Simon Perry

CoolZone: Nokia Open Another Content Channel
Today Nokia announced CoolZone, a Bluetooth-based distribution system that lets mobile phone users locally browse, pay for and download content on their mobiles while they are in shops supporting it.
When entering a CoolZone, the mobile user can download an application, customised for the retailer or service provider. Through this they can browse and download music, ringtones, wallpapers and videos which can be DRM protected. Paying for the content will be done at the shops till or using premium-rate SMS.
Firmly throwing the ‘retail opportunity’ language switch to on Sakari Kotola, Director, Nokia Ventures Organization said “Rich digital content is widely available and requires an efficient distribution channel. Local mobility solutions create new types of business possibilities to individuals, location owners and enterprises. CoolZone is a Bluetooth technology based content distribution system available to any retailer or location owner who wants to offer or sell digital content to their customers, and thus enhance the in-store experience,”
CoolZone is the short hand term to describe the Nokia Local Content Channel Solution. This consists of client software for the phone (Symbian client for Series 60, Java for Nokia Series 40 and other manufacturers’ phones), a small multiradio Nokia Service Point (LCP10) installed in each service location and the Nokia Service Manager (LCM10) for centrally managing the service points and the content. While the service is currently Bluetooth based, WLAN will be one of expected additions in the near future, as more phones will offer WLAN capability.
As the user of the service needs the user to download an application to use the service, we can imagine little hacking groups are already forming plans to hang around near these shops offering their own ‘applications’ with similar names to unsuspecting, or inexperience users.
While see this as a good step forward as a new ways distributing content – frankly we’re surprised it’s taken so long to come to reality, we’d thought of it years ago – it’s acceptance among retailers will depend on the financial deal for the operators of these shops. Any retailer considering this will need to realise that anyone in their shop using this service will not be looking at the goods on their shelves when they’ve got their face stuck in their mobile, figuring out which tracks they want to download.
This could go some way to explain why the first limited trial is publicly available at three Free Record Shop music stores and three Rober’s Coffee cafés in Helsinki area, Finland – they have no conflict of interest.
It may be that the slight headless-chicken-mode surrounding digital music current – as those who don’t really understand what is happening but are wowed by the huge growth of iPod – will lead the retailers to blindly jump forward to have CoolZones on their premises.
CoolZone will also be demonstrated at the Nokia Mobility Conference 2005 in Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain during November 2-3, 2005 with content from EMI.
Nokia CoolZone
31 October, 2005
May You Live In Interesting Times
May You Live In Interesting Times is the name of the inaugural event of Cardiff’s Festival of Creative Technology. A combination of conference, performance and art events, it looks like it’s going to have something for everyone even slightly tickled by technology. Cardiff, Waleshttp://www.mayyouliveininterestingtimes.org/
28 October, 2005
FUD Encouraged By Macrovision Report
Macrovision, a company who sell content protection (DRM) system, have today released a report they commissioned into content copying.
The findings? That ‘Casual Piracy’ is “a Growing Challenge in the Entertainment Industry” and that “mass market penetration of digital recording devices and broadband/file-sharing networks are prompting many entertainment brands to enrich their content protection strategies and influence bottom line performance.”
Let us translate. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is coming and the public had better start getting used to it.
This is on the basis of what to us appears, from a quick once over of this report, a pretty unscientific approach, as the following paragraph from page 10 illustrates.
“In order to estimate exactly what effective content protection represents, respondents were also asked to estimate how many units/titles were copied (burnt) for each 100 sold and how many were illegally downloaded for every 100 sold.”
How can someone write “estimate exactly” without seeing the paradox? They just have well asked them “How paranoid are you about content copying?”
Their conclusion directly under this nonsense? “None of the figures make for comfortable reading.” WHAT?!?!? Just because these figures are presented in a table in a report with graphs next to them, doesn’t elevate them from what they are – guesses. At this point we stopped reading this report – we had some drying paint that needed watching.
I hope that each time a ‘report’ or so called research like this is published, that it is gone through with a fine tooth comb pointing out its weaknesses. This kind of nonsense needs to be countered.
FUD rules
I have, for years, been questioning the content industry – How are you going to sell DRM to the public when what you’ll be selling them some less good/useful than they had before? The answer has always been a resounding silence.
When I asked a very senior person at Fox (his name escapes me) why DRM would be required when the vast majority of their customers are fair, reasonable and trustworthy, his response stunned me – “We take the opposite view, we treat everyone as dishonest.”
To me, that summed up both the arrogance and distain of the company, and possibly that of the current ‘entertainment’ industry. Any company that has such a low opinion of their customers, will eventually come to a sticky end – and it’s quite right that they do.
