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CompositeTek feeds area firms their space-age fiber
http://www.compositetek.com/article_1.htm
By John Aguilar
Staff Writer
BOULDER – Judging by the amount of local press coverage they receive, DataPlay Inc. and Storage Technology Corp. are two of Boulder County’s sexier companies. If you peel back the layer of hype and move beyond the popping flash bulbs and public relations people, however, you’ll find a quiet, seldom-mentioned company that is instrumental in the forward progress of both companies.
CompositeTek, which uses 28,500 square feet of space in Gunbarrel and Broomfield to design and manufacture industrial components out of composite materials, is a critical supplier for both DataPlay and StorageTek. DataPlay relies on CompositeTek for tiny actuator arms it builds into its miniature media players, while StorageTek counts on the company to supply it with robotic arms for its PowderHorn storage unit.
“In essence, we’re looking at the industrial marketplace in the Front Range,” said Clell Routson, president of CompositeTek. “We look for applications where we can justify either a high strength or low weight or higher rigidity than what you’d get from a steel part.” Born in the 1940s in response to the aerospace industry’s needs for lighter and stronger materials, composite materials are ubiquitous today. Fishing rods, bicycles, brake pads, satellites, musical instruments, speakers and prosthetics are all common items that contain composite materials.
Composite materials have many advantages over steel, Routson said. Most notably, they can be five times lighter than steel, two and one-half times stronger and more rigid than steel, and they have less propensity to dent, corrode, fatigue or destabilize under temperature variations. Composites can be created in a variety of forms, like bricks, mats or panels, depending on their applications.
A composite material is basically made up of fibers of carbon, fiberglass, Kevlar, nylon, ceramic or another material, which give the composite its strength and stiffness. Those fibers are, in turn, suspended in a rigid, resinlike material (thermoplastic, polyester, epoxy or vinyl ester), which gives the composite its shape and protects the fiber. The fibers can be oriented in the resin in various directions, allowing engineers to design composites with precise and customized levels of flexibility and strength.
The process involves the use of capital-intensive equipment. CompositeTek has $3 million to $5 million worth of equipment at its 20,000-square-foot Gunbarrel facility, including resin-transfer molding-injection machines, filament-winding machines, a 20-ton overhead crane, a production machine shop and an autoclave, which is an enormous chamber that applies high heat and pressure to cure and lock the molecules of the combined fibers and resin together forever.
“There is a huge carbon-fiber marketplace in the aerospace and military markets, but we’re not in that per se,” Routson said. “Our focus is in the industrial marketplace.”And that’s a sound strategy in light of the problems facing the aerospace industry after Sept. 11, according to Don Radford, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado State University. He also serves as director of the school’s Composite Materials, Manufacture and Structures Laboratory and knows several CompositeTek engineers personally. “CompositeTek hasn’t been focused on aerospace, so they should stay very vital,” Radford said.
While he said Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. and Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. were larger composites manufacturers, both companies design and build components primarily for in-house use. STW Composites in Montrose is not a direct threat either because it focuses on massive components for the aerospace industry, Radford said. Thus CompositeTek is strongly positioned on the Front Range to be the go-to company for customized industrial components made from composite materials.
And companies are calling. Aside from DataPlay and StorageTek, CompositeTek serves other companies by making gear-case housings and components for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. Radford is particularly interested in the company’s attempts to diversify its product line, too.
Outside the composites arena, CompositeTek is using and selling the Dream-Bit drill. The Dream-Bit is a diamond-coated drill that can cut through tough carbon and fiberglass composites without dulling easily. Radford said CompositeTek’s diversification will help it emerge from the shadow of one of the companies it now calls a major customer – StorageTek.
CompositeTek started as the composites division of StorageTek, before JLC Associates Inc., an investment group led by Routson, bought it for an undisclosed sum in February 2000 and spun it off on its own. Originally with 10 to 15 employees, CompositeTek now employs 35. Routson said the privately held company’s revenues in 2001 were a little less $5 million.
“This gives them the chance to be much more flexible now that they’re on their own,” Radford said. “They can do things they couldn’t do under StorageTek.” Tom Stanley, senior buyer for StorageTek, declined to say anything about his company’s relationship with CompositeTek beyond the fact that “we have a very good business relationship with them.”Bruce Sanders, vice president of materials for DataPlay, was a bit more forthcoming. “These materials have been around for a while, but no one had come up with requirements for making these miniature parts,” he said. “I think we’re the first ones out there demanding these actuator arms.”The carbon-fiber actuator arms will go into DataPlay’s optical-data players and will help align the optical reader that scans data off the tiny discs DataPlay plans to sell. The company has been working closely with CompositeTek for two years on the specifications and design of the arms. “It has to be very rigid and very stiff, but very lightweight,” Sanders said.
DataPlay hopes to have the design for the component completed by late November. If all goes well, Sanders said, and DataPlay is selling 300,000 players per month by the end of 2002, CompositeTek could make between $5 million and $10 million a year through its relationship with DataPlay. Sanders said CompositeTek has invested money in DataPlay, but he did not reveal the amount invested. Just last month, CompositeTek opened an 8,500-square-foot facility in Broomfield solely devoted to manufacturing components for DataPlay.
Contact John Aguilar at (303) 440-4950 or e-mail jaguilar@bcbr.com.
The resurrection of the small form factor disc
Convergence was the buzz word not so long ago, with all manner of digital technology - from digital cameras, to MP3 players, to mobile phones - being squeezed into one handy portable device. Now, the buzz word is miniaturisation, with a growing demand by consumers for all forms of diminuitive optical media and portable digital devices.
BY SHARON LOCK
The 8cm disc was originally conceived as a CD-Audio single in the mid-late eighties, but soon died on that basis. Music enthusiasts tended to find the small size frustrating, as it was fiddly to attach a holder to the disc each time you wanted to play it in a CD player that was designed to play 12cm CDs. There was also another downside, of course, in that not so much music could be stored on an 8cm CD as opposed to a 12cm one.
However, it now seems that 15 years later, there is huge interest in all forms of small optical media and devices. Although nothing much has changed in that an 8cm CD still cannot contain as much data as a 12cm CD, these days the kind of technology being used to compress the data, such as MP3, means that three hours of audio can be stored on an 8cm disc, which is perfectly adequate for most people's needs.
A new technology
DataPlay, a US company based in Boulder, Colorado, is about to revolutionise the digital media industry. The company has developed a new technology: a range of universal media solutions for access to all forms of digital content across all digital devices and platforms.
"Our vision was to develop a truly universal, portable and affordable digital media with high capacity for the distribution and recording of all content types on all devices," says Ray Uhlir, vice president of Marketing for DataPlay. "We actually realised that there was a need for a higher capacity rather than a lower capacity media in a small form factor for the portable equipment market."
DataPlay digital media is, in fact, very high capacity and much higher capacity than other small form factor media like Flash, 80mm CD, Zip, Memory Stick and Mini-Disc, as Uhlir explains, "Traditional CD will never be a viable candidate for truly portable devices, and DataPlay digital media actually has much higher density than CD. Our 500MB small form factor digital media can hold over 11 hours of MP3, hundreds of megapixel images, hours of Mpeg4 video, volumes of eBooks, etc., so the capacity is significantly greater than other small form factor media while more than meeting the needs of portable applications with very useful capacity."
In addition to the blank versions, DataPlay digital media will also be available in pre-recorded format from major record labels such as Universal Music, EMI and BMG. "Pre-recorded content is not an option for other blank media formats like Flash, Zip, etc," says Uhlir. "Consumers are looking for one media that is portable, affordable and that supports all content types in all devices. Except for DataPlay, there is no other media type that fulfils this consumer and market need. Our development was driven by these needs."
DataPlay's digital media can support any type of content whether it's music, video, software or images. "Consumers want one media that they can use in a music player, then take that same media and use it to take pictures in a digital camera, and then take that same media and view the images in their PDA and store contact information on it, and so on," says Uhlir. "They also want one media that they not only use in their portable devices but one that they can also use in larger fixed devices like desktop PC's. DataPlay helps to deliver all of this."
Portable devices are becoming much more capable of converging multiple functions in one device. As a result, explains Uhlir, portable devices demand a small, low power, recordable media to support content access, storage, downloads, backup, etc. "The portable device market extends from music players and cameras to PDA's and smart phones. These devices eclipse the PC market in terms of total market size and are where the significant growth is occurring in response to consumer demand. Portability is the future for devices and media, and it requires a universal, high capacity, and affordable small form factor media like DataPlay digital media."
Cost is also a driving factor for consumers who want an affordable alternative. Portable Flash Memory currently costs between $2-$3 per Megabyte as opposed to the $0.02 per Megabyte cost for DataPlay digital media.
"Media durability and low power are also driving factors for portable players and are not features provided by magnetic media or hard drive solutions, thus requiring a technology like DataPlay digital media," stresses Uhlir. "There is also a desire to download content or create custom content on media in the device without the need for a separate recording device, and this is not possible with today's portable CD players. Therefore, in order to take advantage of these new advances in portable encoding formats, a new media technology like DataPlay digital media is needed."
So how small does a player have to be to be accepted in the portable device market? "A truly portable player needs to be smaller than a traditional CD player and be small enough to fit in the palm of your hand or in your pocket," replies Uhlir. "Some devices can actually be too small, so it also has to be user friendly with controls and displays that are big enough to be useable. DataPlay enabled devices fit this range."
More and more consumers are demanding more than the 80 minutes of music playback time currently available on CD, or less on Flash memory, and would like more albums on a single piece of media or the ability to instantly activate additional content already on the media. "This can be done with DataPlay digital media which provides over five hours of CD quality music on a single piece of media," assures Uhlir. "Also, today's Flash based digital cameras typically only provide 10 shots for 3.34 Megapixel images using the 16MB Flash that comes with most cameras, thus forcing the consumer to need to empty the Flash via the PC or buy additional highly priced Flash cards. Consumers would like to take 30, 50, or more shots and have those archived without the need for transfer to a PC hard drive. DataPlay digital media provides this while Flash does not."
DataPlay digital media can support any digital video encoding format if it is supported by the device that DataPlay digital media is used in. "MPEG-1, MPEG-4, and many others will all be supported," explains Uhlir. "Depending on the resolution and frame rate used, a user can capture or play very good quality video on DataPlay digital media using MPEG-4 and achieve times around two hours. Very high resolution video will provide less time; however, it is still quite useable depending on the video application, content, or subject."
With all the improvements in audio compression, I asked Uhlir whether he thought the improvements would be used to increase playing time or quality or both?
"Current compression technology using AAC or QDX, for example, will provide CD quality audio while also increasing playback time," replies Uhlir. "Quality similar to CD seems to be very acceptable and the focus seems to be on increasing playback time. However, there are also new compression technologies that some would argue provide higher than CD quality audio while also providing longer playback time than CD. Even CD has some level of compression since it is sampled and digitised from an original analogue source, and CDs WAV PCM encoding technology is around 20 years old. Therefore, improvements in compression can yield both quality and playback time improvements. A certain minimum quality must be maintained, so capacity or playback time increases seem to offer the greatest opportunity."
Smaller gaming technology
Nintendo's GameCube video console, due to be launched in Japan this September, is unique in that it will be the only games machine on the market to use 8cm optical media to store its gaming information. And, unlike Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox, the Gamecube will be a dedicated games machine.
"The discs are produced by Matsushita and are exclusive for the Nintendo GameCube," says Marko Hein, European product manager for Nintendo of Europe, Germany, "therefore recordable CDs of this size are not sold in stores."
As Hein explains, there were two very good reasons for deciding to use 8cm optical media for the GameCube: to limit the size of the hardware and as an anti-piracy measure. "The designers wanted to keep the hardware as small as possible and the 8cm discs fit perfectly into that approach. Also, regular 12cm CDs and DVDs do not fit into the GameCube hardware, which means that this is a perfect prevention for games piracy. Piracy is a big problem for different kinds of media - not only for the video game market but also for the music industry. The first DVD recorders will be released soon and it is only a question of time before it will be possible to copy games or movies, which are on a regular DVD format."
The 8cm discs will have a capacity of 1.5GB. "This will definitely be enough space to guarantee full gameplay, outstanding graphics, brilliant sound and the implementation of movies," says Hein.
Although a DVD can contain more information than a CD, it's not the size of the disc that matters, but the gaming, says Hein. "A DVD can be used for implementing extensive movies, music, voices, etc. We are sure that there will be discs with even more storage space in the future. However, a bigger disc does not guarantee a better game."
Miniature media and players
This September, Philips will be launching its Expanium EXP 401 CD-MP3 portable player. Smaller than a 12cm CD and weighing just 220g, the unit is specifically designed to play 8cm CDs, which can store over three hours of compressed digital audio in formats such as MP3, UDF or AAC.
Unlike Uhlir, Philips is focusing its attention on the CD as remaining the dominant audio format.
"The Philips audio strategy focuses on extending applications for the CD format," explains Arthur Van Rest, senior marketing manager for Audio in the UK. "One of the reasons for this approach is that the CD is the cheapest format for music storage. SACD gives quality improvements, CD recordable gives greater personalisation and MP3 gives the potential to offer a greater quantity of music on a disc. MP3 allows us to offer new opportunities for greater portability and to make use of an existing format that is compatible with all CD mechanisms. The EXP401 offers greater portability than 12cm CD personal players."
