Steve Kennedy – Page 8 – Digital-Lifestyles

Possible Impact Of Sky Buying EasyNet

Possible Impact Of Sky Buying EasyNet Sky have been mulling about an IPTV service for a while. They were in discussions with THUS who provide the telecoms back-end for their SkyTalk service and helped Sky with their WapTV services, they were talking about doing an IPTV trial with THUS, but THUS pulled out of the LLU arena due to lack of cash. They were looking at spending £20m+ on just a trial.

Though Sky have 7.3m+ subscribers, they estimate around 20% of households (in the coverage) areas cant get Sky due to dish or coverage problems (including multi-tennant buildings). City centres tend to be problematic due to high buildings obscuring the satellites. There’s also a major problem if the building is in anyway listed.

Possible Impact Of Sky Buying EasyNet Sky have got the resources to bolster a depressed telecoms market and put the necessary cash into a company to achieve a reasonable roll-out. Of course they also have the content that consumers want. If another “triple-play” broadband provider wants to get into the game (including BT Retail), Sky can make it very difficult for them by not licensing Sky content (of course Ofcom may force them to, as they have done in the cable industry).

Sky have also been talking to other high-speed broadband providers such as Be who also want to offer a triple-play.

If Sky do purchase Easynet, it’s likely they’ll move all their telecoms and Internet activities to them too, which will put THUS in a difficult position as a large ammount of corporate revenue comes from the Sky account.

Possible Impact Of Sky Buying EasyNet Sky are also in an odd position as they’ll probably utilise MPEG-4 as the coding system, which means they’ll have to modify (or supplement) their existing transmission systems which are all based on MPEG-2. They’ll also have to introduce a new IP based set-top-box. However they’ll have to be carefull as to not make it too feature rich compared to existing STB’s used to decode the satellite transmissions or existing users will want to migrate to the broadband version – which will cost Sky a huge ammount as the exisitng boxes are considerably subsidised.

Whatever route they go, Sky moving into triple-play will have a major impact on broadband and LLU in the UK.

Considering Apple’s Impact

Considering Apple's Impact Last night Apple launched 3 new products (as we briefly noted). A new versionof iTunes, updated iMacs and as expected, a video-enabled iPod.

New iMac G5
They’re faster and thinner (and the 20″ version is cheaper than itsprevious incarnation). They now include an iSight (video camera) builtinto the unit and come with new software “Front Row” which include anIR remote, looking suspiciously like an iPod shuffle which attaches tothe side of the iMac (the IR receiver is allegedly hidden behind theApple logo).

Already considered a design classic, the new iMacs look even better, butin reality though Apple have added more power for the buck, they’rejust iMacs. However the real innovation is Front Row which is designed to directly compete with Microsoft’s Media PC, and it does this by using Apple iLife applications being simple to use and control(the Microsoft Media PC has 24+ buttons, the Apple remote has 6).

Considering Apple's Impact Front Row gives extremely simple access to content stored on the iMacincluding music through iTunes, videos (including the newly availablevideo content that’s available through iTunes), photos stored in iPhotoand DVD’s though iDVD. The remote works up to 30 feet away from theunit.

Currently Apple are not saying whether Front Row will be available asan upgrade for existing Mac users, however the new universal iPod dockdoes have an IR receiver on the front and the remote is available as aseparate purchase so an educated guess would be that it will be.

The iSight is a nice addition (the add-on version costs over GBP 100),but it’s a fantastic webcam. It obviously works with iChat (Apple’s IMsystem) allowing video conferencing with up to 3 other people, andthere’s now Photo Booth which allows snap-shots to be taken and thenmanipulated by adding effects etc.

Both the 17″ and 20″ come with 8x SuperDrives which are now dual-layer(DVD+R DL/DVD+-RW/CD-RW), they have a PCI-X bus (faster than the oldPCI bus) and PCI-X video cards (17″ is a Radion X600 PRO and the 20″ aX60 PRO XT). Both come with 512MB RAM expandable to 2.5GB, the 17″ witha 160GB SATA disk and 20″ with 250GB. CPU speeds have been upped to1.9GHz (17″) and 2.1GHz (20″). UK pricing starts at GBP 899 (inc VAT)for the 17″ and GBP 1,199 for the 20″.

