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Monday, June 17, 2002 |
"In reference to the San Diego Union Tribune story about royalties on used CD sales, Rick Abruzzo has this though:
'If tampering with emerging technologies to extract more money from consumers wasn't enough, the music business is at it again. This time they want to tax used CDs extra as new music sales go flat. This 'royalty' could kill a place like Ameoba. I can imagine the RIAA sending lawyers to garage sales and flea markets to extort money from small vendors. What give the music industry special privileges over any other industry? Used cars, Used furniture, Used Japanese girls underwear, where could it stop?' " [pberry: Radio Edition]
11:51:50 PM Permanent link here
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Exego Brings PC Files to Your Cell Phone
"Verizon Wireless has launched Exego, a national service that lets customers access and transfer PC files via select mobile phones.
The service, previewed in San Diego in mid-March, requires application software from Summus called Exego, and runs on only two mobile phone models, available from Verizon, that support the binary runtime environment for wireless (BREW). The Exego service costs $6 a month, plus airtime charges.
Exego's initial application is a module that lets you view image files. The company plans to introduce additional modules--a mapping application is due for release later this year, and a video player is due in early 2003....
Exego currently provides access only to files uploaded from a PC to the Summus server.... But Summus is developing an application that permits direct access to your PC through a cell phone. The BlueFuel Personal Server, scheduled for release by the end of the year, is an application that makes an Internet-connected PC accessible via the wireless network....
The two supported phones, available from Verizon, are the Z-800 from Sharp, a $400 model with a 2-inch color display; and Kyocera's $50, black-and-white 3035e model. Verizon expects to offer other BREW-capable phones later this year, and Summus plans to work with other wireless carriers and to support other platforms, including Java and the Pocket PC and Symbian operating systems. Company representatives say they have not yet decided whether they will support devices running the Palm OS, although they say there are no technical barriers to doing so....
Summus is also lining up deals with partners to provide additional third-party content and services via Exego. The company has already inked a deal with Zio, which will make its handheld games available over Exego. Other offerings in the works include real-time traffic information from provider Iteris, electronic greeting cards from Funcaster, and an ATM locator from ServiceObjects." [PC World]
11:35:11 PM Permanent link here
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Toshiba Unveils High-End Pocket PC
"The Toshiba Pocket PC e740 is the company's third foray into the handheld market, and comes on the heels of the Pocket PC e310, which was released earlier this year. But unlike the e310, which was more of an organizer with expandability options aimed at the consumer market, the e740 was designed with an on-the-go corporate user in mind.
Priced at $599, the new Pocket PC comes with integrated 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless connectivity, and an Intel PXA250 chip with 400-MHz processing speed....
The e740 also boasts 64MB of RAM and 32MB of ROM. It comes with two card slots, Secure Digital and CompactFlashII, and boasts a 3.5-inch 240-by-320-pixel color display. It also comes with an Advanced Lithium-ion battery to support the extra processing power....
The new handheld is aimed toward corporate users who need to access and view data on the fly, according to Toshiba. In addition to the handheld's Wi-Fi capabilities, users can also purchase a Bluetooth SD Card for $149 for wireless connectivity.
'This is not really a data-creation device as much as it is a data-viewing device,' says Carl Pinto, director of product marketing at Toshiba....
While still sleek in design, at 4.9 inches by 3.1 inches by 0.6 inches, users of the e740 can view PowerPoint presentations on the screen thanks to the bundled software. To show presentations on a projector or a monitor, users will need to purchase the Toshiba Expansion Pack for $99 more, however. The Expansion Pack integrates an RGB monitor port and a USB port that can connect the handheld to USB devices such as a full-size keyboard.
For multimedia purposes, the e740 comes with a speaker and microphone and a stereo headphone minijack." [PC World]
Pretty sweet PDA! It has what the Sony Clie NR-70V is missing - wireless connectivity, although no integrated digital camera. To my mind, the keyboard on the Clie NR-70V is pretty useless without wireless, so Toshiba has the leg up now, especially with ports to add a monitor and keyboard. Sounds a bit like a scaled-back OQO.
