Content

Content in its shift to become digital

MP3Tunes Oboe: Now Unlimited Free Storage
Oboe, the MP3Tunes.com online music service is increasing its previous 1Gb of free music storage to unlimited storage to some of its registered users.
The bold move was signalled when we received an email notification today that our account had been given the magic blessing.
MP3Tunes takes a different approach to iTunes and other on-computer music management software. Rather than have all of your music stored on the machine you are listening to it on, the music is stored on the Internet.
To listen to the music you can either use their application; or plugins for Browsers (Firefox or ie); or media players (iTunes and Winamp). Access to the music is also free.
This brings the advantage that your music can be played by any Internet-attached computer or device that you might have to hand, including TiVo, Nokia 770 and Series 60 phones.
Uploading music is done using their Oboe Sync 2.0 software which runs on Microsoft Windows 2000/XP, Mac OSX and Linux.
They’re not sniffy about the music file formats either, with a comprehensive selection supported (MP3, MP4, M4A, M4P, AAC, WMA, OGG, AIF, AIFF, MIDI). Pointedly it is also stated that “Digitally Restricted Files may not play.”
The unlimited service, previously called Premium, used to cost $40/year. As with their previous offering, there may limits on the size of each file that you upload, but at time of going to press, this remains unclear.
A bit of history for you …
Mp3Tunes was started by Michael Robertson, the founder of MP3.com, the trail blazing music service that started in 1998 and eventually had to close after a concerted legal attack by the music business.
In 2000 mp3.com started my.mp3.com, a service very similar to the Oboe service offered now offered by MP3Tunes. We hope that their new service doesn’t suffer the same end.
Impact
We think this move to an unlimited service could just start to put a dent in the dominance of iTunes, particularly in Europe, where legal pressure is building on them.
Being able to access music collections from work as well as home, without having to physically carry them, is a big boost.
As far as sustaining the service, because clearly there’s a fair cost in offering something like this, we assume the income will arise from the sale of additional music to the people who embrace the service.p
1 February, 2007
Blowfly Alarm Clock
Are you always late for work? Does your alarm clock fail to wake you up in the morning? Have you developed a reflex action that bashes the ‘alarm off’ button while you carry on counting sheep?
Hard core slumberers and die hard alarm ‘snooze button’ activators fed up with always being late may find the Flying Alarm Clock the answer to their problems.
Like most bedside alarm clocks, there’s a big LCD display and buttons for setting the time and alarm.
Unlike regular alarm clocks however, there’s no snooze button to be found and – as you can see – there’s a rather curious contraption sitting on top of the clock.
When it’s time for you to get out of your jimjams, this totally daft clock launches a flying propeller that hovers around the room, making strange buzzing noises while the clock’s alarm sounds.
The only way to shut the thing up is to get out of bed and put the propeller back on the clock – by which time you should be wide awake (or have your neighbours hammering through your walls in rage).
The clock is a commercial development of an idea that won a prize in the Taiwan International Design competition in 2005 and has just appeared for sale on a Danish website for around £27.
blowflyalarmclock.net
[Via]
1 February, 2007
Sky Anytime on TV Preview: Sky VOD
When is a 300Gb hard disc not a 300Gb hard disc? When it’s in a Sky box. The fruit of Sky’s much discussed drive partitioning was revealed today, with the announcement of a March launch for Sky Anytime on TV.
Sky Anytime on TV is a push video service that will populate users’ Sky HD (and some Sky+) PVRs with shows from the Sky network, plus Artsworld, National Geographic, Disney and the Biography and History channels. In a one-to-one briefing today, we got to sample the Anytime on TV service, not to be confused with Sky Anytime on PC or the yet to surface Sky Anytime on Mobile. For brevity, we’re going to call Sky Anytime on TV, SAoTV.
SAoTV consists of around 20 to 25 programmes, ranging from half-hour comedies to full length movies, chosen to represent the best of the weeks programming. In the wee hours of every night, a number of assets (between 1 to 6 hours of TV) will be pushed to the Sky box. At launch, every subscriber will receive identical content, although personalisation of SAoTV is ‘on the road map’, according to a spokesman.
Where it’s available, HD subscribers will receive their SAoTV content in High Definition and (in the first phase at least) all content is free from adverts, with the exception of an intro promo hat can be fast-forwarded through, like any Sky recording.
