In a Q & A session that followed Apple's press conference yesterday, Steve Jobs expressed concerns about including the Blu-ray format in Apple products like the new MacBook. OK, that's the sugar-coated version of it. What Jobs actually said was that Blu-ray is "just a bag of hurt," and that he's still waiting until "Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace."
But wait, didn't Blu-ray win the format war against HD-DVD? Shouldn't it have been selling like hotcakes and taking over the market by now?
Considering that Blu-ray is the dominant HD video format, it has had a pretty rough time. For the average consumer the cost of a new Blu-ray player plus the higher cost of Blu-ray movies is just too much to pay for the HD upgrade. And even with recent drops in Blu-ray player prices only 1.7 percent of American homes have jumped on board the Blu-ray bandwagon. And with news that the cost of Blu-ray discs won't drop any time soon in the current economic situation most people will opt for the cheaper DVD version. Of course, the average movie watcher probably doesn't buy many discs, but instead rents most movies. But with services like Netflix charging extra for Blu-ray rentals that option is seeming less viable than just renting the DVD.
The cost wouldn't be such an issue if the upgrade to Blu-ray seemed worth it. But to most, the jump from DVD to Blu-ray just isn't drastic enough. Sure, it looks better, but it's hard to argue that DVD's look terrible by comparison. When DVD came in to replace VHS, it offered a clear difference in both quality and features that made VHS look arcane by comparison. Blu-ray doesn't offer enough of a difference from DVD to justify the cost of the upgrade.
I own a Blu-ray player, even if it is only in the form of my PlayStation 3. But I own only a single Blu-ray movie, and that's because at the time I bought it, "Planet Earth" was offered only on Blu-ray. But if I can get a movie on DVD, then there's no reason to consider the Blu-ray version. The cost is less and the difference in quality, in my opinion, is negligible.
For Blu-ray to really break out it needs to start securing movies that will only be released in the format. As long as the DVD alternative exists, Blu-ray is going to have a tough time. After all, they always say if it ain't broke don't fix it, and DVD ain't broke yet.
In a move that suggests at least a rudimentary understanding of the Internet, the McCain campaign has sent a letter (here as a PDF) to YouTube and Google about fair use in political YouTube videos.
After watching one too many McCain videos stripped from YouTube due to supposed copyright infringement, Trevor Potter, general counsel for the McCain campaign, wrote a three-page letter to YouTube CEO Chad Hurley, William Patry, Google's senior copyright counsel, and YouTube's General Counsel Zahavah Levine, arguing the campaign has not violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and suggests YouTube "commit to a full legal review of all takedown notices on videos posting from accounts controlled by (at least) political candidates and campaigns."
When a video is pulled, the campaign can file a counter notice, but the DMCA does not repost videos until 10 to 14 days later -- far too long for an ongoing political campaign so close to the finish line.
Though the McCain campaign has seen a boost from its YouTube videos, it has also run into trouble showing broadcast television footage and using song snippets without permission. It is on this basis that Potter offers four reasons these do not violate the DMCA but are instead "paradigmatic of fair use": "1) the uses are non-commercial and transformative; 2) they are factual, not fictional; 3) they are extremely brief; and 4) they have no conceivable effect on the market for the allegedly infringed works." (These are the criteria in the fair use law). Potter then cites a 30-year-old First Amendment case supporting the use of popular songs in political campaigns.
So as to not appear grumpy because of personal slights, the McCain campaign cc'd the Obama campaign on its message.
This move poises McCain to be an important contributor to the ongoing debate regarding the definition of fair use as Internet technology expands. It's interesting to me that even though Obama has used technology to greater extents and acclaim, it's the McCain campaign that steps up for the "little guy." It would be foolish of Obama to not support the proposals outlined in Potter's letter. However, it is well within YouTube's right to banish any videos -- its terms of service explicitly state "YouTube reserves the right to discontinue any aspect of the YouTube Web site at any time."
The Mozilla team has just released Firefox 3.1, but I don't recommend you download it just yet as this is just the first of several beta releases.
This version is intended to be used by developers and Web designers to test their plug-ins and Web pages against the new browser. If you do decide to take Firefox 3.1 beta 1 for a spin, be warned: your add-ons may cease to function. Here are some highlights of what's under the hood:
Geolocation: a Java-based set of Web tools that can do things like plot maps, give directions, geotag photos, and give a location for a blog post.
Tab-switching shortcut: lets you preview another tab before switching it.
Better control over the Awesome Bar.
Improved fonts: I know what you're thinking. Who cares? Well, it may not seem like much, but better access to fonts will make your browsing experience much better, especially if you visit non-English-language sites.
Better video and audio: Firefox says it wants to make adding video to a Website as easy as it is to add a photo. Mozilla also says that with this improvement, video can be embedded in the page more smoothly instead of being trapped in "plug-in prison."
XHR Cross-site Access Control: This one is a little complicated. Basically, this means that users viewing something on Firefox will be able to see more mashups between two different sites, if both sites opt in to this feature.
Tracemonkey: Mozilla's touted Java engine, is supposed to be "super fast" but you have to turn it on in the controls because it's off by default. You should expect some bugs when using this engine at the moment.
Mozilla is hard at work on Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 and the team promises more improvements in the next release. No word yet on when Firefox 3.1 will be out of beta, but you can keep track of it here.
Other browser teams are hard at work, too. A new version of Flock, the social networking browser, is now available. Flock 2 highlights include MySpace support in the sidebar, Media RSS support (MRSS) and customized visual themes.
In other browser news, Google's Chrome grabbed an extra 3 percent of marketshare, according to GetClicky Web analytics, but is still limping along after a highly publicized debut.
Searching, finding, and then reading this article will make you smarter. That's not because I'm a member of MENSA and about to share unique insights into the string theory of theoretical physics. Rather, researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) released a study suggesting that searching online could be beneficial for the brain.
The UCLA team put 24 volunteers in MRI machines to measure their brain activity while conducting online searches. This way they found that searching the Web with search engines such as Google or Yahoo, stimulates centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. Also, the researchers say that searching the Web could help counter the brain slowing down, as we get older.
Better than reading
Apple's heavily hyped line of new laptops is finally in front of us. As exciting as all the added bells and whistles may be to Mac fanatics, though, the systems have a serious challenge: Can they beat the economic blues to win over weary wallets and fly off store shelves?
Pricing Predicament
The new notebooks, revealed at an event inside its Cupertino, Calif. campus Tuesday, range in price from $999 to $2499. The lower-end product -- the basic MacBook -- did see a $100 drop in price from the previous model. Missing from the lineup, though, was the rumored $800 laptop that was believed to have been in the works. Already, the blogosphere is buzzing with reaction -- and questions over whether the price tags will be able to draw PC users in. Some are doubtful.
