Digital-Lifestyles – Page 329 – 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

Vodafone 7100v: Upgrading Its Software And Syncing With PocketMac Blackberry
Following on from my recent detailed review of the Vodafone 7100v Blackberry, I thought it would be worth passing on a few tips I’d learnt over the process. One attempting to reassure readers through the scary process of upgrading the operating system on the 7100 Blackberry; the other, a solution for syncing your information with an Apple Mac – not something that is natively supported by RIM or Vodafone.
Upgrading the software on a Vodafone 7100v Blackberry
Before properly using the Blackberry, I paid a visit to the Blackberry Web site and downloaded the latest software update for my handheld. This is one of the things with advanced devices such as this: they get to be so much like computers that they have new software upgrades available on a regular basis.
Upgrading the software on the handset was quite a daunting experience, because my 7100v refused to connect correctly. I would get repeated error messages, saying it wasn’t connected properly, and the only way to get it connected was to unplug and then reconnect the cable from the handset.
Updating the software on the Blackberry essentially wipes everything off the device before putting new software on, there were a few occasions when I thought, “oh dash, I’ve broken it” because nothing seemed to be responding. These worries proved to be unfounded, as after a few minutes I was greeted by the Vodafone logo appearing on-screen signaling success of the upgrade process.
Syncing (with a Mac)
After updating the software, which by the way you need a Windows computer for, I set about syncing the Blackberry with my Mac. My existing phone, the Sony Ericsson P910i, works correctly out of the box with Mac OS X’s iSync application, syncing wirelessly over Bluetooth within a few seconds.
The 7100v, although it has Bluetooth, doesn’t have a Bluetooth synchronization profile, which in my mind is something the Blackberry developers should have thought about, as it would have been a relatively easy software fix. As a result of this, the Blackberry wouldn’t sync with iSync and the cable wouldn’t work either, as iSync had no drivers for it.
A little research on the Internet revealed a company by the name of PocketMac who make Mac/Blackberry sync software. Upon request, they kindly sent me a free license key for their software, which then allowed me to seamlessly sync my address book and calendar from my Mac to my Blackberry.
PocketMac Blackberry in operation
I did have one or two issues with it initially, but these were to do with using Apple’s new released operating system update, Tiger, which has a new version of iCal, a calendar application, which initially refused to work with PocketMac.
Some lateral thinking was needed – by getting iCal to sync to Entourage, the Mac equivalent of Outlook on Windows, and then telling PocketMac to sync calendars from Entourage, I got it working.
Despite the Tiger problem, that they tell me will be fixed soon, I was impressed with PocketMac Blackberry. It fills a large gap left by RIM’s lack of Mac support.
PocketMac Blackberry
Vodafone 7100v Blackberry
27 May, 2005
Vodafone 7100v Blackberry Review – email; Calendar; Phone
This is the third and final part of this in-depth review focuses on the mainstay of the Blackberry – email, calendar, or even using it to speak to people. The first part of this review, looking at
Usability: 3/5
Syncing: 4/5
Screen: 5/5
Web Browser: 4/5
Email/Messaging: 5/5
Calendar/PIM: 3/5
Software/Features: 2/5
Central Telephone Functions: 4/5
Overall Score: 3.5/5
26 May, 2005
IBM, Oracle Battle For Database Market: Gartner
The insatiable appetite of hungry surfers desperate for more information, analysis and intelligence has fuelled a database market growth of 10.3 percent in 2004, according to research released by the Gartner Group.
On an oily mat somewhere in Business Land, IBM and Oracle are manfully wrestling with each other to control the lucrative relational database market.
Although IBM still holds the crown – hanging on to their slim market lead of 34.1 percent of the overall market – Oracle are laying in some mean moves, maintaining 33.7 percent and enjoying a sizeable boost from Linux.
“Oracle saw strong growth of nearly 15 per cent, much of it coming from its performance on the Linux platform,” Gartner said.
“The difference between the giants in terms of revenue was only US$30m (~£16.5), making it too tight to declare a clear winner.”
Lagging a fair way behind is Microsoft, with 20 percent of the market, followed by NCR Teradata at 2.9 percent, Sybase at 2.3 percent and all the others collectively totaling 6.6 percent.
It’s a lucrative market, growing from just under US$7.1 billion in 2003 to nearly US$7.8 billion in terms of new licence sales, although the continuing wobbliness of the US dollar may have artificially inflated market growth by some 3 to 4 percent of overall growth.