Considering Apple's Impact Since there’s no base unit (everything is built into the actualdisplay) the amount is space they require is minimal. They’d look justas good on a desk as in the living room.

Video-capable iPod
The 5th generation iPod is here, though probably not what manyexpected. It’s just a prettier, thinner version of the iPod Photo witha larger screen (now 2.5″). The iPod’s lines are now much closer tothat of the new iMacs (excepting the click wheel and of course it nowgenerally available in black as well as white).

The screen is crisp, clear and remarkably bright, though it’s only320 x 240 resolution, which is good enough to watch music videos andsuch like, but rather small compared to other devices on the market.However album art, podcasts etc. with some aspect of video (or photo)content does look very good. Though Apple have probably alreadydeveloped a widescreen video iPod, why launch it now just to give thecompetition a chance to catch-up? The new iPod is a step change overexisting versions and everyone is again going to have to compete withit.

Currently video can only be imported through iTunes (like photos),however this is likely to be a move to appease the movie studios.Whether they’ll be an upgrade to iTunes to import (noncopyright/encrypted) video content is yet to be seen, it might nothappen for a while. The iPod plays MPEG4 and H.264 video content.

If the iPod is plugged into a dock, the video can be sent to anexternal display like a TV, but it’s still only sent at 320 x 240 whichlooks pixelated.

There are a few extras in-line with the nano, such as extra clocks,being able to lock the unit, more games etc. A real improvement is thecalendar application which suits the new display perfectly.

Pricing is GBP 219 for the 30GB version and GBP 299 for 60GB (both incVAT).

iTunes 6
Considering Apple's Impact iTunes 5 was launched with the iPod nano, and a month later there’s nowiTunes 6 to go with the 5th generation model. The main new advance isvideo content, there are now around 2000 music videos available on theiTunes music store (unfortunately there’s still a huge pricedifferential between the US and UK with a music video costing $1.99 inthe US and GBP 1.89 in the UK – with the UK getting panned on price, as usual).

Since Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) is also CEO of Pixar (the animationcompany that made Finding Nemo, The Incredibles etc) there’s 6 PixarShorts also available for purchase on the iTunes store (same price as amusic video).

In the US there’s also terrestrial TV shows available from ABC and theDisney Channel (Lost, Desperate Housewives and others). Why may TVshows available as downloads when you can buy DVD sets? Because itgives revenue for PVR opportunities i.e. it’s unlikely someone willdownload every episode of Lost, but they will download and pay for theepisode they missed last night (and can watch it on their hour commuteto work), iTunes makes it incredibly easy to do this, rather thanworking out how to set your PVR, and then getting the content off it.Though content can be watched through iTunes, it’s likely more peoplewill use it with their iPod.

It’s somewhat odd that Apple are working with Disney as Pixar have beenvery publicly rowing with Disney over distribution agreements fortheir films. What people forget is that Pixar are contracted to make 6new films for Disney, so assuming that’s one a year that’s 6 years tosettle the arguments (even lawyers can work to those timescales). It’sjust a matter of money, Pixar want more and Disney don’t want to payit. By the time 6 years are up it’s likely they’ll be buddies again andboth with have reached a happy compromise.

Considering Apple's Impact The video aspects of the iTunes store, though limited at the moment,are a major break-through (even ground-breaking) especially with thecurrent shows being available. Disney obviously have a huge amount ofcontent they could make available if all the legal intricacies can besorted. Once one studio cracks, they’ll all follow suit.

It shows how successful iTunes is considering that arch rivals Realand Microsoft have just made an agreement to share technology etc andjoin forces rather than fighting with each other to try and expand the25% of the market they JOINTLY command.

There’s some other new features of iTunes, gifting which allows anyoneto give away a track, albums, music videos or their playlists to anyother registered iTunes user (i.e. the gifter purchases it and it’smade available to another user for download).

