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A question to ask yourself:
Visteon's technology partners include Microsoft, Intel, Bang Olufsen, Nintendo (news - web sites), Texas Instruments, Fujitsu,
Sirius Satellite Radio, XM Satellite Radio and Motorola.
What then would Bang & Olufsen be working on with EDIG?
Simple design?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
E.DIGITAL CORPORATION AND BANG & OLUFSEN ENTER INTO LICENSING AGREEMENT
e.Digital to Supply Licensed Custom Product Platform to Bang & Olufsen for Branded Music Products
(SAN DIEGO, CA - July 12, 2001) - e.Digital Corporation (OTC: EDIG), a global provider of comprehensive digital product
development and designs, and Bang & Olufsen, a premier European audio/video company, today announced that the two
companies have signed a royalty-bearing licensing agreement. Under the agreement, e.Digital will customize and
provide to Bang & Olufsen a MicroOS(TM)-based custom product platform for use in Bang & Olufsen's branded
music product line. The agreement also calls for non-recurring engineering fees to be paid to e.Digital.
Fred Falk, president and CEO of e.Digital, said, "Bang & Olufsen has earned a great reputation for innovation in their 75-year
history. This is an excellent opportunity for our platforms and our MicroOS technology to become the basis for new
products from Bang & Olufsen that continue to break barriers in the consumer electronics and audio/video world."
He continued, "We are pleased with this relationship, and look forward to the revenue stream we expect to
receive as B&O takes products to the consumer market later this year."
Mr. Poul Henrik Soejberg, Managing Director, Bang & Olufsen Multimedia A/S, added, "We are always looking for
partners who demonstrate an understanding of the future of the industry. e.Digital's unique designs and streamlined
approach to hardware and software development will strengthen our development program to create and
manufacture revolutionary new products."
The EDIG/B/O makes it clear that we aren't just desingning audio players for B/O but are adding our technology as well.
MUST READ (Visteon, B/O, Intel and more)
Partnership Drives 'Car Talk' Technology
By Jay Wrolstad, Wireless.NewsFactor.com
Delivering spoken messages such as traffic condition updates and e-mail notifications to
your car, PDA (personal digital assistant) or other wireless device is the objective behind a
partnership between integrated automotive systems manufacturer Visteon Corp. (NYSE:
VC - news) and speech recognition software firm SpeechWorks International (Nasdaq:
SPWX - news), which have announced a joint licensing and development alliance.
The companies contend that their partnership will take the
voice and telematics industries to the next level,
introducing speech-enabled products and services for
applications ranging from multimedia, information services and personal productivity to banking
and finance.
Souped-Up Speech Recognition Engine
Under the terms of the deal, SpeechWorks is licensing Visteon's C-REC technology -- a
speaker-independent, phonetic speech recognition engine for embedded devices -- and is
improving the engine with its own speech recognition technology and user interface design.
C-REC's deployment into vehicles and other devices will be accelerated, the companies said, as will development of distributed
speech recognition (DSR) systems.
The enhancements are targeted toward applications for cell phones, PDAs and cable set-top boxes as well as for the automotive
industry, because the DSR systems' user interface will offer access to such information as stock quotes, news, weather, traffic and
e-mail -- all through voice commands.
Personality, Functionality
Visteon also said it is licensing SpeechWorks' ETI-Eloquence text-to-speech (TTS) technology to bring more personality and
usefulness to speech-enabled car services. Through ETI-Eloquence, for example, car owners may hear, "Bear left at Route 1; You
have one new e-mail from John Smith." Other information read to occupants eventually will include e-mail, directions, news,
weather and traffic reports, the companies said.
Telematics, which puts in-dash computers and mobile telecommunications technology at drivers' fingertips, is set to become
standard equipment in most cars and trucks, with analysts predicting the market will grow from US$1 billion in 1998 to $42 billion
by 2010.
Typical telematics features include GPS (global positioning system), stolen vehicle tracking, emergency roadside assistance, maps
and directions, and hands-free cell phone capability -- which is gaining more attention as governments push to ban handheld cell
phone use in vehicles.
Hands Never Leave the Wheel
Dearborn, Michigan-based Visteon provides its proprietary voice technology to such automakers as Ford, General Motors, Jaguar
and Daimler/Chrysler, allowing drivers to use voice commands to adjust the temperature, tune the CD and radio, and make phone
calls with voice-activated dialing capabilities.
"Speech applications in their initial phase have won strong support from vehicle manufacturers and owners alike, and they already
are asking for more sophisticated 'hands-free' services. Working with SpeechWorks will accelerate our ability to deliver these
innovative, new capabilities," said Visteon president and chief operating officer Michael Johnston.
Visteon delivers consumer-driven technology to automotive manufacturers worldwide and through multiple channels in the global
automotive aftermarket. The company said it has 80,000 employees and a global delivery system of more than 130 technical,
manufacturing, sales and service facilities in 25 countries. Visteon's technology partners include Microsoft, Intel, Bang Olufsen,
Nintendo (news - web sites), Texas Instruments, Fujitsu, Sirius Satellite Radio, XM Satellite Radio and Motorola.
SpeechWorks is well-versed in the telematics industry, having signed a deal earlier this month with General Motors to deliver
text-to-speech software for GM's OnStar in-vehicle systems.
SunnComm Signs Evaluation Pact with BMG
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 30, 2001--SunnComm Inc. (OTC:SUNX - news) Monday announced that it has entered
into an evaluation agreement with BMG Entertainment for its MediaCloQ(TM) Digital Content Cloaking Technology, which is
designed to help stem the tide of illicit duplication of music offered on compact discs.
With this agreement, BMG is able to test SunnComm's MediaCloQ(TM) as a part of its overall approach to managing the use of
copyrighted materials on CDs in a consumer friendly manner.
Peter H. Jacobs, president of SunnComm Inc., called the agreement ``a landmark event for SunnComm.'' Said Jacobs, ``By combining
MediaCloQ(TM) with some innovative technologies BMG has developed in-house, we can inhibit illegal duplication of CDs while, at
the same time, enhance the consumer experience.
``Consumers will have available to them new features and enhancements that will provide them greater ease of use while experiencing
music within a new, more secure environment.''
According to John D. Aquilino, SunnComm's chairman and chief technology officer, ``I am excited to be working with BMG to
reduce the casual, rampant and illegal duplication of audio compact discs so prevalent in the world today. More importantly,
MediaCloQ accomplishes this while making every effort to maintain the environments and available technologies currently utilized by
consumers to enjoy their music.''
Sami Valkonen, senior vice president of new media and business development for BMG Distribution said, ``We have been studying
ways to manage CD copying for a year now and are pleased with our initial experiences with SunnComm.
``We are focused on ensuring that we improve the consumer value of CDs with a drag-and-drop digital access of the music while at
the same time taking the appropriate steps to safeguard our artists, copyright holders and publishers against piracy. SunnComm's
MediaCloQ(TM) can be an important part of this puzzle.''
Aquilino continued, ``SunnComm was born out of the music industry. We are sensitive to the artists, the labels and the buying public
whose collective input has played a large part in the creation of MediaCloQ.
``Our uniqueness as a company lies in our ability to offer technologies that are robust and flexible, as well as in our ability to assist in
the creation of new and exciting experiences within a secure format.''
SunX, Digital Content Cloaking technology, DC2, MediaCloQ and SunnComm are trademarks of SunnComm Inc. in the United
States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective
owners.
ARM and Texas Instruments Announce License Agreement For New ARMv6
Architecture Implementation
Two-Year Collaboration Between ARM and TI Enables Seamless Integration Between
ARMv6 Architecture and TI's High-Performance, Low-Power DSP Technology
CAMBRIDGE, England, DALLAS, July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- ARM (Nasdaq: ARMHY - news; LSE: ARM) and
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN - news; TI) today announced that TI has signed an agreement to license and develop
enhanced solutions based on the new ARMv6 architecture. This advanced architecture, which has resulted from a
two-year collaboration between the two companies, will enable TI to be the first to deliver increased system
performance and battery life for next-generation (2.5 and 3G) wireless handsets by seamlessly connecting its
programmable digital signal processors (DSPs) with the new ARM® architecture.
``TI, as a driving partner of ARM for more than seven years, has been and continues to be a key contributor to enabling
ARM technical excellence. Their innovation and expertise in many markets and especially the wireless marketplace has
helped us shape the ARM microprocessor roadmap, enabling us to better meet the growing demands for higher
performance with lower power in the embedded space,'' said Robin Saxby, chairman and CEO, ARM. ``We expect that
the combination of TI's industry-leading DSP technology with the ARMv6 microprocessor architecture will enhance
TI's OMAP(TM) architecture offering as an important standard for next-generation wireless multimedia devices.''
The ARMv6 architecture enables high levels of integration between TI's leading DSP technology and ARM's advanced
microcontroller architecture. The two year-long collaboration between ARM and TI led to the incorporation of several
new features in the next-generation architecture to improve data synchronization, shared memory management, and the
efficient operation of advanced operating systems (OS). These new features, along with others, will offer the increased
performance and low-power consumption required to run real-time audio and video applications.
Full technical details of the ARMv6 architecture will be introduced at Microprocessor Forum 2001 in October. Product
implementations of this new architecture will be available from ARM, as licensable intellectual property (IP) cores for
implementation within its silicon and systems partners' ASIC or ASSP designs.
``For more than seven years, TI's dual-core digital baseband, based on TI's DSP technology and an enhanced ARM
microprocessor core, has been the standard for delivering the best power and performance required to drive today's
wireless handsets,'' said Gilles Delfassy, senior vice president, general manager, Texas Instruments Wireless Business
Unit. ``By seamlessly combining TI's next-generation DSP technology with the first microprocessor core based on the
ARMv6 architecture, we will extend this standard in 2.5 and 3G wireless devices including TI's OMAP architecture,
established as the de facto standard for next-generation wireless handsets and advance mobile information devices.''
Unveiled in May 1999, TI's OMAP architecture delivers advanced wireless Internet and multimedia functionality,
without compromising battery life essential to wireless communications devices. Today, handset manufacturers
including Nokia, Ericsson, Sony, HTC and Sendo have chosen the OMAP architecture as well as software and OS
developers including Symbian, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.
In a separate agreement, TI has licensed the ARM9E(TM) Jazelle(TM) extensions. These extensions enable enhanced performance of Java technology-based
multimedia applications used in 2.5 and 3G wireless appliances.
TI and ARM have a long history of collaboration in the wireless space including the licensing of cores from the ARM7(TM), ARM9(TM) and ARM10(TM)
microprocessor families. This relationship has enabled both companies to enjoy significant success in the wireless market.
About TI
Texas Instruments Incorporated is the world leader in digital signal processing and analog technologies, the semiconductor engines of the Internet age. The
company's businesses also include sensors and controls, and educational and productivity solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing
or sales operations in more than 25 countries. More information is located on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ti.com .
About ARM
ARM is the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions. The company licenses its high-performance, low-cost,
power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals, and system-on-chip designs to leading international electronics companies. ARM also provides comprehensive
support required in developing a complete system. ARM's microprocessor cores are rapidly becoming the volume RISC standard in such markets as portable
communications, handheld computing, multimedia, digital consumer and embedded solutions. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com .
ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. ARM7, ARM9, ARM9E, ARM10 and Jazelle are trademarks of ARM Limited. All other brands or product
names are the property of their respective holders. ``ARM'' is used to represent ARM Holdings plc (LSE: ARM and Nasdaq: ARMHY); its operating company
ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM, INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan.
Monday July 30 Putting a price on Net music
By John Borland CNET News.com
Record companies and Internet radio broadcasters will start a long-awaited round of hearings on
Monday aimed at setting the ground rules for the burgeoning online radio business.
At stake is whether the free music services that have drawn millions of
listeners during the past few years--including such sites as AOL Time
Warner's Spinner.com, MTVi's SonicNet and MSN's music service--can
remain free.
For the past several years, the companies have operated their online
stations without a clear idea of how much money they would ultimately
have to pay for the music they broadcast 24 hours a day. Now that price
tag will finally be set, and with it the fate of one of the only commercial
features of the online music landscape that has demonstrated significant popular support.
"We've been asking Webcasters to run their businesses for years without knowing what their basic
costs are," said Eric Sheirer, an analyst with Forrester Research. "It's still far from clear that the way
we've been thinking about Webcasting over the past few years will actually produce a sustainable
business."
Traditional radio stations that put their broadcasts online are also covered by the upcoming hearings,
although big radio conglomerates such as Clear Channel Communications are challenging that status in
courts. They say that because they're just putting their ordinary stream online, they shouldn't have to
pay new royalties.
The U.S. Copyright Office ruled otherwise late last year, however. A decision in the broadcasters'
appeal is expected sometime in the next several months.
In the meantime, many radio stations have shut off their online components, also citing a royalty dispute
relating to payments for actors in commercials.
A business still in the making
In the menagerie of online music services, Webcasting is a many-headed beast. The term covers
companies such as AOL's Spinner, which provides access to a huge number of preprogrammed music
streams; services like Launch.com and MTVi, which allow listeners a little more control in choosing
which artists they want to hear and when; and even traditional radio stations that have decided to
broadcast simultaneously online.
Their services are catching on, despite troubles on the business side. According to audience
measurement firm Arbitron, 20 percent of people in the United States had listened to Internet radio
stations by September 2000, the last date for which audio-only figures were available.
Although many of these companies are itching to experiment with new kinds of personalization features
and custom stations, they are hemmed in by a set of laws and regulations passed by Congress in 1995
and 1998. These dictate that the companies can have access to all the music in the world without
asking for permission from record companies and artists, but that they can't provide much in the way of
interactive, music-on-demand services.
These same rules, passed as part of 1998's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (news -
web sites), also set down basic guidelines that require Webcasters to pay record companies and artists
for the right to play music online. This so-called performance right was a relatively new creation
because radio stations in the United States do not have the same obligation when they broadcast music
over the airwaves.
