Mike Slocombe

Fossil Wrist PDA Watch, Much Delayed, Finally Arrives
It’s been delayed more times than the 8:25 from East Grinstead on a leaf-strewn morning, but Fossil has finally released its super geeky Fossil Wrist PDA Palm Powered watch.
Based on the Palm OS, the Fossil wrist watch provides full Palm PDA functionality, in a case so chunky that that it could double up as a shield.
First announced way back in late 2002 with a release slated for 2003, the watch edged into vapourware territory when Fossil admitted to production problems, rumoured to involve problems with the tiny touchscreen.
In the following long silence, everyone assumed that it had gone the same way as the dodo, but it unexpectedly resurfaced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, 2005.
Remarkably very little has changed from the original specs during its two-year sojourn. The basic specs are identical, with the watch offering a 160×160 pixel grayscale LCD touch-screen, 66MHz processor, 8MB of memory running on Palm OS 4.1.
They’re hardly the kind of specs to get the geek cognoscenti running to the stores, with several innovations missing from the feature list: there’s no MP3 support, no Bluetooth, no wi-fi and no wireless updates.
The watch itself is made of stainless steel, with a teensy weensy fold out stylus cunningly secreted in the strap buckle. Fossil have managed to fit in a USB socket and infra red port, along with three buttons and a rocker switch for onscreen navigation.
The unit has no waterproofing whatsoever, so a forgetful user doing the washing up while wearing the watch could be left with a very expensive – but utterly useless – bracelet.
Initial reports suggest that the battery life isn’t up to much cop either, with the watch struggling to survive a day with moderate usage (2 hours)
The good news is that it will run most of Palm’s immense application catalogue, although you may need a microscope to view some screens.
The watch is now available in two versions: the Fossil branded FX2008, priced at US$249.99 (£129/€188), and the Abacus branded AU5005, availably exclusively through Tiger Direct for US$199.99 (£104/€151)
Now, we like gadgets. And we like things that fit into watches. We love the idea of a wearable PDA but the more we looked at this watch the more it seemed about two years too late.
While there’s no denying that it’s an impressive feat to wedge so much technology into such a small form, it’s ten-ton, 70s-style girth makes it look as cool as a kipper tie.
Moreover, its poor battery life and lack of multimedia support suggests that it’s unlikely to score a hit with early adopters, and with smart phones offering far more functionality in a less dorky package, we can’t see this one taking off.
Fossil watches
7 March, 2005
Digital TV Grows In Europe, DTTV And IPTV Flourish: Reports Strategy Analytics
Digital television continued to grow in Europe last year, according to a Strategy Analytics’ survey of more than 70 digital television operators across 16 countries.
The analysts say 25.7 percent of Europe’s TV households, acquired digital television by the end of 2004, up from 21.1 percent during 2003, with credit for the success down to services such as DTTV (Digital Terrestrial television) and IPTV (Internet Protocol television).
“The arrival of successful DTTV and IPTV services is shaking up the established digital television market,” says Martin Olausson, Senior Analyst. “New business models such as free-to-air and bundled services will add further impetus to market growth.”
According to the market research, Europe’s DTTV operators – such as the UK’s FreeView and Germany’s free-to-air broadcasters – added a hefty 4.4 million subscribers during 2004.
Meanwhile, providers of IPTV – such as France’s Free and Italy’s Fastweb – boosted their user base by 450,000.
All the signs are that DTTV will continue to grow rapidly as more countries establish services, with a predicted user base of 42.2 million households by 2010.
IPTV is expected to have become an established fourth digital platform by that time, with an estimated 11.3 million subscribers.
Satellite is still the numero uno digital television platform in Europe, reaching 25.0 million households at the end of 2004, with further growth expected with new services such as HDTV.
Cable put in an unexpectedly solid performance, registering the best user uptake for three years, adding1.2 million new digital subscribers. Strong growth is predicted, as penetration is still low with only 16 percent of all cable subscribers currently taking a digital service.
Strategy Analytics
4 March, 2005
ASA Reports Bulldog DSL Not “The Ultimate Broadband Experience”
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dished out a mixed ruling on a complaint about claims made by Bulldog (owned by Cable & Wireless) for its 4Mbps broadband service.
Three complaints were made, but only in one instance was the complaint upheld. The challenged statements were:
1. “the ultimate broadband experience”
2. “the peak of speed”
3. “makes other broadband services look like dial-up”.
