Distribution

The new digital ways content was becoming distributed

Taiwan NFC Scheme Moves On, BenQ Supplies Handsets
According to industry insiders, trials of mobile phones doubling as payment tools will be taking place in Taiwan shortly, marking a big step for the nation’s contactless technology development.
They’re using Near Field Communication (NFC), a close-range wireless technology that operates over a few centimeters, enabling the simple transfer of information. Created by Nokia Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation, it uses a restricted version of RFID and we’ve been last 18 months, or so.
Taiwanese cardholders can already make payments at contracted petrol stations, coffee shops, video rental stores, train stations etc by simply waving their NFC-enabled device in front of sensor devices.
BenQ, one of the 12 partners in the NFC consortium, is expected to deliver 100 new mobile phones embedded with smart chips for the trial program next month.
Stage one of the trials will be conducted by Taipei Smart Card Corp, who will start testing the BenQ phones as a means of payment for services on bus lines, the MRT and public parking lots in the capital.
If that all goes tickety-boo, developers will look to strike deals with mobile service providers to integrate chips with Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards in handsets, giving access to mobile banking functions and even debit or credit card functionality.
The merging of cell phones and IC-chips is part of the government’s M-Taiwan (mobile-Taiwan) scheme, which put together a (NFC) consortium in November last year.
Taiwan’s alliance pooled the resources of BenQ, Taipei Smart Card, the Institute for Information Industry, five cellphone service providers, MasterCard International and Visa International.
NFC handset payment services are already tickling the public’s imagination in Japan and South Korea.
In Japan, Sony has been conducting contactless payment services with a mobile phone operator and train company, and in South Korea, SK Telecom has launched the Moneta card program with a circulation of 100,000 Visa-enabled mobile handsets.
According to Peter Manners, regional head of Visa International Asia-Pacific, the next phase is to promote the use of Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) cards in 3G handsets.
Addressing besuited execs at the Smart Card Expo at the Taipei International Convention Center, Manners said Taiwan is second only to Malaysia in the Asia-Pacific in terms of chip-embedded card penetration.
Nokia 3220 Brings Contactless Payment and Ticketing
BenQ
NFC Forum
10 May, 2005
WiMAX Cuddle Between Sprint And Intel
With a manly backslap, Intel and Sprint have announced that they will work together to advance development of the 802.16e WiMAX standard.
WiMAX is an acronym for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (snappy, eh?) and the technology aims to provide wireless broadband connectivity to fixed, portable and mobile devices without the need for line-of-sight to a base station.
The two companies will share technical specifications and equipment trials, and run interoperability tests to examine possible wireless broadband devices and services.
In case that sounded too simple, here’s Oliver Valente, CTO and VP of technology development for Sprint, to baffle you with a buzzword remix: “Our relationship with Intel will help validate requirements, drive key ecosystem development needs, formulate network strategies and define the potential for advanced wireless services adoption”.
Intel has been bigging up WiMAX with an eye to repeating their successful experience as the leading provider of Wi-Fi chipsets.
Although doubters of WiMAX maintain that competition with the 3G cell-phone service will render the technology redundant, both Intel and Sprint view portability as a winning approach to the technology, insisted that WiMAX “can provide high-capacity wireless broadband coverage and services throughout metro areas and an enriched multimedia user experience.”
Sean Maloney, another executive with an impossibly long job description (“executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Mobility Group”) added: “WiMAX technology has the promise to deliver new broadband services to consumers globally.”
The partnership hopes to draw on Sprint/Nextel’s substantial holdings in 2.5GHz spectrum band, although it’s been described as a “messy complex band” by wireless specialist Joe Nordgaard of Spectral Advantage, who added, “It’s going to be very difficult to come out with a common worldwide solution similar to Wi-Fi.”
Intel WiMAX
Sprint WiMAX
6 May, 2005
Broadcast Flag Knocked Back By US Court
Today, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that the US FCC (Federal Communications Commission) does not have authority to prohibit companies from making computer and video hardware that doesn’t comply with the Broadcast Flag. This was to come into effect on 1 July, this year.
As far back as 2002, representations were made to the FCC by the content industry to restrict the use video content on US Digital TV sets, as the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group, as it was named then, crossed the line“.
