...more recent posts
Incompatibility dogs mobile TV
Interoperability a concern as the first rollouts test waters
YouTube inks deal with Warner
Microsoft enters online video fray
SOAPBOX SERVICE HAS CATCHING UP TO DO WITH SITES LIKE YOUTUBE
Sacre bleu, MS is supporting Apple's OS, Firefox and Adobe Flash.
AOL to offer video on Intel's Viiv PCs
Intel and AOL announced an alliance Monday in which AOL will make thousands of hours of video programming available on Intel's Viiv-branded home computers.
The AOL Video For Intel Viiv service will allow consumers to download movies, TV shows and other programs to their computers and watch them on the computer or TV set. The videos include recent DVD movie releases, 45 channels of on-demand video programs, and AOL's video search index that helps consumers find videos.
Much of the content will be free. Other features include 250 radio stations and AOL's online digital pictures service.
RealNetworks, SanDisk to take on iPod
New music pair-ups: SanDisk and RealNetworks; YouTube and Warner Music
Microsoft's Zune Won't Play Protected Windows Media
In yesterday's announcement of the new Zune media player and Zune Marketplace, Microsoft (and many press reports) glossed over a remarkable misfeature that should demonstrate once and for all how DRM and the DMCA harm legitimate customers.
Tech firms up in arms over proposed television rights treaty
Leaders weirdly silent on sweeping broadcast treaty
If the programs are stolen — for example, the signals retransmitted by another party without permission, sold as an unauthorized DVD or performed publicly without the requisite license — the copyright owner may assert their rights, but in some countries the broadcasters are left with limited ability to protect their interests.
What started as an attempt to address this relatively narrow issue has since mushroomed into a massive treaty that would grant broadcasters in some countries many new rights. These include an exclusive right of retransmission for over-the-air television signals (retransmission involves capturing a broadcast signal and rebroadcasting it without permission of the copyright holder or the original broadcaster) and more than doubling the term of protection for broadcasts to 50 years from the current 20-year term. Moreover, exceptions and limitations to these rights, a hallmark of a balanced policy approach, would be optional for countries that adopt the treaty.
Apple expected to launch movie downloads
Sleek gadget maker may also unveil new iPods
Motorola and Nokia DVB-Hugging
The world's two largest mobile manufacturers have agreed to collaborate on mobile TV.
Motorola and Nokia announced today they will be working together to promote DVB-H, one standard used for broadcast mobile TV, with a view to interoperability between all their relevant kit and services.
The pair have also thrown their collective weight behind DVB-IPDC standardisation efforts.
446 Million Watching TV on Their Cell Phones By 2011
Microsoft's Windows Media DRM 10 Cracked
New side link -- Converge! Network Digest
Court blocks TiVo injunction
The injunction would have required EchoStar DVRs to be shut off in users' homes because of patent infringement. -- EchoStar sells satellite receivers and services under the name DISH Network.
Some background reading from Intel on WiMax:
(large pdf files)
Mobile WiMAX – Part I: A Technical Overview and Performance Evaluation
Mobile WiMAX – Part II: A Comparative Analysis
Cable Industry May Need to Spend
Heavily on Broadband Upgrades
Cable-television operators may require another round of multibillion-dollar network upgrades to keep up with rivals in the fast-growing high-speed Internet hookup business, a report from the industry's research arm suggests.
USDTV: Low Cost, Little Interest
service: small set of cable channels for low price
technology: compressed digital video (h.264) transmitted over terrestrial TV channels using the spare capacity on local TV stations' digital carriers
similar predecessors: "wireless cable" (aka MMDS) offerings by telcos in the mid-90's, based on re-use of community/educational TV spectrum for MPEG-2 signals.
outcome: Chapter 7.
Until Recently Full of Promise,
Satellite Radio Runs Into Static -- paid subscription required
When iconic morning host Howard Stern moved from regular radio to satellite earlier this year, it was supposed to be a coming of age. Instead, the industry's two rivals, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., are still reporting heavy losses, despite a few years ago telling investors they would need four million customers each to break even. XM crossed that mark more than a year ago; Sirius hit it earlier this year. Last year, XM lost $667 million, and Sirius lost $863 million. And Sirius is facing a potential exodus of subscribers as a clutch of promotional one-year trials soon comes to an end.
Death by podcast.
Google's gift
INFORMAL TEST RUN GOES SMOOTHLY FOR FREE WIFI SERVICE, BUT DON'T EXPECT LIVE HUMAN TECH SUPPORT
Verizon launches the three-channel DVR Verizon has a fiber-based IPTV system, which uses MPEG-2 video.
This description of an installation may give you an idea why the FIOS system will cost Verizon billions more than the SBC/AT&T approach: plain old twisted pair, plus advance modulation and advance video compression.
Maxian T700, another PMP -- [Portable Media Player]
Maxian's announcement page,
translated.
This device features a 480x272 resolution screen, which they describe as WQVGA ( wide quarter VGA). This is the same resolution as the Sony PSP. The T700 spec claims support for a wide array of video formats, including h.264.
Japanese Cos. Plan Web TV Joint Standard
OKYO (AP) - Sony, Matsushita and three other Japanese electronics makers plan to develop a join standard for new Internet televisions that will make it easier for people to see video available on the Web, a Sony spokeswoman said Thursday.
The TVs aim to make accessing video and similar online content easier than with computers, spokeswoman Mina Naito. The other companies involved are Sharp Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd.