Devices

New devices to consumer digital media

Apple/TiVo Bid Rumours Considered
Rumours pointing at Apple as a potential bidder for TiVo have given the digital video recorder company’s shares a healthy boost – and got people wondering whether the deal would be a good fit.
TiVo’s technology which allows viewers to skip ads breaks and to pause and rewind live television made it a must-have gadget, although some of the competition is catching up.
As of 31 January this year, TiVo had a subscription base of 3 million (the majority of them from DirecTV), and said it’d added around 698,000 subscriptions during its fourth quarter. And the company has said it is not for sale.
But for some, a tie-up between Apple and TiVo would be a marriage made in gadget heaven, bringing together some of the coolest gadgets – and brands – the industry has thought up in the last few years. And it is possible to see a few areas where it would make sense.
With Apple’s stock running at such a high price and TiVo’s suffering, the purchase of TiVo (the whole company is currently valued at under $400m), could be easy – almost a rounding error.
Nearly every media and technology company is aiming at the living room now, either with Media Centre-style PCs or other digital hubs to spread content such as video and music around the home.
For Apple, bringing video to its massively popular iPod would certainly be an understandable step, perhaps allowing users to dock the iPod with the TiVo and download favourite shows. But it is hard to see how popular this would be in the short term.
Neither TiVo nor Apple are commenting on the rumours. Other media giants have been floated as potential buyers for TiVo as well, and financial analysts remain split on whether any deal is on the cards.
Tivo
Apple
25 February, 2005
Sony Clie PDA: End Of The Line
Sony has announced that it is to end production on its Clie line of PDAs in Japan.
The move comes eight months after the company said it would stop developing new Clie models for the US and European markets, to concentrate on Japanese users.
First launched by the Tokyo company in mid-2000, Sony’s Clie handhelds gave an almighty kick up the backside of PalmOne and stirred up the market with a series of dazzling innovations.
Their last two European models, the TH55 and UX50 were both highly regarded, offering a full suite of connectivity options (Bluetooth, wi-fi, infrared) supported by Sony’s proprietary software and the huge Palm back catalogue.
In Japan, Sony had the top share of the domestic PDA market in 2003 at 32%, followed by Sharp (19%) and Casio (16%), according to information and technology industry researcher Gartner Japan Ltd.
Sony’s total retreat from the PDA market was considered a serious blow to PalmSource who have yet to match Sony’s ground-breaking designs.
This latest announcement looks like another nail in the coffin for the PDA – as mobile phones, portable media players, and even gaming consoles sport ever-expanding PDA-like capabilities, the PDA market seems to be ever-shrinking.
In an interview with PC World, Sony spokesperson Aki Shimazu said, “There won’t be any new Clie PDAs but we are not necessarily exiting the PDA business”. She also added that the company may collaborate with other companies for future devices.
Our guess is that they’re going to focus their energies on ramping up the feature list on Sony Ericsson smartphones, developing the PlayStation Portable and finally producing the iPod killer they so desperately need.
Loyal Clie users still wailing into their beers at the prospect of losing a much loved product line (that’ll be me) can draw the tiniest scrap of consolation out of the news that Sony will keep providing parts and repair services for at least another six years or so.
Shareholders at Palm will probably have even longer faces after losing such a vital licensee for their operating system. Could this be the beginning of the end for Palm?
Clie PDA
24 February, 2005
Apple Updates iPod Mini and iPod Photo, Now Direct Camera Upload
Apple has updated its iPod photo line-up with a new slim 30GB model, holding up to 7,500 songs, for just £249 ($475, e360) and a new 60GB model, holding up to 15,000 songs, for £309 ($590, e446)
Designed for content-hungry consumers who can’t bear to be parted from their music and photo libraries, both iPod photo models feature a high-resolution colour screen for displaying photos and (ahem) “enhancing the entire iPod music experience” (we think this translates to having some pictures and album art to look at while you’re playing songs).
Both models hold up to 25,000 digital photos and will feature the ability to import photos from your digital camera via the new iPod Camera Connector for “instant viewing and slide show playback “.
“The new slim 30GB iPod photo at just £249 lets music lovers enjoy their iPod in full colour, including album artwork along with their personal photo library,” enthused Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And now you can import photos from your digital camera directly into iPod photo with the optional iPod Camera Connector.”
