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Friday, January 10 FM gets strong reception at CES
CNET News.com
Las Vegas -- The hot new technology at the Consumer Electronics Show this year is -- FM radio?
Yup, the humble broadcasting technology, which ceased being a novelty around the time of Woodstock, has re-emerged in several new and potentially significant permutations.
Unused portions of the FM radio spectrum are Microsoft's transmission medium of choice for Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT), the pervasive-data concept the software giant is showing off in the form of gee-whiz wristwatches.
SPOT watches, to begin appearing on store shelves late this year from manufacturers such as Fossil and Citizen, will download sports scores, weather reports and other simple data types selected by the consumer. Data will be beamed by service providers, who will lease carrier capacity from existing FM broadcasters, and watches will automatically retrieve the signals using FM chips built into the watches. Microsoft is calling the technology DirectBand.
Roger Gulrajani, Microsoft's director of marketing for SPOT, said the software giant looked at a number of wireless technologies before settling on FM.
"It was really a matter of size and battery life," he said. "When we looked at Wi-Fi, there was just no way we could fit that into a watch ... The FM spectrum turned out to be this great, underutilized asset."
FM has the advantage of using infrastructure that's already built and can easily handle the type of tiny, continuous data downloads DirectBand will require. Instead of retrieving information on demand, SPOT devices will automatically download updated data so that fresh weather reports or news updates are displayed with one click.
"The bandwidth is pretty transparent," Mr. Gulrajni said. "To the user, it's blazingly fast, because the weather report is right there when they want to look at it."
A few issues remain to be worked out, such as exactly who will pay for and provide services using the DirectBand network that Microsoft is building. Makers of SPOT devices may provide their own proprietary services, and Microsoft might offer DirectBand services through its MSN Internet. Costs to the consumer are expected to be minimal.
Brian Halla, CEO of National Semiconductor, the chipmaker working with Microsoft to create the components for SPOT devices, says the costs for components and services are low enough that watches and other SPOT items will become impulse buys in a few years.
"The watches will be shrink-wrapped in 7-Eleven next to the Altoids, and people will get them for $20 (U.S.) with service," he said.
National is working on designs for several other SPOT devices, including a DirectBand receiver that would fit into the SecureDigital memory slot on handheld computers.
"FM is a great way to go for this kind of connectivity," Mr. Halla said. "You get much better access, and most of the network is already there."
FM radio was also big news in the automotive pavilion at CES, where Ibiquity Digital was showing off the first car and home receivers to tap into the digital FM spectrum the company is powering.
Radio stations will be able to broadcast digital signals starting this year, using Ibiquity-developed technology that recently received FCC approval in the U.S., much as television broadcasters have slowly begun offering digital HDTV broadcasts.
The difference is that radio broadcasters will need to spend only about $80,000 (U.S.) for the equipment needed to go digital, compared with the millions a TV station must spend to switch. As a result, Ibiquity CEO Robert Struble expects much faster pickup for digital radio, which offers CD-quality sound and room for a host of ancillary services, such as readouts that offer detailed info on what you are listening to and options for buying CDs by the artist.
"Broadcasters are really picking up on this, because it's a small investment, and there's a real payoff," Mr. Struble said. "The biggest challenge for radio is the growing number of distractions people have -- CDs, cellphones, all sorts of digital devices for the car -- and this gives people more reasons to pay attention to radio."
Ibiquity, which licenses technology to makers of broadcast and receiver equipment, expects that the 300 stations covering two-thirds of the United States will be broadcasting in digital by the end of this year. The first digital radio car receivers will go on sale in the second quarter of this year, with home units to follow.
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http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=455858
Fujitsu Ten and iBiquity Digital Ink Technology Development and Marketing Deal
Agreement Furthers iBiquity Digital's OEM Relationships and Hastens Advent of AM and FM Digital Radio
Detroit, Convergence 2000, (October 16, 2000) - iBiquity Digital, the leading provider of digital AM and FM radio broadcast technology in the U.S., and Japan based Fujitsu Ten, a leading automotive receiver manufacturer, today announced they have signed a Joint Technology and Marketing Development Agreement.
=========================================================
PortalPlayer Company Profile
http://www.portalplayer.com/news/profile.htm
Building the Next Generation of Digital Audio
The best known digital audio products today are small players that allow consumers to listen to audio files recorded, compressed and then downloaded from a consumer's desktop computer. First introduced in 1998, these portable players have captured the imagination of technically savvy consumers, creating a market of millions of units per year. Today, the consumer electronics industry has recognized that these portable players are just the tip of the iceberg.
As more people gain access to high-bandwidth Internet connections, market demand for products that support digital music will grow exponentially. This growth will be based on two closely related applications, downloadable audio for personal use, and streaming audio to deliver digital radio broadcasts via the Internet. To support both applications, familiar home and car audio systems will feature digital audio capability, and entirely new classes of products that use the technology will soon begin to reach the market.
=========================================================
January 10, 2003 Going digital: iBiquity converts 19 radio stations
Jeff Clabaugh Staff Reporter
Columbia-based iBiquity, which developed technology that allows traditional AM and FM radio stations to broadcast a digital signal, says Greater Media will convert all of its 19 radio stations to the format early this year.
Greater Media owns radio stations in Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia and New Jersey. Financial terms of the deal with iBiquity weren't disclosed.
In October, iBiquity got the big break it had been waiting for. The Federal Communications Commission voted to adopt the digital radio technology that it created. IBiquity has two potential revenue streams from its technology. Broadcasters who choose to adopt it and radio manufacturers who agree to license the technology.
Delphi and Sanyo have already signed licensing agreements with iBiquity. Delphi's agreement could mean that iBiquity-equipped radios could begin showing up in new vehicles as early as 2004.
While the technology allows for vastly improved quality of both AM and FM transmissions, it also allows listeners to continue to receive traditional radio signals without buying new equipment. Satellite broadcasters, like District-based XM Satellite Radio, are only available to customers who purchase additional equipment or vehicles already equipped to receive its signals.
In addition to digital quality broadcast signals, the technology will also eventually allow broadcasters to send out other data such as text-based information.
IBiquity's investors include some of the nation's top broadcasting companies, including ABC, Clear Channel and Viacom. The company was formed two years ago by the merger of Lucent Digital Radio and USA Digital Radio.
Mega-Data Stored
in Mini-Spaces
Nanotechnology Will Cram More Data in Tiny Storage Devices
By Paul Eng
Jan. 10
-- A quick look at the new consumer electronics products being developed by companies quickly reveals a fast emerging trend: many devices are turning into smart, digital data devices.
Cell phones already can capture and send digital photos wirelessly. And soon consumers will see wristwatches that can display news and information from the Internet as well as palm-sized boxes that will contain dozens of full-length, DVD-quality digital movies.
But to cram all of that data into ever-smaller devices, companies are developing novel -- and tiny -- storage devices.
Recently, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, a joint venture between Hitachi and IBM, announced plans to produce an advanced version of IBM's tiny Microdrive hard disk drive.
The miniature storage device measures roughly an inch-wide and functions exactly like traditional hard drives found in any computer. But by using advanced technology developed from IBM research, the Microdrive can store over four gigabytes of data on disks roughly the size of U.S. quarters.
Bill Healy, a manager of Hitachi's mobile storage unit in San Jose, Calif., says that when the tiny drive becomes available by this fall, it will allow for new types of portable multimedia devices.
"I'm really looking forward to Christmas of 2003," says Healy, "That's when you'll start to see digital video cameras that use Microdrive-like devices to store high-quality, DVD-like video."
Marking Up an Old Memory Idea
But for even smaller multimedia devices -- wristwatch cameras and cellphones, say -- IBM is working on a technology that may make even the Microdrive seem like a boat anchor.
For years, researchers at IBM's research centers in Zurich, Switzerland, have been working on a storage system code-named Millipede. Rather than using magnetic disks such as those found in hard drives, Millipede stores data using thousands of levers that are about 10 micrometers wide.
The levers are arranged in a square grid and travel along a sheet of thin plastic. To record a bit of data, the tip of each lever is heated to 400 degrees Celsius and "punches" into the plastic to create a tiny "pit."
