Simon Perry

Apple iTunes Selling 1.25m Tracks per Day
During his MacWorld keynote, Steve Jobs took time to tell the Apple faithful about the success of iTunes.
Back in mid-December, we were rather dismissive when we heard that iTunes had sold 200m tracks, so when we heard Jobs saying that the figure had now reached 230m songs, it didn’t set our world alight.
What we did find interesting was the current rate at which tracks are being sold per day. From their combined online stores in the 15 countries they have running (covering 70% of global music market), they are currently selling at the rate of 1.25m per day.
Jobs was quick to point out that ‘at this rate’ the annualised sale of tracks would be 0.5 billion tracks.
While this tracks/day rate initially sounds enormous, it has to be put against the explosion in the sales of iPod over the last quarter of 2004.
In the run up to xmas a very impressive 4.5m iPods were sold (a 500% growth over the same quarter last year) and dropped in to people’s xmas stockings, bringing the total sold to 10m. Clearly these arrive empty and have to be filled with music, some of which may be already owned, but experience tells that the common action is for people to take this as an opportunity to buy more music.
The number of tracks downloaded will have been helped by the 1m prepaid card that Apple has sold since US Thanksgiving (25 Nov).
These combined factors may account for the big hike in tracks/day and could point towards this being a seasonal blip. Sustaining it will require a continued enthusiastic appetite for new music from the current owners or legions of new iPod owners continuing to arrive.
Apple iTunes
12 January, 2005
Children’s Cellular phone withdrawn following UK health report
Professor Sir William Stewart, chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), today published a report of the emissions of mobile phones. He said he believed that mobiles may pose a health risk, although this was not yet proven. He said “If there are risks – and we think there may be risks – then the people who are going to be most affected are children, and the younger the child, the greater the danger.”
Following this, Communic8 the company who sells MyMo, a mobile phone specifically for use of children between 4 and 8, announced that they were to stop selling it immediately.
We spoke to Adam Stephenson of MyMo and he said “After listening to the the tone and content of Sir William Stewart on the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning, we have decided to stop selling MyMo.” He went on explain that they had read between the lines to see a considerable risk. “The idea behind MyMo was to protect children. We have no intention of exposing children to any danger.” While pointing out that no one in his company were medical experts, he went on to say “We feel it would be foolish to challenge their findings.”
The MyMo offered a simple ‘cut down’ mobile phone with three buttons on it that enable pre-set phone number to be called easily. It was licensed from a company in Germany and is still for sale in Italy and in the Netherlands, through KPN.
This is the second piece of research within a month, flagging the possible dangers of mobile phone emissions. The last study, majority-funded by the European Union, has found in December that in laboratory conditions, radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA.
MyMo
Sir William Stewart on BBC Radio 4 (Real player req.)
Health warning on children with mobile phones – The Scotsman
Cellular Phone Emissions Damage DNA, Study Finds – Digital-Lifestyles.info
11 January, 2005
MacWorld Expo
Discover the latest innovations, tips and tricks from the most knowledgeable industry experts who are leading our world – renowned conference programs and activities. If you can’t make it, it’s being covered at My Personal Gateway and MercMac. Moscone Center San Francisco http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/events/20SFO05A
10 January, 2005
VisiFone, Ojo: Videophones Come Home
Every few years there are a number of announcements about the launch of new video phones. For decades the public have been told that this revolution is just around the corner.
For most of those years the means of transferring the speech and video information has been via a telephone line, initially a PSTN, then in the ’80’s, ISDN. Due to the limitation of the amount of bandwidth, using them was a pretty unsatisfactory experience with the video being ‘choppy’.
As broadband became more available, the bandwidth that video requires started to be come more widely installed in peoples homes and other places.
For quite a while this has been available to the technically savvy using software solutions available on desktops and laptops. By simply plugging in a cheap USB camera and installing some (often free) software, people have been able to chat and watch each other.
One instance sticks in my mind. When I was organising the Digital Lifestyles conference theme day at IBC 2003, one of the speakers, Stuart Cheshire, Ethernet Guru at Apple recounted his connecting to home. He had his hotel broadband connection, connected up his Apple iBook, slotted in an Apple iSight and, for the equivalent cost of a long distance call from Amsterdam to the US, he was able to chat to his family for as long as he wanted, with the added benefit that both he and his family where able to see each other, seeing the facial cue so important in a face-to-face conversation.
Now that broadband is an established fact for a large number of western households, there is a new wave of broadband, consumer-friendly devices that don’t require PC’s to function – and that’s going to make them usable by a range of generations.
Viseon used CES to launch it VisiFone, labelling it the Digital Home Telephone. They claim by keeping the communications digital from end-to-end, the free standing unit provides CD-quality audio and TV-quality video.
