A low budget, high energy event about technology. Details are on the site. Imperial College Union, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington SW7 2BB UK http://www.xcom2002.com/nc04/
Simon Perry
International Workshop On Saving Energy In Set-Top Boxes
The International Energy Agency is pleased to host a workshop examining the energy efficiency of set-top boxes – the term used to describe a wide range of products that allow televisions to receive digital broadcast signals, connect to the internet, or perform a host of other multi-media functions. IEA, Paris, France http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/workshopdetail.asp?id=103
BBC Creative Archive licensing to be based on Creative Commons
In a significant step forward towards the opening of a portion of the BBC’s archives, the BBC today made their intentions for the Creative Archives clearer to other UK broadcasters and public sector organisations. The Creative Archive, originally announced by Greg Dyke in 2003, plans to offer the British public free access to some of the BBC’s audio and video programming.
This afternoon the first meeting of an external consultative panel, which included many UK media holders, heard the BBC’s decision that it will base the Creative Archive usage licence on the Creative Commons (CC) model. This confirmation follows some speculation on the subject. The CC model turns copyright on its head by explaining the ways that the content can be used rather than saying it cannot – or Some Rights Reserved as they put it. By happy coincidence, Creative Commons 2.0 was released yesterday.
By applying a CC-type license to the content, the BBC will enable individuals in the UK to download released content to their computers, share it, edit it and create new content. Commercial reuse of the content will not be allowed.
Professor Lawrence Lessig, chair of the Creative Commons project was clearly excited: “The announcement by the BBC of its intent to develop a Creative Archive has been the single most important event in getting people to understand the potential for digital creativity, and to see how such potential actually supports artists and artistic creativity.” He went to enthuse “If the vision proves a reality, Britain will become a centre for digital creativity, and will drive the many markets – in broadband deployment and technology – that digital creativity will support.”
Lessig has been invited by the BBC to be a permanent member of external consultative panel, which is wise because he is clearly at the centre of Creative Commons and politically wise in the BBC becoming closely associated with the whole movement. This announcement will also be a huge boost in profile for Creative Commons.
Paul Gerhardt, Joint Director, BBC Creative Archive explains: “We want to work in partnership with other broadcasters and public sector organisations to create a public and legal domain of audio visual material for the benefit of everyone in the UK.” Those attending today’s meeting included Channel 4; the British Film Institute; the British Library; ITN; JISC; The National Archives; the Natural History Museum; the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council; senior figures from the independent production industry; BBC Worldwide. The BBC plans to keep those attending abreast of the project, while encouraging them to follow the same route to opening their own archives.
This news will give further hope to those who feel the BBC is a leading light in the usage and availability of content in a Digital Lifestyles world. Gerhardt added “We hope the BBC Creative Archive can establish a model for others to follow, providing material for the new generation of digital creatives and stimulating the growth of the creative culture in the UK.”
Read our interview with Paula Le Dieu, Joint Director on the Creative Archive.
Thirteenth International World Wide Web Conference
Discuss the latest developments in Web technology and the issues and challenes facing the Web community. http://www2004.org/
Wireless Enablement Forum
The Forum will bring IT Directors and Business Line Leaders to network and benchmark with peers, learn new tools and techniques for improving processes, and meet leading providers of wireless services and solutions. Millennium Copthorne Tara Hotel, Kensington, London, UK http://www.business-meetings.co.uk/default.asp?page=2000&eventrelation=public&event=550
Infinium Labs Sets Launch for Phantom Console
We have covered the on/off, is it real, is it vapour history of the Phantom Console a number of times.We now learn that Infinium Labs are at E3 showing the Phantom Console on an 8,000 sqft stand and signing up game developer for the platform. They have also released their pricing plans.
The Phantom is essentially a sealed box containing a high spec PC that has been designed for gaming, so comes complete with a high end graphics card. What makes it different is that the games are loaded on to it via broadband, so not only are there no physical distribution cost for it, but the payment models for the games can vary from single play rental to ownership.
Following its planned 18 November launch, it will sell for $199 or for free, if two years of membership to the $29.95 per month broadband gaming service, Phantom Gaming Service, are signed up for. At the start of the service a large number of free games will be available.
The sleek-looking device will be manufactured by Biostar in Taiwan, and will feature a 40GB hard drive, AMD Athlon XP 2500+ central processing unit (CPU), the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra graphics processing unit (GPU) and the NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 platform processor. It will also ship with gamepad, mouse and keyboard that they are labelling the
Phantom Lapboard, which they claim gives easy control over the keyboard and mouse even when sitting on a couch.There is plenty of innovative ideas in the Phantom such as the way the capacity of the hard disk is managed. The unit will notice when the drive is becoming full and will invisibly remove the least played games, automatically uploading them from the central server if the gamer request a play.
Kevin Bachus, president of Infinium Labs previously worked in a senior position at Microsoft in the Xbox division.
It is a brave company that takes of the likes of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, and all gaming consoles live or die on the support of the games developers – if there is no strong flow of quality titles, people will not buy. Mr Bachus is not alone in thinking it is a good idea; Infinium has just $46m in first round funding.