The ASA ruled that Bulldog’s claim that it offered the ‘ultimate broadband experience’ was misleading, but conceded that Bulldog was entitled to say it offered ‘the peak of speed’ and that it ‘makes other broadband services look like dial-up’ – at the time of the advert.
The company’s online promotion, run last summer, bigged up their services like Mohammed Ali in a boasting mood: ‘It’s the ultimate broadband experience. Makes other broadband services look like dial-up. … Bulldog 4 gives customers in central London the peak of speed and value.’
The ASA ruled that, at the time, it was not accurate to say that the service was the ultimate broadband experience, although it was the fastest available and Bulldog had been named Best Consumer Broadband ISP 2004 in the industry’s awards.
Bulldog seems to have become unstuck by the success of their own advertising, with customers instantly clambering for a piece of the ‘ultimate broadband experience’.
The rapid increase in customer numbers following the launch of the service significantly affected service quality, and complaints started to roll in.
The ASA ruled: ‘the severe customer service difficulties that all Bulldog customers had experienced after the appearance of the online advertisement and the significantly reduced speeds some Bulldog 4 customers had experienced meant the claim that the advertiser’s service offered “the ultimate broadband experience” was likely to mislead.’
Interestingly, the ASA said that much of the evidence for the poor service had come from Web forum discussions – and they confirm that this is the first time they’ve used this type of input.
Despite all the online moaning and service difficulties, the ASA ruled that Bulldog was still entitled to say that its service offered ‘the peak of broadband speeds’, as ‘many Bulldog 4 customers had benefited from the full speed 4Mbps service.’
The ASA concluded that, ‘because the advertisers were able to offer 4Mbps broadband, which was the fastest home broadband service available at the time, the advertisement appeared, the claim was justified.’
How times have changed. From August to 8Mbit from UK online.
The ASA also agreed with Bulldog’s assessment that, ‘if the starting point for broadband was 512kbps, it was approximately 10 times the speed of standard dial-up; the Bulldog 4Mbps connection was eight times the speed of a 512kbps connection’.
In other words, it agreed that that it was fair to say that Bulldog 4 made other broadband services ‘look like dial-up’.
The ASA continued with this Olympic-length sentence (take a deep breath before proceeding):
The Authority acknowledged the claim was likely to be seen by consumers as an expression of the advertisers” opinion about their services, but nevertheless considered that the severe customer service difficulties that all Bulldog customers had experienced after the appearance of the online advertisement and the significantly reduced speeds some Bulldog 4 customers had experienced meant the claim that the advertisers” service offered “the ultimate broadband experience” was likely to mislead.
The Authority asked the advertisers not to promise a service standard that could not be provided in future advertisements.
The lessons to be learnt for both Bulldog and other ISPs is that you’ve got to be able to walk the talk and ensure that you have the resources to cope with the results of your advertising campaigns.
Bulldog Broadband
4 March, 2005
3G Networks Still Missing Compelling Content – Pt 1
After a shaky start, the 3G bandwagon is finally starting to roll with 20 million 3G phones sold last year and shedloads of new funky, feature-packed phones on the way.
As more people buy into the 3G lifestyle, the demand for quality content rises, with network owners scrambling to produce competition-crushing downloads. Broadcast magazine has a thorough report by Peter Keighron into this subject (reg.req.), which finds that there still something missing in the content area.
“Content is not as compelling as it ought to be,” says BBC Broadcast head of business development Tanya Price, “it doesn’t seem to be translating with the splash it ought to be.”
What the business is crying out for is new ideas. Fun ideas. Fab ideas. In fact, any idea will do, just so long as it keeps people reaching for the ‘download now’ key.
“We’re very much at the foothills regarding content on mobiles,” says Price. “Now we’re going to have to be a bit more experimental and different. The network owners are looking for something that pushes the boundaries a bit more and gives them more of a reason to develop content off the back of existing [brands] or to think about commissioning new content.”
In a land noted for its creative industries, it may seem unusual that 3G phones aren’t buzzing with creative ideas and cutting edge content, but it seems that the problem lies with the industry itself.
The mobile industry is run by the phone manufacturers and, most importantly, the big five UK network owners – 3, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone.
These are the fellas who commission mobile content and they’ve got two aims in mind: drive up sales of their phones and get more subscriptions to their network.
Right now, they’re not interested in arty-farty experimental stuff, out-there comedy or ‘genre-challenging’ downloads: they want straight down-the-line popular content that will shift phones and entice new subscribers by the bucketload.