"The CD is today the world's most popular music carrier, with close to 900 million CD functions installed worldwide," adds Simon Poulter, corporate communications director. "Furthermore, the CD is still the world's best value music carrier, offering more MB per dollar than any other portable carrier. The ability to store compressed audio adds to the appeal of the CD as a carrier. Since the 12cm CD is relatively big for portable audio applications, the 8cm CD has meant we can apply the higher data capacity of MP3 in a disc format enabling a much smaller MP3-CD player. An 8cm CD, which can be played on all audio CD platforms and most PC CD drives, can hold up to three hours of MP3 audio.
Both Van Rest and Poulter agree that the 8cm CD has been around for a long time and that recent improvements in compression and a growing demand for all things small has led to the digital media being resurrected once again. "The format didn't go away for data storage applications but compression techniques for music storage will give the format a new lease of life," says Van Rest.
"8cm has been around for many years, which is why most CD trays have a small, recessed disc area, and can be played on most existing CD-ROM drives and CD players," adds Poulter. "Given that 8cm discs cost only slightly more than their 12cm cousins, and enjoy size advantage and user familiarity, Philips anticipates rapid acceptance for the 8cm MP3-CD solution and a future standard for MP3 storage."
Poulter notes that 8cm DVD is also a viable option for the future, "An 8cm option is specified in the DVD format, and Hitachi/Matsushita have already applied it with their 8cm DVD-based camcorder. At present Philips has no plans to introduce products specifically designed for 8cm DVD. However, we are conducting market research to find out what sort of other 8cm-based devices consumers would be interested in."
Unlike manufacturers like Imation and Samsung, who are involved in developing devices for the DataPlay format, Philips prefers to focus on the 8cm CD. "The 8cm CD format offers consumers the strongest compatibility benefits. As you know, with our approach to other optical disc formats such as DVD+RW and Super Audio CD, compatibility for the consumer is a key requirement," says Poulter.
I asked Poulter if he felt that copy protection is an issue in any way for the smaller disc formats? "The copy protection discussion for 8cm CD is no different to that for 12cm CD. Indeed, one view is that the transfer of works to a smaller disc to better facilitate portable use is an extra justification to allow for such a copy under 'fair use' private copy laws."
Poulter notes that in terms of manufacturing 8cm CDs are made in the same way, but the cost is marginally higher. "Due to the higher demand and supply of 12cm discs in comparison to 8cm, prices will remain proportionately slightly higher for the time being."
Both Van Rest and Poulter predict that the Expanium EXP 401 will be well received by the public when it is launched in September. "The market for portable CD product is very strong and penetration of MP3 is good amongst the target audience. 8cm CD offers an economical alternative to other formats currently available," says Van Rest.
"Our first Expanium product, the 12cm EXP101/103, which we launched last August, has been a great success," adds Poulter. "Indications from the trade, media and consumers alike suggest a similar success for the 8cm Expanium. The public clearly enjoys the convenience and capacity of CDs, especially those they've produced themselves on a PC, especially with the increasing popularity of MP3 and other compression formats.
Optical business cards
The demand for optical business cards has been increasing over the last couple of years, as many corporate clients seek a different marketing method.
US-based DVD authoring specialist, CVC, part of the Warner Bros. Group, has always been at the forefront of new media technologies and is one of the few companies that is currently authoring DVD business cards. "Over the past few years we have seen many companies using CD optical business cards to distribute content," explains Brad Collar CVC's technical manager, DVD. "As a leader of DVD Authoring, CVC wanted to show that the same thing could be done on DVD."
The DVD business card can hold approximately 300MB of data and, therefore, store more video and audio. "This can be translated to about nine minutes of full resolution MPEG2 video with a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, as opposed to only three minutes of quarter resolution MPEG1 video with only stereo audio," explains Collar. "In addition, by utilising the full range of the DVD specification, the DVD business card allows you to put up to eight audio tracks, 32 subtitle streams, and make use of multi-angle technology."
As well as being able to store more data, the physical size and shape of a DVD business card also has its benefits. "The receivers of these cards can store the DVD business cards in their wallets or even their Rolodex," notes Collar.
I asked Collar if there's a strong demand for DVD optical business cards? "I am not familiar with the market demand for DVD business cards due to the fact that CVC's motivation to create the DVD business card was to push the envelope of the DVD technology. This kind of product is not the core business of CVC, therefore, we have not aggressively marketed it."
The costs incurred for authoring DVD optical business cards, as opposed to 12cm optical discs, are negligiable. "For compression and authoring, the cost is directly related to the complexity of the disc and not to the size," notes Collar.
So does CVC see DVD optical business cards as a mass production product or always a niche product? "I believe this will largely be a niche product," says Collar.
Replicating the media
Singulus Technologies develop and manufacture a range of replication equipment for the international media manufacturing industry that is capable of producing 8cm CDs and DVDs, as well as 12cm optical media.
"In general, all Singulus machines are currently able to manufacture 8cm optical media," explains Bernhard Krause, consultant for communications. "That means our Skyline for CD, our Spaceline for DVD and our Streamline for CD-R."
Although Krause notes that there's currently not a big demand by customers for equipment that can replicate 8cm optical discs, the Singulus machines are adaptable. "Only small changes are needed on our standard machines to manufacture 8cm discs. We think that our costumers often order standard equipment and make the adaption to 8cm later."
Krause believes that the 8cm disc is unlikely to ever become a mass production product, "8cm discs will be a niche product, and will be a small segment of the market. A small number of machines are requested per year that can manufacture 8cm optical media for CD-R, CD-RW and DVD formats. "Krause adds that the demand for optical business cards is also limited, "There's not really a strong demand for 8cm business cards - it's a very limited market. We think that in five years time not more than 5% of the market will be taken up by small form factor discs."
The future
So what does the future hold for the small form factor disc? Will it have a longer shelf life than it did 15 years ago when it was first introduced as a CD-Audio single? "Small format discs, as well as other small format digital media, will certainly capture a very large portion of the disc market as well as the overall removable media market in general due to the projected high proliferation of portable devices," notes Uhlir. "The trend is definitely moving toward portable devices requiring small format digital media as opposed to larger devices that use large format media like CD or hard drives. An optical disc like DataPlay digital media will have significant advantages over other small format media in capturing this market due to its better affordability, higher capacity and ability to also support pre-recorded content unlike the others."
Based on the excitement and interest generated by Philips' announcement of the 8cm Expanium, Poulter expects the segment to grow fast. "We think the market for portable storage and playback of audio and video is ready for a smaller platform capable of storing a lot of data on an inexpensive carrier. New compression technologies allow the disc to become smaller, yet contain the same amount of information.
According to Poulter, CDs are a part of our lives, - "Western European homes have on average between five and seven platforms on which to enjoy CDs (hi-fi systems, audio separates, portables, in-car CD etc). With MP3 and Internet delivery catching on fast, the 'Rip it! Burn it! Spin it!' method of creating an MP3-CD is simple and instantly available to anyone with access to a PC CD writer and the highly affordable blank media that goes with it - and there are currently 120 million PC CD writers worldwide, a figure expected to grow fast in the coming years."
http://www.oto-online.com/current_issue/small.html
Starting from scratch: the genesis of DataPlay
Starting from a concept only, how do you develop a completely new optical disc format? Patrick Stapley maps the progress of DataPlay so far, looking at how the company has harnessed the power of the industry as a whole to turn the DataPlay concept into a working product.
BY PATRICK STAPLEY
It was three years ago that entrepreneur Steve Volk put a small team of experts together to 'thrash-out' and 'flesh-out' an idea for a new optical disc format. Volk's vision - to develop a miniature Web-enabled digital content recording and distribution media for portable Internet appliances and hand-held consumer entertainment devices - what was to become known as DataPlay.
To develop a brand new optical format from the ground up required a rock solid base to work from, and Volk who had a background in hard disc drive development, was only too aware of this. He had previously founded Intégral Peripherals, a Colorado-based manufacturer of mobile disk drives, and PrairieTek which was responsible for the 2.5-inch disk drive used in today's notebook computers. During the early months he and his team meticulously laid these foundations before finally seeking venture capital in mid 1999. It was then that DataPlay went in search of the industry partnerships that would be fundamental in bringing the format to fruition.
"For us to develop a product of this scope from ground zero with all the bases - electrical, optical, firmware, hardware, mechanics, casting, production lines and so on - would be virtually impossible without these partnerships," says Dave Davies, chief technical officer, DataPlay. "We could have perhaps taken certain elements in-house, but it makes very little sense. Why not partner with someone who already has the expertise and save money and time. The things we do mostly ourselves, are the overall design concept, for example the detailed optical design of the head and the head media interface."
According to Davies, the DataPlay concept was so strong and the team of people behind it of such a high standard, that getting companies to 'sign-up' presented little difficulty. In fact so great was the response that DataPlay found itself turning some potential partners away. Many also wanted to consolidate their relationship by directly investing in DataPlay - again such confidence was shown in the new format, that these financing rounds became oversubscribed.
"The partnership relationships were built purely on the technology that companies could bring to the project - that was the all-important thing - we were not looking for partners that had money," stresses Davies. "With our background in the industry, we knew who were the best companies to deliver what we were looking for. Also we needed companies who were willing to invest their own resources, we would not be funding any of their development work."
Partnerships grew rapidly as the new format captured the industry's imagination, and DataPlay itself also showed signs of exponential growth: by the end of 1999 there were 20 engineers working at the Boulder, Colorado facility, by mid 2000 this had risen to 70, and today that figure exceeds 180. Total current investment in DataPlay stands at about $70 million, but this is expected to more than double in the next financing round. Davies estimates that this figure would have at least tripled if development had gone ahead without partners.
Picking partners
One of DataPlay's first technology partners was the Italian based company STMicroelectronics (STMicro). As one of the largest manufacturers of LSI chips in the world, the company has a strong position in controller chips for harddisk drives.
As many of the engineers at DataPlay had backgrounds in the hard drive industry and had also dealt directly with the company in the past, it became an obvious candidate as a partner. In addition STMicro had a division local to DataPlay's Boulder headquarters, and was developing a DVD controller chip which could be modified to work with the new DataPlay format.
"STMicro is a typical partner in that they had a technology that already existed that was applicable to what we were doing," says Davies. "We then conceived of how we could modify it to be useful for our application and work with them in detail in a partnership arrangement. They would produce the chip and we'd do the testing, evaluation and some of the design work."
Davies adds that there is no standard pattern to how partner relationships work. A lot, he says, depends on the degree of co-evolvement of the technology. "If we're doing something that closely evolves an existing technology, for example in the case of ST Micro producing custom ASICs, we're working hand-in-hand almost from the conception onwards, because their contribution is so intimately involved in the whole. In the case of other companies like DCA , which make the mastering formatter, we decide what the format is, give that information to them and they go ahead and do their own thing.
"If we are conceiving something, we like two things to be in place: the first is a non disclosure agreement that covers confidentiality, the other is that we have filed patent applications on our portion of what was done. We don't necessarily try to prototype before that occurs, it's more a case of co-evolvement. The end product is then co-owned and we give the partner the right to sell it because we want to facilitate the industry development - we obviously want to make it as available as possible."
Another early partner was the German manufacturer, Data Disc, which was pivotal in developing the moulding machine and downstream equipment. However, during the development Data Disc ceased ongoing production of its replication lines and its moulding division became e-mould (see later to see how this affected DataPlay).
"We took quite a big risk to step into a new media project like this," says e-mould managing director, Karl-Heinz Schoppe. "But we were convinced by our early meetings with the company that what they were doing would be successful, and the further down the road we go, we see this turning into reality. From day one DataPlay has been employing the best engineers out of that industry in the US, and that counts for a lot. It's also a different culture than in Europe - each individual in such a venture capital based company is taking much greater risks than an employee would do here in Europe. So there is real commitment to make this a success and everyone is 100 percent behind the project."
Although Data Disc had worked in partnership developments with other companies, Schoppe says that the DataPlay relationship was quite unique. "The format presented new territory for moulding technology and there were many unknowns to be solved. To put things into context - the transition from moulding CD to DVD halves, which cut the shot weight down by half, took the industry over two years to develop. Comparing DataPlay to a DVD half, there is further reduction by a factor of ten. Additionally there are two stampers in one mould - so there were many challenges for us to overcome.
"Also the level of co-operation with partner companies went into new depths," Schoppe continues. "To complete the technology that was required we introduced further partners including Axxicon for the mould design, Unaxis for sputtering and Dr Schenk to develop an inline scanner. These were all companies that we had successfully collaborated with in the past, and that was very important. At the early stages, DataPlay did not have the in-depth industry knowledge to make a really informed decision on who would make the best partners and work together best. We introduced these original companies and they then became more deeply involved with DataPlay."
Jan de Graff, director of marketing and sales at Axxicon, remembers the early meetings with DataPlay and his company's reaction to the new format.
