Category: Cross platform

Media that works across a number of platforms

Ubiquitous Viewer – Phone Access to PC from Toshiba

Toshiba Ubiquitous ViewerToshiba has announced software to remotely execute programs on a PC, via a mobile phone. They call it Ubiquitous Viewer.

Software that gives remote access to your computer from another has been available for years, with a particular favourite within the Digital Lifestyles offices being the open source VNC (Virtual Network Computing).

The way these packages used to work, was by an application running on the host (remote) computer and another on the client (local). Keystrokes and mouse movements are read from the client, sent over a communication line (dialup/IP) and executed on the host. Graphical changes to the screen on the host machine are collected, compressed, sent down the line and replicated on the client.

While this approach is basic, it has the advantage that any software application could be run.

The details of Toshiba’s Ubiquitous Viewer are still sketchy, but what we do know is it’ll allow users to open productivity software, such as the MS Office suite, and to read and modify files. It also supports access to PC-based e-mail, Internet browser and other PC applications.

Internet browsing through a phone to your PC? This is the only one we find a little bizarre, it’s a bit like reading a book through a telescope.

Given the support for “other PC applications” and the photograph, the Ubiquitous Viewer looks like it works on the same principles as the old-school solutions.

To access the remote machine, a password must be entered once. The transfer of data is over a secure connection, as it uses the Web standard secure socket layer (SSL) encryption

The service will initially be released at the end of March 2005 in Japan on KDDI’s service using CDMA1X mobile phones. Following this, they intend to take it other countries.

Quite what the experience will be like on a mobile screen is unclear and frankly this type of solution will only be used in desperation when you must have access to some information that you’ve forgotten.

It is a good example in our view of the future – no matter what the restrictions of the device, any that provides access will be acceptable, until you can move to a location or device that is superior.

Toshiba

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

Online Documentary Channel Planned by UK Channel 4

The Chief Exec of Channel 4, Andy Duncan, has been floating the idea of launching an Internet-based documentary channel, that would carry archive footage from previously transmitted shows.

Duncan also announced that Channel 4 is to “double the amount it spends on ‘public service’ Internet sites”, which he revealed was currently in the low millions, reported Brand Republic.

We understand from Ofcom that the comments were made during their PSP pitching day.

Andy Duncan moved from the BBC, where he was the mastermind of the highly successful Free-To-Air service, Freeview. He’s been speaking publicly a lot about re-positioning Channel 4, although not all of his comments have been well received.

When Digital Lifestyles spoke to Channel 4 today about the Internet-based channel, there were still only sketchy details available; in their words it was “work in progress.” They did confirm that new programmes would be commissioned specifically for the site and that content would be downloadable.

Channel 4 told us more details will become available in the New Year and the launch is muted for Spring 2005.

Channel 4
Ofcom

Entertainment Now: UK 3’s Deal with APTN

3, the first 3G network in the UK, are further enhancing their content offering by announcing a deal with Associated Press Television News (APTN). APTN will provide the video show, “Entertainment Now” that will be released twice a week and cover ‘celebrity entertainment’. In their words, it will be “quirky and irreverent, poking fun at the rich and famous, and of course, the infamous.”

3 customers have two ways to pay for the content. At 50p per clip or they can watch as much video as they like by paying £5 per month for the “video value” add-on.

We spoke to Deanna Gullery, APTN’s New Product Marketing Manager about the deal. They currently sell a 24 minute version of Entertainment NOW (is it just us or is the capitalisation unnecessary?) that goes to air with a number of broadcasters in various countries on a weekly basis.

The 3 version will be a cut down version, primarily featuring celebrity interviews, calling on AP’s strong access to the stars. It will be edited in-house down to between 2 and 4 minutes, voiced over and releases on Tuesday and Thursday.

We think the 3 deal is an interesting example of a content creation company making the most of their assets – “Sweating your assets” as we believe the 80’s phrase for was. AP are all over the world (80 bureaux in 67 countries) shooting this type of material for ‘traditional’ media outlets anyway. Why not make the most of it and edit it together in to custom pieces? We’re strong believers in this type of approach.

We don’t think this is the kind of content that will drive people to join the 3 services, it’s more about maximising Average Revenue Per User (ARPU, in trade terms). Their current ARPU taking the first 7 months of this year is £43.22 per customer, per month.

Three
Associated Press Television News

Philips’ Tiny Chip Provides FM Radio In Mobile Devices

Royal Philips Electronics has showcased a series of chips that will add FM and AM tuner functionality to mobile phones, CD/MP3 players, PDAs, and other handset devices. The chips are not only the world’s smallest, but will also allow handset manufacturers to create ‘true’ multimedia devices that are capable of playing audio, video, games, and radio.