The SAoTV service enjoys its own instant access button – the red key – whose previous occupant (HD Channels) now receives its own menu entry. It’s presented in a similar way to the Planner screen, with the addition of a live video preview window showing a trailer of the highlighted show and some promotional text.
As new shows arrive nightly, older programmes are bumped down the SAoTV listings. Each programme has a clear expiration date, doing a Cinderella-style pumpkin vanishing act at midnight, seven days after its first appearance. If you want to keep a show permanently, you simply hit the Record button any time during that week to add it to your Planner.
The SAoTV service will initially be free and contain only programmes that have been previously broadcast, although Sky hasn’t ruled out charging for content or including exclusive previews in the future.
Sky Anytime on TV will be available to all HD subscribers, as well as owners of the most recent Sky+ boxes (those with partitioned hard drives): currently around 1 million households. Anyone who bought a Sky+ box within the last year should be able to use the service, although Sky will be writing to each subscriber to alert them.
Sky is also rolling out the Anytime brand to cover its Sky by broadband and Sky by mobile services.
Our take? The Sky Anytime on TV services is largely a win-win situation. Sky gets to promote high profile, expensive acquisitions like Lost, 24 and blockbuster movies – and we get to watch them free from adverts and without having to remember to set the timer (or rely on the occasionally erratic Series Link). Of course, it would be nice to see a wider range of channels on board (negotiations are on-going, but don’t expect to see the terrestrial broadcasters any time soon).
However, there will always be the argument that grown-up TV viewers should be free to populate their own hard drive as they see fit – which makes the timing of Sky Anytime on TV all the smarter. HD and Sky+ subscribers have had nearly a year to get to accustomed to their truncated storage space, making the Anytime service seem like less of an intrusion and more of a bonus.
31 January, 2007
Casio Announces EXILIM Zoom EX-Z1050 and EX-Z75
Casio has knocked out two additions to its pocket pleasing, ultra-slim Exilim Zoom range in the shape of the 10.1-megapixel EX-Z1050 and the 7.2 million pixel Exilim Zoom EX-Z75 cameras.
EXILIM Zoom EX-Z1050
The EX-Z1050 follows on from the EX-Z1000 and nudges in at a tad lighter and smaller, measuring up at 91.1 x 57.2 x 24.2 mm and weighing 125g.
Bolted on to the lightweight aluminum clad camera is a wide aspect (14:9) 2.6-inch LCD screen and a 38-114mm (35mm equiv) 3x optical zoom, backed by a sensitivity boost up to ISO 800.
Onboard there’s Casio’s EXILIM Engine 2.0 offering new motion analysis technology, with the camera able to rattle off a claimed 7 shots per second until the memory tank hits full.
There’s no proper optical stabilization, but the camera comes with built in “Blur-reduction technologies.” In other words, the camera hikes up the ISO whenever it detects a moving object or low light.
There’s also an Auto Tracking AF function for following moving subjects, and a Super Life Battery allowing up to 370 shots per charge.
The Casio EXILIM Zoom EX-Z1050 will be available in silver, black and gold in the UK (with prettier colours available elsewhere, by the look of things) and comes with a suggested retail price of £229.99.
EXILIM Zoom EX-Z75
The cheaper 7.2 million pixel Exilim Zoom EX-Z75 looks to be a minor upgrade to last year’s EX-Z70 and adds the same wide aspect (14:9) 2.6-inch screen and more user friendly features.
The attractive point’n’shooter comes with a 3x optical zoom, an ‘Easy Mode’ for dorks baffled by buttons and digital Anti Shake DSP to keep things steady.
The EXILIM Zoom EX-Z75 can expect to have a £179.99 price label stuck on it when it hits the UK in February 2007, and will be available in silver, blue and girly pink.
31 January, 2007
Microsoft Vista – Made by Web 2.0?
Bill Gates launched Vista this morning by emphasizing the role of the general public in its conception. “We’ve got over 5 million beta testers to thank,” he told a packed audience at the British Library in London. “They’ve helped to make sure that Vista is the highest quality product we’ve ever released. And then we picked 50 families and talked to them about how they used computing in their daily lives, generating over 800 changes in the final version.”
This isn’t the monolithic Microsoft of old, laying down the law and strong-arming others to follow its digital lead. Instead, Gates pointed out that Office 2007 (also launched today) “redefines collaboration in the workplace. It embraces the XML standard and that’s a big deal.” He went on to say that “the strength of Windows has always been the ecosystem around it, consisting of hardware, solutions and software partners. We’ve always had ten times as many applications for Windows as for other operating systems, and that’s allowed us to see software at low prices.”
