Content & Commerce
Battle of the broadband; A new venture could expand service across much of the nation and shake up the provider duopoly.
Los Angeles Times - May 8, 2008
Typical broadband speeds in the United States are barely in the top 15 globally, trailing such technological hotbeds as Luxembourg and Norway. DSL and cable modem services are unavailable in many rural areas, leading to far lower broadband use in the country than the city. And even in the city, consumers often have only two choices of provider -- the dominant local phone company or the local cable...
News Corp. defends moves; As profit soars, the media giant says it's optimistic MySpace will continue to grow. Los Angeles Times - May 8, 2008 News Corp. executives worked Wednesday to bolster investor confidence for MySpace, the online social network it won praise for buying in 2005 but lately has attracted concern from Wall Street. Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin acknowledged that Fox Interactive Media, which includes MySpace, would fall 10% short of revenue projections for the fiscal year. But he said that social networks are th...
Sprint to beef up wireless venture; Billions from partners would help create the fastest U.S. network. Los Angeles Times - May 7, 2008 Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to combine its costly wireless broadband effort with a smaller company founded by cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw in a $12-billion venture funded by Internet search powerhouse Google Inc., cable television companies and others. The combination would create the fastest nationwide wireless network for laptops, smart phones such as BlackBerrys and other mobile devices, as well...
News Corp. defends moves; As profit soars, the media giant says it's optimistic MySpace will continue to grow. Los Angeles Times - May 8, 2008 News Corp. executives worked Wednesday to bolster investor confidence for MySpace, the online social network it won praise for buying in 2005 but lately has attracted concern from Wall Street. Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin acknowledged that Fox Interactive Media, which includes MySpace, would fall 10% short of revenue projections for the fiscal year. But he said that social networks are th...
Sprint to beef up wireless venture; Billions from partners would help create the fastest U.S. network. Los Angeles Times - May 7, 2008 Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to combine its costly wireless broadband effort with a smaller company founded by cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw in a $12-billion venture funded by Internet search powerhouse Google Inc., cable television companies and others. The combination would create the fastest nationwide wireless network for laptops, smart phones such as BlackBerrys and other mobile devices, as well...
Consumer Trends
Copyright infringement a debatable issue
Vancouver Sun - May 8, 2008
Chris Brand feels a little bit like a criminal every time he breaks the code of a DVD shipped from family in England so he can watch the video....
PlayStation 'will reclaim lead' BBC News - May 8, 2008 PlayStation 3 will help Sony reclaim its spot as the leading console maker, says the head of the firm's games division....
Battle of the broadband; A new venture could expand service across much of the nation and shake up the provider duopoly. Los Angeles Times - May 8, 2008 Typical broadband speeds in the United States are barely in the top 15 globally, trailing such technological hotbeds as Luxembourg and Norway. DSL and cable modem services are unavailable in many rural areas, leading to far lower broadband use in the country than the city. And even in the city, consumers often have only two choices of provider -- the dominant local phone company or the local cable...
PlayStation 'will reclaim lead' BBC News - May 8, 2008 PlayStation 3 will help Sony reclaim its spot as the leading console maker, says the head of the firm's games division....
Battle of the broadband; A new venture could expand service across much of the nation and shake up the provider duopoly. Los Angeles Times - May 8, 2008 Typical broadband speeds in the United States are barely in the top 15 globally, trailing such technological hotbeds as Luxembourg and Norway. DSL and cable modem services are unavailable in many rural areas, leading to far lower broadband use in the country than the city. And even in the city, consumers often have only two choices of provider -- the dominant local phone company or the local cable...
Deals & Dealmakers
Universal to allow free music downloads
http://www.guardian.co.uk - May 8, 2008
The world's largest record label has signed a deal with Qtrax for an ad-funded free-download service....
Microsoft helping at cyberscene of crime Seattle Times (Washington) - May 7, 2008 SEATTLE _ Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes. The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB thumb drive that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use t...
No slacking on new music Chicago Tribune (Illinois) - May 7, 2008 One drawback to our portable-music revolution is space. At some point, even with a 160-gigabyte iPod, you run out. So if you listen to a lot of music through headphones, as I do, there are times when you want fresh tunes. To compensate, some portable MP3 players, including models from Creative, Haier and Sandisk, offer a subscription service through which you can get as much music as you want for ...
