Digital-Lifestyles

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

  • The Real End

    RealNetworks has ended its three-week “Freedom of Choice” online music promotion. According to the Seattle-based company over 3 million songs were purchased during the sale.

    The company, which provides software and services for sending and receiving audio and visual content over the Internet, will maintain the promotional prices of 49c for the top 10 songs. The promotional price saw tunes being sold at half the price on Apple Computer’s leading iTunes Music Store. At present ITunes sells around 4 million songs weekly and over 16 million songs monthly. Rolling Stone magazine will help compile the top 10 list of songs along with the most popular songs played weekly on the Rhapsody subscription service and the top downloads at the RealPlayer® Music Stop.

    According to Rob Glaser, CEO and founder of RealNetworks; “We are the only place consumers can buy music and enjoy it on any popular portable device, we offer the best price on the Top Ten, and we provide the most compelling subscription music service, Rhapsody.”

    The remainder of the catalogue will revert to the company’s standard price of 99 cents a song and $9.99 for an album.

    Real claim that their market share doubled over the period, from 10% to 20%. Apple responded by saying that this was unlikely as iTunes Music Store had sold more tracks than usual over the same period.

    The main challenge for RealNetworks is keeping customers as the prices revert back to their former price. Apart from Apple, other competitors  for RealNetworks include Napster, MusicMatch, Wal-Mart  and Microsoft. RealNetworks shares fell 4 per cent this week in Thursday trading. Meanwhile Apple Computer shares fell 2 per cent to just under $35.64.

  • DirecTV to Launch New Satellites, More Than 1500 New Channels Capacity

    DirectTV have announced that they will be launching four new satellites with the capacity for a huge number of new channels – bringing more than 1500 high-definition channels to the American public.

    The first two satellites, Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2, will launch in 2005, to broadcast programming by the end of the year. I can’t believe that someone got the opportunity to name two space vehicles and gave them such crappy names – my respect for rocket scientists or at least their marketing departments has just plummeted, like a solar probe with a poorly-designed parachute deployment system.

    The satellites will have capacity for more than 500 local high definition channels, bringing localised HD content to most of the US population. They will also expand on standard definition offings and bring other enhancements.

    The other two satellites (DirectTV 10 and DirectTV 11 (Grrrrr!), will launch in early 2007 and have the capacity to unleash more than 1,000 additional local HD channels, 150 national channels and other unspecified programme offerings. These satellites, built by Boeing, will reach every US household and will be amongst the largest and most powerful Ka-band satellites ever lauched.

    Mitch Stern, president and CEO, DirecTV said: “Today’s announcement is one of the most significant in the history of DirecTV. We are reinforcing our commitment to best serve our customers with the most attractive and compelling array of programming services available. Furthermore, with the launch of local HD channels we will help advance the nation’s transition to digital television.”

    Good news then for Michael Powell, who has committed to a 2009 deadline for the USA’s analogue switch-off.

    DirecTV

  • IBC News: O2 to Trial DVB-H Video to Mobile Phones

    O2 and NTL have announced that they will be trialling a DVB-H mobile video service in Oxford, England next spring. That they have chosen DVB-H over the competing standards is good news for the platform’s supporters.

    Nine transmitters will send sixteen channels of video to 500 O2 customers, with proposed content covering sport, music, news and ahem, soap operas. Those involved in the trial will be given phones from Sony and Nokia.

    The trial is concerned with measuring consumer demand for video services, rather than being a purely technical pilot. Usage will be extensively tracked to see just what sort of service people might actually be interested in using.

    The head of media business development at NTL’s Broadcast Division, Terry Howard, said: “This is a commercial trial to test the business case for a mobile TV service in the UK. We’ve performed extensive market research about consumer demand and viewing habits and it looks very positive, but these results need to be validated in a trial environment in conjunction with key players in the industry.”

    O2 on the news

  • Wireless Wippit

    Wippit, a London-based P2P subscription music service has launched a new phase to their product, allowing customers to download full length audio and video tracks to mobile devices as well as associated truetones, polyphonic and monophonic ringtones and wallpapers.