Continue reading "Apple vs. the Economy: Can the New Macs Really Sell?"
With the increasing popularity of touch-screen smart phones, it was only a matter of time before more affordable options started popping up. Verizon announced today a new entry into the touch-screen phone market with the Motorola Krave ZN4. With it Verizon hopes to appeal to the mass market with this sleek touch-screen price at a low $150 (with a two-year contract).
Specs on the Krave include 3G (EVDO) support for Verizon's wireless network. It does not, however, feature any WiFi capabilities. It also has a number of features that have become standard including GPS, Bluetooth v2.0, a 2 megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack (unlike other phones that don't support standard headphone inputs). The Krave also features a full QWERTY keyboard on the touch screen, complete with tactile feedback.
Quasi Flip-Phone
Continue reading "Motorola, Verizon Deliver ZN4 Touch-Screen: Krave"
The Flip Mino went the Zune route and introduced customizable patterns and images for its pocket-sized camcorder. Users can choose from a variety of exclusive-to-Mino designs, create a pattern of their own using Cafe Press software, or upload personal photographs and images to be plastered on the back of the $180 device.
The Website boasts some stellar designs that are sure to be popular, such as the Weezer decal and exclusive selections from Santa Cruz, an artist featured on the Rock Band video game.
The best feature is the ability to upload your own photographs. I assembled a Mino in 30 seconds by uploading a .jpg image, centering it, and filling it to the size of the device. This is a great way to engage in bragging rights. Designs can also be submitted to the Flip community, and if yours sells, you get $10. Proceeds can be taken home or donated to charity.
For its size, the Mino boasts decent specs. It comes with 2GB of memory for 60 minutes of 640 x 480 video recording, a rechargeable lithium ion battery, works on Windows and Mac, and sports a built-in flip-out USB arm for cordless transferring. Now that you can make a Mino unique to your own style, the purchase price seems more worthwhile.
While the Blackberry buzz this week is focused on Research in Motion's first flip phone Pearl, I'm more interested in unanswered questions surrounding the yet-to-be launched Blackberry Bold. This is RIM's answer to recently launched Nokia E71 and the forthcoming Motorola Q11 - and other Windows Mobile powered QWERTY devices.
While the Blackberry Bold is not yet available in the U.S., here in the U.K. (where I live) it is. I got my hands on one, in advance of its U.S. debut (expected "later this year"), and here is what I think of RIM's Blackberry Bold.
Out of the Box
First impression is the Bold looks really good. The screen is covered by a glass-like plastic and the backside is made of some type of leatherette, which doesn't really match the glossy front. The silver colored frame is not made out of metal but plastic. The phone fits comfortably in my hand and weighs slightly more than the iPhone.
Continue reading "First Look Blackberry Bold: Hands-On Evaluation"
Later today Apple will launch a revamped line of MacBook laptops at a much-anticipated Steve Jobs special event held at the Apple campus. Pictures (blurry, of course) surfaced on the Web as early as last night that appear to show the new MacBook Pro with an iMac-esque look. In addition to notebooks (predicted to be sub-$1000), a new line of Apple displays is speculated.
Although nothing is official until Jobs says so, the similarities between the latest leaked pictures and the previous enclosure leaks appear to match. The pictured MacBook Pro (MBP) sports a glass-like display cover with a black bezel, similar to the current line of iMacs. Also, the keyboard is black, as it was introduced with the MacBook Air.
Speculated Specs
Continue reading "New MacBooks and Apple Displays Out Today: Rumor Roundup"
Free nationwide Internet access may be on the way sooner than you think, thanks to a hotly contested Federal Communications Commission ruling decided Friday. The plan, just given the go-ahead by the government, would create a federally endorsed WiFi network supported only by ads and optional subscription-based speed boosts.
Communications Clash
As you might imagine, the concept isn't sitting so well with commercial Internet service providers. Companies such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have been fighting the idea since its introduction, claiming the free network would interfere with their own offerings.
The government's top communications official, though, now says that's simply not true. In a report released Friday (PDF), FCC Chairman Kevin Martin asserts that recent field tests conducted in Seattle show no significant interference between the services' neighboring spectrums.
Auction Block
The latest news on Microsoft's Windows Vista blog isn't about Windows Vista at all. It's about Windows 7, and the news is that it's officially been named ... Windows 7.
"While I know there have been a few cases at Microsoft when the codename of a product was used for the final release, I am pretty sure that this is a first for Windows. You might wonder about the decision," wrote Mike Nash, corporate vice president, Windows Product Management.
"Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore 'Windows 7' just makes sense," Nash added.
But I'm confused (as are others) about the version count here. Nash does, in his post, mention Windows 98, Windows XP and Windows Vista as representing different approaches to naming previous versions of the OS (since the last version based on an actual version number, Windows 3.11).
So you could guess that Microsoft viewed Windows 98 as version 4, Windows XP as version 5, and Windows Vista as version 6. But that would mean skipping Windows 95, surely one of the most trumpeted OS debuts ever. And what about ME and 2000? Microsoft might wish it had skipped ME, but 2000 was an important release.
Personally, I'm thinking maybe Nash was mentally combining Win95 and Win98 as version 4. But anyway you count, it's tough to figure out how the next release of Windows is the seventh. Maybe Microsoft just hopes 7 will be Windows' lucky number.
President Bush signed into law two bills that will make it much harder for child molesters to lurk with anonymity on the Web, especially at social networking sites.
The new law, called the "Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008" or the "KIDS Act of 2008," requires registered sex offenders to provide "Internet identifiers", including e-mail addresses, to state sex offender registries. Those identifiers will also be used by social networking sites (presumably at the request of authorities) to identify suspect users at the National Sex Offender Registry.
As social networking became the huge phenomenon that it is, news reports began showing up documenting the ease at which predators could contact minors, and even arrange offline meetings with them, at social networking sites. The new law can be seen as a direct response to those cases.
Bush also signed the "PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008," which requires the Department of Justice to create and implement a national strategy, as well as a new task force, for tracking down predators on the Web and prosecuting them.
The anti-iTunes distribution kings and legendary rockers AC/DC have a new album coming out on October 20, but a pirated version of the album is already available on the Internet. The highly anticipated album, Black Ice, was leaked on October 7 onto a torrent site and spread like wildfire from there. According to a report on Torrent Freak, the album has already been downloaded more than 400,000 times. Although I was unable to confirm this figure, a few quick searches of the major torrent sites shows that something called Black Ice by AC/DC is all over the torrent world and, if the numerous comments are to be believed, this is the real thing.
But AC/DC fans are a funny bunch and, according to the comments left on Piratebay.org, those who downloaded the album just had to have a listen and intend to buy the album when it comes out. One commenter called Manfred016 said, "I'll download it and listen to it, but I'm too much of a fan to uhhh 'steal' from them so I'll buy the album when it comes out. Thanks for the torrent." Not exactly scientific proof, I know, but there has been some debate in the past about whether illegal downloading is hurting sales as much as is commonly believed.
