Content – Page 103 – Digital-Lifestyles

eBay Scraps Live Pet Sales Online

EBay Scraps Live Pet Sales Online Internet auctioneer eBay have cancelled their plans to allow live pets to be sold on its Web site after receiving a barrage of complaints from users.

Thousands of irate emails headed eBay’s way after word got out that they were considering lifting their ban on trading live animals.

This would have been a turnaround from their long held policy of banning the sale of live animals (except fish and snails).

Over the weekend, an eBay manager posting on an online message board announced that eBay were planning on creating a separate classifieds category, which would feature free ads from animal shelters and paid ads from breeders.

This prompted a torrent of over 2,000 emails, most of which were deeply unchuffed with the proposal, insisting that the ban should remain in place

EBay Scraps Live Pet Sales Online As company spokesman Hani Durzy explained, users were concerned that the listings would encourage unsanitary ‘puppy mills’, where animals are sometimes bred in less-than ideal conditions, and that it might prove difficult working out legitimate animal shelters and the get-rich-quick scamsters.

There was also concern that people might start to breeding dogs to sell for fighting.

“The feedback was pretty overwhelming,” Durzy admitted, adding, “Farms and for-profit commercial breeders wasn’t something that they wanted to see.”

eBay

BBC iMP Trial Extended – Trialist React

BBC iMP trial Extended The BBC has decided to extend the trial for the iMP Player until 28th February 2006, telling trialists that the extra time will enable it to “understand what you want from the service and how you are using it”. A new upgrade of the software is due to be rolled out to the participating trialists in January.

Once this is over, the data from the trial will be processed to form a ‘Public Value Test’. That will then be put to the BBC Governors, who will use this to make a decision on the viability of launching a service.

We’ve had mixed report from iMP trialists, which we found surprising – we thought everyone would be totally wowed by it, watching it 24 hours a day.

The not-watching-24-hours-a-day could be explained by the frustration felt by a lot of trialist – that the content available is somewhat limited choice, and the content’s seven day expiry time.

Content-wonks, like us and we suspect you, are aware that these limitations are a result of the need to negotiate and pay for the rights to distribute Radio & TV content via the Internet. Members of the public, who have other lives to lead, are naturally less aware of the reasons for the restrictions.

Frankly it is easier (and cheaper) to obtain the relevant permissions for BBC content, than independently produced content and brought in content, such as films.

BBC iMP trial Extended The BBC’s reaction to such sniping is consistent, if not a little bland

This is a research trial
Their main focus is to assess the impact that iMP has on viewing habits
They want to understand if there’s possible appetite for such a service

We think that providing a good range of high-quality content is a key to encourage users to try out the iMP and importantly, keep them using the application during the trial. Otherwise interest will fade – which is the experience we’ve heard from many trialists.

Questions have been also raised on the iMP users forum about the integrity of the Microsoft DRM software, designed to limit the use and copying of the downloaded programmes. Strong security will be key, if the service is to be widened to include non-BBC content.

It will be interesting to see if the service survives, and how the BBC’s own commercial trading unit “BBC Worldwide” reacts, having signed a content deal with BT whose own service is due to launch in 2006.

BBC iMP

Blinkx.tv Unveils Portable Video For iPods

Blinkx.tv Unveils Portable Video For iPods Blinkx have unveiled blinx.tv To Go, a new service that helps users track down online video content and then lets them upload it to their iPod or personal video player.

With the growth of video blogging and video-capable personal players, there’s a growing interest in viewing free alternatives to commercial broadcasts, and blinkx.tv To Go service aims to “throw open the doors” to a wide variety of new, user-generated video.

Blinkx.tv Unveils Portable Video For iPods Visitors searching the company’s database of video blogs and podcasts are able to either save the video to their player with a single click, or save the search to a channel which automatically feeds updated video content to their player, where it can be viewed as a single media stream.

Blinkx takes care of all the formatting, regardless of the original file type, so that video content selected for saving is automatically re-encoded to the appropriate video format for the user’s player.

Blinkx founder Suranga Chandratillake commented, “We wanted to make the experience of finding compelling multimedia and making it portable, as efficient and easy as possible.”

Blinkx.tv Unveils Portable Video For iPods “Our vision of IPTV combines the interactive, customisable experience of the Internet, with the simple, seamless way we watch TV, and now we’ve made it portable,” Chandratillake added.

As you know, we’re big on seeing technology being used to promote and propagate user-generated content – the process of the democratisation of the media, if you want to get arty fart about it – so we look forward to seeing how blinkx’s initiative fares with the public.

Blinkx

MP3 players: Our Festive Selection

MP3 players: Our Festive Selection Creative Zen Vision:M

Although looking like a near-exact copy of the video iPod, the 30 gig Zen Vision is a fine player in its own right, sporting persuasive features not found on its rival.

