Digital-Lifestyles – Page 304 – 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

NSF GENI Project Looks To The Next-Generation Internet
The boffins at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) have proposed “re-engineering” the Internet to create a whizz-bang updated version that connects all kinds of devices with built in security and robustness.
With the government agency challenging researchers to look at the Internet as a “clean slate”, the NSF’s Global Environment for Networking Investigations (GENI) initiative proposes a research grant program and an experimental facility to test new Internet technologies.
NSF officials trumpeted the GENI project at a conference for the Special Interest Group on Data Communications in Philadelphia last week.
But before you get too excited about this new super-improved Internet being piped into your devices (ooo-er), NSF spokesman Richard “Randy” Vines has some news for you: it’s not yet funded and it’s only “an idea under consideration.”
With the Internet continuing to grow exponentially and with researchers predicting an explosion of data in the next decade from mobile and wireless devices as well as sensors, the GENI project intends to anticipate and envision the Internet society’s needs 15 years or more from now.
The goals of the GENI Initiative include a new core functionality for the Internet, with new naming, addressing, and identity architectures; enhanced capabilities, including additional security architecture and a design for high availability; and new Internet services and applications.
According to the NSF’s GENI Web page, the GENI project intends to “explore new networking capabilities that will advance science and stimulate innovation and economic growth,” adding, “The GENI Initiative responds to an urgent and important challenge of the 21st Century to advance significantly the capabilities provided by networking and distributed system architectures
The site also urges the enabling of “new classes of societal-level services and applications”. We’ve no idea what that means, but it sure sounds good to us.
Faster transmission speeds aren’t on the agenda of the GENI Project, however, with David Clark, a senior research scientist at the Laboratory for Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sagely commenting, “Making a network faster has never made it more secure or easier to use.”
National Science Foundation
NSF Global Environment for Networking Investigations
2 September, 2005
IFA
IFA is the world’s largest Consumer Electronics trade fair for both trade specialist and the general public covering all areas of consumer electronics with over 1,000 exhibitors. Berlin, Germany http://www.ifa-berlin.com
2 September, 2005
UK Online and Be Unlimited Ready 24Mbps Broadband Services
UK Online have officially joined the 24Mbps broadband party by announcing the October launch of their own broadband ADSL2+ based product.
The Easynet-owned company joins fellow 24Mbit Broadband providers Be Unlimited in ramping up the pressure on BT with their soon-come cutting-edge ADSL2+ services to be offered in urban areas
UK Online
The ADSL2+ UK Online service will enable lucky surfers to hurtle around the Internet at nigh-on reckless speeds of 24Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream – compare that to BT’s current broadband offering which chugs along at a snail-like maximum plod of 2Mbps.
BT has announced that it is trialing speeds of up to 8Mbps, which is rather like someone offering you a thimbleful of Kalibur when there’s a yard of Old Ferret Stripper Ale in the offing elsewhere.
UK Online has been conducting technical trials of its ADSL2+ service since March of this year and their 24Mb broadband service should be available in October for under £30 (~$55 ~€43) a month.
Chris Stening, General Manager at UK Online, purred, “We’ve been pushing the current ADSL technology to its limits with 8Mb broadband since late last year. This is yet another innovation for UK Online.”
Consumers will be able to register their interest in UK Online’s service via www.ukonline.net
Be Unlimited
Be Unlimited have already started public tests for their ADSL2+ service with the company expected to offer its super fast service from exchanges in the London area, with out-of-towners following in the next couple of months.
Businesses signing up for the service will be able to enjoy the service for nowt until the end of September this year, after which they’ll pay £70 (~$128 ~€102) per month.
Individual punters can also cash in on the freebie until the end of September, after which they will be charged £20 (~$36 ~€29) per month.
Temptingly, there’s no connection fee for new users with a free Wi-Fi-enabled modem lobbed in for no charge (the company will be using DSLAMs from Alcatel, and a Thompson 716g V5 wireless modem, optimised for VoIP and video-streaming applications.)
“This pilot would be fantastic for small businesses, but we’re not setting up for time-critical businesses such as city traders,” warned a Be spokesperson (in other words, “it’s a pilot scheme – so expect some glitches!”).