This technique of storing data is similar to so-called punch-cards, developed more than 110 years ago. But unlike punch cards, the pits can be erased and reused by re-heating the spike's point and melting the plastic film back to shape.
What's more, each "pit" is tiny, measuring only 10 nanometers in diameter. The result? Millipede can store roughly one trillion bits of data per square inch of media -- 20 times greater than what is possible with today's magnetic storage devices.
Making Many More Miniature Marks
Tom Albrecht, manager of micro- and nano-mechanics research at IBM's Zurich research center, says that lab tests of Millipede last year have produced impressive results.
In a three millimeter square array containing over 1,000 levers, millipede was able to store and retrieve a 50 kilobyte digital image file with little difficulties.
But later this year, Albrecht says the IBM research team will be testing a more ambitious Millipede chip that would use over 4,000 levers in a 7 square-millimeter area of plastic. At that level of development, Albrecht expects the chip to handle "several gigabytes" of data.
"That's the whole value proposition of this technology," says Albrecht. "We can [expand] the media to get tens of gigabytes [of storage space]."
What's more, producing the Millipede chip won't require new chip-making processes.
"This is a MEMS [micro-electromechanical system], so basically it is using fabrication technology for microelectronics," says Albrecht. "We don't draw on any [technique] that's particularly difficult to develop."
Crawling Onward
Still, Albrecht notes that the team has much research to do before Millipede crawls out of IBM's labs and into future gizmos.
"There are a number of different issues that have to be answered," says Albrecht. "What is the long term reliability of the read/write process? How does it react to environmental conditions? Can we get power consumption levels and data [transfer] rates that's competitive with other [storage] technologies?"
At best, IBM says that a Millipede-based memory device could be available by the end of 2005.
12:11:58 0.195 24200 OTCBB
LL--yes, but the market seems to agree with friendlyfred that this means little w/o announced OEM support; so for now this "inside" information only creates "yet another buying opportunity"
GERN--GLAD YOU ARE KEEPING ABREAST OF THE SITUATION
DivXNetworks Launches Official DivX Certified Partner Program
Texas Instruments, Philips, Equator Technologies and Ingenient Technologies Announced as Inaugural Suite of DivX Certified Partners
San Diego, CA-September 18, 2002-DivXNetworks, Inc., the company that created the revolutionary patent-pending DivX ™ video compression technology, today announced the launch of a new DivX Certified partner program to ensure best-of-class DivX certified solutions for next generation consumer electronics devices.
Four companies were announced as the inaugural suite of official DivX Certified partners: Texas Instruments, Inc (NYSE: TXN); Philips (NYSE: PHG); Equator Technologies; and Ingenient Technologies. Each company has been officially certified through a rigorous testing process to ensure that their solutions are fully compatible with the entire suite of DivX technologies.
The new DivX Certified partner program was created to certify companies that are working with DivXNetworks to enable the creation of official DivX consumer electronics devices. There are three categories of DivX Certified partners: DivX Certified Hardware Partners, DivX Certified Embedded Software Partners, and DivX Certified Consumer Electronics Devices.
DivX Certification includes a full DivX development kit to help third parties make their existing solutions compatible with DivX technology, or to help them create new solutions from scratch. DivX Certified partner solutions are co-marketed by both companies to consumer electronics manufacturers who want to offer their customers DivX compatibility in next-generation devices. The official DivX Certified solutions will power DivX-enabled products including portable video players, DivX compatible DVD players, digital still cameras, digital video cameras, set-top boxes, home media gateways and more.
"We created the DivX Certification process to guarantee that consumers will receive only the highest-quality experience when they purchase next-generation devices that carry the DivX brand name," said Jordan Greenhall, co-founder and CEO of DivXNetworks, Inc. www.divxnetworks.com. "We are providing full development, marketing and sales support to ensure that DivX Certified solutions meet the global demand we've seen for high-quality DivX-powered devices."
As official DivX Certified Hardware partners, Texas Instruments, Philips and Equator Technologies are working closely with DivXNetworks to create DivX certified solutions to power a wide range of next-generation video convergence devices.
"We are excited to join with DivX to ensure our OEMs have the latest video compression technology for their next generation products," said Raj Chirayil, business development manager, Audio and Infotainment Group, Texas Instruments. "The inherent programmability of TI's DSP architecture, coupled with DivX's MPEG-4 technology, makes our solution versatile for a variety of consumer electronics and video-on-demand applications."
"We are pleased to offer consumer electronics manufacturers the ability to rapidly deploy leading edge streaming media solutions based on Philips' Nexperia™ platform," said Chris Day, senior marketing director media processing, Philips Semiconductors. "The highly flexible Nexperia platform gives increased opportunities for product differentiation, as well as simplified development and fast design cycles resulting in a shorter time to market."
"Our customers are looking for robust, high-performance solutions that enable a variety of DivX-compatible devices, from handheld multimedia devices to next-generation Home Media Centers. Our BSP™-15 processor and the DivX Certified partner program together allow us to provide quality solutions that video-centric consumer device manufactures can use today," said Rich Christopher, senior VP of sales and marketing, Equator Technologies.
The first publicly announced DivX Certified Embedded Software partner, Ingenient Technologies, is working closely with DivXNetworks to deliver DivX video technology to Texas Instruments' DSP-based products.
"We share DivXNetworks' focus on creating and delivering high performance digital video technology, and the global market acceptance and unsurpassed quality of DivX video provide a welcome addition to our growing embedded software product offerings," said Sami Levi, president and CEO, Ingenient Technologies.
DivX MPEG-4 compatible video compression technology was hailed as a "revolutionary product" by Tom's Hardware Guide and has been downloaded over 65 million times. The new DivX Certified Partner Program was created to enable the development of official DivX-enabled consumer electronics products to meet the global demand for high-quality DivX convergence devices. For more information on DivX certification process, visit www.divx.com/certified.
About DivXNetworks DivXNetworks is a leading technology company that enables the rapid proliferation of video content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks by combining the lightweight, ubiquitous access of the Internet with DVD-quality video performance. The company's approach is built upon the success of the DivX™ codec, a leading standard for MPEG-4 compatible video distribution with over 65 million users worldwide, and the DivX Open Video System™, a next-generation content delivery system that provides unsurpassed aggregation, promotion, and distribution of video content for mass markets. DivXNetworks is headquartered in San Diego, California, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. For more information about DivXNetworks, visit http://www.divxnetworks.com.
About Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated is the world leader in digital signal processing and analog technologies, the semiconductor engines of the Internet age. The company's businesses also include sensors and controls, and educational and productivity solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing or sales operations in more than 25 countries. Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ti.com.
About Philips Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of $ 28.8 billion (EUR 32.2 billion) in 2001. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, and one-chip TV products. Its 184,000 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, components, semiconductors, and medical systems. Philips is quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at www.newscenter.philips.com/usa.
About Equator Technologies, Inc. Equator Technologies is a leading provider of high performance, programmable, power efficient System-on-a-chip processors designed for video streaming and image processing applications across a wide range of consumer and enterprise end markets. Equator offers the BSP family of Broadband Signal Processor chips, the iMMediaTools® software development toolkit, media libraries, and reference platforms for development and deployment of video streaming and video processing systems. With more than 150 customers worldwide, Equator provides solutions to the digital media, digital video communications, video security and surveillance, digital imaging, and automotive video markets. Winner of the "2001 Fabless Semiconductor Association Best Financial Performer - Private Company" award and picked by Cahners Research as the top private company on the list of 30 best small electronics companies, Equator is a recognized leader in video processing solutions. Founded in 1996, Equator is a privately held company headquartered in Campbell, Calif., with additional offices worldwide. More information about Equator is available at www.equator.com.
About Ingenient Technologies Ingenient Technologies is emerging as a premier supplier of embedded multimedia solutions that enable the creation, delivery, management and presentation of multimedia content. Their comprehensive suites of proprietary enhanced international standards compliant algorithms, transraters / transcoders and framework products enable fast time-to-market for products addressing the consumer electronics, video security and surveillance, video server, and video infrastructure markets. Headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. More information can be found by visiting http://www.ingenient.com.