But because Congress didn't set the actual price for these royalties, noting only that it should be a
market rate, the two sides have been tussling ever since. Webcasters have agreed that they will pay
retroactive fees dating back to October 1998, but many of the largest have been operating without
paying any royalties since then.
"These companies are starting up new businesses," said Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry
Association of America (news - web sites), the group that has led negotiations for the record
companies. "We just want them to pay for the supplies for their businesses."
The last few months leading up to next week's hearing have only gotten more bitter. The RIAA sued a
handful of the leading Webcasters last month, charging that they weren't playing by the rules set out by
Congress. Two of these companies have settled, while suits remain outstanding against the rest,
muddying the legal waters even further.
Haggling over price
Even now, several years into the negotiating process, a vast gulf separates the two sides' proposed
price tags.
Webcasters, represented by the Digital Media Association (DiMA), and led most notably by AOL
Time Warner and Viacom's MTVi, are offering to pay 0.15 cents per listener, per hour, to the labels
and artists.
They say that's comparable to what radio stations pay songwriters for the rights to broadcast music,
which is the best analogy for what's happening on the Web.
The RIAA and artists' groups want Webcasters to pay 0.4 cents per song streamed, per person
listening, or else 15 percent of company revenue. They say this is based on fair market prices arrived at
between "willing" buyers and sellers--the standard set by Congress--with the prices derived from deals
already made privately with 26 companies.
With the exception of Yahoo and MusicMatch, which cut its deal with the RIAA only after being sued
last month, few of these companies are household names. Many are business-to-business sites aiming
to license their services to others. Several have gone out of business. Only a few are Webcasters
dealing directly with the public that and are still in operation.
Rosen noted that it wasn't license fees that drove the companies that have disappeared out of business,
and it is true that online music companies in general have had a poor survival rate in recent months.
"Bandwidth fees cost far more than the licenses," Rosen said.
But the Webcasters say the fees outlined by the record companies would make it all but impossible for
small companies, or those who are independent from the record companies themselves, to operate.
"If they get the prices they're asking for, there's not an economic business model here unless you own
the (copy)rights," said Jon Potter, executive director of DiMA.
The actual aggregate dollar figures associated with these numbers are hard to get at, since many of the
largest companies don't break out how many listeners they have or what their audio revenues are. But
some sense of the scale can be gained by looking at AOL, probably the largest service, which serves
up about 160 million songs per month.
Under the recording industry's proposal, that means that AOL would have costs of about $640,000 a
month, or $7.68 million a year, even before it pays for the relatively more expensive bandwidth costs.
Under the DiMA proposal, that figure would be closer to $21,000 a month, or about $256,000 a
year.
Monday's hearing will be the beginning of a process that could last another six months. The record
companies, Webcasters, artists and radio stations will meet in front of a three-member panel of
independent arbitrators assigned by the Copyright Office.
Those hearings are expected to last several months, and then the arbitrators must make their decision
by six months from Monday. The Copyright Office then has another 60 days to certify the final price
tag. Either side could then appeal the decision, although courts are generally reluctant to overturn the
results of this type of arbitration procedure.
Portable Design Magazine (great site)
http://pd.pennnet.com/home.cfm
Portable Desing Magazine (Good site)
http://pd.pennnet.com/home.cfm
Agreement names plug-in product distributor in Japan
26-July-2001-An agreement was signed naming Toshiba Digital Media Engineering (Tokyo, Japan) as
the importer and distributor of Socket Communications' (San Jose, Calif.) CompactFlash plug-in
products in Japan.
The agreement will enable Toshiba to add to its future handheld offerings, such as the Genio-e, as well its
current line of notebook computers. Toshiba's Genio-e is expected to be released in Japan in August
2001. It features CompactFlash Type II and SD slots and will run Microsoft's Pocket PC operating
system (OS). Socket's products are compatible with Toshibas device and are expected to improve its
functionality.
Socket's line of Battery Friendly plug-in cards for wireless Internet access, local area networking (LAN),
bar code scanning, and data communications are designed to work with Windows-based handheld and
notebook computers. Socket develops and sells connection products for handheld computers and other
devices. For more information, visit Socket's Web site at www.socketcom.com.
Satellite radio ads start next month; programs in September
Email story to a friend
New York-AP -- Radio you pay to hear moved one step closer to reality last week.
X-M Radio, one of two direct satellite broadcasters, has announced its lineup of
100 channels. And it says it will start broadcasting September 12th in Dallas and
San Diego, with a national rollout to follow in November.
The company's advertising will start being seen in movie theaters August tenth.
What makes promoters think people will pay ten dollars a month to listen to radio,
when they can get so many stations for free?
X-M vice president Steve Cook says listeners will be attracted to nationwide
signals. And the company is betting people will pay to hear the kinds of music and
talk programming that's rarely heard on regular stations.
Automakers struggle with speech
recognition technology
By Charles J. Murray
EE Times
(12/03/00, 7:38 p.m. EST)
PARK RIDGE, Ill. — The in-car PC boom that was
supposed to be in full swing by now hasn't
happened, and it may be delayed another 12 to 18
months as automakers and vendors run up against
hurdles in implementing speech recognition
systems.
The holdup is a disappointment for manufacturers
that have invested millions in the development and
promotion of in-car PCs. But because speech
recognition systems are critical to addressing
potential driver distraction issues, carmakers want
them to be as close to perfect as possible. And
they're not there yet, say industry observers.
"When we
sign
nondisclosure
agreements
and talk to
automotive
vendors,
they all acknowledge that there
are problems with speech
recognition in vehicles," said
Fred Nussbaum, vice president
of business development for
Clarity LLC (Troy, Mich.), a
maker of software-based
speech-capture systems.
"They're not going to talk about
it publicly, because there are a lot of legal ramifications, but the
problems are there."
Software makers and industry analysts say those problems are a key
reason why Cadillac has delayed the introduction of its Infotainment
system from fall of this year until late 2001, and why Visteon Corp.
(Dearborn, Mich.) has yet to put its ICES (information,
communication, safety and security) technology into a production
vehicle.
Industry analysts also blame the lack of a good speech system for the
dismal performance of Clarion's AutoPC. Clarion had expected to be
selling the system at a rate of thousands per month by 2000 but has
sold just 3,500 units in two-and-a-half years.
"Speech recognition is definitely a hurdle," said Thilo Koslowski, a
senior analyst for the Gartner Group's e-business automotive service.
"Manufacturers have to be very careful about deploying systems that
are not 100 percent reliable because they could face lawsuits from
consumers."
Eyes on the road
The race to create more effective speech systems is seen as critical
for automakers. Several of them, most notably Ford and General
Motors, have espoused an "eyes-on-the-road, hands-on-the-wheel"
philosophy as they work to incorporate new electronic capabilities into
automobiles. That philosophy is seen as especially important now, in
light of the recent passage of state laws restricting drivers' use of cell
phones while under way.
But automakers say they can't bring eyes-on-the-road,
hands-on-the-wheel techniques to vehicles unless they have good
speech recognition systems. That's why General Motors has forged
partnerships with General Magic Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and Nuance
Communications (Menlo Park, Calif.) to work on voice recognition
systems. It's also why Ford Motor Co. has allied itself with speech
recognition developer Lernout & Hauspie (Leper, Belgium), which filed
for Chapter 11 protection this past week following management
missteps.
Automakers say they plan to
continue to work on speech
recognition systems, but they
deny that there are problems.
"The technology is where we
expected it to be," said Ed
Chrumka, advanced technology
manager for OnStar.
Indeed, OnStar representatives
point out that the company's
Virtual Advisor, an off-board
speech-based service that
provides e-mail, news and
stock quotes, is coming out as
scheduled at the end of this
year. Delivery of the system
has already begun in the Northeast, and industry analysts said they
are impressed by it. "In the testing that we've done, it performed at a
very high level," said Dawn McGreevey, an automotive analyst for
Gomez (Lincoln, Mass.), an Internet system quality-measurement firm.
But in-car PCs, which use on-board electronics, have not fared as
well. Cadillac's much-ballyhooed Infotainment system, which was now
supposed to be available on the Cadillac Deville, is at least a year
behind schedule. A General Motors spokesman declined to comment on
reasons for the delay, except to say that there are "technical issues."
Similarly, a Visteon spokeswoman said that its ICES system is in
development programs with several OEMs but would not say when it
will reach production. At the 1998 Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE) conference in Detroit, however, Visteon and Ford predicted
that the first units would be in vehicles by 2000.
Automotive engineers and software makers do acknowledge that
equipping car systems for speech recognition has proved a more
formidable task than had been expected.
"There's an overriding perception that speech recognition has no
moving parts and is easier to implement than it really is," said Ron
Risdon, vice president of business development for Conversational
Computing Co., which makes the Conversay speech technology
product. "Over-optimism is very prevalent."
Wall of sound
The crux of the problem is that vehicles, unlike desktop PCs, are
subjected to a wide variety of noises that can confuse
software-based speech recognizers. Compounding the problem is that
in-car speech recognition is often done by remote servers over
cellular links. "Working with speech recognition over a cellular link is
like doing magic," said a senior engineer who works for a major
automaker. "You have to worry about more than just the noise
generated by the vehicle. There are about 20 different sources of
noise." The road, wind, defroster, fan, radio, windshield wipers and
backseat occupants are just a few.
If speech recognition is done over a cellular link, the system also must
deal with such issues as line echo, electrical interference and poor
signal strength.
Automotive engineers say that the problems aren't insurmountable.
"It's not a matter of whether the technology is mature," said Chrumka
of OnStar. "It's more an issue of the application of the technology in
variable environments."
Software makers say that the problems are magnified at higher vehicle
speeds. Most voice recognition systems currently claim accuracies of
90 to 95 percent, but some say that such claims are averages, which
hold true at 30 mph but not at higher speeds. At 70 mph, for example,
some engineers say that the accuracy figure dips to about 70
percent. If occupants crack open a window, turn on the radio or blast
the air conditioner, the accuracy figures drop even more.
"Even if you have 90 percent accuracy, one out of every 10 phone
digits that you dictate are going to be wrong," said Jim Wargnier, vice
president of engineering at Clarity and a former engineer for OnStar
and for Delphi Automotive. "At 70 percent it's going to be extremely
frustrating for customers, even if they have a great user interface."
Some engineers disagree with the 70 percent accuracy figure, even
for high-speed applications. It's greatly exaggerated, they say, and
automotive engineers have found ways to deal with high speeds. "As
cars go faster, wind noise rises, but any good speech recognizer
changes itself to accommodate that," said Scott Pyles, director of
product management for Lernout & Hauspie's automotive products.
Some engineers also say unexpected noises are of greater concern
than high speed. "The issue isn't steady-state noise," said Chrumka.
"The big things that affect voice recognition are the variables — kids
in the back seat, windows opening and closing, pops and cracks in the
cabin."
Automakers are concerned about even the subtlest lack of accuracy
because it could place greater "cognitive load" on the driver, who
theoretically should be free to concentrate on traffic and driving
conditions. "It should only take you so long to dial a cell phone, tune
the radio or turn on the air conditioner," Wargnier said. "There are a
lot of legal ramifications for those companies if there are problems or if
they place too much cognitive load on the driver."
Stories of drivers' struggling with voice recognition systems are
already commonplace, even though the technology has been available
for only a short time. Such stories are a concern among industry
analysts as well as automakers.
"If you want to change the radio station but you have to repeat the
command 10 times in order to make it happen, that's a big problem,"
said Gartner's Koslowski. "Even though the system is voice-controlled,
you still end up concentrating too much on changing the radio station,
and that affects your driving."
Some believe the dilemmas facing automotive speech recognition may
be a result of hardware rather than software. "It may be a particular
problem having to do with the processing power inside the car, as
opposed to the speech technology," said Bill Meisel, president of TMA
Associates, a speech industry marketing and consulting firm. If that's
the case, Meisel said, the problem would be more focused on in-car
PCs, such as the Infotainment system or ICES.
"Server-based systems processing voice over wireless connections
would be less prone to problems, because they can have as much
memory and as much speed as they need," Meisel said. Such systems
as OnStar's Virtual Advisor use off-board, server-based processing.
Loud and clear
Kurt Sievers, automotive marketing manager for Philips
Semiconductors, said his company has had success running voice
recognition on its Hello IC in moving vehicles. "The usage scenario is
difficult, but it has been done," he said.
The company has demonstrated recognition over a 300-word
vocabulary for command and control apps that can, for example, use
voice to turn the volume on a radio up or down. "We've had it on a
test track at 120 kilometers an hour with the window open, and it still
recognizes the driver's voice," Sievers said.
There are strategies to deal with voice recognition in a car with
multiple passengers, said said Corado Giorgetti, director of business
development at ALST, an Israeli joint venture between Altec-Lansing
and STMicroelectronics that was created to develop speech DSP
technology. For example, audio systems can be set up to "listen"
preferentially to the person behind the steering wheel and treat other
voices as "noise" to be canceled, he said. But it is not yet clear how
successful such strategies are.
Separately, ST has developed a specialized 24-bit DSP-based chip
called Euterpe that can perform the functions of voice recognition,
text-to-speech rendition, noise and echo cancellation, and biometric
verification on audio data streams. At present, the ST system is good
for command and control, according to Paolo Gonella-Pacchiotti, car
multimedia business unit director at the company. "We are moving
toward continuous speech recognition," he said.
Some software makers, such as Clarity and Conversay, believe the
solution lies in the use of specialized software and better
microphones. Clarity, for example, offers a technology known as Clear
Voice Capture, which extracts the voice signal of interest. The
company says the technology provides an improvement over noise
suppression systems, which have difficulty with signals that have
components overlapping with voice signals.
Similarly, Conversay offers filtration techniques that separate speech
signals from noise signals and narrowly focus on the speaker. The
system employs two microphones — one on the passenger side and
another on the driver side — and is focused more on distributed
speech, for which processing power is split between the client and
server.
Engineers are also reportedly looking at microphone technology as a
way to boost accuracy. But the best, the so-called "array"
microphones, cost between $100 and $180, and that's beyond the
acceptable limit for automotive applications.