"After being introduced by Data Disc, we had a series of meetings with DataPlay to run through all the issues involved, set out the goals and to establish who would do what. That took about two months. It's always difficult to make a decision about whether you should go into project A, B or C, and we go through a very careful and detailed evaluation process with every project before committing ourselves. Sometimes the reason for agreeing to develop a product may not be based on whether or not we consider it will be a success, but to keep good partnership relations with a company. However, with DataPlay, where we had no previous dealing with the company, this was very different. Sometimes when people try to draw you into a project you have the gut feeling that it won't work and you say no, but with DataPlay there was a strong belief that it was going to work. Also we sensed real commitment from all the other partners involved which boosted our confidence."
Chicken and egg
In a co-evolvement process like DataPlay, certain component parts will obviously fit into different stages of the overall development: authoring tools will be late in the process, while design of custom chips will happen at the beginning. But other areas may not be so clearly defined - for example what comes first - the drive or the media?
Dave Davies: "Fundamentally the optical head comes first. Decisions on what the head parameters look like and then decisions at the system level - what's the nature of the tracking mechanism, what's the nature of the focusing mechanism. This defines the media properties and helps drive the engine definition in terms of electronics and firmware development. But there are iterative loops. So it's important that certain things are cast in concrete, like the tracking mechanism, because so much depends on it as you go along. We do go through evolving cycles, however, and that's inevitable, for example we went through four detailed designs on the optical head."
As far as partners are concerned, the knock-on effect can mean that development is not always linear and often the only way forward is back. But as Davies points out, this is part and parcel of this type of development programme: "If you're not prepared for that kind of dynamic you shouldn't be involved in this kind of business," he says.
A company that has experienced this 'snakes & ladders' scenario is Axxicon. Jan de Graff, says that although the DataPlay disc may look like a small and simple product, it probably represents the most difficult development project the company has undertaken.
"A project like this which starts from scratch, is very different from working on a mould for an established format. Parameters are constantly being redefined as specifications change, particularly as you encounter different problems in the development phase, but also as basic format issues such as the amount of data storage and the way that data is to be stored changes. You can be a certain way through the development only to find that changes knock you back half way or even return you to the beginning. But we were fully aware that this was likely to be the case when we took on the project."
Working together
To date there have been some 20 independent companies involved in the development of DataPlay, but due to confidentiality agreements not all can be mentioned here. Names that are public include: aeco, Apex, Axxicon, Belton, Computer Sciences Corp, Data Disc (e-mould), DCA, Dr Schenk, Imation, Nimbus, Panasonic Disc Services, Ritek, Samsung, Siemens, STEAG HamaTech, STMicroelectronics, Toshiba and Unaxis. DataPlay also has a close relationship with the University of Arizona, which has an optical data storage centre.
With partner companies distributed around the world, and each dealing with very specific parts of the development, good communication and co-ordination become a critical factor. Within DataPlay's headquarters are key engineering managers that work with each of the partners independently. In many cases they know the partner from previous business relationships and are familiar both with the products they make and the way the company works.
In some instances, such as STMicro, a company will also put their own personnel into Boulder to support DataPlay. Conversely DataPlay will sometimes base its staff at a partner's facility.
"With a company like Ritek we have two or three people based in Taiwan pretty well all the time," says Davies. "We don't have any mastering or replication equipment at all, so we rely on working through Ritek and Imation to provide both the equipment and expertise. For a company like DCA, because it's more of a one-shot kind of deal, we'll have someone working intensely with them for a couple of weeks and then the job is done.
"One thing that is very important," adds Davies, "is that you can't rely on partnerships in isolation. As a result my engineering heads have to be completely on top of where a partner is in a particular development phase and co-ordinate that with the whole. Partners must be totally open with us and allow full access to what they're doing. It requires constant involvement from our side to keep all the elements in place, working cohesively and moving forwards.
Davies likens the development process to building a giant structure, and says that from his perspective the trick is to be sure that if one of the corners starts to wobble it won't cause everything else to collapse. "And it's not just the design issues," he says, "it's the infrastructure, the availability of equipment to manufacture the product which is media, content and hardware. That infrastructure must be in place and solid enough to allow things to continue."
A good example of this is DataPlay's relationship with Samsung, which along with Toshiba and China based Belton, is building the DataPlay engine. Many of the optical components Samsung are using have been sourced by DataPlay from smaller companies, and it is up to DataPlay to make sure that these components can be manufactured in volume and on time. A special procurement team is responsible for monitoring and maintaining supply and will sense well in advance whether a vendor is having difficulty in meeting delivery and whether alternatives need to be put in place.
Another important aspect of this 'satellite' type of development is for partners to interact and work together. Most partners will have direct crossover with at least one other company - an example being the association between the mould maker and moulding machine manufacturer.
"Having e-mould relatively close by and being able to meet face-to-face with them is very useful," says Axxicon's De Graff. "Of course you can do things by phone, email and fax, but it's not the same as sitting around a table together which is something we do regularly. Also, if need be, DataPlay will come over to us or we'll go to them. It actually works very smoothly. During development there are regular meetings between the three of us. Although we solve our own particular problems ourselves, because that's our technology, being part of the total is extremely important, making sure you fit into the big picture."
Unforeseen problems
It would appear then that having put together a network of partnerships working as cohesively as possible, and created a solid infrastructure to support it, everything should run smoothly. But there are always those unforeseen problems - the worst for DataPlay is when a partner opts out.
"Having a partner drop out can be catastrophic and we have had two such occasions along the way. It presents a huge problem when it happens. You have to struggle to find a way around it, and this involves getting agreement that the company should phase-out their involvement rather than just dump us. It's a case of transferring the technology - which we basically own anyway - to another partner and getting as smooth a transition as possible from the outgoing company to the incoming one. The worst thing that can happen is to have to start all over again."
An example of this involves Data Disc and STEAG HamaTech. When Data Disc joined the DataPlay programme it was involved with both the electric moulding machine and the downstream equipment - all of which had been installed at Ritek. With the announcement that Data Disc was ceasing production as a line integrator, and that e-mould would take over the moulding business, DataPlay effectively lost on-going development of its replication line which badly needed to be upgraded and improved.
The good news is that at the time of writing, e-mould's Karl-Heinz Schoppe officially announced to One to One that an agreement had just been signed between Data Disc and STEAG HamaTech allowing STEAG to produce the downstream for the DataPlay production line. STEAG will receive all the drawings and technical development information and will be employing some of the Data Disc people involved in the project to produce a second generation system.
Another example involves the takeover of test equipment manufacturer Apex. At the time of partnering with DataPlay, Apex was a division of Toolex, and had agreed to produce offline testers for the format. The company was then acquired by aeco last autumn resulting in the US facility being closed and its activities moved to aeco's UK premises in Wales.
James Steynor, aeco director, takes up the story: "When we landed on Apex we discovered that the development they were undertaking for DataPlay was not necessarily at the level that was required in terms of functionality and indeed support, as much of the initial production will be done in Taiwan by Ritek. They needed a better partner and it was fortuitous that we were able to take things over and link it in with our larger company profile worldwide. We've also been able to bring a lot of experience into issues that DataPlay have on their format and have been able to assist in areas outside the immediate context of the test equipment. So the outcome has actually been a very good one."
Investment returns
So what's in it for the partners? Bearing in mind there is no exclusivity agreement, is the time and money they've invested going to produce the returns?
"We are now talking to future investors selected by DataPlay and based on early indications it seems that our decision to invest in the technology was right," says Schoppe. "We are prepared to supply a significant number of machines to the industry. Having been involved with the format for two years, we have a good lead in terms of producing a moulding system. This means that certainly for a period of time, our machine will be the only system available to press DataPlay media. That's the advantage we get for taking the risk in the first place."
Although other mould makers are now developing DataPlay products, Axxicon's de Graff is also positive. "By being there from the start we will be in a position to sell our moulds in bulk, knowing they are fully operational, tested, and optimised for the job. It gives us a head start in what we think will be an exciting technology and also associates the Axxicon name with it from the outset."
Then there are companies like Nimbus that made the first discs for DataPlay and put research into the LBR requirements. However when it became apparent that the format could be mastered without the need of a specially developed LBR, although certain modifications are necessary, the relationship between the companies did not tie-in further. Nimbus chairman, Gerald Reynolds, explains where he sees the benefits.
"The main advantage of being involved right from the beginning and making the first test samples is that it we know how to do it and know that our LBR can do the job. Therefore if DataPlay is a commercial success there will be customers out there that need equipment and might look favourably upon our LBR. There will also be existing customers that need process help which we are in a position to offer. It's always interesting and advantageous to us to understand new formats and how to master them. Although we are not offering an end product as such we have gained the knowledge and process expertise to put us ahead of the competition."
"What is clear among all our partners is a belief in the format and that being associated with it will be mutually beneficial," says Davies. "We have working devices and are currently scaling-up for DataPlay's October introduction. We are working with Toshiba, Samsung and our own contract manufacturer, Belton, to start making the drives. As far as media is concerned, we're confident that our relationships with Ritek and Imation are sufficient to carry us through for a while. With the initial launch in Japan and the USA, there will be several hundred music titles available plus blank media."
Prior to this the technology partners will get the first indications of whether their investment will pay off as the initial DataPlay licensees come on board. From then on it will be DataPlay's ability to sell the format to the consumer that will be the major test. If it can drum-up as much enthusiasm as it has with its partners, there should be a lot to look forward to.
http://www.oto-online.com/may01/genesis.html
Samsung's DataPlay player?:
http://www.smaller.com/articles/article2834/samsung.jpg
Help a Brother Out: DataPlay
by Scott Leapman
All for One and One for All?
"The best part of computer industry standards is that there are so many to choose from."
I don't know who first said this, but it applies to the gadget market, too. It seems that nothing new and cool ever works with the stuff you already have. When CDs came out over 20 years ago, they were great, but everyone wondered what to do with their huge LP and cassette collections. Same thing with DVD - what to do with all your VHS tapes and LaserDiscs (for those few who had 'em, and I did!) Every time a technology giant comes out with a great new product or way of doing things, they also create a new and incompatible standard to go with it. To make things more complicated, there's the whole digital rights management thing. Big companies are trying to protect their movies, music and books from piracy but at the same time trying not to tick off the shopping public with convoluted and difficult to use copy protection schemes.
Enter DataPlay.
DataPlay is the brainchild of Steve Volk, a guy who has been working with mobile media and drive technologies for years. The main goal is to develop a web-enabled digital content recording and distribution media for portable Internet appliances and handheld consumer electronic devices.
By now you're probably thinking "What's so great about this DataPlay stuff and why is it any better than the handful of other media formats that I already have?"
For starters, unless you've bought into Sony's "Memory Stick Everywhere" mantra and the full line of Sony gadgets, you probably have at least three different types of media to juggle; maybe a PalmOS PDA with SecureDigital (SD) memory, a digital camera with Compact Flash (CF) memory and an MP3 player with Smart Media expansion. To further complicate matters, your PC can't handle any of these without additional adapters or drives, so you end up running cables all over your desk to create that precious data pipeline they all require.
While the DataPlay disc won't completely eliminate all other formats, it does have a shot at replacing many of them, namely Compact Flash, SmartMedia, SecureDigital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Compact Disc, CD-R, DVD and DVD-R. (Seriously, kids. We know it sounds absurd but listen up.) These optical rotating discs are really small (smaller than CF), recordable although not yet rewritable (kinda like CD-R), and the best part... they're shooting for a retail price of $10 each!
The hardest part of jump-starting a new media format is getting the buy-in from the corporate big-wigs that can make or break you. Everything from digital cameras, portable MP3 players, e-book readers, PDAs and cell phones can benefit from the small size and inexpensive media that DataPlay offers. Corporate America's big beef with the current flock of removable media is the lack of copy protection or encryption. This may seem like merely a nuisance to Joe Consumer but it's a HUGE deal with the record labels. You may not realize it, but there's a battle raging as you read this to copy protect music CDs so that they can't even be played in computer CD-ROM drives.
So far 3 of the top 5 record labels have pledged to release pre-recorded music on DataPlay discs. With new data compression methods, nearly 5 albums of CD-quality music can be stored on a single 500MB dual-sided DataPlay disc. If that's not cool enough, they can instead put on a whole CD's-worth of music along with several full-length videos, local copies of web sites, and tons of other stuff. DataPlay's ContentKey digital rights management scheme, they plan to put a ton more stuff on each disc than you initially pay for, and then allow for the rest to be unlocked with a software key that you pay for later. Example: buy the latest Diana Krall album on a DataPlay disc and with a small additional fee, unlock 3 of her older recordings that are already on the same DP disc. No long downloads or going back to the store, and only one disc to store or carry around with you.
Recently, DataPlay linked up with Reciprocal, Inc. to enable easy (for us) and secure (for them) content management. This will allow some compelling innovations like build-to-order DP discs at your favorite stores (Best Buy, Circuit City, et al). You'd walk up to a kiosk, select maybe 5 of your favorite albums and a custom-built disc is ready in minutes. Your first selection is playable immediately and the other 4 albums are unlocked with a secure key you pay for online or over the phone. What's more; this disc that's been assembled just for you also has other cool content especially chosen to go with your selections - music videos, local web pages and links to concert information are all there.
