Digital-Lifestyles

Distribution

The new digital ways content was becoming distributed

  • PocketPC Virus Found

    The first ever PocketPC virus was discovered over the weekend – but it’s a proof of concept project and carries no payload. Given how long devices running Microsoft’s PocketPC operating system have been available, it’s surprising that we’ve been lucky up until now.

    The virus, Duts, was written by one of the 29A virus group – a group who write viruses as an exercise to analyse dangers and provide information for anti-virus companies. The same group produced the Cabir Symbian virus last month.

    Duts is safe even if it gets out in to the wild as it asks for permission before infecting other files, and only affects a limited number of file types. However, it may not be too difficult for someone to reverse engineer the code and produce a malicious variant.

    Viruses and trojan horses are now spreading to other platforms, meaning that PDA and phone users, nit just PC owners will have to take anti-virus measures very seriously indeed.

    29A Labs

    F-Secure on the Duts virus

  • BT Launch Communicator Residential VoIP Service

    BT have launched new VoIP service called Communicator – bundled with Yahoo Messenger they claim that it makes calling from your PC easier. It certainly won’t make it cheaper as BT will bill you at exactly the same rate they bill for calls from your home phone, despite giving a clear warning on their site that PC calls aren’t as good. So, I have to ask – what’s the point?

    BT are selling the service on convenience – the subscriber’s PC becomes an all-in-one communications centre with instant messaging, email, voice calls, and call management integrated into one product. Additional features include internet call barring and waiting – allowing you to block calls to your PC, and to notify you’ve got someone else waiting to speak to you when you’ve got a call. Never ones to miss a trick, these two extras cost UK£1.75 (€2.62) a month each, if you don’t already have them on your usual line.

    BT also use the quality issue as an opportunity to recommend upgrading to a broadband connection: “The quality of calls made with BT Communicator may not be as good as the quality of traditional phone calls. BT Communicator call quality may be better on a broadband connection.”

    People registering now get a free month of calls – after that, the service is charged like a normal phone service, with calls showing up on your normal bill as “Clic2call” items.

    BT Communicator

    Skype – free internet calls

  • eBay Trialling Digital Downloads

    eBay are testing digital downloads in a trial with software company Digital River. The 90 day pilot allows purchasers to download software as soon as they’ve paid for it.

    Whilst this is a common business model for more traditional companies, it’s the first time that eBay have tried it. Pirated and counterfeit goods are still seen as a problem with online auctions, and eBay will have to police vendors and auctions carefully to stay on the right side of the law.

    As eBay will only allow pre-approved sellers to offer downloads so we can forget sales of unloved, second-hand iTunes songs for the time being.

    As the rapid success of online music stores is demonstrating, internet users are getting more used to the idea of buying goods on a download only basis – including software, music, fonts and reports. If eBay can keep control of their vendors, then this could be the next big phase for them.

    Digital River Inc.

  • iTunes in Indie Deal

    After the protests of indie music fans clogged up Apple’s music store with bogus iMixes, the company is close to completing a deal to get more indie music on the service.

    Hundreds of artists have not been able to get their music on iTunes because lengthy, piecemeal negotiations with individual indie labels. Sony and Napster managed to get round this by doing a single deal with the Association of Independent Music, the UK trade body that represents many of the labels in question.

    This means that popular acts such as the White Stripes will finally be available for download, and music fans will be able to download Franz Ferdinand rather than Franz Liszt. Not that there’s anything wrong with Franz Liszt – other than he didn’t come from Glasgow.

    iTunes

  • Sony Connect: Video Content Within 12 Months

    Sony is to extend its Connect music download service to cover video downloads within the next twelve months. The chairman and and chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Michael Lynton, said: “Sony Connect will not be just a music service but also a video business within the next year.”

    Of course, no-one dropped their latte at that announcement, but this is the first time that the move has been confirmed.

    Sony’s consumer electronics business is developing devices that will be able to download and play videos from the Connect store, in exactly the same way that their new range of audio devices do now. The new service will be called Movielink, and given Sony’s enthusiasm for DRM, will probably only be compatible with Sony devices and PCs.

    Movielink is a joint distribution venture with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers, and will feature content from all five studios and others.

    Sony Connect

  • London Gets a TV Channel

    Claiming to be the first channel of its type in the world, London TV is a new channel designed to help Londoners get the most out of their city.

    NOP have carried out a survey citing 33% of Londoners “worry constantly that they are not making the most of their free time”. I must be in that other 77% slice, presumably.

    The channel revolves around “bite-sized” (i.e. short and cheap to produce) snippets of entertainment designed to inspire Londoners to get over their fear of mugging and burglary and to leave their ludicrously priced homes and venture out for some fun.