A software programmable BSP-15 chip can replace multiple fixed-function ASICs, thereby reducing both complexity and cost of system designs.
Equator Technologies is a leading provider of high performance, programmable, power efficient System-on-a-chip processors designed for video streaming and image processing applications across a wide range of consumer and enterprise end markets. Equator offers the BSP™ family of Broadband Signal Processor chips, the iMMediaTools® software development toolkit, media libraries, and reference platforms for development and deployment of video streaming and video processing systems.
With more than 140 customers worldwide, Equator provides solutions to the digital media, digital video communications, video security and surveillance, digital imaging, and automotive video markets. Based on a high-performance VLIW core and optimized for video processing, the BSP-15 family of chips delivers up to 40 GOPS of video processing power. Utilizing Equator's optimizing compiler technology; BSP-15 chips are 100% programmable in C/C++, enabling rapid deployment and field upgradeability of new applications and devices.
A software programmable BSP-15 chip can replace multiple fixed-function ASICs, thereby reducing both complexity and cost of system designs.
Services/Support: Equator offers a wide range of worldwide support options customized to fit each individual customer's needs. With support locations dispersed throughout North America, Europe and Asia, Equator prides itself on offering the highest quality, in-depth on-site assistance to its customers. Equator also offers regularly scheduled training classes worldwide.
Distribution: Equator has an extensive worldwide sales and distribution network in North America, Europe and Asia. Equator's products are sold through direct and indirect sales channels.
Customers: Equator technology has been adopted by Industry leaders such as Polycom, Xerox, Optibase, DMS (Acer), NDS, Snell and Wilcox, Pace, Samsung[/B], and Siemens, who rely on the performance, cost-effectiveness and open programmability of the Equator solutions to deliver the high quality and competitive products.
Vegas Expo to Show New Electronic Gadgets
By JIM KRANE, AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK - Panasonic, Palm, Philips and other makers of cell phones, handheld computers and electronic doodads would have you believe the good times are rolling now like never before.
They may have a point.
More than 2,000 such companies are trucking their newest wares to Las Vegas' International Consumer Electronics Show this week, promising to overwhelm the city's gargantuan convention hall. The show, which features keynotes by chiefs of Sony, Microsoft and Intel, has normally pessimistic analysts abuzz with a fervor that seems alien in times of war and uncertainty.
"If you're a techie, this is gadget nirvana," said Tim Bajarin, president of technology consulting firm Creative Strategies.
As once-mighty technology shows like Comdex (news - web sites) and TechXNY falter, CES thrives.
The reason, perhaps, is that the now-ubiquitous personal computer was never central to the CES show. Now, PC technology is being integrated into slick gadgets that have stolen the limelight from the PC and the trade shows created to tout it.
Even Microsoft, the company that cashed in most on the PC revolution, is eager to talk about home entertainment hubs, wireless displays and Internet appliances like the alarm clock that downloads weather and traffic news while you sleep.
In 1967, when the first CES opened in New York City, vendors extolled the latest in transistor radios, audio cassettes and small-screen black-and-white TVs.
This year's show focuses on the same patterns of electronic consumption. Instead of transistor radios, companies are expected to show car radios that receive broadcasts of digital music -- as well as television.
The portable storage seen in the audio cassette has morphed into many forms, including the Secure Digital card, the size of a U.S. quarter. Panasonic will announce a new one that holds a gigabyte of digital data -- roughly the same as a 90-minute analog cassette.
And TVs are still a hot item 36 years later, with several companies proffering flat-panels the size of a small garden patch that are digital cable-ready.
Analysts are agog over the forthcoming personal video player, or PVP, that chipmaker Intel and ReplayTV (news - web sites) maker SONICblue are working on. Intel will show off several prototypes of the Walkman-sized PVP, with a 4-inch screen and storage for more than 10 hours of movies.
The Intel PVP won't be the first such device. France's Archos released its $399 Jukebox Multimedia, with a 1-inch screen, last year.
Analysts also admit pent-up reverence for the finally emerging wireless "smart displays" such as the ViewSonic airpanel and Philips iPronto. Both are the first of a slew of such products using touch-screen technology Microsoft announced at last year's CES, under the name Mira.
Instead of tethering computer users to a desk, smart displays allow folks to wander the house or office with a screen that links wirelessly with the computer.
At least two companies will offer systems for those who want live TV beamed to their cars, rather than just DVDs playing on their seat-back screens.
KVH Industries will unveil a car-mounted 4-inch-high disc antenna that pulls in satellite TV. The $2,000 antennas, already in use by the U.S. military, devote an array of tiny gyroscope-guided dish antennas to lock onto a satellite during the twists and turns of the road.
Sirius Satellite Radio also plans to demonstrate that a Sirius-configured Kenwood car stereo can receive satellite-beamed video alongside radio broadcasts.
A handful of cell phone and handheld computer makers will further blend the two devices. Hitachi and Samsung will introduce PDA phones with picture-messaging capabilities. Both can access higher-speed wireless networks to send e-mail and surf the 'Net. The Hitachi also integrates a keyboard.
Several analysts point to the emergence of a wider "digital lifestyle" which aims to steer folks back into their own homes, away from terrorists and foreign vacations.
The concept is boosted by converging home entertainment devices and software known collectively as "media gateways." The gateways bundle stray audio and video formats -- from MP3s to recorded TV shows to digital pictures -- to allow control them from a single device.
"There's a blending between the home PC and the home entertainment systems, your stereo and TV," said Forrester Research's Charles Golvin.
The gateways can take the shape of a PC-centric system, a set-top box, or a handheld computer imbued with software, like Scientia Technologies' Plexus, that can control everything from the TV to the swimming pool pump.
The show has also become the gadget industry's venue to persuade the U.S. government to see things its way.
A dozen members of Congress are expected, along with top officials from the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Commerce and Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) chairman Michael Powell.
The Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) is expected to introduce "Plug-in to Recycling," a campaign aimed at prodding Americans to stop tossing toxic electronic waste into the trash.
The EPA will announce "e-waste" recycling opportunities, with help from vendors, manufacturers and waste haulers, including Best Buy, Sony, Waste Management, Panasonic and Dell, the EPA said.
For federal officials without funds to fly to Las Vegas and stay in the Hilton -- the hallowed venue where Elvis Presley started his comeback in 1969 -- CES organizers will pay, said Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association.
The industry finds itself struggling to compete with the entertainment industry's lobbying push to persuade Congress to block some technologies, especially those that allow digital recording of music and TV broadcasts.
"We're not Hollywood. Certainly we don't make the campaign contributions that the studios can," Shapiro said. "But (Congress) regulates these products. If they're going to regulate us they should see the industry up close and personal."
___
the original version:
The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
====
the prior post was mother teresa's version
The Final Analysis
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
...Forgive them anyway!
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
...Be kind anyway!
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
...Succeed anyway!
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
...Be honest and frank anyway!
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
...Build anyway!
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
...Be happy anyway!
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
...Do good anyway!
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
...Give the world the best you've got anyway!
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
philo--. The 12% Series D Preferred Stock matures June 30, 2007, is non redeemable and is convertible into shares of Common Stock at $0.20, subject to certain adjustments."
DABOSS-- am I correct in assuming this $2.05M conversion at 20 cents translates into an additional 10M shares???
gosilver--
It is said that history repeats itself, but we are only doomed to relive our past if we fail to learn from it. The past is not a map to where you are going, it's a record of where you have been. Its purpose is not to drag you back through emotional muck, but to serve you best by reminding you of lessons learned so you can avoid them in the future.
hopefully there have been lessons learned by edig management; but the other issue is what lessons have been learned by shareholders
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night--
I see we got our Christmas present from edig--3M more shares; I seem to recall something about retiring o/s debt and renegotiating more favorable terms? All I see is paying a 1/4 million dollars in interest at 12-15-24% rates--but I guess what are friends for anyway-- Falk for Santa Claus!!
We also are offering (i) 807,013 shares of our common stock to the Jerry E.