So who's going to release music on DataPlay discs? For starters, Universal Music Group, EMI Recorded Music and BMG Entertainment have all pledged support. Another up-and-coming area for DP media is e-books. Rosetta Books is going to release a full catalog of electronic books on DataPlay discs, and with the capacity of these discs, you could buy a selected author's entire library on one disc and unlock each book as you're ready for new reading material.
There's also cross-media possibilities. How about buying a copy of Tom Clancy's latest novel in e-book format and on the same DP disc, and getting a full-length movie of one of his other books as well as the entire movie soundtrack? Cool, huh? The best part is that you don't have to pay for everything at once and you don't have to go back to the store to get the other goodies.
So the discs are cool because they're small, recordable and best of all, they're inexpensive. But what can you plug 'em into? A collection of new discs is worthless without the toys that read 'em. For starters, Imation is going to make the discs. There will be digital cameras from companies like Kodak and Olympus. Portable music players, PDAs, and e-book readers will be available from companies like Samsung and Toshiba. If things go as planned, expect an invasion of DataPlay discs and players by early next year. We've been waiting for a year already, hopefully we won't have to wait much longer.
Maybe this one really is for ALL.
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This article appeared in the Palm Possibilities column on smaller.com - a big place for small devices - on 10/29/01.
Copyright © 2001 smaller.com.
http://www.smaller.com/articleprint.cfm?id=2834
New product configurations and a lot to think about in our changing world.
From TWOMIL http://www.agoracom.com/nonmemforum/msgreview.asp?id=163324&refid=0&orig=163324
PostID 163324 On Saturday, February 02, 2002 (EST) at 3:03:26 AM
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Our 2nd generation of the Treo is going to be lighter, smaller, with more storage, with USB 2.0 (as fast or faster than current Firewire) and a very similar overall look. All the new Intel motherboards are coming out with USB2, and it's backwards compatible. Intel and other mb manufactures are moving to this faster USB protocol and will soon make anyone not using it or Firewire a non-competitor.
How the public may receive and utilize subscription services were my thoughts as well as how various sectors were likely to contribute to revenue.
One comment we've heard in the SH letter and was again stated near his concluding remarks was that guidance to shareholders about revenue, cash flow etc. was going to be much easier to forecast and make available as this year proceeded.
eDig is taking positive and negative comments about our products and making the necessary improvements and changes. Overall reviews and critiques have consistently given our 1st generation products a B to B+ rating. The refinements taking place will improve functionality and size while costs in some cases decrease or stay the same even with these new improvements.
DataPlay owns the drives and Industrial Design of the outside of their players, but will permit ID changes to allow for product differentiation of their customers. eDig designed the board and firmware around that engine that makes this all work, sound good, and low cost and easy to manufacture. Currently there is no one else with a DP product using a design other than ours for a DP-DAP.
Subscription services are probably going to require that their subscribers will only be able to play their IP on players with an RTclock. Persons not maintaining their subscription fees will be timed out so ownership of IP by the consumer is essentially going to be a leased/rented ownership. It is also likely that DP DAP's are going to be serially numbered and that handheld's ser. #'s will be matched with purchased content. In the case of DP disks, that feature would make those disks much more personal if they were restricted to playback on a single player. How well this will play out with the consumer is yet to be determined. We're all used to ongoing costs for consumables, even for longer wear relative/consumables as in 'leases' for autos, heavy equipment, office equipment, furniture, etc., but who would have thought that IP will follow along with this pay-as-you-go titling of ownership, soon to probably be called 'usership' (I believe a new concept word-1st seen here).
For those who believe serial numbering of handhelds matched with content will create more problems for the consumer, don't forget there will also be some advantages. Your subscription home base will have catalogued all of your paid library and in the event you upgrade your player they can easily synchronize your library to another player. I would imagine that libraries will also be able to be partitioned and possibly even be able to be resold by the subscriber. They will be able to be reproduced for you and thus are less vulnerable to physical damage, i.e., flood, fire, etc.. It raises the possibility of many other business opportunities for content owners and brings them much closer to their customers--always good for big business and often the consumer as well.
Look for our next generation of products to have those RTclock crystals and other refinements to make them compatible with the forthcoming requirements of IP owners. Car buyers will probably also be financing their subscription services in their monthly payments just as they're now financing all the add-ons that are physically factory installed.
I was pleased to see the addition of Tom Boksa to our management team. It is evident that an infrastructure is being built to capture and accommodate an increasing amount of business that is being directed at us. Though the CE market is probably going to be the first sector to deliver revenue, I can't help but believe that automotive, new and aftermarket, is going to be a major revenue area for us 6-12 months downstream and thereafter. I see us playing an ever increasing role in automotive which historically has had very large margins for these products. We're well positioned with some of the most respected and aggressive players in automotive for sound and video IP.
Our 10Q will be out 2-15-02 or before. It would not be unusual for us to have news prior to the 10Q and though I've not checked specific dates, Hanover's CeBit is usually held in February. This is Europe's biggest tech expo. I would expect Bang & Olufsen, if there, to be a real showstopper with their product line and particularly their MP3/WMA handheld. Now what was the name of that company that gave them a reference design?
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RE: TWOMIL: Could you please say your source?
From TWOMIL http://www.agoracom.com/nonmemforum/msgreview.asp?id=163357&refid=163335&orig=163324
PostID 163357 On Saturday, February 02, 2002 (EST) at 11:02:36 AM
Response To: 24601 PostID 163335
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I spoke with Jim Collier on Friday Feb. 1st. Jim will not put any numbers or dates on any of our business sectors nor will he discuss anything about our capital positions, upcoming needs, or name any specific companyies with whom we have been working. He is excellent about not crossing any lines with anyone that would not be information already known to the public about material matters.
Good luck to all.
Techhunter, FYI re B&O:
Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 2:
http://www.fernbach.de/html/beosound%202.html
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.fernbach.de/html/beosound%252...
(translation)
http://mp3.jubii.dk/visartikel.asp?articleid=72143 (Danish only)
http://www.hemelaar.nl/images/bo/beosound2.jpg (player)
http://www.hemelaar.nl/images/bo/earphone.JPG (earphones)
The BeoSound 2 is on sale now in Europe for 775 euros (about $690). It is also offered in Japan for 80,000 yen. (see http://homepage1.nifty.com/bangandolufsen/Products/system/beosound2.htm )
Treo coverage in Feb Commverge:
http://www.e-insite.net/commvergemag/index.asp?layout=article&articleId=CA192670
"The temptations...
Although copy-protected CDs could limit their market (see "Last blast" in this issue), hard-disk-based audio players keep getting more and more alluring. This one, the Treo 10, boasts a 10-Gbyte disk—capacious enough for well over 150 hours of music—in one of the smallest packages we've seen (4.63 by 3.03 by 0.77 inches and 9.9 ounces including its carrying case). The device also features a large backlit LCD and a $249 price tag. e.Digital, www.edig.com "
EDIG and RNWK:
"We have licensing and/or compatibility agreements in place with Liquid Audio, Sony, Microsoft, IBM, InterTrust, Lydstrom, QDesign, Dolby, RioPort, and RealNetworks. These agreements and collaborations contribute to the creation of a secure, seamless solution for end users who wish to download and enjoy music files found on the Internet. These partners are the sources of the majority of our OEM business. We are confident that we have positioned e.Digital at the nexus of the Internet music download device industry."
http://www.edig.com/news/releases/alert062700.html
DataPlay Report
You thought you'd never see them, but the little discs that could finally showed up at CES.
by M. Wiley 2002-01-29
http://gear.ign.com/articles/317971p1.html
(Kudos to sinaculi at RB for this find)
I sure as hell thought it was vaporware. I rolled back from CES 2001 all hopped up on DataPlay, just waiting for these wee discs to hit the streets. Then I waited some more. And then I waited some more. The launch date slipped from spring to summer to fall and then finally rounded into 2002. I had almost given up hope, but then the CES 2002 emails trickled in. Sure enough, all of a sudden I had a DataPlay appointment. In fact, thanks to my poor scheduling, I had two appointments.
DataPlay exhibited at the Imation booth, as Imation will be the only ones making the discs, at least for a while. While the booth was nice and the attendants knowledgeable, the area had a... dissipated... feel to it. And the general reception was lukewarm. Everyone has simply waited too long, and 500MB is just not as big as it was last year. After all, double-digit hard drive players are no a dime a dozen.
I, however, am still looking forward very much to DataPlay products. And it was very nice to see actual models on the floor devices that you could hold, play with, listen to, and try to slip into your pocket. The ship dates vary, but in general we should, and I use that word lightly, start to see the goods this spring.
For the uninitiated, DataPlay discs are incredibly slim discs with high storage capacities. They will be available in two flavors: 250 and 500MB. The only downside, technologically, is that they are write-once discs. Thankfully, they are very small and fairly affordable, so that mightn't be much of a problem. The pricing will vary depending on how many you buy. As for what the official site says, the discs "will be sold in 1, 3, and 5 packs and will retail for $5 - $12.00." I don't fully understand that price scheme, and I am guessing that the ambiguity is intentional. Don't write in asking me about disc read times or throughput or RPM, because I don't know. Hopefully that will all surface as the technology emerges. But on to the products.
One of the first players will be the Evolution player, which I previewed last week. If you are at all interested in this technology, then you should click that link and take a gander at what might be the leader of the pack. You will notice the large, red MTV logo on the player. I suppose getting this license was quite a coup for Evolution, who, despite the impressive product line for 2002, has only released on player thus far.
Another player on the floor was MPMan, who had one of its two models on the floor. MPMan gets a lot of their players from the same OEM as other brands more popular in the States. For instance, Sensory Science and Evolution each gets at least one model from the same place as MPMan. Unfortunately, MPMan-branded players haven't really caught on here. You can, however, see both of the planned DataPlay models on the official site. As you will see in the image, at least if you enlarge it, the specs are pretty straightforward save for the DataPlay playback.
Just as encouraging was the presence of prerecorded DataPlay discs. Apparently, the company has been able to twist the arm of more than one major label. (Sadly, I know it will be years before anything I listen to will ever be released on this format.) And so later this year you will see honest-to-goodness DataPlay releases in stores. They had several examples at the booth. Most of it was crap, but it was able to find the Gorillaz record. (I know it's not totally uncrappy, but it was the best they had.)
There were no specifics about prerecorded albums. I'm curious about formats, bitrates, and all the gory details. I guess I'll just have to wait until they're on shelves. The one quality touted by the demo folks was the ability to cram a bunch of extras onto one disc. Now, CDs are 650/700MB and can hold 74 minutes of music and a few extras. How much bonus material could they squeeze into 500MB and keep the quality high? I just hope they don't end up putting out inferior music for the sake of bells and whistles.
Anyway, that's the status of DataPlay. I really do look forward to it. I guess we'll see over the next couple months
OT: More food for thought:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-823578.html?tag=cd_mh
WASHINGTON--In a twist on recent investment hoaxes, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday issued a news release from a nonexistent company in an elaborate effort to educate investors on the dangers of casual investing.
According to the fake release, biological defense systems manufacturer McWhortle Enterprises will go public Jan. 30, 2002. The statement was issued by the SEC via PRNewswire, which disseminates financial news releases.
The news release, which promotes McWhortle's track record as a well-known provider of detectors that can sense biohazards from as far as 50 feet away, includes directions to a Web site. However, visitors to the site are only a few clicks from a page headlined: "If you responded to an investment idea like this...You could get scammed!"
From the VaroVision website...
"Coming Soon"
http://www.varovision.com/sub1/wings.html
cksla - a trail for you to track:
http://www.geocities.com/interstaterobotics/partner.htm
Mar-April is MTV/Evolution - May is DP and other partners... perhaps Universal and Toshiba and/or Samsung? Whatever... more is better in this case.
Dougito chats with Putnam:
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=890801
"I spoke with Robert this afternoon. He was very upbeat and cordial today. Moreso than usual. I just asked him a few questions. I'll give you a brief sum up. At CES he said the talks that stood out most involved major retailers and bundling deals. He went on to say the Treo 10 has huge potential. On the automotive front he said the Fujitsu 10 application is just the beginning. They are working with I believe "several others" were the words he used. Robert stated they wanted to get more focused on automotive applications as they tend to have larger profit margins. He confirmed that e.Digital's micro OS would be in most if not all Dataplay music products at launch with more later in the year to be announced. I asked if Eastech was one of those companies. He said that naturally the Asian market is anxious to take advantage of the features provided by Dataplay's technology and that Eastech as well as their OEM's should be one later this year. As always, I'm not here to hype, just to save Robert time repeating himself."
Doug
BMI Announces Licensing Agreement With Pressplay
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020128/282567_1.html
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2002--BMI, the U.S. performing rights organization, today announced that is has completed a long-term music licensing agreement with pressplay, the online music company.
Pressplay, which launched service in the United States on December 19, 2001, offers subscribers access to a broad catalog of music through streaming, downloading and CD-burning. The service gives fans access to a vast online library including music from the world's three largest record companies - Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Recorded Music - and numerous independent labels.