Despite having had some notice on this, today’s ruling will be a shock for content owners.
We spoke to John Enser, Partner in Media and Communications at Olswang, “It isn’t the first time that the FCC have had one of their decisions overturned. There are usually two type of ruling; a firm no, or a softer ‘you haven’t done it right this time, but there may be ways it can be done.’ This at first glance, this looks like a firm no.”
We equated it to either a door being slammed, or it being politely pushed closed, but left ajar. It appear as if it’s the big slam.
Is this the end of the road for the Broadcast Flag? Probably not thinks John Enser, “They can either appeal, or they could go back to Congress to give them the powers.” We’d imagine it’s probably more likely Congressmen will be getting phone calls today as content owners are fierce lobbyists in Washington. When we put this to Cory Doctorow, European outreach officer of the EFF he felt it was less likely, “The only option open to Hollywood is to find a senator so suicidal that they are prepared to force a law that will break their delegates television sets.”
Ren Bucholz, EFF Policy Co-ordinator, America told us that the EFF were “shocked and delighted” by the ruling. In particularly “by the pro-public interest language used” and “unanimity of all three judges voting the same way.” He went on to wonder what it meant to the future of the FCC, “possibly leading to a trimming of their wings.”
A number of calls to the MPAA were not returned before publication.
As to what will happen to all of the TV and computer equipment that has been manufactured in readiness for 1 July is unclear, as is whether the FCC will be compelled to rebate the manufacturers of the effected equipment.
We’ll leave the closing words to Cory Doctorow, “Now the Broadcast Flag is dead, it is essential that the content industry doesn’t introduce the same restrictions into Europe, via the back door of the DVB specification.”
Court ruling FCC
(photo credit: Electronic Frontier Foundation)
6 May, 2005
T-Mobile Trials 2Mb WiFi On Southern Trains
T-Mobile is offering a free WiFi pilot service on Southern Rail’s busy London-to-Brighton train service in readiness for a full launch in June.
The service, part of a £1 billion improvement project for Southern Rail, will be rolled out on 14 trains supplied by 60 Wi-Fi base stations along the route.
T-Mobile have been trialing the service for several months, with a limited amount of base stations offering 256K upload speeds and download speeds at 2Mbit. T-Mobile has said these speeds will be upgraded on launch.
Despite limited publicity, freeloading passengers have been using the service, with T-Mobile logging seventy-five users over a ten day period from 1st April.
Most of the users were morning commuters, alerted to the service by stickers in the carriage windows.
From June onwards, passengers will have to fork out for the service as T-Mobile introduces its national HotSpot prices.
T-Mobile manager for WiFi Jay Saw was in full corporate PR spin mode as he enthused: “We are the only operator that has placed GPRS, 3G and WiFi at the centre of its strategy. That differentiates us from the competition. We’re the world’s largest network – by our own definition.”
“The Brighton Express has four million regular commuters. We’re the first to install broadband on a train,” beamed Saw, adding that, “Southern, along with our own research and feedback, tells us that there’s a lot of demand. And the feedback from the early users so far has been very positive. We are trying to maximise the value of dead time for commuters.”
Nomad Digital executive chairman Nigel Wallbridge, whose company is responsible for the build and operation of the WiFi network, sounded positively loved up as he set his backslap motors to full: “In my business life, I have rarely had a better experience than working with T-Mobile and Southern, and the railways rarely get good press in Britain.”
We hope to have a hands-on test of the service shortly.
Southern Railway
T-Mobile UK
5 May, 2005
Pigeon Enabled Internet Faster Than ADSL
This has Friday Story written all over it. A few Israeli geeks set up a test to compare the speed of delivering data via pigeon (PEI – Pigeon Enabled Internet, as they’ve labelled it) compared with ADSL.
They’re building on Wi-Fly research carried out in Bergen, Norway a few years ago, when paper was used as the data medium. The latest version uses memory cards, 20-22 distributed over three pigeons, enabling much more data to be carried.
In total, 4Gb of data was transferred over 100Km – which, as they point out, is far superior to WiFi. Despite one of the pigeons being delayed, initially appearing to get lost on his journey (packet loss as they refer to it), they achieved a transfer rate of 2.27 Mbps, exceeding the commercially available ADSL rates in Israel of 0.75 – 1.5 Mbps.