And if that wasn’t limiting enough for Hoxton-fin toting ‘creatives’ (Nathan Barley anyone?), the network controllers all want content exclusive to their own network.
As a result, commissioning editors have to come up with stuff that not only pleases the marketing department, but, fits in with the company’s rigid marketing and product strategy.
The end result is a predictable but unit-shifting fare of footie, ringtones, horoscopes, weather and the like.
But amongst all the corporate drudge, there are signs that some innovation is coming to the 3G platform, with the network owners showing an interest in something that utilizes the potential of the platform.
We’ll be exploring the developments in the next part of this feature.
4 March, 2005
Broadreach Offers Free Wi-Fi Access For UK Skype Calls
Skype has announced a new partnership with Broadreach Networks which is giving UK Skype users free Wi-Fi access to make free Skype calls in 350 Internet locations across the UK.
The deal will give Skype users free access to Broadreach’s ReadytoSurf network of locations, which include Virgin Megastores, Eurostar, Travelodge, Moto, Little Chef, Virgin Trains, EAT, Choice Hotels and Quality Inn and major railway stations including all the London terminals.
Now, we know what you’re thinking. There must be a catch.
Well, dear reader, we’re delighted to tell you that there is no catch. There is no cost, no sign up, no catches – just lots of lovely free wireless Skype access!
So has Broadreach gone mad in a fit of anti-capitalist yogurt-weaving altruism, or is there sound business reasoning behind this act of philanthropy?
Not unexpectedly, it’s the latter, with Skype founder Niklas Zennström describing it as a “win-win-win deal”, with Skype, the user and Broadreach all ending up as happy bunnies.
Skype increases their coverage, Broadreach gains market awareness (with the prospect of consumers upgrading to their data services) and the user gets lots of lovely free phone calls. A right synergetic result!
Here’s what Zennström said to Digital-Lifestyles friend, Guy Kewney at newswireless.net about the deal:
“What we are doing today is in line with what we were talking about when we announced our deal with iMate.
Part of what we want to do is make Skype more available. The growth on computers, however… it’s just part.
For Skype to be really useful for end-users, you have to be able to use it when you are out, and in more and more places. Combination of WiFi and Skype is a good synergy; make free wireless calls.”
Using the free service is simplicity itself – the user simply switches on their notebook or PDA with Skype running, and waits until the Skype window shows the list of contacts, and then you’re off!
If the user hasn’t already got Skype installed, they’ll be able to log onto Skype.com and download the appropriate software without charge.
Of course, Broadreach are banking on Skype users also buying into their data services, perhaps to send emails or attachments with their calls.
Either way, this announcement is great news for freeloading Skype users and sends out a clear message that VoIP is going to be big news in the UK.
Broadreach ReadytoSurf
Skype
3 March, 2005
Diffusion Group Report: Media Servers, Digital Media Adapters Reborn In Converged Platforms
Evidence is beginning to amass that two of the most hyped products in the early digital home market will be lucky if they manage to reach niche market status in the next few years.
Not so long ago, people were getting very excited by media servers and digital media adapters. They were the future. And then, err, people kinda forgot about them.
So what happened?
According to new research from The Diffusion Group, it seems that despite the products being well-hyped, widely discussed and blessed with encouraging early forecasts from a number of research firms, the devices have suffered from extremely limited demand.
Moreover, the report concludes that demand for both these technologies will remain limited and that what unique functionality these solutions do offer will be quickly integrated into other platforms.
“It is not that this type of functionality is undesirable,” said Michael Greeson, President of The Diffusion Group. “The premise of networking stored digital media content to multiple devices in the home is valid, but consumers aren’t looking for separate devices to enable this experience.
Instead, the applications and benefits enabled by these two platforms will be increasingly integrated into devices with which consumers are more familiar – such as DVD players that are now evolving into DVD-recorders or set-top boxes with built-in hard-drives and integrated networking.”
“While media servers were originally positioned to be the hub of the digital home, demand for these solutions has never gotten off the ground.”
Although Windows Media Center PCs have proved more popular, Greeson asserts that this is simply down to normal PC replacement cycles rather than consumers finding anything particularly compelling about the concept.
Other media server platforms have been much less successful, although the push of high-end digital set-top boxes by cable and satellite video service providers offers a case for optimism.
