Platforms

Sony BMG Rolls Out Copy-Restricted CDs
Sony BMG Music Entertainment has announced that it intends to add copy-restricting software to its latest CDs.
The software is designed to limit consumers to making no more than three copies of a CD, and marks Sony’s determination to bolt on restrictions to a twenty year-old music format that currently makes copying and digital distribution a breeze.
This year has already seen more than two dozen copy-restricted titles released – including albums from the Backstreet Boys, the Foo Fighters and George Jones – and Sony has flagged its intention to beef up their anti-copying campaign.
Rival US companies haven’t been too impressed with the restrictive software thus far, saying that the software was too easily defeated and that working versions did not allow consumers to transfer music to portable devices and music players as freely as the industry would like.
Instead, they’ve been badgering Apple Computer to amend its software and “make its technologies compatible with copy-prevention tools”.
A major sticking point is that the restrictive software used by Sony BMG is currently incompatible with Apple’s popular iPod.
This doesn’t affect Apple computer users – they can freely copy and transfer music from the restricted CDs to their iPods – but consumers using Microsoft’s Windows software won’t hear a note, although they will be able to transfer music to Windows Media-supporting devices.
Thomas Hesse, president for global digital business at Sony BMG, said Apple could “flick a switch” to amend its programming to work with the restrictive software.
“It’s just a proprietary decision by Apple to decide whether to play along or not,” Hesse said. “I don’t know what more waiting we have to do. We think we need to move this forward. Time is ticking, infringement of intellectual property is happening all over, and we’ve got to put a stop to it I think.”
Analysts suspect that Sony is playing to the gallery a tad here, seeing as a Web site set up by the company will happily despatch emails to users explaining how they can unlock the CD’s software and make music files available for unlimited copying and transferring.
Mike McGuire, an analyst at Gartner G2, summed up the move by Sony BMG by describing it as a “very interesting public negotiation”.
New software may sink music pirates (via NY Times)
20 June, 2005
UK Pets Ousted By iPods And Consoles
A report by compilers Mintel International has revealed that pets are being ousted by consumer electronics in British homes.
The percentage of British homes with a pet has fallen from almost 55 per cent in 1999 to 48 per cent, with consumers so obsessed with fragging space aliens and listening to iPods that there’s no time for looking after cute little Tiddles and frisky Fido.
The study observed that, “In those families with children, the demand for pets may not be as strong as it once was, since many children now prefer to immerse themselves in the world of computer games and TV programmes”.
The report suggests that the decline in pet ownership has also been exacerbated by modern living, exemplified by “longer working hours, the increase of overseas holidays and the trend to live in flats and smaller homes”.
But it’s not all bad news for our precious pampered pooches and treasured tabbies, with the report revealing that sales of pet food, accessories and pet insurance have rocketed by 24 percent in the past five years, reaching a total of US$6.5 billion.
“Amongst the gloom of reduced pet ownership shines the very bright light that is the continued willingness of owners to indulge themselves and their pets,” purred Katy Child, senior retail analyst at Mintel.
“Despite a decline in the popularity of some pets, the remaining pet owners have shown themselves willing to spend more than ever before,” she added, stroking furiously.
With the rise of home entertainment robots like the Sony Aibo and the forthcoming Nintendo virtual pet game, Nintendogs (where virtual dogs will respond to voice commands and bark at passing Nintendog consoles), we wonder how long it will be before children think that pets live on batteries.
And with no pets in the house, hen-pecked husbands looking to slip out to the pub for a sneaky feast of lager are going to have to find a new excuse as, “Honey, I’m taking the iPod for a walk,” isn’t likely to convince.
Mintel International
Nintendogs (in Japanese)
17 June, 2005
Holographic TV Created By Scientists
US scientists have created imaging technology that lets viewers enjoy what they claim to be the first truly three-dimensional holographic movies.
Sadly, the chief boffin of the “holographic television” project, Dr Harold ‘Skip’ Garner, has admitted that the technology will “not be coming soon to a theatre near you”.