“[Overall market growth] was probably somewhere between 6 and 7 percent,” observed Gartner Inc.’s Colleen Graham, who authored the report, noting that sales outside of the United States, when converted to US dollars, added more to vendor revenue because of currency conversion, and weren’t necessarily reflecting increased demand.
In terms of overall growth, Microsoft and Teradata both led the field with 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
Despite being a still a relatively small part of the overall RDBMS market, the Linux segment is as hot as an extra spicy vindaloo, registering 118 percent growth in 2004, more than doubling from US$300 million in 2003 to over US$650 million in 2004.
Gartner found that Oracle is putting some distance between its rival IBM in this subsection of the market, with a growth of 155 percent.
Oracle now controls 80.5 percent of the Linux RDBMS market, up from 69 percent a year ago, while IBM slumped to 16.5 percent of the market share, compared 28.4 percent the previous year.
Linux RDBMS new license revenue grew 118.4 per cent to US$654.8m, with Oracle taking up for 80.5 per cent of that business.
In terms of growth of sales, Linux performed better in RDBMS than Windows. The platform grew 10 per cent to US$3.1bn in 2004, although Microsoft hogs a hefty 50.9 per cent of business, up from 47.4 percent in 2003.
Microsoft’s Tom Rizzo, director of product management for SQL Server, made funny faces while deriding the growth of the Linux database, chortling: “Look at it: It’s a small market. You’d expect some growth there, from such a small base.”
With chest set to ‘maximum puff’, Rizzo reminded anyone within earshot of healthy growth in the Windows database market, citing the figures as evidence that Windows is “eating away at the Linux camp” rather than the other way around.
The RDBMS market on the Windows server platform grew 10 percent in 2004. Microsoft’s market share grew 18 percent in this segment.
IBM, Oracle Race for Database Market Dominance
26 May, 2005
Wireless Utopias 05: An Open Future For Spectrum-
Cybersalon and Open Spectrum UK host a unique debate on the future of wireless communications and the strategic prospects for utilising the radio spectrum. International experts and Ofcom representatives are on hand to discuss technology, regulation and society. The Dana Centre
165 Queen’s Gate
South Kensington
London
SW7 [email protected] http://www.danacentre.org.uk/Default.aspx?DanaMenu=_CALENDAR
26 May, 2005
Sony K750i: Pre-release Preview: It’s A Beauty
About a month ago I had the chance to spend two days with a pre-release version of the Sony K750i handset and as it’s now closer to the release of the handset, I thought an overview of the product might be timely.
Despite it being a pre-release version of the phone, the couple of bugs that I came across were pretty small and inconsequential and in general it ran very well.
The form of the phone was, for me quite petit, but that�s to be judged against a Nokia N-Gage QD, which isn’t the lightest of fellows. I soon got used to the size and placement of the keys, picking the use of the central joystick up quickly.
The navigation through the menus is very simple and effective, which is heavily aided by the quality of the good-sized display which takes up the same space as the keypad.
One feature I particularly liked was being able to soft-program the joystick “User Controlled Interface” Hurrah! I set it up to start the built-in audio recorder (quality OK, not great) when I pushed the joystick right, and turn on the bright/near-blinding light that is the flash.
Despite its very handy form (~10cm H, 4-5 cm W, 2 cm D from memory), it has some impressive features.
You morph it in to a camera by sliding the lens cover at the back of the device. Using the 2mpx camera you can easily captures clear pictures with vivid colours during light days.
When shooting in low light levels the quality is noticeably degraded, but what do you expect from a 1cm lens? To account for this they’ve provided a flash that can also be selected to flash SOS with retina-burning brightness!
Video recording is OK, given the devices restrictions.
The biggest news I’ve left to last. It’s also an MP3 music player, which having been using the W800 a lot recently, appears to offer the same functions as the much anticipated first Sony Walkman mobile phone.
It has a play/pause button at the top left on the side, and volume controls on the opposite side (the shutter button is also on that side).
I’d just assumed the K750i would have a ‘normal’ headphone jack, letting me choose the headphones that excited me, but the provided headphones had to be connected via a Sony-interface at the bottom of the phone. This brings obvious advantages, like them having a mic, letting to let you use them as a hands-free set.
Connecting a uploading content was relatively straight forward to setup and use. I can’t comment on its information syncing ability as this wasn’t available.