As you know, the A in ADSL stands for Asynchronous, so the transferred rates listed equate to the speed that information is received. Upload rates are significantly lower. By their calculations, uploading 4Gb of data on ADSL would take around 96 hours – making the pigeon transfer significantly more efficient, equivalent to a T1 connection at 1.5Mbps.
As they point out, the pigeon gives pretty high latency (it takes quite a while for the first bit of data to arrive), but once it arrives, all of the 4Gb is delivered at once.
I’d often thought how price efficient the postal transfer of DVD’s was. 4.7Gb transferred overnight for around 50 pence – try buying bandwidth at that rate.
Chat around the office lead us to wonder what the next in the endless list of variation on creatures being used to transfer information would be. Nicolas Nova has provided the answer – Snail power.
PEI (Pigeon Enabled Internet) is FASTER then ADSL (via Nicolas Nova, through engadget)
Credit for images: Gil Pry-dvash, Gilad Reshef, Shai Vardi and Ami Ben Bassat
29 April, 2005
Toshiba Quantum Key Server To Secure Video
The clever-clogs at Toshiba Research Europe have announced that they have been successful in applying quantum cryptography to the transmission of video and voice over IP.
This means that it will be next to impossible for hackers to “tap” into voice and video files streamed over the net.
White coated boffins at Toshiba’s Cambridge UK labs demonstrated their Quantum Key Server system, which involves encoding bits of encryption data onto particles of light (photons).
This ultra secure technology looks set to revolutionise digital security by replacing the current distribution methods for keys, which are needed to decrypt secure messages.
Toshiba’s quantum video link increases the security of communication systems by encrypting every single video frame with a unique digital key – so cracking one frame of a video would be useless unless all the other frames were cracked too.
The secrecy of each of these keys is ensured by quantum cryptography, an ultra-secure key distribution method.
Dr Andrew Shields, head honcho of the Toshiba group developing the system, said, “Corporate networks are increasingly vulnerable to the theft of keys from the desktop, either by hacking, Trojans or fraudulent employees. The Toshiba Quantum Key Server mitigates this risk by allowing frequent key refresh.”
“The Toshiba Quantum Key Server can be used to enhance the security of not just video and speech, but also a wide range of other high bandwidth data communications, ranging from sensitive legal documents to medical and tax records.” he added.
Quantum cryptography also allows the key distribution link to be monitored for tapping and other skulduggery, and although we can’t pretend to understand half of what the good Doctor is on about, we liked this bit:
“Imagine if you received a letter, you opened that letter and read it, there is no way of telling if someone has read that letter en route. When you encode the information on single particles, the letter self destructs whenever someone else reads it.”
“I sometimes say it is like the messages in Mission Impossible,” he added, “If anyone tries to read the messages, they self destruct.”
Toshiba has so far received “good feedback” from government and financial institutions shown the demonstrations, although commercial implementation looks to be some years away.
Toshiba Europe Research
29 April, 2005
Sony RDR-GXD500 Review: DVD Recorder With Freeview
As the number of digital TV-enabled households continues to rise and the analogue switch off looms ever closer, it seems strange that Sony’s RDR-GXD500 is the first DVD recorder to come equipped with a built-in digital TV tuner.
Over 60% of UK households can now receive digital TV, but trying to record the content can involve nightmarish battles with endless cables and component boxes.
Sony’s RDR-GXD500 is a one-stop solution that’s easy to set up and use, with its all-in-one functionality letting users view Freeview digital channels, make digital recordings and play discs all from a single compact unit.
The included ‘learning’ multi-function remote control lets you jettison your TV remote too, leaving one less thing to have to find on a drunken Saturday night.
Setting up the recorder is a breeze: plug it into your telly, turn it on and then let it automatically scan for channels.
The unit’s onscreen interface is simplicity itself, with the eight-day electronic programme guide (EPG) banishing those video timer nightmares forever – this puppy is so simple, even a granny overdosed on Christmas sherry would have no problem setting up a recording of Des and Mel.
Selecting programs to record is as simple as clicking on the programme you wish to record from the EPG and that’s it. Easy!