Maybe progressive AC/DC fans are feeling sympathetic to the band and stealing a page from Raidiohead's pay-what-you-want music scheme it used with the album In Rainbows.
Continue reading "AC/DC Fans Pledge to Pay for 'Black Ice' Album Despite P2P Availability"
YouTube dominates online video viewing, so it comes as a surprise that just on Friday the Google-owned company finally decided to stream full-length television shows on its website. Now you can find episodes of popular shows such as "MacGyver" and "Dexter" muddled in with YouTube's user-generated mishmash.
Continue reading "Hands On: Streaming TV Shows With YouTube"
DRM warriors, rejoice: The people have spoken, and Wal-Mart has listened. The retail giant reversed its decision to take down its digital rights management servers Friday, following a massive backlash from angry music buyers.
Wal-Mart announced plans late last month to shut down the servers, telling customers it would "no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues" for tracks purchased from its site. Translation: If you bought music before February, you're out of luck when it comes to transferring it to another computer or device. Wal-Mart called the move the "final stage of [its] transition to a full DRM-free" store.
Power to the People
Companies using text messages to send airline updates, online auction tracking, sports scores, and answers on the go will now face stiffer fees from Verizon starting November 1. In order to send mobile messages to Verizon customers, content and messaging companies face a 3 cent per mobile terminated (MT) message charge.
Syncing a Mac with a Blackberry device has never been a straightforward affair. Most people have been forced to use third-party software, such as PocketMac, to get it to do what they want. But as Blackberry unleashes the Storm, that may all be about to change. Boy Genius is reporting that Blackberry maker, Research In Motion, is getting close to releasing a program called Blackberry Media Sync for Mac.
Just days after Google launched the silly Mail Googgles, the company has introduced a more serious e-mail tool called Advanced IMAP Controls for Gmail through its Google Labs division.
Advanced IMAP Controls will let you fine-tune Gmail's IMAP settings, finally letting us get rid of some annoyances with Google's first set of IMAP controls.
If you're one of the 100 million-plus Gmail users and use IMAP for checking your email, whether it's with Outlook, Apple Mail or on your mobile phone, you're going to like this. Google Labs just made our lives easier with this new nifty feature.
Continue reading "Google Gets Even More Serious About IMAP Mail"
If there's one thing Apple knows how to do, it's build buzz. The company that brought us everything from the iPod to the iPhone is getting ready to reveal its latest innovation -- and, in typical fashion, it's shrouded in mystery and surrounded by speculation.
All Apple's saying so far is that it'll talk about notebook computers at the media-only event, set for next Tuesday at the company's California headquarters. "The spotlight turns to notebooks," its cryptic invitation reads.
Rumor Patrol
Continue reading "Apple's Notebook News: What's Myth, What's Truth"
So I wasn't drunk when I tried Google's Mail Goggles -- only a touch hung over -- but I wanted to see if the service could possibly save me from sending regrettable messages after a few too many glasses of Shiraz. The Goggles asks a series of math questions before allowing the message you've written to be sent. If you fail, you get a slap on the wrist -- "Water and bed for you. Or try again" -- if you pass, you're home free.
I installed the program by clicking on "Labs" in my Gmail account and selecting the Mail Goggles feature. I altered the settings to prevent me from sending any e-mail without first having to brave a gauntlet of math. Then I turned the difficulty level to its highest.
I majored in English. Math is not my forte. And in my early-morning barely-caffeinated haze, I was unable to answer the questions in enough time. Once I reached out for the desktop calculator but stopped myself -- no, I must do this right. Then, after an embarrassing failure, I turned the feature off and was free to electronically berate any ex I chose.
Therein lies the problem with the Goggles feature: It's mostly meant as a gag -- something fun you'll use three or four times before growing tired of it -- but for anybody who takes it halfway seriously, there are too many ways around it. Its biggest flaw is that the Goggles don't exist on mobile browsers. And when do we do the most drunk texting, e-mailing, and dialing? Coming home from the bar, that's when.
Google doesn't recommend getting loaded and unleashing your demons via e-mail, but to see this feature paired alongside useful Labs creations like the forgotten attachment detector and the "mark as read" button sets a curious example for the "Do No Evil" company. Could they be poking fun at people with alcohol problems? Can the Mail Goggles somehow be seen as sly commentary on Google users? I think this feature is nothing more than a gimmick -- albeit a mortifying one for anti-math types such as me -- but for some, it may raise questions about what Google means when they imply we have restraint problems.
The only detail Verizon and Research In Motion (RIM) "forgot" to mention yesterday when it officially announced (finally) the Blackberry Storm is the price of the device. But the Storm available at no initial cost in other countries, the question is: will U.S. follow?
Vodafone UK is trying to aggressively market Storm as the iPhone's biggest competitor, and price would be one of the easiest selling points when it comes to persuading someone out of Apple products. And as Vodafone holds a major stake (45 percent) in Verizon, the likeliness that this strategy would be adopted in the US as well gets even higher.
The FaMACtics are at it again as rumors are circulating that the leaked photograph above may be the new MacBook Brick casing. Since the picture surfaced on Endgadget, and was later traced to this Chinese-language website, bloggers the world over have gone over it like a Pentagon spy satellite photo to try and decide if this is indeed the real thing. At first glance, these photos seem to show a few differences with the current MacBook Pro: the standard DVI port is gone and replaced with a mini-DVI, the Firewire 400 port also seems to be gone, there are more, smaller speaker holes, and the casing in general seems to be thinner.
Rumors about a new MacBook have been buzzing since August when Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer hinted at a "product transition," leading some to think a MacBook overhaul was imminent. Then, just last week, another rumor suggested a new manufacturing process was being used for Apple laptops that would create a casing made of one single piece of metal -- hence the name MacBook Brick. But, if that's the case, then explain to me how the leaked picture above clearly shows a break between the side and the top, very much like the current Macbook.
The new rumors are already starting to bring others out of the woodwork. The Inquisitor reports some Apple retailers have received a new price list that includes a sub-$1000 laptop, and shows this same image. Photos from a Taiwanese site have surfaced here. They look similar from a thickness point of view, but the ports look more like a regular MacBook than the MacBook Pro.
One particularly dedicated MacRumors forum participant calculated the following specs based on the photograph above:
CAPS LOCK KEY = 1.25"
MBA FROM CAPSLOCK TO RETURN = 10.75"
IMPOSED CAPSLOCK KEYS FROM CAPSLOCK TO EDGE OF CASING X BOTH SIDES = 5"
The bottom casing is 10.75"+5.00" = 15.75"
The MBA screen-enclosure (measured diagonally) to bottom-case ratio is 15" to 13"
That ratio applied to 15.75" would suggest 18.17" accomodate for the fact that screens NEED some border and we have a 2-inch reduction.