“However,” says Greeson, “this is a push model, where the equipment is subsidised by the service provider in order to generate digital media service revenue, as opposed to a ‘pull’ model where consumers are so enamoured with the device that they run to the retail store to purchase one.”
When it comes to digital media adapters or DMAs, the Diffusion Group paints a gloomy picture.
Introduced a couple of years ago, the idea was to make it easy to share content from the PC to other media devices in the home, such as a TV or stereo using a DMA. But their techie-tastic appeal failed to win over punters.
“Not long ago, there were ten to fifteen companies offering DMAs,” said Gary Sasaki, a contributing analyst with The Diffusion Group and President of DIGDIA, a media consultancy.
“At this year’s CES, DMAs were hard to find. Part of the reason for the premature demise of DMAs is that their functionality appeals mostly to early-adopter or technology-savvy buyers. Additionally, and somewhat similar to media servers, the functionality of DMAs is slowly getting integrated into other more familiar product categories.”
The report suggests that we’ve got an industry in fast transition, with early, stand-alone technologies being picked clean for their useful ideas and then incorporated into more consumer-friendly converged products.
Diffusion Group
3 March, 2005
Hitachi To Boost Output Of Small Hard-Disk Drives
Hitachi has announced that it will ramp up its output of consumer hard drives this year as it strives to take advantage of the soaring storage demands of MP3, PVR and mobile phone markets.
The move, in response to faltering enterprise demand, will see Hitachi target three key consumer segments – MP3/personal media players, digital video recorders and mobile phones.
As part of its strategy for the consumer market in 2005, Hitachi will open five Hitachi Design Studios worldwide, each one specialising in helping partners to integrate hard drives into consumer electronic devices.
The new centres – called the Hitachi Design Studios – will be scattered all over the globe (Fujisawa, Japan; Havant, UK; Rochester, Minnesota; Shenzhen, China and Taipei, Taiwan) and will open for business in April.
Hitachi intends to thrash their workers to an inch of their lives and get them to treble their output of 1.8-inch drives (used in Dell DJ music players), and double the production of 1-inch drives, as used in Apple’s iPod mini.
A smaller version of the current 1-inch drive, code-named Mikey, comes out later this year, with capacious 2.5-inch drives – holding up to 500GB – being targeted at makers of DVRs and home servers.
Hitachi, the world’s second-largest maker of hard disk drives after Seagate, shipped 1.3 million 1.8-inch drives and 3.9 million 1-inch drives in 2004, although posted an operating loss of 4.4 billion yen (US$42.08m/€32.06m/£22.02m) in calendar 2004, after being battered by sharp price declines.
“Hitachi`s strength in hard drives provides a strong basis from which to accelerate our CE [consumer electronics] business in 2005,” said Bill Healy, senior vice president, product strategy and marketing, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.
“Hitachi’s intensified focus in the CE segment hard drive will mean good news for end-users as we work on developing smaller, high-capacity hard drives that are more rugged, require less power and cost less.”
Hitachi’s promise of churning out smaller, cheaper, more capacious hard drives may impact on a whole host of consumer electronic devices, with its high capacity drives offering bags more storage space for video/DVD convergence units.
Hitachi
2 March, 2005
Bill Gates, KBE Arise
Microsoft co-founder and chairman, Bill Gates received an honorary knighthood from ‘er Majesty the Queen today.
Bill Gates, 48 was dead chuffed to receive the award, saying it was “a great honour” to be recognised for his business skills and for his work on poverty reduction.
The entrepreneur – the richest man in the world worth an estimated £28bn. – was handed an insignia to make him a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, an honour that dates back to 1917 (although monarchs have been creating knights for centuries).
The ceremony took place amongst all the pomp and grandeur of the formal state-rooms at the palace, and involved Gates kneeling in front of the Queen, and getting a gentle tap on the shoulder with a sword.
Gates was granted a private audience with the Queen after the ceremony, and reported that they spoke about using computers (perhaps Her Majesty was having trouble with her Windows installation?)
As an American citizen, Gates can’t use the title “Sir” but he is entitled to put the letters KBE after his name.
Gates joins a select band of honorary knights including Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof, film director Steven Spielberg, Afghan president Hamid Karzai and the mighty Spike Milligan.
Gates and his wife Melinda are well known for their charitable work, investing millions in research for an Aids vaccine and a scholarship scheme to enable the brightest students to go to Cambridge University.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is currently working on a global health programme in the developing world.
Not everyone loves old Billy though, and Microsoft have been convicted of anti-competitive behaviour in the USA and are currently being investigated in Europe.