Just for You is in beta, whereby iTunes suggest purchases based onprevious behaviour – a suggestion engine.

One of the most request features for podcasts has been user ratings andthis is now available, so like a podcast you can now rate it and themore ratings it get, the higher up the listings it goes.

Considering Apples future

Considering Apple's Impact Apple’s future has definitely been shaped by the iPod (they sold 1mNanos in 17 days – how many returned was, not surprisingly undefined) which is molding how the company moves forward.

Macsare becoming companions for iPods rather than the other way around. Keyto all of this is content and iTunes is definately leading the way with75%+ market share (globally) and higher in specific markets (UK it’sover 85%).

If Apple can crack the video market, they’re going to dominate for along time, and though the 5Gen iPod is a step in the right direction,it’s just that. Though Apple never pre-announce products you can besure the 6Gen and even 7Gen iPods are already designed and waiting in thewings and they’ll be full blown widescreen systems.

Macs are going to change as Apple move away from IBM Power processorsto Intel CPUs, but that’s an internal change and they’ll stillergonomically beat the pants of almost everything else out there.

Apple

BT OpenReach – LLU Smoke and Mirrors?

BT has today set-up a new division, known as OpenReach. They’ve been under pressure from some time from competitors and regulators to curb their monopolistic tendencies (they still own over 85% if the infrastructure in the UK). There has even been talk of splitting BT up – although OfCom has currently reject this.

BT’s response is OpenReach. A division that runs the copper in the ground, which will give equal access to BT Wholesale (who can sell it on with services to BT Retail and others) and non-BT operators in the local loop unbundling (LLU) game (such as Bulldog, Easynet etc). OpenReach (Don’t you find that Open seems to be BT’s buzzword – OpenWorld was first, perhaps BT Open will be next, then all their divisions will convert with the word Open tacked to it) will still be a division of BT Group (maybe now OpenGroup?) but will be run by the EAB (Equal Access Board) which is made up of both BT, and more importantly, non-BT people.

Smoke and mirrors
Though this is a look like a commendable approach, it may also be a huge gambit that BT are playing in order to keep everyone’s eye off their real game.

Ofcom (the Super Regulator) are under tremendous pressure to maintain a level telecoms playing field, this is added to by the UK government putting further pressure on them, as broadband is seen to be a key economic marker. This has made Ofcom wield a double-edged sword – forcing BT to maintain wholesale pricing on their ADSL services (i.e. not lower them), until there at least 1.5m unbundled lines in the UK.

At first glance this sounds like a good idea, as it gives the LLU operators a chance to launch their services without BT suddenly reacting and putting everyone out of business by massive wholesale price cuts. However, the other side of this is that there are 5m+ BT Wholesale customers (via broadband ISPs) out there now who won’t see massive price cuts.

What’s good for LLU is probably not so good (at least in the short term) for the majority of broadband users in the UK – and by implication the population of the UK.

OpenReach doesn’t help those users either, in fact it just adds another level of confusion.

Distraction
BT’s competition now have to worry about what OpenReach are up to, and gives the opportunity for another several years of arguments and Ofcom intervention. While everyone’s arguing with each other (sadly not BT), they are taking their eye off BT’s long term plans. This is a big mistake, and if they don’t correct this, they won’t be in business in the future.

BT to a degree want this, they have teams of regulatory lawyers who, after long period of discussion, can agree to certain things and make life look lovely in one sentence, while tying things in red-tape in another. It’s well worth noting that BT have a bigger regulatory department than Ofcom have staff.

What’s to be done with LLU in the UK?
LLU operators are slowly gaining a foothold and launching innovative services, leaving BT to catch-up. Unfortunately there are less than 100,000 unbundled lines compared to BT’s 5m+ DSL customers and their 25m connected premises.

To make LLU economic, the operators are picking exchanges that have a high population density and the ‘right’ demographic – leading to all the operators tending to pick the same exchanges. There are 5,600 digital local exchanges (DLEs) in the UK, even an operator with a LOT of money is likely to target less than 1,000 of them, most seem to be averaging around 400.

