Digital-Lifestyles

Simon Perry

  • 3.3.3?

    Hutchinson UK have been preparing for launch their 3G services in the UK for at least two years. Oscar Clark, who I originally met in the streaming (video) world, started working for them back then, lining up games companies to produce content for their network.

    Hutchinson was originally planning to launch in 2002, but here we are in 2003 and they’re saying it will be March. I suspect it might be 3rd March 03, for the very obvious marketing reasons and if this is the case, how could they have not known previously?

    The whole time they’ve been delaying launching, their exclusive deal for Premier league football footage has been ticking away – with none of their customers able to see the content. The cost of the deal was never publicised, but let’s not forget that this deal was signed in the days before ITV digital crashed, so it’s likely to have cost them a lot of cash.

    The uphill path to profitability for the 3G operators has been well documented already and when this is combined with the difficulty I think their average consumer is going to find differentiating between the 3G handsets and offerings like the Orange SPV – apart from the £399/£130 price difference – it will be a ‘challenge’.

  • Powering the Home Network

    There are a growing number of networked devices, such as Xbox, Network receiver appearing in different rooms around the home contributing to digital lifestyles. There’s also a need to have them talking to the network that doesn’t involve re-cabling the house.

    The current buzz is about using wireless networking such as WiFi. Unfortunately most network-enabled entertainment devices only have an Ethernet port on them, not PCMCIA. This could be solved with an adaptor with a RJ-45 (Ethernet) plug at one end and a PCMCIA sheath at the other, enabling WiFi access for any device that has an Ethernet port.

    I’ve been running my wireless network around my house for while now and it’s been great having the liberty of not being restricted to only places where there is a cable. The reality of it is that I don’t get top speed connection all around the house, as I’ve found that WiFi doesn’t really like walls all that much. It does work everywhere (even the garden), but just not super fast.

    Streaming music, video and playing broadband-enabled games need decent flows of data and low lag times.

    There have been a number of standard to address networking in the home using existing, what I’m sure they would call, resident assets. HomePNA uses the phone wiring around your house. This might make sense in some newer countries where there houses where designed to have a phone point in every room, but that is never going to be popular in places like the UK.

    The HomePlug Powerline Alliance method of distribution is the electrical mains circuit, you know the one with all of the outlets in every room in your house. BTW – the average US home has 45 power outlets.

    Pretty much every entertainment device that will be used in a home, be it gaming console, DVR, network receiver, enhanced DVD, will be plugged into the mains, why not use it as the network connection. The benefits of HomePlug are graphic demonstrated here .

    The headline speed is 14Mbps but reading further into it, the yield was actually 5Mbps+ in over 80% of 5000 test cases carried out in 500 homes in the US. That sounds pretty healthy to me – WiFi’s headline of 11Mbps is pretty unachievable anyway. They claim that older wiring does not seriously affect bandwidth loses.

    There are quite a number of companies making products that are for sale now.

    The kind of solution that Phonex Broadband offers in their NeverWire 14 makes a lot on sense. One area that they might win on is the apparent ease of installation and use of their product as their datasheet claims only their product needs no drivers installed on the device that you connect to the network. Pretty essential when you may be plugging and amplifier into it.

    The big boys are also there. NetGear’s offering looking pretty sexy and LinkSys’s functional version.

    Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying WiFi is no use – just that it will coexist.

    I was thinking that you could actually use the HomePLUG to enhance the reach of your network, when I came across the Corinex Wireless 2 Powerline Access Point (AP) which will do exactly that, starting in February, 2003. Siemens do a more discreet version, the SpeedStream Powerline 802.11b Wireless Access Point, which is not much bigger than a plug. They also win for longest product name.

    Corinex appear to be a forward looking company, blending their two strengths of Wireless and HomePlug to provide last mile solutions for service providers. For the distribution within the home they have coined a great phrase ‘last foot’, playing on the old telco ‘last mile’ phrase. They also look like the only company to have the foresight to manufacture UK compatible products.

    I notice that Asoka have a SIP module mentioned – perfect thinking, enabling people to plug in VoIP phone handsets into the mains to make low cost calls.

    The HomePlug Alliance has now started work on their next generation version, HomePlug AV with ten times the capacity, enabling the network to be used, they claim, for multi-stream entertainment including High Definition television (HDTV). They think it will take them 18-24 months to complete.