Many in the industry are unconvinced by automakers' claims. "The
reality is that today's systems are still failing in a lot of different
modes," said Nussbaum of Clarity. "But the technology will get better
before it reaches the market. Right now, we just don't know when
that will be."
— Peter Clarke contributed to this report.
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20001201S0109
From B/O and Visteon PR ...(Automotive ties)
New audio partnership promises sweet sounds and unique design for
discerning customers
DEARBORN, Mich., June 11, 1999 – Automotive audiophiles, listen up! What you are
about to hear – and see – is a new generation of premier vehicle sound systems, a
generation characterized by unmatched quality and stellar design.
Visteon has paired its world-class audio and electronic capabilities with prestigious
Danish audio-video manufacturer Bang & Olufsen to develop a new level of automotive
audio sophistication. The partnership enables Visteon to offer exclusive audio systems
to high-end vehicle manufacturers and their consumers. It also represents Bang &
Olufsen's first venture into the automotive audio arena.
Bang & Olufsen, a premier home audio system manufacturer, is known for its superior
mechanical movements, its acoustics excellence, and remarkable product design –
design which includes vertical CD stacks and brushed aluminum cylindrical speakers.
"We are extremely happy with this agreement," said Stephen W. Delaney, vice
president, interiors and exteriors, Visteon. "We wanted to partner with a premier audio
company to push our design and engineering capabilities to new heights. At the same
time, Bang & Olufsen was seeking a world-class organization that had the proven
ability to integrate technology in vehicles on a global basis."
The agreement marries Visteon's expertise in areas such as acoustics, system
equalization, market research, and manufacturing with Bang & Olufsen's unique ability
to produce top quality, uniquely designed audio systems that appeal to select
consumers. Visteon is a world leader in the production and integration of automotive
electronics and audio components; collaboration with Bang & Olufsen allows it to
develop systems with capabilities unseen in today's conventional automotive audio
units.
"Building on a common and solid base of technological know-how and by combining
the market forces of Visteon with the design forces of Bang & Olufsen, we are
convinced that this new partnership will be successful," said Poul Svjberg, director of
new business development for Bang & Olufsen. "Bang & Olufsen is characterized by
courageous design, simplicity and high quality standards and this Danish/American
partnership will provide outstanding automotive multimedia systems for exclusive
customers."
"The Bang & Olufsen/Visteon audio system will be marketed to a particular customer
– the customer who expects nothing less than excellence in performance, quality and
design," concurred Jim Mazurek, manager, electronic marketing and business
analysis, Visteon. "We have jointly identified and agreed upon the audio
characteristics that must be present in a Bang & Olufsen/Visteon audio system. They
are the characteristics a consumer would expect in the very best automotive audio
system that is globally available."
These systems will offer enhanced components such as unique speakers and
improved woofers and superior audio clarity. They will also offer additional options to
maintain audio system excellence as sound technology continues to mature.
Significant design changes will differentiate these units from a standard audio system.
They will exhibit sophisticated designs that take their cues from the understated
elegance of premier vehicle models. Visteon and Bang & Olufsen will explore the
application of premier materials such as brushed aluminum to speaker grills and radio
bezels.
"I think it is fair to say that purchasing a Bang & Olufsen/Visteon system will
differentiate the true automotive audiophile from the typical consumer," Mazurek said. "
Visteon can now provide the entire range of outstanding audio systems for automotive
manufacturers and their consumers. The system from Bang & Olufsen and Visteon will
be at the very top of the range."
With a global delivery system of more than 125 technical, manufacturing, sales and
service facilities located in 21 countries, Visteon Automotive Systems is leveraging the
talents of its 77,000 employees to deliver innovative, consumer-driven solutions to its
customers.
http://www.visteon.com/news/press/1999/99story6.html
Isn't Visteon tied to B/O? and now L&H?
Visteon completes purchase of C-REC and SDX voice recognition
technology from Lernout & Hauspie
Dearborn, Michigan - Visteon Corporation announced that it has purchased
C-REC(TM) and SDX speech recognition technology from L&H Holdings USA, Inc.,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. This purchase
enables Visteon to strengthen its position in automotive voice recognition technology,
and also allows the company to enter non-automotive markets such as cellular phones,
PDAs and smart phones.
To focus on the development and commercialisation of these new markets, Visteon will
form a yet-to-be-named subsidiary that will be headquartered in Boston, Mass., with an
additional office to be located in Bristol, U.K. Approximately 30 research/development
and application engineers will concentrate on the advancement of speech interface in
automotive and non- automotive applications. Concentrating on using voice technology
as an enabler, the new company will develop leading-edge speech solutions that will
enable faster-to-market delivery of new and innovative products in the areas of
navigation, communication, entertainment, in-vehicle computing and audio systems.
C-REC(TM) is a continuous speaker independent, phonetic-based speech recognition
engine that enables a wide range of applications to the automotive telematics/multi-media
market and has direct applicability to non-automotive markets as well. SDX is a layer of
additional software that contains a programming interface and application software that
enables efficient integration of C-REC(TM) into commercial products.
These applications will enable users to access the Internet to check e- mail, obtain
real-time information such as news, weather reports and stock quotes, as well as tap
into array of speech enabled services that allows the user to locate restaurants, banks
and petrol stations.
Use of speech interface in automotive devices eliminates the need to manually control
many dashboard level instruments, fostering a safer operating environment by allowing
drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.
By applying Visteon Voice Technology(TM), users simply speak commands in a normal
voice to play certain songs on a CD, adjust the vehicle's interior temperature, or place a
phone call. The system understands continuous and natural speech patterns without the
need to be trained by the user. Additionally, the technology recognises commands
expressed in regional dialects for eight languages
http://www.autointell.com/News-2001/April-2001/April-11-01-p11.htm
Firms Bite Bullet on Bluetooth
M-Commerce
By Brian McDonough
www.WirelessNewsFactor.com,
Part of the NewsFactor Network
July 30, 2001
VoiceFlash Networks
(Nasdaq: VFNX) and
VeriFone have
announced a project to
develop
Bluetooth-enabled retail
mobile commerce
products that should
bear fruit by year-end
and result in a major
trial in early 2002.
"Ultimately, what's
envisioned is to create a
convenience, especially
to business travelers in
public places, to
transfer payment in a
way that allows
consumers to use the
phone that's probably
already in their hands to
make payments quickly
and securely," VeriFone
senior product manager
Kevin Ritschel told
Wireless NewsFactor.
The idea is to marry VeriFone's point-of-sale (POS)
terminals to VoiceFlash's Bluetooth-enabled Wireless
Adaptor Module 2.0. VeriFone said it has worked on
similar technology with Palm using infrared
technology for transmission. Bluetooth, which offers
a longer range than infrared and does not require
line-of-sight transmission, is the next logical step
for VeriFone to pursue, a VeriFone spokesperson
said.
Beaming Payment
Bluetooth is an emerging -- though long-delayed --
standard for wireless connectivity that uses
short-range radio links to connect mobile data
devices. If a customer's data-enabled phone is
within 30 feet of a supermarket cash register, for
example, payment can be beamed wirelessly to the
store's system and charged using the e-wallet
functionality of the user's wireless device.
"We are entirely dedicated to adding value to the
point of sale, making it easier and less expensive for
merchants to securely conduct a wide range of
transactions and services," said Stuart Taylor,
VeriFone's vice president of emerging markets.
Convenience Is King
One could argue whether it is more convenient to
whip out a wallet, choose one of several credit
cards and sign a paper receipt, or to select an
account option on a wireless device, verify identity
through a password or biometric tool, then beam
that to a point-of-sale terminal.
But the more options a customer has, Ritschel
noted, the better. He added that, historically, new
payment options in the U.S. have not replaced older
ones, but rather have expanded the options
available to customers.
Early Days
In seeking early adopters looking for extra
convenience, the companies said hotels, airports
and other places frequented by business travelers
are a good initial bet. Ritschel also said the teen
market is another likely target -- parents could give
kids limited access to funds via phone through a
prepaid account.
According to Ritschel, the companies expect to
have a working product by year-end. He added that
they are in talks with a major metropolitan airport to
run a trial as early as next year.
Reaching a point where Bluetooth devices have
sufficient market penetration to make them a useful
payment offering, however, will take considerably
longer. Ritschel predicted it could take a little more
than two years to establish such payments in
carefully targeted vertical markets such as business
travelers -- but such systems will take longer to
find wider acceptance.
"Two years is aggressive," he said. "Two to five
years is my own estimation."
First, Eat Your Rivals
By Michael Learmonth and Ronna Abramson
Issue Date: Aug 06 2001
Sure, the major labels have batted away their Web
competitors. But the industry's plan to deliver music online
is a disaster waiting to happen.
Remember Bluematter, Project Nigel or
Project Madison? Hardly anybody does.
Those were the obscure names assigned
to the last schemes for moving the major
record labels into digital downloads.
But the pay-per-download strategy failed
to take at least two factors into account.
First, consumers didn't care to pay $3 for
a song wrapped in clunky security
software that couldn't be moved to a
portable player. The second factor was
Napster, which made digital music the
guilty pleasure everyone thought it could
be, and which - not coincidentally -
threatened to undermine the very foundation of the recording
business.
That was last year. Today, most of the digital music dot-coms
have been swallowed up; Napster has been shut down in
preparation for its relaunch as a paid service; and the labels are
rolling out subscription services later this summer (or, more
likely, this fall) with a slew of new names and high hopes.
Vivendi Universal and Sony created Pressplay (nee Duet) and
BMG, EMI and Warner are behind MusicNet. The labels are also
slowly warming up to independent services such as FullAudio,
Uplister and Streamwaves. But just like last time, major-label
digital music revolution 2.0 appears poised to become another
failure.
The recording industry is asking consumers to try out a whole
new concept of music ownership. Through the services now in
the works, most popular music wouldn't be owned at all. Rather,
songs would be rented by the month. Consumers would pay a
monthly flat fee for access to a predetermined number of songs.
Once they stop paying the fee, the downloaded files stop
working. It's hard to see how this scheme will add up. The
average consumer spends about $90 a year for six CDs and gets
to keep them forever, says Gartner Group analyst P.J. McNealy.
The new subscription services will ask consumers to pay about
$120 a year - and come away with nothing.
Even Michael Robertson, CEO of MP3.com, which is providing
database technology for Pressplay, says he's "extremely
skeptical" that this arrangement will have much commercial
appeal. Further complicating the fact that consumers are paying
for music they cannot keep, the music will, at least initially,
have to remain tethered to one computer; no flipping to a
laptop, portable player or home stereo system. "There is no
value there and it's going to be a disaster," Robertson says.
The labels' hopes rest mostly on anecdote and wishful thinking.
Jay Samit, senior VP of new media for EMI Group, believes you
need look no further than MTV or Music Choice to prove
consumers are open to the idea of subscriptions for music.
"What you're talking about is commercial-free music," he says.
"Music Choice is a subscription, and it's the most-watched
channel on DirecTV."
Piracy played a big role in the decline of digital music businesses
in 1999 and 2000, Samit says. But labels also have themselves
to blame for the dearth of appealing music offerings on the
Web. By offering only expensive, restrictive licenses, the labels
hastened the demise of many desperate Internet companies
that tried to operate legally. The lack of licenses weakened MP3
.com, Launch Media and Myplay to the point that they became
acquisition targets.
The new label-backed subscription services will also have a few
advantages over the Internet companies they replace. They
are, for one, well-funded and under no pressure to revolutionize
the music business overnight. "This will not happen in the next
six to 12 months," says Richard Wolpert, former Disney
executive and CEO of MusicNet. "It will happen, but it will take
time."
Some in the industry fear that the service itself may never
become profitable - that, for example, MusicNet might be
offered as an incentive to attract new members to AOL. Music
is a low-margin business, and diversified media conglomerates
AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann, Sony and Vivendi Universal
might sacrifice music profits to sell other products.
One thing that will almost surely doom the recording industry's
new and improved business model: asking customers to pay for
more than one service. For the moment, with about half the
world's recordings on Pressplay and the other half on MusicNet,
that is exactly the situation. The executives in charge of these
services seem aware of the problem, though little progress has
been made to cross-license between the two services. "We are
having discussions with the other majors," says Andy Schuon,
CEO of Pressplay. "We are going out with a massive catalog and
a great deal of independents."
In the end, it seems, subscriptions - like downloads before them
- are an experiment in an emerging market. "With every failure
we learn what customers don't want," Samit says. The labels
appear to be headed for yet another learning experience.
Spawn of Napster
By Michael Learmonth and Ronna Abramson
Issue Date: Aug 06 2001
By crushing Napster without jumping online themselves,
the record labels created a void that a string of startups
has been more than happy to fill.
Ethan Weinberg is the kind of music fan
the record industry doesn't like to hear
about. Since a judge ordered Napster in
March to block copyrighted songs, the
Princeton University junior has become a
devotee of peer-to-peer music sites
Audiogalaxy and BearShare. "Only if they
were shut down would I resort to paying
a minimal fee," he says.
Or, more likely, he would turn to one of
the other free alternatives now reaching
critical mass. By crushing Napster without
immediately jumping online themselves,
record labels created a void that a string
of spunky startups has been more than happy to fill.
There's Gnutella and the services
that piggyback on its
decentralized network, LimeWire
and BearShare. Then there's
iMesh playing the field from Israel
and Netherlands-based FastTrack
licensing its surging peer-to-peer
technology to two other services,
MusicCity and KaZaa.
Eventually, record labels will likely
file suit against the heaviest
users of decentralized services
and against their operators in
Europe, which has a tradition of
strong copyright law. But that
may only drive the free-for-all to
countries with less stringent
laws, such as North Korea or
China.
As a last resort, record labels could pull Internet service
providers into the fray. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act, record companies could seek a court order requiring ISPs to
block access to a music-swapping service outside the United
States.