According to Philips, FM radio is one of the key features users are looking for as mobile phones are evolving into connected consumer devices. With listening figures as high as 20 hours per week, according to the company, Philips is hoping that consumers will appreciate the addition of easy-to-use FM radio on their mobile phones. This, of course, is very likely, as for most people it will probably mean one less item to carry in their pockets. Today, only some 15 per cent of mobile phones sold worldwide have FM radio, although the market is set to continue to grow towards 50 per cent, asserts Philips.

Each new chip has its own peculiarities. For example, the TEA5767 requires low power whilst the TEA5777 supports the AM range. The smallest in the series, the TEA5761, is made using WL-CSP (Wafer Level – Chip Scale Packaging) and is a wafer of silicon crystal plates. As the I/O connections were redesigned and some of them removed, TEA5761-based solutions require considerably less PCB space. Some of TEA5764 are also shipped in WL-CSP package, but they primarily stand out with RDS (Radio Data System) support (provides various information like station name, current track, news, ads, and so on). RDS also helps to simplify tuning by ensuring that the radio always tunes to the strongest signal available. The technology also offers benefits for telecom operators by increasing average revenue per user (APRU).

‘Mobile phones are becoming the ultimate portable device and consumers are placing great value on the multimedia features that differentiate their phone from others in the market. Already established as a proven technology with a large user base all over the world, FM radio is a valuable addition to any handset,’ said Peter Baumgartner, senior vice president of Philips Semiconductors’ Communications business. ‘As the leader in this market for FM radio on mobile devices, Philips enables everyone to enjoy radio entertainment, everywhere and anytime they want.’

Philips’ FM TEA5761 is available now, while the FM+RDS TEA5764 and the AM/FM TEA5777 will be available in January 2005.

Royal Philips Electronics

Nokia: Crown Castle joins to pilot DVB-H technology

Yet another chapter is unfolding in the battle to bring the TV screen and its contents to the mobile masses. And it’s all being made possible with global digital technology, as the first US pilot of DVB-H takes place. DVB-H is a standard specified by the Digital Video Broadcasting Organization specifically for the transmission of TV-like content and data to handheld devices, such as mobile phones. Nokia and Crown Castle have joined ranks to pilot DVB-H technology in the United States. Crown Castle already offers significant wireless communications coverage to 68 of the top 100 United States markets, and owns, operates and manages over 10,600 wireless communication sites in the U.S. The whole point of the exercise is to bring TV-like services to mobile devices. The pilot commenced in October, and aims to prove and test the feasibility of DVB-H technology and related service systems in this market space. The next step will be to expand the pilot to test consumer experiences and acceptance of a mobile phone TV service. Spokespeople from Nokia and Crown Castle aired their views in yesterday’s press release. “We believe this may be an important new technology for our company and our industry. We look forward to partnering with content providers and wireless service providers to introduce commercial services utilising the nation-wide spectrum that we acquired in 2003 and our extensive portfolio of US towers”, said Michael Schueppert, Senior Vice President – Business Development for Crown Castle. On the Nokia side, Seppo Sutela, Director, Rich Media, Nokia said, “Piloting with Crown Castle is a major milestone for Nokia. It will expand mobile phone TV services to United States, giving DVB-H standard a truly global reach. Mobile phone TV, based on DVB-H, will provide new attractive consumer services as well as business opportunities for all parties in the business system. Our pilot with Crown Castle is an important step towards that.” www.nokia.com
www.crowncastle.com

BBC Spooks Dares to Combine Drama and Interactivity

As more people take up digital television, whether through Freeview, Sky or other means, the enhanced viewing experience becomes the norm rather than the exception.  For instance enhanced sport broadcasts, such as BBC coverage of both Wimbledon and the Olympics, offer viewers the opportunity to tailor the broadcast programming to their interests by enabling them to watch events that would not otherwise be available.  Likewise Sky’s fenhanced football allows viewers to choose the commentators and camera angles.  News multi-screen offers similar flexibility in navigating news content. Yet interactive drama programmes are often regarded as the holy grail of enhanced television.  The scripted linear narrative is seen as a barrier to interactivity.  So when producers of the Five soap Family Affairs announced that they planned to broadcast an interactive episode in May 2004, pundits were intrigued.  Theirs was the Big Brother version of interactivity – viewers were asked to vote, by phone,  on the outcome of a love triangle.  The phone vote generated extra income for the broadcaster and new viewers for the programme.  On the record, the producers were delighted to offer a television first.  However, when asked about the interactive episode off the record, a very senior executive involved at all stages of development and production said at the time,  “Never again”.  It turns out that accommodating even such a limited element of uncertainty in the narrative posed great difficulty for future storylining and production schedules.

