Services

Service offered

United B757-200 First Certified For US Inflight Wi-Fi
United and Verizon Airfone have become the first companies to receive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to install Wi-Fi for use on US domestic commercial aircraft.
After extensive trials, approval was forthcoming after the two companies successfully demonstrated that using 802.11 b/g wireless technology within the cabin didn’t send the airplane into a loop-de-loop or spark off random explosions of Star Trek-esque white smoke.
Although the FAA approval currently only applies to the cabin of United’s B757-200 aircraft, it’s an important landmark on the way to enabling full high-speed wireless Internet access on board all United aircraft.
“Our research shows that connecting to the Internet is customers’ most preferred form of communication to the ground, and this certification is a crucial step to bring this inflight wireless access to our customers,” said Dennis Cary, United’s senior vice president-Marketing.
Verizon Airfone currently provides voice services and JetConnect(SM) Messaging services on United’s flights, and securing in-flight Wi-Fi Internet access is sure to be a coffer-filling money-spinner.
Verizon Airfone really had no option but to lead this initiative, someone was going to do it, and once done, all of Verizon Airfone’s high prices call revenue would be gone, as the Ilses started to run Skype on their laptops or PDA’s phones.
“Our wireless broadband system will require only the addition of an avionics box, a wireless access point and a directional antenna, making it the faster and more affordable choice for United and its passengers,” said Bill Pallone, president, Verizon Airfone.
Passengers desperate for some in-seat network fragging are going to have to wait on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) scheduled “Air-to-Ground” spectrum auction to be held in the coming months. At the auction, providers will battle it out for lucrative service rights and the range of frequencies for onboard passenger access to the Internet.
Once a service provider is selected by the FCC, United should be able to meet their passengers’ Wi-Fi needs in double quick time with, no doubt, zillions of other airlines following their lead.
United Airlines
7 June, 2005
Video4skype From Dialcom adds Video To Skype
Skype users can now gaze at each other’s ugly mugs (and other body parts) while they waffle online, thanks to a new free plug in from Dialcom.
The Spontania Video4skype plug-in uses the Skype P2P engine and allows Skype account holders with broadband access to plug in their webcam and start making free video-calls through Skype.
The plug-in offers a full screen mode, end-to-end encryption and is billed as being “firewall, NAT and proxy friendly”, so there should be no need to start rummaging around in your network configuration settings.
Dialcom’s Sponania video plug-in hasn’t been specifically written for Skype – it’s designed to be integrated with any third party VoIP system – but Skype has benefited from being the first to use it.
There doesn’t seem to be any obvious business model for Dialcom yet, but we suspect that they may introduce paid versions with extra features and add-on sales at a later date.
Skype’s VoIP system has now scooped up nearly 40 million registered users, with take-up rolling along at a healthy 150,000 new users per day.
Skype’s recent affiliate program trials have proved something of a success, signing up more than 1,800 affiliate Websites to share Web traffic with Skype during the test period.
The deal for Webmasters is that Skype will dish out commissions of up to 10 per cent of its own store purchase revenues when a buyer is referred from their site.
The 30-day referral period starts after the first click, and credits site owners for all purchases made from return visits to the Skype Store.
“We look forward to rewarding our most ardent online evangelisers by creating an avenue to increase profits from their websites,” buzzworded Skype CEO and co-founder Niklas Zennström last week. “A strong affiliate program not only opens up a revenue stream for Skype devotees, but also provides an interactive communications tool for Website publishers to engage in dialogue with their audiences.”
There’s also a back-scratching reverse synergy deal (I’ve wanted to say that for years) with Skype able to direct its zillions of users to other sites through advertising links.
Skype’s ‘super affiliate’ partnerships include 192.com, Firstream, LunarStorm Sweden, LunarStorm United Kingdom, and MyFamily.com.
Skype recently released the latest beta of Skype 1.3 for Windows, but with their ‘known issues’ list stretching to fourteen items, many are advising holding back for a while before installing.
Video4Skype
Skype
3 June, 2005
DABplus With EPG Launched By Frontier Silicon
Frontier Silicon has launched a new module that claims to bring personal-video-recorder (PVR) like capabilities to DAB digital radio.
The newly introduced DABplus brings a combination of a smarty-pants electronic programme guide (EPG) and advanced recording and timer capabilities to its successful Venice module.
Just like a PVR, DABplus will let radio listeners shuffle through a guide detailing up to seven days of programmes and select what they want to listen to (or record via the built in timers).
Recordings can be saved onto a memory card on the same radio or played back on any compatible audio unit.
With a Tim Henman-esque clenched fist action, Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon whooped up the benefits of his company’s new product, “This will revolutionise digital radio just as PVR has revolutionised the television viewing experience.”
