Digital-Lifestyles – Page 243 – 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

Nokia N73, N93:3 Megapixel Cameras Phones Announced
The dome-headed boffins at Nokia have triumphantly put their multiple pens back in their white coat pockets as the new Nokia N73 and N93 phones roll out on the product slipway.
Both phones come with large 2.4″ QVGA displays and high quality, Sony Ericsson-challenging 3 Megapixel cameras (2048 x 1536 pixels), armed with powerful flashes and Carl Zeiss lenses.
There’s also a new Xpress Share client which is designed to make it easy for mobile snappers to blast off their masterpieces via MMS or email, or upload images to Flickr accounts.
Both phones are equipped with S60 3rd Edition operating systems, which comes with Nokia’s new full web browser and a brand spanking new camera interface.
Nokia N73. Amazin’ Raisin Aero Bar.
Being Brits, we refuse to describe mobiles as having a ‘candybar’ form factor, so how about we call the N73, ‘Amazin’ Raisin Bar’ shaped?
Too obscure?
Well, we would say Mars Bar shaped, but then some of you with smutty minds might start giggling at the back, so we’ll settle for ‘Chunky Aero Bar’ instead.
Now that that’s settled, we can tell you that the Chunky Aero Bar-shaped N73 is designed to replace the popular N70 model and offers Quadband GSM/EDGE connectivity, with some models also including include 2100 MHz UMTS.
Unleashed from behind its spring-assisted cover, there’s an auto-focus 3.2 megapixel camera boasting Carl Zeiss optics, with 42 MB built-in memory and a MiniSD slot for additional storage.
Rounding off the man-sized feature set is Bluetooth 2.0, a music player supporting MP3, AAC, AAC+ and WMA, video player with streaming support, FM radio with visual radio and a set of built-in pixie-sized 3D stereo speakers.
The Nokia N73 is expected be available from July 2006, in three colour schemes with silly names: silver grey/deep plum, frost white/metallic red and frost white/mocha brown.
Nokia N93. Like a lardy Curly Wurly. Sort of.
Sticking with our ill-thought out confectionary theme a while longer, we reckon that if the N73 is an Aero Bar, then the N93 must be like a bendy Curly Wurly with its flexible hingey thingy.
Modestly billed by Nokia as the “ultimate mobile device for spontaneous video recording,” the N93 features a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, “DVD-like” video capture at 30 frames per second, and 3x optical zoom with video stabilisation.
The feature set is mighty impressive, with the N93 offering 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, MiniSD slot, video player with streaming support and TV-out.
The onboard music player can keep you rocking to MP3, AAC, AAC+ and WMA, and there’s a FM radio with visual radio for some Terry Wogan on the move.
Sadly, those looking to see the famous wig wobbling about on TV will be disappointed to learn that the there’s no DVB-H tuner onboard.
The Nokia N93 is expected to be available in July 2006.
Nokia waves around the wedge. Celebs flock for a slice.
Nokia have pushed the boat out on promoting these new phones, somehow persuading actor/director Gary Oldman to shoot a short film using the N93 as part of their “pioneering new mobile video initiative”, the Nokia Nseries Studio.
Apparently, Oldman has become part of an “international cast of creative visionaries who are shooting mobile movies for the Nokia Nseries,” with the results being posted up at www.nokia.com/nseries/studio
Come the summer, Nokia are going to open up the site so mere mortals craving to achieve ‘creative visionary’ status can slap up their own movies.
25 April, 2006
UKTV Sports Live Broadband Euroleague Basketball First
UKTV Sports have announced that they will be premiering Euroleague Basketball live on Broadband, rather than their more normal means, on the goggle box (TV).
PremierTV, a sports rights agency, are working with UKTV to provide clearance of the content and are providing the technical aspects of the delivery. They have built a broadband subscription site, UKTVSlam.tv, and plan to deliver live streaming of two key Euroleague Basketball games each week.
We spoke to Martin Henlan, Sports development manager at UKTV Sports to dig a bit deeper into the story.