We welcome this enhancment, meaning that holiday won’t involve lugging a laptop around just for image downloads. Sadly, the iPod Camera Connector is not built in: it’s an optional extra that will set consumers back £19 ($36, e27.5) – and it isn’t available until March 2005.
Although the iPod remains one of the finest MP3 players on the planet, we’re not convinced that the iPod Photo is quite there yet as a photo wallet.
Unlike some rival units, there’s no built in card reader or Bluetooth support and we haven’t been able to work out if the iPhoto will be able to import – and view – RAW format files, something that would definitely create enthusiasm amongst the photographic cognoscenti. It would appear strange if they didn’t given, the impressive support that Apple’s iPhoto software has for the RAW format.
The truth is that the iPod photo seems to be far better as a versatile MP3 player and photo presentation unit rather than something for serious photographers to use for direct-to-camera storage.
However, the aggressive price cuts (rumoured to be in response to rumoured poor sales of the original iPod photo) will no doubt be warmly welcomed by consumers and ratchet up the fierce competition with main rivals iRiver and Creative Technology.
The 4GB and 6GB models of iPod mini for Mac or Windows are available worldwide immediately for a suggested retail price of £139 ($265, €200) and £169 ($322, €244) respectively, in a choice of silver, pink, blue or green.
“At this breakthrough price point, and with more than twice the battery life, the new iPod mini should appeal to even more music lovers,” said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs.
Both iPod mini models feature increased battery life of up to 18 hours, USB charging and the same lightweight design.
All these new iPod models work with the Apple iTunes software and store, and are compatible with either Mac OS or Windows based PC, connecting via firewire or USB 2.0.
Apple
iPod photo
iRiver
Creative Technology.
24 February, 2005
Sonus-1XT: Talking DAB Radio from Pure
PURE Digital has announced its new PURE SONUS-1XT DAB digital radio, an enhanced alarm radio with unique iVOX voice feedback technology.
As well as the usual groovy DAB radio alarm features – two independent alarms, Volume Equalisation Technology (VETTM) and ‘XT’ audio quality via a custom designed speaker and active filters – the unit uses iVOX technology to tell listeners the available DAB stations as they scroll through them.
Usefully, time, alarm and setting up instructions, can also be spoken by the unit. We’ve pestered Pure for audio examples of both the female, and male voices that are available. We’re really impressed with them, as they don’t sound automated or generated, and appear to be samples that have been seamlessly joined. Below are a few MP3 format examples
The time is 3:06pm (Female)
Alarm 2 is set for 3:15 pm on weekdays only (Male)
Alarm 1 is set for 7 am on weekdays only (Female)
Preset 1 empty, press and hold to assign preset (Female)
The radio sports PURE’s enhanced SnoozeHandle technology which tells the time with a single tap – great for hungover consumers unable to lift their head off the pillow. To check alarm settings users simply tap the SnoozeHandle twice to have them spoken.
The handle also doubles up a ‘snooze’ button, and giving it a slap in the middle of the night will light up a full-screen clock.
Says Kevin Dale, president, PURE Digital: “SONUS-1XT builds on the success of our DAB digital radio alarm system with iVOX, a natural speech technology that adds a new dimension to radio listening. The combination of iVOX and our SnoozeHandle technology takes DAB digital radio to the next level in interaction.”
PURE uses its Volume Equalisation Technology to constantly monitor the audio levels of every station to ensure consistent volume when switching stations.
All the handy benefits of DAB digital radio are there, including station select by name; scrolling track info display, news and sports results; and greater station choice.
The radio also offers a nine-event timed record function for use with MiniDisc or other recording devices, a USB connector for downloading software upgrades from an Internet-connected PC, a headphone socket and stereo line-out for recording.
A custom designed 3″ drive unit and active-filters provide a full sound with an option to upgrade the unit to stereo via a matching XT-1 add-on speaker,
It looks reasonable too, kitted out in smart maple wood casework with a pearlescent white front fronted with a silver grille and control panel with scrolling blue LCD text display.
SONUS-1XT is expected to be available on the high street at around £119.99 (€173, $230)
PURE Digital
24 February, 2005
EFF Release Cookbook: Build an HD PVR
Digital civil liberties organisation, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has announced the next stage in its ongoing challenge to the US Federal Communications Commission’s “Broadcast Flag” technology mandate (first mentioned by us in Nov.03).