Things look pretty good under the hood too, with the unit sporting high quality components such as a 12-bit/108Mhz DAC and both digital and analogue tuners, allowing you to record one channel while you watch another.
Conveniently, the RDR-GXD500 offers simultaneous record/playback and chase play (this lets you begin watching a recorded programme before it’s finished) as well as a veritable armoury of advanced editing, archiving and organising functions.
In use, the Sony performed flawlessly. Memories of long hours endlessly fast forwarding and rewinding video tapes looking for a programme, were banished forever thanks to the recorder’s indexing and multi speed search facilities.
The digital reception was crisp and sharp and infinitely superior to the vintage On Digital box lurking downstairs. Images were rock solid, the black is Bible black, and the colours are vibrant and richly balanced.
A range of recording quality modes let you increase recording time at the expense of image quality.
The highest setting (HQ) produced copies that were indistinguishable from the original broadcast, although this brought the recording time down to a just over two hours.
With the lowest quality mode, SLP (super long play) time-rich viewers could squeeze in up to six hours of recording with that old school ‘snow storm’ dodgy video feel.
DVD playback was pretty damn good on the machine, with a stable image output providing very little in the way of ‘smearing’ and digital artifacts.
Overall, the Sony RDR-GXD500 gave a consistently good account of itself in all areas, and as such, this is a DVD recorder I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Highly recommended
Pros: Great all round performance, integrated digital tuner and simple Cons: The baffling lack of progressive scan video capability
Specifications:
Size (WxHxD): 49x9x38cm
Weight: 5.1kg
Recording formats: DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW
Playback formats: DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/-RW, VCD
Video outputs: Component, SCART (RGB), S-Video, composite, RF
Audio outputs: Line out, optical digital, coaxial digital
Street price: Under £400 (~US$762 ~€591)
Sony RDR-GXD500
29 April, 2005
Your Stories: BBC Broadcasts Viewer-Produced Videos
BBCi has launched a programming service for digital satellite viewers showcasing short films made by ordinary folk across the UK.
Commissioned by BBC New Media and developed by BBC Nations and Regions, the service – dubbed “Your Stories” – is accessible at any time by pressing the red button on the remote control.
The program features content generated under the auspices of two BBC projects designed to give people the skills to make short films about their own lives: Video Nation and Digital Stories.
Video Nation broke new ground when it first hit UK TV screens – running in short slots dropped in to the programming schedule.
It was created in 1993 after the BBC scattered a team of over 30 producers around the UK with the aim of encouraging local people to make short films. Seeing “Real people” on TV, explaining various details of their lives was a refreshing revelation.
The producers trained them in the art of storytelling and the use of camcorders, with the films featuring individuals sharing moments of their lives with the camera.
Digital Stories built on the heritage of the Video Nation taking it to a new audience by delivering the content online.
The team behind it provides digital workshops where people from different backgrounds can hook up and tell their stories with the help of electronic wizardry such as laptops, scanners, digital cameras and editing software.
Content on the ‘Your Stories’ service is divided into daily themes, each with its own title. “My Music”, for example, featured an eight-year-old trumpet player and a blind pianist.
New Media Knowledge (NMK) ran an excellent event last year exploring this subject, bringing together members of the Video Nation and Digital Nation, the roots of both were explored.
The showing of the content revealed the power of this content – emotion. ‘Normal’ people in control of making media about their lives, without it passing through all of the editorial filters that are, as a matter of course, applied to broadcast TV – removing the soul from the piece. It was, quite simply, some of the most powerful content I have ever seen.
As a regular reader of Digital-Lifestyles, you will know that we are hugely enthused about the future of the user-generated content as an alternative to media made by the current media companies. If you’re not convinced, watching the online examples of this (linked at the bottom of this piece) will help you understand.
Next month, the BBC intends to feature a week of films created by school students deep in stress and revision as they prepare for their GCSE exams.
Other forthcoming programs will be thematically linked with various linear programming offerings, including the BBC2’s, ‘Coast’, BBC One’s upcoming season of African-themed programs, and programming commemorating VE Day.
BBCi controller, Rahul Chakkara, explained the reasoning behind Your Stories service: “The BBCi audience is maturing, and is looking for content that is social and highly involving, available to them whenever they want.”