The agreement grants pressplay the rights to publicly perform the approximately 4.5 million compositions in the BMI repertoire. Once payment and performance data is received, fees collected from the public performances on the site will be distributed as royalties to the songwriters, composers and music publishers of the works BMI represents.
``Pressplay is a leader in the digital music subscription space and we are happy that we were able to create an equitable licensing agreement for the use of BMI music on the service,'' said Richard Conlon, Vice President of BMI's New Media Licensing group. ``We share pressplay's conviction that digital, subscription-based music services present an exciting new platform for the performance of music as well as a potential new revenue stream for songwriters.''
``This agreement with BMI will enable pressplay members to have access to millions of songs from popular BMI songwriters,'' said pressplay President and CEO Andy Schuon. ``This agreement once again demonstrates pressplay's commitment to ensuring that artists and songwriters are fairly compensated for the public performance of their music.''
Founded in 1940, BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers from around the world and in all genres of music. Through its music performance and reciprocal agreements, it grants businesses and media access to its repertoire of approximately 4.5 million musical works. It was one of the first established music companies to embrace the Internet to proactively develop new revenue streams for songwriters.
About pressplay
Launched in December 2001, pressplay is an equally held joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group (a unit of Vivendi Universal), and has offices in Los Angeles and New York City. Music companies, including EMI Recorded Music, Madacy, Matador, Navarre, OWIE, Razor & Tie, Roadrunner, Rounder, Sanctuary, Sony Music Entertainment, TVT Records and Universal Music Group separately provide their content to pressplay on a non-exclusive basis. Pressplay is marketed to consumers through relationships with MSN, MP3.com, Roxio and Yahoo! Music. An independent executive team with deep music, programming, technology and business experience leads the company.
RioPort Secures Distribution License From BMG for Upcoming Music Subscription Service That is First to Include Portability to Devices
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2002--
-- Leading Music ASP Overcomes Significant Barrier to Consumer
Acceptance of Commercial Online Music Subscriptions --
In a music industry first, RioPort, Inc., the leading music application service provider (ASP), today announced that it has secured an online music subscription distribution agreement with BMG that includes the right to transfer subscription tracks to secure portable devices and other consumer electronics products. To date, RioPort is the only company that has announced technology that allows for the secure playback of subscription music downloads on music devices (e.g., portable players, music-phones, digital stereos, set-top boxes, etc.) and the only company to secure a major label music subscription license that includes this critical component. RioPort intends to launch its PulseOne(TM) music subscription service with portability in late Q1 2002 through e-tailers, broadband and wireless service providers and consumer electronics companies.
"RioPort launched its music subscription initiative with the goal of building a service that's easy to use, offers the widest selection of music, blends with the ability to own downloads and includes all the playback features that people must have -- including portability and remote access. We made a decision early on that we wouldn't launch our online subscription service until we had all of these critical components in place," said Jim Long, president and CEO of RioPort, Inc. "Our ground-breaking agreement with BMG is a major step forward in achieving this goal."
"BMG is pleased to make our music available through RioPort's PulseOne(TM) service," said Bob Jamieson, president and CEO of BMG North America. "This license agreement further demonstrates BMG's commitment to creating a digital connection between our artists and their fans in a convenient, consumer-friendly way."
BMG is home to top musical artists including Alabama, Christina Aquilera, Toni Braxton, David Gray and Pink, among others. At launch, RioPort expects to offer approximately 22,000 tracks from BMG with additional tracks released over time. RioPort expects to announce music subscription distribution agreements with other major record labels shortly; RioPort already has commercial download distribution agreements with all five major labels.
The backbone of RioPort's subscription portability initiative is its ground-breaking d2d(TM) (Direct-to-Device) technology, which makes it possible for rental/subscription music downloads to be played on consumer electronics products while ensuring that content usage rules, such as termination by play count, cumulative play time or time-based expiration, are enforced. RioPort's d2d technology, which has already been demonstrated by Samsung, Sanyo, SONICblue and Texas Instruments, can be implemented in portable playback devices, cell phones, Web-based home stereos, set-top boxes or car stereos.
The ability to transfer online music subscription downloads to portable devices has been noted by industry analysts as a critical sticking point to mass consumer adoption of commercial online subscription models. IDC estimates sales of MP3-compatible devices will reach 18 million by 2005.
RioPort's upcoming music subscription service, featuring the ability to transfer music subscription tracks to portable devices and other consumer electronics products, will be the newest music e-commerce feature offered as part of the company's PulseOne Service. The PulseOne Service provides RioPort's etailer partners with the basic functions and music content needed, so they can create for their customers "try it, rent it and buy it, anywhere" options for easily accessing, sampling and purchasing digital music tracks and albums over the Internet.
About BMG
BMG is the global music division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading media companies with annual revenues of $18.45 billion. BMG owns more than 200 record labels in 42 countries, including Artista Records, RCA Records, RCA Label Group - Nashville and Ariola. In addition, BMG owns one of the industry's most highly regarded companies and one of the world's largest music publishing companies.
About RioPort.
RioPort is the leading music application service provider, enabling e-tailers and consumer electronics manufacturers with industry-standard solutions for selling music to consumers in a simple, secure manner. RioPort's distribution partners include the MTVi Group, Radio Free Virgin, House of Blues, Bolt, BestBuy.com and others. RioPort is backed by Oak Investment Partners, Vulcan Ventures, SONICblue, Microsoft Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., EMC Corp., Quantum Corp. and Macrovision Corp.
scarabus, next 10Q is due Feb 15th; next 10K on or before June 30th. (Our fiscal year 2002 ends March 31st, 2002.)
Woody Norris interview:
A VISIT WITH WOODY NORRIS
http://www.teamyellow.net/MtSavageProductions/interview.htm
The delight Woody Norris takes in his inventions is that of a kid who grew up to be a toymaker, but didn't really grow old.
The interview in his Poway, California office is punctuated with grins and, "Do you want to see something cool? Let me show you this!"
Whether it's a one-man helicopter that takes 30 minutes to learn to fly or stereo speakers the size of an Oreo cookie, you're nodding along with him, "Yeah, I've got to have this."
His enthusiasm is infectious, and his innovative creations back it up -- was Thomas Edison like this, you wonder.
How could he not be? The power to conjure up your wildest dreams -- high tech items you'd most like to browse through at Best Buys, inventions you know the world will beat a path to your door for and will pay a ton of money for. And through it all, he seems a little bit in awe of the possibilities himself. He quotes Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001 Space Odyssey -- "'Pure science is magic.' It is magic. The stuff we do today -- magic," enthuses Woody.
The striking thing about Woody is that he doesn't seem like a genius. And he'll be the first to tell you that. The way he explains things is simple and understandable for the scientifically challenged, unlike those idiots whose job it is to write simple computer manuals that nobody understands.
He's no techno nerd. If more science teachers were like him, our world would be full of new marvels daily. Born in Maryville, Maryland, which is right next to Mt. Savage, which is near Cumberland, of Cumberland Gap fame, his father was a coal miner with a third grade education and his mother only went through eighth grade.
Woody's electronics knowledge is mainly self-taught, consisting of repairing broken radios he begged from the local repair shop on the way home from school. "I had a chicken coop full of 20 or 30 or 50 radios... I fixed most of them." He had a mere six months of basic electronics training in the Air Force, where he worked with radar and the electronics used to trigger A and H bombs.
"You know how some people can play the piano, they just pick out notes? I've always had that ability with electronics and I know rudimentary things about circuits just intuitively, or like it's psychology, know how they worked. And if I don't, I can figure it out pretty quick with just a clue here and there. So most of my electronic training is pretty elementary." Is there such thing as an inventor savant?
Woody joined the Air Force right out of high school because the hi-fi store to which he'd applied for a job didn't respond fast enough. While the results of the aptitude test he took in the Air Force said he could do anything, he was funneled into electronics, and stationed for a time at Monzano, a top secret base located inside a mountain in New Mexico.
"I hated it. I hated the Air Force. I wasn't making any money." To supplement the meager military paycheck (his Air Force duties only ran from 6:30 till noon), Woody worked as a cameraman at the ABC affiliate in nearby Albuquerque.
"I had a full time job from four until midnight. I was always dead tired. Midnight till 6:30 I got to sleep. Working at the TV station, I met a lot of pretty girls. We had a Dick Clark type dance thing. And I would date all the girls because I was the cameraman right out on the floor."
After four years of working his way up to Airman Second Class ("about as low as you can get"), he got a job at the University of Washington fixing electronic equipment. "I was making four hundred bucks a month which was terrible at the time. Because I worked for the university, I could take classes for free. So I just took one during the day and then as many evening classes as I wanted for free. So I was having a heyday. I had a little old English Riley car that you cranked to start."
The courses varied -- electronic engineering, philosophy of religions, Spanish, business, psychology, accounting... a mishmash of knowledge which would serve him well in later years.
He regrets not attaining a degree, but, well, you know, he invented a couple of things and became slightly busy... not to mention rich.
While working on a phonograph tone arm that would eliminate the common linear tracking problems of the turntable, word got out and a fledgling company in Salt Lake City approached him about developing an invention for them. And oh, since one of the four partners was a doctor, it would be good if the invention was medical.
Using his experience in the Air Force, Woody came up with a sonar version of radar to listen to sounds inside the body.
"When a car or truck or train goes by and you hear the whistle go, aaaayuuuuu, it goes up and then down in pitch because sound waves travel at a finite, fairly slow speed. The pitch changes if the waves are moving as they are being produced. So I got this idea to emit ultrasonic sound into the skin, just with a little thing on the end of a flashlight I bought at Radio Shack. I put a speaker on the other end and through some little tricky math and manipulation, if anything under the skin was moving when that ultrasonic wave went in, it would bounce back -- the movement would cause it to shift its pitch. And by some tricky circuitry you could hear the movement under the skin."
The difference between Woody's "doppler" tool and a stethoscope is important. With a stethoscope, any particular sound to which you're listening -- whether a heartbeat, breathing, the heartbeat of a fetus -- is obscured by all the other sounds in the body. The doctor has to learn to discern it. But Woody's product was like a laser beam, with the ability to zero in on a particular blood vessel and stay on it even if a bunch of others crossed over it.
"I stole the idea from FM radio. There are only one hundred FM channels in the country, but there are 50,000 stations, maybe. So the same frequencies are used over and over again all over the country, they just keep them away from each other. But if you're on the fringe of losing an FM station, and you're moving into another one on the same frequency, it'll keep the weak one over the strong one because it's locked into that one. That's the nature of frequency modulator radio signals."
And, Woody admits, "You know what? I didn't invent that. It happens and I observed it. And so I claimed it. You know what inventing is -- I heard this from somebody else -- 'It's an accident observed.'"
Woody's doppler tool eventually evolved into the sonogram. "They put pictures to it and all that; mine was just sound. But that was a pretty big deal," says Woody in a massive understatement. "I made it on a weekend and I sold it and I quit working for the school. And I haven't really -- except for a real brief time -- worked for anybody since I was in my early 20's. I made my own living by my wits."
Woody was given 50,000 shares in the company and, at the time, knowing nothing about the stock market, he didn't pay attention when the company went public. A year later, they called to inform him of a secondary stock offering and the piggybacking of some of the shares of the founders. Woody casually asked what the stock was worth and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the shares had gone up to $8.
"So I had three hundred and some thousand dollars worth of stock for a weekend's work a year before. I quit work at the university and bought a milling machine and a lathe and a grinder and a sander and a drill press and every tool you could conceive of. I rented a little place and set up an inventing company and started to invent. Is that cool?"
Woody was still struggling with his tone arm when the Heath Technic Corporation offered to buy it and pay him to perfect it. Because he said he didn't want to work with other people, the company rented him his own private state of the art facility within a mile of his house.
"I was totally spoiled! I was making $600 a month when I left the university and I was making nothing when I was on my own for that brief time. They offered me $48,000 a year. That was $4,000 a month. I had so much money I didn't know what to do with it."
When Heath fell on hard times, he bought the tone arm back, then sold it to another person for a big chunk of money. Woody's empire was off and running. "So then I just started inventing stuff. And it's like anything else, once you start doing it, you get good at it. You get the routine down. Inventing is mostly a routine, I think."
So what sparks invention? "Thinking about it. If you are interested in math, and you read books on math and you do formulas, pretty soon you'll get insights that other people don't get because you attend to it. If you like music, writing music, or whatever, you'll develop a skill. Now, I will tell you that people who play the piano strictly by rote, taking lessons for 20 years, will never be as good as a guy who also has a knack. It's like an athlete. You can go to a certain limit as an athlete, but if you don't have the muscle structure and that and this and the other, the way the whole body is fixed when you're born, you'll never be a Michael Jordan. So there's a combination."
A vital part of Woody's combination has been his ability to sell himself and his products. Woody credits his high school drama experience. It began purely by accident when a boy he used to walk home with asked him to wait after school while he read for a part in the play.
"He said, 'You know, you should read, too.' So I got the lead in the play. And I got the lead in every play I ever did. When I graduated from high school, I got a national thespian award for acting. I was always going to do that (acting), but after high school, I went into the Air Force. When I got into the cameraman thing, I thought, 'When I get done with this, I'll go back and do acting.' But I didn't because I thought of an invention. I became an inventor."