The real boost to LLU that’s needed is co-operation. If all the non-BT operators pooled their resources and built a operator-neutral broadband network that any of them could run services over, they would end up with a network that would start to compete with BT’s. Telecoms operators and ISPs need to realise the real competition isn’t each other, but BT.

21CN, BT’s OpenReach killer?
In the medium term BT are rolling out their 21CN (21st Century Network) which links all of BT’s DLEs using IP. All phone calls become VoIP (voice over IP) and every home has a high speed broadband IP connection.

BT will also launch a range of services to go with their new IP only offering such as IPTV (Internet TV).

By 2009 BT expect to turn off the existing PSTN (public switched telephone network) and all of the UK will be running on the IP 21CN.

This will be great for consumers, potentially 24Mb/s broadband into every home, plug in a VoIP phone and it will just work, High Definition (HD) TV into every bedroom. The downside is it has the potential to put all of BT’s competition out of business in one fell swoop.

BT deregulated with VoIP
BT have been very clever. They’ve supported Ofcom in their views of not heavily regulating VoIP, allowing “new wave” VoIP providers to flourish without being burdened in regulatory red-tape.

Seems strange doesn’t it? Until you realise that when BT’s 21CN rolls-out, it will ALL be VoIP. Suddenly BT are free to do things with it that under the current telecoms environment they might face regulatory scrutiny.

Ofcom are then in a difficult position as they can’t make one rule for BT and another for everyone else. Their choice? They leave VoIP lightly regulated, or make it very regulated and make it difficult for all those new players.

BT OpenReach is a good start, is it too little too late?

iPod Nano; Mot ROKR; iTunes 5 – Apple kills the competition (again)

iPod Nano; Mot ROKR; iTunes 5 - Apple kills the competition (again) iTunes 5.0
The iTunes software for PC and Mac has now reached v5, it’s available for immediate download from Apple’s site (and via software update for Mac users).

It features a “refined” interface with a new “search bar” making it easier for users to find what they’re looking for, playlists can be organised into folders, Smart Shuffle allows users change the randomness of their shuffled songs.

Windows users also get the added benefit of being able to sync contacts and calendars from Outlook (Mac users have had this ability through iLife for a long time).

iTunes software unsuprisingly integrates seemlessly with the iTunes music store which (in the UK) accounts for at least 80% of all downloaded music. There’s now over 1.7 million songs available, 15,000 podcasts and 10,000 audio books.

iPod Nano; Mot ROKR; iTunes 5 - Apple kills the competition (again) Motorola ROKR
The Motorola ROKR (pronouced rocker) is a quad band GSM phone with iTunes built-in. It can hold 100 songs and connects to a PC (or Mac) via a USB connection. Apart from the iTunes software (which can bedirectly accessed from a button on the front of the phone) it’s a normal Motorola phone. You either like them, or you don’t. It’s still encumbered with Motorola’s quirky menu system.

If you’re listening to iTunes and the phone rings etc, it will pause the song playing and you can return to it when you’ve finished the call.

The phone does have some good features with passable stereo speakers and pretty good playback through headphones. Battery life is meant to be good too, though exact figures were not quoted.

It’s available in the US now exclusively through Cingular.

iPod nano
The nano is the new iPod killer. It’s tiny, but holds up to 4GB (1000 songs, though there’s a 500 song/2GB version available too). It’s got a colour screen and a click-wheel. It comes with a USB 2.0 cable, earbud phones and a CD with iTunes, etc.

The colour screen gives it away, it’s an iPod Photo shrunk to miniscule dimensions, bigger than a Shuffle, but smaller than a mini – and thin (it hides behind a number 2 pencil). It features a standard 30pin dockconnector port, so can be used with most (if not all) mini or standard accessories. Apple have put in a couple extra bits of software like world clocks (you set your normal country, but can select as many otherclocks relating to a country as you wish, each clock shows whether it’s day or night), there’s also a screen lock – to stop others messing with your nano. It can also hold 25,000 photos (when synced through iTunes).

Apple have also released some specific nano accessories like tubes (sleeves in various colour, 5 in a pack), lanyard headphones, armbands and a dock. These should be available within 30 days.

