July 16th, 2007 | Posted in Audio | 
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“MusicPal” is a new WiFi-enabled Internet radio from Freecom. Designed to be an updated version of the kind of portable radio you might have in your kitchen or by your bedside, the device can access over 5,000 Internet radio stations, stream music from your PC or Mac, as well as operate as an alarm clock. But, perhaps most interestingly, news headlines and whether reports (pulled in via RSS) can be displayed on the device’s LCD screen.
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July 13th, 2007 | Posted in last100 weekly wrapup | 1 Comment
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.
Before we begin this wrapup, I want to welcome our new writer, Daniel Langendorf. Dan will be a regular contributor here on last100, and brings a wealth of experience, both as a journalist and as someone who has spent over 10 years in product design and development. He’s currently studying for a master’s degree in fine art at the University of Texas (in the arts and technology program), where he also teaches a class on emerging media and communications.
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July 13th, 2007 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | 12 Comments
A recent patent application by Microsoft describes a mechanism whereby Zune users are paid for sharing songs. Currently the company’s digital audio player has the capability to wirelessly swap music with other Zune owners, with the restriction that any shared song can only be played a maximum of three times. After which you’re given the option to buy the track from Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace. In a move designed to encourage sharing — and in turn, sell more music — Microsoft proposes paying users a percentage of revenue from sales generated through tracks they’ve shared.
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July 11th, 2007 | Posted in Net TV | 4 Comments
At last night’s opening keynote speech for the 2007 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Jeff Bell, Microsoft’s VP of Marketing for the Xbox, made a number of Internet TV-related announcements. The major, and longed after news, is that Video Market place, which enables users to download paid-for television shows and movies to the XBox 360, will finally launch in Canada and Europe by the end of the year. Bell also revealed that Xbox Live currently has more than 7 million members, and that content sold through the Video Marketplace has brought in $125 million of revenue.
The second big announcement is that, as of today, Disney content will be available on Xbox Live.
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July 10th, 2007 | Posted in Net TV, Review | 2 Comments
Jalipo is a browser-based Internet TV service which offers on-demand (TV shows and movies) and live broadcasts on a minute by minute “pay as you go” basis. This, the company claims, will help encourage producers to offer more of their content online because it will “stimulate the world of PC owners to discover, enjoy, and gently learn to pay a little for TV…” Micro-payments have worked for things like ring-tones and SMS text messaging, so why can’t it work for online video, the company argues.
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July 10th, 2007 | Posted in Net TV | 1 Comment
TiVo users can now access Amazon Unbox directly from their set-top-box, negating the need to use a PC in order to browse and purchase movies. Although the movie download service has been supported by TiVo devices since March, the feature previously required users to place orders through Amazon’s web site, rather than via a TiVo connected to the TV.
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July 9th, 2007 | Posted in Audio, Mobile | 2 Comments
RealNetworks and iriver have announced the launch of the clix Rhapsody, a version of iriver’s portable media player which is optimized to integrate with Real’s subscription-based digital music service. The new features focus on music discovery, such as automatic updates that deliver personalized play-lists each time a user connects to the service, as well as the ability to rate songs, albums and artists directly on the device. The partnership follows a similar arrangement between Real and SanDisk for the later’s Sansa Rhapsody player.
It’s interesting to see a number of hardware manufacturers align themselves so closely with Real, in an attempt to create devices which work seamlessly with the Rhapsody service. The upside is, in theory at least, that — like with iPod/iTunes — the user experience should be greater as both companies can control all of the pieces and fully integrate the hardware and software. This is also the reasoning behind Microsoft’s abandonment of its ‘PlayForSure’ partners when the company launched its Zune platform. The downside is a lack of choice for consumers, where each device is tied to a single paid-for music service. However, the success of Apple’s iPod strategy would suggest that users will take ease-of-use and simplicity over choice, anytime, and that’s assuming that most people get their music from paid-for digital music services in the first place. Which, of course, we know they don’t.
(CrunchGear and Gizmodo both have a review of the clix Rhapsody)
July 9th, 2007 | Posted in Net TV | 7 Comments
Over at NewTeeVee (a favorite blog of ours), Om Malik questions the logic of streaming live TV over the Internet. Echoing comments made by Business 2.0’s Erick Schonfeld, in reference to LiveStation, Malik writes:
In this age of hyper personalization, where DVRs are at our command, ready to playback the latest escapades of Vinnie Chase & the Boys, who needs live TV. Unless it is live sports extravaganzas, say NBA finals or SuperBowl (or Wimbeldon Tennis), television is no longer what appears on the TV Guide grid or on the hour.
Schonfeld goes even further, writing:
The Internet is the ultimate on-demand television system, where the choices of what to watch and when have no practical limits. The concept of live TV almost makes no sense in that context. Why limit your audience only to those people who can tune in at a certain time? … live TV will be a liability on the Web unless those streams are also stored for later viewing.
Having had Zattoo running on my desktop for the last couple of weeks, I’ve really enjoyed having a live TV stream playing in a small window in the corner of my laptop while at the same time: writing email, Instant Messaging, or blogging. If there is such a thing as background telly, then live TV on the Internet fits perfectly. Mostly I’ve had the BBC’s 24 hour news station playing, or on Sunday, for example, the men’s Wimbeldon tennis final. Proof, you could argue, that Schonfeld and Malik are right when they say that sports and ‘breaking’ news are the exception that proves the rule. However, I see another merit to live TV, over the net or otherwise.
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July 6th, 2007 | Posted in last100 weekly wrapup | 1 Comment
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.
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July 6th, 2007 | Posted in Net TV, Review | 16 Comments
Similar to Zattoo (see our recent review), LiveStation utilizes peer-to-peer technology to deliverer live TV to a user’s PC. The software has been developed by UK startup, Skinkers, and is in-part based on technology licensed from Microsoft Research (who get a small amount of equity in return). But, perhaps most notably, the front-end for LiveStation is powered by Microsoft’s newly launched Flash-competitor, Silverlight.
LiveStation is currently running as a limited Beta (PC-only) and after several weeks waiting, I was finally able to get a look-in earlier today.
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