Sharing near-identical physical dimensions as the iPod, the Zen manages to add a composite video out connector for playing video content on TVs, an integrated FM radio with 32 presets, voice recording, alarm clock, groovy customisable themes and the ability to synchronise Microsoft Outlook data, such as contacts, calendar and tasks.

MP3 players: Our Festive Selection The player’s a versatile chap too, with the Vision:M outgunning the iPod by supporting a wider range of formats, like MP3, WMA and PlaysForSure audio formats and MPEG1/2/4, DivX and XviD, Motion JPEG and WMV for video.

Battery life is claimed at four hours in video-playback mode (twice as long as the iPod) and fourteen hours for audio.

Expected on the streets now, the Creative Zen Vision:M will sell for around $350 (~£197, ~€291).

Creative Zen Vision:M

MP3 players: Our Festive Selection Sony NW-A1000

It’s taken Sony a long time to come up with a serious challenge to iPod’s dominance, but the new NW-A1000 could be the one to unseat the Nano.

Resplendent in an unusual organic form factor, the player sports a translucent acrylic clad exterior that reveals a large, bright display lurking below. It looks fantastic, and it’s refreshing to see a radical new design coming through in a market dominated by iPod-alikes.

MP3 players: Our Festive Selection The palm sized player (88 x 55 x 19 mm) comes with a built in 6GB hard drive and supports MP3 files as well as Sony’s ATRAC3 and ATRAC3+ audio formats. Battery life is claimed at 20 hours (although several reviews have found that figure to be wildly optimistic).

Thankfully, Sony have finally ditched the awful Sonic Stage software needed to transfer files over the USB 2.0 connection, but the new Connect Player software still has some way to go to match the simplicity and ease of use of iTunes.

The player’s already available in Europe and North America, priced around €250 and $250.

Sony

MP3 players: Our Festive Selection Apple iPod Nano

Introduced in September, Apple’s fabulously designed iPod Nano has already proved an enormous hit, with its teensy-weensy dimensions and stunning looks crushing every flash-based player in sight.

Sure, it’s not perfect – there’s no video support and the thing scratches easier than a Shakin’ Stevens 45 – but it features Apple’s superb Click Wheel user interface and offers a crisp 1.5″ colour screen for viewing photos.

Coming in 2GB and 4GB flavours, the diminutive player (3.3 x 0.98 x 0.33 inches) supports MP3, AAC and Audible 2, 3 and 4 formats and is compatible with the iTunes online store.

Microsoft Outlook calendar and contacts info can be synchronised via iTunes 5, and with the player sporting the same 30-pin dock connector as the iPod and iPod mini, there should be no shortage of accessories.

There’s a nippy USB 2.0 port onboard and battery life is claimed at a healthy 14 hours.

Starting at €200 (~$240 ~£135), the Nano is available in just black or white for now.

iPod Nano

Boomerang Box Offers High Accuracy UK Tracking System

Boomerang Box Offers High Accuracy UK Tracking System Cambridge outfit, HD Positions, have launched their ‘Boomerang Box’ device, a new low cost, high accuracy positioning system which locates vehicles and other valuable assets.

The Boomerang Box is a robustly constructed device with two year battery life and low installation cost, and it can be bolted into vehicles or containers or just slapped in the drivers seat.

Powered by Cambridge Positioning Systems (CPS) Matrix technology, the system uses the Orange UK network and provides coverage all over the UK – including inside buildings and containers – with a claimed accuracy of less than 100m.

Back in Febuary this year, we covered CPS’s work with Nokia to bring their mPosition System to market.

There’s a growing demand for location based services letting companies keep a watchful eye on the whereabouts of valuable moveable assets like trailers, cars, motorcycles, caravans etc (maybe they’ll stick them on employees soon so they know when they’re skiving off in the boozer?).

Boomerang Box Offers High Accuracy UK Tracking System The service works by HD Positions supplying the interface to Matrix, facilitating related Machine to Machine (M2M) services, including network connectivity, billing and support.

Nigel Chadwick, director of HD Positions commented that the market for high accuracy positioning systems has been held back by a number of factors including poor area coverage, prohibitive purchase, fitting and operating costs, power consumption, and slow and inconsistent location reporting.

Clearly chuffed with his new product, he continued, “The Matrix system, combined with the latest devices now appearing on the market provide consistent and high accuracy positioning with high speed reporting at low cost, and as such are increasingly deemed by management teams as an essential and viable element of asset management and risk reduction.”

Boomerang Box Offers High Accuracy UK Tracking System We tried to find a picture of the actual Boomerang Box, hopeful that it would be an amusing looking thing that would spice up this rather dull report, but there was nothing to be found on their Website.