They claim one of the secrets to their success is their use of the latest chips from Texas Instruments (TI) specifically; TI’s newest IP phone system-on-a-chip, the TNETV1050, which provides enhanced digital voice quality and conferencing; and the DSP-based TMS320DM64x digital media processor, offering high quality, multi-channel video.
Viseon’s business approach is to sell the unit via broadband service providers. The first they have announced is a deal with well known VoIP provider, Vonage, who run services in the US, Mexico and of last week, the UK.
Another offering at CES was Ojo from Motorola, which they label the Personal Video Phone. It works on a similar principle of a screen and embedded camera on a stand. The Ojo’s large colour screen is 5.6-inch, 9 x 16 format, which they say frames the face better.
It uses an advanced MPEG-4 coding standard (H.264), which enables transmission of 30 frames-per-second video with synchronized audio at data rates as low as 110 Kbps.
Ojo differs from VisiFone in that it can also handle phone calls over ‘normal’ phone lines using its cordless handset.
Ojo should be available in the US from Spring 2005 at $799, plus an as-yet-undisclosed monthly service charge.
How long it will be before we have Video phones on the street, a la Blade Runner is unclear, but finally things appear to moving in the world on consumer-friendly videophone.
Viseon VisiFone
Motorola Ojo
10 January, 2005
Vonage UK VoIP Service Opens
Yesterday there was a very quiet launch of something significant to UK telecoms.
Vonage has been providing Voice over IP (VoIP) services in the US since 2001 and over this short time has become somewhat of a run away success. They’ve now opened up shop in the UK.
Vonage call themselves the fastest growing telephony company in North America, but with an impressive 400,000 lines in service and having carried over half a billion calls, it could be justified.
There are two UK offerings from them; Residential Unlimited, for £9.99/month (~$18.60, ~€14) providing unlimited phone calls within the UK and Ireland; and a Small Business Unlimited Plan for £18.99 (~$35.50, ~€27) which included the same unlimited calling but with the addition of a free dedicated fax line with 500 minutes of outgoing traffic.
Once you have signed up, they give you the required equipment and all that is required, is to plug in a normal telephone handset and you’re away. There is no minimum length of service.
The cost of calls to “non-normal” numbers are detailed on their site, but it’s worth noting that the rates to UK mobiles are charged at 15/10/5p during day/evening/weekends, no matter which mobile network is called. International rates appear very reasonable, certainly significantly lower than normal BT prices.
It is free to call any other Vonage customer, no matter where they are in the world.
Beyond cost, there are other advantages of VoIP phone services over a normal phone, such as the ability to take your phone number with you as you travel around the world, simply by plugging your adaptor into a broadband connection.
If you have friends or business colleagues abroad, Vonage offers phone numbers in cities around the world for an additional £2.99/month (~$5.60, ~€4.30). All of these numbers will route back to your single phone line.
We were taken aback to see that emergency services calls are supported as this has been a source of a debate in the US. As the Vonage phone can be plugged into any broadband connection in the world, having an emergency operator doesn’t make too much sense given your location cannot be identified in the same way a landline can.
Dialling 999 or 112 on the Vonage UK service will connect you to the UK emergency operator who will then route your call to the appropriate emergency agency. In the list of emergency agency you’ll be offered, we were amused to see Mountain Rescue and Cave Rescue. Strange given you need to have a broadband connection to use the service.
Last year we were surprised when BT launched a VoIP service, Broadband Voice, in the UK. It initially felt a bit like cannibalisation of their landline business.
It was only when we saw their pricing did we understand why it wouldn’t be a threat. They’re nearly the same as their landlines prices!
They too have two packages. Unlimited UK (Local and National) weekend and evening landline calls costs £6.50/month. Strangely BT limit the free calling to an hour, beyond this additional minutes are charged 1p/min. Daytime calls are 3p/min.
Their Anytime plan gives unlimited UK landline calls up to an hour per call at anytime for £14 a month.
Rates to mobile on the BT service vary depending on the mobile operator, some of them lower than Vonage.
After a quick look at the International rates, it appears that BT prices are more expensive, for example, a call to New York would be 2p/min on Vonage but 4p/min with BT Broadband Voice.
The level of BT’s prices doesn’t surprise us. Their usual tactic is to only lower their prices when competition comes into the market – so welcome to the UK Vonage.
We’ve been trying to get our hands on the Vonage service since it was first introduced in the US. We figured that it was a geographically independent (global) service, so they should be able to sell anywhere, but they weren’t thinking the same way at the time. We’ll be reviewing the service as soon as we can.
Vonage UK
BT Broadband Voice
7 January, 2005
Samsung 102-inch TV shown at CES
Samsung is showing a 102-inch Plasma Display Panel (PDP) TV at CES. Currently standing as the worlds largest TV, they’re upping the ante of their own 80-inch screen they announced back in January last year.