Apple may have been losing to the competition in the lower end of the market especially in the solid state arena, however the nano changes all that (it’s got 4GB of solid-state memory in it, not a hard disc like the iPod Mini) and it’s going to knock the competion for six, it’s got all the “Designed in California” (of course by a Brit, but they keep quite about that) sex appeal and the packaging is superb. It’s smaller than almost everything out there. You’re going to want one for Xmas … actually, on reflection, you’re going to want one of these straight away.

Pricing for the nano is $249 for the 4GB (+ local taxes) or in the UK, £179 inc VAT, in Europe Eu 239. The 2GB model is $199, or GBP 139 inc VAT in the UK and is available now.

The best thing about it though, you can get it in white or black.

Apple iPod Nano
Motorola ROKR
Apple iTunes 5

PocketParty Review: Clip-on iPod speakers

PodGear PockParty
The PocketParty is a speaker unit that plugs onto your iPod (1st generation iPods aren’t supported). It’s a white lump about 3 inches long and 1 inch square with 2 speaker grills at either end. It holds an AA battery and claims to have about 10 hours life per battery (it’s rated at 1W).

Having its own battery should mean (as claimed) it doesn’t use the battery of the iPod, but since it’s driven through the headphone output means there must be some drain on the iPod itself.

There’s a little switch on the side that allows the unit to be turned off which should conserve power when not in use.

PocketParty – a party in your pocket!
The PocketParty is reasonably loud, however it’s not a replacement for a set of external speakers. Using it in your car is going to be a disappointment, engine noise will drown it out.

You’re not going to be able to hold an open-air rave in the middle of a field with it, unless it’s just for a small collection of friends.

Where it can sound fine is in a tent or some other quiet environment not distracted by other noise.

Settings the EQ makes a huge difference, the PocketParty can sound quite flat (the speakers are only an inch square), using in dance mode made it sound fuller.

PodGear PockParty Is this something to buy? It’s VERY convenient as it’s so small and does easily fit in your pocket (as the name suggests) and it can be heard by a a group of people in the right surroundings.

It’s not going to burst your eardrums, but then that’s probably a good thing.

Star rating: 3/5

PodGear

NOTE: To hear anything the iPod volume had to be set at least half way, to get reasonable volume at least 3/4’s. This was on a European iPod which have their max volume scuppered due to EU regulations. There are “hacks” that can be found to remove the EU limitations and allow the volume to be cranked up to the same levels as the people with bleading ears in the US.

HowTo: Play Films on PSP

Watching movies on the road Sony’s PlayStation Portable is a media hub, but unfortunately, apart from games there isn’t really any content available for it (not forgetting unlucky UK citizens who can’t even officially buy one until September).

It’s possible to put MP3’s on to your memory stick (Duo Pro) and listen to them through your PSP, but an iPod is probably a better system for just audio.

What makes the PSP special is its screen, very bright, lots of colours and wide. When Sony release movies on UMD they’ll sell thousands and you’ll get the public transport commuter zombies staring at their PSPs, earphones stuffed in their ears watching the latest blockbuster trying their hardest to escape from the real world.

Become a Zombie now

Though it’s not possible to get UMD movies yet, the PSP will play MPEG4 movies off the memory stick. A 1GB memory stick costs about £100 (~US$177, ~€148) which will hold about 2 full length movies (more, if quality is compromised).

Making movies used to be complicated, but luckily there are programs out there that considerably simplify the process and make it easy.

Watching movies on the road Using an Apple Mac has many advantages and ripping DVDs is one of them. Look for an application MacTheRipper, it does exactly what is says on the tin, and takes the MPEG2 information from a DVD while removing region coding, macrovision and other DVD annoyances and stores the resulting files on the hard disk.

In order to make it PSP friendly, just extract the main title.

Now find a nice utility PSPWARE, which links the Mac with the PSP. It backs-up saved programs from the PSP, but from the Mac to PSP it does a whole lot more, like syncing photo albums, playlists from iTunes but more importantly movies.