So here’s a picture of a frankly disturbing fluffy cat called ‘boomerang’ that we found on the Web instead.

Retreve

Study: In Ear Headphones Increase Risk Of Hearing Loss

Study: In Ear Headphones Increase Risk Of Hearing Loss In-ear headphones (“earbuds”) like those sold with the iPod and other music players can increase the risk of hearing loss, according to a US audiologist (a what?!)

Research undertaken by Dean Garstecki of Northwestern University has found that that an increasing number of young people were now experiencing the kind of hearing loss found in aging adults.

According to Garstecki, cheap earbud headphones were more likely to increase the risk of hearing loss than old-school ‘over the ear’ headphones like the Grado SR60.

Garstecki’s studies found that MP3 users often crank the volume up to 110 to 120 decibels – enough to cause hearing loss after about an hour of listening.

The problem is worse for earbud wearers because the sound source is placed directly into the ear, boosting the sound signal by as much as six to nine decibels – the difference in intensity between the sound made by a vacuum cleaner and the sound of a motorcycle engine according to Garstecki.

Study: In Ear Headphones Increase Risk Of Hearing Loss We can certainly verify that some folks seem oblivious to the risk, blasting their music so high that we can hear the annoying “tssk chk tssk chk” leaking from in-ear phones over the thunderous rattle of a tube train.

The risk is exasperated by the bigger storage capacities and increased battery life of today’s MP3 players, encouraging users to keep on listening for longer periods.

Like a next door neighbour banging on the wall, Garstecki advises MP3 listeners to “turn it down!”, adding, “if music listeners are willing to turn the volume down further still and use different headphones, they can increase the amount of time that they can safely listen.”

Noise-cancelling headphones are also seen as a better choice because they reduce background noise but their added bulk and increased expense is likely to limit adoption.

Study: In Ear Headphones Increase Risk Of Hearing Loss Garstecki proposes the 60%/60 minute rule as a solution – this involves listening to an MP3 device for no longer than about an hour a day and at levels below 60% of maximum volume.

“If music listeners are willing to turn the volume down further still and use different headphones, they can increase the amount of time that they can safely listen,” commented Garstecki.

While we share Garstecki’s health concerns, we’re not sure how effective a campaign along the lines of, “Turn it down! Play less music!” is likely to have with the wired generation walking about with thousands of songs in their pocket.

Northwestern.edu

Doctor Who Interactive TV Christmas Special Planned

Dr Who TV Christmas Special Goes Interactive The BBC is hoping to get Dr Who fans reaching for their red buttons en masse with a video-rich interactive TV application scheduled to run straight after the airing of the Christmas Day special (7:00PM GMT).

Dubbed “Attack of the Graske,” the application hopes to get sofa-loafing viewers taking part in an interactive adventure with the aim of preventing an evil alien creature, called the Graske, from taking over the earth.

Dr Who TV Christmas Special Goes Interactive It looks that the BBC has invested muchos cash into the venture, employing live-action video and “state-of-the-art” special effects produced at the high end visual effects studio, The Mill.

Christmas-pud gorged viewers will be tasked with using the arrow keys on their remote controls to perform a series of challenges which will test observation, dexterity, memory and – according to the BBC – their bravery.

There’ll also be an opportunity to fly around in the Tardis with the Doctor “on hand to give advice, encouragement, and even step in when things go wrong.”

Dr Who TV Christmas Special Goes Interactive Produced in Cardiff by BBC New Media and BBC Wales, producer Sophie Fante commented, “Attack of the Graske gives the viewer the unique opportunity to immerse themselves fully in the world of Doctor Who.”

“We aimed to make the challenge with the same scope and feel of the main series and, in ‘Attack of The Graske,’ the viewer finds themselves not only flying the Tardis with the Doctor but fighting the Graske on the planet Griffoth and hunting him out in Victorian London,” she added.

Filming the program involved creating an authentic Dickensian Christmas scene, complete with snow, in Cardiff.

Dr Who TV Christmas Special Goes Interactive We can’t wait to watch this latest installment of the highly rated Dr Who series and are hoping to witness another kind of winter wonderland the day after when the mighty Cardiff City FC take on Plymouth.

Dr Who

Ending SPAM: Mini Book Review (90%/20%)

Summary
Those wanting indepth knowledge on SPAM – 90%
Those wanting help setting up a SPAM filter – 20%

UK Street Price	£22.95
US Street Price	$39.95
UK Amazon Price	£20.65
US Amazon Price	$26.37

Review
Ending SPAM - Jonathon A. Zdziarkski The full title of the book, “Ending Spam: Bayesian Content Filtering and the Art of Statistical Language Classification,” gives you a pretty strong indication that this book is going to provide a depth of information.