Be Unlimited
2 September, 2005
Names In Space; IR Transmission; Sporting Computer; Underwater CCTV?
Send Your Name To Pluto
No, that wasn’t a typo just then: It was actually true! This is the latest in space exploration efforts, and it’s destined for Pluto. With it, will be a list of names, and the space probe is destined to return to Earth in 50,000 years. What names, I hear you ask. Well, any that are submitted here. What a great idea! There’s even a searchable list of all the people who’ve already put their names down on the list. Go look for mine, ‘cos I’m going to Pluto!!
It’s fast, but why? Nice solution, but where’s the problem?
I personally had all but forgotten Infra-red as a data transmission means: It’s slow and line-of-sight only. Also, everything now has Bluetooth instead or as well as it. That’s why I was so surprised by the announcement by The Infrared Data Association that they have developed and adopted a new high-speed Infra-Red protocol promising speeds of up to 100Mbit/s. While faster is almost always better, it’s got no real-life use anymore in my opinion. Who still wants to precariously line up two devices on their lap in a bumpy train when they can leave one in their rucksack and instead connect to it over Bluetooth? This whole thing left poor little me very puzzled.
That’s… Fast!
The Register has a nice story this week about a start-up company challenging the heavy weights like Dell. Apparently, Azul Systems have released a computer sporting 1,248 processor cores with 800GB of RAM that, when running, only draws 9.1KW of power. To put that in perspective, a typical hair dryer weighs in at about 1.5KW. This means that this computer with 1,248 processor cores has the same electricity requirements as six hair dryers. A comparable Dell machine with the same amount of cores on the other hand would require 37 times more electricity, which equates to 307KW o electricity or 204 hairdryers. This is a lot by the way. So the Dell one might be cheaper, but with a kWh (kiloWatt hour) of electricity currently costing around 7pence, the Dell would be costing over £20/hour (~$36 ~€29) to run, whereas the Azul Systems machine would only cost around 63pence/hour. Over the period of a year, the decreased electricity consumption of the Azul Systems machine would pay off.
Whether this challenging of the big players in a crowded economy is going to work or not will be decided in the future and is impossible to predict now, but I know one thing: When I have US$800,000 kicking around in my pocket, I would like one of these. Imagine the frame rate on Quake3!! (Sorry…)
Big Brother is Everywhere
Here’s an unusual one: An array of cameras in a swimming pool coupled with a state-of-the-art detection system. CCTV? No, this is a way of monitoring swimmers and alerting lifeguards when they’re drowning.
The company making the system are called Poseidon, and they have their systems installed in various pools world-wide. They have some cool images taken by their camera equipment documenting various rescues here.
2 September, 2005
Deutsche Telekom: 50 Mbit/s Broadband Announced: IFA: UPDATED
Deutsche Telekom have just announced that they will be rolling out 50 Mbit/s connection in 50 cities around Germany by 2007.
By mid-2006 the first 10 cities will be connected to the new fiber network, covering around 2.9m households.
More immediately there will be a free six week trial starting in Hamburg and Stuttgart which will run at 25 Mbit/s. If you’re interested, you’d better sign up at their site quickly – it’s expected to fill up fast (not surprisingly).
Project ‘Lightspeed’, as they refer to it internally, will give Germany a leading position in Europe for broadband speeds. The project will provide fiber to the curb and will cost them up to Euro 3Bn.
With an average distance of 700m from the street distribution box to the home, delivery of most of the 50 Mbit/s to the consumer is likely.
During the announcement there many, many references to the ‘necessary framework’ for this size of investment. Despite clear questioning there was no answer from DT as to what the ‘necessary framework was, beyond it would involve the regulator and government (obviously).
The only phrase that was used (once) was ‘investment certainty’, which we can only assume is getting a return on the investment. As to what level of return they are aiming for is undefined, and we’re sure it’ll be the basis for a lot of discussion with the regulator.
The “we’ll make the country globally competitive by installing high speed Internet access, but it needs to be made worth our while” argument has been used before by other incumbent telcos when they are trying to get good, or better deals from the regulators.
DT said they haven’t as yet spoken to the regulator, Bundesnetzagentur about this matter.