Microsoft helping at cyberscene of crime Seattle Times (Washington) - May 7, 2008 SEATTLE _ Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes. The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB thumb drive that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use t...
No slacking on new music Chicago Tribune (Illinois) - May 7, 2008 One drawback to our portable-music revolution is space. At some point, even with a 160-gigabyte iPod, you run out. So if you listen to a lot of music through headphones, as I do, there are times when you want fresh tunes. To compensate, some portable MP3 players, including models from Creative, Haier and Sandisk, offer a subscription service through which you can get as much music as you want for ...
DIY
Copyright infringement a debatable issue
Vancouver Sun - May 8, 2008
Chris Brand feels a little bit like a criminal every time he breaks the code of a DVD shipped from family in England so he can watch the video....
Finally! Movies on my PC the same day they're on DVD. Christian Science Monitor - May 8, 2008 Since we don't watch much TV in my house (no cable in our neck of Virginia), movies are our main source of entertainment. We're always eagerly awaiting the release of a favorite film on DVD so that we can race to the local supermarket or department store to snap up a copy. (For my children, waiting for the latest Harry Potter DVD is like waiting for Christmas.) But once a DVD is released, that's w...
Panelists: Music retailers must expand to video, online to survive Video Business - May 6, 2008 As CD sales decline, the music industry is working to integrate video and online media, among other forms of entertainment, in order to survive. And the Entertainment Software Assn. is collaborating with the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers to give retailers better tools....
Finally! Movies on my PC the same day they're on DVD. Christian Science Monitor - May 8, 2008 Since we don't watch much TV in my house (no cable in our neck of Virginia), movies are our main source of entertainment. We're always eagerly awaiting the release of a favorite film on DVD so that we can race to the local supermarket or department store to snap up a copy. (For my children, waiting for the latest Harry Potter DVD is like waiting for Christmas.) But once a DVD is released, that's w...
Panelists: Music retailers must expand to video, online to survive Video Business - May 6, 2008 As CD sales decline, the music industry is working to integrate video and online media, among other forms of entertainment, in order to survive. And the Entertainment Software Assn. is collaborating with the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers to give retailers better tools....
E-Content
PAPER TIGER
Daily Variety - May 8, 2008
NEW YORK With News Corp. shares down 10% this year as investors try to comprehend News Corp.'s appetite for newspapers, Rupert Murdoch stressed the value of Dow Jones and the possibility of acquiring Newsday in reporting the conglom's third-quarter results. News Corp.'s net income more than tripled to $2.7 billion in the period ended March 31, though the majority of that figure can be ascribed to ...
Sprint-Clearwire WiMax Effort Gets $3.2 Bil, Big Partners; Google, Cable Firms Join In; Deal merges two networks, revamps complicated pacts for wholesale 4G wireless Investor's Business Daily - May 8, 2008 Sprint Nextel and Clearwire breathed new life into their wireless broadband alliance Wednesday, securing $3.2 billion in much-needed financing from three cable TV companies, Web search firm Google and chipmaker Intel. Sprint and Clearwire plan to combine their wireless broadband businesses, including radio spectrum holdings, in a newly formed entity to be named Clearwire. Sprint will hold a 51% st...
BEST BET ON THE WEB; With WiMax, anyplace is a wireless hot spot Chicago Tribune - May 8, 2008 I've been lucky enough to give the mighty powerful WiMax technology a spin. After my too-brief test was over, all I wanted to know was when will this be available for everyone?...
Sprint-Clearwire WiMax Effort Gets $3.2 Bil, Big Partners; Google, Cable Firms Join In; Deal merges two networks, revamps complicated pacts for wholesale 4G wireless Investor's Business Daily - May 8, 2008 Sprint Nextel and Clearwire breathed new life into their wireless broadband alliance Wednesday, securing $3.2 billion in much-needed financing from three cable TV companies, Web search firm Google and chipmaker Intel. Sprint and Clearwire plan to combine their wireless broadband businesses, including radio spectrum holdings, in a newly formed entity to be named Clearwire. Sprint will hold a 51% st...
BEST BET ON THE WEB; With WiMax, anyplace is a wireless hot spot Chicago Tribune - May 8, 2008 I've been lucky enough to give the mighty powerful WiMax technology a spin. After my too-brief test was over, all I wanted to know was when will this be available for everyone?...