11:22:34 PM Permanent link here
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Mass Bluetooth Use Is Years Away, Industry Group Says
"Mass use of Bluetooth for short-range wireless communication is years away. The technology's backers hyped Bluetooth and, back in reality, now predict that it will be eight years before Bluetooth is as commonly used as a mobile phone is today.
'If you step back, it does take about a decade from the very first user products to mainstream use. I think we are in the second year of Bluetooth adoption,' he said. 'We realize now that what we are trying to do is a lot bigger than what we originally saw it to be....'
Although mass use of Bluetooth may be some years away, the number of devices incorporating Bluetooth will jump this year because the price of Bluetooth chips has dropped. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, Nokia, and Motorola, for example, all plan to release several new phones that support Bluetooth before the end of this year, industry insiders said.
Most market watchers expect mobile telephony to drive Bluetooth adoption because of the large number of phones sold each year. But having Bluetooth in a phone does not mean it will be used. Sony Ericsson's T68i handset, for example, is popular in Europe today not because of Bluetooth, but because it has a color screen." [InfoWorld: Top News]
So Bluetooth should tip right around the same time as ebooks. There must be some kind of an intersection there....
11:08:38 PM Permanent link here
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Bluetooth: How Far It Has Come
"German-American DaimlerChrysler, which will be the first carmaker to introduce Bluetooth for hands-free calling and car entertainment later this year, believes that this basic idea of cable replacement will make or break Bluetooth.
Seventy percent of all U.S. wireless call minutes originate from a car, but new legislation in the U.S. and Europe outlaws handheld phones. Docking stations for handsets damage the car interior, which is why Chrysler bets on Bluetooth.
Bluetooth allows for the handset to stay in a shirt pocket or handbag as it automatically activates the audio system when the driver enters the car. The radio will display the phone's caller identification and signal strength....
Toshiba has taken the concept one step further by showing a fridge and a microwave that wirelessly connect to a tablet computer. The 'talking fridge' which has haunted the Internet community for half a decade became reality here when the Toshiba machine reported it ran out of beer. Meanwhile recipes on the screen activated freezer programs." [USA Today, via The Bluetooth Weblog]
10:51:57 PM Permanent link here
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- "agmweb.ca allows you to search 7 online book stores for books and prices. All information is available in XML-RPC and RSS feeds for you to syndicate on your site." You can also browse a category at Amazon and have the top 15 titles thrown into your aggregator!
- "Search for RSS in Google - This may be old news to some, but you can limit a google search to RSS and XML files. I knew about PDF, DOC, and the rest, butdidn't realize that these two were possible. This is another good way to find new feeds on a certain topic. For example, here is a search for "technology". Not many results, but worth a mention (Thanks Pete for the submission)." [Library Stuff]
- "This afternoon, I created two more feeds that will only work for users of AmphetaDesk. These are the feeds which look like a picture of a Prozac pill on them. The first one will automatically subscribe AmphetaDesk users to my feed just by clicking on it (Remember to have AmphetaDesk running). The second feed (and neatest by far), will automatically subscribe AmphetaDesk users to every feed that I currently subscribe to (about 77 at this point) and (get this), will take out all the duplicates. Enjoy them." [Library Stuff]
- "Turn the simple tech of RSS aggregators into Daily News Readers. Make weblog tools that don't rely on a writer's knowledge of outlines, permalinks, the word 'blog', or RSS feeds." [kottke.org]
10:50:03 PM Permanent link here
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Points of Connection
"Jason Kottke has much the same reaction to his new iBook and Airport as I did back in January. Meanwhile, Doc waxes orgasmic about a revolutionary moment with public access Wi-Fi in London.
Sitting here on the couch, posting, I have to agree with both of them. A laptop with wireless access does change how people interact with computers. As Wi-Fi "hotspots" proliferate, and access is more ubiqutious, I think some incredible things are going to happen. One change will be an extension of how people interact socially, as the power of Internetworking becomes omnipresent. The other significant change has to do with the augmentation of human intelligence and capabilities, as we increasingly rely on always-on, wireless, networked computers not only to communicate with each other, but to extend our memories and our reach.
