 2009

MP3 Player Sales Set To Nearly Quadruple By 2009 Shipments of MP3 players soared by an enormous 116% in 2004, as hundreds of wallet-tempting products arrived in response to the phenomenal success of Apple iPod player, according to a survey by Market Intelligence firm, iSuppli.

Propelled by the soaring growth in demand for hard disk drive (HDD)-based products, iSuppli predicts shipments of MP3 players will nearly quadruple from 2004 to 2009.

The company forecasts that total MP3 player shipments will expand to 132 million units in 2009, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.1% from 36.8 million in 2004.

Although growth in 2005 is expected to slow from the frenzied buying levels of 2004, the MP3 market will continue to expand at a rapid rate, with iSuppli predicting unit shipments of MP3s rising to 57.7 million in 2005, up 57% from 36.8 million in 2004.

The super, soaraway success of the iPod echoed the public’s love affair with HDD-based MP3 players, with competitors moving quickly to offer products that aped the iPod’s use of a 1.8-inch HDD.

MP3 Player Sales Set To Nearly Quadruple By 2009 The iSuppli report also predicts that HDD-based MP3 player shipments will grow by a CAGR of 41.8% from 2004 to 2009, as compared to 22.9% for flash-based players.

Shipments are expected to 56.2 million units in 2009, up from 9.8 million in 2004, with HDD-based products accounting for nearly half of all MP3 shipments, at 42.6% in 2009 (up from only 26.6% in 2004).

The overall small form-factor HDD market had revenues of US$2.2 billion in 2004 and likely will rise to US$5.7 billion in 2008, generating a CAGR of more than 27 % over this period, iSuppli predicts.

The first vendor to ship 1.8-inch HDDs was Toshiba. Hitachi Global Storage Technology also has started shipping these drives and Western Digital Corp. (WDC) is expected to begin shipping them later in the year.

The research group said electronics producers stood to benefit from consumers’ willingness to pay more for “waaaaaay cool” products, something that Apple traditionally excels at and something that Sony clearly has in mind with its funky new line-up of Walkmans.

“Initially, (Apple’s) iPod was quite expensive, but the company reduced prices when the competition arrived. It also has aggressively introduced many generations of products in quick succession over the past four years,” iSuppli said.

But iSuppli warned companies not to try to squeeze too many features into their products: “The so-called ‘Swiss Army Knife’ approach has not succeeded in the MP3 market. Simple, elegant products that perform a few functions with easy-to-use interfaces have sold well in the marketplace, while the do-everything approach has failed.”

So, there goes my idea for a MP3 playing toaster then.

iSuppli

IP Over Satellite Standard Gets ETSI Approval

IP Over Satellite Standard Gets ETSI Approval Satellite broadband services should become a lot easier to implement with the adoption of the first broadband satellite standard on both sides of the Atlantic.

The transatlantic agreement sees both the US-based Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) adopting the Internet Protocol over Satellite (IPOS) standard.

Satellite data links are an important alternative to wired links in poorly connected rural areas or for business operations that like to regularly shuffle about to new locations.

IPOS-based equipment and software used to build satellite broadband will now be available from a variety of companies who support the standard, including Hughes Network Systems, Microelectronics Technology, Texas Instruments, TriQuint Semiconductor, Wind River Software, Intelsat and Telefonica.

“Now ratified and approved by the two major standards bodies, IPoS opens the door for greater optimisation and economies of scale throughout the satellite industry,” said Pradman Kaul, chief executive officer of Hughes Network Systems.

“IPoS is the only air interface specifically designed for the efficient delivery of broadband satellite services and offers the best means to expand satellite’s addressable markets worldwide.”

“The IPoS standard is extensively field proven, highly scalable and supports low-cost terminals. Now approved by both governing bodies, widespread adoption of the IPoS will further reduce equipment costs and make broadband available and affordable to many more users worldwide,” said Enrique Salvatierra, director of Satellite and Submarine Cables Department, Telefonica de Espana.

IPoS works by specifying a Satellite Independent Service Access Point, which creates an interface between the satellite-dependent functions and the application layers, thereby enabling an open service delivery platform.