The Venice module comes with all the necessary components pre-installed, making it easy for manufacturers to start churning out DAB radios by simply bolting on a power source, antenna, display and keypad (it’s probably a bit more difficult than that, but you get our gist).
The module contains the Chorus processor which has already proved a hot potato in the DAB world, shifting over two million units.
Frontier Silicon’s software provides an interface through which EPG and dynamic service information (DLS) can be viewed, with scrolling text allowing information ‘wider’ than the 16-character screen to be seen.
Anthony Sethill added, “The addition of DABplus to our market leading modules will help accelerate the adoption of new broadcast features such as EPG and is therefore an important next step for the digital radio market.”
Frontier Silicon
1 June, 2005
Skype Affiliate Programme Becomes Official
Here at VON Europe in Stockholm, Sweden, Niklas Zennstrom, CEO of Skype, has just announced the official launch of the Skype affiliate scheme. The scheme has been running as a trial for a few weeks, gaining 1,800 members.
Working with affiliate site Commission Junction, they plan to reward Skype users who promote their pay for services. In return, affiliates will get a varying percentage of the value of the purchase, depending on the service and the number of people that they sign up each month.
They do this by simply by placing a link on their site or by sending the links through via an email.
Speaking to Niklas yesterday (audio interview with Niklas Zennstrom 20mins, 19Mb), he told Digital-Lifestyles, “We’re creating a structure where Skype users who promote us, can start to make a buck out of it,” while he acknowledged that they also benefit.
There will also be “super affiliates” that will have their own Skype account manager – a first for them. The first two announced are Luna Storm in Sweden and SuperAva in Italy. Luna Storm is a online phenomenon in Sweden, having over 2m members, which in a country of 9m in total is pretty impressive.
Looking at the percentages that are offered, they give guidance as to which Skype services are the most profitable, and it’s no surprise to see that they’re SkypeIn and voicemail. SkypeOut, which connects Skype VoIP user to the public phone network, enabling them to call land-lines. When connecting to the public phone network, Skype has to pay operators for the time the call is connected.
Not surprisingly if people sign up for the normal free Skype service, the affiliate receives no financial reward.
Skype are in a position where they have grown very fast, recently hitting 3m concurrent users, but they are still vulnerable to an alternative service coming along and usupring them.
The larger their installed base of users, the larger the barrier is to competitors. They know that the more people in a Skype users social/family circle that download and sign up for Skype, the more difficult it becomes for a competitor to unseat them. The process of talking you mum, granny and sister-in-law isn’t something you want to repeat.
Skype Affiliate scheme
24 May, 2005
Hop-on $39 WiFi Phone Announced
They’ve got a bit of a reputation for being a tad over-affirmative with their announcements, but Californian wireless solutions company Hop-on have revealed details of their new US$39 (~€31~£21.33) WiFi phone.
The device – which looks like a homage to a late 90s chunky Nokia phone – lets users make Voice over IP phone calls from available public or private Wi-Fi access points.
Measuring a pocket-challenging 126.2 x 46.3 x 27.5 mm, the HOP1502 Wi-Fi IP weighs 135g (with battery) and sports a Ye Olde Mono backlit LCD, offering a 102 x 650 pixels screen size.
The 1800mAh Standard Li-Ion battery is claimed to provide 3.5 hours of talk time or 30 hours of standby.
The WiFi handset supports a wide variety of VoIP features and functions, based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Depending on the service provider, users can enjoy call features such as three-way calling, call waiting and call forwarding etc.
The clunky chunky phone also enables voice processes, including the curiously monikered “comfort noise generation” as well as voice activity detection, and echo cancellation, and IP protocol features such as Real-Time Transfer Protocol (RTP), Session Description Protocol, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and Virtual SIM (VSIM).
Of course, the main attraction of this phone is the low, low price, with the company claiming that it “provides all the features and functionality of a VoIP terminal adapter but has the advantage of enabling users to talk from any available public or private WiFi access point. ”
VoIP handsets are set to become increasingly popular, with market research firm Instat claiming that the number of mobile/WLAN (VOIP) subscribers will reach over 256 million worldwide by 2009, with the numbers of subscribers using WLAN for voice expected to exceed those using WLAN for data only by that date.
“Hop-on believes that the features and price point of the HOP1502 WiFi IP handset will be challenging to the Industry,” insisted Samuel Demissie, President of Hop-on. “WiFi phones have not yet been deployed in quantity by carriers due to security challenges such as fraud, theft of call information, passwords and the lack of 911 Emergency Service.”
Hop-on worked with security partners to develop a “total solution package” (we like those) for carriers and hotspot owners, enabling “seamless authentication and billing enablement for the carrier.”
Hop on claims that their Virtual SIM (VSIM) patented software technology replicates the same benefits of GSM/CDMA security and authentication in WiFi phones and “substantially” reduces the security and billing challenges faced by carriers.