The tools are starting to get really good. I can't wait to see what the next five years will bring." [Erehwon Notebook]
Agreed! I was showing a particular site to Matt this weekend, and when it didn't work, he said, "Well sure, it's not connected." After I noted the wireless network, his only response was, "Well, of course you'd have one."
It's a definite light-bulb moment for folks when they first realize the power of wireless plus high-speed internet connections, especially bloggers or news aggregator users. It's a whole new level of interaction and all of a sudden, they realize the potential and how close we are to a future in which information is truly promiscuous. Throw in portable devices and you get big grins.
10:25:18 PM Permanent link here
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Weblog Alert Service Wanted.
"Guru Scott Loftesness issues his request: Wanted: A Weblog Alert Service. Here's a request to the weblog development community.
Scott's right. As more and more weblogs come online-- and my time is getting shorter, I want a quick compact way of knowing if something new's is posted in weblogs I want to read." [Mary Wehmeier's Blog Du Jour]
Simon Fell is working on blogToaster, which seems to fit the bill. When I first read Mary Lu's post, I thought Scott was calling for a way to be notified of newly-created blogs, not newly-updated ones. I'd like to see an automatic notification that a new user can toggle on to notify the world of a birthed blog. I'm sure Dave gets immediate notice of new sites on his Radio server, but there should be something cross-tool for this.
10:15:20 PM Permanent link here
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Ringtone Royalties: Music Bizmodel of the Future?
"Justin sez: 'According to this story in the Asahi Shinbun, musicians in Japan have seen a recent rapid increase in the amount of royalties paid for downloaded ringtones.'
According to JASRAC, music lovers download more than 60 million tunes for use as chakumero each month, making the service a lucrative source of income for songwriters and composers.
Every time a song is downloaded from an Internet service provider onto a cellphone, the provider pays royalties to JASRAC, which distributes the money to copyright holders." [Boing Boing]
10:02:08 PM Permanent link here
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The Google Challenge
"Chris Hileman has a fun idea up his sleeve. Check it out, yo: The Google Challenge is pretty simple. Each week the staff will decide on a "keyword" for the week, this will happen on every Thursday. The keyword will be posted on the frontpage of this site. Then all particpants of the challenge will get an email notifing them of the keyword and other general site update information. Then the blogger will write an entry in their blog having to do with that subject. Then a week later the staff will search Google for the for "keywords" with the mature filer ON. We will go through Google until we find the top 5 bloggers. They will be listed on the frontpage. We do not have any funding so no cash prizes will be awarded. This is all in fun. I just became a registered user. This is only going to work if you do it, too." [C:PIRILLO.EXE]
9:59:05 PM Permanent link here
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From the current CNET Buzz-o-meter:
"Apex: Why is the Apex AD-1500 DVD deck suddenly a hot seller on eBay? It's a cheap, discontinued DVD deck with little going for it except upgradable firmware. Ah, but that's the key. You can upgrade that firmware with a program that wipes out the copy-protection schemes of the player, making this Apex a very special DVD deck indeed. This is just a glimpse of the legal battles to come as DVD burning gets more accessible."
Hmmm... so can the folks selling this be prosecuted under the DMCA? Can charges be brought against eBay for selling it? Still lots of them available on eBay if you want one.
9:29:30 PM Permanent link here
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I've been having problems accessing Radio remotely (hence few daytime posts), but Andy Rhinehart made me laugh today by hooking me up with the Psychic Kitty. (Hey Kate, doesn't that look suspiciously like Missy Kitty?)
7:39:49 PM Permanent link here
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The Original `Trading Places': The British Are Stylin'
"Other reality shows may get more hype, but as anyone who's has ever wielded a paint roller knows, nothing matches 'Trading Spaces' for pure drama....
Aspiring Martha Stewarts should note that 'Trading Spaces' is actually an American version of a successful British show called 'Changing Rooms,' which kicks off its new season Monday on cable channel BBC America, which is now in 28 million homes ("Changing Rooms" airs at 9 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. weekdays). If you're addicted to 'Trading Spaces,' the Brit hit is well worth checking out, since in many ways the original is more stylish than the American knockoff.
For one thing, the British designers are much more creative -- with less money....