Polis Family Trust, The Eric M. Polis Trust, Canusa Trading Ltd., NGHK Holdings,
LLC, and Sunrise in consideration for (and in full satisfaction of) accrued and
unpaid interest due and payable to the foregoing entities pursuant to certain
12% Secured Promissory Notes dated September 27, 2001, (ii) 397,104 shares of
our common stock to the Jerry E. Polis Family Trust, Canusa Trading Ltd. and
NGHK Holdings, LLC in consideration for (and in full satisfaction of) accrued
and unpaid interest due and payable to the foregoing entities pursuant to
certain 24% Promissory Notes dated July 1, 2002, July 16, 2002 and July 17,
2002, respectively, and (iii) 133,223 shares of our common stock to
Davric in consideration for (and in full satisfaction of) accrued and unpaid
interest due and payable to Davric pursuant to certain 15% Promissory Notes
dated September 11, 2002. The amount of accrued and unpaid interest that is
being satisfied as a result of the foregoing issuance of common stock is
$254,096.
Jimi Hendrix---LOL; Merry Christmas to one and all
Ron Popeil
Taking the high-tech road
By Wayne Cosshall
Additional reporting by Paul Best and Cecilia Leung
December 18 2002
Livewire
It's almost unavoidable to travel these days without one or another piece of high-priced technology tagging along for the ride. Digital cameras and camcorders, laptop and palmtop computers, portable audio players and, more recently, DVD players, mobile phones and hard-disk drives - there's a swag of technical goodies that are highly transportable and designed to make more of our time away.
Of course, if you're planning to take electronic equipment with you, whether on holidays or a business trip, it is important to know how it works well before you leave. For a start, it'll save you having to haul the manuals along. It will also give you the chance to ensure the equipment is functioning properly.
Nick Hodge, the technical resources manager of Adobe Systems for the Pacific and South-East Asia, is an experienced and frequent traveller. The most important piece of advice he gives is: "Make contingency plans based on the worst-case scenario."
If you're planning on travelling with technology, here is a guide to help make the trip as hassle-free as possible.
Power
The first thing about any technical item is, it's going to need power. Always, at the point of departure, have all batteries fully charged. In some countries, for instance, airport security may require that you boot up a laptop to show it's not a disguised bomb. It's best to be able to do this without needing to plug it in. Then, if your flight is delayed, you can at least use it for work or watch a DVD (if it has a DVD drive).
When it comes to laptops, "it can be a trade-off between performance, weight and price", says Toshiba product marketing manager Laurie White. Two hours of battery life should be a minimum requirement, he suggests. One of the new tablet PCs is an option. Toshiba's new Portege 3500 tablet PC, for example, is lightweight, at 1.8 kilograms, but also lasts at least 4.5 hours. However, it's pricey, at $4840.
MP3 players such as Apple's iPod and the 10GB Creative Nomad Zen may appear ideal to travel with but they suffer limited battery life. They also do not have external back-up battery packs, as Sony's high-end Mini-Disc players do. You may be left on a long flight with no music of your own.
Make sure any power supply you take has a wide range of voltages. In India, for example, power supplies fluctuate wildly, even in five-star hotels.
Many laptop power units are international, meaning they work off 110V, 230V or 240V, as do many chargers for digital cameras, DVcams and mobile phones.
You will still need a plug adaptor when going overseas. Also pack a low-profile, compact power board in your luggage. Far too many hotel rooms have too few power points.
It's wise for digital still and video-camera users to carry a spare battery with them. While AA batteries, both normal and rechargeable, are commonly available, check to see that an item doesn't use proprietary batteries.
Remember, too, that rechargeable batteries deteriorate with age, so if your batteries are long in the tooth and run down quickly, it's best to replace them. The old batteries can be kept as spares.
Security
Expensive high-tech gear is a target for thieves. It's sensible to take some precaution against theft.
For laptops, there are various locks and security cables on the market. String something like a Kensington Slim MicroSaver, a lock and cable package ($99), to a fixed item such as plumbing and you shouldn't experience any trouble. Note, though, that some cables and locks can set off airport alarms. Also make use of hotel safes and safe deposit boxes for palmtops, mobiles, cameras and the like.
Commonsense plays a part. Use a nondescript bag, whether a backpack or shoulder bag, to tuck everything away. I'm particularly partial to modern backpacks designed for easier carrying. There is a variety of bags to choose from. This means, in turn, that you avoid any steal-me badges or labels that loudly promote the contents. If you have to, cut brand labels off or cover them with tape.
For laptops, my favourite is the Lapdog, made by Shaun Jackson Design (www.sjdesign.com). It unfolds so that you can use the laptop in the bag on your lap or on a plane's tray table. The company also makes a bag that serves as a complete portable office. Other manufacturers to look at include Targus, Crumpler, STD, Lowepro and Tamrac.
It is a good idea, too, if the product has an international warranty. Adobe's Nick Hodge will only travel, for instance, with Dell or Apple laptops for this reason.
Connectivity
If travelling within Australia, check that your ISP has multiple dial-in points of access. For overseas, you'll want an ISP with international access points. Telstra Bigpond, Pacific Internet and others are members of the Global Reach Internet Connection group, which provides global roaming to 150 countries, with more than 19,000 access points.
OzEmail uses a similar group, iPass, which has more than 11,000 access points in 150 countries.
Both can automatically store access points on a portable device. The service is not unlike international roaming for mobile phones.
You can also set your local e-mail account to forward mail to something like a Hotmail account, or use the webmail facility offered by many ISPs. Webmail allows you to use a browser rather than an e-mail program to access your messages. More hotels are providing data modem or Ethernet Internet access - check yours.
Of course, there are Internet cafes that make it easy to keep in touch, as well as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks, which allow you to use portable devices to link to the Web. For Wi-Fi locations, go to 80211hotspots.com.
Qantas Club offers wireless connectivity to e-mail and the Web if you subscribe to its Skynet Global service.
It's also an idea to make a list of websites that can prove useful when away from home, such as Internet cafe directories, city guides, credit card and bank homepages, as well as currency and time converters.
If you're taking a mobile phone, the costs of global roaming can be steep, even if someone is calling you. One option may be to permanently divert your phone to voicemail and retrieve your calls later.
Also keep in mind that most of the United States operates on a different cellular phone system to Australia, Europe and Asia. Tri-band phones can connect to three different mobile phone systems, including some in the US. For Asia, apart from Japan, you'll probably need a dual-band phone. Europe is less of a problem, but it pays to check that your phone company offers global roaming to the countries you plan to visit. Otherwise, it may be better to rent a phone (Telstra, for example, rents phones) or buy a disposable phone card.
It's best to contact your carrier about global roaming costs, set-ups and availability, as they can change. For example, from tomorrow, Vodafone users will be able to make and receive calls in Japan. Special 3G phones are needed, however, and these will become available locally for purchase or rent.
Storage and Backups
If travelling with a digital camera, it'll probably be necessary to take an additional memory card, particularly as suppliers provide cards with limited storage, say about 16MB. Cards that can store up to 3GB cost more than $7000. A 64MB card should do. Otherwise, you can download images to a laptop or, better still, invest in a portable hard disk drive, which does away with the need for a laptop or multiple memory cards. Then again, storing all your images in one place can be foolhardy, if the drive is damaged or stolen.
Hard disk drives, such as the Nixvue Vista ($995 with 5GB hard drive), can also be used to carry important documents. The Apple iPod, primarily a portable MP3 music player, neatly doubles as a hard disk drive, with its top model able to store 20GB of data.
Another choice is a laptop with a CD burner. This way, you can back up data, images or video on a CD. Even safer is to burn two CDs: keep one with you and post the other home to yourself. There are quite a few cases on the market to protect CDs in transit.
Make sure to travel with CD copies and leave the originals at home. If you lose or scratch them, it will not matter. If you need that extra space for, say, new purchases, you can always ditch them. Otherwise, invest in an MP3 player and download your music to it. MP3 players can generally store a sizeable amount of music.
Don't forget to bring some portable speakers for headphone-free music listening in your hotel room. Try the foldable Creative Labs TravelSound ($199). Sony makes some mini speakers too, from $22.95.