Deutsche Telekom
Bundesnetzagentur
1 September, 2005
3D TV Live Demo By Grundig, Eventually: IFA
As with all companies at IFA, Grundig have shown a ton of new products, try to persuade the assembled throngs that they are approaching Digital Lifestyles by understanding the consumer.
It was all very much of a muchness, until they started talking about 3D TV … everyone in the room lent forward a little. Would this be for real or not. We learnt that it wasn’t the 3D that needed red and green glasses that give you a headache, but was to be viewed with the naked eye.
Working with X3D technologies, 3D Image Processing and Cobalt Entertainment (who make the camera), the result are shown on a standard LCD TV Tharus 30 with a special filter, provided by X3D Technologies, fitted to the front. The clever stuff is performed by 3D Image Processing’s (3D-IP) Black Betty box, which generates 8 different views of the 2 pictures recorded by the camera, jiggles them around and displays them in 3D in real time.
Back to the demo … Miss IFA (the shows red-haired icon) is called forward to demonstrate.
The special 3D camera was unveiled, as were the monitors covered with black-out cloths. Argh … the displays showed fractured moving images striped vertically down the screens. Tech wiz Steve was called forward to carry out emergency turning to the display unit, while the demonstrator started to sweat, explaining that it had worked for the 20 times they had tried it this morning. The black cloths were placed back on the screen to hide the embarrassment.
A couple of button presses later and Steve announced it was ready.
The room, slightly less believing waited.
As the monitors were revealed, the 3D TV was seen and the room was impressed. The ideal viewing distance of 4m was soon compromised as people eagerly clambered over each other to get a view.
It’s impressive, with the subject that is nearest to the camera actually appearing forward of the rest of the image in shot.
Grundig plan to release the first content on disc – as soon as the cameras have been used to shoot anything. The rumors are George Lucas is already preparing some of Star Wars for 3D broadcast.
Oh and if you want to impress your geeky mates, you can call the screen a ‘auto-stereoscopic multi user display’, and that’s official.
Grundig
1 September, 2005
Super Sleek Sony T Series Laptops Announced
Large pools of drooling saliva formed around our mouse mats this morning when we caught sight of Sony’s new range of slimline laptops, the Sony T.
Slicker than the Torey Canyon in a sea storm, these wafer-thin laptops makes Kate Moss look like a pie-scoffing lardbucket, measuring just 272mm x 195mm x21mm and weighing a gravity-untroubling 1.25kg.
Despite their sylph-like dimensions, Sony have managed to wedge in the gubbins for a fully spec’ed machine, powered by a pokey Celeron 1Ghz / Pentium M 753 at 1.2Ghz CPU supported by a 915GMS graphics chipset.
There’s also healthy 512Mb of RAM (upgradeable up to 1.5Gb) onboard, 40 to 60Gb HDD space and a DVD burner
Connectivity is taken care of with Wireless LAN and Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and a MS/SD/MMC port, and there’s also support for Sony’s new Felica contactless smart card technology.
The 1366×768 resolution display boasts a Backlight LED which is claimed to produce a screen 30% brighter than Sony’s current laptops.
As ever, it’s the lucky Japanese who get to play with the cool toys first, with the Sony T going on sale in Japan from September 10th onwards.
Sony Japan’s Website carries extensive information about the new T range, but seeing as our command of Japanese is on a par with our harp playing abilities, we can’t tell you much past the fact that Skype comes preloaded and that the units will be available in a range of three colours – slate grey, charcoal black and white silver. All look fabulous.
No further details have been released yet (at least not in a language that we could understand) and there’s been no comment on pricing or UK availability.
But we’d like one please. Two, if you’re asking.
Sony Japan
1 September, 2005
Teleo, VoIP Startup Grabbed By Microsoft
From deep within the Microsoft base, Bill Gates has pulled a few levers and dispatched a corporate grabbing tentacle in the direction of Teleo, a privately held provider of VoIP software and services.
The move comes hot on the heels of Google’s recently announced Google Talk service and suggests that Microsoft is ready to start slopping its considerable weight around the crowded VoIP market and give Skype a run for its money.
The San Francisco-based outfit Teleo was founded just two years ago and got as far offering a beta PC to PC or standard phone Skype-like VoIP service with click-to-call dialing through Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer before Gates grabbed the product.