What's most pleasing about the British designers is that they really know how to pull a whole room together and make it all work, whereas the 'Trading Spaces' designers, with the exception of the ever-elegant Vern Yip, often go for one high-concept idea (a wall covered with moss, a room painted entirely black) at the expense of overall aesthetic harmony." [Chicago Tribune, registration required]
One thing the story doesn't mention is that "Trading Spaces" reruns are only a half-hour, which cuts down considerably on the perkiness, but still leaves the full "reveal" intact.
It's also fun to compare the web sites for the two shows. "Trading Spaces" has gotten better, with the addition of before and after photos and a few homeowner updates, while "Changing Rooms" only adds a few video clips to that mix but no updates. Both sites fail miserably to take advantage of their large fan bases, burying discussion comments under two or more clicks AND registration. They should be highlighting some of the snarkier comments on the main page for free to draw you in.
No step-by-step instructions, no design drawings, no tips from the designers, no RSS feed, nowhere for fans to upload their own ideas (without registration), plus no close-up, panoramic, or 360 degree pictures. Sad, sad, sad.
12:40:59 PM Permanent link here
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"When we hired Scott Shuger back in 1997 to try his hand at a new Slate feature called 'Today's Papers,' we thought we were doing him a favor. Scott, who died Saturday at the age of 50 in a scuba diving accident, had been a casual friend of several of us from the small world of Washington journalism, and the even smaller world of alumni of the Washington Monthly.... It turned out that the favor we were doing by hiring Scott was for ourselves. 'Today's Papers' quickly became our most popular feature....
Scott Shuger was, in a way, the first complete Internet journalist, in that the Internet was essential to both his input and his output, and the result was something new and useful that couldn't be done before. Without the Internet, Scott couldn't have read five newspapers from across the country—and done it before the paper editions were even available. With the Internet, Scott could even write the column—about the day's major American newspapers, remember—from Berlin, where Debora Shuger had a visiting fellowship in 2000-2001. Scott used to say that the best place to write Today's Papers from would be Hawaii, where, he claimed, it would almost be a normal 9-5 job." [Slate, via rc3]
11:16:22 AM Permanent link here
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Getting A Handle On SMS LiNgO
"Getting the hang of SMS lingo takes time, and it might be frustrating for all but teens and college students who grew up with instant messaging. Happily, a Canadian company has introduced a useful tool that makes writing SMS-lingo messages and translating them a snap.
It's called TransL8it!, and it's available at www.transl8it.com. The service is simple. In one window, it allows you to enter a message — either in plain English or in SMS speak. Then you select how you would like the message translated — either to English or to SMS lingo. Hit the submit button, and a translation of the message appears in a subsequent window on the screen. Like many Web-based SMS systems, TransL8it! counts your characters as you type so you'll know that your messages fit within the 80-character SMS limit, which is helpful. Plus, users can add their own lingo and English translations to TransL8it's growing database. Finally, the system soon will let users send SMS messages to friends and colleagues directly from the site.
If you're an SMS newbie, you'll find this tool invaluable — especially when trying to translate messages from more experienced users. Parents also might find the service useful because it does a good job of translating the instant-messaging speak, which is roughly comparable to SMS lingo, that kids find so popular when using services such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)." [USA Today]
This is a great site for illustrating the differences between generations, and I'll definitely be showing it in my presentations. This is the language of the thumb generation (even in the U.S. where we don't really have SMS), and as we've already seen, this is yet another way they will impact our culture.
9:58:03 AM Permanent link here
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I'm having trouble getting to my Radio desktop remotely this morning, so in the hopes that this one goes through, here's a bulk post:
- Macromedia Blogs and the Death of the 'Official Story' - "Whether Macromedia knows it or not, what it's done is merely institutionalize a trend that's been building up in the consumer landscape for years, a trend that many commercial advertisers are loathe to address: that the Internet now makes it virtually impossible to create a unified "image" consumers will swallow. Sure, you can still create "brands" people can identify, but now, if that finely crafted brand image doesn't match reality, you're gonna be found out."