Through the sheer panic of suddenly waking up to the changes that technology has been bringing to media for decades (hell, I had digitised audio tracks on my Mac Plus, soon after it was released in 1984), the ‘entertainment;’ business has been listening to technology companies, who by strange co-incidence have something to sell – content protection systems.
That combined with the universal truth that fear is contagious, leads to a point where we are now. The current media companies being near terrified that _all_ of the customers are waiting to steal from them, so they must be restricted – and DRM-selling companies are more than happy to help them in their fear.
Their perceived need to restrict their customers is costing them _huge_ amounts of money and it will continue to … and to what gain?
They stop their customers from using their purchases how they feel fit – well, at least until the latest hack removes the protection – and in the process, further alienate their customers, building resentment.
Why don’t they spend all of this effort, time and money creating new content – engaging their audience further?
I wonder if the ‘entertainment’ companies have spared a thought as to what would happen if their businesses did fail? Do they not see that generally the technology companies are going to win anyway even without them?
PDF of complete report.
BTW, don’t try copying text out of the report, it’s protected unsurprisingly.
25 October, 2005
The Connected Home 05
The Connected Home looks at the latest technologies used in delivering on-demand entertainment around home networks and the ability for consumers to access content anywhere and at any time they like. Key case studies will examine how telecom operators and other platforms are viewing and modelling the digital home of the future. Olympia, Londonhttp://www.the-connected-home.co.uk
25 October, 2005
May You Live In Interesting Times, Festival Preview (2/2)
The first part of this preview was published last week.
The festival has been developed by Bloc (Creative Technology Wales) and Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff. They have managed to accommodate a large number of complex yet accessible projects. This collaboration is all the more impressive in its scale when you realise that both organisations have their own projects running concurrently (Bloc are developing Northern and Southern pilot projects in Wales with accompanying seminars; Chapter are hosting the first UK showing o the artists Olaf Breuning).
The festival will be based at Chapter but will spill out into the streets of Cardiff and various venues and unique spaces. Contemporary artists are increasingly engaged with, or inspired by, digital technology and such public spaces.
The public and communication technologies are attractive to artists because of their user friendliness and their massive global reach.
Artists tend to situate such work somewhere between public art and street culture. Digital technology is often claimed to go beyond physical limitations such as cyberspace, but it is always embedded in real spaces and places such as the home, the workplace and the street whether this is an individual user, or as part of a larger ever extending network.
These spaces in Cardiff include the Millennium Stadium, where Tim Davies’ Drumming will be shown on the giant digital billboards above the pitch. This shows the frenetic beating of a snare drum as a call to arms. The drumming echoes out throughout the stadium and beyond, echoing the roar of 70,000 Welsh fans.
If you see a number of futuristic-looking people being pursued down Cardiff’s Queen Street, don’t worry, that will be Blast Theory.
Renowned internationally as one of the most adventurous artists’ groups using interactive media, Blast Theory come to Cardiff to present the award-winning chase game Can You See Me Now?
Online players are dropped into a virtual Cardiff while Blast Theory runners, tracked by satellites in the real city, pursue you.
To join in you can access a number of computer terminals at the National Museum and Gallery or at one of the festival hubs at Chapter or g39 (cor). If you are unable to visit you can play from your own computer.
A number of residencies have already taken place across Wales, such as Jen Southern and Jen Hamilton who have been working at Creative Mwldan in Cardigan.
They have been setting tasks for locals and tourists while tracking their movements through GPS systems.
The evidence they collect will then be relocated to Cardiff, where they will be taking visitors on a boat trip in Cardiff Bay.
Grennan and Sperandio will be based in Cardiff, where they are keen to meet anyone interested in any aspect of gaming, from bridge clubs to computer game enthusiasts. They will be creating an online and actual card game based on interactions with historians, language experts, game enthusiasts as well as people from all walks of life in Cardiff.
Artists from Wales were encouraged to develop new work. Stefhan Caddick will be placing a portable digital road sign near Cardiff’s Old Library.
Usually used to display traffic information, viewers are asked to text their own messages which will be then displayed on screen.
Andy Fung’s work will be displayed on an advertising billboard on Leckwith Road near Cardiff’s Football ground.
The artist group Second Site will be displaying new video works in the windows of a empty bank on Bute Street, while Chris Evans will project his interactive game onto St John’s Church in the centre of Cardiff.
Canton Labour Club becomes the ideal venue to host a series of discussions based around ideas of community and broadcasting.
The two-day conference will explore the themes of the festival, including the use of locative media, such as GPS systems and mobile phones. There will also be a look at the use and influence of video gaming.
With so many creative technologies on offer, it seems that we do indeed live in interesting times.
Karen Price is Arts Correspondent for the Western Mail.
The first part of this preview was published last week.