Looking into his holographic crystal ball, Garner, professor of biochemistry and internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said that he could see the technology being used for entertainment applications like 3D multiplayer games, theme parks, holographic cinema and holographic TV.
Another of the developers, Dr Michael Huebschman, a postdoctoral researcher in Garner’s lab predicted that we’ll all be floating about on hover-boots watching holographic TV in our homes by 2020 (OK, I made the bit up about the boots).
Naturally, the inner gubbins of this device are unfathomably complex, but we can tell you that it’s based on complex optics principles, outrageously clever computer programs, and a small chip covered in more mirrors than Fatty Arbuckle had hot dinners. We’re talking thousands of the things.
Lurking in the heart of the system is a digital light processing micro-mirror chip.
Made by Texas Instruments, these clever puppies are currently used in television, video and movie projectors and incorporate a computer that processes an incoming digital signal several thousand times a second.
This changes the angle of each micro-mirror to reflect light from a regular light bulb and projects the resulting two-dimensional video onto a screen.
By replacing this light with a laser light and opening up his Big Box Of Clever Ideas, Garner set about creating different wavelengths that were out of phase with each other to create the holographic effect.
The signal created is a sequence of two-dimensional interference patterns, called interferograms, which can be cooked up from scratch or from data gathered from 3-D imaging applications, such as sonograms, CAT scans, magnetic resonance imaging, radar, sonar or computer-aided drafting.
“This technology is potentially powerful for medical applications,” commented Garner. “We could easily take data from existing 3-D imaging technologies and feed that into our computer algorithms to generate two-dimensional interferograms.”
If you look at interferograms on a PC screen, all you get is a series of random black dots creating an effect that looks a bit like a telly on the blink.
But feed them into the digital light processing micro-mirror chip, blast them at the tiny mirrors and reflect laser light off them and you’re presented with a Star Wars-esque 3-D moving image suspended in air, captured in a special material called agarose gel, or on a stack of liquid crystal plates like computer screens.
Naturally, there’s a ton of really useful applications for this technology that could really benefit mankind: holographic visualisations of human organs, dental and bone development, surgeon training and all that kind of stuff.
But all we want to know is when can we play a holographic shoot-em-up or watch the mighty Cardiff City in glorious surround-o-vision?
Garner and his colleagues whizzed up the technology with students at the Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business. The objective was to develop a tentative business plan exploring the possible commercialisation of the technology, with a sensible focus on medical applications and not a desire to see Dot Cotton in 3D.
“An important next step is to take our proof of principle technology that we have now and move it into a commercial entity,” teased Garner before going off to admire a holographic heart.
Harold “Skip” Garner, Jr., Ph.D.
Garnering Innovation
16 June, 2005
Samsung SGH-E620 Offers Bluetooth Voice Recognition
Emerging blinking from their underground laboratories, the overworked boffins at Samsung have announced the creation of the SGH-E620 Bluetooth voice recognition phone which is a Bluetooth mobile with – you guessed it! – voice recognition technology.
With the phone lurking in a bag or pocket and a Bluetooth headset slapped on their noggin, users can make and receive calls by simply barking names into the microphone.
This clever feat of jiggerypokery is achieved via the wonders of Samsung’s voice recognition system which claims to be easier to use than existing gadgets which require close proximity to the user.
Earlier voice recognition phones forced users to fiddle about with the handset to switch it over to stand-by mode before a call was placed, but Samsung’s system means that the phone can stay out of sight.
Their system allows the phone to be activated by voice and then set to automatically rummage through the mobile’s phone book to recognise the name and place a call.
This gives argumentative types the perfect opportunity to reproduce that ‘mad person shouting to themselves’ look in the street (although the Bluetooth headset might just give the game away).
The phone uses a “speaker-independent voice recognition” technology which does not limit voice recognition to voice type and supports English, French, Spanish, German and Italian.
A Samsung official added that the company intends to expand the range of languages supported by the Bluetooth voice recognition technology, incorporating languages such as Chinese, Russian and Korean. But not Welsh.