- Qwest Pulls the Cord on CEO Nacchio - "Open season on high-profile CEOs continued Monday with news that Joseph Nacchio was ousted as chief executive of Qwest and replaced by Tellabs CEO and former Ameritech chief Richard C. Notebaert." [Doc and Buzz should find this of interest!]
- You can now buy John Dean's ebook Unmasking Deep Throat from Salon. Can libraries buy and circulate it? I'm going to guess the technology says yes but the licensing says no. More if I get an email back from them. (Since they never responded to my question about library subscriptions to Salon, I'm not holding my breath.)
- Yamaha DiscT@2 Laser Drawing System - "The CRW-F1 is the first CD-RW recorder to offer the revolutionary DiscT@2TM Laser Labeling System, which allows graphics and text to be burnt onto CD-R disc, eliminating the need for labels. Customers can put graphics, such as signatures, logos, memorandums, and photo images onto CD-R's unused area after data writing. This unique feature will certainly enhance the CD-R recording experience for many users." [via MetaFilter]
- Roger Ebert loves the movie Minority Report - In his review, he discusses some of the technological concepts of the story and how Spielberg visualizes them. (I'll try to quote them later tonight.) I can't wait to see it! [Chicago Sun-Times, via MetaFilter]
9:44:36 AM Permanent link here
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Battle Over Access to Online Books
"When Internet song-sharing services created digital jukeboxes of free music, book publishers raced to bolt the door to their own archives of copyrighted works.
Many librarians, on the other hand, thought the idea was pretty exciting.
Now, new technologies are igniting a similar battle closer to home. Librarians have seized on the potential of digital technology and offered users free online access to the contents of books from their homes, and they are squaring off with publishers who fear that free remote access costs them book sales....
'What we are really excited about is the potential of the technology to allow greater dissemination of information because getting information into the hands of everybody we can is what we are all about,' said Miriam Nisbet, legislative council for the American Library Association. 'What we are concerned about is the dark side, which is trying to lock everything up.'
But locking everything up is exactly the response from the largest publishers. Although hundreds of smaller publishers with fewer popular titles have allowed libraries to 'lend' their books electronically, the major trade publishers are refusing to cooperate.
'Lending over their Web sites — I think that is a problem,' said Laurence Kirshbaum, chairman of the books division of AOL Time Warner. 'There is an inherent danger that would worry me — you are opening yourself up to being copied wildly without any control....'
The tensions among libraries and publishers are coming to the fore as several companies that originally aimed to help publishers sell digital books to consumers have instead set their sights on serving libraries, which are the only paying customers. Some of their efforts are ruffling publishers' feathers....
'Libraries very much want to move away from the one book, one user model,' said Marge Gammon, senior director for marketing and publisher relations at netLibrary, 'We get asked a lot, `When is that going to change?' ' " [New York Times: Technology]
If you don't understand why the CBDTPA could be so disastrous for libraries, this article summarizes it in a nutshell, although the NYT doesn't take the publishing world's words to their logical conclusion and spell it out.
Publishers are so terrified of their content being distributed illegally that most of them will do anything in their power to completely lock down access to titles and leave NO LOOPHOLE for libraries. Because if they leave a backdoor that lets libraries lend digital files, then hackers can use it to defeat the encryption.
If you've ever borrowed a book, CD, or video from a library (and I do mean ever), think about the next generation of kids not being able to do that with digital files, which will include ebooks, MP3s, MP4s, and more in the near future. We're well on our way to turning out culture into digital files, so imagine if libraries couldn't catalog, circulate, or preserve that culture.
8:03:18 AM Permanent link here
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"Here is an update on my friend and boss Dave Winer. He is in the hospital and will remain there until next weekend. To those that are sending notes, he should be OK, but in the meantime send positive healing thoughts in his direction. He will be providing more details when he is able." [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
Adding my positive healing thoughts in Dave's direction. Take it easy and read a good book. :-)
7:49:06 AM Permanent link here
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Last night we took advantage of an opportunity to go out to dinner and see a late showing of SW II: Attack of the Clones. You know the series isn't doing well when you're sitting in the theater of AOTC and all you can think is that you'd rather be blogging....
7:46:15 AM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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