In theory, the record industry understands all this and has
every intention of providing an alternative. "If the music
industry doesn't continue to invest in meeting their consumers'
needs with new services, we will be ceding the Internet to
piracy," says Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry
Association of America.
But for now, new services offering free music seem to crop up
with every new lawsuit filed by the RIAA. And that's music to
Weinberg's ears.
With Napster Weakened, RIAA Hopes To
Settle Landmark Lawsuit
As injunction blocks sharing of copyrighted music,
RIAA head feels trial is unnecessary.
After driving Napster to its knees in court, the music
industry is ready to settle its copyright infringement
lawsuit against the now-crippled file-sharing service.
Hilary Rosen, president of industry trade group the
Recording Industry Association of America — which led
the fight against Napster — said Thursday that since a
judge has already issued an injunction ordering the
service to block copyrighted music, going to trial is
unnecessary.
"I'd like to get the lawsuit settled," Rosen said from her
Washington, D.C. office. "I'd like to get the details over
with."
Rosen declined to say whether the RIAA
has already begun negotiating a
settlement with Napster.
A Napster spokesperson said only that
the company welcomed Rosen's
comments.
Two of Napster's most fervent foes from
the artistic community, Metallica and Dr.
Dre, have already settled their own
lawsuits against the service (see
"Metallica, Dre Settle With A Wounded
Napster").
"This whole issue has always been about creating a
legitimate online music business — that is what the
record industry's been focusing on," Rosen said. "I don't
think anybody thinks that a long trial over Napster would
be productive."
The recording industry filed its infringement lawsuit
against Napster in December 1999, accusing it of
"operating a haven for music piracy on an unprecedented
scale" (see "RIAA Sues Napster, Claiming 'Music Piracy' ").
Last July, the judge in the lawsuit issued an injunction
ordering Napster to block copyrighted songs, but a
higher court immediately stayed the order. In February,
however, that court allowed the injunction to go through,
and Napster began screening out copyrighted songs
cited by rights-holders.
Napster is planning to launch a new, copyright-friendly
subscription version of its service. All file transfers on
Napster have been down since July 2, and the company
has not said when it plans to resume operations (see
"Napster's Immediate Future Unclear As CEO Steps
Down").
Rosen said that the recording industry will continue to do
whatever it can to stop the proliferation of Napster
alternatives, including the various file-trading programs
using the Gnutella network.
The major record companies are planning to launch their
own legal Napster alternatives before the end of the
year through two new music-subscription services,
MusicNet and Pressplay (see "Britney, 'NSYNC, Tool Music
To Be Legally Available Online").
(For complete coverage of the Napster saga, check out
Sonicnet News' "Napster Watch".)
— Brian Hiatt
[ Fri., July 27, 2001 5:39 PM EDT ]
Mobile Electronics Industry Search (Great Site)
http://www.meisearch.com/
Global Music Sales To Top $40 Billion by 2004
http://www.newmediamusic.com/articles/NM01070299.html
Quote
Streaming LiveCharts
E-Mail this post to a Friend!
$7 Trades/135 offices
$75 Free Trades Offer
Technology Treadmill
Referring to Intel's "technology treadmill," Manetta said the company is also using innovations such as the more efficient .13 micron technology -- which reduces production costs -- and a ramp-up of 300mm wafer technology that enables more CPUs at
lower cost, to promote PC growth.
Citing digital photography, audio, games and other applications, Manetta said Intel does not believe a lack of applications that require high-end performance is hurting sales of the latest technology.
"That's an aggressive thing to do, but we've been doing it for years, and it's worked out," he said.
musicmusicmusic inc., with offices in North America and Europe, partners with
Getronics, one of the world's leading providers of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) solutions and services, to install and service
musicmusicmusic's advanced Audio Previewing System across North America
TORONTO, July 27 /CNW/ - musicmusicmusic inc. (Neuer Markt: MU5), one of the world's premier Music Content Providers, has enlisted Getronics to install
and support musicmusicmusic's Web Bar Listening Stations and Galaxy Audio Previewing System across the United States and Canada.
With 47 committed locations, FutureShop - one of musicmusicmusic's current clients - will benefit from Getronics' national presence and support. After a
thorough investigative process, Tom Hall, V.P. Technology at musicmusicmusic inc. stated, "Getronics demonstrated the willingness, technical capability and
extensive national coverage to install and support our Unique Internet Audio Previewing Solution. In addition, Getronics' global capabilities provide future
opportunities as we expand across North America and Europe."
Streaming full songs, the Web Bar Listening Post is the most advanced music preview system available on the market today. The Galaxy System, which has been
added to the company's product lines, permits users to preview music in 30-second samples instantly from a server located in the store. By December there will
also be a video module available to view DVD trailers.
"We are pleased to provide installation and maintenance services for musicmusicmusic," states John Whitnall, President of Getronics Canada Inc. "As one of
Canada's largest service providers, we have extensive experience in providing installation and maintenance services nationally. The requirements of
musicmusicmusic fall well within our normal capabilities."
About musicmusicmusic inc.
--------------------------
musicmusicmusic inc. is a music content provider. The Company's main asset is a digital music database that delivers near-CD quality sound through
MP3-streaming technology. The Company's showcase product is the interactive Internet radio station www.RadioMOI.com providing "Music On Internet".
In addition to RadioMOI, this multi-media company has four other B2B product lines: the Web Bar Listening Post a technologically-advanced music listening
system; Broadcast Services, providing turn-key solutions including broadcast quality music files for the music database needs of radio stations and broadcast
groups; Industrial Sound Services, providing custom music programs to businesses over the Internet; and The Solutions Group (TSG), providing hardware,
software, programming and consulting services to music industry businesses including franchise operators and other third party customers.
About Getronics
---------------
With over 30,000 employees in 35 countries, Getronics is one of the world's leading providers of vendor independent solutions and services to professional users
of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Through consulting, integrating, implementing and managing Infrastructure Solutions and E-Business
Solutions, Getronics helps many of the world's largest global and local organizations to maximize the value of their technology investment and improve
interaction with their customers.
Getronics' headquarters is in Amsterdam, with regional head offices in Boston, Singapore, Toronto and Washington DC. Getronics' shares are traded on the
Amsterdam Stock Exchange ('GTN'). Further information about Getronics and its solutions and services can be found at www.getronics.com.
Certain statements in this release regarding the company's expectations, estimates, present view of circumstances or events, and statements containing words such
as estimates, anticipates, intends, and expects, or words of similar import, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements indicate uncertainty and the company can give no assurance with regard to actual outcomes. Specific risk factors
may include, without limitation, the company's inability to sell its products and services, possible downturns in business conditions, increased competition and
timely deployment of company resources.
Company securities are traded on the Neuer Markt of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the exemption from U.S. securities laws as provided by Regulation S
of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Satellite Radio Lifting Off
July 27, 2001 07:00 CDT
The sky no longer will be the limit for radio fans looking
for alternatives to broadcast stations, according to a
CNN report. XM Satellite Radio will be launching
service in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and San Diego,
California, on September 12. The company told CNN
that service will be available across the continental U.S.
in November.
"We're going to do to radio what DBS (Direct
Broadcast Satellite) and cable television did to the TV
industry...providing lots more choices." Hugh Panero,
president and CEO of XM told CNN. XM told CNN
that it will offer 100 channels: 71 with music formats,
including 30 commercial-free stations. The other 29
channels will have news, talk shows, sports and entertainment programming.
Sirius, one of the competing services is expected to launch later this year. Quite unlike its terrestrial
counterpart, satellite radio won't be free. Initially there is the cost of equipment. Consumers will need
special receivers to capture the satellite signal. The receivers start at about $150. XM told CNN that
receivers will already be installed in some 2002 model cars. And adaptors will be available to allow
existing radios to receive the satellite radio signal. Then there's a monthly service fee. XM is
charging $9.99 a month. Sirius will charge $12.95.
And the service area is limited. Neither company is planning worldwide service at this time.
According to CNN, the service will not include many local radio stations. The Majority of the
programming on XM radio will originate at the company's studios in Washington, New York and
Nashville, Tennessee. The lineup will include: five country music channels; 15 hot hits stations; 10
rock stations; seven urban; six jazz and blues; four dance; five Latin; seven world music formats;
four classical stations; two channels aimed at children; eight news stations; four stations with
business, finance and technology news; five sports; three comedy and nine variety channels. Content
also will be provided by MTV, ABC, ESPN, NASCAR, USA TODAY, BET, CNBC, The Weather
Channel, Bloomberg, and CNN.
Satellite radio will bypass the local stations and beam a signal directly from its two satellites (called
Rock and Roll) to subscribers very similar to the way satellite TV works. Since many people to listen
to radio in their cars, the satellite radio signal will have to be able to hit a moving target. This poses
the question of what will happen when the car goes into a tunnel or under a long bridge? "That's the
question," Aaron Brodie, chief engineer and news manager for KNTU-FM in the Dallas suburb of
Denton told CNN. "When you get downtown there will be buildings blocking and reflecting. People
may find their radios are cutting on or off."
Brodie added that the new satellite radio might end up with the same problem that has plagued
old-fashioned AM radio: drop out. But Panero claims that his company has devices on the ground
that will keep the hits coming, even when the satellite signal may not be able to reach cars. "We have
a terrestrial repeater network that will provide signal coverage in dense urban areas where you have
tall buildings," he told CNN.
Local stations will not be accessible on satellite radio. And Brodie added that he thinks satellite radio
listeners could miss important information. "You won't know if there is a major storm heading your
way, or a traffic tie up," he continued. Brodie did say however that the competition from satellite
radio could challenge local stations to offer listeners more programming and fewer commercials.
"Traditional radio is going to have really rethink what it's doing," Brodie explained. "Maybe they'll
get back to the good old radio days."
Source: CNN
Lucent Lands $161M 3G Contract
By Jay Wrolstad, Wireless.NewsFactor.com
Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU - news) has landed a three-year, US$161 million
contract to provide 3G (third generation) systems and support for mobile phone operator
MetroPCS. The pact provides a shot in the arm for the networking giant, which earlier this
week announced a quarterly loss in excess of $3 billion.
Under terms of the all-cash agreement, which does not
include vendor financing, Lucent will install an all-digital
wireless network based on CDMA (news - web sites)
(code division multiple access) technology in MetroPCS' 14 wireless markets, including
Atlanta, San Francisco, Sacramento, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.
CDMA Network Planned
Lucent said the network deployment will include technology from its 3G Flexent group of
mobile switching centers and base stations, which support the CDMA2000 3G standard. Lucent
also will provide installation, enhanced program management and network design services
through its Worldwide Services organization.
The Flexent cdma450 platform supports high-speed mobile data applications and such services as multimedia, mobile Internet and
m-commerce, Lucent said.
Dallas, Texas-based MetroPCS, formerly General Wireless, said it is laying the groundwork to be one of the first wireless
operators to deploy an all-digital network based on CDMA2000 1XRTT using 3G infrastructure and handsets. "With Lucent's
help, we plan to introduce our competitive wireless services early next year," said Roger Linquist, president and chief executive of
MetroPCS.
Russia Contract Softens Blow
Lucent, which recently announced it will eliminate between 15,000 and 20,000 jobs following third-quarter losses that totaled
$3.25 billion, is reorganizing into two major business units -- Mobility Solutions and Integrated Network Solutions -- to better
address the needs of service providers, it said.
The company announced another 3G networking deal earlier this month. In that deal, Lucent will work with Moscow Cellular
Communications (MCC) to introduce a next-generation wireless network that will transmit high-capacity voice and high-speed
data services over MCC's licensed spectrum in the 450 MHz band.
Lucent said it will supply its International Mobile Telecommunications - Multi-Carrier (IMT-MC) 450 technology to help MCC
evolve its analog network to a higher-capacity digital network -- the first step toward a 3G network.
Net music faces patent squeeze
By Paul Festa CNET News.com
Online music companies may have a new headache to deal with after a recent court decision on a download-technology patent.
While patent adversaries feud publicly over the terms of a confidential settlement and the
significance of the ruling, the underlying suit could make it more expensive for companies
including AOL Time Warner, Microsoft, RealNetworks and Amazon.com to offer streaming
audio, music samples and other services over the Internet.
The patent in question belongs to Intouch Group, a 15-employee digital music company in
Berkeley, Calif., that has sued Amazon, AOL Time Warner's Entertaindom, Liquid Audio,
Muze, Listen.com and Loudeye Technologies' DiscoverMusic, accusing them of infringing its
patent covering a potentially wide range of downloadable and streaming music.
Intouch also has designs on subscription-based streaming audio services, including MusicNet--a joint venture of RealNetworks,
AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI Group--and the Microsoft-allied Pressplay, a joint venture of Sony and Vivendi. Not
named in the lawsuit, those services are now in licensing negotiations over the patent, according to Intouch.
The defendants won a key point in a June decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which limited
the patent's scope to music files "substantially less" than full-length. In what sources close to the case described as an "ask for the
moon" strategy, Intouch had argued that the patent applied not only to short portions of songs but to compressed versions,
including MP3s, of full-length songs. If the court had granted that interpretation, the patent's reach would have extended to
virtually all downloadable and streaming music.
Nevertheless, Intouch said the court granted or even expanded its key interpretations of the patent, putting it in a strong negotiating
position with defendants and licensing candidates.
"In our eyes, (the decision) was a clear win for Intouch, and because of this, we feel several of the Defendants will now seek
settlement vs. moving to trial," Intouch Chief Executive Josh Kaplan wrote in an e-mail interview.
A Loudeye Technologies representative said the case lacks merit. AOL Time Warner and MusicNet declined to comment on the
patent. Amazon, Liquid Audio, Listen.com and Pressplay did not return calls seeking comment.
Intouch holds two patents in the area of downloadable music samples. The first, known as the " 157" patent, covers a method of
downloading music portions at a kiosk. The second, known as the " 916" patent, covers downloading music portions over a
computer network. Both patents require that the music downloaded be significantly shorter than the full-length file and that the
listener be uniquely identified--for example, by placing a cookie on the computer.