Another essential is a small repair kit, which should at the least have a Swiss Army knife with tools appropriate to your gear; a small roll of gaffer tape (useful for holding a laptop closed or securing a broken battery compartment door), jeweller's screwdrivers, plus garbage and sealable bags to keep equipment dry.
A final word
Travelling with technology shouldn't be difficult. At the same time, don't be afraid to leave it at home. For instance, you can take a good, compact film camera on the trip, such as an Olympus Mju-II ($500), instead of a digital. But as we become more and more used to digital gadgets - handheld PCs, wireless voice and data communication, cameras, video recorders, music and video players - we are more tempted to bring one or more of these things along. So if you are to travel with thousands of dollars worth of electronics in your luggage, then be prepared and take precautions.
Sprint(R) Teams with Listen.com to Offer New Music Services for FastConnect(R) DSL and PCS Vision(SM) Customers
Wednesday December 18, 8:04 am ET
New Services Make it Easy for Sprint Customers to Explore and Enjoy Music From Virtually Any Location
OVERLAND PARK, Kansas, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Sprint (NYSE: FON; PCS) today announced that it is joining forces with leading online music company Listen.com to offer two new music services -- Rhapsody and Rhapsody 411 -- that together expand the opportunity for Sprint customers to listen to their favorite music and access music information.
Today, Sprint introduced Rhapsody, a comprehensive new digital music subscription service that gives Sprint customers unlimited access to the world's largest library of digital music. In addition, users can burn full albums, custom mix CDs, build their own custom Internet radio stations or listen to professionally-programmed stations, and browse a wealth of music information about every artist, album and genre.
As a special introductory offer, Sprint customers can try out Rhapsody for free until Dec. 22 by visiting http://www.listen.com/sprint .
Sprint will also introduce Rhapsody 411, a music information service from Listen.com that enables PCS Vision subscribers to learn more about their favorite music using their Vision-enabled PCS devices. With Rhapsody 411, PCS Vision customers can browse thousands of music recommendations, artist bios, artist discographies, full-color artist images, and album art from any location. PCS customers that use Rhapsody 411 will also be given a promotional code that will allow them to enjoy their favorite music by signing up for the Rhapsody service.
"Sprint is offering new entertainment services that will enhance our customers' high-speed online experience," said Steve Carter, vice president of consumer marketing for the LTD division of Sprint. "This partnership gives our DSL customers unique access to music - whether compiling a custom CD of their favorite music or getting updates on their favorite bands."
"The addition of Rhapsody 411 to the Vision entertainment portfolio allows Sprint's wireless customers to access a wealth of information about their favorite musicians, from anywhere on Sprint's enhanced nationwide PCS network," said Chip Novick, vice president of consumer marketing for the PCS division of Sprint.
"Listen.com shares Sprint's vision for making it convenient for consumers to access digital music from anywhere," said Tim Bratton, vice president of wireless and emerging platforms for Listen.com. "We're excited to bring our Rhapsody music services to the desktops and wireless phones of Sprint customers."
Rhapsody Digital Music Service: The Best in Online Music
FastConnect DSL customers can sign up for Rhapsody via http://www.listen.com/sprint. Rhapsody offers two simple subscription plans that take full advantage of FastConnect DSL subscribers' high-speed connections to deliver the music they want:
-- Rhapsody All Access ($9.95 per month): The Rhapsody All Access plan
lets subscribers build extensive personal music collections choosing
from Rhapsody's library of more than 20,000 albums, create playlists of
their favorite music and listen to high-fidelity Internet radio.
Customers can also burn CDs for just 99 cents per track.
-- Rhapsody Radio PLUS ($4.95 per month): The Rhapsody Radio PLUS plan
offers a high-fidelity, 128 Kbps streaming radio service that lets
subscribers build customized stations with music from up to 10 favorite
artists, listen to more than 50 pre-programmed stations, and skip past
tracks they don't like.
Rhapsody's library includes more than 260,000 individual tracks from all five of the world's largest music companies, including BMG, EMI Recorded Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, and more than 100 independent labels.
FastConnect DSL customers can listen to music, access Internet information, play games, and watch videos without having to experience long connection or long download times. Sprint offers FastConnect DSL service to consumers and businesses in approximately 310 communities in 34 major markets in 16 states served by its Local Telecommunications Division (LTD).
Rhapsody 411: Music Information Via Vision-enabled PCS Phones
Rhapsody 411 is a wireless music site that will provide PCS customers with extensive music information, pictures and editorial content. Customers will be able to access album reviews, artist biographical information, artist photos, discographies, album art and album track lists. PCS customers who use Rhapsody 411 will be offered a special incentive to subscribe to Rhapsody service.
Rhapsody 411 is one of a number of advanced wireless services available as part of PCS Vision, Sprint's next generation wireless service. PCS Vision from Sprint includes services that allow customers to browse the Internet wirelessly with speeds comparable to a home computer's dial-up connection; check personal and corporate e-mail; download polyphonic ringers and full- color, graphically-rich games and screen savers.
For additional information about PCS Vision, consumers may visit www.sprintpcs.com For additional information about FastConnect DSL, residential customers may visit www.sprint.com/dsl or call 1-800-SPRINT DSL.
"...we are experiencing an upswing and expect substantially increasing product orders and revenue for the holiday season. Last year, the vast majority of all MP3 player sales occurred between November and January, and retailers expect this to be the case this year as well. Consequently, the majority of anticipated revenues that were projected for the September quarter are expected to move into the October -- December quarter." Jim Collier/Fred Falk
Music industry faces a bleak Christmas
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Holiday stockings this year will be stuffed with plenty of CDs, though not necessarily the kind you can buy in a record store.
The music industry is finding itself increasingly in discord with fans who prefer to burn songs onto blank CDs or rip off tunes from unauthorised online file-sharing services.
Competition from DVDs, video games, and the general effects of a weak economy are also hurting the industry's bottom line as it faces a second-consecutive decline in fourth-quarter sales, experts said.
In the critical holiday period, the world's biggest record labels had hoped to reach a sales crescendo with a heavy slate of new releases by big-name artists.
But, while several new records -- like country pop diva Shania Twain's album "Up!" -- are selling well, the overall trend seems to be heading in the opposite direction.
"There has not been a week this year when album sales have matched or beaten the volume of the same week last year, so there is no reason to expect that the last month will make up the difference, even with all the big-name releases that have come out recently," said Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard Magazine.
According to industry statistics, U.S. album sales for the last three weeks -- the start of the holiday retail season -- totalled about 55 million units, down about 14 percent from 64 million units a year earlier.
Industry analysts noted that Thanksgiving Day last year fell a week earlier, so the most recent three-week figures include one pre-Thanksgiving week of sales for 2002; while for 2001, the comparable three-week period was all-inclusive of the big post-Thanksgiving holiday sales push.
Even so, for the year-to-date, total album sales are down 10.8 percent to 597.4 million from 669.7 million, compounding a nearly 3 percent overall slide in 2001.
Last year, fourth-quarter album sales fell 5.46 percent to 248 million units from 262.3 million in 2000.
HEAVY RELEASE BLITZ
Notching strong sales at the start of the holiday shopping season were a live album from ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and a posthumous release from slain rapper Tupac Shakur.
But record companies now fear that their blitz may backfire.
In the most recent week ended December 8, industry tracker Nielsen Soundscan found U.S. album sales fell to 18.6 million units.
Retailer Tower Records said that while its stores' CD sales are down, the megastore chain was outpacing the industry.
"We are doing marginally better than the national trend in terms of the decline in CDs. In the last three weeks, we've actually seen a decline of 15 percent year-on-year, but the good news is that in terms of DVDs, we've seen an increase of 25 percent," said a spokeswoman for Tower.
The debt-ridden Sacramento, California-based company, which has racked up over $120 million (75.5 million pounds) in losses in the last four years, is trying to rebuild itself by focusing on non-music merchandise.
"Obviously, we're known for our deep catalogue and our breadth of selection in music, but we're also modifying our product mix. We're moving into the entertainment niche as opposed to just strictly music retail," the spokeswoman said.
This holiday season, in an effort to appeal to the new computer-savvy generation of consumers, all the big labels have bolstered their online offerings, with some like Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group offering thousands and thousands of downloads for sale via the Internet.
