Gadgets – Page 65 – Digital-Lifestyles

Apple iTunes v2 – New Features Analysed

Further details of the second version of the iTunes software and service are becoming clearer and as you would expect with Apple, they are not only interesting, but steps forward in the use of digital audio.

Audio books and Round Tripping
Apple have signed an exclusive, multi-year deal with audible.com to sell five thousand of their spoken books, equating to over twenty thousand hours of content.

Once the audio-books have been downloaded, the listener will be able to listen to it both on their computer and their iPod – features that were available on version one of the service. The clever part is that you can transfer your listen point, an audio bookmark, from computer to iPod and back again. This is best illustrated with an example – you starts listening to the book on your Mac, you then need to leave you computer, so transfer the audio-book to your iPod. The playback will continue from the point you left it at on the computer. When you return from travelling to your computer, hook up your iPod and continue listening from the point reached on your iPod. Apple have called this feature Round Tripping.

Round tripping is interesting for a number of reasons. Apple have only been able to quickly introduce a new feature like this into the market as they control both the client software on the computer, and the portable playback device, iPod, and can make the required changes to both. It will be interesting to see if Apple declare an open standard on this, to enable other playback devices to take advantage of this feature. We suspect they’ll be keeping this to themselves, at least for the while.

While Round tripping is nifty when listening to books, it becomes potentially far more interesting when it is applied to music, consumer electronic equipment and wireless connections – giving a listener the ability to have a “Continuous Music Experience” as they move from work, to the car and to home.

Enabling the “giving” of digital music
To enable children who do not have their own credit card to use the service, there is a patent-pending online “Allowance” feature which allows parents to automatically deposit funds into their children’s accounts – very smart.

People will also be able to give someone a gift certificate to spend in the online store. By signing on to their iTunes account, they can gift between $10-$200 to a person, who might not even currently have an iTunes account. The recipient receives an email telling them of the present and by clicking on a link, can start to use it to access content.

Digital Lifestyles:Apple Adds Windows Support to iTunes

Apple iTunes

Apple Hit 1m Windows Downloads of iTunes in 3.5 Days

In only three and a half days since Apple released the Windows version of their iTunes software, over one million copies have been downloaded. In the same period, one million songs have also been purchased, halving the time it took to reach same level when the Apple only version was released back in April.

Although the headline figure of songs downloaded initially sounds very impressive, we would assume the million songs must include ones bought by the current Apple users as well (Apple UK weren’t able to clarify this as they didn’t have this breakdown, Apple US were unreachable) – working out at an average of under one song per Windows user. This shows that people have been downloading the Windows version of the software and possibly not purchasing songs. We think it is likely that this is due to them currently being unable to buy music, as they live outside the USA.

Apple iTunes

Preview: BBC FightBox – Let the Fighting Commence

By Heidi Jacoby-Ackland

Program your Tivo now. Fightbox, the BBC’s new cross-platform interactive programme, is coming to a TV near you. Robot Wars meets The Sims-on-performance-enhancing-drugs, the BBC publicity machine is very keen to emphasise that Fightbox is a TV first. What, exactly, is Fightbox though? Is it the logical future of entertainment? In development for nearly four years at a reported cost of £3-4 million, Fightbox was conceived from start to finish to cross from the net to television and then into the PC/PlayStation 2/Game Boy Advanced game environments. Early indications for Fightbox are fairly positive and the promotional trails look fantastic.

Initially launched online a few months ago, gamers were drawn in their thousands to the Fightbox downloadable kit for creating their own warriors from a variety of different parts: arms, legs, weaponry, hair colour and even tattoos. Contestants “trained” their self-created warriors on their own PC’s before downloading a set of qualifying battles to practice controlling their creation and gaining a score – the higher the score the stronger the warrior. Then the best scoring virtual warriors (and their real creators) were invited to take part in the production of a television programme. According to the BBC, approximately 200,000 people registered their warriors and uploaded scores in the six-week qualifying period. As a demonstration of the interest in the game, apparently clans have emerged in the online community although they can’t play each other. Yet. It’s all gone a bit D&D.

The nay-sayers complain that the PC controls are, well, hard to control. There’s a rumour that the television production had to be put back a week because the software still had some glitches. And, although the BBC claims that twenty percent of the gamers were women, there’s a rumour that the Fightbox producers were so desperate to attract women that an online appeal was made especially to female gamers. Nonetheless, there’s a low hum of anticipation in the gaming community. Those gamers whose warriors made it to the television round report that the controls are better and the virtual studio experience was wicked. They claim that, as with all the best computer games, practice was key to their success. In the 30-minute television programmes, filmed as-live in front of a studio-audience, the virtual warriors have been transformed by the magic of computer graphics and a new type of filming into, um, virtual warriors in a real arena with real hosts (Trevor Nelson and Lisa Snowdon). The contestant warriors fight the Sentients (the virtual equivalent of the House Robots in Robot Wars) then, finally, go on to fight each other to find a winner. It’s a knock-out competition until just one of the audience-created warriors is left. And for those who participated the ultimate prize was on offer. No, not a million quid record contract for singing out-of-tune but the chance to have their warrior return as a Sentient in the next (yet-to-be-commissioned) series. The final champion may not get rich from Fightbox but he (or she) will get the satisfaction of directly creating a part of the game’s future.