The NEW Macbook 'Brick' will have the rumored 16" screen. TRUE 16:9 resolution!
So are we about to see the new MacBooks? Maybe. According to our friends at Computerworld, Apple may hold a press event on October 14. Perhaps all will be revealed then.
Sling Media, creator of the Slingbox products that let you watch your home TV on any Internet-connected PC, now has a gizmo that lets you watch Internet and personal video on your home TV.
Like a Slingbox, the $300 SlingCatcher, which goes on sale today, hooks up to your broadband network and your TV (although a Slingbox can also connect to other home video sources such as a cable box or digital video recorder). But while a Slingbox makes your live or recorded TV programming available remotely on a PC or some mobile devices, the SlingCatcher brings to the TV content that you might otherwise have to watch on a PC.
That content can be on-demand streaming prime-time shows on sites such as Hulu or the various network sites; online movie rental sites such as Netflix; or community sites such as YouTube. Sling Media says the SlingCatcher supports just about any Internet video site. The device's built-in SlingProjector software lets you set up the video stream so that you only see the video (you don't have to see the rest of the host site).
Another built-in SlingCatcher application, SlingPlayer for TV, lets you view any of your Slingbox-connected TVs or video sources. So, for example, you could watch a show from your Slingbox-connected living room DVR on a SlingCatcher-connected TV anywhere else in the home.
The SlingCatcher's third application, My Media, lets you play video stored on a USB flash drive--for example, video downloaded from a camcorder or the Internet. My Media supports several popular video formats and codecs, but to ensure compatibility, Sling Media says it will be releasing a utility called SlingSync that will convert video files to a format the SlingCatcher can play. SlingSync will also be able to scan your computer for compatible video files, so you don't bother trying to play incompatible content, Sling Media says.
The SlingCatcher arrives on the heels of Sling Media's first Slingbox to support high-definition content playback, the Slingbox Pro-HD. The SlingCatcher too supports HDTV, with HDMI, component, composite, and S-Video outputs as well as both digital and analog audio outputs. It comes with its own remote controller.
And we can't wait to try it out.
Getting Blu-ray is getting a bit more expensive for Netflix subscribers. The movie service has announced it's adding a monthly surcharge to all Blu-ray renters' bills. Don't panic, though: The fee is only $1, and that extra buck gets you all the high-def rentals you want.
"Blu-ray movies are more expensive than standard definition movies," Netflix rationalized in an e-mail sent to customers Wednesday.
Anyone currently renting Blu-ray discs will start seeing the fee automatically in November. You can choose to opt out of the service and discontinue your Blu-ray options by either calling the company or logging in to your account preferences.
Fees Rise as Customers Decline
Continue reading "Want Blu-ray? Prepare to Pay More on Netflix"
Once again the Internet has proven its ability to quickly respond to political gaffes. Less than two hours after last night's Presidential debate ended sites began popping up to support "That One" for President.
For those who might have missed the debate (and shame on you if you did), "That One" is how Senator John McCain referred to Senator Barack Obama when talking about who voted for an energy bill. In response, the Web sites ThatOne2008.com and ThatOne08.com have sprung up to exploit McCain's rather derisive choice of terms for his opponent. Instead of regarding the term as the dismissive reference that was intended, they're embracing it.
ThatOne2008.com is a simpler site, with just a video clip of McCain saying "that one" in the debate as well as links to Obama's campaign site, an Obama iPhone app, and a link to where you can buy shirts that read "I'm voting for that one."
Continue reading "McCain "That One" Comment Spurs Web Entrepreneurs"
YouTube announced yesterday that it is partnering with Electronic Arts, EMI Music, iTunes, and Amazon to deliver "click-to-buy" links for music, movies, and books beneath YouTube videos.
Say you are listening to "I Kissed A Girl" on YouTube and want to buy it. The site now provides links to purchase the song on iTunes or Amazon MP3. Companies are not limited to their own videos, either; commercial partners can embed their links beneath any user-generated video as well. The links are relatively unobtrusive; at first glance I barely noticed the link below a video for the new video game Spore. The links seem to come in two forms: either as the text link style made famous by Google, YouTube's parent; or standard iTunes and Amazon buy buttons, which can be found all over the Internet.
Eric E. Schmidt, Google's CEO, recently told The New York Times that he was happy with the recent monetization that YouTube has undergone since Google purchased the video site in 2006. In addition to the "click-to-buy" links, YouTube has been working on distributing ads across the YouTube platform, from ads that run across the bottom of a video, to standard ads that run on a video's watch page, to making YouTube videos a part of the AdSense advertising program for third-party websites. YouTube now has about one billion videos viewed every day, making it an attractive online destination for ad buyers.
The YouTube announcement didn't reveal its advertising partners for the new program or tell how much money Google make offs each transaction. There's also no word on whether smaller Internet entrepreneurs and overnight sensations like Tay Zonday of Chocolate Rain fame or the Numa Numa guy--both of whom sell their own merchandise--will be able to get a piece of the click-to-buy pie. Google may risk alienating users if products they don't approve of start showing up beneath their videos. YouTube clearly has the right to monetize its own site, but does it have the right to make money directly off of its users without input or control from the people who are essentially content producers? That may be a question that needs to be addressed in the coming years.
On the upside, the new click-to-buy program may defuse litigation against YouTube and its users if copyright-holding companies can monetize fan videos and pirated content.
We all know a wild night can impede your better judgment -- and in the age of electronics, it's all too easy to hit the "Send" button after hitting the bottle. The next time you feel a late-night urge to e-mail an ex, though, Google's got you covered.
Meet Gmail's latest Labs project, Mail Goggles. The program works like a breathalyzer: Before sending an e-mail, you've gotta prove you're less tipsy than Paris Hilton on a Tuesday. (Or a Wednesday.)
Mail Goggles works with simple math. Once you set it up, it'll require you to answer a series of math problems before being able to send a message. By default, the program activates on Friday and Saturday nights, though you can customize it for any day or time you might need a watchful eye. You can also set the difficulty level to control how hard the problems will be (1 = a wine cooler with dinner; 10 = eight Jagermeister shots and an indeterminable number of rum-based chasers).
Continue reading "Google Goggles: No More Inebriated E-Mailing"
By now we've all probably seen how amazingly Google Maps Street View works on the T-Mobile G1 handset. And if not, take a gander. It's something that stands out as an impressive feature unique to the Android phone -- or at least, it was unique. A beta version of iPhone firmware 2.2 recently sent to developers adds several new features, including support for emoji, a popular set of Japanese emoticons; the ability to turn off auto-correction when typing (it's about time); and Street View functionality built into the Google Maps app, similar to that found on the G1.