Chapter
Bloc
Cardiff Contemporary
24 October, 2005
BSkyB to Buy Easynet: Official
UPDATEDSky has today confirmed that it is offering £211m to buy publicly listed UK ISP, Easynet. This follows a period of general speculation, after Easynet issued an official statement on Monday past that they were subject to a possible offer.
Sky are offering 175p per share, around 81% above Easynet’s market price of a week ago.
Not surprisingly, the current Easynet price is now up 44% at 171p.
With this purchase, Sky buys straight into broadband in the UK, gaining a foothold in the Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) market, with 232 unbundled exchanges already under Easynet’s belt.
Importantly Sky have bought into Easynet’s expertise at unbundling exchanges, which, when combined with Sky’s financial clout, will lead to serious competition to the, (in our eyes), feeble rollout of DSL by BT. We also imagine that there will be sweaty brows at Telewest/NTL, the UK cable company over morning coffee.
Sky will gain income from broadband subscription and possibly entice further subscribers to their TV service taking them to their stated aim of 10m. Far more important is a new channel to deliver content through – one they have total control over. They like that.
This move puts BT’s broadband IPTV service on a less secure footing, which, as we broke at the end of September, plans to launch in Summer 2006. At the very least, BT won’t have it all their own way.
Sky has been talking for a while about broadband-delivery ambitions as well as other paths, indeed Sky COO, Richard Freudenstein confirmed as much just over a month ago.
Brace yourself. The news is going to be awash with opinion pieces second guessing what this all means to the future of broadcast and broadband in the UK …
Easynet
Sky
21 October, 2005
May You Live In Interesting Times, Festival Preview (1/2)
We find it hard to explain how excited Digital-Lifestyles is about ‘May you live in interesting times’, the pseudonym given to the Cardiff Festival of Creative Technology starting in Cardiff on 28.Oct. Karen Price does a great job of capturing the range of events that make it up.
Watch out on Digital-Lifestyles after the event for a series of podcasts from there.
Part two of this preview is also available.
It’s a fact of life – almost everywhere we turn we are surrounded by technology. From mobile phones and digital cameras to TVs and video games. But as well as making our lives easier and providing us with entertainment, more and more artists are now turning to everyday technologies when they create their work.
This will be highlighted during a new three-day festival which is taking place in Cardiff 28th-30th October 2005.
May You Live In Interesting Times – a title taken from a phrase used in a famous speech once made by Robert F Kennedy – is being staged across the Welsh capital as part of the Cardiff 2005 celebrations, and is a major highlight of Cardiff Contemporary, which is promoting the visual arts throughout this month.
Despite being the first event of its kind in Wales, it includes a line-up of international artists, speakers, sponsors and partners who will take part in a series of residencies, commissions, and a two-day conference.
This is all supported by a programme of artists’ projects, outdoor events, screenings, music, performances and projections.
“The event will be held at various sites across the capital and will illuminate the city with dynamic and individual work using a range of new and existing technologies,” said festival co-director Emma Posey.
“The festival will provide a platform for national and international audiences to access the very best works that utilise digital technologies.”
It is already being recognised as a major international event, attracting attention as far and wide as Brazil, Holland, Japan and the USA.
The festival’s Website offers browsers from all over the world the chance to take part online via its live streaming and pod casting.
“We have received lots of positive responses so far both from inside and outside Wales,” said Posey.
“We want to create a vibrant creative technology sector in Wales, with the festival celebrating this every two years.”
The festival’s other co-director Hannah Firth is keen to stress the accessibility of new technology and its use by artists and the public in their everyday lives.
“New forms of technology are commonplace, from mobile phones, computers, digital cameras, videogames and the way we watch television,” she said. “These technologies influence every aspect of our lives, if we like it or not. The festival looks at how artists are using this everyday available technology, not for its own sake, but as an additional tool in expanding their ideas.”
Richard Higlett, Visual Arts Coordinator for Cardiff 2005 added “May You live in Interesting Times is an important addition to the Capital’s cultural calendar and an opportunity to see art made using digital technologies by Welsh and Internationally respected artists. The festival is a reflection not just of the way art is made today but is about art which is resonant, depicting the current condition of society at the start of the 21st century.”
Karen Price is Arts Correspondent for the Western Mail.
Part two of this preview is also available.
May You Live In Interesting Times
Chapter
Bloc
Cardiff Contemporary
20 October, 2005
137m Broadband Subscribers In OECD
Figures just out from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), report 137m broadband subscribers throughout the OECD countries and that’s up 18m since the last figures, six months ago.
It’s interesting to note that voice and video services are increasingly being provided over these connections.
Korea continues to be top of the list with 25.5 subscribers per 100 inhabitants, with The Netherlands following up close behind with 22.5, mainy due to comprehensive cable penetration.
The strongest growth over the last two reports, ie 12 months has been Finland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom.
