Digital-Lifestyles

Distribution

The new digital ways content was becoming distributed

  • Cartoon Filter for Digital Television

    British inventors Matthew Roach and Mark Pawlewski have applied for a US patent for a software application that can control the amount of cartoon programming displayed on a digital TV.

    You just need to watch any Saturday morning cartoon to learn that the plotless, seizure-inducing fare, no doubt designed to help that cereal sugar rush kick in nicely, consists mainly of a lot of frantic movement, solid colours and fast cuts.

    Roach and Pawlewski’s software can detect animation in digital television’s MPEG2 stream, and react accordingly – even switching itself off after a predetermined time, for those parents who can’t be bothered monitoring their own children’s TV dosage.

    The software will be featured in next week’s New Scientist magazine.

    Detecting Cartoons – A Case Study (Postscript file)

  • UK Gets 36Mbps Wireless Broadband

    Libera, a UK company aiming to reach 75% of the country’s business with wireless broadband, will shortly be offering a 36Mpbs service in London Docklands. The service goes live in July, and will be rolled out to Greater London by summer 2005. Subscribers can choose connectivity anywhere between 1 and 36Mpbs – making it the fastest in the world for the time being.Libera’s network is carried on the 28GHz band of the radio spectrum, one of the rare instances of that band being used.

    Paul Momtahan, marketing director, emphasises the high tech nature of the network: “if they need more bandwidth we can turn it up, if they need less, we can turn it down”.

    Libera are not commenting on the pricing of their service yet, but expect it to compare with business SDSL connections.

    Libera

  • BSkyB Announce Free-to-Air and HD TV Services

    BSkyB want some of Freeview’s market, and to do so they’re going to introduce a free to air (FTA) service later in the year. The proposed service isn’t just a handful of channels either – it’s currently looking more like 200 television, radio and interactive channels. Whilst many of those will be virtual horse racing or celebrity shopping, the core of the proposition is sure to tempt many households to let a Sky box live under their television. The service will carry all of the BBC FTA channels and stations, including regional variants, plus offerings from Channel4, five and ITV.

    Households will be able to buy the package, consisting of Sky box, minidish and viewing card for a one-time fee of UK£150 (€226). Whilst there is no obligation for purchasers to subscribe to premium services, BSkyB is hoping that many will be tempted to pay for additional content – of course they will.

    Separately, BSkyB announced that they are developing a premium High Definition TV (HDTV) package, for introduction in 2006. BSkyB have yet to confirm details of the upcoming content, but it’s expected to include coverage of events specially produced in HD format, HD broadcasts of films, plus drama and news.

    BSkyB on the announcement

  • Speedera Content Network Picks Up Flash Video

    Speedera Networks, a content delivery provider connecting more than 1,000 carrier backbones in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific region has partnered with Macromedia to deliver video clips in Flash format.

    Speedera manage the delivery of file downloads and media for companies that have no wish to host content themselves. Customers include Fox Broadcasting, AMD and NASA. No doubt Speedera were very busy this morning with everyone hitting the NASA site to see the transit of Venus.

    Flash has come along way since the mid-90s when cropped-trousered Hoxtonites first used its sprite and vector-based tools to create annoying banner ads and awful games. Flash has matured to be an excellent development environment and has produced some truly great internet content. By incorporating a video engine based on Sorenson Media’s software, Macromedia are now pushing Flash in a direction that was never dreamed of when it first appeared. As en example, video conferencing application can be created in seconds by dragging objects to your work area, and can be highly customised with brand identity and further functionality.

    Since there’s a Flash player on an estimated 90% of PCs out there, most users already have all that’s required to enjoy video embedded in a Flash object, as no further client software is required.

    However, the reason that Flash video is not as prevalent as formats such as Windows Media is that Flash development tools are expensive, whilst Microsoft’s are free.

    Speedera

    Macromedia Flash

  • Mobile Peer to Peer File Sharing with PDAs

    Simedia, a small software publisher in Bucharest, has ported a clone of Apple’s Rendezvous application to PocketPC and teamed it with a web server. The result? A mobile P2P file sharing program.

    The application discovers other devices on the same WiFi network and allows people to share files and documents. And of course, music.

    Simedia themselves give various uses for the application, including using it to “share your music collection with passers-by or listen to their collections whilst sharing a ride on the bus”. Features like these will no doubt have music execs jumping out of windows, whilst RIAA lawyers will be lighting cigars with $100 bills.

    The software will be available from 16 June in two versions: a free version, and a paid version with corporate functionality.

    Simedia already have a history for off-beat PDA products – they are well known for their SounderCover application which plays background noises (trains, the dentist, a errr, circus parade) over phone calls for those wishing to deceive spouses and employers that they somewhere different to their real location.

    Simedia

  • NPD Group: US CD Price Cuts Are Accelerating

    NPD Group’s MusicWatch PriceLab latest information shows that US price cuts to CDs are accelerating. CDs in Q1 2004 were 4% cheaper than in Q1 2003. By Q3 2003, the prices had only fallen 1%, by Q4 2003 they’d fallen 2.5%.

    This means that the average price of a CD in the US has fallen to US$13.29 (€10.90) from US$13.79 (€11.31) in 2003. Titles older than 18 months are cheaper still, averaging at US$12.99 (€10.65).