Intouch's allegations that the defendants are violating the "916" patent are of particular concern to online music retailers such as
Amazon, which offer customers samples of music before they buy.
The threat to Pressplay and MusicNet
But the threat to streaming subscription services, such as those offered by Microsoft, Sony and Vivendi's Pressplay, and
RealNetworks' MusicNet, could be more sweeping and lucrative for the small company, enabling it to collect licensing fees on
most online music distribution.
Should its patent be upheld in a trial scheduled for April 15, Intouch expects to be able to charge licensees either 1 percent to 5
percent of sales, or anywhere from a half-cent to 1.6 cents per download, depending on volume, according to a damages expert
retained by the company.
The Intouch case has elicited comparisons with the ongoing litigation between software makers and E-Data, another small
company with a potentially far-reaching patent. That case, entering its sixth year, inched forward last week with a ruling favorable
to the patent holder.
Companies including IBM, VocalTec and Adobe have chosen to license E-Data's technology rather than fight its patent claim.
New York-based Muze, which catalogs album and artist data, said it settled its dispute with Intouch in a confidential agreement.
But despite the confidentiality of the settlement, both companies vociferously contradicted each other's interpretation of the deal.
Muze showed CNET News.com a copy of its dismissal from the case. But Intouch attorney Rene Tatro said Muze was hardly out
of the woods on the crucial 916 patent claim.
"The ONLY settlement we reached with Muze came from the '157' kiosk patent suit," Tatro wrote in an e-mail interview.
"Further specifics of the settlement are confidential...We're expecting to take this all the way through trial, and will be seeking
injunctive relief against infringers." Muze claimed that the dismissal included both of Intouch's patent claims.
In a decision dated June 20, the U.S. District Court for Northern California clarified the patent's parameters in a so-called
Markman hearing. Both sides claimed victory in that decision.
Intouch had argued that the patent's use of the term "portion" should include compressed versions of songs, even if they were
full-length. The court rejected that argument.
"There are several bits and pieces of this decision cutting down the exposure of the defendants," Smith said. "But most important
to the industry is that the judge ruled that these patents don't cover (full-length versions) of MP3 or other compressed versions of
songs."
Tatro called the Markman decision a win for Intouch.
"A good many of the interpretations urged by Intouch were adopted by the court, verbatim," Tatro wrote. "Even if the 'portion'
interpretation stands up through trial or on appeal, it is quite clear that there are numerous infringers, including many of the present
defendants in the lawsuit...In our view, we think overall the Markman interpretations were a plus for Intouch."
The patent will undergo new scrutiny at the April trial. Now that the court has defined its terms, the patent will have to pass the
tests of being new and nonobvious.
Defendants may get a lift from a recent contest held online to find "prior art," older examples of the invention that would invalidate
its patent in court. BountyQuest, a site co-founded by Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos after a challenge to one of Amazon's
own patents, granted a $10,000 bounty for an example of prior art thought to be relevant to the Intouch patent.
The prior art recovered by the bounty "could significantly damage Intouch's patent infringement case by knocking out several of its
key claims," the company said in announcing the winner, Perry Leopold, founder of the PAN Network, a Web site devoted to
downloadable music.
Leopold reacted with derision to the notion that technology in question could be patented.
"In my view, downloadable digital audio always has been, and always should be, public domain," Leopold said in an interview.
"Anyone who attempts to patent it has not done their homework. The Patent Office also dropped the ball on this one. The patent
bar has been lowered so far you can trip over it if you're not watching."
Intouch dismissed the threat posed by Leopold's invention.
"BountyQuest is a service funded by Amazon, a defendant in this case," Kaplan said. "We have looked at the BountyQuest
submission in detail, and they apparently awarded $10,000 to somebody who put forth a system that does not reflect the claims of
our patent."
The Next Hot Battle
Multichannel News International
7/26/01
(Financial Post via NewsEdge Corporation - July 23, 2001) by Mattehw Fraser -- Not
so long ago, interactive TV was written off as an over-hyped buzzword with no
commercial potential.
The first interactive TV trials date to the late 1970s, when Time Warner launched its
QUBE trial in Columbus, Ohio. But despite a chorus of techno-optimism, the QUBE
experiment failed, as did several other high-profile interactive TV trials in
subsequent years.
Couch potatoes, it seemed, weren't interested in banking, shopping, and planning
holidays electronically via their TV sets.
In today's high-speed Internet world, however, interactive TV has been resurrected
from its technological graveyard. This time, it's being trumpeted as a billion-dollar
jackpot that could well save the fluctuating fortunes of the broadcasting industry.
Forrester Research predicts more than half of U.S. households will have interactive
TV capability by 2005. Total U.S. revenue from interactive TV in 2005 will approach
US$20-billion. Less conservative estimates put interactive TV transactions -- or
t-commerce -- at US$105-billion in five years.
If interactive TV is the financial bonanza that many expect, it will also become a
hotly contested battlefield as industry players attempt to use their market power to
soak up most of the profits.
Curiously, it's still not certain what interactive TV actually is. For some, it's a
WebTV-like experience allowing TV viewers to surf the Web. For others, it's more
akin to a personal video recorder -- like TiVo -- which allows viewers to customize
and record programs. Still others regard interactive TV mainly as a vehicle for home
shopping.
Whatever it is, interactive TV will succeed commercially only if it incites viewers to
pay for it (hardware set-top box and subscription fees) and use it to buy things
besides television programs. Industry experts believe interactive TV revenue will be
generated mainly by commercial advertising, subscriptions, electronic program
guides and consumer purchases.
Interactive TV is taking off in Europe, where Internet penetration rates are much
lower than in North America. With fewer home PCs hooked up to the Web, the TV
set is a user-friendly alternative. In the United Kingdom, for example, more than
five million households subscribe to interactive TV services.
In betting-mad Britain, interactive TV has even come to the rescue of the
government's policy of narrowing the digital divide between rich and poor.
Many Britons who have signed up for interactive TV now sit at home and bet on
sporting events while watching the game, instead of putting on their shoes and
trotting off to the local betting shop.
So far, interactive TV's worldwide commercial rollout has been frustrated by
predictable hardware battles over which technical standard will capture the market.
The main technological rivals are Wink, Liberate, OpenTV and Microsoft's
UltimateTV.
In North America, where interactive TV has been slow to take off, some media
giants are nonetheless betting heavily on its future. While the British use
interactive TV as electronic bookmakers, industry experts believe that, in North
America, its first killer application will be travel.
Last week, ex-Hollywood mogul Barry Diller's USA Networks Inc. bought a controlling
interest in Microsoft's Internet travel business, Expedia Inc.
Mr. Diller -- who has spent US$2-billion on Expedia and related acquisitions --
believes travel t-commerce will provide perfect synergies with USA's planned travel
channel. Besides cable channels such as USA and Home Shopping Network, USA
Networks already owns a controlling stake in a Web-based hotel booking firm,
Hotel Reservations Network Inc., and ticket-seller Ticketmaster.
In Canada, broadcasters such as CTV, Global and CHUM are well-positioned to
exploit the commercial potential of interactive TV. CTV is set to launch a travel TV
channel that could conceivably be linked with Sympatico, the Web portal owned by
CTV's parent, Bell Canada Enterprises. CanWest Global, for its part, has made a
foray into the health business via the Web. And CHUM's Web sites are popular with
the teenagers who watch its trendy channels such as Citytv and MuchMusic.
The big question, however, will be who takes the lion's share of t-commerce profits.
Or, put another way, who owns the interactive TV experience?
Broadcasters claim cable TV operators merely manage the wires running into
people's homes. Viewers, they say, are loyal to the channels they watch -- not to
the technology perched below their TV sets. Broadcasters, therefore, own the
customer relationship, including valuable data on consumers.
Cable barons, for their part, realize managing networks is a commodity business.
That's why big Canadian cable companies like Rogers and Shaw have been moving
into ownership of TV channels. Still, controlling set-top boxes gives cable -- and
satellite TV -- operators tremendous gatekeeper power. And you can bet they'll
exploit this bargaining clout in negotiations with broadcasters over t-commerce
revenue splits.
One solution would be for broadcasters and distributors to partner so they can work
together to capture t-commerce revenue streams. But that would be a bitter pill to
swallow for many broadcasters, who have long resented cable's high margins and
market power.
As interactive TV nears its mass-market commerical launch, watch for a brutal
industry shakeout to determine the winners and losers in a billion-dollar battle.
'Compressed' music rapidly expands (DataPlay/Samsung mention)
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
Colleen Francis was excited about taking her
music with her when she received a small
digital MP3 player as a gift — only to find that
with the standard 32 megabytes of built-in
memory, she could fit only 30 to 60 minutes'
worth on it, less than a single CD. "It sits
unused now," says Francis, 33, of Buffalo.
She's shopping for a more useful solution,
eyeing players with built-in spacious hard
drives such as the Creative Labs Nomad or
the HanGo Personal Jukebox.
Read more
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Lyra2: A complete mobile music experience
These are larger than the tiny MP3 players that use slip-in memory cards. But
with as much as 6 gigabytes of storage space — more than on the average
PC a year or two ago — they can store an entire music collection, 100 hours
of music or more, on a portable.
"I can't imagine spending hundreds of dollars for flash memory (cards) when
these hold hundreds of hours," she says. "I have 400 CDs and don't want to
have to narrow them down."
In New York Monday, many of digital music's biggest players will be
presenting new higher-capacity alternatives at Plug-In, a music conference
staged by Jupiter Media Metrix and Billboard magazine.
A walk through the average electronics shop can be a confusing consumer
experience. A host of $150-$300 digital audio players holding 32, 64 and
128 MB of "flash" memory on small cards (with upgrades costing nearly as
much as the units themselves) stand next to hard-disk units with a hundred
times the space.
The picture will soon become even more complex as other formats vie for
attention:
•This fall, Iomega pumps up its HipZip player, which uses quarter-sized,
removable 40MB disks (good for just a little over a half-hour of MP3s), with
a new model offering 100MB disks (almost two hours of MP3s). Blank disks
will still sell for $10 but won't be playable on the old model. No price has
been announced for the new player; the current HipZip costs $199.
•Several companies are working with a startup firm called DataPlay to
introduce new portables storing 250 or 500 MB of data — five to 11 hours'
worth of MP3s — on tiny optical CD-like discs.[b} While DataPlay is envisioned
also for digital cameras and PDAs, the first products, by the holidays, will be
audio players from Samsung.[/b}
"When music on the Web was free, and a $200 unit gave you an hour of
music, they made sense," says DataPlay's Steve Volk. "If you're going to buy
music on the Net and download it, you want to keep it. Our discs will retail
for $5 to $10; 500 megs in flash (memory) would cost $800 or $1,000."
•Sony's MiniDisc format, which came and appeared to vanish unsuccessfully
several years back, has seen its fortunes somewhat revived thanks to the Net;
$229-$299 models record digital audio files from PCs onto 80-minute
removable discs that sell for $2 each.
"Many high school and college-age students are (avoiding) flash memory
because it's expensive," says Bryan Ma, an analyst with research firm IDC.
"The MiniDisc is a much cheaper way to transfer media. Sony is seeing some
great, unexpected sales bounce."
In the first four months of 2001, Sony's MiniDisc was the top selling portable
digital audio product — a category that doesn't include the hugely popular
recordable CD — followed by flash MP3 players by Rio, Compaq and Nike,
and the Nomad Jukebox, according to the NPD Group. The survey was
conducted before Nomad's price was nearly halved in late April to $269 from
$499. "Our sales have increased 10 times since then," says Creative's Kevin
Brangan.
The entire portable digital audio market — players with flash memory cards,
removable discs and hard drives — remains small, with 1.8 million units
shipped in 2000, but that figure will grow to 10.9 million in 2005, IDC
predicts.[/b}
Units with hard drives accounted for just 100,000 units last year, but will triple
to 340,000 this year, says Ma, who sees such units growing at a faster rate,
eventually surpassing flash-memory devices.
"The appeal of being able to take your entire music library with you is too
good to ignore," says Ma, who predicts that major manufacturers will soon
enter the hard-drive-device market to compete with Nomad, HanGo and
Archos (the $249 Archos Jukebox 6000). For one, Hewlett-Packard will
introduce for Christmas a $1,000 home stereo system with a 30GB hard drive
and CD recorder.
IDC predicts that worldwide annual sales of "compressed audio" portable
players — gadgets that use flash memory, DataPlay discs, CDs with MP3
tracks recorded on them, and hard drives — will jump to nearly $6 billion by
2005.
New Internet music-subscription services backed by major record labels,
which will share the spotlight this week at the Plug-In conference, are due this
summer. But plans are for them to prevent purchased music from being
transferred to portables (or recorded to CDs). How will those policies hinder
the future of digital portables?
"Being able to move music off the computer is a top priority for consumers,"
says Webnoize analyst Ric Dube. If the new services "don't cultivate it, they're
going to have a hard time succeeding."
And despite all the alternatives, music-playing portables with flash-memory
cards aren't going away soon, Ma says. "They're still smaller, have no moving
parts, the music never skips, and they're great to bring to the gym."
Peer-To-Peer Networks Show Mainstream Potential -
7/25/01
The types of peer-to-peer file sharing networks that are giving record labels a run
for their money could one day soon find their way into mainstream corporate use
as companies seek to lower their digital distribution costs.
By Brian Krebs, Newsbytes
The demise of Napster as a source of free digital music has sent millions of the
song-swapping service's users to dozens of other established and upstart
services such as Gnutella, Morpheus, and Freenet. Unlike Napster, such
networks do not rely on a central server, making them a moving target for record
labels bent on quashing them for copyright violations.
Freenet founder Ian Clarke maintains that peer-to-peer is simply a smarter way to
get information from Point A to Point B.
"There are actually hundreds of potential business applications for peer-to-peer
file sharing technologies," Clarke said, speaking at the annual Plug.In digital
music conference in New York City today. "Data will migrate where the demand is,
which makes more efficient use of the Internet's infrastructures."