Conclusion (based on two days usage)
Despite having to get used to a new phone interface, I fell for the K750i over the short period of usage I had. Frankly it was a real struggle for me to give it back. I think this is going to sell by the truck-load (and that’s a lot of phones, because they very small :) ).
Summary
Compact, quality, capable music player and camera phone.
Rating
4/5

We understand the k750i will be released in the next month in Europe.
26 May, 2005
Vodafone Rakes in Record Revenues
Vodafone execs spent the morning cackling wildly to themselves, throwing wads of dollar bills in the air and rolling around silk-covered beds covered in cash as record revenues and profits for its full year results were announced to the world.
The mobile operator – the world’s numero uno by revenue – has raked in eye-wateringly large pre-tax profits of £13bn, before write-downs.
With revenues increasing 4.3 per cent year-on-year to £34.1bn, these are champagne cork-launching record figures for a UK company.
Vodafone’s subscriber base rose by 16.3 million to 154.8 million, and the company have announced that it will buy back £4.5bn worth of its own shares, and double its dividend payment to 4.07p.
“We have met or exceeded all of our stated targets and significantly increased returns to shareholders,” purred chief exec Arun Sarin, sounding like the cat who got the cream, the milk float and the dairy that made it.
But in-between triumphant licks of triple-thick Cornish clotted cream, Sarin sounded a cautious note, warning that competition was rising.
“Whilst competitive pressures are increasing, there is clear evidence that our global scale and scope is enabling us to deliver innovative customer propositions and to produce superior results,” he puffed.
The company have experienced organic customer growth of 12 per cent globally, with Vodafone live! active devices increasing to 30.9 million and adoption of 3G services rising to 2.4 million devices at the year end.
“Here in Europe, we are leading the parade on 3G,” Sarin air-punched.
Vodafone performed particularly well in strong markets such as the US and Spain, with revenues growing at more than 20% year on year.
The company also kicked ass in its core European markets, with Italy, Germany and the UK doing especially well, despite fierce competition.
Vodafone didn’t get it all their own way though, with disappointing figures from Japan prompting a business improvement plan in the year ahead (the company currently lags in third place with around 16 per cent market share behind NTT DoCoMo and KDDI.).
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Fiscal Year Pretax, Pre-Items Profit GBP10.3 Billion
25 May, 2005
Orange And Virgin Top UK Customer Satisfaction Survey
Orange has triumphed in a study rating customer satisfaction among mobile phone contract providers, with Virgin Mobile coming in top in the pre-pay sector, according to the 2005 UK Mobile Telephone Customer Satisfaction Study, run by J.D. Power and Associates.
Orange romped home with an overall index satisfaction score of 746 points (out of 1,000), with the company’s 22-point increase reflecting improved performances in areas such as billing, image and customer service.
Vodafone shuffles behind Orange with an index score of 738, while Virgin Mobile, which has been included in the study for the last two years, retained their crown as the highest ranking provider within the pre-pay sector, notching up an overall index satisfaction score of 753.
Virgin Mobile earned customer plaudits for their cost of service and customer service factor, with Vodafone once again consigned to a close second place with an index score of 742.
T-Mobile, on the other hand, slumped below the industry average for both its pre- and post-pay offerings which registered just 708 overall. O2 just scraped in, matching the industry average rating of 733.
The authors of the study claim that the results reflect the positive impact of increasing competition and lower tariffs.
Customer loyalty has also been encouraged by companies offering existing customers new tariffs rather than just new customers.
It would appear that mobile users are a happier bunch, with overall customer satisfaction increasing to 723 index points from 711 in 2004 in the pre-pay segment.
The contract segment seemed a well-chuffed bunch too, with satisfaction levels rising to 733 index points from 720 index points in 2004.
“It pays to satisfy your customers, because those most satisfied will give the highest number of recommendations, thereby increasing sales,” advised Gunda Lapski, director of European telecommunications and utilities services at J.D. Power and Associates. “A good reputation can have a positive impact on the number of customers held by a provider.”
The study asked consumers what had been their main reason for selecting their network provider. Fifteen percent of customers were influenced by having friends, families or colleagues on the same network, while a further eight percent made their decision after having a network recommended to them.
Virgin’s network clearly contains a host of happy bunnies, with nearly 50 percent of its pre-pay customers ready to recommend their current network provider, while 45 percent of Orange contract customers were prepared to do the same.