R&D
PlayStation 'will reclaim lead'
BBC News - May 8, 2008
PlayStation 3 will help Sony reclaim its spot as the leading console maker, says the head of the firm's games division....
Comcast signs 'Internet-on-the-go' deal Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania) - May 8, 2008 May 8--On a bus ride in January through Portland, Ore., Brian L. Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Corp., began to see the future of Internet-on-the-go. We participated in a three-way videoconference call at 50 miles an hour. It was pretty incredible talking to people in the car behind you and to people in an office, Roberts said in an interview yesterday. He also watched ...
Chicago gets first crack at speedy WiMax Chicago Tribune - May 8, 2008 By year-end, Chicago is expected to be a launchpad for the next generation of wireless networks, blanketed with a fast Internet signal -- accessible to subscribers from homes, streets and traveling vehicles -- and capable of giving mundane home appliances a voice. In this Jetsonian vision of life, which could take several years to arrive fully, a washing machine embedded with a wireless chip would...
Comcast signs 'Internet-on-the-go' deal Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania) - May 8, 2008 May 8--On a bus ride in January through Portland, Ore., Brian L. Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Corp., began to see the future of Internet-on-the-go. We participated in a three-way videoconference call at 50 miles an hour. It was pretty incredible talking to people in the car behind you and to people in an office, Roberts said in an interview yesterday. He also watched ...
Chicago gets first crack at speedy WiMax Chicago Tribune - May 8, 2008 By year-end, Chicago is expected to be a launchpad for the next generation of wireless networks, blanketed with a fast Internet signal -- accessible to subscribers from homes, streets and traveling vehicles -- and capable of giving mundane home appliances a voice. In this Jetsonian vision of life, which could take several years to arrive fully, a washing machine embedded with a wireless chip would...
I want my ZeeVee TV - May 8, 2008
Media Wonk says: keep an eye on ZeeVee Inc., a company with a terrible name but an interesting approach to bringing PC and broadband content to the TV screen. I know, I know, who doesn't have a product or service for bringing broadband content to the TV set? Some of them even work. But the ZvBox (ZvBox??) has the sort of intuitive simplicity that could well appeal to non-gear heads.The slim back box--which is being built by Lite-On in Taiwan--...
Buzzworthy
TorrentSpy won't pay fine
May 8, 2008
David Kravets reports that "a day after a U.S. judge dinged TorrentSpy with one of the largest fines in copyright history, the lawyer for the torrent-tracking search engine said Thursday the $111 million judgment won't get paid."
May 8, 2008
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RIAA: DRM will return
May 8, 2008
Greg Sandoval reports from the Digital Hollywood conference that the "news of DRM's death has been greatly exaggerated, according to an executive with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)."
-- "(Recently) I made a list of the 22 ways to sell music and 20 of them still require DRM," said David Hughes, who heads up the RIAA's technology unit, during a panel discussion at the Digital Hollywood conference. "Any form of subscription service or limited play-per-view or advertising offer still requires DRM. So DRM is not dead."
-- Hughes also said that DRM must change so that the public sees it less as a sort of policeman that locks music a way. He would prefer a mode where consumers don't notice DRM at all. "People just want music when they want it," he said. "It's about access. If they get that then they don't care about DRM."
May 8, 2008
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-- "(Recently) I made a list of the 22 ways to sell music and 20 of them still require DRM," said David Hughes, who heads up the RIAA's technology unit, during a panel discussion at the Digital Hollywood conference. "Any form of subscription service or limited play-per-view or advertising offer still requires DRM. So DRM is not dead."
-- Hughes also said that DRM must change so that the public sees it less as a sort of policeman that locks music a way. He would prefer a mode where consumers don't notice DRM at all. "People just want music when they want it," he said. "It's about access. If they get that then they don't care about DRM."
Lycos alters course – now a VOD player
May 5, 2008
Via MG Siegler at Venture Beat: Continuing their shift from the search game to online communities and broadband entertainment, Lycos, one of the early search engines, has released Lycos Cinema, an online video on demand service. The press release is here. Siegler points out at least three problems with the new service - hello content!. I like the new logo. Happy Monday....
May 5, 2008
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