Digital-Lifestyles – Page 360 – 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

Microsoft Search Squares up to Google
After receiving a sound pummelling in previous rounds against the mighty Google, Microsoft has produced a leaner, meaner more bad-ass search engine – and this one looks like it might go the distance.
Ditching their previous reliance on the Yahoo/Inktomi search index, the all-new MSN Search service has been created from the ground up using a Microsoft-designed proprietary index (although the company are still using Yahoo-owned Overture to deliver Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising).
With a spartan, advert-free interface straight out of the Google school of design, the minimalist screen lets users search for keywords from a rich range of sources including web pages, news feeds, images, news headlines, Encarta, music downloads and files on user’s PCs.
All the usual gizmos are on board too, with MSN Search offering word definitions, mathematic calculations, conversions, sports information and just about everything else that their competitors provide.
The new product reflects the intense competition in the increasingly important Internet-based search technology market. With Google already offering a free e-mail program, photo-editing software and a desktop search program for finding files on Windows computers, this development can be seen as Microsoft trying to protect their turf.
But will it be good enough to provide a viable alternative to the current search industry big boys, Yahoo! and Google, both of whom have more market share than Microsoft in the search business?
Danny Sullivan of searchenginewatch.com isn’t completely convinced:
“The core search engine is good and a welcomed new “search voice” in the space. However, it does not make a massive leap beyond what’s offered by Google, Yahoo or Ask Jeeves — the other three major search companies that provide their own voices of what’s deemed relevant on the web.”
This week’s MSN Search launch probably won’t have much of an immediate impact on the search-engine market, but backed by an advertising budget the size of a small country’s GDP, we can expect things to heat up nicely in the coming months.
The timing of the launch, the day before Google announce their first full year trading results may also not have been coincidental.
MSN Search
Wikipedia: Pay per click
searchenginewatch.com
2 February, 2005
MP3tunes – Robertson Returns to MP3
Michael Robertson, one of the founders of MP3.com, is to return to the world of downloaded music.
Full details will be coming out next week, but the essence is, Robertson feels ‘compelled’ to make paid-for music available in MP3 format. In his words ‘certain market forces are trying to drive consumers away from MP3 towards proprietary systems, which lock out some consumers and force everyone to buy a particular company’s player or software program.’ Can anyone think of who he’s might be aiming his comments at?
The new venture, MP3tunes, will sell high-quality music downloads online, in MP3 format – therefore not protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management). Customers will be free to do as they will with the track once it’s been paid for and downloaded.
Bleep.com has been selling MP3’s for close to a year and many were surprised to hear Steve Beckett, managing director and co-founder of Warp Records and Bleep.com say, “We still don’t know if it was the right decision,” at the recent Midem music conference in Cannes, France.
Currently it’s unclear where the music for MP3Tunes will be coming from. Given the records companies keenness on DRM, it’s unlikely to be them. It could be new artists that MP3.com promoted in its heyday.
It’s quite surprising that Robertson has friends in the music business. He irritated them considerably during the days of MP3.com and ended up being sued for an estimated $118 million in damages in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Universal Music Group.
Since leaving MP3.com when it sold to Vivendi Universal, with a few wheelbarrows of cash, he’s been pushing Linux as a desktop replacement with his company Linspire, originally called Lindows. It’s highly possible that he’s been locked out of being involved with music download since the sale of MP3.com
2 February, 2005
Microsoft and Macrovision Join Forces
In a move sure to annoy and frustrate pirates and possibiliy home users, Microsoft has struck a deal with copy-protection specialists Macrovision to make it harder for consumers to swap video content.
The technology aims to stop people making copies of TV shows and movies using analog connections between devices (e.g. linking a set-top box to a television).
Up till now, the big studios and content providers have been more concerned about preventing high quality, digital to digital copies, but now they’re getting in a sweat about users recording the output of a DVD player onto a computer hard drive.
Unlike most digital copy protection schemes, Macrovision doesn’t scramble the signal, but it blasts out a pulse of electronic energy along with the video as it is played. Devices such as DVD recorders will recognise this signal and refuse to record the content.
The new deal also enables Microsoft’s Windows Media software to detect this signal in incoming analog video streams. Future versions of the software may allow content to be stored for just 90 minutes or up to a week.
Upcoming versions of Microsoft’s Media Center Edition operating systems will allow users to make a temporary copy that can be stored for one day and then rendered unusable after that time.
By hammering down digital rights management, the idea is that the entertainment industry can to take advantage of emerging revenue channels without remaining confident that their rights are protected.
How your average consumer, keen to make a copy of the Antiques Roadshow at home, might respond to all this technology is another matter. One option they might take is to replace their Windows machine with another type that doesn’t place this restriction on them.
Macrovision
Microsoft
2 February, 2005
Skype gets Mac and Linux versions
Skype today released their Voice over IP (VoIP) software for Linux and Macintosh.
Skype lets people make telephone-type calls to other Skype users, around the world for no cost.
Until now, only Windows-based versions of the software have been available, and the new platforms have been a long time in coming. We envisage it will significantly boost the 23m users and 56.5m downloads of the software to date.