    Customers will no longer need a PC to make the most of the Wippit service, as they can simply install an application to their phone by sending a text message. The application then allows subscribers to download and play music or videos whenever they like.

    Paul Myers, CEO and Founder of Wippit said “When Wippit launched the first legal P2P service in 2001 we offered ringtones so that our users could find everything in one place. After that we introduced the first mobile search facility for MP3’s and downloads, including the incorporation of sound recognition technology. Downloading directly to your mobile phone is the logical next step on the path we’ve been treading since launch. We’ve been waiting for the handset and network capability to catch up, and now it has.”

    Wippit also announced a partnership with SlamTV, the mobile entertainment provider, to bring high quality, fully-licensed music and video to mobile phones.

    Neil Marshall, Sales and Marketing Director for WebTV commented “SlamTV co-operating closely with a strong brand such as Wippit, can only be good news. Wippit’s mobile customers will now have access to over 300,000 music and video files from some of the world’s major music labels and content owners.”

    The Wireless Wippit beta test will feature alternative content from Wippit’s online service though it will be cross-promoted. Video will cost UK£3.00 (€4.40) and audio tracks will cost UK£1.50 (€2.20), truetones UK£4.50 (€6.60!!!), polyphonic ringtones UK£3.00 and wallpapers and monophonic ringtones UK£1.50.

    Wippit

  • Judiciary Committee Votes Custodial Sentences for File Swappers and Spyware

    The US House Judiciary Committee has voted for criminal penalties for individuals that install spyware on PCs and for movie pirates.

    A new copyright bill, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act is calling for sentences of up to three years in jail for individuals who illegally share US$1,000 (€819) worth of copyrighted material over the internet. That, plus the promise of being sued by the RIAA should be enough to deter most people from ripping off music.

    When the House Judiciary Committee approved the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, Congressman Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas, said in a statement on his website: “Piracy of intellectual property over the Internet, especially on peer-to-peer networks, has reached alarming levels… This legislation increases cooperation among federal agencies and intellectual property owners, and assists federal law enforcement authorities in their efforts to investigate and prosecute intellectual property crimes.”

    Additionally, people who install spyware on victims’ PCs for the purpose of stealing identities and personal details will also face prison sentences. The Internet Spyware Prevention Act, sponsored by Bob Goodlatte and Lamar Smith is to go towards the full Congress and suggests jails sentences of between two and five years depending on the severity of the case.

    Since the CAN-Spam act was entirely toothless, time will see just how effective these two pieces of legislation will be if they finally become law.

    Lamar Smith

  • Audiofeast Internet Radio Service

    Audiofeast have a new service, designed to help listeners get the most out of internet radio – using their Virtual Broadcast Network, subscribers can rip internet radio stations for time shifting, or listening on their MP3 player.

    The service features more than 400 channels of news, sports, business and entertainment radio programming in an “all you can listen to” format for PCs, MP3 players and other mobile devices.

    “Our goal is to reignite the passion consumers once felt for radio programming, and deliver that experience on a portable player in high fidelity,” said Tom Carhart, AudioFeast’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “Although the market for MP3 players and online music services has undergone explosive growth in recent years, the task of searching for compelling content and loading it on a portable player is still a difficult, time-consuming and expensive process for consumers. Unlike track-at-a-time downloads, AudioFeast delivers a vast library of radio programming that is constantly refreshed, affordable and ready to listen to whenever you are.”

    The company have licensed media from more than 70 partners, including Bloomberg Radio, BBC Radio, Discovery Channel, History Channel, NPR, SportsNews Radio and The Wall Street Journal Radio Network.

    The service uses Audiofeast’s Virtual Broadcast Network, a secure distribution system which is actually based on P2P technology to keep distribution costs down. Like a TiVo, Audiofeast allows users to skip, pause or rewind radio broadcasts, and transfer them to their portable devices for later listening. The client is compatible with players Creative Labs, Dell, iRiver, iRock, RCA and Rio, with more being anounced. iPods aren’t directly supported, but since MP3s aren’t protected, you can transfer your files manually to your player.