As well as the Bluetooth gadgetry, the phone comes with a “refined antenna design” (whassat?!), a 1-megapixel camera, video wallpaper, speaker phone and 64 polyphonic ringtones.
The phone also boasts Star Trek-sounding “silver nano anti-bacterial coating”. We’ve no idea what that is, but it sounds like the sort of thing that might have lined Spock’s underpants.
Samsung
16 June, 2005
Vodafone Cuts 3G Data Roaming Charges
Vodafone has made their service more alluring to international business travellers by cutting roaming charges on their 3G data networks.
Designed to suit the needs of business travellers, the new roaming tariff gives customers predictable data costs by introducing a flat rate of €75 (US$ 91) per month (£50 pounds for Vodafone UK customers) to send or receive up to 100 MB of data when using the Vodafone Mobile Connect service on participating Vodafone networks.
The deal allows European subscribers to send or receive up to 100Mb of data while roaming on Vodafone 3G networks in Europe, Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
Heavy users soaring past the 100Mb limit will then be charged at a standard roaming rate.
According to analysts Gartner, the new prices demonstrate that operators are currently charging too much; “This is a sign that mobile operators are starting to recognise they charge too much for roaming data services,” they added, as your writer’s head nodded vigorously in agreement (while making snarling noises in the direction of T-Mobile).
“Current charges for data calls, especially while roaming, are much too high. Operators are starting to realise that high charges, coupled with unpredictable bills, are limiting use of data services,” Gartner added, commenting that the new roaming tariff, and greater availability of the flat-rate domestic tariff, should allow companies to predict data charges for travelling employees.
Gartner noted that with Vodafone only selling sold 300,000 3G data cards since launching the 3G data network in January 2004, the company is hoping that the reduced roaming charges will boost this figure.
In conclusion, Gartner advised that Vodafone customers regularly sending or receiving more than 10Mb of data per month while roaming should change to the Monthly Travel Tariff in double quick time.
They also recommended that European travellers on other networks should check out Vodafone’s new 3G data tariff if their current mobile service provider cannot match it, or use the figures as a benchmark to renegotiate for lower prices.
Vodfone
16 June, 2005
BT Fusion Integrates Landline And Mobile Calls
BT has unveiled a smarty-pants phone designed to integrate landline and mobile phone technologies.
Called BT Fusion, the handset promises callers the “best of both worlds” and works like a regular mobile phone away from home, but when the rambling caller comes home, the clever stuff whirrs into action.
As soon as the user’s home broadband hub is detected, the call is transferred to a VoIP connection through the phone’s own Bluetooth software.
BT is hoping that the service (dubbed “Project Bluephone” during development) will tickle the fancy of consumers looking for the functionality of a cell phone with cheaper fixed-line prices.
“We know that many of our customers enjoy the convenience of their mobile phones when they’re out and about, but switch to using a landline phone when they arrive back home to save money or because they have little or no mobile coverage”, observed Ian Livingstone, chief executive of BT Retail.
BT Fusion is part of the company’s strategy to lure back customers wooed by mobile telephonic temptresses touting cheap calls.
The BT Fusion service – using adapted Motorola V560 GSM phones – will initially be trialled by 400 customers, with a more widespread consumer launch in September, followed up by a corporate package rollout in 2006.
BT was tight-lipped about how many customers it expected to sign up to the service, but was clearly eyeing up the 30 percent of their customers who make mobile phone calls from their homes.
“The future will be convergence”, insisted Livingstone. “This is going to be a market that grows fantastically over time even though it might take a while to get going. We still expect many millions of converged handsets by the end of the decade.”
BT’s monthly packages will come in two flavours, offering 100 cross-network minutes for £9.99 (US$18.07~ €15) or 200 minutes for £14.99 (US$27.12~ €22.5) for 200 minutes.
Calls to landlines originating in the home will be ratcheted up at BT’s regular rate of 5.5 p (10 cents, €0.08) for up to an hour.