In addition to more aggressive Web offerings and an onslaught of new records from everyone from Twain to Jennifer Lopez to Mariah Carey and Eminem, the labels continue to fight legal battles against music swapping networks like Audiogalaxy, Aimster and Songspy, which they blame for their misfortunes.
The industry and law enforcement agencies have also raided and busted several piracy rings and manufacturing plants around the country.
"We're throwing everything we can at this in an effort to salvage the fourth-quarter sales," said Frank Creighton, director of the Recording Industry Association of America's anti-piracy unit.
"Music fans have more exciting new music to choose from this season than ever, and we are working hard to prevent the pirates from hijacking the holidays," said Hilary Rosen, chairman and chief executive officer of the RIAA, which represents the major labels like Bertelsmann AG, EMI Group, AOL Time Warner, Vivendi Universal and Sony Corp
http://www.pricingnetwork.com/prod_1_2776_C_2807_MP3__.htm
40 pages worth of etail MP3/portable players;
bottomline: edig is an engineering company; what is the value of edig as an engineering company?
I guess edig will be adding the ody1000 on Christmas eve for all those last minute shoppers??
WORLD THEATRE, INC. ADDRESSES MUSIC INDUSTRY'S SECURITY CONCERNS WITH PROPRIETARY DIGITAL DELIVERY SYSTEM.
NEW TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES HIGH QUALITY DOWNLOADS TO CONSUMERS
Company Has Signed Majority of Major Music Companies for Rights to Music Videos for Broadcast and Digital Distribution of Album Content
New York, NY - October 10, 2002 - World Theatre, Inc., a technology and entertainment company focused on media content aggregation, management and distribution, has developed a digital distribution system that addresses the need of the music industry to counteract aggressive forms of digital piracy. Through the planned introduction of a 24/7 interactive television music channel, World Theatre has created an entertaining marketing and sales environment that can accommodate state of the art security and digital rights management software and deliver the audio transmission quality consumers demand with the click of a TV remote control.
Commenting on the announcement Robert D. Summer, chairman and CEO of World Theatre, Inc. noted, "World Theatre has signed agreements with the majority of major music companies for the right to broadcast their music videos and offer the full spectrum of new release and catalog for sale through a secure system over a branded television network. Unlike most Internet download models that promote individual tracks, our platform encourages the viewer to purchase an entire album with the click of a TV remote control. The broadcast is enhanced by compelling original music programming, access to information and free album track sampling through interactive TV functions."
Noting the significance of the technology to the cable and direct broadcast satellite industries, Kelly Sparks, president and COO of World Theatre, Inc. commented, "Given the acceptance and endorsement of the system by major content providers, cable and broadcast satellite operators can now offer subscribers a simple and effective way to access high quality music offerings in a secure environment. As advanced set-top boxes are deployed, our solution will facilitate delivery, playback and management of album content acquired in digital form."
Ease of Use by Consumer
· By storing music on the set-top box in the viewing household, the full album content becomes immediately available to transport to the home audio system of choice. Content management rules will also allow secure transfer of the music to portable devices.
· Because the set-top box is by nature a controlled environment, digital rights management of the content on that box becomes far less complex than on a PC; thereby facilitating ease of download and playback of the purchased music.
· The established consumer desire to obtain access to a wide selection of music through a digital platform is satisfied.
· The buyer is assured that content is being acquired by a legal means.
Benefits to the Music Industry
· By providing a secure distribution network, World Theatre delivers a dynamic new promotion venue and sales channel for new album releases. In addition, the full range of catalog is made available to be previewed and purchased.
· Core music buyers as well as a new audience, not active at retail, are serviced by the network.
· The network is programmed as a pure music offering that targets a unique demographic.
· Collection and rights payments are assured.
· Valuable data that supports future marketing initiatives becomes available.
About World Theatre, Inc.
World Theatre, Inc. is a privately held corporation founded in 1999 by C. Eric Hunter. Robert D Summer, chairman and CEO, has served as President of RCA Records, President, Sony Music International and Chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Kelly Sparks is a former IBM executive. World Theatre creates media and technology solutions that serve the advertising and entertainment industries. Its solutions eliminate the time between promotion, purchase and delivery allowing consumers immediate access to high quality digital entertainment, advertising and commerce. World Theatre's intellectual property assets include a significant portfolio of issued patents and pending applications addressing key technologies governing the management, distribution and protection of content for the advertising and entertainment industries as well as interactive TV technologies that enable dissemination of instant sales messages to consumers. The company is headquartered in the Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle in North Carolina and maintains offices in New York City.
World Theatre recently announced that it has been granted three broad patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office addressing the distribution, scheduling and projection of digital movies and alternative content to digital cinemas and electronic billboards as well as the distribution and scheduling of advertising and other content on electronic billboards.
Buy a CD, right off a set-top
New music channel also reckons to be a new kind of retailer of rock
- By Ken Kerschbaumer
Broadcasting & Cable
11/4/2002
Cable operators will be singing a new tune if the team behind a soon-to-be-announced cable channel dedicated to music and e-commerce has its way.
The still-unnamed channel, which will eventually enable cable subscribers to buy entire albums via cable set-top boxes, is the brainchild of World Theatre, a company founded in 1999 and currently headed by Executive Chairman and CEO Robert Summer.
Among other positions, Summer has served as president of RCA Records and Sony Music International and was chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America. That experience and his connections helped him get the support of four top record companies behind the cable net.
That support means the rights to distribute complete music albums to paying viewers via hard disks incorporated into next-generation digital cable set-top boxes. Once the content is on the set-top, the listener will be able to send it to other devices in the home-and even burn a copy onto a CD.
"The concept that brought us together was the belief that the music industry was poised for transition and that there was a need for a solution," says Summer.
He is looking to launch the network next April or May, initially offering an interactive service for the 2000 generation of set-top boxes. The channel, which will offer rock-centric programming featuring star artists, is to be named "shortly,'' the company says.
World Theatre, based in Raleigh-Durham, NC, with offices in New York, is mainly the holder of intellectual property that will make the channel's e-commerce possible. Its technology is designed to work across major interactive platforms and with major set-top boxes, such as the Motorola DCT-2000 or Scientific-Atlanta Explorer 2000.
Once more-advanced boxes are launched, the e-commerce opportunities will scale out from the purchase of a CD delivered via mail to the ability to purchase digital music files. The company is currently discussing carriage deals with MSOs, hoping to have at least one signed on by year-end and 10 million homes reached by the end of 2003.
"While we haven't finished negotiations with the MSOs, there is clearly a balance between the entertainment channel being paid for by the MSO and the channel paying for carriage," Summer says. "That mix is changed by the fact that we're able to offer some piece of the transaction revenue to the MSO. We think it's also why operators will be supportive of the underlying business."
The deals with the record labels are non-exclusive. That could spark the headache Intertainer ran into with video: Once the movie studios saw the potential for real business, they did it themselves.
But Summer is confident that the value proposition offered by the new service will prevent that. Some patents also might help.
"The agreement becomes exclusive by virtue of our having the rights and the know-how," he says. "We also have a broad base of patents currently gestating in the patent office that support that our early vision resides with World Theatre."
The business challenge will be to keep the service running when it relies substantially on profit margins related to the sale of music. The company has $30 million in financing now, and the revenue model does have an advertising component. But it's the sale of music, and the split of revenues between cable operators and World Theatre, that will define success.
"Ultimately, our business of transferring data will require a set-top box with a hard drive," says Summer. "We're working closely with operators so we can understand their timetable for deploying those types of boxes. Initially, the viewer will have what we believe is highly attractive programming with the ability to buy any CD."
Rob Barnett, executive VP of the new channel, who spent 12 years at MTV Networks and was VH1 VP of programming, believes the interactive elements and the proprietary IT technology behind the channel need to be as simple as an ATM. "We're leading with entertainment but providing the cable operators ready-made ITV functions that keep people focused on the television set," he says. "Viewers can click and get immediate music information, free samples of any track on any album, and the power to click and buy any album."