Henlan raised a very valid point. Currently there’s no research available for how, or even if, people will consume niche sports over broadband in the UK. If UKTV were to commission a study it would cost them considerably more money than them just getting down and carrying out the trial themselves. We love this let’s-just-do-it approach, but suspect media consultancies all over the world will be meeting is little huddles trying to figure out how they can counter this plain common-sense.
Interestingly, and quite against normal conventions, UKTV will be using the TV shows to promote the broadband, pay-for content. Henlan said they were “looking to build a community and a service, where we can learn valuable lessons, with the potential to take this knowledge to coverage of other sports.”
We find the pricing slightly confusing – either a one-off annual payment, £39.99 (E57, $70) ; annual direct debit payment, £34.99; or a monthly direct debit payment, £3.99.
In our book, at those prices you’ve got to be a pretty devoted basketball fan (and it’s claimed that there are over a million in the UK), to be happy to pay £35 and up to. For the cash they will see only two basketball games a week, delivered as it will be for most of the viewers, to a PC. Clearly the whole offering becomes more attractive if you have your home media centre attached in your cinema room – but the number who currently have this is an insignificant number.
PremierTV will also provide the video-on-demand technology for basketball fans to access video highlights of every other Euroleague Basketball match played each week, as well as Euroleague Basketball news and features.
Due to content licensing deals, the content will be geo-blocked – in an effort to try and ensure the content is not seen outside the UK and Eire.
This coming Friday there will be free access to the the live game, so what are you waiting for? Give it a go.
UKTVSlam.tv
UKTV Sports
25 April, 2006
Pioneer SE-22 Waterproof Headphones
If, like the Temptations, you find yourself wishing it would rain or you just like to belt out tunes in the shower, Pioneer’s new waterproof headphones might be just the things for you.
The phones individually clip over each lug’ole and have what looks like a rubberised band to ensure that they stay firmly clamped on your nut as you rock out to the Waterboys in your shower.
We couldn’t find any information about how waterproof these things are, so we’re not sure if scuba divers will be able to hum along to Wet Wet Wet while swimming around in an octopus’s garden or if they’re only good for singing in the rain.
Of course, beach boys on a surfin’ safari might appreciate the waterproofing as could sunbathers on a rockaway beach.
Coming in a choice of white or silver finishes, the units seem to be solidly constructed and reasonably spec’d, providing 100dB/1mW sound pressure and a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz.
Of course, there’s no point having waterproof headphones if your player gets slippery when wet, so anyone looking to go surfin’ USA might be interested in checking out the range of waterproof iPod/iriver cases from h2o Audio.
Their gear isn’t cheap, but if you like to hear music while you’re out in rain (purple, or otherwise), jumping in the sea or blowing bubbles in the bath, it may be worth splashing out (ouch!) for the solid protection.
As for availability, we’re sorry to say we’ve no idea when or if the Pioneer headphones will be released over here in little ol’ Brit-land.
http://h2oaudio.com/

24 April, 2006
Skype Scoops Up EMI Music Deal
Uber music giants EMI Music Publishing have announced a deal with hotshot VoIP upstarts Skype to sell music on Skype’s new retail website.
Skype’s new international digital music service will make tunes from EMI’s hefty catalogue legally available on a worldwide basis.
When it comes to songs, EMI – the world’s largest music publisher – has tons of the puppies (we’re talking over a million copyrights), including drunken karaoke favourites like ‘New York, New York’, ‘Singing in the Rain’ and ‘Over the Rainbow.’
The deal includes downloads, ringtones and subscriptions, with EMI Music Publishing being employed as a music consultant for the new service.
The deal is significant as it’s the first major online music deal to be agreed on a global basis – previously, music retailers had to laboriously license songs individually on a country-by-country basis.
Roger Faxon co-CEO of EMI Music Publishing was ready and willing for some Monday morning gushing, dishing out the kudos to Skype, EMI and composer royalty collectors the MCPS-PRS Alliance for their help.
“We could not have better partners than Skype and MCPS-PRS in our ongoing effort to break down the barriers of online licensing of music. EMI is committed to bringing the best music in the world to all the consumers of the world and this deal is a major step in fulfilling that goal,” he gushed.
Skype is yet to set a launch date for its new online store.