This raises an interesting question about how the iPhone and G1 will compete. Should Google support iPhone apps, or should it make apps exclusively for smartphones that use the Android OS? And with Google setting a non-exclusive precedent with its own applications, what motivation would Android developers have to keep other apps exclusive? Should there even be exclusivity for apps between the iPhone and Android?
Personally, I say forget about exclusivity. Making an app exclusive to either format limits a developer's audience, which in turn limits a developer's profits (and resources for future development). So from a developer's side it doesn't make sense. And as an iPhone user, I want to be able to have access to any awesome apps released for the Android, and I'm sure there are some iPhone apps that have Android users jealous. So as a customer, exclusive apps don't help me at all. There are bound to be apps that can only be done on one phone or the other, but if one can be written for both, I see no reason why it shouldn't be produced for both.
Ford has made parenting a little easier by introducing MyKey, a programmable ignition key for Ford automobiles that monitors teenage driving behavior. With MyKey in place, various driving habits that parents may consider unsafe, or merely obnoxious, can be curtailed.
It covers all the common parental complaints: The car's speed cannot exceed 80mph. Radio volume is limited to 44 percent of maximum and, if seatbelts aren't fastened, no sound will come from the speakers at all. Extra-careful and/or paranoid parents can place warning sounds at 45, 55, and 65mph, blasting a warning of potential reckless driving to the youthful driver.
Ford realizes this is annoying. Susan Cischke, Ford's group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering even said she hoped to "turn up the annoyance factor a little bit."
MyKey will be introduced as a free standard feature in the 2010 Ford Focus model. Ford hopes to make MyKey a standard feature on all Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury models thereafter.
MyKey is built on ID chips already used in keys to help deter car theft, and evolved through changing software. MyKey tracks only the distance traveled by the car, so while it may seem relatively harmless now, parents who want other features to loom over their children -- such as point-by-point GPS tracking -- may be able to add them on for a fee.
Naturally, teenagers didn't warm up to the idea. After initial testing, 67 percent of teens said they wouldn't want MyKey. The number dropped to 36 percent if greater driving privileges were granted. But they aren't the ones buying the cars . . .
Traffic accidents remain the leading cause of death among teenagers, and Ford has this statistic in mind. I'm uncertain whether a few beeping noises and a speeding cap will make a difference in the long-run, but it's a noble cause.
Video content hub Hulu is taking advantage of the unprecedented interest in this election season and live streaming the remaining presidential debates. Tonight's debate, the presidential candidates second, will be the first live stream for the highly popular entertainment site, and will be courtesy of NBC and moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw. For the third and final debate on October 15, Hulu will stream Fox's coverage. NBC and Fox are major investors in Hulu.
The iPhone 3G has enough power to lure people over from other carriers. Nearly a third of iPhone users abandoned their mobile providers for AT&T in order to get their hands on the 3G, some new research shows. So can T-Mobile's upcoming G1 Android-based device come anywhere close to replicating that magic?
iPhone Inspiration
The numbers, released Monday by the NPD Group, indicate 30 percent of iPhone 3G owners made carrier switches in the first three months following the phone's launch. The vast majority -- 47 percent -- came from Verizon. Nearly a quarter jumped from T-Mobile, and 19 percent left Sprint behind. All together, the defections shot the iPhone into the top-selling smartphone spot, at 17 percent of the U.S. market. It's now the second-highest overall selling phone in America, trailing behind only the Motorola RAZR V3.
Understanding the Forces
To predict the G1's relative carrier-hopping success, one first has to understand the forces driving the iPhone's impressive record. The researchers break it down to two main factors: price and speed. Smartphones on the whole dropped in price 26 percent from summer 2007 to summer 2008, and the iPhone was no exception. But the 3G speed, combined with its already popular interface, may have been what pushed it over the edge.
"While the original iPhone also helped win customers for AT&T, the faster network speeds of the iPhone 3G has proven more appealing to customers that already had access to a 3G network," says Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for the NPD Group.
G1 Predictions
Continue reading "Can iPhone's Carrier-Switching Magic Be Replicated?"
Microsoft's Live Search attention-seeking ploys may be paying off. According to Hitwise statistics, Microsoft has gained traction in the search market with its Cashback program, in which users who comparatively shop for and eventually buy items through Live Search receive monetary incentives. Microsoft also unveiled another offensive in the face of Google's search empire to the tune of SearchPerks!, an overly cheery program that gives users coupons that can be traded for prizes, such as MP3 downloads, T-shirts, and airline miles. SearchPerks! requires Internet Explorer to function, boosting another Microsoft effort.
The data shows that while Microsoft may not have a chance against Google's 71.2 percent dominance of the market, the company does appear to be chipping away at Yahoo!'s foothold. Live Search went from 3.8 percent in mid-July to 6 percent in mid-September. Yahoo! slid from 18.7 percent to 11 percent during the same time span.
Hitwise Research Director Heather Dougherty attributes the rise of this service, which not only saves money but offers monetary reward for its use, to our miserable economic situation. Some blogs consider Microsoft's latest efforts pathetic. Salon.com calls it "really lame" and claims Microsoft "doesn't matter anymore." Ars Technica says the service "has potential" but that Microsoft messed up the execution process.
Whether Microsoft's reputation will be damaged by a service for penny-pinchers, a last-ditch attempt at recognition, or a valuable tool with good intentions, the numbers are clear: Microsoft is gaining traction and, in the process, putting its name out there. In order to stand a chance in the cutthroat search engine game, this is an effective and successful method to garner recognition.
Fast answer to a query of the new Ask.com
Ask.com was relaunched with new and improved features today as it sets its sights on regaining ground in the consumer market. Ask says its site is faster than before, has improved relevance, will return better natural language searches, and has simpler layout. Gone are the divided search results the company launched in June 2007 as Ask3D with encyclopedia entries, video, and images divided up on different parts of the page. Although this function was popular with tech reviewers, Ask was never able to get in front of MSN and AOL to compete with Google and Yahoo. The new Ask will still allow you to refine your search, preview certain Web pages, and provide statistics on that page, but it's all streamlined into one list like most other search engines.
Ask.com President Scott Garrell says that it generally takes users three to four clicks to get the answers they are looking for in a typical search engine. Garrell's aim with the new Ask is to "reduce the distance between your query and the answer you want."
So, does it work? Well, for my tests I threw the same query I used in my test of Powerset earlier this year. I typed in, "Who is the President of the United States?" and right there at the top of the page was Ask.com's new Answer feature telling me that, in fact, George W. Bush is the president. All right, it passed the easy test, so now on to something a little harder.
