Digital-Lifestyles – Page 196 – Digital-Lifestyles pre-empted and reported thousands of articles on the then-coming impact that technology was to have on all forms of Media. Launched in 2001 as a research blog to aid its founder, Simon Perry, present at IBC 2002, it grew into a wide ranging, multi-author publication that was quoted in many publications globally including the BBC, was described by the Guardian as 'Informative' and also cited in a myriad of tech publications before closing in 2009

Digital-Lifestyles pre-empted and reported thousands of articles on the then-coming impact that technology was to have on all forms of Media. Launched in 2001 as a research blog to aid its founder, Simon Perry, present at IBC 2002, it grew into a wide ranging, multi-author publication that was quoted in many publications globally including the BBC, was described by the Guardian as 'Informative' and also cited in a myriad of tech publications before closing in 2009

Google Goes Solar Powered
Google is converting its Californian headquarters to run partly on solar power, creating the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the United States.
The Internet search giant has said that its jumbo-sized solar project will eventually deliver nearly a third of the power at its 1-million-square-foot campus in Mountain View, near San Francisco.
Kitting out the campus will require the installation of more than 9,200 solar panels on high-tech offices known as the “Googleplex.”
Expected to be up and running by next Spring, the panels should be able to generate about 1.6 megawatts of electricity – enough power to supply about 1,000 homes.
Google haven’t disclosed the costs of the project, but it’s unlikely to cause much of a dent in the pockets of a company reputed to have nearly $10 billion in the corporate coffers.
With about a trillion hard drives purring away and Borg-like billions of PCs busily indexing this interweb thing, we imagine Google’s energy costs must be sky high, but David Radcliffe, Google’s vice president of real estate, reckoned that anticipated savings from future energy bills should pay back the solar project’s costs in five to 10 years.
“We hope corporate America is paying attention. We want to see a lot of copycats” of this project, he commented.
Nice one, Google.
Googleplex
19 October, 2006
Apple Grows iPod Sales
Apple has continued to increase the number of iPods they’re selling. Their latest quarterly results show that they grown the 8.11m iPods they sold in the previous quarter to 8.73m this quarter, beyond market expectations. The quarter that is reporting didn’t change or introduce any new iPods.
The number of computers they sold has also increased 30 percent from the same quarter in the previous year to 1.61m. We’re slightly surprised that this figure wasn’t higher, given that the latest quarter included the switch to the Intel processor, which has given a considerable increase in the speed.
Jobs enthused, “Selling more than 39 million iPods and 5.3 million Macs while performing an incredibly complex architecture transition is something we are all very proud of.”
Overall, the company posted revenues of $4.84Bn, and a net quarterly profit of $546m.
19 October, 2006
Logitech Buys Slim Devices
Logitech has announced that it is buying Slim Devices for $10m cash plus a possible performance-based payment tied to certain revenue targets. The news came on the same day as their best-ever Q2 sales, which reached $502m.
Slim Devices has been selling their Squeezebox WiFi music player since 2004, continuing to improve the product through subsequent releases. The device pulls music from PCs, distributing it via Ethernet, or Wirelessly about the home.
Latterly they’ve moved into the higher ground of products, by bringing out the Transporter. Featuring high quality components, it also differs from the Squeezebox by actually have some controls on it, as well as a remote control.
Logitech currently sell some devices for playing digital music from your PC, as SlimDevices does, but they haven’t exactly set the market on fire.
Junien Labrousse, Logitech SVP of the Entertainment and Communication Business Unit explained their reasoning for the purchase, “One of the main reasons for this acquisition is the development capabilities of the Slim Devices team. The technical level of this group is a key asset that we fully intend to leverage.” He also confirmed the concerns of some of Slim Devices current customers “[they] will function independently, keeping the spirit of advance audio technology and strong product innovation.”
We think it’s a good move by Logitech, as Slim makes good-looking devices and Logitech generally don’t. As well as the technology they’ll be gaining, we hope that they’ll also focus the product design within the Slim Devices team.
Logitech has the ability to take Slim Devices music players through their considerable retail connections, moving slim from the Geeks favorite, to a mainstream products.