PSPWARE just takes the movie directory (produced from MacTheRipper) and magically out pops some MPEG4 files. They take a while to convert, but when the PSP is plugged in, they zap across and just work.

They really do look good and are very watchable.

Watching movies on the road Windows users don’t despair

PSPWARE has just been released for Windows with the same functionality as the Mac version. Unfortunately though there are DVD rippers out there they can be difficult to use.

DVDdecrypter was one of the best (very similar to MacTheRipper) and it’s still available from various sites, but the author has stopped supporting it as he was “put under pressure” from a major corporation.

PSPWARE is available from NullRiver it costs about £8 (~US$14~€11) for a perpetual license (free upgrades).

MacTheRipper is availble from RipDifferent and is freeware.

Windows users will have to do a bit of digging for DVDdecrypter – but it’s out there and free.

NOTE: Incredible as it may seem, making digital copies of films may be illegal in your country, even if for personal use.

France Telecom / Cable and Wireless Potential Deal Examined

Last weekend there was a report that France Telecom (FT) were rumored to be buying Cable and Wireless (C&W) for GBP 4bn. FT has of course denied it.

Though the telco market is consolidating, it does seem an odd match.

FT is the French equivalent of British Telecom (BT) the incumbent operator. The French government still owns a considerable portion of FT (though it has recently released a number of shares on to the open market).

C&W a UK monolith

C&W comes from the old school of telecoms, it’s a giant. It was half of the duoploy with BT when the telecoms market deregulated in 1994 (under the Mercury brand). It became very cash rich (to the annoyance of C&W’s shareholders), but like every other telco was hit hard by the telecoms crash after the dot com boom. They sold of their US operations (apart from the Caribean where they are still a virtual monopoly and very profitable) and have concentrated on their core UK operations.

As a telco, C&W has become very aggressive with their pricing especially in the wholesale minutes market and carry a lot of traffic for UK “switchless” providers and Carrier PreSelect (CPS) companies. They’ve become so aggressive they’ve been accused of predatory pricing (i.e. selling under cost to win business in the hope that it wins further business) but that’s not been proven.

They are trying to move into new areas and have announced new products such as VoIP, but as yet these are really marketing noises.

One area where they have invested in and have made real progress is Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) with their purchase of Bulldog (for GBP 18m). Bulldog have now unbundled about 400 exchanges and have plans to unbundle another 400 by the end of the year.

The C&W and Bulldog acquisition has had teething problems, cutting over to the vastly increased C&W infrastructure didn’t go particularly smoothly with customers losing connectivity for hours at a time. There are still on-going problems.

FT and C&W, not an ideal match

Would FT purchase C&W, well they might, but it would be an expensive buy.

France Telecom / Cable and Wireless Potential Deal Examined Wanadoo (the ISP arm of FT) has stated they are going to invest EU 300m in unbundling exchanges (in the first year) and rumour has it there’s a total of EU 1bn over 3 years for LLU. So FT could buy C&W just for the LLU aspects, but really does seem excessive. C&W bought Bulldog for GBP 18m and they’ve invested at least 10’s of million into them. So 4bn is a HUGE premium to pay for a ready made network and 10’s of thousands of customers. Wanadoo already have considerably more broadband customers than Bulldog.

C&W have a big network, with good links into most of the telecoms companies in the UK, that might be of some value but the global number of call minutes is decreasing (as people move to VoIP) and the value per minute is decreasing even more rapidly (as flat rate calls – especially in the VoIP arena – become the norm). A call to anywhere in the world is now approaching around 2c (on average) per minute.

Another minus point is that FT already have a UK network (they purchased Equant), so having an old legacy telecoms network can’t seem that attractive.

There’s also Orange to worry about (the mobile side of FT), they also have considerable UK telecoms infrastructure.

All in all it doesn’t seem a good fit, though of course there may be another completely hidden agenda.