It’s perhaps no coincidence that the Vista ecosystem opens up a whole new environmental niche, in the form of miniature applications called Gadgets, a selection of which were unveiled (at great length) by Windows marketeers. Although superficially very similar to Apple’s desktop Widgets, the Gadgets on show were heavily branded by partners ranging from BetFair to Universal Music, and seemed to integrate worryingly easily with Microsoft’s software. If you block out a meeting in Milan, for instance, the EasyJet Gadget could pop up to suggest suitable flights.
It remains to be seen whether Gadget developers have consumer – rather than corporate – interests uppermost in their minds. Bill gushed: “I’m excited to see what people are going to do with Vista”. Any bets that malware Gadgets are just around the corner?
30 January, 2007
Leonardo da Vinci Notebooks Reunited With Windows Vista
Two notebooks containing work by Leonardo da Vinci, know as the Codices, have been digitally reunited today at the launch of Windows Vista.
Background
The books, compiled from work by da Vinci in the early 1500s, have been seperated for many years. Well, a rather long time actually – since 1519.
The British Library holds one – the Codex Arundel – and the other is privately owned by Bill Gates – the Codex Leicester.
Gates bought his 72-page manuscript back in 1994, when he paid $30,802,500 for it – plus tax. Much to his expected disappointment he didn’t get tax relief on his little purchase, despite letting the Seattle Art Museum display it to the public.
Previous owner of the The Codex Leicester was Armand Hammer, the owner of Occidental Petroleum, who bought it in 1980 and in an incredible act of arrogance renamed it Codex Hammer. Gates returned it to its original name after he coughed up the cash for it.
How does it all works?
The British Library’s Codex has been available electronically for some time using a service that they call Turning The Pages.
It’s been available through a browser as it uses Adobe Shockwave and runs on all platforms.
It’s quite fun to flick through the rather old, and frankly scrappy book seeing Leonardo’s mirror writing and drawings.
There will be very few of you surprised to hear that the newly combined version – Turning The Pages 2 – will only work on computers that are “Microsoft’s ‘Vista Premium Ready’”, that are running Vista or Windows XP Service Pack 2. Anything other than that, needs to refer to the message at the bottom of the page, “Turning the Pages 2.0 will not run on Windows 2000, XP Service Pack 1 or Macintosh at this time.”
The new version does look lush, but I suspect that the team at Microsoft who worked on this project felt that they were walking a knife edge – getting it wrong and not showing off the bosses $30m book would not be a good prospect for promotion.
Why was Bill in London?
Before the event, there’s been much confusion in journalistic circles as to why the Windows Vista launch was going to be held at the British Library. Microsoft could pick any location in the UK Capital to hold their launch.
Now we know.
Turning The Pages 2
The original Turning The Pages
30 January, 2007
Samsung Secrete A Slew Of Stylish Snappers
Although we’re yet to be really knocked out by the image quality, we’ve been impressed by Samsung’s enthusiasm to break the mould with innovative digicam designs.
Hot off the factory presses are three new all-black models, all with distinctive and stylish looks.
Samsung L74 Wide
The L74 Wide comes with a handy 28mm wideangle 3.6x optical zoom, seven megapixel CCD, and 3.0″ Touch Screen LCD, backed by 450 MB of internal memory and MPEG-4 SVGA video recording.
Samsung’s Face Recognition AF & AE is included, with the touch screen LCD offering Samsung’s original Flash GUI (Graphic User Interface) and proprietary ASR image stabilisation system helping keep things sharp in low light.
Aimed at travellers, the L74 Wide has a trick up its sleeve with the inclusion of an onboard Tour Guide providing travel information covering 4,500 regions in 30 countries.
The $350 L74 Wide should be available in North America in Spring 2007.
Samsung NV11
Knocking out for fifty bucks more, the NV11 comes with a ten megapixel sensor, 5x Schneider optical zoom and a 2.7″ LCD monitor.
Like its younger bro’, the point & shooter comes with Samsung’s Face Recognition technology, ASR image stabilisation , MPEG-4 video (VGA) with ISO sensitivity zipping up to the giddy heights of 1600.
The NV11 comes with Samsung’s unique Smart Touch user interface, which lets you navigate through menus by sliding your pinkie across horizontal and vertical rows of control buttons
The NV11 should be nuzzling up on shop shelves in America in Spring 2007.