Skype for Mac OS X V 1.0 and Skype for Linux V 1.0, to give them their full titles, will connect seamlessly to the current Windows and PocketPC versions. All of the current functions that Skype users know and love will also be supported on the new platforms.
Skpye user are also able to call ‘normal’ phones around the world, using the SkypeOut service, which offers reduced price calls.
The popularity of Skype is continuing to accelerate, and we are finding that it is spreading beyond the technical, early-adopter to many computer-owning members of the public. Many people are finding new ways to communicate with friends and family around the world, such as leaving the voice channel open while they walk around the house, treating the connection as an extension of the room.
Download Skype (all versions)
1 February, 2005
TiVo SDK: looking to influential new pals, new ideas, anything!
Squeezed on both sides by ever-competitive satellite and cable providers, TiVo is trying to woo third party developers into creating compelling new add-on services for their product.
The company has rolled out a Software Development Kit (SDK) in the hope that it will create a vibrant market in application for the TiVo. The SDK has been released on to SourceForge, a home for open-source software.
To stimulate the market, they’ve got the ball rolling with three initial add-ons: a weather information plug in, an RSS reader and a game, with users needing a Series 2 TiVo, a home network and broadband connection to take full advantage of the applications.
The move is part of a larger strategy, code-named Tahiti, which lets DVRs download information and content from the Internet. Howard Look, who regales under the magnificent title of ‘vice president of application and user experience’ at TiVo was heard excitedly exclaiming, “All the great ideas don’t have to come just from us.”
Some users may feel that there haven’t been enough great ideas coming from anywhere recently.
Although TiVo boxes are well regarded for their easy-peasy interface and excellent aesthetics, many feel that it’s being left behind by newer technologies. Sales haven’t matched expectations (only 2 million boxes so far) with the company racking up truly eye-wateringly large net losses (half a billion according to Om Malik).
Clearly something hugely impressive has to be pulled out of the bag to turn the company around, but posters on Slashdot weren’t exactly overwhelmed by TiVo’s announcement, but then Slashdotters are rarely overwhelmed.
If they’re represeantative, it seems that what many users really want – instant commercial skip, sharing recorded programs with other devices and free channel guide services – isn’t on TiVo’s horizon and barely anyone seemed excited by the somewhat less enticing prospect of bolt-on weather forecasts and an RSS reader.
TiVo does have a very enthusastic base of owners, many of whom are capable of developing software, so this could be a very wise move for TiVo. We wait with bated breath to see how many applications arrive.
The Developer Toolkit
Slashdot discussion: TiVo to offer SDK
1 February, 2005
$100 PC Touted by Negroponte for Developing World
A $100 (€76, £53) laptop computer for the developing world has been touted at the World Economic Forum in Davos by Nicholas Negroponte, founding chairman of MIT’s Media Lab.
The computer will have a 14-inch color screen and will run the Linux operating system. According to Red Herring magazine, Negroponte is looking for support from companies such as chip giant AMD, Google, Motorola, Samsung, and News Corporation.
The first units could be ready in about 18 months, Red Herring said.
The developing world is increasingly a target of technology companies – Microsoft has built a slimmed-down version of Windows XP for the Indian, Malaysian, Indonesian and Russian markets, as part of its Windows XP Starter Edition pilot programme. In part this reflects its desire to fight off Linux, which is becoming increasingly popular in these new markets.
Another source of PCs for the developing world is recycling. Every year in the UK 3 million PCs taken out of service, but many are still in good working order. In contrast most schoolchildren in the developing world graduate from high school not having seen a computer in the classroom, and there are a number of charities which take these PCs and reuse them in the developing world.
In related news, MIT has announced that Media Lab Europe, launched in 2000 by the Irish government and MIT will close on February 1 due to a shortfall in financing.
MIT
Red Herring
31 January, 2005
Easymusic.com Aims to Shakeup Music Downloads
Cheaper legal download sites will shake up the online music industry, according to Easyjet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
Last month Haji-Ioannou launched his easyMusic.com download site, in collaboration with online music service Wippit, and predicts that cost-efficient digital downloads will take over from CDs.
He told the BBC World Service’s The Music Biz programme: “There were people who said when I started Easyjet that £29 ($54, €42) would ruin the airline industry. Far from it – it has made some companies less profitable, but it has forced them to compete, and therefore become leaner and more competitive.”
The easyMusic.com site includes tracks from more than 200 labels, including Universal, Warner, BMG, Sony and EMI, with single downloads starting at 25p, ($0.47, €0.36) and UK users can also pay by SMS.
It also plans to includes downloads on a ‘copyleft’ – the opposite of copyright – basis, giving downloaders access to new music for free.
But easyMusic.com is just one of number of new legal download sites launched in the last 12 months to take on market leaders such as iTunes.com.
According to figures from recording industry association IFPI, legal music sites quadrupled to over 230 in 2004, and the available music catalogue has doubled in 12 months to 1 million songs.