    The company intend to launch a music service in October top complement their existing product. A one year subscription costs US$49.95 (€51).

    Audiofeast

  • On Demand Computing

    “On Demand Strategies for Business,” taking place in the heart of London this September 9th & 10th is Europe’s premier conference focused on the business benefits of ‘on demand computing.’

    It is the only vendor-neutral event of it’s kind, with an event agenda drawn up by CIOs from across Europe.

    Senior executives from Financial Services, Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing, Telecoms and the Public Sector should attend – particularly if working in a role involving commercial application of IT.
    http://www.utilitycomputing.com/events/Pages/London/overview.asp

  • Sony Invent Esper

    Good news for all of you who’ve ever wanted to sit in front of a murky screen, in a darkened apartment, zooming in on a photograph of a stripper’s bedroom – Sony have developed a chip that lets viewers pan, zoom and enhance TV images.

    Demonstrated in Tokyo yesterday, the Digital Reality Creation Multifunction v2 technology (DRC-MFv2)– modest name there – keeps the picture sharp by using image enhancement processes, rather than just stretching the scan lines, so there’s no loss of detail that might result in you retiring a human by mistake. With DRC, one pixel can become 36.

    There’s no word when TV’s featuring the technology will appear, but you can bet it’ll be around the time that the first HD pornography hits the market. Voice-operated will be extra.

    The DRC-MFv2

  • Altnet Sue RIAA

    Altnet are suing the a group of companies, consisting of Overpeer, MediaDefender and the RIAA, over patent infringement. Altnet, a peer-to-peer company and joint venture between Brilliant Digital Entertainment and Joltid, claim that the companies have infringed a patent Altnet hold whilst undertaking their copyright campaign with peer to peer networks to root out illegally distributed music and files.

    The patent itself refers to a technique that can read the digital fingerprint of a file held on a network, thus identifying a music track, video or other infringing file. Altnet approached the companies with the technology in 2003 with the view to entering licensing agreements, but had no success. Since then, the three accused companies have used fingerprinting in their campaign to rid P2P networks of infringed IP, without Altnet’s permission. Subsequently, the company sent a number of cease and desist letters to discourage further infringement.

    Joltid was founded by Kazaa’s creators after Sharman Networks picked up the popular P2P client. Altnet’s P2P technologies are used by Atari and Intervideo, amongst others, to distribute and sell content.

    Overpeer has denied infringing any of Altnet’s IP, but the RIAA is yet to make a statement. Overpeer and MediaDefender claim that their techniques involve swamping P2P networks with desirable, though entirely fake, files to put downloaders off trying to acquire infringing content.

    Altnet Chief Executive Officer Kevin Bermeister said in a statement: “We’ve exhausted every means of trying to work with these defendants and those they represent to patiently encourage and positively develop the P2P distribution channel. We cannot stand by and allow them to erode our business opportunity by the wholesale infringement of our rights.”

    Altnet

  • US Analogue Switch Off: 2009

    Michael Powell, US Federal Communications Commission Chairman, has endorsed a January 2009 date for the country’s analogue to digital TV broadcast switchover.

    And what a commitment it was! Although he requested an unspecified date for the switchover during his testimony in front of the Senate Commerce Committee, when questioned by reporters about the FCC-proposed 2009 date he was heard to say “Yes, I’m saying it really strongly.”

    The UK’s own switch-over is likely to happen sometime between 2010 and 2012, depending on who you believe. Americans have a lot of work to do to meet their 2009 date, as only 2% of households have digital TV equipment. I guess they must replace their televisions more frequently than us British.

    Congress have set a trigger point requiring broadcasters to switch to digital television signals once 85% of homes can be reached.Powell’s key motivator behind the switch-over is freeing up the analogue spectrum for the emergency services and public-safety broadcasts, as evidenced in his statement. Since the project is being tackled as a defence against terrorism, them no doubt a lot of resources will be thrown at it.

    Michael Powell’s Statement to Congress