The phones themselves were the only factor not to achieve an increase in customer satisfaction, with nearly half of all customers having replacing their handsets in the past 12 months.
Mobile technology and photo messaging is still a hot potato, with 35 percent of all mobile owners snapping on camera phones and 21 percent sending photos from their mobiles.
Accessing the Internet to check mobile accounts has also grown in popularity, with 16 percent visiting their provider’s Web site in the past 12 months to do so, compared to 13 percent in 2004.
J.D. Power and Associates
25 May, 2005
Bluetooth Units Hit 5 Million A Week
Like the spotty geek who turns up in the pub with a stunner on his arm, Bluetooth has confounded critics by reaching the significant milestone of five million Bluetooth units shipping per week.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced the growing consumer demand for Bluetooth, citing the wide acceptance of Bluetooth technology in a multitude of applications such as mobile phones, cars, portable computers, mp3 players, mice and keyboards.
“Five million units shipped validates the sizeable market for Bluetooth technology,” roared Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG before weirdly adding, “every time you blink an eye, another ten Bluetooth chipsets see the world.”
“When you couple that with the recently announced collaboration between the Bluetooth SIG and UWB,” Foley continued, “Bluetooth technology will further reinforce its leading position far into the future. Even today, we expect this will have a positive impact in Bluetooth uptake.”
Quick as a flash, Harish Naidu, Microsoft’s general manager of the Windows Device Experience Group was on hand to shove a congratulatory oar in: “The five million per week mark proves that Bluetooth technology has strong marketplace traction. Microsoft is committed to ensuring that the platform support in Windows meets the needs of the marketplace.”
Faster than a gabba ringtone, Jyrki Rosenberg, Nokia’s Director of Strategic Technology Marketing was also on hand to join the backslap-fest, “For Nokia, Bluetooth technology is an important element in our optimized mix of radio technologies that enables seamless connectivity and a more wireless lifestyle for customers.”
Seizing a convenient opportunity to squeeze in a bit of PR, Rosenberg added, “Already today, Nokia has introduced state-of-the-art mobile devices that allow data transmission using both high- speed cellular networks, WLAN hot spot access, and Bluetooth technology.”
The first release of the Bluetooth Specification was released in 1998, and despite initial cynicism, over 3400 companies have become members in the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG).
The number of Bluetooth products on the market has soared with volumes doubling from 2003 to 2004, reaching an installed base of over 250 million.
Growth is predicted to reach 500 million units by the close of 2005.
Bluetooth.com
25 May, 2005
Nokia 770: Maemo Linux-powered Wi-Fi Tablet Surprise
Nokia has surprised pundits at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York by announcing their new Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, a handheld Wi-Fi device for accessing the Internet around the home over a wireless broadband connection.
Looking like a chunkier, Darth Vadar-esque version of their Nokia 7710 smartphone, the half-pound tablet measures three-quarters of an inch thick, 5.6 inches wide, and 3.1 inches deep.
Sporting a 4.1 inch 65K colour TFT touch screen display, the PDA-like device is being touted as a cheap alternative to buying an extra personal computer for connecting to the web around the house.
To that end, the 770 boasts 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and a v1.2 Bluetooth system supporting the Dialup Networking, File Transfer, GAP, Serial Port, and SIM Access profiles, with a USB port provided for wired connectivity.
The included 1500mAh battery should keep going for about 3 hours of browsing or 7 days of standby time.
Nokia imagines that consumers will leave the 770 in places like the sofa, by the bed, in the loo etc, providing an ‘instant on’ way to quickly check up on email, football scores, do a quick web search etc.
“We are very excited to introduce our first Nokia Internet Tablet device to the market. With the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet consumers can access broadband Internet services away from their desktop, for example in the backyard or at a cafe within a Wi-Fi hotspot,” spun Janne Jormalainen, Vice President of Convergence Products, Multimedia, Nokia.
Unlike some teensy-weensy mobile displays, Nokia’s sizeable 800×480 pixel screen should make browsing the web and interacting with email a reasonably practical proposition.
Text can be inputted via a virtual keyboard or by stylus using the handwriting recognition system with a hardware interface consisting of a 5-way d-pad controller and buttons for home, menu, escape, zoom, and full screen.
The unit will come with an Opera web browser and email client built in, as well as a RSS news reader, Internet radio, various media players, world clock, a PDF viewer, and Flash v6 compatibility.