And while IFPI chairman and chief executive John Kennedy may say it is now the “priority” of the record industry to licence music “to as many services, for as many consumers, on as many formats and devices for use in as many places and countries as it can”, music sites may struggle to cut the cost of downloads unless they can persuade the record companies to cut back on their margins.
And of course many consumers still prefer to get their music for free – IFPI calculates there are 870 million pirate tracks on the Internet.
easymusic.com
31 January, 2005
HP Blur Photos with Camera Privacy Patent
HP is making an interesting move in the digital camera market. The company’s latest technical wizardry is a system in which digital cameras could be equipped with circuits that could be remotely triggered to blur the face of those who don’t want to have their photo taken.
This story originally came around in November last year after HP had been granted the patent. We didn’t cover it then, so are pleased that our friends at News.com have brought it up again.
The design for paparazzi-proof cameras is covered under US patent application 20040202382, which was filed in April 2003 and published in October 2004, and describes a system in which an image captured by a camera could be automatically modified based on commands sent by a remote device.
It covers technology that would have to be incorporated both into digital cameras and the ‘image inhibitor modules’. Cameras would be equipped with facial recognition software sophisticated enough to single out faces for the blur treatment. The repercussions for this technology are outstanding, allowing anyone who doesn’t want their photo taken at a particular time to trigger a ‘clicker’ (image inhibitor module) to ensure that any cameras or camera-equipped gadgets in range produced only a fuzzy outline of their face. This story takes us back to the classic science fiction TV show, Thunderbirds, when Thunderbird 1 was fitted with a camera detector to stop their advanced technology being copied. At the time such an idea seemed impossible, strange how science fiction becomes science fact.
With the prevalence of digital recording devices, one of which is cameras, people will either have to become used to having their actions and utterances captured, employ impractical draconian measures such as banning them, or throw technology at it.
At Digital Lifestyles we’re keen on audio recordings and have been wondering for some time if, by identifying vocal patterns, people could opt out of being recorded.
The move comes following the proliferation of digital imaging capabilities with growing concerns about privacy, especially as the number of subjects who would prefer not to be photographed has increased thanks to mobile phones with built-in digital cameras and video functionality. However, when we spoke to HP they told us they had no current plans to commercialise the technology, which would require widespread adoption by camera makers and possibly government mandates to be practical. For now, the company is keeping the patent as part of its IP portfolio.
HP
HP focuses on paparazzi-proof cameras – News.com
Badge keeps paparazzi out of the picture – The Times, November 2005
28 January, 2005
eContentplus €149m Digital Content Fund Get EU OK
The European Parliament has voted in favour of a new programme to promote the European digital content market, setting it a budget of €149m (~$194m, ~£103m) for the next three years.
The eContentplus programme aims to tackle the fragmentation of the European digital content market by supporting the development of multi-lingual content for innovative, online services.
“The internet offers a unique opportunity for content companies to outgrow their so far mostly national markets”, said Viviane Reding, the Commissioner responsible for Information Society and Media.
“The eContentplus programme will facilitate the production and distribution of online European content, thus stimulating innovation and creativity. At the same time it will help to preserve and share Europe’s cultural and linguistic identities and give them a more prominent place on the Internet,” Reding added.
The European Parliament voted in favour of the programme with only one amendment, which sets the budget of the programme at €149m for the period 2005-2008. Reding said the new budget was a substantial increase in comparison to the previous programme.
The eContentplus programme will concentrate on the parts of the digital content market where there is clear fragmentation in Europe, and where market forces have not been enough to drive growth.
It targets three areas – spatial or geographical data, educational material and cultural content.
In the case of geographical data such as post codes, planning and land registration details, fragmentation occurs because different member states collect and store data in different ways.
If the programme can reduce this fragmentation, it can open the way for new EU-wide information services using this data in areas such as transportation, navigation, emergency response and environmental management.
The eContentplus programme is part of a set of measures to boost innovation and creativity in the converging content market, including the MEDIAplus programme, and the modernisation of the Television Without Frontiers Directive, due later this year.
eContentplus
28 January, 2005
Tim Berners-Lee Wins Greatest Briton Award
It’s gradually becoming more common knowledge that the inventor of the Web, and what many people think of as The Internet, is an Englishman.
Tim Berners-Lee worked up the idea when working at CERN in 1989 and has now received another award, the first Greatest Briton awards.
Following the world changing invention, Berners-Lee consciously took the decision to give the idea away and not patent it, sharing it for the good of society.
To many this highlights the difference between the US and the UK, and possibility the US and the rest of the world. The idea of inventing, then freely sharing the idea, rather to only release the idea when they have figured out how to commercially exploit it. They view Berners-Lee generosity in stark contrast to events since the Web’s invention, with the rise of software patents. The opposing view is that those in the UK really don’t have the first idea about how to make a business from a good idea.
As one of the awards panelist, David Starkey said, “He chose not to commercially exploit his invention. He gave it away almost wilfully. If he had fully exploited it, he would make Bill Gates look like a pauper today.”
Tim now holds the 3Com Founders chair at the Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL)at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is the overall Director of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), an open forum of companies and organizations with the mission to lead the Web to its full potential.
Tim Berners Lee
28 January, 2005