BBC Spooks InteractiveMore recently the BBC has claimed to offer yet another enhanced drama first with interactive Spooks.  The third series of this successful spy drama began transmission on BBC1 Monday 11 October.   Unlike Family Affairs’ tentative foray into interactivity, viewers will not be voting on Spooks storylines.  (If they could, they’d most certainly vote to keep Tom Quinn, the main character played by Matthew Macfadyen who exits the show in Episode 3.)  Instead immediately after the programme, digital viewers are invited to find out if they have what it takes to make it as a spy.  Led by Harry Pearce (a crossover character from the television series portrayed by Peter Firth), participants take a series of scored tests that examine essential espionage skills such as memory, reaction and observation.  From Episode 6 viewers will be able to participate in a mission that was written by Steve Bailie, an experienced writer of television drama.  “The aim,” Sophie Walpole BBC’s Head of Interactive Drama & Entertainment told us, “is to offer fans a deeper relationship with both the programme and its characters.”  In addition, Walpole pointed out,  “fans will get something back – they’ll get to know a little about themselves.” 

According to the BBC, the number of unique users for the Spooks Website during the second series “ran into the hundreds of thousands.”  The decision to develop and produce the interactive platform was taken because the producers had such a strong proposal.  According to Walpole, “ The BBC is always looking at ways to develop its content.  But Spooks was not singled out for development in this way.  The producers had a really good proposition.”  She continued, “ The inspiration and vision of Andrew Whitehouse (the producer of Spooks’ interactive content) was incredible.  We had a great producer with a great idea.”  The enhanced TV elements are intended to complement the revamped Website so that, although the site also offers a spy training academy, the experiences are completely different. “The Spooks superfan who goes to both the Website and the interactive elements will not feel like they’ve had a similar experience,” said Walpole.  Figures for new users of the Website or users of the enhanced television platform after transmission of the first episode are not yet available.

When asked how technology affected the development of enhanced television in general, Walpole stated that while it is technically possible, the BBC opted not to transmit enhanced Spooks via broadband because they wanted it to be seen by as many viewers as possible.  “Although they continue to grow, broadband audiences are still small.”  Looking to the future Walpole said she was certain that the BBC would make this type of rich content available to broadband users, possibly as soon as next year.

From what I’ve seen so far, the BBC has reason to be proud of interactive Spooks.  By recognising that interactive drama doesn’t necessarily infer gimmicky phone votes (aka viewer extortion) or ceding control of the narrative to the audience, they deftly avoided the traps that frustrated at least one Family Affairs executive.  The production values on Spooks are really very high indeed.  And the spy training modules transmitted after Episode 1 were good fun.  Most importantly, they lend themselves quite nicely to a shared experience – an element of the interactive experience that  is essential for television audiences.  The aim of providing a way for fans to develop a closer relationship with the programme is definitely achieved.  If the enhanced Spooks disappoints at all, it is that the enhancements are extremely limited.  The spy training takes approximately 30 minutes to complete – that’s a bit too long.  Unfortunately, there’s no way to navigate through the game; participants must start at the beginning and move through to the end to get scores.  Also, the training modules will be repeated after Episodes 2 through 5 and the narrative mission transmitted after Episode 6 will be repeated after Episodes 7 through 10.  While this offers viewers the opportunity to practice their skills it means that, in effect, there are only 2 unique enhancements throughout the 10-week run.  That’s a great shame because they’ve done such a good job of creating enhanced Spooks that I really would have liked more!


In the UK, Episodes 3 – 10 of Spooks will be broadcast Mondays at 21.00 on BBC1.  Episodes are repeated on Saturdays at 21.10 on BBC3 followed by an advance transmission of the next episode at 22.10.  The interactive elements are broadcast immediately after transmission on both channels.

BBC Sppoks site

Epson’s P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer announced

Epson P2000Designed as a replacement for Epson’s P-1000, the imaginatively named P-2000 has higher capacity storage, a faster interface, two memory card slots and the ability to view, store and playback photos, videos and music.  If you are still nostalgic about the black and white photos taken in the back garden with the Brownie camera, just think of the multi-sensorial memories your kids will have.

Powered by a lithium ion battery, the P-2000 features a 40GB hard drive that can store thousands of photos, sparing the next generation the task of transferring all those unlabelled photos from plastic bags and cardboard boxes into albums. The built-in memory card slot supports Compact Flash Type I and Type II and Secure Digital memory cards, allowing you to transfer files quickly without having to connect to a computer.