"But I'll tell you something, if you're an inventor and you start out poor the way I did, you need to know how to speak publicly, to convince people to invest in you. So the drama that I did in high school was the best thing I ever did. Never had any fear in front of any audience."
The inventor first stepped into the role of spokesman after inventing a child locater device to foil kidnappings. The VIPs of the company asked Woody tag along to a TV interview in Los Angeles just in case there were some technical questions they couldn't answer.
"They had this little room off to the side where the host took all of us. We sat behind the camera and the president sat with the host in front of the camera. The light on the camera comes on and the host says, 'First of all, tell us who you are, sir,' and the president says, 'Uhhhh. What's my name?' He couldn't remember his name. He says, 'I can't do this.' So I got drafted."
Woody completed the interview and became the point man for the company for all subsequent interviews. After that first interview, the TV station's switchboard operator told them they'd "gotten more calls than the day Reagan was shot."
That's not to say Woody's a one-man show. He has developed a system of inventing, often working with a team of engineers and inventors.
"I got some intense electronics training for like six months in the Air Force, but I don't think it was college level. Everybody around here knows more than I do, but I speak all of it enough to not look stupid. And I know enough to find answers when I've got things I need to implement or to do. I'm way over my head right now in some of the inventions I'm working on, but I always do that."
His is the creative mastermind, the one who has the vision, the one who can gather pieces of knowledge and put them together to answer "what if?"
"I came up with the idea for all these inventions and I would usually do a very crude prototype. But often after the prototype and the concept emerged, the engineers I would hire executed it with a whole different route, but ended up with the same destination... But these guys can't dream up products. I've got a really good gift of determining before you spend any money if a product is stupid or not. And most people lose that objectivity when they get involved in anything. Writing songs or writing a book. They think everything they do is wonderful."
"I read about Thomas Edison. He used to hardly ever sleep. Three or four hours at a time at the most. He would take keys and he'd sit in a chair and hold the keys. If he dozed off and the keys would drop on the floor, he'd wake up and he'd go to work. I don't do that. But I'm always thinking. Two o'clock in the morning, I'll wake up with ideas and I'll jot them down by the side of the bed. I jump around a lot by nature because I don't have a very long attention span. I always butt in, and I'm trying to shake that habit, and I can't help it. And sometimes I've got it before the guy's gotten it out. Sometimes I don't get it and I'm thinking I've got it, but I didn't."
He has thirty or forty U.S. patents and over 300 patents around the world, and another fifty or sixty pending. Currently, he's working on four things at once, three of which are top secret. "If any one of them succeeds, we'll all be rich," says Woody.
"Most inventors, the statistics published by the U.S. government say that one out of 2,000 patent applications issues as a patent. The rest are rejected. Out of the ones that do issue, one out of 2,000 of those issued patents ever makes enough money in its lifetime to pay what it cost to get it. So what's that? Four million. I've been really lucky. I think that's the lucky talent, to know when you've got a stupid idea. And most ideas are stupid. Most of mine are stupid."
So what's the stupidest he's come up with? "I usually don't spend more than a few minutes on something really stupid. I spent years on those books on tape. We recorded, for instance, an entire unabridged novel on one tape. Sixteen, twenty hours on one tape. We spent hundreds of thousands of bucks on it. To get the material, we hired college students from the university. They would work for five bucks an hour. But none of the distributors, the bookstores, wanted them because they wanted to sell a lot of tapes. So they didn't want a book on one long tape. And that was terrible. I can't think of any more stupid ideas. I guess you put those out of your mind."
It actually sounds like a great idea for consumers, just wrong for the marketplace. But that's another thing about Woody -- anything worth doing is worth doing for profit. Judging from the high security and high tech outfitting of his research and development facility, business must be good.
Not bad for a small town guy with no college degree and no clear direction in his youth. "They say life is what happens to you on the way to doing what you want to do. And I've just had a series of good things happen. But most of the good things that have happened to me in my whole life have been because I'm a good salesman. And that's probably the basic skill. If you're a good salesman and you can communicate well, you can almost be anything. Almost be anything. That's what I think."
WOODY'S INVENTIONS
Hearkening back to his beginnings working on radios, many of Woody's inventions involve sound -- a unidirectional microphone, virtual speaker, electrostatic transducer, holographic transparent speaker, magnetic film (for sound recording), but Woody asserts, "I don't want to invent the same kind of stuff all the time. And since I've learned that inventing things in different fields doesn't mean necessarily that you're a total genius in that field because you can get that help from people that you can hire. I've decided I want to invent totally unrelated things like helicopters, like digital recording, like new ultrasonic speakers, like the medical doppler thing, like so on, and so on and so on."
Following is a diverse sampling of some of Woody's current projects:
HYPERSONIC SPEAKERS
When it comes to sound, Woody's HyperSonic Sound System will get you closer to the music than VH1. He has totally revolutionized the conventional box speakers we've all grown up with and had to find room for in our living rooms. While speakers have been shrinking in the past decade, they've still had the cumbersome woofer/tweeter/midrange in a box design. Not to mention all the wiring needed to go to the speakers from the receiver. Woody goes even further.
He has eliminated the box altogether, allowing for a speaker the size of an Oreo cookie -- a mere 1/16" thick. The raw drivers look like art pieces, the embedded circuitry looking like an artist designed it, not an engineer.
With conventional speakers, the sound is projected by moving the air containing the sound waves against a cone moving back and forth inside the box. But with Woody's speakers, it's a process that happens in the air itself. Sound is beamed at the wall and it comes off the wall where it is imbedded on top of the ultrasound. A process that happens in the air unimbeds it, or demodulates the two, so in essence, the room in which you are using the speakers is, itself, the speaker box.
Again, it was inspiration engendered by observation -- by studying physicist Hermann von Helmholtz's findings of 150 years ago. Helmholtz noticed that when playing two loud notes on an organ, a third note is produced, whose frequency was the difference between the frequencies of the other two notes.
Instead of an organ, Woody uses a crystal that produces two high-pitched beams of sound beyond human hearing. The listener hears the difference in frequency between the two waves.
The crystal wafer projects the sound across the room onto a flat surface (a wall, for instance), like a ventriloquist throws its voice -- it's the sound equivalent of a spotlight.
One aspect of this design is that, unlike conventional speakers, the level of sound stays the same wherever you move in the room -- unless you're standing right by the speaker itself.
"That's pretty revolutionary being able to make sound that you don't hear unless it's a distance off," says Woody.
In addition, the speakers feature "limited dispersion" -- the sound stays where it is beamed so the sound absorbing objects in the room (couch, rugs, etc.) are taken out of the formula to a great degree. So there's no compromise when you get your new speakers home -- they'll sound as good as they do in the store. "They will sound more the same in a room than any other speaker you will buy," says Woody.
Woody is also developing a woofer for deep bass. It has been harder to shrink, but Woody's gotten it down to the size of a frisbee which you could easily hide under a couch.
In 1997, Woody's HyperSonic Sound received the prestigious Discover Magazine award for innovation in sound (at 3 million subscribers, Discover is the world's largest circulated science magazine). His competition was MIT, Toyota, and some other very formidable minds. Woody received the award from the grandson of Thomas Edison; he was also thrilled to meet Ray Charles, one of the judges in the sound category.
So far, Woody has contracted with RCA Thomson, Dolby, and Harman. With no wiring necessary, it will be a boon for homes with flat screen TV's, movie theaters, automobile sound systems... the possibilities are endless.
At five for $600, Woody says, "They sound as good as $3,000 speakers if you sat them down side by side."
ARTIFICIAL HIP ALARM
The Scripps Clinic contracted with Woody to develop an alarm to alert a patient that his artificial hip is starting to separate early enough that the patient can still do something about it on his own. "With an artificial hip, some things you can never do again, like tie your shoes, dangle your feet off the end of a bed, you have to consciously keep these muscles tight."
If a patient relaxes too much, the artificial hip can pop out of place, which is extremely painful and costly ($3,000) to replace. Woody's alarm alerts the patient when the artificial hip is starting to come apart by fractions of a millimeter so that he or she can tighten up the muscles around it and keep it in place.
The doctors didn't want anything that needed batteries inside the human body because they would need to be replaced from time to time. Woody's device is worn on the belt and looks like a pager. A piece of electromagnetic tape which goes from the device to the hip sends a signal in through the skin which bounces back and warns that the hip is starting to move before it becomes a problem.
HELICOPTER
Woody's interest in flying, but frustration with private aircraft, inspired him to develop a single-passenger helicopter.
"I have a pilot's license and I never fly, because a private plane is like a soapbox derby. The walls are this thin. If you kicked your foot really hard, you could actually kick your foot through the floor of a private airplane. They're terrible!"
Then there's Woody's tendency to get lost. "To stay up in the air, you've got to be going 100 miles per hour. I frequently got lost! And so, I was trying to keep the plane flying in a certain direction and I'm also trying to look down at a map!"
And, of course, in the process, he's traveling 100 miles an hour out of his way, so he decided to invent an aircraft that could stop and hover in one spot while he got his bearings.
While helicopters fit the bill, learning to fly them is difficult and expensive, costing an average of $50,000 and many months to get a license.
In addition, they can be dangerous and difficult to fly due to the physics of the interaction between the rotating blade and tail rotor.
"I wanted something that somebody could learn to fly in a half an hour to an hour. I didn't know it at the time -- and I learned very quickly because you have to do that kind of research nowadays or you're stupid -- counter- rotating blades neutralize that particular danger. So I dreamed up this idea for my little helicopter with blades that counter- rotate and they neutralize the gyroscopic effect." It turns out that was the design of the first helicopter ever made.
"But, for the big payloads of commercial helicopters, and the things they need to do, two blades was impractical, so they got rid of the second blade and put a tail rotor on it. But for the weight class in which we fall, and the fact that we don't want to go up to where all the traffic is, our design is perfect and it had not been exploited in the direction I took it."
Woody and a partner funded it through the prototype construction, utilizing the services of eight NASA helicopter engineers. "The most brilliant thing was to get everybody out of thinking that you need to go 150 miles per hour and up 10,000 feet. The first question everybody asks me is how high does it go? My answer usually is, 'Who cares? If you're off the ground, you have the thrill of flying. If you're six feet in the air, it is the coolest thing on earth. You can go over rocks, jagged glass, water, bogs, marshes... You're free! It's better than a motorcycle ever thought of being!'"
If it sounds a bit risky to market these in our litigation crazy times, understand that the computer system basically flies it -- the pilot overrides it. "The computer won't let you do anything totally stupid that'll cause you to flip over," asserts Woody. On the other hand, like power steering on your car, if it goes out, you can still operate it.
"This thing has a handlebar like a motorcycle. It's totally intuitive the way you fly it. Even a paraplegic can get up in one and fly it, he can be totally free. You don't need legs. It's all on the handlebars."
Eventually, they'll make a 3-passenger version, but initially, only a one-passenger version because an unlicensed pilot is only risking his or her own life.
"We actually have a little screen in the cockpit. You must say, 'I have read and I accept' and you hit "enter" or the engine won't start. And like my Lexus, which has that GPS screen on it, every time I want to use that map, I have to say, 'I accept.' It keeps a tally every day, what time of day I turn that map on. If I tried to sue them because I crashed into something looking at that map, they'd say, 'Seven thousand times, Mr. Norris, you punched ' I accept' -- now how many times do you have to do it to understand what it said? Prove to me that you read English.' That's the kind of stuff we're doing to protect our butts."
There has already been interest from U.S. Customs, the military, and fire and police departments. Then Woody sees the market moving into recreation. "Honda invented the three-wheeler, which is now the four-wheeler, the quad, the ATV -- all terrain vehicles. There was no market data; nobody knew if it would sell. They had spare parts and they made one. Last year, collectively, the companies that make those sold $4.5 billion worth of those things."
Like the ATV's the only regulation for recreational use of Woody's helicopter would be that you couldn't fly them at night or in unauthorized areas. "There are 40,000 acres of land that's just woods behind my house that I can fly over. I'm not touching it. Environmentalists are going to love it."
Woody imagines it eventually becoming a commuter vehicle. You don't need an airport to land at, when a roof will do. It goes 2 1/2 hours on a tank of gas (5 gallons). "The highways are jammed. If these things are proven to be safe enough in the next five or ten year period, it will happen."
Woody expects it will cost $25,000, half the price of a helicopter license. "This sucker is going to be big time."
(See also http://www.teamyellow.net/MtSavageProductions/index.htm )
No reference to Dataplay there, but player does accept Microdrives...
V-MP3 versatile media player Portable Audio and Video-in-One MP3 Player with Built-In TFT Color Monitor
Key Specifications/Special Features:
Built-in 2.5-inch TFT color monitor
JPEG/MPEG1/MP3 format files play
CF, MMC, SD cards and IBM MicroDrive are available
No disk required
Easy to link external color TFT monitor or TV for viewing
Easy to download files from the internet
Power-saving mode to reduce power consumption
Power consumption display
Portable MP3 and MTV player
One-touch function
Option of screen adjustment
Built-in rechargeable batteries
Keylock system
Desktop holder
USB 1.1 interface port
System: PAL or NTSC, 12DC power adapter
http://www.vosonic.com/cd/owa/siw_template6.navigator?in_org_id=8801707228&in_current_page=specs...