Subscribers wanting to join the BT Fusion gang will need both a BT landline and access to BT broadband, with a special access point, called the BT Hub, being installed in the home.
Although currently using Bluetooth, BT is planning an upgrade to Wi-Fi technology and has already installed the necessary wireless equipment in the hubs.
Although Ian Livingstone, chief executive at BT Retail, has commented that the service could be used on any broadband service provider “if we decide to make it available”, subscribers will have to use BT’s own broadband service and Vodafone for now.
BT Fusion
Motorola’s RAZR Coming Soon to BT Fusion Service
15 June, 2005
Frontier Announce “World’s First” DMB and DVB-H Mobile Digital TV chip
Frontier Silicon have announced the “world’s first multi-standard, multi-band mobile digital TV chip set”.
The new device, called Kino 3, is a new multi-standard and multi-band MDTV chip set which supports both the Korean and European digital multimedia broadcast (DMB) as well as the DVB-H standard for mobile TV reception.
Kino3 will be world’s first thingamabob to combine a silicon tuner with broad tuning range and a baseband processor utilising software defined radio techniques to address multiple MDTV reception standards.
Frontier claims that the Kino 3 will be able to compete in terms of cost, size and power consumption with devices that just support a single standard.
In a fug of industry-speak, Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon, told the Broadcast Asia Conference in Singapore, “We strongly believe that regulatory, spectrum allocation and installed infrastructure issues could considerably slow down the deployment of MDTV worldwide. With our experience in developing pioneering semiconductor solutions for digital broadcasting, we recognised this as a company early on and deployed resources to develop multi-standard ICs. Our aim is therefore to remove this barrier by quickly introducing a solution, and we are on course to introduce our Kino 3 solution in 2006”.
And here – as they say on shampoo adverts – is the science bit:
DMB is an extension of the Eureka 147 specification commonly referred to as DAB and used for digital radio broadcasts in much of Europe. DVB-H has been developed as an extension to the existing DVB-T standard which is widely used across Europe for digital TV broadcasts. Both DMB and DVB-H have been developed to provide the robust and high bandwidth data channels required to enable the reliable reception of digital video on handheld devices.
Korea is expected to see commercial MDTV services based on DMB rolling out during 2005, with the UK and Germany following in 2006.
Commercial services based on DVB-H will begin broadcasting in America during 2006 with parts of Europe adopting this standard during 2006 and 2007.
Fans of obscure spec sheets will have to wait until 2006 to discover the thrilling details of Frontier Silicon’s Kino 3 chip set, but we can inform you that it comprises of a state-of-the-art multi-standard baseband demodulator/decoder and multi-band (Band II, III, IV, V and L-band) RF tuner IC, and incorporates integrated microcontroller and memory. And possibly an onboard rear view dipstick.
Frontier Silicon
14 June, 2005
Nokia Announce Seven New Phones
In a veritable orgy of mobile manufacturing, Nokia has launched a grand total of seven new handsets, including a dual camera 3G device and their most feature-rich CDMA phone yet.
Four of the models use the ‘Matrix-style’ sliding design, which features a keyboard which slides out from under the display.
The phones are powered by the somewhat elderly Series 40 user interface, although the latest version of the O/S cranks up the eye candy, adds a new “Active Standby” home screen and bundles in support for applications written in Macromedia Flash Lite.
The 3G multimedia-tastic 6280 is a compact WCDMA/EDGE sliding handset sporting a 320 x 240 pixel screen, a 2 megapixel camera (with a VGA front camera for video calls), a removable mini-SD card and a built-in FM radio. It’s expected to appear on the shelves in the fourth quarter 2005 for EUR375.
Next up is the 6270, a quadband 2.5G slide phone with a 2-megapixel camera. The phone has similar specs to its more expensive cousin, with the same size screen, music playback and a built-in FM radio. Price is estimated at EUR300.
The 6265 is Nokia’s most feature-rich CDMA phone, with a 2 megapixel camera – complete with flash – and 176×144 pixel resolution video recording. The Nokia 6265 can play streaming video of up to 15 frames per second, and offers music layback, Bluetooth and miniSD memory storage (up to 1 gigabyte).