Budding amateur film-makers can zoom and rotate images, create a slideshow with music and share images on an NTSC or PAL television screen, monitor or projector using an optional third-party cable. And surprise, surprise, you can also print directly to supported Epson printers.

Epson have a long tradition in LCD technology having introduced the first LCD digital quartz watch over 30 years ago, in the early 1970’s.  The 3.8″ Epson Photo Fine LCD screen displays images up to 8.9 megapixels and supports JPEG and RAW image file formats, MPEG-4 and Motion-JPEG video files, plus MP3 and AAC audio files. The P-2000 connects to Macs or PCs using a USB 2.0 interface for transferring photos, videos and audio files.

The Epson P-2000 display offers three colours per image pixel and a higher density of 212 pixels per inch, compared with one colour per pixel and 80-100 pixels per inch on a typical digital camera display. This gives it the ability to display up to 262,144 colours and an impressive, high-resolution image.

The Epson P-2000 will be available in early November for a price of $499 (~€395).

Epson

Philips’ Connecting the Community Project

Philips have kicked off a new project in Singapore to bring together content and service providers to equip a sample of households with broadband and connectivity products. Under the auspices of Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority, the project will run for six months and residents will will participate in various ‘e’ services, including, Philips say, e-health, e-learning and e-security.

Philips are particularly interested in healthcare and the company are looking at options for providing services within the consumer’s home via a broadband connection. Applications include pop-up reminders for mediation appearing on TV screens, and the company currently delivers the service through SMS.

“We believe e-health services over broadband is one of the driving forces for establishing connected communities where patients are empowered to manage their health more effectively, and in the process help healthcare providers control costs,” said Andreas Wente, President and CEO of Philips Electronics Asia. “These personalized healthcare services would not only aim to help people with chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure manage their health more effectively, but ultimately help in maintaining a healthy digital lifestyle – for example, delivering weight management or employer health programs via a broadband enabled TV.”

The Connecting Community project is supported by Philips’ own InnoHub test bed facility, which crates a linked environment of communication and home entertainment devices that speak to one another. The InnoHub also will function as an ‘idea management facility’ for exploring the feasibility and commercial potential of innovations.

“This collaboration in Singapore embodies our vision of an emerging Connected Planet since it observes the daily habits and routines of normal families and, more importantly, identifies how their natural behavior responds to the latest state-of-the-art connectivity solutions,” said Cesar Vohringer, Chief Technology Officer, Philips Consumer Electronics. “Through an understanding of how these families interact not only virtually within the home but now through their communities, Philips can further realize its new brand promise by applying these discoveries in the creation of products that are advanced, easy to experience and designed around these consumers.”

Singapore’s IDA

OS X on XP

Ah, the legally troubling world of emulation. MSX, a company based in Hawaii, have announced the release of their CherryOS – an application that allows the owner of any reasonably well-specified PC to turn it into a Macintosh G4, if they so choose.

The G4 is based on on IBM’s PowerPC architecture and as such is radically different from Intel’s x86 platform – so the host processor’s instruction set has to be translated from one platform to the other. Emulation effectively creates a virtual machine, in this case a G4, within the other computer’s operating system, in this case a PC. CherryOS emulates a G4 so well that all of the system’s hardware resources, an area where most emulators usually fall down, are accessible. Getting Firewire, USB, PCMCIA and Ethernet all to work well can’t have been easy.

Processor overheads and memory use are another traditional sticking point for emulators since the emulator has to be stored somewhere and instructions have to be translated, but MSX claim that CherryOS uses up only 20% of a host PC’s resources.

Users won’t be able to do much with their virtual G4 unless they install an operating system on it. MSX assure that OS X, available from Apple for about US$149 (€120), works fine.

Apple won’t be pleased: even if the product is 100% legal, didn’t reverse engineer any of their hardware or use any Apple code, it means users can now run Macintosh applications on hardware that is considerably cheaper (and less stylish) than their own kit.

Arben Kryeziu, CherryOS inventor says he created the application because he grew tired carrying a PC and mac around with him. “Think about it,” he said, “Now about 600 million PC users can have the Mac advantage. One computer to use all software and if PC users would use Mac software to get email, perhaps they would avoid viruses, Trojans and spy-ware.” True, but one could argue that about Linux, which is more popular than OS X. What else have you got?

He also went on to describe some of the advantages CherryOS brings: “You can build and test applications for a Mac on your development PC, test web site design for Mac web browsers without having to buy the hardware, run OS X, the world’s best operating system, on a less expensive hardware platform and use your favourite Mac apps on a PC.”

CherryOS