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
AOL Japan is being sold to eAccess for 2.1 billion Yen (€15.38 million) in yet another shuffle. The division was once DoCoMo AOL, a joint venture between NTT DoCoMo and the US media giant Time Warner.
DoCoMo pulled out last November as subscription numbers to it’s PC/cell phone link service were thought disappointing.
eAccess says it will keep most of AOL Japan’s 200 employees along with the AOL branding.
Around £13 million (€19 million) of National Lottery money will be spent on installing 250 digital projectors in UK cinemas.
Apart from some quality improvements, the main benefit here is that distribution costs for films plummet – there are no expensive reels of film to cart around, and the number of screens a film can be shown on is not limited to the number of prints in existence. At upwards of £1000 (€1472) a print, it can be very costly to get enough copies together to secure a decent cinema release.
Hopefully, this means we’ll be able to see Wings of Desire in the cinema a bit more often.
Anyone who has seen a digitally projected film knows that improved quality is not always the case – there can be digital artefacts and some colour washout, so it’s not a case of digital better than film yet.
To qualify for the money, cinemas will set aside a portion of screen time to niche films, so that customers will have more rewarding fare to watch than the usual brain-devouring noise.
This new move will put the UK well ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to digital projection – there are currently only 190 digital cinema projectors around the world, with about a dozen in the UK.
Audioblogs tap into the human desire to share what’s important to us – or at least to show everyone how cool we are. This growth in “MP3jays” writing audioblogs further demonstrates that there’s a lot of interest out there in what other people are listening to. To join in, Apple have recently included a feature in iTunes 1.5 that allows users to publish up their playlists for all to see (and admire or laugh at) – but outside of iTunes, some blogs are courting controversy by offering unlicensed samples of tracks.
The RIAA could chose to target audiobloggers if they don’t license tracks properly – and since many of the bloggers are individuals, they won’t be able to afford the fees to get legal.
However, the advantages in audioblogs to the industry are immense: people place greater value on individual’s tastes and being able to listen to a piece of music tells you much more about how you feel about it than words ever will. Audioblogs represent high quality, highly-targeted publicity for record companies, and not only is it free, but someone else is paying for the bandwidth.
Try the most successful audioblog out there: Fluxblog from Matthew Perpetua posts music on the site – but all the tracks are used properly and with permission.
If Ofcom approve it, BT has entered a deal to make Vodaphone the mobile provider its sole mobile communications provider in the UK. This means that BT will cease its current partnerships with T-Mobile and MmO2, surprising many as BT and Vodafone have long been rivals. In fact, MmO2 was originally a BT operation, but was sold off to repay debts.
One revolutionary change this would bring about is that BT would be able to offer its 250,000 BT Business and 50,000 Commercial customers a single bill for fixed-line and mobile services.
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Another week, another “iPod killer” story: Sony have announced that the next version of their Vaio Pocket audio player will play video too.
Sony is keen to get back some of the portable media player market lost to Apple, and is hoping to do so with its next range of machines. Sony’s players will be backed with an online Sony music store, Connect, so the company will be able to provide the entire content process – from PC to content to player. Sony’s insistence on using its own proprietary audio format to reduce piracy may make the job of growing market share harder as customers’ ease of use suffers.
Sony unveiled their new music player in Japan this week, the VGF-AP1. Whilst the device features a 2.2″ colour screen, it’s for the user interface only: it can’t play video.
Sony is working with the Digital Home Networking group to define standards for device interoperability, and will use 802.11g to transmit video from its next generation Vaio Pocket to compatible televisions.
Admittedly, we’d be a lot more excited about this had the last two films been any good, but Monolith Production’s new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on the Matrix series of films is set to go public in November. The new game will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive and Sega, Monolith have already produced two respectable titles based on licenses: No-one Lives Forever and TRON2.0.
Set directly after the Martrix: Revolutions, Matrix Online (MxO) boasts a story line written by the Wachowski brothers. Mind you, so did Enter the Matrix and look how good that was. The MMORPG is meant to be seen as a fourth instalment, rather like Enter the Matrix being another part of the second film.
MxO is set in a city environment and incorporates the films’ distinctive martial arts fighting theme, but players will also be able to command their own hovercraft and form factions for and against other groups. Bullet time will be incorporated in the game play as apparently there are some people out there who don’t think it’s been completely overused.
Characters’ appearances can be completely customised, so you don’t have to worry about turning up at an event wearing the same sunglasses and trench coat as everyone else.
“Ability codes” seem intriguing, where players download sources of information to create Matrix items and learn special abilities. If you don’t fancy PvP (player versus player combat), then you can create Matrix code and distribute it in the game.
We’ll give it a try when it appears and let you know how we get on.
UK regulator Ofcom have published proposals intended to open up competition in broadband provision for data, content and voice services.
As predicted, Ofcom have announced a market review consultation of local loop unbundling (LLU) – it was the threat of this review that many believe prompted BT to make huge cuts in its charges for LLU. BT hopes to avoid regulatory intervention by improving access to the local loop and charging fairer rates.
To help with local loop unbundling Ofcom are also proposing the establishment of a Telecoms Adjudicator, who will be entirely independent of Ofcom and the industry.
Ofcom Chief Executive Stephen Carter said: “These proposals, combined with the recent proposals on migration charges, mark an opportunity to accelerate the prospects for sustainably competitive investment in Broaderband Britain. Furthermore, Ofcom particularly welcomes BT’s commitment to both price and process improvements in these key wholesale products.”
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Neilsen Soundscan is reporting that CD sales are increasing, yet the Recording Industry Association of America claim that business is bad. So what’s actually going on?
As reported in Digital Lifestyles last month, Neilsen is celebrating a 10% increase in sales, whilst the RIAA is still telling us that CD sales have plummeted because of copying and downloading.
It turns out that the RIAA’s claims are based on the total number of CDs shipped to record shops – not the numbers sold to customers, so this has no reflection on sales at all. Record shops are ordering less stock, but selling the stock they have faster. Having lots of cash sitting in your storeroom doing nothing isn’t good business sense when economies are suffering. Additionally, the RIAA also has a measure of control over the number of CDs shipped to stores, so it can influence the figure in any way it likes.
Soundscan recorded 146 million CDs sold in Q1 2003, against 160 million in Q1 2004 – an increase of nearly 10%. Figures for Q2, released this summer are expected to show yet another increase. The RIAA, on the other hand, are claiming a 7% decrease in revenue – but that’s purely through managing shipments and returns.