Some details of how an Actel FPGA is employed in the Rio player:
http://www.actel.com/appnotes/MP3.pdf
Cinderelly at RB got this from Aimee Clark at Dataplay:
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=886346
Hello,
DataPlay will be available in early April at stores like Stawberries, Coconuts and The Wall.
Thanks,
Aimee Clak
Sinkman/acrazjo, not to put too fine a point on it... but the way I read the EDIG/Actel PR, it is EDIG who is to incorporate the Actel FPGA into their player designs, not the other way around:
"'We are excited about working with Actel, an expert in FPGA architecture and system- and chip-level logic design,' said Jim Collier, chief operating officer at e.Digital. 'Actel provides an ultra-secure technology that protects our intellectual property and enhances our licensing revenue sources. It will help OEMs significantly reduce their time to market by licensing a complete, full-featured logic system that can be incorporated by their internal development teams. We are pleased to be able to meet this need and enable the next generation of portable music and voice player products.'
e.Digital’s solution has potential applications in automotive stereos, home stereo systems, laptop and handheld computers, desktop PCs, cellular phones and dictation systems.
The e.Digital solution is the latest portable consumer application to incorporate Actel’s FPGA devices. Actel devices are also used in digital cameras, digital film, multimedia products and smart-card readers."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
In other words, EDIG has incorporated an Actel FPGA into e.Digital reference player designs (presumably to lock away part of the MicroOS/CAM system logic in secure silicon, safe from the prying eyes of hackers and reverse-engineers).
http://www.edig.com/news/releases/pr101601.html
acrazjo, IMHO we will not earn revenues directly from Actel. Third parties employing the Actel eX FPGAs that incorporate logic designed by EDIG would probably pay us directly as part of the cost of licensing an EDIG reference design.
from mike.w: Studios nearing anti-copying tech for TV
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8516912.html?tag=mn_hd
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 17, 2002, 11:50 a.m. PT
TV networks, film studios and consumer electronics companies are honing in on a technology they hope will keep consumers from swapping TV shows and movies Napster-like online.
The new drive, under the auspices of the longstanding cross-industry Copy Protection Working Group, is just one part of a growing effort to keep television from becoming the newest front in the digital piracy wars. As broadcast TV turns digital this year, studios are looking for ways to control how shows are recorded and traded, and they are proposing technologies that could ultimately bar consumers from freely recording TV programs from the airwaves.
The latest effort, a plan to insert digital tags into broadcast TV shows that would prevent them from being put online, is just part of that broader aim. But as more TV content shows up at digital swap meets, copyright owners see it as an increasingly urgent issue. They say they'll have a standard ready by the end of the first quarter of the year.
That's an ambitious timetable for an issue that has caused considerable tension between Hollywood and electronics companies--and even between studios themselves--over the last year. But with a federal deadline bearing down in early May that could require most stations to begin broadcasting digital signals, the anti-piracy group has little time to settle technology disputes.
"Device builders need to have some kind of order in their life," said Scott Dinsdale, the Motion Picture Association of America's executive vice president for digital strategy. "There needs to be a standard way of doing this."
As the TV business moves slowly into a digital mold, issues that have long centered on the Net are becoming a concern for device makers and TV studios.
Studios are worried that broadcast TV signals, which are not scrambled the same way that cable or satellite feeds are, could become a source of piracy as people copy and swap TV shows and broadcast movies. For the last several years, studios, technology companies and government regulators have squabbled over what kind of technology can be added to block recording and copying of broadcast TV--and how strong these security measures can be.
Copyright owners say they are loath to release their best movies or TV shows into the digital TV world, knowing they can be almost instantly copied and traded online. Consumer groups and consumer electronics makers have fought to defend rights to record shows for personal use.
Already video files are becoming common inside post-Napster networks such as Morpheus, Kazaa and Gnutella, as growing numbers of broadband connections and improving video compression files make it feasible for people to swap movies, music videos or TV shows in much the same way they trade MP3 songs.
Digital lockdown
Plans to head off would-be file traders tapping broadcast signals have been debated for much of the last year. Studios have disagreed about the level of protection needed, and consumer electronics companies have balked at adding expensive new technologies into their devices.
These have been just a couple of the controversial elements inside a hornet's nest of issues that have collectively slowed the spread of digital TV to a crawl.
The newest plan, which has not been streamlined into actual selection of technology, revolves around inserting an invisible, inaudible "flag" or watermark into a digital broadcast. Information contained inside this marker would indicate whether the broadcast could be copied, stored or shared.
For this to work, the watermark would have to be read by devices receiving a TV signal, which could range from TV sets to DVD players, TiVo-style digital video recorders, or even PC cards that let shows be recorded onto a hard drive.
Near-unanimity across several industries will be necessary to achieve this goal. That's been difficult to reach in some previous efforts, most notably the Secure Digital Music Initiative. That group, which had a similar plan to insert watermarks in the music contained on audio CDs, broke down early last year after disagreement between its various members.
The Technology Working Group has a better record of achievement, however. Formed in 1996 to come up with standards for protecting DVDs from piracy, the group has consistently agreed on standards such as the Content Scrambling System, which is built into DVDs and DVD players.
While the current proposal is limited, watermarking technology ultimately could wind up barring consumers from copying their favorite shows or movies off the air, as they are routinely able to do with VCRs or digital video recorders such as TiVo. Proponents of the plan note that the technology wouldn't necessarily bar copying but would allow content owners such as studios to create new business models such as charging for the right to copy or share with friends.
This could be controversial, and some consumer groups have objected, pointing to the 1980s Supreme Court decision that originally gave the green light to VCRs, saying that people could legally tape TV shows.
That doesn't necessarily mean broadcast companies have to provide shows in a format that can be taped and distributed online, however. And analysts say consumers are likely to accept the new copy restrictions as just one more element of a new generation of technology that provides features well beyond what they've been used to with analogue TV.
But a standard that comes together so quickly is unlikely to be a final product, they add.
"This will be cracked, and it will be modified, and it will be cracked again," said P.J. McNealy, research director with GartnerG2, a division of the Gartner research firm. "That's the reality of this business."
Evolution's OEM?
Check out this link: http://www.ickorea.com/present/default.asp?part=0
Note that DataPlay is listed as a Technology and Manufacturing partner and Evolution as a Marketing & Sales partner.
Also, from http://americapr.com/nowevolution/images/NowEvolution-Overview_85x11.pdf , "August 2000: Import and marketing partnership formed between Korean R&D/manufacturing corporation and DEICO/EVOLUTION"
Also note resemblance between the Evolution wireless Neckphone ( http://nowevolution.com/mediakit/Neckphone.html ) and I-C's IM-600B ( http://www.ickorea.com/products/mp3p.asp?name=IM-600B )
Looks like they are the Evolution OEM to me.
Some data to play with:
"Under our agreement with DataPlay, e.Digital will collect royalties on players using the e.Digital reference design."
(Note who's agreeing to pay us royalties.)
"Our design incorporates MicroOS(TM) 2.0 and supports secure content on DataPlay digital media. With three of the five major record labels scheduled to sell secure prerecorded content on DataPlay digital media, this is an important market-differentiating factor."
(Note what differentiates our reference DP player from the rest.)
If I read this right...
1) We are differentiated from other DataPlay player designs due to our support of secure content. (I take that to mean we have the only DP player design supporting ContentKey.)
2) We are being paid royalties on our DP player reference design by DataPlay, not just by the player OEMs. That also tends to support the notion that we are integral to ContentKey. (Why else would DP pay us royalties on a design we sell to a 3rd party?)
JMHO, of course.
KaZaa gone, Napster enslaved... what next?..... http://www.pressplayster.com/
KaZaa Suspends Downloads http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2002/kazaasuspends.html
By Robert Menta - 01/17/02
It looks like the first effects of the shutdown order against KaZaa are starting to manifest themselves. On the company's website, people looking to download the program - a program that is (was) the second most downloaded on Download.com - are met with this statement from the company: Download of the KaZaA Media Desktop software is temporarily and voluntarily suspended pending Dutch court decision on January 31. We apologise for the inconvenience. Please check back at www.kazaa.com for more information. Right now there is no other information on the site, but more should be coming soon. If this should eventually lead to the shutdown of KaZaa, this would be the second win for the music industry against a P2P program, the first being Napster. Granted, a "win" is a subjective term here considering how easy it is for users to migrate to another service. It was Napster's closure that spurred the search for alternative services and vaulted KaZaa and its FastTrack brethren Morpheus to the top of the heap. Stopping future downloads of KaZaa does not shut down the network. The big difference between Napster and KaZaa is that KaZaa does not require a central server. Theoretically this means that the tens-of-thousands of copies of KaZaa already downloaded will continue to work on the FastTrack network. KaZaa has let it slip that they have the power to shut off all those copies, but whether that happens or not is another element that needs to unfold here. The record industry insists that there are elements of the service that are centralized, contrary to KaZaa's claims, and hopes to get the court to invoke pressure on the company to cease all activity as ordered for the duration of the trial. We will follow up on this story as more information arrives.
A Cure For The IPod Blues
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2002/0114cooltools.html
By Keith Shaw
Network World, 01/14/02
When Apple announced its iPod digital music player, many PC users were left in the unenviable position of drooling over a device that they couldn't get (unless they "crossed over" and bought an iMac, which is what Steve Jobs wants you to do anyway).
Now some PC users can get revenge. E.Digital recently launched its Treo 10 digital audio player. The Treo 10 has a 10G-byte embedded 2.5-inch hard drive (twice the size of the iPod's 5G-byte drive). E.Digital sent me an evaluation unit, and the device cured my iPod blues.
The first thing you notice on the Treo 10 (not to be confused with Handspring's Treo communicator, which is a PDA/phone device) is its weight. While 9.9 ounces is not very heavy, when compared with other handheld devices it will seem a bit heavy. Of course, you need a little weight when you're carrying around 10G bytes of music.
The Treo 10 includes a small, backlit LCD display that shows the artist, album and song you're listening to. You can adjust the length of time that the backlight stays on, from "never" up to 5 seconds. Reduce the time to save battery life, but most likely you'll want the 5 seconds when you're picking the songs because without the backlight it can be tough to read the screen when it's dark.
The Treo 10 comes with two software applications, MXP Music Explorer and Music Match Jukebox. The MXP Music Explorer is software that lets you move the songs over from your PC into the device; and Music Match Jukebox is the software you use to create MP3 files from your existing CDs (remember kids, no Napster-like file sharing!). The device connects via a Universal Serial Bus 1.1 cable, and you also need the device connected to the AC adapter when transferring music. This makes the process a bit "wire happy" because you've got cords going from the PC to the device and the device plugged in.
This is also where iPod still shines because it transfers songs much quicker via a FireWire cable. Because FireWire on the PC is still in its infancy, I can see why e.Digital went with the more ubiquitous USB. With the slower cables, it takes about 2 minutes to transfer between 10 and 13 songs.
And it will take a long time to fill up the 10G-byte hard drive. I put less than 1G byte of songs on the device, about 13 CDs worth of music. So on average, you should be able to get more than 130 CDs on this device before you begin to run out of space. And I can't begin to calculate how long it would take you to listen to all of those songs.
You can listen for about six hours before the lithium ion battery needs recharging. More energy is spent on choosing songs or adjusting settings than just playing the songs.
Finally, the best part - the Treo 10 costs $250, about $150 less than the retail price of the iPod. If you've been Jonesing for a device like the iPod, head to www.edigital-store.com.
And there's another device out there that looks to raise the bar: D-Link launched the Roq-it MP3 Jukebox, which features a 10G-byte, embedded, 2.5-inch hard drive and a blue backlit LCD screen. The device uses a USB connection to show up as a new drive letter on the hard drive, for easy drag-and-drop copying to the player. In this way, you can use the player as an external hard drive if you want to transfer nonmusic data files. Included with the Roq-it are headphones, shoulder strap, carrying case, USB cable, lithium ion battery and AC power adapter/charger. The Roq-it costs $209, and is available through retail and reseller channels. Go to www.dlink.com for more information.
All contents copyright 1995-2001 Network World, Inc. http://www.nwfusion.com
And look who's atop MP3.com's review list...
( with a handy 'Buy Now' button : - )
http://hardware.mp3.com/hardware/
Here's an interesting item:
http://www.dnctech.com/english/product/hw_mf.html
This product provides not only the user's convenience by supporting the various digital audio formats which are blended but also the best solution for the product's competitiveness by implementing several algorithms(Encoder/Decoder) to the Fixed Point DSP of low power consumption and low price.
Also, because the user can upgrade the Codec algorithm through Internet, the product's life-time will be prolonged and the best quality of product will be kept all the time.
Codec: Real-Time MP3 Encoder/Decoder, Real-Time WMA Encoder/Decoder, Real-Time AAC Encoder/Decoder
Uses the capabilities of voice/music embedded Encoder to enable generating contents in the various formats which the user wants without PC.