Slim Devices
Logitech
19 October, 2006
Orange Messenger by Windows Live Brings Mobile And PC IM Together
Orange and Microsoft have joined together to offer Instant Messaging (IM) connectivity between computers and mobile phones, claiming it’s a first.
The service will bring together Orange’s 135m customers with the 240m Microsoft IM users letting them seamlessly IM each other while on different platforms.
It’s not public ready yet, so the service will be starting in France in December this year (and why not … Orange is after all France Telecom in disguise). The UK and Spain will follow “in 2007.”
Hell bent on convergification Didier Lombard, Chairman and CEO, France Telecom gushed, “The launch of this new offering reflects once again the success of Orange’s convergence strategy. Our ambition is to offer simple convergent services, bringing our customers into the world of always-on connectivity.”
We’re a little puzzled by their uniqueness claim, “Orange and Microsoft today announced their first convergent Instant Messaging offering for PCs and mobile.” Given IM clients have been running on mobile phones for a while, how is this the first time?
18 October, 2006
Sony Paint Ad: First HD Advert In UK
Sony and Sky are tying up to show the UK’s first HD advert tonight.
You may well have seen a lot of the build-up for Sony’s latest advert – the one with the paint. It’s the follow-up to their coloured balls advert shot in San Francisco.
Appropriately the advert is for Sony’s Bravia range of HD TVs. Shot in the somewhat less-glamorous location of a disused tower block in Glasgow, Scotland, it shows 70, 000 litres of coloured paint exploding up the side of the block of flats.
Shot over 10 days and with a crew of 250 people, the paint was mixed on site by 20 people. The clear up took 5 days and 60 people.
Behind the scenes footage of the shoot has been circulating on the online video services for about two months now. The wobbly camcorder shot material lends itself to looking like it’s been shot by your ‘man in the street,’ but given the size of the campaign, it’s more likely to be seeded by Sony or their advertising agency, to try and create a build up of interest.
Here’s the finished results.
It makes total sense for Sony to shoot this ad in HD given they’ve been pushing HD for nearly 3 years in Europe – initially through their professional arm that sells the cameras. Given their zeal in this area it makes you wonder why it took so long for an HD advert to come out from them.
The launch of this first HD ad follows a major marketing agreement between Sky and Sony to promote HD.
The HD advert will shown on Sky Sports HD 2 tonight during the Chelsea vs Barcelona football coverage.
18 October, 2006
Pure Digital Camcorder Uploads Videos Direct To Google
Pure Digital Technologies has announced a cheapo camcorder that can upload movies to video sharing Web sites like Google Video with a single click.
The $129 palm-sized camcorder can hold up to 30 mins of footage ($169 for the 60-minute version) and boasts a 2x digital zoom and 1.4-inch colour playback screen, with a pull-out USB connector.
The point’n’shoot camcorder plugs directly into PCs or Macs, with the built-in software letting punters transfer and process footage with a single click.
The software includes instant sharing options like one-click emailing, video greeting cards and custom-edited movie mixes, with the option to burn DVDs by taking the cam to one of the 10,000 Pure Digital-certified retail locations.
Allen Weiner, an analyst with market tracker Gartner, reckoned Pure Digital were on to a winner, describing the pint-size camcorder as “simple, but also revolutionary.”
“There are millions of people who look at a site like YouTube and want to put their videos up, but have no idea how to do it,” he said. “This puts everything directly into the camera itself.”
Pure Digital are feeling bullish about sales prospects, predicting around 250,000 camcorder sales this year – that’s 9% of all camcorders sold – with sales topping one million next year.
Pure Digital Technologies
18 October, 2006
Wikipedia Co-Founder To Launch Rival Citizendium Encyclopaedia
Unhappy with the inaccuracies of the online encyclopaedia he set up, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has announced that he will be launching an alternative to the free online reference this week.
The free spin-off site, sporting the rubbish name of ‘Citizendium,’ will introduce user registration and editorial controls for user-submitted articles in an attempt to filter out pesky trolls, biased contributors and Tourettian troublemakers.
“Wikipedia is amazing. It has grown in breadth and depth, and the articles are remarkably good given the system that is in place. I merely think that we can do better,” Sanger said.
“There are a number of problems with the system that can be solved, and by solving those we can end up with an even better massive encyclopaedia,” he added.
