Digital-Lifestyles

Simon Perry

  • Virgin Media Sign Mobile/Broadband UK Football Deal

    Virgin Media Sign Mobile/Broadband UK Football DealAs we all know Virgin Media and Sky TV have been having a little spat.

    Now Virgin Media are taking a leaf out of Sky’s book and signing up rights to distribute sports.

    The Football League have signed a deal that will see the Coca-Cola Football League matches will be delivered to Virgin Media’s broadband and mobile phone platforms for the first time.

    Starting on 11 August and running for two seasons, the highlights of league 1 and 2 will be available to watch on-demand for up to one week after transmission.

    No surprisingly, Malcolm Wall, chief executive officer of content at Virgin Media, earnestly sang, “We’re committed to investing in great content for our customers and this new partnership will give football fans a genuinely value-added service.”

    Virgin Media Sign Mobile/Broadband UK Football DealThe Championship, as it’s abbreviated to by those who follow it, is the step down from the UK Premier League, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a load of cash involved with it. Deloitte are on record as finding that, in 2004-05, it was the richest non-top flight football division in the world.

    Why?
    No matter how poor, or not, football teams are, they do a very loyal fans, so much so that making their matches available on on-demand may encourage people to change their mobile or broadband provider. Or that’s the bet that Virgin Media are making.

    Commercial terms were not disclosed.

  • Fake iPhone From China: Video

    Fake iPhone From China: VideoDarn clever those Chinese. Not only have they copied the iPhone, but they went and did it _before_ the iPhone was released – this video dates back to 10 May.

    The branding it a little confused, sometimes tPhone, other iPhone, but it looks very similar, even down to the much-publicised ‘green balls’ wallpaper.

    Now the actual iPhone is out, we can only imagine the quality of the copies that are being bundled into boxes and making their way over to all corners of the world.

    With the change of approach to IPR from the Chinese government – they now see their future as a creative nation, so want to protect ideas – copy products like this will be a thing of the past.

    Video after the jump
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  • 4 Digital Group Gain 10 National DAB Licenses

    4 Digital Group Gain National DAB LicenseThe champagne corks have been popping in the 4 digital group offices this morning, as they hear from Ofcom that they have been successful in their bid to gain 10 national DAB radio licences.

    The group, lead by UK TV network Channel 4, has the ambition of providing a serious competitor to the dominant national BBC radio services, to provide a “distinctive and different experience of radio.”
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  • Your Own Embedded Flash Video Player: HowTo Part II

    Your Own Embedded Flash Video Player: HowToYesterday we looked at the YouTube player and how it became so successful so quickly. In this final part, you’ll see how you can free yourself of YouTube and other video serving sites and DIY.

    Doing It Yourself
    We’re now entering the next era of embedding video on your site – Doing It Yourself.

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  • Your Own Embedded Flash Video Player: HowTo

    Your Own Embedded Flash Video Player: HowToPutting video on your site or blog using someone else’s embedded video player is pretty old hat these days – there are just so many tools and services around to help you.

    We know things move pretty fast on the Internet, so we thought we’d bring you up to speed with an emerging stage beyond YouTube-esque sites – running your own embedded video player.
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  • T-Mobile iPhone European Deal? Official “No Comment”

    T-Mobile iPhone European Deal? Official Where does the insanity of the iPhone coverage go now? The US hoopla is over, so the media needs another hook, and today sees it heighten – the battle of the European operators to have the exclusive for the iPhone.
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  • Wii Sales 6:1 Against PS3 In Japan

    Wii Sales 6:1 Against PS3 In JapanFurther news of the power of the Wii arrives, with Japanese data service Famitsu Marketing Data Service reporting that the Nintendo Wii outsold the PS3 again in Japan.

    June saw another factor of one being added to the previous two months of PS3 thrashing with Wii outselling it 6.5 to one. The figure quoted are 270,974 Wiis against 41,628 PS3s.

    April saw a ratio 4:1 of Wii to PS3 sales and May a 5:1.

    Clearly these latest figures are just one territory, but we’ve been pointing out how much more popular the Wii was with the public since before its UK launch.

    The Xbox 360 is relatively no where with a tiny 17,616 being sold, putting the Wii outselling it at 15 to one!

  • Nokia HF-300 Speakerphone Announced

    Nokia Speakerphone HF-300 AnnouncedNokia, king of mobile phones, has announced a Speakerphone, the HF-300.

    It’s a functional-looking device that isn’t going to set the catwalk-goers alight with whoops of joy.

    They’ve done well in reducing the number of buttons to three on the battery-powered device, with two of those being volume controls. They’ve even missed off a power button, as it switches itself off when it’s not being used.
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  • iPhone Give 55% Margin Say iSupply: Apple Share Rise

    iPhone Give 55% Margin Say iSupply: Apple Share RiseiSupply did one of their usual Teardown’s on the Apple iPhone, estimating that they are on a 55% margin for each 8Gb phone that they sell.

    The Teardown involves taking new consumer devices apart, as soon as they’re released, and working out how much they cost manufacturers to build and therefore how much profit – or loss – the sale of each device brings.

    Such is the influence of iSupply these days, the news of the very healthy margin appeared to cause a rise in the value of Apple’s shares, up 4.9%.

    The bill of materials and manufacturing costs totalled $265.83, with the iPhone selling for $599.

    Given the close-to-lunatic media coverage (you’ll have noticed that we’ve been rather restrained, if not a little dismissive of the madness), we suspect that there’ll be triples all around at Apple’s 1 Infinite Loop office and some big celebrations over the 4 July holiday in the US today.

    iSupply

  • AllofMP3.com Gets Closed Down

    AllofMP3.com Gets Closed DownAllofMP3.com, the hugely popular Russian music download site (as we’ve been covering) has been closed down again after Russian authorities caved in under the relentless diplomatic pressure from the international record industry and governments.

    The music download site, the second most popular in the UK after iTunes, flogged songs at a fraction of the cost of other sites, thanks to its alleged cavalier attitude towards copyright law.
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