Naturally, there’s an orgy of acronyms detailing the zillion and one audio and video formats that the unit supports (deep breath): MP3, Real Audio, MPEG4, AAC, WAV, AMP, MP2 audio support, with MPEG1, MPEG4, Real Video, H263, AVI, 3GP video support and a slew of common graphics formats supported, including Animated GIF JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG and SVG-Tiny. Phew!
A user-installable software patch – scheduled for release at the beginning of 2006 – will introduce Voice Over IP (VOIP) and Instant Messaging to the feature set.
The 770’s software is based on Debian Linux (v2.6), with the new platform – derived from the Linux GNOME UI – going under the name “maemo”.
Nokia intends maemo to be an open platform and will provide a SDK in the hope of stimulating software developers into writing customised software.
“Linux is a logical choice for the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet as Linux and the Open Source development platform provide us with fast and efficient solutions to build products for this new Nokia product category,” added Janne Jormalainen.
Powering the Nokia will be a TI 1710 OMAP (ARM based) processor, offering 64MB of DDR RAM and 128MB of internal FLASH memory. Around 64MB of this should be available to the user.
There’s a RS-MMS card expansion slot onboard and the unit will ship with a 64MB card.
Rounding off the package is a USB cable, travel charger, carry pouch and a desk stand. Sadly, the meanies at Nokia have not included a stereo handset but at least they’ve had the courtesy to include a regular 3.5mm stereo headset jack instead of the usual proprietary rubbish.
The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is planned to start shipping in the third quarter of 2005 in selected countries in the Americas and Europe, retailing for $350 (~£191, €277).
Nokia
Maemo
25 May, 2005
WiFi Kit Revenues Hit Record Levels: Infonetics Research
Despite prices being pushed downwards by fierce price competition, worldwide wireless LAN equipment revenue rose 20% to US$767.6 million (~£420m ~€610m) between the fourth quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of 2005.
During that period, a grand total of 12.2 million units were shipped, the highest quarterly volume to date, according to a report from Infonetics Research.
With wireless LAN products continuing to grow in popularity across product categories and geographic regions, revenue is expected to rise another 2% to $779.6 million (£426m, €620m) by 1Q06, hitting $3.6 billion (~£173m~€251m) by 2008.
Wireless LAN switch ports have been shifting faster than a Ritalin-assisted rabbit, rising 44% to 112,000 as revenue grew 13% to $52.2 million (~£285m~€41.53m), with a leap to $699.2 million (~£381~€556) predicted for 2008.
As the world goes bonkers for broadband, the demand for wireless broadband routers has soared accordingly, registering a hefty 34% increase in revenue between 4Q04 and 1Q05 generating $328 million (~£173.8m~€253m).
That’s a thumping great 37% increase in unit shipments, representing not-to-be-scoffed-at sales of 6 million.
Naturally, the manufacturers want to keep the cash flowing in their direction, so have been busily slapping on new product features to generate replacement purchasing.
“The demand for wireless broadband routers continues unabated, driven by the possibilities of wireless home networking,” said Richard Webb, lead analyst of the Infonetics report.
“As more and more users explore the possibilities of media download and file sharing applications they are finding that this easy-to-use device uncovers the true potential of their broadband connection. And with 802.11n and even faster throughput speeds on the horizon, the wireless router segment will ride the crest of the global broadband wave.”
Cisco continues as the worldwide wireless LAN revenue leader, hogging 17% of the market share following four consecutive $100-million-plus (~£53.7m~€79.5m) quarters.
D-Link barged ahead of Cisco-Linksys to grab second place, with NETGEAR in fourth position.
Just in case you, dear reader, haven’t had quite enough facts yet, allow me to inform you that the report revealed that access points account for 71% of wireless LAN equipment revenue, NICs account for 13%, and infrastructure products, including wireless LAN switches, appliances, controllers, and mesh networking gear, account for 16%
SOHOs and consumers make up just over half of wireless LAN equipment revenue (51%), down from 53% in 4Q04 while service providers and enterprises make up the rest.
Finally, a little geographic fact flurry to end with: North America accounts for 45% of wireless LAN equipment revenue; Europe, Middle East and Africa for 30%, Asia Pacific for 21%, and Central America / Latin America for 4%.
So now you know.
WiFi Hit Record Volume in 1Q05; Revenue Up 20%
24 May, 2005