It’s an ugly looking beast all right, but we like the idea of cheap VoIP handsets, although hardened old cynics like us would suggest that you don’t hold your breath on this one, quite yet.
Hop-on
23 May, 2005
MSN Search Toolbar Required For MSN Desktop Search
Microsoft has released the final version of MSN Desktop Search, offering new features based on extensive user feedback and boasting extended support for file types.
Along with Internet Explorer, search toolbars reside in Windows Explorer and Microsoft Office Outlook, with desktop searches available via a toolbar in the Windows taskbar.
The free 5.5Mb download (in contrast to Google’s 700K) can index over 200 types of files, ranging from Office 2003 documents to Outlook contacts, calendar files and emails including attachments, with add-ins available for specialised files, such as PDF, DWF and ZIP files.
The new toolbar has ramped up multimedia file support, including GIF, JPEG, Adobe files and MP3, with browser-style “search as you type” input fields to speed up searching.
It’s now possible to select which items should be indexed, with a dialog box letting users choose specific files and locations.
These advanced indexing options also let users specify file types to be indexed as text, create a list of file types that should not be indexed, decide the location of the index file and boost the priority of the indexing process (although this may cause some PCs to run as slow as a tired sloth on Mogadons, but at least it can be turned off).
The new version lets users customise how the program sorts different files — by date, size, author or sender etc – with Justin Osmer, product manager for MSN Search, gleefully boasting, “You can really slice and dice the results any way you want.”
Search results are now accompanied by a preview pane that displays a summary of a selected results with the option to launch the targeted file’s native application.
As with the beta release, the MSN desktop search application positively demands that the MSN Search Toolbar be installed, with the product parking itself inside Internet Explorer.
Although users must have MSN Search Toolbar installed to use MSN Desktop search, it’s possible to select which features are enabled on the toolbar, and to hide MSN navigation links to services such as Hotmail, Messenger etc.
Conveniently, users can also change the default search engine from MSN Search to any other search engine.
As is the norm with search toolbars, there’s a pop up blocker and form-filler installed, although there’s still no Firefox-style tabbed browsing on offer, although MSN says it will be added soon.
MSN also is launching a new Web site, addins.msn.com, serving up a selection of third-party developer additions to the desktop search toolbar.
The competition for the desktop search market is getting hotter than Justin Timberlake’s underpants, with Google and Yahoo already off to a flying start.
Although Microsoft’s offering may not have enough features to tempt those using rival services, it may prove perfect for regular users of Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer.
MSN Desktop Search
17 May, 2005
BBC iMP: Public Trial For 5,000 In September
BBC New Media is to extend trials of its interactive Media Player (iMP), allowing viewers to download material from 500 hours of its television and radio programming.
The latest phase of trials for BBC New Media’s interactive Media Player is scheduled to begin in September 2005 and will run for three months.
The interactive Media Player lets viewers catch up with TV and radio programmes up to seven days after they have been broadcast, with the BBC offering legal Internet download programmes to their PCs.
The latest road test follows smaller trials last summer where the BBC used a limited number of people and a small amount of rights-cleared programmes to test the concept of using peer-to-peer technology and digital rights management (DRM) to protect rights holders.
This time around, the BBC is offering around 190 hours of TV programmes and 310 radio programmes, in addition to local programming and rights-cleared feature films.
The 5,000 trialists will be able to search for programmes they want to watch, filter programmes by channel, select subtitles and, in the case of some series, to collect and watch episodes that they may otherwise have missed.
Ashley Highfield, BBC director of new media and technology, effloresced with a curious mix of similes: “iMP could just be the iTunes for the broadcast industry, enabling our audience to access our TV and radio programmes on their terms — anytime, any place, any how – Martini Media.”
“We’ll see what programmes appeal in this new world and how people search, sort, snack and savour our content in the broadband world,” he added.
Currently, issues with rights, distribution and navigation are limiting the menu, leading to fears that without the necessary killer content to attract audiences, take-up of the service may stall.
Highfield has stated that the BBC was looking to tackle these issues through services like Creative Archive and iMP, and called on the industry to do the same.
The pilot will use DRM software to delete programmes seven days after the programme has aired on TV, ensuring that users can no longer watch the content after that time. The digital rights system will also prevent users emailing the files to their chums or sharing it via disc.
The BBC iMP pilot will use peer-to-peer distribution technology to distribute the content and Geo-IP technology to restrict the service to UK Internet users only, with Siemens Business Services, BBC Broadcast and Kontiki, assisting with the technical and play-out elements of the trial.
The Kontiki system is already being beta-tested by the Open Media Foundation in trials of a public service allowing controlled peer-to-peer distribution of rights cleared audio and video.