CDMA (code division multiple access) is the world’s second most common mobile phone technology after GSM and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s executive VP and GM for mobile phones, said the company were committed to growing its CDMA mobile business, particularly in Asia Pacific and China
“The growth prospects on the CDMA front are extremely encouraging. The CDMA market is expected to grow at pace with the overall handset market and the global CDMA handset volume is expected to increase by 10 to 15 percent year-on-year in 2005,” he said.
The last of the slider phones is the 6111, which has more than a passing resemblance to the hugely successful i-mate JAM phone, although the screen is much smaller at 128×160 pixels. The camera contains a 1-megapixel camera and 6x digital zoom and retails for around EUR270.
All of the slider phones are expected to ship in the fourth quarter.
Nokia have also announced two entry-level CDMA designs, the folding 2255 and the compact 2125 (due to ship in the fourth the third quarters, respectively) and the Nokia 6060, a GSM clamshell model for basic voice functions.
Nokia
13 June, 2005
Sony Announce Four New Phones
On the same day that Nokia went forth and multiplied with seven new phones, rivals Sony Ericsson announced four new handsets, aimed at increasing its presence in the low end and mid-market sectors.
Sony Ericsson K608i The K608i 3G handset employs Sony Ericsson’s now-familiar dual use format, with the phone being used vertically for calls and horizontally for taking pictures.
The 1.3 megapixel camera includes an active lens cover for swift activation, with video calls taken care of via a dedicated video telephony button.
There’s a reasonably large 1.8 inch 262k colour TFT screen onboard, and the K608 comes bundled with the usual suite of business applications, PIM and PC-synchronisation tools (via USB or Bluetooth).
Gameloft’s Vijay Singh Pro Golf 2005 comes preloaded with the phone in the hope that customers’ chequebooks will form a yawning chasm in the direction of Sony Ericsson’s Fun & Downloads portals.
There’s 32MB of memory space on the phone for shunting on ringtones, wallpapers, still shots and video footage, with a built in music player and FM radio taking care of multimedia.
Sony Ericsson S600
The all-swivelling Sony Ericsson S600 phone is claimed to be “ready to party” with features “to enhance the lifestyles of those who live their lives to the fullest”.
Like an expensive marital aid, the phone also promises “maximum fun and excitement in an ultra stylish package” according to Sony Ericsson. It almost makes you wary of putting it next to your ear.
The tri-band phone employs the same ‘jack-knife’ mechanism seen in last year’s S700, although there’s no ‘Mean Streets’ spring-action on offer, which kind of spoils the effect.
Inside, there’s 176×220 pixel, 1.8″ wide, 262 K colour TFT screen with two stereo loudspeakers and a MegaBass function enhancing the sound.
The S600 comes with 64MB of onboard memory, but sadly, there’s no memory card on offer – presumably it’s been left off so as to not compete with the higher spec’ed K750 model.
Gamers might be enticed by the S600’s widescreen mode which enables games to be played horizontally on screen. There’s also support for multi-player peer-2-peer gaming via Bluetooth.
Finishing off the package is Bluetooth and USB 2.0 connectivity, a 1.3 megapixel camera, NetFront web browser, 40-tone polyphonic alert and a RDS FM radio.
Sony Ericsson Z520
Described as possessing “cool curves in a smooth shell”, the Sony Ericsson Z520 is a compact quad-band phone “for the fashion conscious.”
With worrying sexual undertones, Sony Ericsson’s announcement salivates over the “smooth sleek body” of the clamshell which, apparently, creates “a small and inviting handset” with the added bonus of an illuminated “rim of blue lights” (stop tittering at the back).
“The new Z520 is specifically designed for the stylish younger generation, particularly young women, who want to carry an attractive accessory just as much as a mobile communications device,” purred Jan Wareby, Corporate Executive, Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing of Sony Ericsson.