Peer-to-peer networks operate using a distributed network model, meaning users
share files via a number of interconnected virtual private networks. Clarke added
that because peer-to-peer networks are so decentralized, they can handle huge
numbers of user simultaneously, and hardly ever crash. The architecture of the
networks also makes them more scalable and far less vulnerable to distributed
denial of service attacks, he said.
Yet many companies are beginning to build file-sharing networks to facilitate the
secure and legal distribution of digital works, and chafe at being associated with
thosemusic sharing networks that openly flout copyright laws.
"We think file-sharing technologies are a very positive thing for the industry that will
enable digital distribution costs to come way down," said Frank Hausman,
chairman and CEO of CenterSpan Communications, the company that bought
Scour.com last year after it was forced by legal action into bankruptcy. CenterSpan
has since rebuilt the underlying technology of the service, which is back online in
beta form.
"But unless we are going to have a discussion about amending the Constitution,
any file-sharing activities that violate copyright law should be put out of business,"
Hausman said.
Gene Kan, a developer for the Gnutella Open Source Project, said the idea of
legislating or litigating against technology was pointless.
"Technology doesn't break copyrights, people break copyrights," Kan said.
The major record labels with plans to roll out digital music subscription services
have been working with high-tech companies to develop so-called Digital Rights
Management (DRM) technologies, designed to protect media files from being
copied or altered.
Many consider DRM technologies an unfair restriction of the Copyright Act's "fair
use" and "first sale" doctrines. "Fair use" allows those who have paid for content
to make copies of that work for personal use; the "first sale" doctrine allows
consumers to resell copyrighted works that they own, such as CDs and books.
File-sharing purists also have come to loathe the "anti-circumvention" provision in
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law passed in 1998 to extend
copyright protections to online works. That provision makes it illegal for anyone to
knowingly use, develop or disseminate technologies that can be used to
circumvent digital copyright protections.
Clarke said the Founding Fathers would roll over in their graves if they saw how
copyright law has been altered over the years.
"One of their main concerns was that it not be used to stifle freedom of speech,
and that is precisely what we're seeing as a result of the DMCA," Clarke said. "The
U.S. constitution exempts the kind of witch hunts the where Russians are being
arrested and trying to get back to a free country like Russia where they can say
what they think, as opposed to the U.S., where your giving a lecture on how you
can break encryption devices can land you in jail."
Clarke's comments were directed at two of the most recent and publicized
prosecutions under the anti-circumvention provisions. Earlier this month, a
Russian software developer was arrested and jailed by the FBI for creating a way
around security features in Adobe's Acrobat Ebook Reader.
The second reference was to Princeton University's Professor Edward Felten, who
last year led a team of scientists in cracking security measures created to protect
digital audio. Even though the industry-backed Secure Digital Music Initiative
(SDMI) had challenged the scientists to break the code, the groups were sued
under the DMCA after they announced plans to publish the results of their work.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., has said he plans to reintroduce legislation that would
make important clarifications to the DMCA, including measures that would
broaden users' first sale and fair use rights.
Clarke predicted that peer-to-peer file-sharing networks would become so
commonplace over the next few years that they would render the copyright
disputes meaningless.
"In three years time this whole copyright debate will be seen as a ridiculous
sideshow once it becomes apparent how generally applicable this technology is,"
he said.
Content Delivery Market To Pick Up
According to Frost and Sullivan, growth will be fast
27 July 2001, 8 am GMT
Revenues for content delivery services could
potentially reach $403.22 million in 2997, compared
to $1.22 million in 1999,
according to recent research by Frost & Sullivan
"Partnership, acquisition and failure will be the
main theme of Content Delivery Service's market
for the next 12 months due to the state of the
economy," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst
Patrick French.
"However, a return to 'old economy' measures
leads to a better understanding of this market's
true potential."
"Content Delivery Services via Satellite are
fundamentally an important market segment, yet
remain relegated to certain niches that can benefit
from the economics of satellite multicasting. This
segment will grow in the future as broadband
Internet access grows worldwide"
says French.
Providers who use satellites must focus on the
restricted number of areas where their value
proposition beats the terrestrial alternative and
build a core competence that can be capitalized
upon when the market for their services grows.
Zero latency, a concept once thought unattainable,
could become closer
as performance is optimised, say the analysts.
Processor wars: ARMed to the teeth
By Stephan Somogyi, ZDNet News
A veteran processor architecture is stealthily taking over the world.
COMMENTARY--In the high-profile tech world, talk of processor wars
is nothing new. Intel vs AMD is the standard battle of the behemoths, x86
vs PowerPC another big favorite, with the occasional bit of Alpha zealotry
thrown in for variety's sake. What's interesting to me is that very little
discussion goes on in the world at large about processors that are far more
prolific than PC CPUs.
If I had to name one clear winner of the processor wars--any of
them--then it's ARM.
Treading softly
The reason that ARM's victory has been so quiet is due to its inherently invisible nature.
ARM manages to keep a low profile because it's an intellectual property company rather than a
foundry. ARM designs processor cores--both central processors as well as co-processors--and its
licensees build chips around ARM's designs. Some licensees take ARM's cores and manufacture them
with minimal changes, others integrate ARM's technology, but two companies have so-called
architecture licenses, which allow them to build processors from scratch that execute the ARM
instruction set: Intel and Motorola.
In Intel's case, it acquired the architecture license as part of purchasing Digital's semiconductor
business, which included StrongARM, which later begat XScale. Motorola more recently purchased its
license, without doubt because Palm had decided it was going to move from the 68k to ARM for its
PDAs, and Motorola didn't want to lose Palm's evidently lucrative business.
Gadgets, not desktops
Personal computers based on ARM processors never really made the big time, though I still clearly
recall a friend of mine flying to the UK in the mid-80s to buy an Archie in order to write really fast
fractal software in ARM assembly. In addition to its uncomplicated processor designs and a
well-regarded instruction set, ARM chips' greatest strength has been high performance coupled with
low power consumption. Perfect for embedded processors.
This fact certainly isn't lost on clued-in embedded hardware designers, since ARM processors are
teetering on the verge of ubiquity in widgets of all shapes, sizes, and functions. Nintendo (news - web
sites)'s Game Boy Advance, mobile phones too numerous to mention, miscellaneous other consumer
electronics devices, engine computers, imaging and networking hardware, and other product categories
which I'm unaware of all have ARM chips within.
And in addition to all sorts of proprietary OSes, Linux (news - web sites) runs well on ARM, as does
NetBSD.
The PDA biz
What prompted my renewed interest in ARM this week was a combination of discovering Compaq
Research's Mercury project, and the release of first details about Motorola's new ARM-based
processor.
Mercury is pushing the envelope by integrating all sorts of whizzy features into a handheld. Mercury is
based on Compaq's off-the-shelf H3600, which is sold as a PocketPC device, but has gained great
favor as a particularly spiffy handheld Linux platform, albeit an expensive one.
While an undeniably cool proof-of-pudding, running Linux and XWindows isn't inherently useful
without apps that take advantage of the platform. Mercury clearly intends to provide the momentum
needed to make that happen. And with the amount of performance available in the 206MHz
StrongARM, I expect very interesting things to come out of both the Mercury project as well as out of
the ongoing development efforts at handhelds.org.
DragonBall MX1
Motorola swallowed its pride in what must've been a Herculean effort when it licensed an outside
processor architecture. But from all angles, its move to become an ARM processor purveyor makes
lots of sense. The DragonBall MX1 is the first fruit of Motorola's ARM license, and it looks like a
winner.
Until now, Palm devices have been running fine on double-digit megahertz 68k processors, while the
MX1 is claimed to run at speeds of up to 200MHz. And at $19 per chip in quantities of 10,000 --$8
more than the DragonBall VZ, the MX1's 68k-based cousin -- the DragonBall MX1 is very
inexpensive considering the features and performance it offers.
The MX1 is a veritable kitchen sink of handheld buzzword compliance. It contains all the hardware
necessary to talk to SD and MemoryStick peripherals, it includes on-chip USB and LCD controllers,
and even provides the non-radio portion of a Bluetooth interface.
With its multimedia acceleration features (which aren't detailed in any documentation I could find) and
analog to digital converter, it shouldn't be too hard to build a phone around the MX1, either. Finally,
since the MX1 also includes ARM's pithily-named Thumb technology, the RAM requirements for
ARM software shouldn't be too much greater than for the 68k code it's replacing.
Well ARMed
While it may not matter to you which processor sits inside your car's transmission computer, the
increasing importance of handheld computers is going to make their processors a big deal. The
traditional desktop--and even laptop--processor architectures aren't well-suited to these tasks, which
is why a sea change is afoot. ARM has been around for a long time and has build a very solid
foundation for its technology, based not on consumer marketing, but on delivering solid technology that
meets its customers' needs.
With a clear future roadmap for increasingly higher-performance and many-featured processors, ARM
looks to become the dominant force in the handheld market.
With each successive viewing of the Monsters, Inc. trailer--which almost certainly was not
rendered on ARM processors--ZDNet columnist Stephan Somogyi becomes increasingly
convinced that November 2nd is much too far away.
Online Radio Puts Artists in Front of an International
Audience; Stations and Other MP3.com Tools Help
Them Find Target Fans
SAN DIEGO, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- For many digital artists, MP3.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:
MPPP - news) is the online standard for music promotion and distribution. Westwind Brass
(www.mp3.com/westwindbrass), a professional brass quintet who's been on MP3.com(TM)
(www.mp3.com) since 1999, is no exception to the standard. MP3.com's intuitive tools such
as Stations (www.mp3.com/stations) have helped introduce this classical brass band to all
corners of the world with their next stop being is Vladivostok, Russia.
Stations, a customizable ``radio station'' created by MP3.com artists and listeners, gives
users more control over their music by allowing them to create a personal lineup of music.
MP3.com Stations allow users to skip tracks, go back and repeat songs. These capabilities
just aren't possible with traditional radio and are seriously limited in many online efforts.
More than 200 new Stations are added every day to MP3.com, with each user able to
create multiple stations to account for all their individual music tastes. Stations are one of the
more popular features on MP3.com, as their 150,000 to 250,000 listens each day generate
nearly 10% of the total site-wide listens.
``We believe our Station feature is a great experience for both artists and users as it allows
them to control their online radio experience,'' said Michael Robertson, chairman and chief
executive officer of MP3.com. ``Stations appeal to musicians as a way to promote their
music, as well as fans who want to create their own custom playlists.''
Westwind Brass says the Station feature and other MP3.com tools are helping the band
pave the road to success. The group was selected by the San Diego-Vladivostok Sister City
Society to perform at its 10th anniversary celebration Sept. 3-11.
``With Stations we are able to see just how much people like our music,'' said Barry Toombs
of Westwind Brass. ``Many of the people we reach through these streams might not have the
opportunity to come and hear us perform live. MP3.com helps provide many new music
opportunities with their many features.''
The group, comprised of trumpets, horns, trombones and tubas, is one of the top genre-specific Stations on MP3.com, such as
The Best of Brass (www.mp3.com/stations/brass) and Brass Sounds (www.mp3.com/stations/brassounds).
The band is among a broad range of classical artists on MP3.com that can be appreciated through MP3.com's Station feature.
To view an alphabetized list of classical Stations, visit www.mp3.com/a_to_z. Other popular classical artists like Silvertrump
(www.mp3.com/silvertrump) and Ernesto Cortezar (www.mp3.com/ErnestoCortazar) also can be found through the Station
function. To learn how to find a ``radio station'' featuring your music preference, check out the Stations Directory and Featured
Stations (www.mp3.com/stations_info). You can create your own Station with favorite ``picks'' from MP3.com's catalog of
more than 1 million songs by visiting www.mp3.com/stations.
Currently, more than 172,000 Stations are on MP3.com. To learn how to place your music in front of an international
audience, visit www.mp3.com/newartist.
To be notified of other developments about Westwind Brass such as the arrival of their upcoming D.A.M. CD(TM) of
Christmas favorites, visit www.mp3.com/notifyme.
For more Station facts, visit www.mp3.com/stations_info
To receive MP3.com press releases via email or to unsubscribe from this service, visit pr.mp3.com.
Filefreedom.com's File Cataloging Software Appeals to Online
Music & Media Distributors
FileFreedom has joined the Hampton Roads Technology Incubator, seeking networking
opportunities and focused expertise as it promotes an innovative P2P community-building
program with free software that works alongside file-sharing networks, automatically looking up
file information from a file catalog and adding information on each transaction for the benefit of
others. After a download, users can rate or comment on files. The program includes buddy list
features, member profiles, a proprietary e-mail system, and file recommendations. Since its
release on May 3, FileFreedom has been downloaded more than 100,000 times and has remained
on CNET Download.com's 50 Most Popular titles in PC:Audio.
FileFreedom’s low-priced upgrades offer technologies for sharing playlists and accessing media
files on a home computer from ANY computer in the world—eliminating the need for digital
lockers and file storage services. Its File-Tag service lets artists and independent content
providers tag files and receive reports on their distribution while advertising to downloaders.
“The file sharing phenomenon proved the popularity of on-line interactive download sites,”
according to FileFreedom’s 21-year-old founder Daniel Strickland. “FileFreedom takes that
approach several steps further.” According to Strickland, before users decide to download a file,
they can check its popularity, rating, and reviews. FileFreedom users can decide who sees their
download history, they can create personal profiles to describe themselves, and they can send
messages to other users on FileFreedom’s internal e-mail system. FileFreedom also allows
dynamic descriptive information to be associated with files, without clogging networks and
searches with long filenames.
Additionally, FileFreedom has a file-tag program, which permits artists and independent content
providers (creators, producers, and distributors of movies, music, books images, etc.) to tag
files, receive reports on the file’s distribution, and advertise to users downloading the file. This
capability is especially appealing to jukebox and file-sharing software developers, who are likely
to want to co-brand and embed FileFreedom into their client software.