Skype
EMI Music Publishing
24 April, 2006
African Movie Channel To HomeChoice – Niche Lives!
Proving Niche is alive and living on UK IPTV pioneer HomeChoice, they’ve today announced an African Movie Channel, self described as “the UK’s first channel dedicated to showing new and recent releases from the major African film production houses.”
The newly formed African Movie Channel tell us that that they are focused on Africans currently residing in the UK, as well as Britons and non-Britons of African and Afro-Caribbean descent, and anyone with historical connections to Africa.
Lola Onigbogi, African Movie Channel, said: “To launch the African Movie Channel on HomeChoice is a very important and exciting step for us. Demand for both classic and new release African movies is very high in the UK, where there is a large African population.”
We’ve got to admit that our knowledge of African cinema is pretty weak, but then again, we’re not the target niche. We hear from HomeChoice that they’ve got an initial stable of 100’s of film available though the on-demand section of the service. These include classic films such as Violated, Osofia in London and Madam Dearest and new and recent releases staring favorite African actors like Richard Mofe-Damijo, Genevieve Nnaji and Olu Jacobs.
On another side, we see that HomeChoicePR department have their own MySpace account, which we think is pretty enterprising, but it does make some of us at Digital-Lifestyles wonder, are we the only people without at least one MySpace? We also note the perversity of Nick S having a “huge DVD collection”, given he works for a VOD company!
HomeChoice
24 April, 2006
Non-Windows Attacks On The Rise
Attacks against non-Windows operating systems – particularly Linux – are growing quickly, according to a Kaspersky Lab report.
Although the figures are infinitesimally small compared to the depressingly regular onslaught of nasty beasties targeting Windows users, Linux malware figures more than doubled in 2005 (up to 863 from the previous year’s 422).
The report, posted by Konstantin Sapronov on the Viruslist.com Website, also noted that other Unix-based systems were experiencing similar rises in attacks.
The increase in malware is seen as a result of the growing popularity of alternative platforms.
“Slowly but surely Linux is being chosen over Windows not only for servers, but also for desktops,” explained Sapronov.
“Mac OS X’s (stock) may also rise. Since Apple has switched to Intel processors, Macintosh is rapidly gaining popularity,” he added.
The report notes that with Apple’s OS X kernel being based on FreeBSD, the experience of creating malware for that platform may also be applied to create OS X malware in the future.
The author points to the two “proof of concept worms for OS X” (below) as evidence for errors in the system architecture, adding that “OS X may be fertile soil for security researchers.”
2005: *nix Malware Evolution
Those Mac bugs
Posted up late last week by independent researcher Tom Ferris, ‘proof of concept’ code has been revealed that could be used to crash applications or even run unauthorised code on Apple machines.
The code takes advantage of bugs in the Safari browser and the Mac OS X operating system, with Ferris highlighting exploiting a total of seven bugs.
Posting on his Security-protocols.com blog, Ferris said that Apple had been made aware of the bugs and plans to fix them in “the next security release.”
Writing in his blog, Ferris commented, “There [seem] to be some problems with the claimed solid-as-a-rock Unix OS Getting Safari to crash in many different spots is trivial, as where Firefox is very tough.”
The SANS Institute’s Internet Storm Center rated the severity of Ferris’s bugs as “highly critical,” warning that there are currently no patches or workarounds available for the majority of these vulnerabilities.
Apple had declined to comment as we went to press.
24 April, 2006
NAB2006
From entertainment to news to business communications, NAB2006 is the only global event that covers the entire spectrum of media. Experience comprehensive business and technology insights and innovations covering every aspect of audio and video content production, management and distribution across all forms of media. http://www.nabshow.com/
22 April, 2006
Zicplay MiniKey 512Mb Mini-Review (48%)
The Zicplay MiniKey is a tiny audio player. It comes in versions from 256MB to 1GB. There’s also a version with a built in FM tuner. The version we tested was the 512Mb model.
It can cope with MP3 files (8 – 320Kb/s fixed or variable bit rate) and Windows Media Audio (32 – 160Kb/s fixed or variable bit rate).
There’s an LCD display which will show lyrics/track listings/etc. It feels quite plastic – but then it’s also very light, only weighing 25g including the AAA battery which allows 15 hours of listening.