The company's research, he says, shows people want a lot more music and music variety than currently available from the likes of MTV or VH1. "Interactivity makes the content much more sticky, and the complement on the series side is based more on an HBO model than an MTV model [with] a smaller amount of original shows done at a dollar amount a little heavier than the budget for shows that are cranked out."
The digital sale of music goes beyond tech issues: Pricing is a top concern for consumers. World Theatre says, if viewers purchase four or five CDs per year through its service, it will succeed. But, if digital product pricing is too close to current physical CD costs, consumers could balk.
Summer finds it improbable that the record industry will misprice the digital offerings; also, the service is for digital downloads of whole albums, not tracks.
Flash needs a replacement, soon
By John G. Spooner
Special to ZDNet News
December 11, 2002, 4:48 AM PT
Researchers are contemplating a new technology to replace the removable memory being built into millions of consumer devices.
So-called flash memory will remain viable for several more years, but researchers anticipate that later this decade manufacturing limitations will force the industry to adopt a new technology. A replacement is one of the topics being discussed at the International Electron Devices meeting in San Francisco this week.
Flash memory can store data even when batteries are removed from a device, cutting off the power supply. That makes flash an essential feature in millions of cellular phones, handheld computers, digital cameras and music players. Flash is also increasingly finding a home in cars, TV set-top boxes and network equipment.
Current flash technology will likely survive until 2006, when it will be replaced by flash technology manufactured using a 65-nanometer process. The nanometer figure refers to the distance between transistors on a chip. Chipmakers are currently selling so-called 130 nanometer chips and will soon make the move to 90 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.
Barring breakthroughs, the technology will need to be replaced by the time it gets to 45 nanometers, near the end of the decade, said Craig Sander, vice president of process technology development for Advanced Micro Devices. Because of physical limitations imposed by flash's current structure, no one is certain that conventional flash cells will be able to scale below 65 nanometers, he said.
One replacement AMD is exploring is Quantum Well technology, which uses tiny wires, of approximately 5 nanometers, to store data. AMD will discuss this approach in a paper presented at the San Francisco conference, Sander said.
"The nice thing about this is that it uses some very conventional techniques to produce the (memory) cell itself and the nanowires," Sander said.
Because Quantum Well would be able to take advantage of AMD's current chip manufacturing technology, the company could produce it for about the same cost as today's flash chips. Quantum Well, however, would offer substantially better performance while consuming less power.
AMD is the second largest manufacturer of flash memory, after Intel, which has said it is working with several potential replacements, including "plastic" memory, or polymer ferroelectric RAM (PFRAM); Ovonics Unified Memory, which uses the same materials as rewritable CDs; and magnetic RAM.
AMD is also investigating polymer memory technologies.
Meanwhile, Texas Instruments and Motorola will present papers on potential successors to flash memory. Motorola's will focus on SONOS technology, which it says could become an incremental upgrade to current flash technology. Motorola is also working on its own version of magnetic RAM, a representative said.
TI will present a paper on its work with ferroelectric RAM, or FRAM.
is this anyway to run an airlines?? United Airlines
e. DIGITAL'S ODYSSEY 1000 ESTABLISHES NEW STANDARD IN DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
(SAN DIEGO, CA - July 22, 2002) - It's sleek, it's powerful, it has the capacity to download 4,800 songs, or 400 CDs, at lightning-quick speed -- and it's PC and Mac compatible. e.Digital Corporation (OTC: EDIG) today announced its new Odyssey 1000TM digital jukebox and data storage device, its premier digital audio player. Powered by e.Digital's MicroOS® 2.0, the Odyssey 1000 combines the best of e.Digital's digital audio technology into one stellar, feature-packed unit.
Jim Collier, President and COO of e.Digital said, "The Odyssey 1000 sets the standard by which all other portable entertainment products will now be judged. It is the result of our first joint project with our strategic development partner Digitalway. It combines an elegant, world class industrial design from Digitalway's award-winning engineering team with e.Digital's state-of-the-art, patented audio technology. There is nothing else available that matches its elegant looks, full range of features, and cutting-edge Drag ‘n RipTM technology."
The Odyssey 1000, which will be available to consumers this fall, boasts superb sound quality and outstanding battery life, with a minimum of 13 hours of playback time.
KERBLAM!!! one more time; NO excuses!
my speculation is IMATION is one of the participating buyers
DataPlay buyer will not be Universal
Stutzman: What's next for Dataplay: new owner
December 7, 2002
Sources involved in the DataPlay Inc. bankruptcy procedures say a bid for the company is on the table, one that will likely be revealed in more detail next week.
But what this mysterious bidder is likely to do with the company's assets depends on who you ask.
DataPlay, the 4-year-old maker of tiny discs, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. Its Boulder facility has been closed since September.
At a hearing this week before Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Donald Cordova, lawyers confirmed that a thus-far-unnamed bidder has made an offer to buy DataPlay's assets.
Duncan Barber, representing DataPlay investor Silicon Valley Bank, won't name the bidder. But he does say it's not an entity from the music industry.
Barber said the buyer intends to keep the company operational.
"No question, that's what's in the works," Barber said Friday.
But Glenn Merrick, DataPlay's attorney, says that sometimes "operational is a misnomer."
Merrick points out that DataPlay's worth to a buyer is its intellectual property, patents and trademarks.
That is to say, the buyer may take that IP and use it internally, or in other ways when the former DataPlay -- not its basic ideas, but its operations -- ceases to exist.
History teaches us nothing about what is more likely to happen, either, other than the fact that even successful bids have to wind through the mire of bankruptcy court before they're final -- which means nothing is certain.
Many bankruptcies end with the various IP and assets of the company scattered to the four winds, never to meet again. But when there is a successful bidder, many companies emerge from the doldrums of Chapter 11 as different, but still fully operational, versions of their former selves.
One such example was just in Cordova's courtroom at this exact time last year: Boulder's netLibrary -- which (shameless plug) will be featured in Monday's Business Plus -- was bought by OCLC Online Computer Learning Center in bankruptcy court.
Like DataPlay, it had burned through mountains of cash during its heyday before filing for bankruptcy protection.
Now it's a smaller version of its former high-flying self -- an operational, happily growing unit of a larger corporate whole.
One can only hope for the same with DataPlay.
MH-- ITRU/Dataplay relationship already existed---
INTERTRUST AND DATAPLAY ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP FOR PROTECTING PORTABLE MEDIA
DataPlay Digital Media and Rights/System's Powerful New Media Platform Poised to Replace the Compact Disc
Santa Clara, CA, and Boulder, CO, August 6, 2001 - InterTrust Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ITRU), provider of the leading trusted Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, and DataPlay, Inc., developer of the universal media format for all things digital, today announced a strategic relationship to create a portable media distribution platform for protected content such as music. Universal Music Group, EMI Recorded Music and BMG Entertainment are all planning to release pre-recorded music on DataPlay digital media for use in multiple consumer electronic devices.
"We are pleased to see InterTrust and DataPlay working together to create a flexible specification for delivering our artists' music and enhanced content," said Albhy Galuten, Sr. Vice President, Advanced Technology, Universal Music Group's eLabs. "Combining DataPlay's new digital media format with InterTrust's DRM technology will give consumers the flexibility and convenience they want."
InterTrust and DataPlay will create a format for DRM-based content storage on DataPlay digital media. Consumer electronics manufacturers, including Samsung, Toshiba and SONICblue (makers of the Diamond Rio), which are developing DataPlay-enabled devices, will also be able to license the format. InterTrust's recently announced Rights/System provides a secure environment for music with a transparent user experience. Users can play their InterTrust-protected content in any DataPlay-enabled device. Users will also have the ability to move the content to their desktop computers and portable devices. For content providers and consumers, this seamlessly integrates content purchased online and content bought on DataPlay digital media.
"A standard for protected portable media is essential to create the CD's successor," said Talal Shamoon, EVP business development, InterTrust. "InterTrust believes that DataPlay's position with 3 of the 5 major labels and its cutting edge format delivers a compelling consumer entertainment experience. A ubiquitous protected format beyond the CD is the only way to conclusively halt music piracy, while giving consumers the rich experience they want."