The organisation has released a step-by-step guide called “HD PVR Cookbook” which teaches people how to build a high-definition digital television (HDTV) recorder, unaffected by the technological constraints of the Broadcast Flag.
The EFF is also encouraging people to protest against the FCC rule by holding Build-Ins. These are gatherings around the country to build unfettered HDTV recorders and experience first-hand the kind of innovation stifled by the government mandate.
The Broadcast Flag is an application that places copy controls on DTV Signals in an attempt to stop people making digitally perfect copies of television shows and redistributing them.
It comes in two parts: The first is a tiny bit of data (the flag) that is inserted into a station’s digital stream. It doesn’t actually do anything to the video signal itself. It’s simply there, to tell digital receivers about the protection level of the content.
The second part of the technology comes into play from July 1st when all new devices will be required to protect marked content with an “authorised technology”.
This has the aim of limiting one’s ability to distribute the content via the Internet or other mass methods while simultaneously allowing the consumer unfettered access to his or her content.
Now that sounds pretty reasonable, but as engadget points out, this technology may end up preventing consumers from making perfectly legitimate personal copies of broadcasts.
Moreover, it may outlaw the manufacture and importing of a whole host of TiVo-like devices that send DTV signals into a computer for backup, editing, and playback.
The EFF is inviting individuals to fight back by hosting a Build-In before the Broadcast Flag goes into effect on July 1, 2005.
EFF held the first Build-In at its offices in late January, inviting a number of local programmers, TV fans, and bloggers to try out their ‘Cookbook’ and ‘test-bake’ their own HDTV recorders using standard computers equipped with HD tuner cards.
The results were impressive: the dozen attendees created five working PVRs over the course of the day, using the KnoppMyth distribution of the open-source MythTV software package.
Groups who want to host their own Build-Ins can contact EFF for a “Throw Your Own Build-In” kit, which includes a hard copy of the HD PVR Cookbook, a KnoppMyth CD-ROM, and (of course!) free EFF t-shirts and stickers.
EFF releases its technological challenge to the Broadcast Flag on the same day that the organisation and other civil liberties groups challenge the FCC in the courtroom. In ALA v. FCC, the groups – including the American Library Association and Public Knowledge – argue that the FCC has overstepped its authority in mandating the Broadcast Flag and that the rule should be struck down.
“Even as we’re suing the FCC to stop this interference with technological innovation, we’re also helping television watchers to get off the couch and build their own fully capable PVRs,” said EFF Special Projects Coordinator Wendy Seltzer, who organized the Build-In. “Every MythTV built helps demonstrate the creative development that may be cut off by bad regulation.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
HD PVR Cookbook
Photos of the EFF Build-In (EFF)
Will the Broadcast Flag Break Your TiVo? (Slate Mag)
Federal Communications Commission
23 February, 2005
DR-DX7S Leads JVC DVD/HDD Recorder Line Up
JVC have wheeled out a veritable cavalcade of new, full-featured multi-format DVD recorders, including a series of combination units that combine DVD recording with hard disk drive (HDD), VHS and Mini DV recording.
Stuffed full of technical innovations and user-friendly features, JVC hopes that their range will delight DVD dubbers and enrapture home recorders.
At the heart of the new JVC DVD recorder line is the DR-M100S, which records in the DVD-RAM and DVD-RW/-R formats. Also in the 2005 line up is the DR-MH300S DVD/HDD unit with 160GB hard disk drive, as well as the DR-MV5S DVD/VHS recorder, which features JVC’s exclusive VHS Progressive Scan for superior VHS mode playback.
Interestingly, JVC is also offering a new three-way combination unit – the DR-DX7S -combining a Mini DV deck with DVD and hard disk drive recording.
“The growth of the DVD recorder market over the last year shows that consumers are looking for more versatility in how they watch television and movies,” said Dave Owen, General Manager, Consumer Video, JVC Company of America. “Our new DVD recorder line is designed to meet the needs of virtually every customer. We’re providing advanced recorders that offer an unprecedented merger of innovation and utility.”Let’s take a closer look at some of the new models offered in JVCs line up.
Available in March 2005 for around $349.95 (€268, £185) the DR-M100S DVD recorder allows up to 16 hours of recording time (when using a dual sided disc) and shares all of its features with the line’s combo models. It can record in DVD-RAM and DVD-RW/-R formats and play back DVD-RAM, DVD-RW/-R formats, as well as CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD, JPEG and MP3 files.