Features of the unit are a voice recorder (using ADPCM) and 7 backlight colours for the LCD display, some are more readable than others. It also supports a basic phone book (with some Windows software) allowing basic access to contact info. The system is also firmware upgradable.
Earphones are the average earbud type, but not really unexpected with this type of device, or at this price.
The major drawback is the MiniKey only supports USB 1.1 so it’s relatively slow compared to other MP3 players to get files into the unit (or using it as a USB data device).
The pricing, £39 (Eu56, $69), is not much different from a straight USB memory device.
The instructions that come with the unit aren’t particularly great.
Summary: It’s pretty cheap, and does what you’d expect.
Rating: 48%
ZicPlay MiniKey 512Mb
21 April, 2006
Podcasts Outnumber Radio Stations Worldwide
Feedburner are claiming that there are now more podcasts than radio stations in the world.
According to Rick Klau, FeedBurner’s VP of Business Development, his RSS feed management company are now managing just under 45,000 podcast feeds, compared to just 6,000 podcast feeds being in May 2005.
This latest figure represents an average month on month growth rate of 15% and now exceeds the total number of radio stations worldwide.
Feedburner managed podcasts represent 30% of Digital Podcast’s database of over 12,000 feeds, which, with a bit of rule-of-thumbery, has led some to suggest that there could be as many as 149,000 podcast feeds out there on the Web
Podcasts and Videocasts
Rich media feeds (podcasts and videocasts) currently represent some 20% of the quarter-million RSS feeds managed by FeedBurner, who say that their managed podcasts are listened to by more than 1.6 million aggregate subscribers.
Subscriber numbers have more than doubled in the past six months, with FeedBurner’s figures indicating that subscriptions to rich media feeds are outpacing general RSS feed subscriptions by about 40%.
A clearly excited Klau switched to hyperbolic: “Back in 2000, the DVD format, just 3 years old at the time, was declared the most successful product launch in consumer electronics history, outselling the VCR five to one.”
“Using these statistics as a benchmark, in less than two years, the number of podcasts available online is tenfold that of DVD titles in nearly half the time,” he frothed.
Podcasts as site promotional tools
Although some podcasters have focussed on promoting their work on iTunes, they could be forgetting a hefty chunk of their potential audience, as figures show that 43% of the subscribers to FeedBurner-managed podcasts use other podcast clients.
Podcast directories are also growing in popularity, and are proving to be an effective means of driving downloaders back to the podcasters’ originating Web sites which can then evolve to become their own, stand-alone, consumption medium.
FeedBurner Expanding Universe: Podcasting Market Update
21 April, 2006
Brando USB Mouse with Laser Pointer and Thermometer
We must have all suffered this nightmare scenario.
One minute you’re busy working away at your laptop and then disaster strikes…
Someone needs to know the exact current temperature as a matter of urgency and you’ve forgotten to bring your thermometer along. Doh!
And then, even worse, you’re called upon to illuminate some distant object only to find that you left your laser pointer at home.
It’s a catastrophe!
Well, worry no more, because thanks to those clever folks at Brando, you can now own a USB mouse that packs both a thermometer and a laser pointer.
What a genius idea!
The appropriately named USB Mouse with Laser Pointer and Thermometer, frankly, looks like it might have fallen off the ugly tree, but that’s surely a small price to pay for owning such a potent combo.
Whip that puppy out at a corporate meeting and you’ll be the cock o’the walk!
Finished in a shiny black or red paint job, the optical mouse features a ~~cheap and crappy~~ small and simple LCD display for the temperature readout with the laser pointer operating from the mouse’s underside.
Their Website gives no indication as to the power of the pointer, but the illustration seems to suggest it can blast its mighty beam all of, err, a couple of feet, at best.
Coming with support for Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP, the 50g scroll mouse measures 75x35x20 mm and ships with a separate, retractable cable (8.8cm – 75cm) allowing you to stay tight to your PC or roam wild.
The mouse retails for $18 (~e14.5,~£10) and is available from the Brando website.
Don’t all rush now!
Brando
21 April, 2006