“Your Stories is the beginning of our efforts to meet this need. We go beyond involvement through interaction and we involve our audiences by encouraging them to produce their own content.”
BBC Your Stories
BBC Video Nation
Digital Stories
New Media Knowledge
26 April, 2005
BT Loves Free Wi-Fi Hotspots
Unlike several telecoms companies in the US who are hell bent on blocking free Wi-Fi hotspots, BT has stated that it has “no problems” with the concept.
Although free wireless hotspots are becoming increasingly common worldwide, telcos in Philadelphia and Texas are camping in their lawyer’s offices in an attempt to get hotspots shut down, arguing that it is not in the government’s remit to compete with commercial services.
To a chorus of boos in our office, Andrew “meany” Allison, head of Intel’s mobility group in the UK, spat out; “Governments should do what governments are meant to do: govern. They don’t run, support and maintain networks. That’s for network operators.”
Clearly, Islington Council in London doesn’t agree. They launched a mile-long free Wi-Fi network, dubbed the ‘Technology Mile’, earlier this week.
The network covers the length of Upper Street – one of the busiest streets in Islington – with the Council donating PCs to some local businesses as part of its push to boost economic activity in the area and to encourage local residents onto the Internet.
Chris Clark, BT’s chief executive for wireless broadband approves, telling vnunet.com that he has no problems with free wireless hotspots, and that the more people using the technology the better.
“Free access doesn’t touch us,” he said. “It’s not a market we’re going after. We’re after the business market and in a lot of cases business laptops are locked out of such hotspots for good security reasons.”
Clark does not envisage US-style legal wrangling in the future for the UK and expressed confidence that if more people use Wi-Fi it will drive demand for BT’s services.
Clark also confirmed today that BT will be launching a seamless roaming GSM/Wi-Fi phone by the end of the year, adding that he expects Wi-Fi phones to be “very common”, although not ubiquitous in five years time.
BT
Islington sets up free Wi-Fi zone a mile long
22 April, 2005
Sony, Toshiba May Create Universal Blu-Ray/HD DVD Standard
After years of throwing pans at each other, Sony and Toshiba are set to kiss and make up and develop a universal standard for next-generation DVDs, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily.
The twin titans of technology have been busily promoting their own DVD formats, which are billed as offering “cinematic quality” images with the facility to include interactive entertainment.
The bad news is that the two systems are incompatible, so that a movie released on Toshiba’s format would not run on a Sony player and vice versa.
Mindful of the Betamax disaster of the 70s, the two companies have cuddled up in bed together and – after sharing a cigarette – are expected to shortly announce an accord on the joint development of a next-generation DVD.
When asked about the intimate details of the deal, a Sony Corp spokesman played coy, commenting, “as we have said before, we have been considering holding discussions with others over the next-generation DVD format.”
Toshiba were also in the mood to be all moody and mysterious, mumbling on about how “a single format would benefit consumers and we will continue to work toward that goal. We will continue necessary talks to achieve it.”
Next-generation DVD players use funky blue lasers to give a shorter wavelength than the red lasers currently used DVDs and CDs. The higher storage capacity lets the discs hold enough data to provide high-definition quality television pictures.
Two competing formats developed out of this technology, with Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic), introducing the Blu-ray standard in February 2002, with Toshiba and NEC Corp. following with the HD DVD standard.
The format war has already started causing divisions within home appliance makers and movie companies, with companies like Apple, Dell, Samsung, Walt Disney, Sony Pictures and Samsung supporting Blu-ray with Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers Studios coming out in support of HD DVD
The Nihon Keizai reported that Sony and Toshiba had stepped up closed-door negotiations around February to find a resolution to the problem.
After reaching a basic agreement that a unified standard would be desirable, they are now looking to develop a hybrid that takes advantage of each standard’s strengths, the newspaper added.
Sony and Toshiba have already started bending the ears of Walt Disney, AOL Time Warner and other Hollywood movie studios in a bid to win approval for a unified standard and pave the way for the signing of an agreement, the Nihon Keizai said.
And that’s good news for anyone with a large Betamax box in the attic.
Hddvd.org
Blu-ray.com
Toshiba
Sony
21 April, 2005