"Who was the President of the United States in 1986?" At the top of the results page was the Wikipedia entry for Ronald Reagan. Okay, one more for good measure: "What is the lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies?" The top two answers linked here and here.
So, yes, Ask.com has the natural language thing down for direct questions. The layout is also nice, as you can see from the illustrations here. Standard web returns run in a single list and there are tabs at the top for other types of search including images, news, "Q&A" (the natural language function), and common searches such as blogs, videos, and TV listings.
But will Ask be able to break through and compete with Google, Yahoo, and MSN? Possibly. But it's got a long road ahead. The major search engines have been spending a lot of time going beyond search to create comprehensive Web portals. E-mail, calendars, documents, fantasy sports, customizable maps, and instant messaging have created loyal networks for Ask's major competitors. Ask has improved its search engine and is well worth using, but the company is going to have to offer a lot more if it wants to stay relevant.
Answers to my second query
Ask answers my baseball question
Leaked pictures of the forthcoming incarnation of Amazon's ebook reader, Kindle 2 have surfaced this weekend on the Web. The new device features various improvements and a design overhaul which reminds us of the early iPod days.
After Amazon dismissed the launch of a new Kindle this year, delaying the new device until "sometime next year at the earliest" we got our hands on pictures of the forthcoming Kindle, courtesy of The Boy Genius Report. As usual, Amazon hasn't made any comments on the leak or publicly announced a price or launch date.
The first improvement that you will notice is the unified keyboard, which is not split into two sections anymore. The new Kindle's corners are now rounded and the white case with the metallic backplate reminds us of the first iPod models launched a few years back.
Continue reading "Amazon Kindle 2: Details and Pictures Leaked"
At the E for All Expo, Samsung showcased gaming on its new flagship smartphone--at least, it's a flagship phone in markets outside of the U.S. The hook for E for All, an entertainment show in Los Angeles over the weekend: the phone is the official one of the World Cyber Games, an event whose finals were being staged at the expo. But the other hook is, as a Symbian S60 3rd edition-based smartphone, the i8510 (as the Innov8 is also called) can play a host of Java-based mobile games--and many were on display at the show.
I enjoyed handling the device for reasons that go beyond gaming. In fact, the first thing I noticed was the phone's camera--a whopping 8 megapixels, with a flash. This blows way past the Nokia N96's 5-megapixel camera, and makes cell phone image capture more viable than ever before (I marvel at how many folks--myself included--will attempt to capture an event on a cell phone cam, knowing full well the image looks like crap if viewed as more than a postage stamp on a PC.) The camera includes autofocus, image stabilization, geotagging (through the handset's built-in GPS) and fancier features like blink, smile, and face detection. Is this a cell phone with a highly functional digicam, or a dedicated digicam with a cell phone built in? That's a question I'll personally ponder after taking the Innov8 for a spin in the real world--but with specs like this, the question certainly seems valid.
Unfortunately, the Innov8 carries an uber-premium price, as does the N96 (Innov8 sells for $700 to $800 at online shops specializing in unlocked imports). What frustrates me is that higher quality cell phone camera technology clearly exists--and has for quite some time--and yet in the U.S. market, anything above a paltry 3 megapixels is rare and added only to top-of-line models that are priced out of reach of the masses. I wonder sometimes, if mobile manufacturers do this in the U.S. for bigger-picture reasons, like concerns for cannibalizing the digicam point-and-shoot market or concerns about privacy and corporate espionage; but I tend to think it's just an outright misstep by mobile handset manufacturers and operators.
The Innov8 felt dreamy in-hand, with its easy-glide slider mechanism, thin and sleek black case, and sharp 2.8-inch QVGA LCD (capable of displaying 16 million colors). Menus were clearly organized and easy to navigate, though at times I found myself wishing the screen operated via touch. Other features include a built-in FM radio and a 3.5mm audio jack; 8GB or 16GB of memory plus a microSD Card slot; assisted GPS; accelerometer; dual-band UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band GSM connectivity; and Wi-Fi with DLNA support.
It may have felt dreamy, but keep dreaming: So far, no announced plans for this phone's release to the U.S. market.
The Nintendo DS isn't a platform I normally associate with graphics-intensive gaming. But Graffiti Entertainment showed its C.O.R.E game at the E for All Expo in Los Angeles this weekend, and it looked impressive given the platform it was on.
C.O.R.E. is described as a "classic" style first-person shooter, on the order of Doom or Quake 2. But instead of playing it on a PC, you're playing it on a pocket-sized Nintentdo DS. The game, which carries a Mature rating for its blood and gore violence, will ship in November for $30, and uses a 3D engine to render the graphics. One nifty feature: It supports a four-person multiplayer mode off a single card--just interlink up to four Nintendo DS units to take advantage of this feature.
The company also has Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II coming in November as well. This flight-simulation app for the PlayStation Portable takes you chronologically through 13 campaigns of World War II, and gives you options to fly with any of 17 planes.
People often say that Adobe's Photoshop image editor is way too cluttered--that it has so many tools strewn about, buried in menus or hidden in palettes, that you can't find what you're looking for. Well, with its soon-to-be-introduced Configurator tool, Adobe's handing you a broom and a dustpan.
The Configurator lets you create custom palettes and toolbars, which you can use in addition to or in place of Adobe's stock ones. The tool, which runs on top of Adobe Air (Mac or Windows), shows you a collapsible, comprehensive list of all the tools, commands, actions and scripts, and widgets available in Photoshop; after you create a new, blank panel, you simply drag things into the panel. Several buttons across the top of the window help you arrange and distribute elements in your panel.
You can create multiple panels, export them, then open them up in Photoshop via its Extensions menu; once you get them where you want them, you can save a custom Workspace, and they'll open up in the same place every time you start up the application. You can also drag in text labels, images, and even video; Adobe showed me examples of pretty sophisticated tutorials that use customized panels.
Adobe says that using custom panels won't speed up Photoshop or reduce its system requirements, but John Nack, principal product manager for Photoshop, says that, by and large, Photoshop doesn't load things until you need them anyway.
Monday Apple all but threatened to close up iTunes pending a decision by the Copyright Royalty Board as to whether to raise digital music distribution royalty fees or not. And while it may have been an empty threat, we can all breath a sigh of relief that we won't need to find out. Yesterday the board made its decision and music royalty fees for online sales remain the same.
It seems like everybody wins with the current royalty plan. While the music labels wanted to increase royalty rates to as much as 8 percent of total revenue, the Digital Media Association, of which Apple and Amazon.com are a part of, was trying to get royalty rates reduced. It turns out that the status quo is just the compromise both sides were looking for. The decision will be revisited in 2012, so at least we know that the iTunes store will be safe until then. That is, assuming Apple doesn't face any DRM related issues.