The US is at 12th position (14.5 subs per 100), with the UK sitting one slot lower at 13th (13.5 subs per 100).
Over all of the countries, DSL is still the preferred method (61.2%), cable modems at around half those levels (32%) and what they describe as ‘other technologies’, ie fibre optics, LAN, satellite and fixed wireless sitting at 6.8%.
The ‘other technologies’ have enjoyed the the highest percentage growth in the past six months, growing 13%.
Looking at absolute subscribers numbers, the US is way out in front at 42.6m, followed by Japan (21m); Korea (12m); Germany (8m); UK (8m); France (8m).
Enjoy all of the delicious details at the OECD site
20 October, 2005
The Genius of eBay Buying Skype
Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay appears to be justifying eBay’s decision to purchase Skype.
There’s been much talk that eBay overpaid for Skype, at $4.1Bn if they hit earnings targets.
My view is that they actually got a bargain.
Meg Whitman is right that “in the end, the price that anyone can provide for voice transmission on the ‘Net will trend toward zero,” and she sees that happening “in the next three to six years.” I’m assuming that she means all phone calls, as Net-based calls are currently free and it would be very worrying if she didn’t know that already.
With Skype, they’ve bought the biggest name in VoIP. Not just software-based VoIP (which Skype currently is), but all VoIP.
Whitman’s view? “Our belief is that the winner in this space will be those that have the largest ecosystem. What I mean by that is: the largest number of registered users, the largest number of voice minutes, the largest number of developers who develop the platform, the best product … that users are willing and want to pay for.”
I’ve always admired the genius of Skype, building a telecoms company, the equivalent of BT’s or AT&T’s retail business, but with a near-zero infrastructure cost to them – certainly zero compared with either of the previously named giants. Skype simply piggy-backed on their expenditure.
When I put this to Niklas Zennstrom, Skype’s CEO, as I interviewed him in the build-up VON in Stockholm, he smiled wryly. He’s good at that.
While Vonage went the route of building IBM, needing hardware where it was installed, Skype went the Microsoft route, software. We all know who won there.
Skype knew that the hardware would follow as their user numbers became irresistible. Cleverly they would take license fees from the hardware producer, while making their service more attractive.
___What does eBay add?
Well there’s the obvious reasons …
They’ve got huge amounts of cash, as eBay is so profitable, clearly useful, but in the grand scheme of things, so what?
More interestingly they’ve got 168.1m registered users, ideal to grow Skype’s currently 57m registered users.
As I commented at the start of September, eBay’s interest
reflects the company’s quest for new product categories and international markets, or they could integrate Skype into the service, offering purchaser and seller to talk to each other. Another option could be to use Skype’s ability to host group discussions as a way of strengthening communities with the same interests.
This is all good for the short to middle term, growing Skype’s acceptance.
__The killer
I think the killer is slightly further out.
To set the scene – keep in your mind Vodafone, but more abstracted.
eBay own the ‘network’ through Skype.
Skype is a strong brand, with people already talking about Skyping each other. OK, currently it’s not global like Vodafone, but add a bucket-load of eBay cash and that’ll change.
That in itself is strong.
Here comes the interesting part. Search on eBay today for ‘Skype‘ and it brings up 1215 1310 items, mostly USB handsets.
We’ve been watching the market in these add-ons, and have even reviewed a few of them. This market is at a very early stage, but already, we’re seeing design applied to some of these.
When Skype goes beyond being implemented on PocketPC’s it will work without the underlying Operating System. Becomes embedded and significantly cheaper.
What pops out of the end of this is a low-cost mobile handset that speaks a number of wireless protocols and when combined with paid for or free WiFi access (which will be everywhere by then), gives you a serious competitor to a mobile phone.
Hell, eBay/Skype could even create a reference designs or two.
eBay will be in a fantastic position of sitting between the handset makers and the public. Like a global ‘phone shop’ for these devices – collecting a commission for each handset sold – without the shop, stock, support or after-sales care.
It may be that eBay haven’t thinking along these lines, but I’d you’d have to doubt it given the amount of money they’d spent on it.
Update: I’ve not had time to read all around the comments on Skype since the deal, but following writing this, I found an excellent blog on it by Mark Evans. I’d heartily recommend it.
20 October, 2005
On-Demand Product Reviews, Your Chance
We were sitting around, thinking we were all very clever coming up with the products that we thought readers of Digital-Lifestyles would like to see around xmas time, when one of the throng (Mike), came up with a great idea. Why don’t we ask the readers, rather than second guess them.
Once an idea like that’s been out in the open, it’s pretty hard to think that it should be done in any other way, so today we unveilled the quick-to-fill-in form that will let you contribute.
It’s only going to take seconds to fill in, so give it a go …
Digital-Lifestyles xmas review suggestions
19 October, 2005