Here’s a summary of the week’s digital lifestyle action on last100. Note that you can subscribe to the weekly wrapups, either via the special weekly wrapup RSS feed or by email.

Top digital lifestyle news

We began the week with news that Adobe has released a Beta of the latest version of its near ubiquitous Web video software, Adobe Flash Player 9, which adds improved image quality through support for the industry standard H.264 codec.

Continue reading “Weekly wrapup, 20 - 24 August 2007″ »

Wallstrip, one of my favorite online video shows, has bagged an interview with recently appointed Joost CEO, Mike Volpi. In this week’s episode, host Lindsay Campbell and Volpi discuss the company’s pitch to content owners, how the service differs from competing Internet TV offerings, and the value proposition Joost is offering to advertisers.

A few key quotes from Volpi during the interview:

• On Joost’s appeal to content owners: “We are very focussed on copy-protected content… everything on Joost is legitimate… all of our content providers are professional.”
• The competition: “…right now you have CBS news and you have YouTube… and there’s a gaping hole in the middle.” [Joost's niche, says Volpi, is that it's professional, on-demand, and targeted content.]
• On the viewing experience: “A high quality experience that’s full screen… the viewing experience is more television-like.” [Translucent menus blah, blah, blah]
  “More of a TV-viewing experience rather than a classical web with a small screenshot.”
• Advertising: “We know a little about you [demographics] and all of your viewing history”. As a result, advertising on Joost, says Volpi, will be less intrusive and highly targeted. [This isn't new information or unique to Joost, but it sounds a lot more scary hearing Volpi describe Joost's big brother tendencies out loud. Would you want your cable company to keep a record of everything you've watched?]

Watch the full Wallstrip episode after the jump.

Continue reading “Wallstrip interviews Joost CEO Mike Volpi” »

Over at our sister blog, Read/WriteWeb, Josh Catone reports: “Net radio broadcasters have reached a deal with SoundExchange, the group that collects royalty fees for record labels, that will put a $50,000 cap on royalties for individual broadcasters. The cap will apply to broadcasters as a whole. Individual channels will be subject to a $500 minimum, but services like Live365 and Last.fm that broadcast thousands of channels will only pay up to the $50,000 ceiling.”

Continue reading “Internet Radio saved - for now” over at Read/WriteWeb »

DivX has officially unveiled its “Connected” media extender platform. Previously codenamed “GejBox”, the device is designed to deliver content from a PC onto the living room television — entering a crowded market that includes the AppleTV, Playstation 3, XBox 360, as well as dozens of streaming media boxes from companies such as Netgear and Cisco, some of which already license DivX’s own video compression technology.

DivX itself won’t produce or sell “Connected” devices, and instead the company will license the reference design and accompanying software to consumer electronics companies in Asia, in a drive to lower the cost, and therefore grow the market for PC to TV set-top-boxes.

Continue reading “DivX unveils “Connected” media extender” »

On September 3rd, Microsoft will celebrate the five year anniversary of Windows Media Center, arguably one of the company’s more successful products. Windows XP Media Center Edition was released to manufacturers in the United States and Canada in 2002, and Microsoft has followed up with a number of releases since then, most recently as part of Windows Vista. The software is at the core of Microsoft’s digital media strategy and looks to have a bright future ahead. In this post we’ll take a look at what Windows Media Center is, the levels of success it has achieved thus far, and finally we’ll touch on where Microsoft might take the product in the next few years.

Continue reading “Windows Media Center — a Microsoft success story?” »

For those of you in Europe, congrats.

For those of you in the United States, condolences.

As expected, Sony — well, actually Sony Computer Entertainment Europe — announced that it’s turning the Playstation 3 into a super duper home entertainment device in early 2008. With the addition of PlayTV, the Playstation 3 will become a personal video recorder (PVR) with dual high-definition tuners, allowing users to view, record, and play free over-the-air TV channels through the Playstation 3 console.

This PRV capability, however, will be available only in the U.K., France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, with other PAL locations to follow later in 2008. It’s the first time that a game console has been given PVR capabilities (BBC News).