Microsoft
Bill Gates bio
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
2 March, 2005
Towerstream Successfully Tests Roaming WiFi VoIP Tests
TowerStream, a US provider of fixed-wireless broadband services has announced the successful completion of Mobile Voice over IP (VoIP) over a WiFi network.
The company recently completed a one-month trial near its Middletown, Rhode Island, headquarters that allowed VoIP traffic to pass seamlessly between WiFi access points without dropping the call.
It’s now rolling out a beta test program in New York, where users will use the company’s high-speed network to ensure that TowerStream’s network provides seamless roaming and connections with VoIP, cellular and landline users.
“With VoIP’s accelerated acceptance and growth, combined with recent commitments from handset makers to include WiFi and VoIP capabilities, TowerStream will give these technologies a home to roam on,” said Jeff Thompson, President and COO of Towerstream.
“The tests we have completed demonstrate seamless hand-offs across WiFi access points and pre-WiMAX base stations combining standards-based technology to create cellular-like coverage.
Using advanced handsets, consumers will soon have access to high-speed data capabilities and enhanced voice features never seen on a mobile phone before.”
TowerStream currently delivers T1 and 100Mbps services to city businesses and intends to leverage its dense coverage to offer additional mobile services to consumers.
With no infrastructure tied to the phone company, the company boasts that its fixed wireless offering can deliver faster installations, more features and cheaper rates than wireline broadband services.
Users with any VoIP WiFi-enabled device or notebook will be able to utilise TowerStream’s network for free and make phone calls.
Consumers in New York City will soon be able to sign up for a free Beta trial of the service at http://www.towerstream.com/voip.
Towerstream
2 March, 2005
Brightcove: Allaire Launches Broadband Indie Film/TV Service
Jeremy Allaire, co-founder of Allaire Corp and one of the big shakers behind the successful ColdFusion Web technology, is unveiling a company that he hopes will make Internet movie/TV downloads a standard feature on home TV sets.
The new IP video startup, called Brightcove, has been formed to encourage the “democratisation of video production and distribution” with the Cambridge-based company having a hand in all facets of IP video or Internet TV – creation, delivery and monetisation (that’s making money to you and I).
Brightcove has already raised US$5.5 million (£2.86m/€4.16) of first-round venture funding from General Catalyst Partners and Accel Partners and boasts a management team including executives from Allaire, ATG, BSkyB, Comcast, Macromedia and News Corp.
“We’re going to build a service that marries what the Internet does really well, with television,” said Allaire about his new venture, Brightcove Inc., which launches today.
Allaire explained his plans: “The online service will operate with a consumer-facing service that provides access to programming and content published in the service, and will also provide a very rich service to publishers and rights-holders interested in a direct-to-consumer distribution path for video products. The service will also provide tools to Web site operators generally, who are interested in economically participating in the online video revolution.”
The company intends to offer an Internet service, for use by consumers with computers or set-top boxes, that can store hours of video programming on their hard drives.
Users will be able to order programs online and have them automatically sent to their hard drives, ready to view whenever they choose.
The compelling difference between the business models of rivals like Akimbo Systems and Dave Networks is that the users aren’t tied to proprietary set-top devices for capturing and playing back the videos – any TV-compatible Internet device will do.
Brightcove is banking on public acceptance of new computers based on Microsoft’s Windows Media Center PC software. This is a ‘front room’ friendly version of the Windows XP operating system is designed to work with multimedia devices like TV sets and stereo systems.
Allaire predicted that the Media Center standard will soon become common in home computers. “When you go to buy a consumer edition of a Microsoft product next year, it will be a TV device,” he said.
The system will let users with compatible hardware and a high-speed Internet connection to rent or purchase videos that are then downloaded onto the device.
Purchased videos could be copied onto a computer’s DVD burner to produce a disk that could be watched on any DVD player.
Unlike the Movielink/Blinkx service we covered earlier, Allaire doesn’t plan to offer big-time Hollywood films on Brightcove.
Instead, Brightcove will tap in to the huge, embryonic market offer independent films and videos that cater to specialised tastes and aren’t readily available through other channels. A very smart move in our book.
Allaire hopes his service will create a new way for film producers to deliver their work to the public – check out his introductory flash movie where he describes his vision of a future where “we’ll see as many video channels as Web sites”.
Thanks to Peter Ferne for the story lead.
Brightcove
1 March, 2005