“This is a really clever idea that is already popular but that also will shape the future of the
Internet, “according to Hampton Roads Technology Incubator Director Marty Kaszubowski. “Our
job at the Incubator is to facilitate their branching out and help guide their meteoric growth,
especially as the ramifications of this technology become better known.”
Acting Chief Marketing Officer Wayne Rosso, a 30-year veteran of the music and marketing
industries, concurs. “We’ve got software developers begging for our program. We need Marty’s
business acumen and the Incubator’s experts to protect us from some of the pitfalls associated
with introducing a revolutionary new dimension to the Internet.”
Along with those communication features, FileFreedom also permits play-list sharing and can be
upgraded to allow the user to access media files on a home computer from any other computer
in the world, thus eliminating the need for digital lockers, file storage services, etc.
The Hampton Roads Technology Incubator is a division of the Hampton Roads Technology
Council, dedicated to nurturing high-growth, high-tech businesses into profitable industry
leaders and promoting economic growth for southeastern Virginia by boosting the number of
tech companies developing in or moving to Hampton Roads; administering programs to help
entrepreneurs establish and operate these companies successfully; and facilitating access to
and commercialization of technologies developed in the region's university, government and
industrial labs. It receives funding from Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology, NASA’s
Langley Research Center, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance, the City of Hampton,
the City of Virginia Beach, the City of Norfolk, and the Hampton Roads Partnership. More
information about the Hampton Roads Technology Incubator is available at
www.HR-Incubator.org.
For information about FileFreedom, contact Wayne Rosso at (757) 422-4722 or visit
www.filefreedom.com.
Fast wireless LAN technology could rival Bluetooth
14:36 Thursday 26th July 2001
IT Week staff
Work by the ETSI standards group to boost the bandwidth of technology used by cordless
phones could see a worthy competitor to Bluetooth emerge
An alternative wireless network technology to 802.11b and Bluetooth may emerge next year in the
form of the broadband Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (Dect) standard. Dect is
used extensively in cordless phones, but is not yet widely used in wireless LANs (WLANs).
The ETSI standards group is working to increase Dect's 2Mbit/s bandwidth to 20Mbit/s, above the
11Mbit/s of 802.11b and 721kbit/s of Bluetooth. This, combined with a much longer range, a
clearer radio frequency spectrum and low-cost components, could make broadband Dect a
powerful, reliable and low-cost technology for local and wide area wireless networks.
Bill Pechey of consultancy firm
Computancy said Dect is superior to
802.11b and Bluetooth in many
respects, but its success will depend
on hardware manufacturers adopting
it. "If it were just down to standards it
would be a one-horse race. Dect is a
complete solution that does everything
that 802.11b and Bluetooth do," he
said.
It costs around $30 to put Bluetooth or
802.11b chips into WLAN equipment;
equivalent Dect components cost $15.
Dect also uses less power than
802.11b equipment and has better
power management than Bluetooth.
But 802.11b has a head start in
WLANs. Michael Wall of analyst firm
Frost & Sullivan said, "802.11b has everything in place that Dect doesn't, namely a significant
installed base in the US and Europe."
Plugging into PDAs
Paul Briggs, Computer Reseller News [26-07-2001]
Following the sad news that Psion will exit the consumer
handheld market it helped to build, there was word that
Apple might re-enter the personal digital assistant (PDA)
market at its Macworld conference last week. At the same
time, Toshiba has also revealed two new Windows
CE-based Genio PDAs.
But the phrase that struck me most about Psion's move
came from David Levin, its chief executive. He was reported
to have said: "[The PDA market] is looking like the PC
market, and PC guys are not known for sustainable
margins."
While the channel knows statements like this all too well, a
hell of a lot of resellers are still shifting boxes with little
margin. OK, there are fewer in this business than before,
but it is the service provision and value-add on top of these
beige beasts that brings home the bacon.
This is an age where companies are trying to get the
maximum value out of existing IT infrastructures and
employees. It seems odd, therefore, that a vendor with a
strong brand and loyal user base should leave a market
that seems to offer companies compelling business
advantage.
While Psion may look at its devices as primarily consumer
machines, they are increasingly gaining momentum in the
corporate space. Compaq, for example, is having some
notable success with its iPaq and, in many cases, it has its
resellers to thank.
This is because resellers have gone back to existing
customers and offered value-add to existing infrastructures
without the need to rip and replace.
Sold as an incremental benefit, along with wireless
technology, the ability to connect to the corporate network
while on the move is becoming more and more important.
Of course, margin on product will get squeezed as products
become commodities.
The challenge is to offer a route that offers services around
a product to bring business advantage. And we all know
who can do this.
Internet sites for sore ears
July 26, 2001
BY MIKE THOMAS STAFF REPORTER
In early July, Napster was ordered to shut down. Word is it'll return (soon?) as a
fee-based service, garnering royalties for the unpaid masses of musicians whose
music it once helped to give away. Still, questions loom. Who's going to pay for
stuff they once got for nothing? How will the new Napster compete against the
increasingly popular Napster clones and MP3 search engines? Since mack daddy
went away, if only temporarily, all kinds of once-obscure person-to-person song
song-swapping programs have come to the fore.
Really, though, why all the fuss? It's only music, MP3 music, which isn't even on
par fidelity-wise with CD music. For all the recent hullabaloo, you'd think someone
discovered life on Pluto--or a profitable dot-com. But no, it's about free stuff.
People love free stuff. And these days, there's more free stuff, music included,
floating around cyberspace than ever.
''With Napster not working, all 50 million users are most likely looking for an
alternative,'' Cnet Download.com vice president Scott Arpajian told the New York
Times. (Download.com offers downloads of many popular file-sharing programs.)
Well, maybe not all of them, but certainly a goodly portion. And right now the
pickings are lush. Just log onto Down-load.com, click the MP3 link and marvel at
the number of song-swapping programs you can download for free.
Aimster.com is one of them. Perhaps the most blatant Napster clone, Aimster is
the brainchild of founder Johnny Deep and his 16-year-old daughter Aimee, the
company's comely cover girl. Its technology utilizes America Online's instant
messenging and buddy lists to facilitate file trading. An article in the May 2 edition
of Wired.com reports that the site already has more than 4 million users.
Morpheus, another popular program from Musiccity.com, is a bit more complex in
look and feel but does an equally good job of locating tunes.
Of course, some of your favorites may not turn up, and, as with all music
downloading programs, you might have to wait a while if the service is
extraordinarily busy, but by and large Morpheus is among the best Napster
alternatives out there. One of the best features is an ''embedded'' Microsoft media
player that lets users immediately play back files. This is handy for checking for
flaws in fidelity, or simply grooving to the newly imported strains of Destiny's
Child's ''Bootylicious.''
If you'd rather not mess around with downloading software, MP3 locators function
much like music-specific Internet search engines. Even so, they can prove to be
highly annoying, owing to incessant popup ads and links to other, often confusing,
music-oriented Web sites. MP3raid.com is a perfect example. Unless, that is,
you're interested in buying herbal ecstacy, an ad for which appears on one of the
scores of interlinked music sites at which MP3raid users may find themselves.
So why haven't these rebels been shut down? Mainly because they're protected,
for now, by a legal loophole. Unlike Napster, they provide no central song libraries
or servers; it's all strictly computer-to-computer (a k a ''peer-to-peer'') pilfering, er,
swapping, which, apparently, is harder to legislate.
By the time Napster starts charging for songs, some of its many former users may
have shifted their loyalties.
But Napster's not the only company that plans to make money selling tunes on the
Web. Chris Gladwin, chief executive officer of Chicago-based FullAudio Corp., a
digital music subscription service, said his company has spent two years culling
rights and record labels (including the five major ones and hundreds of indies) to
create an operation that will enable partners--cable modem companies, computer
hardware companies, MP3 companies--to offer fee-based song downloads.
Despite the rabbitlike proliferation of free services, Gladwin said FullAudio, the
only independent business of its kind, remains unthreatened, and will be fully
operational in about three months.
''Consumers are willing to pay for quality,'' Gladwin said. ''If you get a song off a
sharing service, you have no idea what the sound quality is ... whether the beginning
is clipped off, something like that. That's an issue. And metadata that's associated
with a song, like cover art and links between different songs, they're just not going
to be there in a sharing service. So those little extras make a big difference to
consumers.''
Gladwin believes that while some people, young ones in particular, may continue to
use free music services despite a lack of uniform quality control and a dearth of
value-added features, those with limited leisure time and sufficient income won't
mind paying for convenience and dependability. If that's true, the new Napster
could thrive, and performers, publishers and record companies, many of whom feel
they're being stiffed by those of us who choose not to pay for our music, will surely
be pleased.
Until then, it's just one big free-for-all.
SK Telecom and Thin Multimedia Successfully
Launch World's First Multimedia Wireless Service to
use Software-Only Decoder
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2001--SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM -
news; www.sktelecom.com) one of the world's leading wireless telecommunications
operators, and Thin Multimedia (www.thinmultimedia.com), a leading provider of wireless
multimedia solutions, today launched n.TOP(TM) Multimedia, the world's first software-only
decoder-based multimedia wireless service. n.TOP(TM) Multimedia offers subscribers more
than 200 content channels, including animations, multimedia email, movies, music, and TV
programs. n.TOP(TM) Multimedia is offered on both IS 95-A/B and CDMA 2000 1x
networks.
``Thin Multimedia's technology is compelling because it enables regular mobile phones
without additional DSP chips to play multimedia content and still plays video with high
quality. '' said Dr. Sung Cheol Hong, Vice President, Wireless Internet Division of SK
Telecom. ``Previous wireless multimedia services required mobile phones with chips
dedicated to play multimedia, and these phones' prices are beyond the reach of average
consumers. We expect that it would take some time until the multimedia chips become
affordable. Much higher adoption is expected with inexpensive multimedia mobile phones
using Thin Multimedia's technology.''
Thin Multimedia is powering SK Telecom's wireless service with a comprehensive set of
solutions. SK Telecom subscribers will use TCM-2 Decoder on mobile phones to play
multimedia content, while TCM-2 Server/Encoder on the backend simultaneously stream
multimedia content to thousands of mobile phones. Content providers can readily convert
their existing multimedia line-up into the TCM-2 format using TCM-2 Creator. Thin
Multimedia's technology not only enables mobile phones to play multimedia content without
additional hardware but also enables mobile phones with cameras to capture live video and
stream it to other mobile phones. In addition, a PC user can send live video from his PC with
a web camera to mobile phones with TCM-2 Decoder.
The core technology behind Thin Multimedia's products is TCM-2, a proprietary
encoding/decoding algorithm that requires significantly less processing on mobile phones than competing technologies that are
usually variations of MPEG.
``Because MPEG is originally designed for PCs with much more processing power and no battery life concerns, variations of
MPEG still require excessive processing and battery usage on mobile phones'' said Chuck Yoo, Founder and CEO of Thin
Multimedia. ``Thin Multimedia started out with a whole new scheme designed for `thin' devices such as mobile phones, PDAs
and set-top boxes and has made significant progress since 1997. With our commitment to R & D, we expect to make
additional enhancements in efficient usage of processor, battery, video quality and error resilience.''
TCM-2 Decoder is the first successfully developed software-only decoder in the world and has been under development for
sometime by Thin Multimedia and SK Telecom. Both companies plan to jointly pursue opportunities in other countries.
About SK Telecom
SK Telecom is the largest CDMA cellular service provider in the world with more than 13.4 million subscribers as of June
2001, based on the accumulated expertise for over 16 years of its state-of-the-art technological know-how in the field of
wireless communications. It has diversified its business scope to IMT-2000, multimedia online service, International Call,
Handset manufacturing, and GMPCS. SK Telecom is listed on the London and New York Stock Exchange Markets
(NYSE:SKM - news). For more information on SK Telecom, visit the World Wide Web at http://www.sktelecom.com.
About Thin Multimedia
Thin Multimedia offers a comprehensive set of software-based wireless multimedia solutions including decoding, encoding,
authoring and streaming that offer excellent playback quality with minimal usage of processor and battery as well as high error
resilience. Thin Multimedia works with wireless operators, cell phone manufacturers, and content providers to offer mobile
consumers a variety of multimedia contents, including news and financial stories, sports highlights, music videos, weather and
traffic reports, and home or work security cameras, from any location. For more information, please visit the company's
website at http://www.thinmultimedia.com.
Digital marketer Real Media and targeted mobile application provider Sonata have formed a
partnership to deliver location-specific wireless ads via voice or data -- once the industry is ready for
such services.
Real Media will represent Sonata, which makes location-based voice and
data mobile applications for advertising, to potential advertisers. The
companies said they see location-oriented services as a key way to
capitalize on the mobility factor of wireless devices.
Their advertising will be directed toward phone and PDA (personal digital
assistant) users. The companies said advertisers will be able to reach users
of any current wireless platform.
"Wireless advertising makes the most sense when delivered contextually
through media on a geo-targeted basis, and not to IP addresses based on
profiles, as our competitors largely deliver their ads," said Mark Naples, Real Media's vice president of
marketing/privacy officer.
The ads will be delivered by Sonata's OnTarget software, which the company said operates over
WAP (wireless application protocol)-based, i-mode and Java-enabled phones, PDAs and
Voice/CallXML/VoiceXML.
Not Waiting for 3G
Sonata vice president of business development Mayran Spiro told Wireless NewsFactor that the
technology to deliver ads is ready for rollout. However, Spiro added that until networks become
"location-capable," location-based ads will not be delivered anytime soon.
Until the market can enable location-based advertising, Real Media and Sonata will provide
profile-based ads over data and voice platforms, according to Spiro.
"Given the delays we've seen in e911 rollout, I think we're looking at about eight months" before
location-based services will be up and running, Spiro said.
Spiro added that while sufficiently robust devices are making their way to market, Sonata is still waiting
for the "critical mass" of sufficient devices and content to be reached.
The Ad Gap
"But it would be somewhat foolish to ignore [possibilities now], so we've decided to go ahead and
bridge the gap [with profile-based ads]," Spiro said.