France Telecom
Cable and Wireless
Bulldog DSL

JVC MP-XV841 MiniNote Review: Small is beautiful

JVC MiniNote MP-XV841GB: Small is beautiful The JVC Mini Note (MP-XV841GB) is what’s known as a sub-notebook, but for such a small system it’s packed with features. What is immediately noticeable is the fantastic screen which is extremely bright and sharp and in a widescreen format (about 9 inches across diagonally) perfect for playing DVD’s on the move. The screen resolution is 1024 x 600.

It’s powered by a 1GHz Pentium processor (Centrino) with speed-step technology, so it slows down to save battery when you don’t need the processing power. Unfortunately the base system only comes with 256MB of memory which is just about enough to run Windows XP (Professional, which came with the unit), though another 512MB can be installed by the user by removing a few screws in the base and inserting and clipping in a single expansion card.

JVC MiniNote MP-XV841GB: Small is beautiful The internal drive plays DVD’s (and comes with WinDVD so you can watch them) and also writes CD’s (both CD-R and R/W). There’s 2 USB ports, an i.link (or IEEE-1394/Firewire) port, 10/100 Ethernet, a V.90 modem, microphone and line out jacks. The in-built microphone is OK for Internet chat type applications and the stereo speakers have a virtual surround sound. You can plug in an external monitor with a supplied adapter, there’s a PC Card slot and a slot for an SD memory card. Not forgetting the built-in WiFi for connecting to wireless networks or hotspots. The disk drive is 40GB split into a drive C: and D:

The docking station/port replicator which comes with is plugs into the same connector as the external monitor, giving you 4 USB ports, an Ethernet socket (LAN), standard VGA connector and an optical digital out so you can listen to your DVD’s through an external surround sound decoder.

JVC Mini Note MP-XV841GB: Small is beautiful JVC include some reasonable software. Pinnacle Studio v9 which is a simple video editing package (supporting capturing video from your DV camera through the firewire port), Real Networks RealOne player, Norton Antivirus (with a 3 month subscription), WinDVD for DVD playback and CC converter a sound enhancing utility.

All work makes you a dull boy
The Mini Note is a full featured PC, though definitely aimed at the user on the move who wants to use the media friendly features – at a light weight. Unfortunately though usable, the keyboard is just too small to do real work and plugging in an external keyboard is definitely needed if you want to touch type (unless you have tiny fingers). The pointing device is a small nipple type in the keyboard and again is usable, though I didn’t find it particularly easy.

JVC MiniNote MP-XV841GB: Small is beautiful Summary
All in all it is a good system, the screen is one of the best out there, it’s got enough grunt to run most standard applications, but I found it too small to use as a desktop machine without external additions. For such a light and portable system it’s pretty usable for working on the move and watching DVD’s.

JCV MP-XV841 MiniNote

Shure E4c Review: Perfect Earpod For The iPod

Summary
While they are expensive, if you want excellent sound reproduction, noise isolation and good looks, these fit the bill.

UK Street Price	£190.00
UK Amazon Price	£157.58
US Amazon Price	$299.00
UK PriceGrabber
US PriceGrabber

Review
Shure E4c Review: Perfect Earpod For The iPod Shure have just released their E4c earphones. These are the in-ear type with various mouldings (sleeves) that fit on to the actual phones so you can get a comfortable fit.

There are four types of sleeves, a soft rubber one (that seems to work well) in 3 sizes, a medium rubber one, and a triple flange type (which probably gives the best seal, but you need a biggish ear canal – these would be more suited to studio work) and some foam rubber ones that mould to the canal (compress them [squeeze] before you put them in the ear, and they’ll expand to fit). The foam ones are pretty comfortable, but don’t quite seal as well and maybe more suited to flights or situations where you’re likely to wear them for a while.

Since they are in-ear phones, you’ll either get on with them or not, it depends whether you enjoy things stuck in your ear!

They are slightly fatter than the older E3c phones and though Shure have retained the white colour for the bulk of the barrel, the last section (just before the sleeve) is steel (or metal). They look much better and feel more chunky without being too heavy.