Enables decoding various digital contents.
Protects the copyright: Applying DRM.
Lengthens the life-time of product: Enables an upgrade by downloading Codec algorithms through Internet.
Applies a low-power DSP chip: Selecting the fixed point DSP to realize the low power consumption.
Applicable for developing a portable player: Adopting USB; supporting Line in and Mic; supporting LCD.
Supported Codec : MP3 Encoder/Decoder, WMA Encoder/Decoder, AAC Encoder/Decoder
Encoder Input
Music : Line-In
Voice : Mic (internal or external)
Decoder Output : Earphone.
Memory Media : MMC, SD Card.
PC Interface : USB
LCD display
Power: one AA-sized dry battery
Play, Play/Pause, Stop, Record, Record/pause, FF, Search, REW, Volume-up/down, Play Mode (Repeat 1/all, 1/Repeat Random), E.Q., Local Repeat, Hold, Menu(for selecting the information of status and settings)
Served tools and S/W
DTK B/D
TRM ( Technical Reference Manual ), User's manual
Circuit Diagram and Gerber File
Portable Music Player
Voice Recorder
VoIP
Sound Card
CDR/W Recorder
Cellular Phone
Internet Live Broadcasting System
Digital Audio Deck
PDA
Notebook PC
Streaming B/D
Gee; price seems awfully steep at estimated $800. For the same $800, you could buy the Sharp Zaurus plus an Imation DiscGo and get full portability of your DP disks as well as a very nice keyboard-equipped PDA/video viewer. (See review of Sharp Zaurus immediately above the Evolution player at the link you posted.)
Re Rios and Rivers:
http://www.potce.com/Cat1/01/Electronics/MP3_Players/iriver2.htm
hmmmmm....
Thoughtful post from Rootus at RB:
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=880287
Some Post-CES Observations (Good and Bad):
1. The Fujitsu and MTV platforms sound great. See William Wallace's Posts regarding what he observed - great Posts.
Fujitsu: Time will tell whether the EDIG-Fujitsu relationship is a limited relationship for "high end" products like the EDIG-BO relationship, or whether the relationship can result in our technology being placed any time soon in the dashboards of mid-end and low-end automobiles. The key selling point IMO is safety and handsfree activation and navigation. Federal legislation may well soon dictate what can and cannot go into the dashboard.
If you place a vehicle into the stream of commerce with inherently dangerous operator distractions, and those distractions result in carnage, the liability and exposure will be high. Trial lawyers will converge (with their engineers who say it should have been safer and less distracting) and the victims will recover. Make no mistake, however, that automotive manufacturers and their component part manufacturers and designers are competing to integrate massive jukebox libraries, hundreds of radio stations (XMSR, for example), internet access, navigation aids, etc. into the dashboard, but with consumer-friendly, "idiot-proof", hands on the wheel/eyes on the road solutions. To the extent that EDIG is at the forefront, utilizing voice operation, the possibilities and revenues could be huge.
MTV: Sounds great, huge consumer audience. Will we sell millions at $5 - $10 per pop, or will it be thousands at $1 - $2 per? Time will tell, but very exciting.
2. The EVANS factor: Trading and PPS movement prior to the story (most of Monday and Tuesday prior to the story) did not seem appropriate given the developments and seemingly good prospects for more favorable news and I suspect that some knew the hatchet piece was imminent. IMO, given Evans bias (contrary to LongTruth's and TORF's assertions) it is much MORE LOGICAL that some bashers or shorts were in cahoots and therefore traded appropriately which kept the pps down due to seemingly illogical selling or shorting prior to the hatchet release. Whether anyone had advance notice is perhaps less important than the effect of such a piece.
Fact is that for PPS to improve, new investors must buy EDIG, not an easy proposition in today's climate given EDIG's history. Despite the obvious poor journalistic quality of the article and the Kindergarten-obvious bent of its author, this article (and others certain to follow) has the desired effect. The Longs shout, "Do your DD" and "look at how far we have come", but most Longs fail to realize that they have followed this Company INTIMATELY for 2 or 3 or 4 years and can see and appreciate the whole picture. The prospective new investor, on the other hand, is no where near up to speed. He/she gets a tip on EDIG, just as most of us did initially, some time ago, and hopefully undertakes some DD. He/she may call Schwab or a conventional broker and ask what can be sent on the Company. Generally most brokers will frown on an OTCBB like EDIG, sending along or conveying material which may include the Evans or Richmond or Bauder article. This, along with a conventional do-not-recommend, will give pause to most new investors.
The cumulative weight of articles such as this cannot be underestimated, and that is why the forces arrayed against us will continue to post such articles and will accelerate their postings during the most opportunistic and damaging times, such as the middle of our "coming out party", the annual CES.
These articles also serve to demoralize shareholders, whether the SHs are willing to admit it or not, because they damage the Company. Period. They make it harder to attract new investors as aforesaid, they cause weak hands to sell, they shake the conviction of the strong hands simply because some of the strongs appreciate the effects of such articles, they shift the focus from the Company's meaningful business and favorable, newsworthy developments to the less favorable or old-news bent of the author, and they distract from the Company's preferred agenda (it takes time, energy and money to respond to an Evans article. How do you think FF, RP and the rest of the EDIG team felt on Tuesday, when suddenly they had to deal with the Evans piece on Tuesday night and, to boot, address all the SH inquiries, because among other things, one of Evans goals was to create conflict between the SHs and management, at the precise time management was trying to focus solely on transacting business at its biggest tradeshow). Evans indeed had a carefully planned agenda and folks, he and his brood are here to stay. They make their names, in large part, by bringing down companies like EDIG. The only thing that might quiet their attacks are superb financial results, which are still IMO a ways off.
3. Trading volume before/during CES: one word sums it up, anemic. There was no one new to buy it and few who wanted to sell at the prices achieved. No one knows how many were prepared to unload at higher prices, but now that's all academic. There were some longs selling to other longs, day-trading no doubt (not the fantasy trader idiots, who post their each and every "move" on this thread, which defies all logic) and there were some daytaders and momentum players who came and went. Even the most skillful, however, were probably limited in comparison to what they hoped to accomplish. It's bad that there were were few new investors who enetered before or during CES, but its good that few Longs parted with their shares at the prices achieved.
4. Dilution: We'll get 3Q numbers on or before 2/14. Assuming no dilution before then, those numbers will say much about whether and how much dilution is in the near future. I take solace in the fact that seemingly so little money was required in September. Even though hiring has temporarily ceased, EDIG's burn rate has most certainly increased over the past few months. How could it not? All will become clear soon. Either more dilution is necessary or the revenues being received have picked up enough to meet or exceed the burn rate. Dilution in the nature of an equity investment by a larger technology partner remains a real possibility IMHO. Such an investment could further legitimize EDIG to those who don't yet share our intimate knowledge. Such an investment would provide any cash necessary to increase production, marketing and R & D.
5. Future: I hope I have not oversimplified, but the aforesaid are my humble, unsophisticated observations. I believe the future looks very bright assuming the Company can continue to operate, invent, market and sell with a minimum of dilution.
LEADER FORUMS @ AGORACOM "Serious Discussion For Serious Investors"
Bulletin # JAN02-01 Saturday, January 12, 2001 5:20 AM EST
No, we're not throwing out our famous "5 Rules Of Use" but in celebration of the NFL Playoffs, we're pleased to provide our football crazy members with a forum to cheer your favourite team AND "bash & trash" all opponents and their fans!
Naturally, we want to keep it fun so we're still prohibiting profanity and insults - but in the true spirit of the game we've taken the gloves off on "hyping" your team, "bashing" the opponent and spreading rumors about players on the injured reserve list.
If that wasn't enough, we've appointed "JimTheGreek" as Forum Leader to provide pre-game analysis, predictions, color commentary, post-game analysis and all the controversial, antagonizing posts he can muster on game day and throughout each week.
You want more? You got it. As part of the festivities, AGORACOM is giving away a $100 Super Bowl Pizza Party to be awarded by randomly selecting a post made in the NFL Playoffs Forum between now and 12:00 NOON on Super Bowl Sunday. If you posted the winning message, you win. It is that simple.
We will post the grand prize winner at 12:15 PM EST and the winner will be e-mailed shortly after that. The winner will then provide us with the phone number to their favourite local pizzeria and the address they would like the pizza delivered to. AGORACOM will then place an order for $100 worth of Pizza and have it delivered for game time. It isn't the $10,000,000 Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes but your friends will love you!
You want more? Sorry, that's all we got ) Just remember, the more you post, the more chances you have to win! So go out there and starting "bashing and trashing"! We've provided a direct link to the forum for your convenience, or just select "NFL Football Playoffs" from the pull-down menu:
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THIS BULLETIN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY OUR PREMIER SPONSOR
>>>>> e.Digital Corp<<<<<<
A Leading Provider of Portable Digital Music and Voice Players
e.Digital recently launched the MXP 100, with VoiceNav technology. It is the first portable digital product ever equipped with a user-independent speech recognition interface. Users just say the title of their favorite song to navigate through their portable music library. Say good-bye to your CD Walkman.
For more information, or to buy this and other e.Digital products, please visit:
http://store.yahoo.net/edig/mp3-players-mxp-100.html
Agora thanks you for any support and patronage provided to e.Digital Corp. Their support helps insure the quality and success of AGORACOM Forums.
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Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 2 (fixed link):
http://www.fernbach.de/html/beosound%202.html
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.fernbach.de/html/beosound%202...
(translation)
http://mp3.jubii.dk/visartikel.asp?articleid=72143 (Danish only)
CES report from ChasingtheDream:
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=879347
Went to the show yesterday and my first stop was at the Evolution booth , I got to listen to the MTV player and the display was exactly like the MXP100 and the sound quality was excellent. It was as well made as the Treo is and it will be available in april due to the fact that the labels will release content in may according to the rep. They also had a working flip phone looking device that played Movies on a screen about 3 inches in diameter, but I don't know who can watch a screen that small, nevertheless it was cool. He wouldn't say if edig was in it though but I feel they are. I then went to the edig booth and first met Shelly; which is the person who set up the whole Logistic part of us manufacturing players. She was very sharp and talked to me a while about the different players on the market now.
She then introduced me to Joan who was the person who came up with the MXP idea I guess because they referred it as her baby. She too was very sharp and talked a while with me . Then when they found out I was a shareholder they became really excited and introduced me to Jim Collier and I 've got to tell you he is one of the greatest guys you'll ever meet. He talked to me for about 30 minutes and here's what he could tell me about the company.
One of the reason's he came to edig is the shareholders and how loyal we are to the company, and another is he was looking for a challenge to make a small company big . He told me about the infotainment eclipse product; what you'll be able to do is go to the computer and drop music into a folder for your car and wireless transmit it to your car's harddrive (10 gigabyte) and in the near future you'll be able to replace your 6 disc changer with your treo, it will go in the same way the cartridge does now. Also I saw the renagade, looks like a pager and will retail for about $129 with 64mb . He said the fujitsu company was not the only company they were talking to; every booth around fujitsu's they have been in talks with, which is a lot.
Also there will be anouncements in the near future about where they retail the products they have now, and the renagade is included. The MXP was also in six different colors now so that is going to be a focus to get them name recognition. That's about it; I didn't have much time at the show but meeting Jim Collier was a great pleasure and, after talking with him, if I was looking for a person to lead my company into the future there's not a more qualified person to do so. Our investment is in the right hands; it's only a matter of time.
DataPlay To Debut In Evolution Device
By Doug Olenick
TWICE
1/8/02
LAS VEGAS— Portable audio maker Evolution will ship the first DataPlay products starting around March, beating rival licensees Samsung and Toshiba to market by at least three months.
Evolution founder and CEO Brad Deifer, said he was surprised that his firm managed to nudge out Samsung and Toshiba, but attributed the move to the long-relationship he developed with DataPlay. During the past several months DataPlay executives had suggested that the first vendors to roll out a product would be those who had a financial stake in DataPlay, such as Toshiba and Samsung.
Deifer is lining up a series of promotions to push the as yet unnamed portable audio device, which is expected to carry a suggested retail price in the $329 range. Evolution is partnered with MTV to promote and merchandise the product. One segment of this partnership has the DataPlay player being co-branded with the Evolution and MTV logos appearing on the case and the music video channel will kick off its promotional efforts at CES, here.
About 100 or so pre-recorded music titles are expected, but Deifer said he is actively working with several music companies that have already committed to move as quickly as possible in getting it onto store shelves.
Evolution started taking pre-orders for the device the week before CES. Deifer expects to have a three-month window where his company is the sole supplier of a DataPlay device in the market.
Chris Cudina, Samsung's senior business development manager, said it hopes to have a DataPlay device on the market by mid year. Samsung will have a few prototypes at CES this week.
Toshiba did not comment on its plans for DataPlay products.
http://www.tvinsite.com/twice/index.asp?layout=print_page&doc_id=&articleID=CA190085
Bluesman, re Eastech CES booths:
Booth #30313 & 30315, International gateway in Hilton ballroom.