  • IBC 2003

    I’m delighted to have been asked to exec produce one of the five themes at the IBC 2003 conference. The working title is ‘In the Home’ and heralds the current convergence that is finally arriving in Media. The thought of convergence has been around for a long time but now Media from different formats, such as computers, TV, radio, other video and audio sources, are being consumed on different platforms.

    Something new is happening that is being labelled by some as ‘digital lifestyle’. The strangest things are turning up, network-enabled – DVD-recorders, DVR’s, even audio amplifiers.

    Many changes have been taking place in this area and some of them will impact on media companies.

    The battle for whom and what will control the connections between the HiFi, TV and computers, the Digital Hub, is underway. The biggest names in technology and entertainment companies have thrown their hat into the ring – eg. Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Philips & Sony, as well as newer, smaller innovators such as Pace, SonicBlue, Moxi, Zoran and the creation standards such as TV-Anytime.

    For the viewer, it’s not just about listening to, or viewing of content – it’s also about the finding [locally and remotely], managing, and storing it. For the media companies it’s about what method of distribution will be used, how they will control copying of material.

    It should be an interesting challenge.

  • Xbox Live sells out initial 150k units in a week

    There have been rumblings of problems with the Microsoft Xbox Live, broadband multi-user gaming service that was launched about a week ago, but they’ve sold out the initial 150,000 $50 units within a week.

    They’re also trying to bring a more ‘street’ feel to the product, trying to emulate the big success Sony had doing the same to the PlayStation. MS is building on their current sponsorship of the Vans Triple Crown Series, which covers skateboarding, wakeboarding, surfing, snowboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross.

    Vans, the hallowed skateboard brand, are allowing MS to create Xbox Lounges at eleven Vans Skate parks around the US, so the ‘Kids’ can take a rest from skateboarding, pick up an Xbox controller and … err … play virtual skateboarding on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 and three other non-skateboarding games.

    MS see the importance of broadening the awareness of online gaming by getting people to recommend it, and to this end Xbox Live will be available at all but two of the sites, only as those sites don’t have broadband connections.

  • Couch viewable computers

    After writing yesterday about lack of households who have their computers connected to their TV, I was prompted to take a look around the technology that may be coming to your lounge soon, allowing your media to be viewed or listened to from different sources.

    Intel solution is their Digital Media Adapter (DMA). Containing an Xscale processor and its own interface program displaying on the TV that allows the user to browse images, audio files and video stored on their PC or Media Server via a simple handheld remote control. This is then fed through to the TV or HiFi unit. The DMA and PC can be connected either by cables or wirelessly.

    Sony’s RoomLink is currently for sale in Japan and will be having a US spring release at a targeted $199 that appears to work on the same principle. Interestingly RoomLink will only pull media from Sony Vaio computers.

    I noticed an illustration of the power of the US media companies in the piece – the US release will not be able to stream DVD video between devices, as the Japanese version does.

    What’s not clear is whether Sony is using the Intel’s DMA. If you can drag yourself through the overview video, the style of which is what you might call dry, you’ll see the Sony “Vaio Media” server. Of course it might just be coincidence.

    This looks very much like a first step, bridging technology that will fill that gap until TV and audio equipment are produced network enabled. Given the wrangling over digitally held video content, that might be quite a gap.

  • Movielink by proxy

    Rob Pegoraro has written a spirited review of the new Movielink Internet-delivered film service that’s backed by the media powerhouses Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros.

    After hitting problems straight off and forced to use a recent MS browser, he not hugely impressed. As it’s not truly Video On Demand (VOD), it took 3 hours 25 to download the movie on his home DSL and, as he points out, it’s quicker to pop down to the local video store.

    I think he’s slightly unfair about the delay in getting the films. I imagine, if it is going to be used, it’s going to be more like a Tivo-like DVR – you make your selection and watch it later that night or any time in the next 30 days. It’s more likely to be competition for NetFlix but they clearly easily win on breadth of content, currently. That could vanish if the studios feel more secure about releasing material on the Internet.

    I was concerned about his reports of video breaking up in the fast sections, but it’s reported that this will be improved in the next six months.