The DR-MV5S makes it easy for consumers wishing to archive their collection of VHS recordings onto DVD. Combining a DVD recorder with a VHS VCR the one-touch intelligent dubbing system offers auto record speed optimiser which calculates total recording time on VHS tape then automatically selects the most suitable recording speed for dubbing to DVD.
Those with VHS collections chaotically labelled with a load of indecipherable scrawling, may enjoy the auto thumbnail creation feature, which automatically creates video thumbnail chapter references when dubbing to DVD.
The DR-MV5S will be available in April for around $449.95 (€345, £237).
We find the DR-DX7S the most interesting of them all (launching in July for $1,799.95, (€1,378, £958) although it’s not cheap.
By combining a 250GB hard disk drive, a DVD recorder and a Mini DV deck this looks to be a perfect solution for camcorder users who don’t fancy fannying about with a computer.
Users can simply load a Mini DV cassette into the deck to easily edit home videos on the hard disk drive and then dub onto DVD.
Mini DV is recorded onto the hard disk drive in the original Mini DV format, so footage can be dubbed, edited on the hard disk drive and then transferred back to Mini DV without a loss in quality. Nice.
JVC
22 February, 2005
Like Music from Philips Offers Intelligent, Mood Based Music Sequencing
In an increasingly crowded marketplace, heavily dominated by iPod products, rival MP3 manufacturers are constantly foraging around to unearth new Unique Selling Points.
After Apple scored another direct hit with the iPod shuffle – a simple player offering randomised MP3 playback – the boffins at Philips were dispatched to their techie bunker and told not to come out until they’d come up with something Very Special Indeed.
And it seems that they might have come up trumps, with the new Philips HDD093 and HDD095 models.
Although they may not look too revolutionary, sporting the usual feature set (small form factor, 3GB drives, ten hours of battery life, MP3/WMA playback, greyscale and colour screens) the killer stroke comes with an intriguing new feature regaling under the deceptively simple name of ‘Like Music’.
This smarty-pants widget has the ability to ‘thread’ songs based on common attributes, including genre, tempo, and overall mood.
So, if you’re swinging your pants to some crazy punk music, engaging the ‘Like Music’ feature should get your MP3 player to intelligently serve you up 20 more tracks that it thinks sounds similar to what you’re currently listening to.
And it doesn’t just serve up any old stuff either – apparently, the player uses 40 metrics to locate tracks with a familiar beat, instrument line-up, and tempo, so you shouldn’t find a Kylie track wedged between Green Day and the Pistols.
Although we’ve yet to be sent a player to test for ourselves (excuse us while we deliver a loud cough in the direction of Philips), this looks like a really compelling feature, and one that could give Philips an edge over their rivals.
After all, with MP3 players increasingly being stuffed full of thousands of tracks which are often mislabelled or just lumped together in over-flowing folders, mood-based sequencing could prove to be the best way to keep the party going.
The players will debut in the late summer for around £200. Drunk MP3 DJs will love them.
iPod shuffle
Philips
Photo credit: Engadget.
21 February, 2005
Sandisk Announce Clever USB Enabled SD Memory Card
SanDisk today introduced the less-than-snappily entitled SanDisk Ultra(TM) II SD(TM) PLUS, an innovative SD flash memory card with built-in USB connectivity.
The card has a built-in USB connector for instant connectivity – users can flip the card to expose the USB connector and then plug it into any USB port and watch the blinking LED do its thang as the data is transferred.
The neat folding design eliminates the need for an easily-lost cap too.
This dual functionality could prove to be an alluring selling point, as consumers wanting to download images to their computer currently have to invest in external card readers or mess about with a connecting cable.
Travellers will find the twin functionality particularly handy, with the USB connection making it easy to download their holiday snaps onto cyber-café computers and mail them off to jealous chums back home.
The Ultra II SD PLUS is targeted primarily at the professional digital camera and prosumer market where 4 mega-pixel or higher resolution digital cameras are requiring significantly faster flash memory film cards.
It’s quite a nippy card too, offering a respectable write speed of 9-megabytes per second (MB/Sec) and a 10MB/sec read speed.
SanDisk expects the card to initially be available in two capacities with the 512MB card having a suggested retail price of $109.99 (£58, €84) and the 1GB version carrying a suggested price of $149.99 (£79, €115)
Shipping to stores is expected in April. We might even be tempted.