PlayTV is what we’ve been dreaming about ever since Sony, Microsoft, and, to a lesser extent, Nintendo promised that their game consoles would become the entertainment hub of our digital lives. Sony partly delivers.

Continue reading “What Sony’s PlayTV is, and isn’t” »

Online video needs a business model. So does most of new media. So Google’s attempt to bring advertising to select YouTube clips, unveiled today, is just another step in that direction.

And you know what? The ads are not that bad, all things considered.

After months of testing various video advertising formats, Google settled on an approach that it hopes is less obtrusive to viewers and keeps them in control of what they’re watching. It’s similar to the “ticker ad” concept that VideoEgg introduced nearly a year ago, or the ads that appear along the bottom of the screen during television shows.

Continue reading “Google unveils YouTube ads; they’re not that bad” »

Please let this DRM-free madness stop. Just kidding.

Wal-Mart has become the latest company to jump on the DRM-free bandwagon in an attempt to reach iPod owners, and, with support from two of the majors, weaken the power that Apple has over the emerging online music industry.

Yesterday, Wal-Mart announced that its digital music download store will begin selling tracks without copy-protection software, including thousands of albums and songs from EMI and UMG (as part of the label’s recently announced DRM-free trial). Downloads will be offered as mp3s and at the higher bit-rate of 256kbps.

Continue reading “Wal-Mart jumps on DRM-free music bandwagon” »

There are a vast number of portable media players on the market. They come in all different sizes, colours and configurations, each hoping to capture the greatest market share. The iPod, which has dominated the market since its launch in October 2001, is synonymous with the portable media player, in much the same way as the Walkman and the Hoover are for the personal stereo and the vacuum cleaner. Apple have maneuvered themselves into this position by being early adopters in the market (although they were by no means the first) and by innovating with their design, features and marketing.

Personally, I own a 2GB iPod Nano (1G). It is great! I use it every day and to be honest if I had to choose I would pick it over my mobile phone. However, it is starting to show its age, not just because of wear and tear, but also because of its design and technical capabilities. This got me thinking as to what features I would like in a media player, and why they’re not available yet. I’ve tried to show no bias towards Apple (or any other manufacturer) but comparisons to other media players are inevitable.

Continue reading “The ultimate portable media player” »

One company couldn’t take down Goliath, now maybe three can.

Viacom’s MTV Networks, RealNetworks, and Verizon Wireless announced today that they are teaming up to bring music lovers everywhere yet another digital music service, Rhapsody America, in an attempt to create a stronger competitor to Apple’s market-dominating iTunes Music Store.

The collaboration of the three companies “is like a perfect storm,” said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music.

Continue reading “MTV, RealNetworks, and Verizon gang up on Apple and the iTMS” »

Adobe today announced the latest version of its near ubiquitous Web video software, Adobe Flash Player 9, which includes improved image quality through support for the industry standard H.264 codec.

Our sister blog, Read/WriteWeb, reports:

It’s codenamed Moviestar, because it includes H.264 standard video support, which is the same standard deployed in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD high definition video players. In other words, the quality of video has been substantially improved from the previous version of Flash Player 9. Also added to the mix is High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio support and “hardware accelerated, multi-core enhanced full screen video playback”.

Adobe claims that these advancements will extend their leadership position in web video “by enabling the delivery of HD television quality and premium audio content”.

Continue reading “Adobe launches “Moviestar” version of Flash Player - HD quality for Web video” »

I feel naked. I go someplace and all I have with me is my iPhone.

My laptop is at home or in the backpack in my car. The Moleskine I used to carry to take quick notes is probably in the backpack, or left on the desk. When I get takeout for the wife and the kid, I leave the paperback or magazine on the coffee table because I know I have something with me to occupy idle time.

This past weekend I realized I do most of what I want on the Web with my iPhone. I don’t mean editing web pages, updating blog posts, downloading photos and such, but for the basics of checking email, updating Facebook and Twitter accounts, sending instant messages, reading RSS feeds, making a list, taking a quick picture and emailing it to my flickr account, and listening to music or a book, I’m covered.

I never felt this way with my Blackberry.

Continue reading “Leave your laptop behind with iPhone Web apps” »