Flipped open, the twin-display phone offers a 1.8″ 128 x 160 pixel, 65k colour, TFT main screen, supported by a 101 x 80 pixel, colour secondary display on the outside.
The phone supports Bluetooth, music playback, SMS, e-mail, video/photo MMS and web browsing.
In keeping with its intended audience, the Z520 can be accessorised with covers in Pale Blue, Sandy Grey, Ceramic White, Espresso Brown, Peach, Mint, Pale Yellow and Pale Pink. But no Death Metal Black.
Sony Ericsson J210
Last and, quite frankly, least is the J210, a no-frills, bargain basement handset, aimed at “practical phoners who value simplicity and reliability” according to Jan Wareby, Sony Ericsson’s Corporate Executive Vice President & Head of Sales and Marketing.
The tri-band handset offers a basic set of features with a near-microscopic 600KB of user memory onboard.
Sony Ericsson
13 June, 2005
Resco Photo Viewer For Pocket PC Review
These days, a smartphone/PDA isn’t worth sniffing at unless it comes with a built in camera and a shedload of internal/external memory for storing mobile snaps on.
With many devices now sporting expansion card slots capable of storing hundreds of pics, Resco is hoping that their Photo Viewer application will prove an invaluable organisational and editing tool for keen mobile snappers.
The program – available in various flavours on the Windows Mobile, Windows Smartphone, Windows CE, Palm and Symbian operating systems – offers an easy way to browse, edit and organise photographs, set up user-defined albums, watch MPEG1 movies and slide shows and view received faxes.
For super-sleek execs out to score swotty points, it’s even possible to run a business presentation from a Pocket PC by connecting a VGA card to a projector and running a PowerPoint presentation directly from Resco Photo Viewer.
Installing the program on an i-mate JAM Pocket PC 2003 phone was simplicity itself, with a double click on the downloaded .exe file transferring the software to the handheld via ActiveSync.
When you install the Pocket PC program, there’s also an option to install the Resco Album Generator on your desktop PC – this program lets you create photo albums ON your desktop and then have the pictures and the album information transferred to your handheld device on the next sync.
Before firing up the program, Photo Viewer asks which file formats it should open by default, with tick boxes offering an impressive selection of formats: MPEG1, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, MS PowerPoint (converted by Desktop Album Generator), BMP, CFX, PCX, GIF, RAB, RAW, PGM, PPM and even PSD, Photoshop’s native format.
Once up and running, the program’s ‘home page’ presents users with the choice to open a photo album, browse a folder, browse a memory card, open the last viewed image, pull up the help files or have a rummage around the options on offer.
When it comes to options, Resco certainly haven’t short-changed their customers, with a multitude of tabs, tick boxes and drop down menus letting users set up the application the way they like it.
Once I’d tweaked, twiddled and fiddled the app to my heart’s desire, I was happy to find that browsing photos with the Photo Viewer was a pleasingly nippy experience, with a selection of thumbnail display options popping up on-screen in double quick time.
Clicking on a thumbnail bought up a large preview image, while clicking again resulted in a full screen picture, automatically orientated for the screen, Very fast and very smooth. Nice.
In full screen mode, the keypad can be used to scroll through picture collections manually, or users with tired fingers can set up a slide show and choose from a selection of transition fades and effects.
It’s also possible to add sound (WAV, MP3) and text annotations to each image or set background music to a slide show.
Usefully, the program also offers basic image editing tools, with users able to tweak brightness, contrast and gamma RGB values and resize and crop images to specified pixel sizes – great for mobile bloggers wanting to trim images down for uploading.
For snap-happy camera-phone photographers, bloggers or folks who just like to carry around lots of photos on their mobile device, Resco Photo Viewer is an ideal product, offering fast browsing and viewing tools in a straightforward interface.
With a comprehensive feature set wrapped up in an attractive interface, Resco Photo Viewer represents excellent value at just US$25 (~£13.70~€20.50). We like it. Highly recommended.
(5/5)
Resco Photo Viewer
13 June, 2005