    “There are several reasons for the accelerating decline,” according to Russ Crupnick, president of NPD Music. “First and foremost the recording industry has had to deal with a changing market over the past few years, which was fuelled in part by file-sharing. But the retail landscape has also changed, and consumers are increasingly exposed to everyday low prices or terrific discount offers. Everyone also recognizes the increasing competition for entertainment dollars, as DVDs and video games are growing at double digit rates. These situational factors are causing the industry to reduce rethink pricing.”

    NPD Group

  • Amazon’s New Preview Jukebox

    Amazon's new jukebox featureAmazon.com have quietly rolled out a nifty new music preview feature, allowing much more convenient previews than before. The site’s erstwhile preview system was always a bit hit and miss, lacking in some obvious functions, but the new system, comprising of a pop-up box control panel with more than a whiff of iTunes about it is much better and demonstrates that it’s not just the better download sites that allow you to try before you buy.

    The new feature makes it mush easier to browse music samples and discover artists and tracks that you might like, with all the pertinent information and links near at hand. Tracks from albums are queued up and played in order, so you can get a feel for a whole albums without having to budge.

    The Preview section has been reorganised, with the new Amazon Music Sampler coming first – clicking on a link opens up the preview window. Customers can now jump between albums by the same artists, or even samples of recommendations and top sellers, from the same window. For convenience, the Add to Basket button is never too far away.

    Samples are streamed to your PC without firing up an external media player, and most samples are 20Kps quality-wise.

    Try it out

  • BT Launch New Broadband Satellite Service, Satellite Broadband 500.

    Literally aimed at rural businesses, BT have introduced a new broadband satellite service providing 500kps to areas where there there are currently no ADSL facilities. The service is carried on Intelsat’s IS-907 satellite and covers the entire UK – if it’s successful, BT has an option to take the service into Western Europe.

    The product, Satellite Broadband 500, comes in two flavours – Plus and “Lite”. Lite is for single users with a need for web access, whilst Plus is for multiple users requiring LAN connectivity.

    The service will be available from BT Retail, but will also be offered wholesale for other ISPs and operators to resell. Subscription charges are competitive, starting at UK£46.99 (€75) per user for Lite and UK£85.99 (€129) for Plus. However, equipment prices start at UK£699 (€1048), and standard installation is UK£250 (€375). Subscriptions come with a dedicated BT support network.

    Jonathan Wing, Head of Satellite Broadband at BT Broadcast Services, said in a statement: “There is a clear and demonstrated need for businesses, ISPs and others in the UK to have high-quality, high-speed, satellite broadband connections. Satellite broadband enables businesses and ISPs to be effective and competitive, wherever their offices are located.”

    BT

  • UK Music Downloads Exceed 500,000 Tracks Sold

    Figures from the Official UK Chart Company demonstrate that the record industry can’t have its cake and eat it: although paid music downloads this year have just broken the 500,000 barrier, CD single sales are down. Something has to give somewhere, and music lovers are turning to the convenience of downloads whilst buying correspondingly less singles.

    The bestselling download in the UK so far this year is “2,000 Miles” by Coldplay.

    Looking at the quarterly totals for January/March, the sales value of CD singles is down by 32% on last year, whilst CD albums are down nearly 3% this year, though the picture for the entire last 12 months is more encouraging.

    Surprisingly, that great love of DJs, the 12” single has suffered a dip of 14%, possibly due to the slump in interest in trance – but bafflingly, 7” singles are up 47% on last year. Expect a retro CD single sales peak in about 2021.

    Once iTunes launches in the UK and the new Napster finds its feet, we expect that CD singles will be affected even more dramatically, and music labels will need to find some way to make singles more compelling to the public to avoid cannibalising the market.

    The British Phonographic Industry is upbeat about the state of the market, expecting great things from DVD music sales and “truetones” (ringtones that sound just like the track they’ve sampled) – no doubt something to do with the 3.8% increase in CD album sales that the year to March 2004 saw above 2003.

    BPI Quarterly Market Review

  • Ofcom’s Media Literacy Strategy

    Centring around the principles of research, partnering and labelling, Ofcom have published a report outlining a strategy for media literacy in the UK.

    Ofcom recognise that the public are now faced with a huge choice of media, and that familiarity and media awareness are essential to managing this choice, protecting children and understanding the world around us. The regulator wishes to promote media literacy as “A media literate person will have the potential to be an efficient worker, an informed consumer and an active citizen. People who are not able to use effectively the new communications technologies will not be able to take full advantage of the benefits they bring and may become marginalised in society.”

    Ofcom’s strategy is based around three main work strands:

    “Research. Key to the success of our early work and in defining future priorities is to develop an evidence-base of research. This will help us to identify the issues, to direct our work and inform progress towards achieving our goals.

    Connecting, partnering & signposting. We aim to add value to existing media literacy activity, to stimulate new work and to promote and direct people to advice and guidance concerning new communications technologies.

    Labelling. Viewers and listeners need to have clear, accurate and timely information about the nature of content so that they can make informed choices. Our prime concern is to ensure consistency in the presentation of information related to possible harm and offence, in particular to help protect young and vulnerable people from inappropriate material. This advice can be effectively delivered using a content labelling framework. Ofcom will work with industry players to explore the possibility of creating a common content labelling (information) scheme for electronic audiovisual material.”

    Of primary interest to many, the call for a universal e-content label covering TV, internet, mobile products and games presents a considerable challenge to industry. Ofcom isn’t even sure it can be done – and of course the regulator has no remit when it comes to internet content.

    Ofcom’s strategy and priorities for the promotion of media literacy