An invite-only pilot version of the non-profit site will launch this week, although there’s no news about a full release.
The rise of Wikipedia
In five short years, the advert-free Wikipedia has become one of the most popular research tools on the Web, boasting more than 2 million articles in 229 nationalities, with Nielsen NetRatings registering more than 33 million unique visitors in September this year.
Such is the explosive growth of the site, this figure represents a whopping 162 percent rise from the same period last year.
With anyone able to write and edit content on Wikipedia, the site has been accused of unreliability, with controversial topics and some political entries being bogged down by never-ending disputes from warring factions.
Sanger has accused Wikipedia of failing to keep a grip on its writers and editors, commenting that the latest articles don’t represent a consensus view, just a reflection of what the most persistent ‘posters’ say.”
Larry Sanger hopes to introduce some order to his rival site by introducing editors, volunteer ‘constables’ and personal accountability which will see people using real names.
Although the site will be open to submissions from anyone, editors will be empowered to authorise articles with “constables” charged with wading into rows and asking, “why can’t we all just get along?” Or something .
With backing from an unnamed foundation, Citizendium hopes to evolve with public participation, growing from a “fork” of the open-source code of Wikipedia, with new content replacing existing content until it grows into a new compendium of its own.
The Citizendium Project
Toward a New Compendium of Knowledge
18 October, 2006
The Economist’s European Telecoms Forum
18th October The one-day event will address the changing telecoms landscape, looking at drivers for change. Which companies are proving to be most successful at adapting to the changing business environment? What does the European regulatory framework mean as new technologies are introduced? What are the challenges that lie ahead for traditional operators as they seek to ensure future profitability? Radisson Edwardian Mayfair, London http://www.economistconferences.com/roundtable/public/con_common.asp?rtid=917&rtRegion=4&area=1
18 October, 2006
SlingPlayer Mobile: Symbian and Sling Partner For Mobile TV
Sling is developing software to play their video on Symbian mobile phones.
Sling Media’s SlingBox has been letting people watch TV programming from their home, remotely on laptops while they are travelling away from home.
Sling already have a Mobile player that runs on PDA’s and mobile phones that work on Windows Pocket PC, but the new version will hit the mobiles widest used OS, Symbian s60 and UIQ operating system.
Symbian largest shareholder is Nokia, who own 47.9%.
The current Pocket PC version of the SlingPlayer Mobile software application is currently available only in the U.S. and Canada. The Symbian OS version will be made available in select European and Asian countries during Q4 and will extend availability to the US shortly thereafter.
The advantage of this service over other pay-for video offerings from the mobile operators is that there is no additional cost to watch the content. You pay the data charges, not the programming. People with flat-rate data plans won’t have to worry about that.
Sling Media
Symbian
18 October, 2006
Mobile Users Want GPS Tools Not Mobile TV
A new survey of over 1,000 early adopters and mobile phone business users discovered little enthusiasm for mobile video but a keen interest in using handsets as navigation aids.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the study by market research firm In-Stat suggests that mobile phone companies may need to change their strategy as they try to encourage more users on to third-generation data services.
In-Stat analyst David Chamberlain noted that there’d been some “disappointment” in the industry as uninterested consumers had failed to clutch mobile video to their hearts in vast numbers.
Commenting on the low uptake of value-added 3G services, Chamberlain suggested that customers were reluctant to part with their hard-earned just to watch juddery little video clips of “yesterday’s ballgame” on the squinty displays of smartphones.
Although just 15 per cent of those surveyed expressed a strong interest in mobile video, when they were asked if they wanted phones capable of giving out location information and directions, over half (53 per cent) said, “we’ll have some of that please, squire.”
“People like the idea of getting directions from their phone to take them to their destination,” Chamberlain observed, adding, “They like getting suggestions about restaurants nearby and how to find them.”
If the findings of the In-Stat survey prove to be representative of the population as a whole, it looks like mobile phone carriers are going to have to shuffle around their ranges of phones currently being offered, and give GPS-enabled phones a bigger push (or look to include more mobile navigation apps like Google Maps).
Although navigational applications don’t hog as much bandwidth as TV and video, mobile companies should still be able to persuade users to upgrade, pointing out that mapping programs still need a nippy third-generation network to provide fast route updates.
In-Stat
17 October, 2006