    With these draw backs, I can’t see it being used in its current form by anyone other than computer enthusiasts and journalists writing reviews.

    I’m sure the people running the Movielink have all read Tom Peters and believe in the marketing power of being first – and as nothing outside the movie world exists for them, they probably think they are the first.

    But Tom, as all his close personal friends call him, also talks about quality and that seems to be missing in pretty vital areas – the breadth of selection and video quality.

    Does it really matter at the moment? After all, not many households have their computer connected to their TV’s and without that, huddling around a monitor in a strange part of the house, frankly isn’t an enjoyable family viewing experience.

    They’ve got to get into the lounge. The real opportunity is for companies with Internet connected DVR’s, like the SonicBlue ReplyTV, to make it a slick, easy to use, couch viewable experience. Given the large amount of bad blood between SonicBlue and the media, I would imagine the more forward-looking DVR companies are speaking to Movielink.

    In case you wondered why I’m piggy backing on someone’s review – I would have written my own review but thanks to Movielink’s “GeoFilter” and by an accident of geography, I wasn’t able to. Anyone accessing the site coming from an IP address outside the US, of which I’m one, will be met with a fantastic piece of upbeat American corporate lingo that just shouts NO (our licensing doesn’t permit) …

    Thank you for your interest in Movielink. We want you to take part in the powerful Internet movie rental experience that Movielink delivers, but …

  • ZigBee – The everywhere PAN

    In the current flurry of new wireless networking, we have a new player on the block – ZigBee, the new PAN (Personal Area Network) protocol.

    It’s been designed to be very low in power consumption and for most of the applications being targeted, its 2 AA batteries should have a life of 6 months to 2 years, but that does vary by application. One of its secrets is that the devices will only communicate when their application deems necessary.

    With it’s maximum data rate is 250kbps, compared to 1 Mbps for Bluetooth but as we know, modems speeds are around a fifth of this, so it’s not painfully slow and many applications for devices don’t need loads of bandwidth.

    Range is expected to be ~30 meters in a typical home, compared to ~10 meters for unamplified Bluetooth products.

    ZigBee networking capabilities include 254 devices per network, compared to 8 for Bluetooth networks. There can also be up to 100 co-located networks.

    With its small stack size (28Kbytes), which is about 10th of the Bluetooth – so the computing spec required to run it will be lower.

    The entire bill of materials for a radio module is expected to initially be $6.00, coming quickly down to $2.00 to $3.00. Significantly lower than any other wireless network technology.

    Products are expected to be available in middle of 2003 and it’s projected that over 400 million units will be produced per year by 2006.

    Low cost wireless control within the home has a chance of becomes a reality.

  • Innovation … from BT?

    I was more than surprised to see some ‘connected thinking’ (excuse the management speak) from BT today.

    I’ve always said that one of the barriers to the general public taking up of broadband is that fact that they’ve never seen it, and why would you want something that you’ve never see. The same applied to the early days of Sky’s satellite delivered programming. Additionally the terms that are used to promote broadband, such as always-on are pretty meaningless to people with no experience or technology background.

    BT payphones has decided, for a limited period, to give FREE broadband access at their new blue kiosks which are scattered around some sixty nine high streets around the UK.

  • Chinese broadband uptake to jump 500% this year

    China currently has almost three times the number of UK broadband users but Strategy Analytics estimate they will have 37 million by 2008.

  • Sky and BT strengthen ADSL relationship

    Sky and BT have had a strategic relationship for a long time. Initially it was because Sky needed a return path for their STB’s and back then the only realistic provider of this was a BT phone line. Things went a little frosty a while back when there were rumours that BT might use their network to become a broadcaster but it’s now all lovey-dovey again.

    Back in February this year, BT made a know for a while that Sky has had a DSL connected STB/DVR, so clearly a wider take-up for broadband could benefit them in delivering content.

  • Sky customers who subscribe to cheaper packages but will see an advantage for upgrading to get the deal.
  • An unknown is the amount of money that Sky will be paid for each of their subscribers that sign up for the service hasn’t been disclosed.
  • I would also assume that BT has had to give legal assurances that it will not use the ADSL lines to provide content that will compete again Sky.

BT will get to strengthen their hold on UK broadband subscribers.

Quite a good deal to Sky then at first glance.