Looks aren’t everything
Of course the main reason for buying earphones is for the sound. The E4c’s do superbly and it seems that bass, midrange and treble have all improved. A big advantage of using in-earphones is that they block off almost all external sound (which can be detrimental to your health if you use them in a situation where you need to hear things going around you). Not being distracted by external noise means the volume of the device you’re listening to can be turned down, which has two advantages i) battery life is extended and ii) more importantly, there is less distortion and notes sound truer.

Shure E4c Review: Perfect Earpod For The iPod While sitting on the underground you could just hear the station announcements on the public address system, but not much else. The music playing was ambient dance music and you could really make out the nuances etc. Unfortunately the only downside of blotting out everything made you realise even more how miserable everyone looked.

Looks aren’t cheap
The retail price of the earphones is over £200 (~US$370 ~€293), which is a lot, however if you listen to music all the time and you’re sensible and use them at a low-ish volume, you’ll both appreciate the sound and save your hearing. There are times when they could be invaluable, such as when you’re in noisy surroundings, or using them in a studio.

The packaging has been improved, they come with a selection of sleeves (more can be ordered as well as custom fitted sleeves), replacement inner parts (which can become clogged with wax and become damaged), a wax remover (for the inner part – not your ear), a volume control (which is a separate piece, so you don’t have to use Shure’s, if you’re using it with say an iPod remote), a nylon case to carry the lot in and a mini to big jack adapter.

The only part which lets the units down is the cable itself, which looks and feels a bit flimsy.

Summary
While they are expensive, if you want excellent sound reproduction, noise isolation and good looks, these fit the bill.

Score – 5/5

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High Altitude Platform (HAP): Broadband For All?

High Altitude Platform (HAP): Broadband For All? Broadband is taking off everywhere, speeds are increasing and everybody’s happy. Well almost. Broadband isn’t available to all, especially those in more rural areas.

Unfortunately cable companies don’t have the financial resources to lay fibre everywhere (especially in today’s economic climate) and even BT, who are radically changing the old telephone network so that every exchange in the UK is wired up for Internet, still won’t be able to reach rural customers. It isn’t because they don’t want to, but (in BT’s case) the DSL (digital subscriber line) technology just doesn’t work at long distances.

This will leave large percentages of the population without broadband and currently their only option will be expensive satellite systems.

There’s a chance that some kind of fixed wireless access (FWA) solution will become available, but currently the technology is expensive and again requires a massive investment in radio masts and connecting them all together. Unfortunately FWA is likely to be used for backhaul in more urban areas where the population density justifies the upfront investment.

HAPpy HAPpy, Joy Joy
Luckily it looks like there is an answer, and it’s call HAP (High Altitude Platform). There have already been trials of HAP using tethered balloons, and these have been reasonably successful, but there are problems. They are relatively low altitude, so may interfere with other air traffic. However being tethered means they can use the tether cable to connect to the infrastructure on the ground (i.e. say the Internet), but it limits them to being tethered in suitably connected areas.

Utilising a real HAP solution means sending what could be called airships up 20Km or so, these would freely roam the sky. Being so high they wouldn’t interfere with commercial air traffic – of course would still need to get approval from the international aviation authorities, especially for launching them and what happens when something goes wrong or they falls back to earth.

High Altitude Platform (HAP): Broadband For All? Other approaches to HAP involve lightweight aircraft, such as the European-funded Capanina project.

Both balloon and fixed-wing platforms would use radio systems (similar to satellite) to transmit to end-users, who would use a steer able dish that tracks the HAP. Current thoughts are that the HAPs will use both radio and optical transmissions between HAPs (since optical interference is very low at 20Km altitude).

The HAP end-user connection may use existing WiFi-type solutions to actually connect people, so a small village may have a central HAP system which then people connect to using traditional systems.

Where HAP can offer significant benefits, is to moving objects such as trains. They would use a sophisticated electronically steer able aerial to track the HAPs and would allow continuous reception of signals – even between HAPs.

Since the bandwidth between a ground receiver and the HAP would be about 120Mb/s, rural (and moving) users might actually get a better service than traditional broadband users.

Unfortunately it’s going to take a while for this to be a commercial reality, but at least people are thinking about it, trials are commencing now and it’s got European funding.

Capanina