Samsung i7
Also announced was the rather curious Samsung i7 which sports a rotating 3.0-inch LCD display, which can be spun through 180 degrees.
The i7 packs a 7.2 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) technology, SVGA video, face recognition ISO 1600 and even an integrated MP3 player with simulated SRS 3D sound.
The camera also comes with the Tour Guide stuff, with the ability to download further information directly from the internet, plus 512 MB of internal memory provided.
The multimedia-tastic Samsung i7 is set to retail for £249.99 and should be available in the UK from mid-March 2007.
Samsung
30 January, 2007
Giant Graphic For Australian Google Maps
A few bods in Australia got together after hearing that the Google Maps satellite which it takes images from was going to be passing over Sydney.
Their mission? To create a giant graphic, so it would be picked up and be viewable on Google Maps.
It’s not the first time anyone has thought of the idea of course (we’ve all done this at Digital-Lifestyles towers), but these characters actually got off their behinds and did it.
They started at 4am, pegging 2,500 sheets of paper in the grass of a park to form a giant eye – the pun being that Australia was also watching the world.
It appeared on the tech discussion board Slashdot, and subsequently was hit with a ton of comments accusing them of “spamming Google Maps.” You’ll know that we hate spam (natch), but we fail to see why some of the commenters are getting so irate.
As one of the comments pointed out, they don’t really have to wait for the map to appear on Google Maps – they’ve gained loads of it from the stunt alone.
Read more on their posting about it.
29 January, 2007
Getamac: Apple Launches UK Switch Campaign
The UK equivalent of the Apple US Switch campaign was launched today in the UK. Featuring Mitchell & Webb, well known and highly-respected UK comics, they maintain the signature people-standing-in-front–of-a-white-backgrounds look of other Apple campaigns.
The casting is perfect, with the PC played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb being the Mac – the business/casual roles they played in the genius TV venture, Peep Show.
Apple must be spending large on this as it’s all over the UK MySpace pages, with double ads showing on a lot of the pages.
Clearly riding on the shirt-tails of the world’s obsession with iPods, through this campaign Apple, are attempting to persuade iPod-owners that their computing lives could be just as beautiful as their music lives. By the look of the last Quarter’s figures from Apple, where they sold just over a million Macs and over 21 million iPods, it’s not a bad idea to increase your computer sales.
There’s three campaigns in the wild at the moment, Restart; Virus and Office, are all worth a watch. Luckily someone (just perhaps, just perhaps, the advertising company!) has put the adverts up on YouTube – a pretty neat trick for something that hasn’t been on TV yet.
Restart plays on the fact that PCs freeze and often crash during use, while Macs don’t suffer this to the same degree – although it’s not unknown.
Virus takes great delight in the 140k new viruses that were created for PCs last year, while the number of Mac viruses remains minimal – something that might change if lots more people starts buying Macs.
Office encourages people to detach their home PCs from being associated from the work PC, which is normally a PC – what this will do to people who have Macs at work is yet to be established.
Quite what Mitchell thinks of being cast as the dorky PC is unknown, but we suspect he’ll be mopping up his tears with his bulging appearance fee cheque.
BTW – Our fave Apple advert remains the Home Movie.
Apple also have it all over their site.
29 January, 2007
YouTube To Share Ad Revenue With Uploaders
Filmmakers who upload their own movies on to the video-sharing website YouTube will soon be able to enjoy some financial rewards for their efforts.
In an interview with the BBC, YouTube founder Chad Hurley announced that the company was working on a revenue-sharing mechanism designed to “reward creativity”.
Set to start rolling out in a couple of months, the deal would raise revenue to reward creative camcorder types via a mixture of adverts and short clips slipped in at the beginning of a clip.

Only folks who own the full copyright of the videos can expect to receive a wedge of the moolah, with YouTube introducing the advertising technology incrementally.
Somerfield Staff Antics on YouTube
Elsewhere, UK supermarket chain Somerfield has launched an inquiry after video clips of their staff mucking about turned up on YouTube.
Various staff members are seen larking about while wearing the store’s uniform, including a break dancing shelf stacker, an “extreme floor cleaner” crashing into a wall and a nutter hurtling down a car park slope on a shopping trolley.

Somerfield has said that they are looking into the incidents, sternly adding that they will, “take any necessary action where appropriate.”
Of course, all they’ve really done is helped publicise the clips for everyone else to enjoy – and reminded us of our equally daft antics in previous crap jobs.
Somerfield YouTube videos
29 January, 2007