SanDisk
21 February, 2005
Treo650: European Release Delayed
In a move sure to have Palm aficionados blubbering into their PDAs, the European release of the eagerly awaited PalmOne Treo 650 smart phone has been delayed, the company said this week.
Although available to US citizens since October 2004, PalmOne has failed to meet their announced February European delivery date with the handsets now expected to ship here in Q2.
The phone is an update of the hugely popular Treo 600, widely regarded as one of the most successful PDA/smartphones ably backed up by an immense range of software available on the Palm platform.
The 650 offers a higher-resolution 65,000-colour 320 x 320 display, integrated Bluetooth, VGA digicam with 2x digital zoom, a faster, 312MHz Intel XScale processor and 32MB of Flash memory, of which 22MB to 23MB are available to the user.
Running on PalmOS 5.4, aka ‘Garnet’, the device also sports an SD IO slot for expansion, an easier-to-use QWERTY backlit keyboard and call ‘make and break’ buttons.
According to PalmOne, the GSM version of the 650 provides up to six hours talk time and 12 days on stand-by.
So far, only Orange has confirmed that it will be backing the 650 and, as with the Treo 600, the company will be offering its innovative TalkNow push-to-talk service to new users.
As an Orange Signature phone, the phone will also come equipped with Orange-specific applications, such as Orange Backup (which allows customers to automatically back up Contacts, SIM data, Calendar, Tasks, Memos, Mail and images wirelessly on a remote server) and Orange Download (enabling customers to receive updated software from Orange directly to the phone).
There’s a lot riding on this release. Although PalmOne remains the second most popular PDA/smartphone platform worldwide, the unexpected withdrawal of the innovative Sony Clie Palm PDAs last year was a serious blow.
Although many feel that the Treo 650 remains a class leader, increasingly, competition from Nokia/Microsoft PC and Linux devices means that the delayed release could seriously impact on potential sales.
Treocentral
PalmOne (UK)
PalmOne Treo 650
16 February, 2005
RAJAR announces results of Audiometer Validation Test
Arbitron Portable People Meter and Eurisko Media Monitor selected for further field testing RAJAR(Radio Joint Audience Research) has announced the results of its pioneering Audiometer Validation Test which took place in November 2004.
Of the three audiometers which took part in the test, two have been selected for further fieldwork tests: the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) and the Eurisko Media Monitor.
The Audiometer Validation Test, designed in conjunction with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), was set up to determine how well the audiometers could identify up to 33 different radio services (both music and speech-based) under as wide a variety of real life situations as possible.
The three audiometers, the Arbitron PPM, the Eurisko Media Monitor and the GfK/Telecontrol MediaWatch, were all subjected to the same listening conditions over the course of a weekend in November 2004.
To make the test as thorough as possible, hundreds of unique listening environments were generated, with RAJAR specifying several criteria which the audiometers should fulfil – these included the ability to identify all formats equally, whether music or speech, against a variety of extraneous background noises, when played at differing volume levels and regardless of whether the wearers were stationary or in motion.
RAJAR wasn’t anticipating 100% accuracy from any or all of the audiometers on test, but they hoped to be able to identify listening correctly across FM, AM and DAB in a variety of day-to-day conditions.
Sally de la Bedoyere, managing director, RAJAR, commented on their results:
“RAJAR has selected the Arbitron PPM and the Eurisko Media Monitor meters following analysis of the Test results, which showed that, despite using different techniques, both audiometers identified very similar numbers of listening sessions. Their level of correct identification was in line with that anticipated when designing the test.”
She added that their decision was based “solely on the needs of the UK market, where monitoring AM, FM and digital broadcasting is highly complex.” and described the tests as “Another momentous hurdle has been crossed in our journey to achieving the objectives of the Roadmap by 2007.”
As radio continues to fragment, the ability to measure small audiences becomes ever more vital to the survival of stations, with advertisers needing solid proof that they’re not investing their precious advertising budget into tumbleweed stations.
This has added significant pressure on RAJAR to produce reliable measuring systems, with the threat of lawsuits always hanging in the air (see: RAJAR defeat TWG Audience Court Case
Digital-Lifestyles was present during the testing last year and we can vouch that it was very comprehensive – and quite possibly the largest world-wide trial to date.
14 February, 2005