When we asked, the BBC spokeswoman refused either to anticipate viewing figures for Fightbox or even to elaborate on what would constitute a successful outcome to this cross-platform interactive experiment. But it is not inconceivable that the programme could bomb as a television show while, at the same time, creating an enormous buzz for the game itself, either online or at the shop. Then what??? Having already spent the equivalent of some countries’ GDPs on development, it would be imprudent for the BBC to completely bale on the TV programme after just one series even if the ratings are poor. After all, the most costly and time-consuming bit of creating Fightbox, the development, is already done and dusted. Aside from the new Sentient, most of the future content will come from the audience who, in true interactive style, are not voting for a winner but creating the characters and altering the outcomes. The online kit is still available for download at the FightBox site. Although it is too late to qualify for Series One, now would be a good time to start practicing for Series Two.

BBC FightBox

Amazon – Buy the FightBox game on PC, PS2 or GBA

Fightbox Ltd is a joint-venture between Bomb Productions and Ricochet Digital. Fightbox, the TV programme, airs on BBC3 at 19.30 from 13-17 October and continues in that slot for three weeks thereafter. [Episodes will be repeated on BBC3 the following morning at 3.30 and are due to run on BBC2 in November.] Fightbox, the PC/PS2/GMA games, are due for release on 7 November.

Pioneer First to Support WMA9Pro in High-end AV Amplifier

Pioneer has announced a new AV amplifier which transfers audio content using an optical digital S/PDIF interface and marks the start of a wave of high-end AV amps that will support the Microsoft Windows Media Audio 9 Pro (WMA9Pro) CODEC.

The amplifier, with the oh-so-catchy name, VSA-AX10Ai-N, is planned to be release in Japan in December 2003 and then in the US in January 2004 as the VSX-59TXi.

It will be able to pull audio from a PC via an S/PDIF interface and play back, in Dolby 5.1 surround sound audio, the correctly encoded audio files and films delivered on physical media or via a broadband connection. S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is an optical connection that transfers digital audio between devices without downgrading to analog.

Right is a photo of what we believe is rear of the VSX-59TXi, which like many AV amps looks truly frightening. It makes us long for the day when Ethernet and Firewire ports are the standard connectors.

Emuzed supply PVR hardware for Microsoft Media Center OEMs

Following the announcement of Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 (MCE) , Emuzed, who supply video capture and encoding cards, have signed deals with a number of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that are using MCE.

Their two products Maui-III PCI PVR and Bali-II USB PVR Beanbag have the ability to encode to MPEG 2 on-board from PAL or NTSC signals, write out the recorded content out to CD or DVD and support an optional FM tuner. The Bali-II connects via USB 1.1 or 2.0

Two deals that they’ve announced recently are the Samsung MagicStation Q Media Center PC, HP’s new 17-inch widescreen Media Center zd7000 notebook PC which uses the USB version and most recently, the ViewSonic Media Center PC – the M2100.

A relative new comer, they look like they are taking trade from the previous default supplier, Hauppauge, which is based in Europe.

Emuzed

HP zd7000 notebook

ViewSonic Media Center PC – the M2100

Hauppauge

Palm Release Tungsten T3 with Landscape Mode

Palm have released three new models, the Tungsten E, the very iPod-looking $99 Zire 21 and the one we find most interesting, the Tungsten T3.

The T3 is the first device from Palm that supports a high-resolution colour screen in landscape, which happens to be 50% larger than any of their previous products, making it, we feel, far more useful for reading document, managing calendars and watching video.

By adding the highly compact, wireless (bluetooth) keyboard it also becomes a much more realistic device for typing text into, whether that be email, documents or spreadsheets.

The only thing we are not quite sure about is what it is going to be like using the combination with the screen sitting on the left of the keyboard.

It is selling at Amazon in the US and is already the 16th bestselling item.

Tungsten T3 at Amazon.com

Tungsten T3

Arcade Game ROMs Finally Available for Legal Download

Arcade game ROMs have long been a popular download from the internet, due to the popularity of arcade cabinet emulators like MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator). The files are basically software images of the games, which used to be stored on hardware chips before files became bigger and other storage mediums (such as optical drives) became popular in arcade cabinets. Many arcade games have not been ported to home consoles, so players have no legal way to acquire games that they may have nostalgic feelings towards, or have kudos for acquiring. These factors, coupled with the fact that some publishers no longer exist, or the games are seen as old and therefore (erroneously) in the public domain, mean that ROM sites spring up all over the internet. Many downloaders don’t think they’re doing anything wrong by downloading these files, but they are still in copyright.