Which stage you’re at with your ‘war on SPAM’ will dictate if this is book is a God-send or if it will leave you drowning in information.

If you’re just wanting to install something for your mail system to eliminate SPAM, this isn’t the book for you – you’ll have to wade through large amount of information, only to find that it doesn’t go into that much detail in that area.

However, if your running a complex mail system and want to know how SPAMmers actually write SPAM and therefore how you can organise an effective defence, it should be right up your street.

The book is organised into three parts – Introduction to Spam filtering; the Fundamentals of Statistical Filtering; and the third, Advanced Concepts of Statistical Filtering.

Ending SPAM - Jonathon A. Zdziarkski The appendix (Shining Examples of Filtering) explains some of the programs out there, how they work and interviews with the authors.

This is a technical book and more a study of the various techniques Spammers use and how to identify those techniques and the SPAM itself.

The author is convinced that advanced statistical filtering can always keep ahead of spammers, which is probably true, if only users and ISPs ensure they keep their software up to date which is more of a problem.

Conclusion
If you just want to eliminate SPAM, download some software, install it and keep it up to date. You don’t need this book.

If you really want to know what SPAM is, how to classify it and then make sensible decisions based on those classifications, then your not going to find yourself wanting with this book.

Summary
Those wanting indepth knowledge on SPAM – 90%
Those wanting help setting up a SPAM filter – 20%

UK Street Price	£22.95
US Street Price	$39.95
UK Amazon Price	£20.65
US Amazon Price	$26.37

ISBN 1-59327-052-6
NoStarch Press
Jonathon A. Zdziarkski

Targus 14 in 1 USB Card Reader Review (78%)

Summary
Works without a problem, doing all you’d expect – 78%

US Street Price

$25

Review
As your collection of digital devices grows, you’ll probably find it near-impossible to stick with just the one memory card format as the pesky things keep on changing.

Looking around our office workspace we can see a depressingly long list of electronic gizmos all using different cards, including SD cards ( Pure DMX-50 DAB/CD system and iMate JAM smartphone), Sony Memory sticks (Sony V3 camera and Sony PDA), XD picture card (Fuji F10 camera) and compact flash (Nikon D70).

Getting data off these various cards usually means a trip to the back of the PC to install the various cables that came with all your camera/smartphone etc (when will they standardise all the ruddy USB connecters?!).

Things get more complicated away from home when filling your holiday bag with a lasso’s worth of different cables isn’t an attractive option.

So here’s where a USB Multi-card reader comes in handy.

With most memory card readers offering support for a huge variety of memory cards, all you need to take on the road is a single USB lead to connect the card reader to your laptop and you’re sorted!

Moreover, if you forget your camera’s battery charger while you’re away, you’ll be able to save precious battery life by using the card reader, instead of having to turn the camera on to transfer pics.

We were sadly guilty of leaving the charger for our Nikon N70 back in Blighty during out recent jaunt to NYC, and after seeing the battery levels accelerating downwards as we transferred zillions of images to our laptop, we shelled out for a cheap’n’cheerful Targus card reader, the TG-CRD14 ($25 street price).

As its name suggests, this compact little feller (9.4cm x 5.5cm x 1.9cm) can read and write to 14 different formats, including CF I&II, IBM Micro Drive, SM, SD, MMC, MS, XD and MS Pro.

Installation was a breeze – just plug in and go, with no drivers or power sources needed. Simple. And there’s even a pretty flashing LED to look at when the reader is being accessed!

The USB 2.0 interface guaranteed that files flew across to our desktop, and the reader’s multi card support, backwards USB 1.1 compatibility and Windows XP & Mac OSXM support should see us in good stead for the future.

Summary
Works without a problem, doing all you’d expect – 78%

US Street Price

$25

Targus

Google Music Search Launched

Google have thrown the switch on the latest addition to their search results – music.

Searching is either directly to Google Music Search, or if the music/band/song is well enough known, results can also appear in ‘normal’ Google results. Either way, it’s currently only working on the US (.com) site.

Initial music search results are split down to three sections Artists; Album; Songs. The information available is comprehensive.

Artists not only showing all of their records, but links through to Google images of them; discussions about them on Google Groups; and their site.
Albums give the break down of each of the tracks, and reviews that are available. A list of where the record can be bought is shown, complete with the comparative price they are charging against the name of the shops. Links to digital delivery sites like Apple’s iTunes and Real Rhapsody are also shown.
Songs show the start of the lyrics, linking to source for the full versions, links to any other version of the song as well as links to the expected artist information.

It’s been reported that, Google won’t be taking payments for connecting their users to the music tracks.
Currently there’s no adverts on the search results – but we’d imagine that this will change in the near future, with one possibility being suppliers bid for the clicks.
Google Music Search