BBC iMP
Kontiki
16 May, 2005
MHP Services In Europe: Current Position Reviewed
Across Europe, interactive services using the DVB Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standard have been launched on cable, satellite and terrestrial platforms. While not formally mandated by the European Commission, MHP has been embraced as an open and interoperable standard that can be actively encouraged and promoted. Already, several countries have launched MHP-based interactive services on the terrestrial platform.
Finland pioneered MHP-based interactive services on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform when it launched services in August 2001. Services currently include digital teletext, banking and game applications, advertising sites and a seven-day electronic programme guide (EPG). A mobile telephone assures the return channel. Currently, a regional MHP portal is available in the city of Tampere to provide local information and a similar portal will soon be launched in Helsinki. The government has actively supported the development of MHP-based services through its project ArviD.
Public service broadcasters have been very active in establishing the Nordic Migration Plan to ensure the introduction of MHP-based interactive services. The launch of DTT services in Denmark and Norway will likely include interactive services. Denmark is expected to launch its DTT services in July 2005 while Norway may launch its services in 2006.
In Sweden, interactive services were initially implemented using the proprietary system, OpenTV. However, the migration towards MHP-based services is underway and the public broadcaster SVT launched an MHP based digital teletext service in March 2004.
Germany has been a continued supporter of the roll-out of MHP-based interactive television services, especially on the satellite platform. MHP data services have been launched on the terrestrial television platform.
In Austria, a DTT trial with MHP-based interactive services provided 150 households in Graz with access to an interactive television service called !TV4 using the telephone connection for the return channel. Using their television remote control, viewers could retrieve information services and vote. Given the success of the trial, it is likely that MHP-based interactive services will be launched alongside DTT services.
In Hungary, MHP-based interactive services are available in the DTT trials conducted by Antenna Hungaria. The services are information based and include digital teletext and an EPG.
In February 2002, the Ministry of Science and Technology in Spain sponsored an agreement for the promotion and implementation of interactive services based on the MHP standard signed by leading manufacturers and broadcasters. Currently MHP services are available in Catalunya, Madrid and the Basque region and are expected to be launched in Galicia. In Catalunya, the Miromercats pilot supplied 100 homes with advanced MHP applications and provided a return channel via the telephone line.
But the turning point for MHP has been in Italy where interactive content has been a cornerstone of the launch of DTT services. Broadcasters have provided a wide range of MHP-based interactive services such as digital teletext, news information, weather forecasts, audience polling and an EPG. Furthermore, the government seeks to develop “t-government” services in an aim to help bridge the digital divide. Government subsidies are available to encourage households to purchase interactive set-top boxes.
Of course MHP is not the only interactive television service system in the market. Proprietary systems such as MediaHighway and OpenTV have been installed in a large number of set-top boxes, often for cable and satellite platforms. In the United Kingdom, the MHEG standard is widely used on the terrestrial platform. As a result of the various products and services in the market, the DVB Project has been working on the development of the Portable Content Format (PCF) to deliver a wide range of interactive television services to multiple platforms with a minimum of re-authoring. It has significant interest for operators who wish to migrate towards MHP by allowing them to manage simultaneously a mixed population of devices.
We’ll be carrying a follow up piece by Natalie on Friday, about launching MHP services. Natalie works for Digitag
Photo credits: Alticast, Uni-Weimer, MHP.org, MIT Xperts
11 May, 2005
How-To: Spotlight, Power Search With Tiger, Mac OS 10.4
It’s that time again, a new version of OS X has been released! For those that aren’t aware of OS X, it’s Apple’s operating system. As usual, OS 10.4 is named after a cat: 10.2 was named Jaguar, 10.3 Panther, and the new 10.4 has been titled Tiger.
OS X has been touted by some as uncrashable, and that is how I’ve found it too: After setting it up, I haven’t once restarted my computer despite having installed over 30 applications since. This stability is what makes Apple have such a following of fans, and would be unheard of on a Windows box.
There’s lots of new goodies in Tiger, but in this article I’ll focus on the addition of a search technology called Spotlight, which makes searching through files instantaneous. It also allows the creation of so-called search folders, with links to every file which matches that folder’s search criteria, which I detail lower down.
The clever bit, is that these search folders are self-updating, meaning that as soon as you start writing a document containing the word “banana”, the search folder that is told to look for this word, will find it and create a shortcut to it along with all the other files that contain the word.
This is the spotlight icon in the menubar