    David Campbell, chief executive of Visit London, said: “If you live in the capital, you often feel guilty that you’re not making the most of everything the city has to offer. Now you don’t even have to get off the sofa to get some inspirational ideas delivered straight to your living room. London TV provides one of the best ways to deliver up to the minute information in a fast moving city like ours. Television brings the capital to life in a way that a guide book could never do and with digital uptake increasing all the time, there has never been a better time to launch a channel dedicated to the greatest city in the world.”

    The channel has cost some UK£2 million (€3 million) to set up, financed through Visit London’s marketing budget.

    Visit London

  • Ofcom’s Renumbering Plans

    Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has published their plan for renumbering Greater London’s telephone system.

    Under Section 56 of the Communications Act, Ofcom is required to publish a National Telephone Numbering Plan and review it when required. Telephone numbers have been revised three times over the last fifteen years, and usually the public’s response is one of groans and howls, followed by trips to the printers to get all the stationery redone, and the tiny tapping on phones and PDAs to input the new codes.

    There’ll be none of that this time – Ofcom is assuring residential and business customers that they will not need to change their numbers. The major change is the release of the 020 3 code for new numbers in Greater London, though 020 7 and 020 8 will stay the same.

    A campaign to inform the public will begin in Q3 2004, and it is expected that the new numbers will start appearing next summer.

    Ofcom’s plan

  • US CD Album Sales Continue to Rise

    The first half of 2004 has been a good one for the US music industry, despite tales of woe from the RIAA. CD album sales are up 6.9% on the first half of 2003, according to figures from Neilsen Soundscan, the system for collection point-of-sale information from retailers in the US and Canada.

    The January to June 2004 saw 305.7 million units sold, up from 285.9 million in the same period in 2003.

    Universal is listed as the top distributor with 27.1% of the market, independent labels collectively take the second place with 17.5% and BMG are third at 16.4%. BMG’s market share was helped along by Usher’s “Confessions”, which was the top selling album in the first half of this year.

    Even with the crowded online music store market, CD album sales are continuing to show promising growth, demonstrating that most consumers still have a healthy appetite for physical distribution mediums and have no wish to pirate music.

    Soundscan

  • BT to Challenge BSkyB with Broadband TV Service; Partners with Microsoft on Web Conferencing

    BT has announced it has plans to introduce a broadband television service in the UK, aimed to compete directly with BskyB’s Sky+ service. With the cheeky codename “Sky Plus Plus”, a nod to object-based programers everywhere, the project is intended to increase broadband adoption. This will be BT’s first foray into broadcasting, after months and months of false starts and speculation.

    BT has already approached the BBC and ITV for content for the project, but will need much more than just those two if it really wants to compete with Sky+.

    The telco had originally intended to launch the service in October, but delayed because they thought the initial package was too complicated as it comprised a digital set-top box and PC modem, plus subscribers would have to pay an additional fee for broadband internet access. They have not yet specified if subscribers will have to use a PC to view content, or if it will be viewable on televisions. Also undecided is whether the company will be streaming live programmes or just presenting video on demand. If they are to compete effectively with BSkyB, the BT offering must provide a much wider range of features, as Sky+ offers live television, pausing, archiving and renowned ease of use.

    BT has also announced a new partnership with Microsoft – this time to deliver a next-generation collaboration service. Going far beyond video conferencing, the service basically glues together BT’s audio conference products and Microsoft’s Office Live Meeting.

    BT have piloted the service internally in the past year, and claim to have saved 6.2 million miles of business travel, which also means 112 million less litres of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere from vehicles.

    BT

    Microsoft’s Office Live Meeting

  • ZipTV Actually Launches

    ZipTV, the first interactive advertising channel, finally launched this week. The venture is backed by 11 advertisers, including Honda, BT and Unilever.

    The first advert on the channel was an eight minute film from Honda, based around their Jazz and Civic cars.

    “Our partnership with Zip TV is our first step in exploiting the creative potential of interactive TV and we will use these results to home and refine our future campaigns on the channel,” said Simon Thompson, head of marketing at Honda.

    ZipTV works as a virtual channel that displays content when viewers press the red button on their remotes whilst watching an advert on their standard digital package.

    The company is keen to stress that they will not just be offering more and longer adverts – but instead aim to experiment with new forms of advertising. Donna Barradale, managing partner at Zip TV, said: “This is not simply an extended version of the linear advertisement, but content that viewers will find interesting, informative and rewarding”.

    Glad to see that Honda and ZipTV are getting on now, as last minute contractual problems threatened to delay the launch of the channel.

    Honda