So, just like the music industry promoting legal downloads, StarROMs Inc has released 60 licensed ROM images, from as little as $2 each – and we bet that people will be downloading these classics, just like iTunes. If the StarROMs initiative takes off, gamers will be able to download many more of their old favourites legally.

Sixty titles isn’t much to begin with – but StarROMs has titles ranging from 1978 to 1992: titles like Asteroids, Millipede and – oh my goodness!!! – Crystal Castles and Marble Madness!

Will other publishers follow? We hope so – there are many, many gaps in the collection. Since the ROMs are images of the original software, they are essentially platform independent – but they rely instead on an emulator to provide all of the functions that the arcade cabinet once supplied. Emulators have been developed and ported to many platforms – so you’ll be able to play perfect arcade classics on a wide variety of platforms: PC, Palm, phone and perhaps even set-top box. Given that many set-top boxes and TiVo devices run a modern Linux kernel, and MAME has long been available on Linux, it’s not too far fetched.

StarROMs

Mame

Microsoft Re-launch Media Centre Edition in 2004 Guise

Microsoft launched Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 yesterday with Microsoft Group Vice President Jim Allchin announcing the products new feature and new manufacturing partners. This follows their first release of PC as TV, PVR, DVD, photo displaying, music playing media hub in October 2002, which had a lukewarm reception and was felt by many more as a show of intention to be involved rather than a fully considered product.

As the Media Center Edition (MCE) is expected to be used in the lounge from a couch, without keyboard and mouse, one of the big focuses of is giving the viewer the ability to control all of the media functions via the remote control. Many of the previous functions and some of the new features are available via a single key press, such as ability to control the newly included FM radio, by selection favourite stations and skipping back seven second if you misheard something. The selection, rotation and display of photos and the manipulation of music has also been made easy using the report control.

A full list of the MCE functions are described in detail at the dedicated Website as are details on how to obtain an upgrade for the previous version.

Online Spotlight – A new channel for content

Microsoft have recognised that just giving people the ability to record their own content, TV programmes or radio is only part of the story. The real excitement lies in the new universe of digitised media that will become available. To this end they have launch Online Spotlight, an online guide created specifically for Media Center Edition PC customers that offers a central location for them to find the latest third- party services and software, such as music, movie trailers, news updates and even Karaoke.

The initial content providers include CinemaNow, Movielink and Napster, but sadly these will only be available with the United States.

Hardware supply partners

There are more than 40 original equipment manufacturers (OEM) planning to ship Media Center Edition PCs to consumers in Asia, Canada, Europe and the United States and China on the list of later this fall. Product pricing will vary for each manufacturer and market, but will start at below $1,000.

Two of the biggest new names are Dell and Sony with Dell reporting that they’re taking order online today and Sony shipping two new models of VAIO Media Center PCs in the next few weeks. Sony, who have already developed and currently market their own equivalent product, appear to be covering their bases.

HP and Toshiba continue their strong support and are the only two companies offering product in three major Continents – Asia, Europe and America with many of the newly announced companies choosing to offer in individual countries.

Of the announced supplier, Japan will have the widest selection of suppliers, numbering five, although interestingly Sony has decided not to sell it there, choosing the United States and Canada instead. The US and Germany will have four suppliers and Korea, the United Kingdom and France having three a piece.

It sounds like Microsoft have listen to their previous customer and have adopted many of their ideas, time will tell whether they have been successful and we are looking forward to finding out.

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 site

Micro MP3 Roundup

Although Apple’s iPod is definitely the portable music player to have at the moment, there are plenty of other options out there to fit your criteria: cheaper, better battery life, lighter.

The Register has a round up of the current crop of MP3 players, link below. Devices like Sony’s ATRAC-based Memory Stick Walkman aren’t covered as they’re not proper MP3 players.

The Register on micro MP3 players

Memory Stick Video Recorder

The snappily named (as all Sony products are) PEGA-VR100K uses a built-in tuner to record TV programmes using the Quick Time 6 codec to a Memory Stick. You can then pop the stick into your VAIO for editing or for watching on your Clié when it’s convenient. The VR100K can also be attached to a monitor for use as a TV tuner.

Included are utilities for scheduling recording, so you can record that episodes of Fame Academy to watch surreptitiously in meetings.

Sony report that a 1gb Memory Stick will hold more than 16 hours of video in Long Play mode – though we’ve yet to see what the quality is like. Resolutions are given as 320×240 and 160×120, at 15fps. Bear in mind a 1gb stick will set you back about £400.

Sony Style on the PEGA-VR100K