Naples told Wireless NewsFactor that if a consumer reads The Washington Post or a local city guide,
that person is probably a good target for ads from the area that the content in question serves.
"We target location the old-fashioned way," Naples told Wireless NewsFactor. "We serve to local
media."
Spiro said that ads may appear as direct messages delivered via voice or SMS (short message
service), or as banner ads placed on navigation menus of WAP devices.
Locating the Customer
Once location options are available, Spiro said, a combination of methods will connect advertisers with
targets.
Opt-in possibilities could allow device users who are strolling in a shopping mall or urban area, for
example, to signal their readiness for local offers. Carriers or content providers could offer lower
subscription rates for those who accept ads.
"I'd love to see the latter," Naples said.
Added Spiro: "I think we'll see a mix of methods. I think they'll be fleshed out over the course of time."
AM, FM -- And Now XM
XM Satellite Radio is ready to unveil its "Radio to the Power of X" advertising campaign across the nation. The national
rollout plan and channel lineup for the revolutionary commercial satellite radio service will provide 100 channels of
programming, coast-to-coast coverage and digital quality sound.
The $100 million national advertising campaign is a multimedia effort anchored by a television campaign developed by
TBWA/Chiat/Day -- $45 million of the campaign is concentrated in the fourth quarter of this year with major efforts on
television, radio, magazines, newspapers, direct mail, outdoor and online.
Overall, the campaign defines XM's brand as the ultimate radio experience and uses a series of artists -- BB King, Snoop
Dogg and David Bowie -- and objects to depict the range of content and programming available on XM's service.
Musicians, musical instruments, a racing car and other objects rain down across the country from an XM satellite. An
overarching 60-second spot and seven 30-second, genre-specific spots give consumers a flavor of some of the
programming that will be available.
On Aug. 10 the company's national advertising will kick off with the debut of its 60-second spot in nearly 3,000 movie
theaters comprising more than 19,000 screens across the United States.
On Sept. 12, XM plans to launch commercial service with a multimedia marketing effort in its two lead markets: Dallas/Fort
Worth and San Diego. By mid-October, XM's rollout will expand to a major regional launch in the Southwest, covering
such major markets as Austin, Houston, Denver and Los Angeles. In early November, XM will begin its national television
campaign and launch service across the rest of the country.
XM's 100-channel lineup will feature 71 music channels and 29 news, talk, sports and entertainment channels -- all for a
monthly service fee of $9.99. XM's carefully constructed channel lineup is designed to satisfy every imaginable musical taste
as well as introduce a stellar lineup of news, talk, sports and entertainment programming from the most popular and
well-known media brand names.
Approximately 60 percent of the channels are original content created by XM at its state-of-the-art studios and broadcast
center in Washington D.C. and at its studios in New York City and at the new country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in
Nashville.
XM's lineup of well-known programming partners and brands includes MTV, VH1, Radio Disney, ESPN Radio, ABC
News and Talk, NASCAR (news - web sites), USA TODAY, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, Clear Channel, Discovery
(news - web sites), BET, The Weather Channel and C-SPAN.
According to XM President and CEO Hugh Panero, "We intend to change radio the way cable and DBS changed
television, by providing compelling entertainment choices to consumers. Twenty years ago next week, MTV launched with
the song 'Video Killed the Radio Star.' We are here today to tell you that XM will bring radio back to life."
Bulldog Drummond has recently added senior copywriter Christian Marichal to the agency's creative team.
Marichal's wide range of experience includes working as a journalist in the Bosnian War, and serving as both a copywriter
and creative director for several global agencies, including JWT, Saatchi and Greenaway Burdett Martin. Named
"Minister of Ingenuity," Marichal is tasked with all creative efforts including the development of concepts, writing all
literature, project leadership and exploring new opportunities for clients.
Ben Fisher has been named director of sales and marketing for Geary Interactive.
With experience in the technology and Web development field, he will be aiding the agency in high-level customer
engagements, securing target accounts, coordinating tradeshow events and leading the firm's sales team. Geary Interactive
operates out of offices in San Diego and Las Vegas, offering client services in Web design, programming solutions, flash
presentations, alternative online marketing and digital media buying.
Di Zinno Thompson Solutions has just unveiled a new print and radio advertisement campaign for client Upper Deck's
new golf series of sports memorabilia and trading cards featuring Tiger Woods.
The ads were designed to appeal to both golf enthusiasts and trading card fans alike. Each ad highlights the fans' enthusiasm
for both Tiger and the game of golf. According to DZT creative director Jeff Payne, "We realized that the frenzied growth
of golf fans, coupled with Tiger's immense popularity, gave us the opportunity to create a campaign filled with a heightened
sense of anticipation."
Napster return still a puzzle
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Off-line for several weeks
now, beleaguered song-swap service Napster
sees no end to the problems that have kept it
off the Net, and says it has no idea when the
service will resume.
"This is a question we ask ourselves every
day," says Konrad Hilbers, the German
former Bertelsmann executive who was
installed Tuesday as Napster's new CEO. "I
wish I knew."
The holdup: Technical issues need to be
resolved with Napster's system of filtering. A
federal court order prevents the company
from offering copyrighted songs without
authorization, though an appellate court
recently gave Napster the OK to return while it works out its problems.
Hilbers replaces Hank Barry, who had been serving as Napster's interim
CEO since last summer. Barry remains on the board of directors. Hilbers was
introduced to the public at the Plug.In music industry conference here, staged
by Billboard magazine and research firm Jupiter Media Metrix.
Bertelsmann, which owns the BMG and Arista record labels, is working with
the company to launch a new paid version of Napster this summer. Hilbers
and Barry refuse to be more specific about the date, saying the launch will
probably happen by Labor Day.
Will the old Napster come back at all, or will they just wait to bring out the
new subscription service? No decision on that either, the two say, though
industry attendees here say they doubt Napster will reopen until the new
service is ready.
According to Jupiter figures, total time spent using Napster dropped 65%
among home users in 14 countries, from 6.3 billion minutes at Napster's peak
in February to 2.2 billion minutes in June. In the same period, the number of
users dropped 31%, to 18.3 million.
The industry consensus has been that, as a result of its setbacks in court and
its recent Net shutdown, Napster is dead.
But "it doesn't seem to be too dead to me," Hilbers told a well-attended press
conference. "You all wouldn't be here if we were. You can't kill a brand name
that fast. Napster is a legend."
Napster has signed as an affiliate of MusicNet, the subscription service
expected later this summer from major labels EMI, BMG, Warner Music and
recently Zomba (home of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys), which
joined Tuesday.
Napster also will offer music from independent labels for a separate fee.
Napster's independent deals give it access to 100,000 songs, Barry says,
adding that the independent label service will probably debut before
MusicNet.
What consumers will see when they pay their fee is a "Welcome" screen
offering the licensed independent music, as well as free tracks that aren't
blocked by the court order, such as concert bootlegs and out-of-print
material.
So "it is the responsibility of the rights holder" with the new Napster, as with
the old Napster, says Barry, to notify the company about taking down
unauthorized songs. "We will respond accordingly."
More blood to be spilt on digital music battleground, says Bronfman
Publishing hurdle
Robert Thompson
Financial Post
NEW YORK - Pressplay, the subscription-based Internet music service
being created by Sony Corp. and Vivendi Universal, SA faces a
potential battle with music publishers, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Vivendi's
executive vice-chairman, said yesterday.
"Publishing remains a significant hurdle," Mr. Bronfman told reporters
at Plug-In, a conference run by Jupiter Media Metrix. "There have
been comprehensive details put on the table for publishers, all of
which have been rejected."
The Bronfman family, based in Montreal, are the single largest
shareholder group in Vivendi Universal.
Mr. Bronfman said there has been "healthy debate in the legal
community," about whether Pressplay, or rival MusicNet, backed by
AOL Time Warner Inc., Bertelsmann AG and EMI Group, can launch without the support of music
publishers who own copyrights to most music.
He said Pressplay is expected begin operating in September, despite the fact its pricing and
music catalogue information has yet to be released.
Mr. Bronfman gave the audience of around 1,000 a glimpse into what to expect from the service.
While MusicNet will only allow songs to be streamed when it is launched in the fall, Pressplay will
feature at least 100,000 songs and will allow digital downloads in addition to Internet streaming
of music files. Pressplay may also offer digital video and artwork.
While Mr. Bronfman did not demonstrate the Pressplay service, Rob Glaser, acting CEO of
MusicNet and CEO of RealNetworks Inc., which has an ownership stake in MusicNet, did attempt
to demonstrate his service.
Initial attempts failed, though Mr. Glaser did eventually get the service to work. Industry
watchers seemed intrigued by the fact the Internet interface for MusicNet was similar to
renegade digital file-swapping service Napster Inc.
"It totally looked like Napster," said Hank Barry, Napster's outgoing CEO.
Neither service will immediately allow users to transfer files to portable players or burn digital
music on to compact discs, which is likely to be a stumbling block. Making copies of digital music
was the most important feature to 48% of respondents in a recent survey conducted by Jupiter
Media Metrix.
Despite the fact that Napster was still central to the conference, Mr. Bronfman was not
apologetic for shutting down the hugely popular service, which had 70 million users before legal
action stopped digital music transfers.
The service was in violation of numerous laws and deserved to be closed, Mr. Bronfman said.
"No, we didn't kill it," he said. "Let me make it clear. Napster went to market in the face of
international law and international law said what they were doing was illegal."
In the post-Napster era, Mr. Bronfman said he feels music companies will have to re-evaluate the
future of compact discs. Copying music from CDs has become too easy, and the cost of lost sales
to the recording industry is high.
"We have to move to a format that is not as rippable as current CDs," he said. "Nothing will
prove more valuable than stealing someone else's music. That is something we simply cannot
compete with."
While the record labels finish their battle with Napster and piracy, the conference made it clear
they are prepared to fight among themselves, jockeying for position in the new digital music
industry.
During the speeches by Mssrs. Glaser and Bronfman, it became clear that neither Pressplay nor
MusicNet would have access to the catalogues owned by the rival camp. The loser in the battle
could be MusicNet, which represents a smaller number of musical recordings, even after
announcing Zomba Recording Corp., home to such acts as Britney Spears and the Backstreet
Boys, was joining its alliance.
If the two music services are unable to reconcile, the real losers could be consumers, who would
have to subscribe to both to gain access to the latest albums and songs. Mr. Bronfman said he
expects the services to license their catalogues, but that could take months.
"At the end of the day, we know customers want all the music in one place and neither service
will be successful until we offer that," Mr. Bronfman said. "Ultimately I think Pressplay and
MusicNet will have access to all of the music."
However, with the corporate battles heating up, Mr. Bronfman said it may be some time before
consumers see the benefits from either service, stating "it will be messy for a year or two."
rthompson@nationalpost.com
Why the Sons of Napster won't make it either
David Coursey, Executive Editor,
AnchorDesk
The record industry is running out of time. If the record
companies don't get their act together by Christmas, the
next Napster will be impossible to stop. The clock is
ticking.
Or at least that's conventional wisdom right now. I know
because I've heard it often enough. The most recent
example came in a National Pubic Radio report
concerning the Sons of Napster--services like
AudioGalaxy and Kazaa that have grown like weeds
since Napster's shutdown.
Yes, the clock is ticking--but for whom?
NOT THE RECORDING INDUSTRY. Rather, I think the
clock is ticking on the Sons of Napster. They may never
go away, but they will be marginalized.
Why? Because the people who own the music have a
very powerful weapon in their arsenal, and customers
won't do anything to stop it. It's copy protection. It's
coming, and while some of you will complain, there will
be enough leeway to satisfy you as well as the record
companies.
What will emerge, and it will take a year or so yet, is
copy-protected media. Customers will be able to make
all the first-generation copies they like, but no
second-generation one. You'll be able to copy your
music CDs over to your MP3 player or even make a
duplicate CD, but you won't be able to copy the copy. At
least I hope this is how it will work.
Will hackers crack such copy protection? Of course they
will, and the file-sharing services will survive. But
continued legal threats will keep them at an almost
inaudible noise level, if you know what I mean, compared
to the blare of the music business as a whole.
Investment capital won't flow to companies that can
count on permanent legal harassment.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY can still screw up, of course, by
not allowing enough free personal copying. Protecting
CDs against any and all copying--a proposal that has its
advocates--would be a stupid mistake, and it would play
right into the hands of critics and thieves.
But so long as most customers feel they're getting fair
use of the music they buy, the record companies will
almost certainly succeed at stopping the mass
infringement Napster represented. And that's really the
goal.
Napster's mistake was growing too big, too fast, too
publicly. It begged for the lawsuits that have shut it down
for now, and perhaps for good.
Meanwhile, all the content once traded via Napster is
being swapped via other services, a fairly complete listing
of which can be found at a Dutch site called
AfterNapster.com.
A standout among these Napster clones is Kazaa, a
Dutch "media desktop" that uses very interesting
peer-to-peer technology to create a "self-organizing
network." Essentially, the software uses connections on
high-bandwidth computers to support smaller
subnetworks of nearby machines.
BECAUSE KAZAA doesn't actually own any servers
itself, it is supposed to be harder to prosecute than
Napster, which was an easy target because it operated
its own server farm and therefore was a party to the
copyright infringement that took place. This
it's-not-our-server-just-our-software defense will hold,
though not forever. But given the courts' difficulty in
dealing with Napster, there is clearly some legal
precedent that needs to be set.
If you're interested in what is happening in the
post-Napster world, take a look at Kazaa. It's an
interesting peer-to-peer application. If all you need is a
Napster replacement, take a look at AudioGalaxy, which
my musicologist friend Chuck Fishman says is the best
of the bunch.
I am foursquare against illegal copying of music and
other content. But I'm also not very worried about it.
These Sons of Napster represent a self-limiting
phenomenon, which will eventually exile them to the
same oblivion that Napster itself has suffered.
Do you think the Sons of Napster will wind up like
their daddy did?
Trade Show site suggested by Wendy (www.tscentral.com)
Compliments of Trenddetector.