The gargantuan 102-inch screen is currently just for demonstration, but Samsung plan to start shipping their 80-inch PDP and 57-inch LCD screen in the US this year. The original costs spoken about for the 80-inch, the HPR8072 which planned for a May release, were a heart stopping $45,000 (~€34,000, ~£24,000). The 57-inch, LNR570D, will cost $17,999 (~€13,700, ~£9,600) and come out in June.
If you hadn’t guessed it from the dimensions, you can see from the photo that this 102-inch baby is large.
Samsung are putting serious effort into become recognised as a leader in TV screens of all technologies. They’re also showing a slim line Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) at CES and at the start of this week they announced a high resolution 21-inch single-panel, Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display.
Samsung
6 January, 2005
Digital Lifestyle extolled by Bill Gates at CES
In what has now become a tradition, Bill Gates opened the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas extolling the virtues of Digital Lifestyles (thanks for the plug Bill).
In a “casual” interview style, US TV chat show presenter, Conan O’Brien, lead Bill through the wonderful world of digital media.
O’Brien started his shtick with a great joke, “When Bill Gates walks onto this stage in a few minutes, the average net worth of each person in this room will be(come) $128 million.”. He then went on to be reasonably rude about most people in the industry. Of particular note was the “CES – The Movie” spoof casting, where well known characters in the industry were matched up with their acting doubles. It’s worth watching, just fire it up and jump to 11m 30s.
Bill Gates then came on stage to give Microsoft’s view of Digital Lifestyles.
Not surprisingly Microsoft pitches the PC as the centre of it, “The PC has a central role to play, (in that) it’s where it all comes together.”
As has been the case since the public started recognising the iPod and iTunes, Bill and his promotional videos took every opportunity to feature ‘other’ music players, while subtly highlighting the virtues of the Microsoft approach.
This covered “Windows Plays For Sure”, the certification process that labels all devices that are able to understand and adhere to Microsoft’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme. Read as, music in Apple’s format can’t play on other devices except Apples.
For the trend spotters among you, Bill referred to this as a “rights management system”, dropping the Digital prefix.
He also pitched monthly subscription services where you have access to all of the music you desire – another thing that Apple iTunes doesn’t offer. He failed to mention that with most subscriptions services, the ability to play the music you’ve paid for access to, stops when the monthly subscriptions fees do.
Media Centre featured large with Gates announcing that PC manufacturers have sold 1.4 million Media Centre models worldwide so far.
Media Extenders, which enables households with networked homes to pull content from their Media Centres to rooms around the house were also brought up again. Dedicated boxes from companies like LG were mentioned as well as a software upgrade for Microsoft’s xBox to provide the same function. The fact that 6.3 million people had bought Halo 2, was also dropped into the conversation.
The LG example was of note. A dedicated DVR with DVD burner, it featured a cut-down version of the Media Center software that retained the familiar user interface (UI), while offering access to music and photo’s stored on the Media Centre PC. Not only that but content recorded on this dedicated device could be transferred to the Media Centre PC and in turn to a smartphone or Portable Media Centre (PMC).
To easily operate the Media Centre, the “simple, single remote control” was also touted, more than once. Microsoft have formed partnerships with Philips, NiveusMedia and Logitech to produce universal remote controls that work with Media Centre, as well as many other devices. All these remotes will feature a “signature” Green Start button. Bill had previously mentioned that some remote controls will have small colour screens on them, allowing video content to be shown on them.
New content partners also got a nod. Discovery will be creating “unique content” that fits on Media Center, with Yahoo and Fox Sports also getting a mention.
One key item was the launch of the Media Centre as a platform. Not just a means of accessing and playing back content, but of broadcasters creating interactive content specifically for it, that combines broadcast and IP delivered content using Online Spotlight. We feel this is the most important item to come out and will be covered in more detail in another piece shortly.
It’s also worth watching the video, if nothing else then to see Bill looking less than comfortable with the interview technique.
Bill Gates CES – Opening Speech
6 January, 2005
SIRIUS to Satellite Children’s TV to Cars
SIRIUS Satellite Radio announced today that it will be providing 2-3 channels of premium video content, designed primarily for children, in the second half of 2006, to be beamed into moving vehicles. They will be working with Microsoft to develop the service.
Although initially pitched as a TV-on-the-move service, they clearly have ambitions beyond this, as hinted at by Amir Majidimehr, Corporate Vice President of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft “We will further work together to enable consumers to experience SIRIUS video whether on the go, or at home — from the initial mobile service in vehicles to the PC and home entertainment devices.”
While it’s possible that content could be streamed down live to the cars, it may be more likely that content will be trickled down to hard disk devices in the car for on-demand playback. This would avoid cries of “Oh Dad” from the back of the car as TV pictures freeze due to drop out problems when driving through areas of low reception, like tunnels. More importantly for a satellite company, bandwidth requirements would be reduced from a full broadcast stream.