For all the money Microsoft has spent pimping out Windows Vista, they certainly can't seem to let XP go. The Register reports that Microsoft has yet again extended the deadline for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to produce machines equipped with Windows XP to July 31, 2009. This claim has not been substantiated by Microsoft, but given its push-and-pull relationship with the XP cut-off date, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it were true.
Windows XP was supposed to retire on January 31, 2008, a year after Vista's release, but once Vista sales failed to meet expectations, its death date was extended to July 30, 2008.
Continue reading "Windows XP Death Date May Be Extended - Again!"
The world of BitTorrent mixed with Hollywood this week, and it turns out that's never a good combo. Saw director Darren Bousman may have tried to encourage his fans to upload fake soundtracks of his new movie to BitTorrent sites recently, and Michael Moore, or at least his lawyers, may have got more than they bargained for when they allowed Moore's new film Slacker Uprising to be distributed for free.
Torrent Freak is reporting that Bousman, who directed Saw II, III and IV, encouraged his fans to upload phony copies of his new film's soundtrack. While we could not confirm Torrent Freak's version of events, we did discover, via a cached page on Google, that there was some talk of uploading fake albums.
Continue reading "Hollywood Director Asks Fans to Fake Out File Swappers"
The iPhone is still king of the smartphone, but Apple's future dominance is in serious question with a flurry of new competitors. Nokia is the latest to threaten the iPhone's dominance with its just released touchsceen phone the 5800 Express Music phone, previously known as "Tube."
While this is not Nokia's first touchscreen phone (the 7710 was launched back in 2004) the Finns definitely borrowed some design cues from Apple's iPhone, but it seems that Nokia has hit all the right notes with the 5800. And above all, apparently, you get so much more for your money than with an iPhone.
The 5800 Express Music will be available this quarter for about $390, simfree (iPhone comes with a two year contract for $199). Only the simfree part could be a great selling point, as you would be able to use the phone on any network, anywhere around the world, without the hurdle of unlocking the phone(legally or not quite as legally).
No word on when this phone will hit the US market. Unfortunately it's highly unlikely to see the 5800 here in the U.S. in time for this holiday season. Most likely, Nokia will test the waters across the pond in Europe and early next year we might see Tube on a GSM carrier in the UK, as in T-Mobile or AT&T. But if you travel to Europe this winter, you can snap up an unlocked one from there - as the Tube is compatible with North American HSDPA (GSM) carriers.
Continue reading "Why Nokia's 'Tube' Is the iPhone's Biggest Threat"
Barack Obama is bringing a new high-tech twist to the presidential race. The Democratic team has unveiled an iPhone app that lets voters stay connected to the campaign and locate contacts in key battleground states.
iPhone Features
Political preferences aside, there's no question the move is an innovative idea when it comes to reaching young voters. The Obama '08 application's key feature, "Call Your Friends," prioritizes all the phone's contacts by state -- so people in places such as Florida or Pennsylvania will rank up high, while those in Democratic strongholds such as California will end up low -- letting supporters see who they need to call. The app also logs the total number of campaign-related calls made and anonymously keeps a running tally. (Users can then compare their numbers to other users', without actually seeing any identifying information.)
Continue reading "Obama and iPhone: How Technology is Changing the Campaign"
One month after a much-hyped jump into the business of browsers, Google's Chrome hasn't quite set the world on fire. Chrome's market share has already begun to decline from the 1 percent it sponged during week one down to its current 0.78 percent.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox both saw declines in market share nearly parallel with Chrome's current status. The total loss between the two companies is 0.90 points. This means the other browsers out there--including Apple Safari and Opera--are gaining momentum, likely driven by mobile phone browser usage.
Pair this news with some of the negative reviews Chrome received at the start, along with its security flaws and unimpressive performance, and the battlefield is set for some interesting Internet fisticuffs.
Also, according to Silicon.com's latest CIO Jury poll, 10 out of 12 IT teams are not testing Chrome as a companywide browser solution. This decision rests mainly on the predominance of Microsoft products in the business world--a tall hurdle for any competitor to leap.
I'm betting that as more companies manufacture Google OS-based mobile phones, a Chrome mobile browser (and hopefully one for the Mac) will see the light--Google may find another niche in the market and gain in popularity. And it's always fair to remember that Chrome is but one month old: More time and various beta rebuilds are needed before this race can be called.
Google has relaunched Google Blog Search with its own memetracker. A memetracker takes all the latest blog posts about popular news and issues and aggregates them to make browsing the latest topics much easier.
Google's new page lists a variety of broad topics like Politics, Technology, Entertainment, and so on. The most popular topics are featured with a cluster of blogs written about that subject, making it easy to narrow down subjects to your specific interest.
Google uses a similar thing design with Google News, where you see a given subject--for example, the new Nintendo DS announcement--and underneath that subject's top story you see a link like "all 309 news articles."
This method of clustering blog topics is a great way to see what's been written without having to do a manual search. But will Google's new approach be popular?
Google Blog Search has a few strikes against it. It has to contend against already popular memetrackers in popular categories, like Techmeme, which covers Tech News, and its sister site Memeorandum, which covers political news. Also, the new page is not the most visually appealing design I've ever seen.
One thing I do like about the new Blog Search is the handy graph it uses for specific topics. Once you are looking at all the various blogs on a given topic, Google provides a graph that shows you when the blogs were written over the last day. This could come in handy for bloggers who may be trying to figure out what's hot and what topics are already starting to wane.
Google has a habit of creating popular consumer tools, but it's too early to tell whether the new Google Blog Search will be a hit or a Chrome-style flop.
Apple has lifted strict rules governing its iPhone NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) policy yesterday relenting on its traditionally tight code of silence surrounding product development. IPhone developers rejoiced at the lifted restriction seeing Apple's NDA requirement as silly - if not a hindrance.
Apple explained its decision stating: "The NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone's success."
Is Apple feeling Google on its tail?
Continue reading "How Will Apple's NDA Removal Impact iPhone Owners?"
With its 20-ton manganese door and armored nickel-steel walls, the vault in the basement of the Wells Fargo building in San Francisco's financial district was designed to withstand earthquakes and would-be thieves. But while it's probably still a good place to stash tangible valuables such as jewelry and cash, it's no longer the last word in security for documents: For those, Wells now offers a virtual vault service called vSafe.
Essentially an online storage site with beefed-up security, vSafe (which made its official debut today) costs $4.95 a month for up to 1GB worth of documents; $9.95 for up to 3GB, and $14.95 for up to 6GB. Wells officials say it's designed to store electronic copies or versions of important documents such as passports, wills, property deeds, birth and marriage certificates, stocks and bonds, photos, and the like.
While customers are responsible for creating (by scanning, for example) and uploading the electronic copies of most documents, Wells will, on request, automatically store the PDFs it creates of a customer's bank statements. Wells' literature notes that while electronic copies aren't legal replacements for the originals (especially for documents such as wills, deeds, trusts, stock certificates, passports, and powers of attorney), they can sometimes help if the originals are destroyed or lost.