"DataPlay's partnership with InterTrust reinforces its mission to provide a new media format for consumers that maintains security and control for the distribution of electronic content," said Todd Oseth, senior vice president of corporate development from DataPlay. "The scalability and flexibility of Intertrust's platform allow us to easily integrate the DataPlay solution with any content, device or distribution method."
To support the DataPlay platform, InterTrust developed a special version of its technology for portable devices, Rights/PD, and a dedicated 'packager' that places the content in a secure format. InterTrust is also adapting its PC plug-in for music players, to enable playing and importing content from DataPlay digital media, as well as the activation of additional content that resides securely on the digital media - a unique Dataplay feature. InterTrust's Rights/System servers complete the infrastructure and allow retailers and distributors to activate content on the digital media and send protected content to consumers in a user-friendly fashion.
ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TELLING ME JIMI HENDRIX DID NOT MAKE THE TOP 17 NOMINEES??????????????????????????????????????????????????
SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: cksla
In reply to: cksla who wrote msg# 15242 Date:9/6/2002 8:46:03 PM
Post #of 19145
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Digitalway, an MP3 player maker, ships most of its products to Samsung on an original equipment manufacturing basis. In fact, Samsung also used to provide its MP3 players to U.S.-based Creative Lab on an OEM basis.
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Samsung's ''Yepp' and Digitalway 's ''Mpio' are in fact the same product with slight differences in design.
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Digitalway is a leader in bringing innovative digital audio and multimedia devices to the consumer market. Founded by a pioneer in the MP3 industry, Digitalway is dedicated to providing leading edge products to OEM's, distributors and end users. Since July 1998, Digitalway started MP3 player development and grew as NO.1 manufacturer in the world. The OEM to Samsung Electronics (Yepp) and RFC (Jazpiper) made it possible to be a giant manufacturer with the quality proved. Digitalway has an affiliate for US sales and marketing in San Diego, California and design and manufacturing facilities in Korea.
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it's nice to see some nice PR but I have a question; i've been busy lately and have not followed along closely; is it accurate only 1000 of the 1000 have been made? if that is true, the ? arises along what MIR asked about how long it would take to fill orders; if do not have any serious # of the 1000 already manufactured my sense is we will have missed another XMAS holiday season; am I off base here?
DivXNetworks Announces Support For Upcoming AMD Opteron(TM) Processors
Leading DivX Video Compression Technology To Be Optimized For Greater Performance On First 32- And 64-Bit Processor
SAN DIEGO and SUNNYVALE, CA -- (INTERNET WIRE) -- 11/19/2002 -- DivXNetworks, Inc., today announced that the company's patent-pending DivX™ video compression technology will offer support for the upcoming AMD Opteron™ processor. The two companies have worked jointly to optimize DivX technology for the upcoming AMD Opteron processors, and will continue development and testing of DivX video on AMD's 64-bit technology.
DivX video is one of the most widely distributed MPEG-4 compatible video compression technologies in the world, with over 75 million recorded downloads. AMD and DivXNetworks have worked to achieve significant improvements in encoding and playback performance on the upcoming AMD Opteron processor, including:
- Significantly more efficient memory bandwidth usage thanks to "unrolled loops"
- Improved bitstream packing and parsing using AMD's 64-bit wide integer registers.
- Lower memory latency for improved performance on both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms.
"The upcoming AMD Opteron processors offer the first ever 32- and 64-Bit compatible platform, and represents a true breakthrough that will have significantly positive effects on the speed, performance and visual quality of digital video," said Darrius Thompson, director of research and development, DivXNetworks, Inc. "We are pleased to work closely with AMD to ensure that DivX video is specifically optimized to take full advantage of this exciting new technology."
"Customers who will use systems based on upcoming AMD Opteron processors and DivX technologies will be able to realize higher performance and faster digital video encoding and decoding speeds," said Ed Gasiorowski, director of developer relations for AMD's Computation Products Group. "AMD's 64-bit technology combined with the cutting-edge DivX video software will offer consumers a superior digital video experience."
The most recent DivX codec, called a "revolutionary product" by Tom's Hardware Guide, currently ranks as the most downloaded multimedia application on CNET's Download.com. For more information on DivX technology, visit www.divx.com. For more information on the upcoming AMD Opteron processor, visit www.amd.com/opteron.
About DivXNetworks
DivXNetworks is a leading technology company that enables the rapid proliferation of video content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks by combining the lightweight, ubiquitous access of the Internet with DVD-quality video performance. The company's approach is built upon the success of the DivX™ codec, a leading standard for MPEG-4 compatible video distribution with over 75 million users worldwide, and the DivX Open Video System™, a next-generation content delivery system that provides unsurpassed aggregation, promotion, and distribution of video content for mass markets. DivXNetworks is headquartered in San Diego, California, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. For more information about DivXNetworks, visit www.divxnetworks.com.
the "Don" is not dead; just slimey as ever--
Unhappy Surprises from San Diego's e.Digital Pile Up
Nov 16, 2002 (The San Diego Union-Tribune - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- Shareholders of San Diego's e.Digital are used to being surprised.
In July, the electronics company boasted on its Web site that its revenue for the third quarter would be $2.6 million, or more than it had been the entire previous year.
The quarter ended Sept. 30 of this year.
At its Nov. 5 annual meeting, chief executive Alfred H. Falk was talking enthusiastically about the company's product innovations.
Amid the product puffery, Falk then said, "We expect revenues for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2002, to be substantially less than the projected $2.6 million."
The stock immediately plummeted more than 40 percent from 35 cents to 20.5 cents. Shortly, Jim Collier resigned as president and chief operating officer.
Alex Diaz was appointed board chairman, replacing Allen Cocumeli. Both Collier and Cocumeli remain on the board.
Late this week, e.Digital filed its 10-Q report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It revealed that revenue for the third quarter was $290,290. The loss was $2.7 million more than the earlier projected sales number.
Hmmm. From a projected $2.6 million to $290,290 is indeed substantial.
The company says it has "applied extremely conservative accounting measures," as it took a bunch of write-offs in the quarter.
As Falk had said at the annual meeting, "Our consumer electronics sales over the summer were extremely weak."
According to the 10-Q, e.Digital will "de-emphasize marketing its own branded products" and concentrate on equipment sold to original equipment manufacturers.
Obviously, as the 10-Q so graphically reveals, the company has to do something. The cumulative deficit is now up to $63 million. The working capital deficiency is $4.2 million.
For the September quarter, that loss of $2.7 million was much worse than the loss of $1 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Although the company already has a whopping 140.7 million shares outstanding, it is issuing stock to vendors in return for goods and services.
Despite the heavy overhang of debt and shares, the company may have more debt or equity financings, although it admits its "ability to continue as a going concern is in substantial doubt" and depends on more financing.
The company may have to seek bankruptcy protection, the company warns (as it has before), but it does not think this is likely.
Yesterday, the stock dropped a penny to 19.5 cents. The company did not reply to a call for comment.
Gruttadauria On Thursday in Cleveland, former stockbroker Frank Gruttadauria was sentenced to seven years in prison. He admitted bilking clients of more than $50 million.
He overstated accounts of at least 28 clients by more than $270 million, according to the government.
The judge ordered Gruttadauria to pay back $54 million to ex-clients, but his lawyers said he is virtually penniless.
One of the clients who lost the most to Gruttadauria is Elaine Meyerhoff, 87, of Rancho Santa Fe, who lost her life savings of about $50 million, according to her San Diego attorney, Kirk B. Hulett.
Gruttadauria had worked for S.G. Cowen and Lehman Brothers. Meyerhoff and her late husband had two trusts with a predecessor of S.G. Cowen. The trusts were transferred to Gruttadauria in the mid-1990s.
While he had her money, he would make frequent trips to San Diego to visit Meyerhoff and her daughter.
Hulett tried unsuccessfully to get satisfaction from Lehman and S.G. Cowen.
Finally, last June, he sued the investment firms in U.S. District Court here.
There has been "a satisfactory settlement," says Hulett, although he is not at liberty to reveal the terms.
By Don Bauder
To see more of The San Diego Union-Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.uniontrib.com
(c) 2002, The San Diego Union-Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.