To date, the standard has been implemented in over 500,000 sites worldwide.

IP Over Satellite Standard Gets ETSI Approval “Intelsat meets the connectivity requirements of some of the largest telecommunications service providers worldwide,” said Frederick Morris, vice president of Intelsat.

“These companies frequently turn to us for unbiased assessment of satellite broadband technologies available to their end-customers, and having standards like IPoS makes this process easier. We heartily endorse any effort to spread standardisation throughout the satellite broadband service industry.”

IPOS will be competing against the likes of WiMAX in the fixed broadband wireless market. WiMAX trials have already been started by AT&T at companies in the US and Europe is expected to experience the first WiMAX services from providers next year.

Telecommunications Industry Association
European Telecommunications Standards Institute

Crown Castle DVB-H Delivery With Samsung

Crown Castle DVB-H Delivery With Samsung Crown Castle International announced today that it has formed a new subsidiary, Crown Castle Mobile Media, tasked with delivering live mobile television services to handheld devices including cell phones.

Crown Castle Mobile Media intends to build and operate a dedicated digital network for broadcasting digital television content to PDAs, cell phones and other suitable devices.

The technology being used, Digital Video Broadcasting- Handheld (DVB-H), is currently expected to become the global standard for mobile television and has been formally adopted by both the DVB Organization and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

Crown Castle and Nokia recently completed successful demonstration trials of this open-standard technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with Crown Castle Mobile Media expecting to roll out a commercial deployment of this service in selected major US markets during 2005.

“Crown Castle owns over 10,000 wireless towers and holds a nationwide spectrum license,” commented John P. Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crown Castle. “These valuable assets, combined with our proven expertise in digital broadcasting in the UK, provide a unique opportunity to take a leading position in the emerging mobile television market. We look forward to partnering with content providers and wireless services providers to introduce commercial services.”

Richard Sharp, vice president of Nokia’s Rich Media business unit added, “Nokia and Crown Castle broadcast mobile television for the first time in the US during live market trials that began in Pittsburgh last October and are working together to bring mobile television and radio to the hands of wireless users across the United States.

Crown Castle DVB-H Delivery With Samsung Crown Castle’s support of DVB-H is further evidence that DVB-H is a robust, open standard that will not only bring high- quality television and radio to the market, but will ensure a vibrant marketplace for infrastructure equipment, innovative devices, and compelling services.”

Earlier this week, Crown Castle Mobile Media also announced that it will work together with Samsung Electronics to accelerate the provision of digital television services to handset devices in the US market.

Samsung will be the world’s first wireless phone manufacturer to launch DVB-H handsets supporting both WCDMA/EVDO and GSM/GPRS networks, providing entertainment-hungry consumers with quality, built-in television screens receiving real DVB-H streaming television and Radio channels.

Crown Castle Mobile Media enjoys an unencumbered nationwide US spectrum license and anticipates building a DVB-H network across the US to transmit high-quality, multi-channel live and streaming digital television for reception on suitably-equipped cell phones.

Samsung is developing premium handsets to work on the Crown Castle Mobile Media network, and have already showcased wireless phones with 2″ QVGA screens supporting 226k colors, up to 30 frames per second, and 300 kbit/s per channel speeds.

The phones have MPE-FEC error correction implemented and use the latest H.264 and AAC+ video/audio decoding technologies.

“Samsung is recognized as a global leader bringing to market multimedia technologies that enhance the way consumers are able to use and interact with their wireless phones,” said Dale Sohn, VP of Samsung’s Overseas Investment Group.

“We understand the value of working with companies like Crown Castle Mobile Media to develop cutting-edge solutions like DVB-H.”

Mr. Michael Schueppert, President of Crown Castle Mobile Media, was suitably chuffed, “We are very excited to have a world-class leader in multimedia mobile phones like Samsung to assist in driving these new services. This collaboration will put Samsung in a position to become a key handset supplier to Crown Castle Mobile Media’s anticipated Pittsburgh DVB-H customer trial.”

Crown Castle
Samsung