The site isn't fancy, but it does provide some folders to help you organize your documents (and you can create your own folders if you wish). The services promises 256-bit encrypted storage and regular backups "with geographically diverse servers."
Authentication seems more robust than the usual userID-password login: To access your documents once you log in to your online account, you must request a code that is sent either by e-mail or as a text message (your choice). You must then enter that code on the site--and it's only good for the one visit, so you have to go through the same drill each time you access the site.
Secure online storage isn't new, of course; XDrive offers 5GB for free. But Wells believes its history of providing secure real-world storage and its user-friendly and secure technology will convince customers. What do you think? (A 30-day free trial is available.)
StumbleUpon, the popular Web-surfing service, just ditched its software toolbar in favor of a persistent frame that appears at the top of pages you're Stumbling. The theory behind the switch, which happened Tuesday night, was to get more people Stumbling. My experience was the opposite of inclusive: The transition added a bunch of new steps to the process, making for a complicated and obnoxious endeavor.
To access the new non-toolbar Stumble experience, you must first go to the StumbleUpon website. This is annoying for those accustomed to the toolbar, which allowed Stumbling from any place on the Web. When I signed into my account, I was shown the same old homepage I've seen before, replete with ads hawking the software toolbar, with no mention of the update. I could not access the new feature when logged in; I had to sign out first and surf anonymously.
Websites are now cleanly separated by category, rather than the mishmash of the former site. I clicked on Technology and informed the algorithm that, yes, I like tech. The site then invited me to hop tech sites. Most of them were worthless, but without the Thumbs Down button embedded in the original toolbar, I couldn't express my preference. Even when I clicked 1 star, StumbleUpon wanted to know if I really did like the site -- uh, no, I don't. My only forward-moving option was clicking on the Stumble button.
When I found a site I finally liked, I noticed that the new browser toolbar prevents me from seeing the original URL. Instead, I'm given a StumbleUpon proxy address. Even when I click on the site's homepage button, the proxy does not go away. Now it will require extra sleuthing to share my findings with my friends who aren't a part of the service.
I clicked the Thumbs Up button and was told that if I liked the site, I should give it a Thumbs Up. I just did. Turns out you have to give the site a star rating. Then StumbleUpon drags you to yet another site, further away from the one you enjoyed, to say again, yes, I like this material. It's a deluge of unnecessary steps that totally detracts from the easy hop, skip and leap experience StumbleUpon previously had. It's not even fun.
The site update comes after six years of planning, according to StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp. As it stands right now, they should have waited for lucky number seven.
The biggest threat to iTunes may not come from the AC/DC after all, but from within Apple itself. On Thursday, the Copyright Royalty Board is expected to rule on a request from the National Music Publishers' Association, the group that represents musicians and songwriters, to increase royalty rates by 66% percent from 9 cents a track to 15 cents. Yesterday, Fortune reported that in a written statement to the Copyright Royalty Board last year, iTunes vice president Eddie Cue threatened to pull the plug on the iTunes Store if royalty rates to music publishers were increased. "Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is in this business to make money," Cue said in his statement. "And most likely would not continue to operate [the iTunes music store] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably." Apple is arguing that an increase to 15 cents per track would force Apple to raise prices at the iTunes store from the current standard of 99 cents. To do so, Apple believes, would significantly dampen sales and drive away customers in a market Apple considers to be very fragile.
Currently, Apple pays about 70 cents of every dollar in iTunes store revenue to record labels, which then turn around and pay out 9 cents to the music publishers. Both the record companies and online music retailers have submitted counter proposals to the Royalty Board, whose decision on Thursday will set royalty rates for the next five years. The labels want to do away with a fixed royalty rate altogether and simply pay 8 percent of total revenue to music publishers. On the other side, the Digital Music Association, an umbrella group that represents online music sellers including Apple, is asking for a significant decrease to 4.8 cents a track, almost a 50 percent pay cut.
According to the Recording Industry Assocation of America online music sales rose by 46% to 1.2 billion in 2007, however, Apple maintains that the profit margin for online music retailers is still very small.
So would Apple shut down the largest music retailer in the United States? Not likely. To do so would mean shutting out millions of consumers who are heavily invested in iPods and iPhones, making it more difficult for them to get new content on their mobile devices. And let's not forget that while music is a core part of the iTunes Store, it has evolved into a complete digital marketplace for movies, TV, games, applications, and podcasts. Apple would not only be throwing away revenue from most of these sources, but would also have to open up the iPod to be compatible with any music program or suffer huge losses in a market it largely controls and (and draws a lot of revenue from). Yes, the record companies would be to blame as well, but who are you going to blame when your $400 machine doesn't do what it used to? The content producer or the company that made your device in the first place?
To read Cue's statement to the Copyright Royalty Board, click here.
Hollywood's biggest movie studios are suing to stop RealNetworks from distributing DVD copying software. In doing so, they're taking on a losing -- and embarrassingly outdated -- battle.
The software in question is RealDVD, a program announced early in September and formally launched Tuesday. It lets you duplicate any DVD, but with strict limitations: The basic package lets you make only a single digital copy. If you pay extra license fees, you can transfer the digital copy onto as many as five other hard drives. The program never provides options for disc-based burning.
Continue reading "Why Hollywood's RealDVD Lawsuit is a Losing Battle"
This is a well-reasoned post, but starts with a flawed premise, namely that someone other than the rights-holder can build this business model without licensing.
The key issue here is whether Real circumvented CSS -- a technology it is licensed to use -- to make the duplication. It is impossible to duplicate without some level of circumvention, and that violates the DMCA. As to fair use, the US Copyright Office rejected 321 Studios' fair use argument seeking a DMCA exception for making back-up copies of DVDs, a more innocuous use than producing five usable copies.
As far as being moot because of piracy, that suggests that all rightsholders -- motion-picture makers, recording artists, songwriters, broadcasters, authors, photographers, graphic artists -- should just throw up their hands and walk away. Are you advocating that?
Finally, the rent-rip-return model is not comparable to your examples, because you own the ski mask, you own the gun, but you don't own the Netflix disc.
Adobe confirmed yesterday at the Flash On The Beach (FOTB) conference in Brighton, UK that it is actually developing a Flash Player for the iPhone. Even though it's still work in progress, with the iPhone is at its second generation, it's about time Apple!
Flash is basically the only thing that keeps the iPhone from not delivering "the real Web" in our hands, and now Adobe confirmed that such an application is in development. Ever since the iPhone was launched in 2007, one of the most sought after features that were missing from the phone's Web browser was the possibility to run Flash content.
Rumor Mill Speaks The Truth