Microsoft are expected to integrate Teleo technologies into the infrastructure that supports MSN, aiming to eventually deliver new VoIP consumer apps in future releases of MSN services.
“Teleo has great technology to deliver superior VoIP quality and an excellent overall customer experience. This acquisition opens up infinite opportunities for Microsoft to enable even more relationship-centric communications experiences for our customers in the future,” commented Microsoft’s corporate vice president of the MSN Communication Services and Member Platform group Blake Irving.
Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but Microsoft have said that members of the Teleo executive team will continue to work closely with MSN, while some Teleo product developers are expected to shuffle across and join MSN.
“It’s going to be very exciting to see Teleo software extended into MSN products and services that millions of consumers worldwide rely upon every day for their information and communication needs,” purred Wendell Brown, co-founder of Teleo. “The union of our respective technologies and talents has the potential to deliver great value to customers.”
Teleo MSN
1 September, 2005
Virgin Launches UK Music Service This Week
Sir Richard Branson will be slamming the virtual champagne against the good ship Virgin Digital UK as another digital music service slides down the slipway on September 2nd.
Virgin’s new service will serve up over a million tracks, available to punters through a subscription and a download service.
Subscriptions will start from 40p (~US$0.70, €0.58~) each day, with permanent downloads costing 79p (~US$1.15, €1.4~) upwards, but Ipod owners needn’t apply as the service uses Windows Media, which goes together with iPods like chocolate and cabbage.
Sir Richard Branson, ubermensch of the Virgin Group, set his PR spin machine to eleven: “With a strong music heritage behind us, as a record label and a retailer, Virgin has a huge advantage, and platform to launch a digital service that will become the ultimate destination to buy, stream, burn and enjoy the best the music world has to offer.”
In an already crowded digital download marketplace dominated by iTunes, digital music services are hard-pushed to dream up compelling USPs, but Virgin claim that their service aims to “redefine” the digital music experience with a wallet-opening combination of features and consumer elements.
Virgin Digital UK is set to serve up a mix of digital music store, music club subscription service, streaming radio, powerful digital music and portable device management tools, along with a collection of music-discovery gizmos.
Developed in-house, the service is a collaboration between Virgin and US digital music provider Music Net and ramps up the feature set with additional track info, musical recommendations with phonetic search, comprehensive artist biographies and a ‘Related Artists’ feature which serves up information about the influences, collaborations and recommendations of similar artists.
To big up the launch of the service, Virgin will host exclusive performances from Bloc Party, The Dandy Warhols and The Cribs on September 2nd, with another 150 London-wide live performances in the pipeline, providing exclusive content to the Virgin Digital site.
Virgin are offering two subscription services; Basic £9.99 (~US $17.8, €14.6~) or Premium £14.99 (~US$26.7, €22~), with individual tracks available from 79p (~US$1.15, €1.4~) per song.
Virgin Digital UK
31 August, 2005
Samsung Unleash A Monster 19″ Notebook
Thanks to Samsung’s PR for getting in touch with us to clarify facts on this story.
Samsung will be debuting the world’s first 19″ notebook, the Samsung M70, on 2 September at the IFA Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin.
Despite sporting a multiplex-threatening 1680 x 1050 TFT display, the 19″ monster is no slouch in the speed stakes, with Samsung claiming a 10m/s response time, 600:1 contrast ratio and a “brightness and depth of shade not known in previous notebooks of 280cd/m.”
Samsung insist that it’s not just about size though, and to prove it they’ve added a clever removable screen widget.
This lets users detach the laptop’s screen and place it in a dock to give the appearance of a conventional desktop.
Anyone who has spent hours slumped over a laptop screen should welcome this innovation as the screen dock affords a far more comfortable viewing position – and there’s also a handy DVI interface on the docking station for external appliances too.
Powering the monster screen will be a Nvidia chipset, with the laptop promising to have the “fastest mobile processor” onboard (most likely an Intel).
Despite the added complexity and enormous screen size, Samsung have claimed that the laptop will weigh no more than their current 17-inch notebook so it should be vaguely portable (if you work out at the gym).
The Notebook M70 will be available sometime in October 2005 although there’s been no announcement about price or availability.
Samsung
31 August, 2005