E3 Games Show
E3 Then
The Start of Something Big
In 1995, the Electronic Entertainment Expo was held for the first time. Video games were based on 16-bit technology and 3D graphics were the exception, not the norm. Few beyond those immediately involved in the medium of PC and video games took notice. That first year, E3 exhibitors numbered far fewer than today’s. E3‘s inaugural event set a new standard for tradeshow launches. It was clearly the beginning of something big.E3 Now
Clearly the Best
Today, the interactive entertainment industry is in growth mode. It has mindshare comparable to any major sports league-and it partners with them all. Hollywood talent vies to be included in game productions, and established writers whose books sell millions and musicians whose albums have gone platinum two and three times over also contribute to the medium. Technology now brings interactive entertainment to mobile phones, the Web, and networked consoles. As the industry has grown, so has E3. Each year, E3 attracts more media, more international attention, is more productive, and is more fun.E3 Next
It’s Up to You
Today, the industry is poised for continued growth. Games and game culture continue to convert more and more consumers. Game brands and franchises are increasing their reach, and an industry that once thought in terms of local markets now thinks globally. As E3 approaches its tenth anniversary and peers into the next decade, be assured it will continue to provide a marketplace for ideas and commerce to an industry that continues to grow and evolve. What happens next is up to the exhibitors and attendees of E3 2004 and beyond. What happens next is up to you.
http://www.e3expo.com/e3expo/CNET launches a new MP3.com
After a lot of uncertainty about the future of MP3.com following its demise, and rumours that all of the content had been deleted, CNet has re-launched MP3.com, but as something completely different to its original guise.
The new version of the service combines extensive information about the musical groups such as the history of each member of the band and details of all of the tracks they have released. The reviews and background information about each of the major albums is also extensive. At a quick glance, the depth of detail is very impressive.
Once an individual track or album has been selected, a page is displayed showing a number of ways to get to the track. Online music download services, on-demand streaming and even where the physical CD are listed. Currently there are fourteen service listed, which we assume will increased as Cnet signs more deals. Each of the download services show the music file format, computer platform for each, as well as highlighting if the service protect their tracks with DRM.
As would be expected MP3.com provides many routes to content that you might not have thought of listening to or buying. One of the novel ones is Musicvine. A graphical representation of artists is shown, with groups of a similar musical type clustered around them, joined by lines. When a band is selected, further information about them is shown on the left-hand panel. It’s a neat idea, but we are at this stage unsure how useful it will be long term.
MP3.com is a clear attempt by Cnet to try and become the Meta music service – THE destination when individuals want to buy music. On first impressions it looks like a pretty good stab at it, but we are unsure if there is sufficient here to keep the idea unique to them.
Softbank losses grow
Japan-based Softbank Corp today announced widening losses for the 2003 year ending March. Declared a net loss of 107.09 billion yen ($94.2m, 79.8m), up from a 99.99 billion yen loss in the previous year, they blame what they called “substantial expenses” to lure customers to its broadband Internet service. Sales rose 27.2% over the period.
Unusually Softbank decided not to announce their financial predictions for the current year. Their stock fell around 10% against the Nikkei Average fall of 4.8%.
The broadband services, Yahoo BB, is a joint venture with Yahoo and has been held up as an example of what broadband could be given their provision of 45mbps coverage to some of their consumers. By March they had over 4 million customers and they are targetting 6m by September 2005.
Wi-Fi Alliance to jump early on IEEE WLAN standard
Claiming that they want to get the market moving, the Wi-Fi Alliance is starting its certification programme for wireless Quality of Service (QoS) in September before the official declaration of the standard by the IEEE. The IEEE is expected to declare the standard by the end of 2004 at the earliest.
WiFi standards really are a confusing alphabet soup. 802.11b is the original 11Mbps wireless running at 2.4GHz frequency, confusingly 802.11a runs faster at 54Mpbs but at the higher frequency of 5GHz, 802.11g is 54Mbps at 2.4GHz, 802.11i has enhanced security, 802.11h is concerned with spectrum and power control management, 802.11e will provide QoS. Even the trade finds it confusing, never mind the consumer, hence the creations of terms like WiFi.
WME (Wi-Fi Multimedia Extensions), part of 802.11e, will provide QoS which is important for a number of applications. Currently all packets of data on a WiFi network are treated equally, but for some sensitive types of traffic such as video, audio and voice it is more important that those data packets arrive before thing such as web pages. If the sensitive packets do not arrive on time or in order, the playback of them can become choppy – not what the consumer is expecting.
Frank Hanzlik, managing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance explained the importance of this for home media networks, “You need to be able to manage bandwidth and prioritise the packets if you’re sending a video image from your PC to your television.”
Pre-empting the release of standard is a worrying trend that is becoming more common. A commercial entity or industry body gambles that they can possibly influence the market by releasing equipment with their pre-emptive ‘standard’. They hope that if the purchasing public has gone their route and bought substantial amount of equipment using it, it itself becomes the standard.
We have covered the on/off, is it real, is it vapour history of the Phantom Console a number of times.
Phantom Lapboard, which they claim gives easy control over the keyboard and mouse even when sitting on a couch.