This is further backed up by careful reading of Chief Executive Officer, Mel Karmazin’s statement “We will take the DVD experience to the next level, offering the best content easily available to families and consumers.”
If they do go for live TV delivery the video channels will take significantly more bandwidth than their current audio offering. Whether SIRIUS will be closing some of their current radio stations or adding more satellite capacity is unclear.
If the content offering from SIRIUS is just on-demand, they could face some serious competition from in-car media centres that wirelessly “recharge” their content while parked in their garage overnight.
Reuters are reporting that they were originally told of the TV channels by the ex-CEO of Sirius, Joseph Clayton, as far back as February 2004.
Today’s news follows an announcement on Tuesday that Ford have committed to offering Sirius radio as a factory-installed option in up to 1 million vehicles over two years beginning this summer. XM, who also offer a US wide satellite radio service, currently have 3.1m users’ verses the 1.1m SIRIUS currently has.
SIRIUS Satellite Radio
5 January, 2005
HDTV Support in HP Media Hubs
CES is coming. Prepare yourself for the flood.
In an effort to get heard above the noise of CES, HP has this morning announced a couple of products that will be capable of receiving and storing High Definition TV (HDTV).
The first is an extension to their current Digital Entertainment Center (DEC) range that will add high-definition ATSC (Advanced Television Standards Committee) tuning capabilities. Two models are expected to ship this spring with different storage, graphics card and tuning options.
The second is the industry’s first HDTV media hub which comes with dual-tuners and expected for release in autumn 2005. It will handle all of the now-expected digital photos, music and videos and act as a digital video recorder (DVR). While HD tuning cards have been available for some time, this is the first time that a mainstream company has announced a HDTV product.
We contacted HP for further details about the products support for the US Broadcast Flag, but as yet they were unable to provide it. Given the release date of the product is after the July 2005 compulsory support date, and that it’s a US-focused product it is highly likely that the equipment will support the Broadcast Flag.
Given HP partnership with Philips in the Video Content Protection System (VCPS), an FCC-approved technology designed to restrict the copying of video content to DVD, it is highly likely that this will be included too.
Of particular interest is HP’s inclusion of an “intuitive Electronic Programming Guide” designed by them to “allow consumers to easily find and record the content they want.” There are no details of this being a free or fee service.
We see this as HP’s move to become the gateway to access on-demand content of all sorts. This is further demonstrated by their mention of delivering “upgrades the device with new services.” It’s a smart move, placing themselves in this pivotal position before someone else gets in there to provide a service.
It’s not just computer-based equipment that HP is offering in HD world. They’ve also announced plans to introduce a full line of 17 new HDTVs and home theater projectors based on HP-developed “visual fidelity” technologies.
One of these is the spectacularly named “wobulation” technology, a patent-pending method to provide twice the resolution of digital projection displays without increasing the cost.
HP
ATSC
VCPS
5 January, 2005
500GB Hard Drive from Hitachi
In an effort to keep up with the demands of the ever growing appetite for digital storage, Hitachi has announced a 500-Gigabyte drive.
With the rise of Digital Obesity (the hoarding of digital data) and the continued growth of Digital Video Recorders (DVR’s), in particular the early days of availability of the High Definition TV (HDTV) DVRs, the demands for storage are growing drastically.
The 3.5-inch drive will be joining the DeskStar range of drives as the Deskstar 7K500.
When used in a DVR it will be able to hold around 200 hours of Standard Definition TV, a serious step up from the 40 to 80 hours now available.
For those of a hardcore technical nature, you’ll be excited to hear that Hitachi will be the first hard drive vendor to deliver all of the major design enhancements identified in the SATA II (second version of Serial ATA) specification, including a 3 Gb/s data transfer rate. Translated – the serial interface isn’t going to be what slows the path of data from the drive to the processor, that’s more likely to be restricted by the drive (817 Mb/s in this case). SATA II doubles the transfer rate of SATA 1.0.
The drives also feature what Hitachi is calling Smooth Stream Technology, which is based on the recently ratified ATA-7 AV Streaming Feature Set. Why is this important? It’s been designed to simultaneously lay down a number of large data streams (each HDTV 1080i stream runs at 19 Mbits/s) as well as smoothly handle data errors.
When handling AV (Audio Visual) information the accuracy of the information is of less importance than its fast transfer. If the video doesn’t arrive in time, the glitches that are seen on the screen are far more noticeable that one or two bits missing
Hitachi hopes to ship the 7K500 in Q1 2005. Hitachi
Serial ATA
ATA-7 Working Draft (doc)
ATA/ATAPI AV Streaming Command Set Usage Guidelines (doc)
5 January, 2005