Click it.

And type what it is that you are looking for. In my case, I typed ‘Summer’.

Within about one and a half seconds, the above menu appears. Clicking the top icon (Show All), shows a traditional window of all the results for the search. The second icon, labelled Top Hit, is the file that Mac OS X thinks is the most relevant to the search criteria.
The next section of search results lists folders with the word ‘Summer’ in their names. Pretty self-explanatory really.
Then email messages with the word ‘Summer’ in them are listed. The ability to index pretty much anything and then make it searchable is what’s so special about Spotlight.
The following one has items that Spotlight drew up from the calendar application I use.
Images, self-explanatory too.
PDF Documents are listed in the next section. Not many other search applications can index PDF files, but thanks to the tight integration of PDF with Mac OS X it is easily possible.
The last section contains music with the word ‘Summer’ in. Although not apparent here, Spotlight even searches the tags of MP3 and AAC files for words, meaning that if a song file was called, say, Winter but the artist in the tag of the file said ‘Summer’, it would still show up in the list of results.
Searchable folders, or “Smart” folders as Apple likes to call them, work similarly, but they are more use for things you often need to access and don’t want to keep typing into spotlight to find.
Click on the “file” option in the finder and then click on New Smart Folder.

A window appears.

I typed “Summer” in the top right box as before. This instantly showed all the related files:

Next you just have to click on the red circle, the equivalent of the close window button in Windows. Finder asks you where you want to save the smart folder just created. I told it to just save it to the desktop as “Summer”:

Hit Save and the newly created smart folder appears on the desktop:

Summary
Apple are carrying out a pincher movement. Bit by bit, Apple are both removing reasons for Windows users not to switch to Mac, while adding tempting reasons to convert. This latest offering of OS X, in conjunction with less viruses on a Mac, and access to a powerful collection of digital media software (iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand, iMovie, iDVD) should encourage Windows users to want an Apple computer. Let’s not forget that the next significant version of Windows, Longhorn, and its promised security and anti-virus features, are still likely to be more than a year away,
Overall, there are many more new features in Tiger, over 200 according to Apple. Having made the change from Windows myself, my suggestion is to spend some time with a Mac and experience it for yourself. You too might make the change.
For those wanting to buy a brand new Apple Mac, they can be purchased from Amazon (US|UK), and if you are a student or are otherwise involved in education, you can get a juicy education discount from Apple, so there’s really no excuse anymore!
Apple Spotlight
6 May, 2005
Yahoo Video Search Leaves Beta, Adds Content
Yahoo has pulled a fast one on its rivals by unexpectedly taking it’s five month long ‘Beta’ video search service to a full release, and adding some new media partners to provide searchable material.
The service enables Web users to find and view a wide variety of video content including news footage, movie trailers, TV clips and music videos.
The announcement comes just days after Google had proudly paraded new partners for its beta video search service, which lets users search closed captioning content and view still shots of video clips.
Google has also been seeking original material by inviting users to submit their own video to the service.
Finding video content on Yahoo’s new search facility is easy enough: type in the relevant keywords and you’ll be taken to a results page showing thumbnails of the video files. Clicking on the thumbnail takes you to the hosting page with an option to directly view the video.
Sources for Yahoo’s new search feature have been expanded to include CBS News, Reuters, MTV, VH1.com, IFILM.com, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, as well as an assortment of independent producers and content pulled by spidering the Web for video content.
In the interests of research, we rummaged around for naughty porn, but couldn’t find anything too racy – until we spotted the ‘turn safe search off’ option. Clicking on this released a veritable cascade of filth that would send Mary Whitehouse’s graveyard residence spinning in turbo mode.
This latest development adds more fuel to the almighty bun fight currently being battled out between Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Ask Jeeves and less well-known names like Blinkx, as companies compete to grab a juicy slice of the lucrative video search advertising business.
These companies clearly understand that in the future of a near infinite number of sources for content, the consumer is going to become very confused and possibly overwhelmed by choice, unless someone, or a service guides then through it. Having identified this, they’re all chasing it.
Yahoo Video Search
5 May, 2005