"Mole" says Microsoft will sell sub-$200 Xbox 360 this fall

by Daniel Langendorf

August 1st, 2008 | Posted in Other | CommentsNo Comments

A “mole” — the informant kind, not the small furry burrowing animal — told Ben Kuchera at Ars Technica that Microsoft is planning to further cut the prices of the Xbox 360 in September.

The Xbox 360 will come in three flavors:

  • The Arcade: no hard drive, $199
  • The Pro: 60 GB hard drive, $299
  • The Elite: 160 GB hard drive, $399

The “mole” also whispered that hardware and game bundles will be available for the Arcade, Pro, and Elite models in the 4Q, just in time for the holidays.

The last time the “mole” met Ben in some parking garage he told him that Microsoft was going to release a 60 GB Xbox 360, “and he was right on the money with that one,” Kuchera said. “I’d be very surprised if this wasn’t accurate information.”

If the “mole” is correct, Microsoft will be the first company to release a major gaming console for less than $200, which may truly reach the mass market for gamers and home theater enthusiasts alike.

Nintendo’s Wii, the top-selling game console, retails for $249, when you can find one, and Sony’s PlayStation 3 costs $399 for the 40 GB model (an 80 GB model for the same price may be introduced this fall).

At $199, the Xbox 360 arcade would be a compelling purchase, especially if you can attach your own hard drive to it.

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HTC on schedule to deliver Android-powered phone in 4Q

by Daniel Langendorf

August 1st, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | Comments1 Comment

Overheard at a Verizon wireless store today:

Kid: “This phone sucks.”

Dad: “I know. But there’s not much I can do about it.”

Kid: “Why?”

Dad: “Your contract isn’t up until March and I don’t want to pay $300 for a new one.”

Kid: “Your phone is eligible for an upgrade. Let me use yours.”

Dad: “I don’t want to buy any new phone right now. There’s going to be a lot of phones coming out in the next six months and I want to see them first. All the phones here are lame duck technology.”

Kid: “Oh. Well, this phone still sucks.”

At least some relief is on the horizon for dad. High Tech Computer (HTC), a Taiwan-based maker of Microsoft Windows Mobile cell phones, announced it is on schedule to deliver by 4Q 2008 its first phones based on Google’s open source mobile operating system, Android [via DigiTimes and IntoMobile]. No other details were provided.

HTC has long been rumored to be making their HTC Dream smartphone available on the Android platform later this year, making HTC the first manufacturer to deliver an actual working model and not a prototype with promise.

It is expected that an Android-powered Google phone — along with the introduction in July of the Apple iPhone 3G — will completely shake up the U.S. cell phone/smart phone market with its touch screen and haptic feedback, a full QWERTY keypad (that slides or swivels for easy typing and texting), and Internet access, among other features.

It’s enough for dad to hold off buying a new phone for the kid.

Roundup: The most digital of all Olympic games is well underway

by Daniel Langendorf

July 31st, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments2 Comments

The 2008 Olympics are due to start in Beijing in seven days, five hours, and change, but the reporting and blogging surrounding the most digital of all Olympics is well underway.

Read on to learn more about youth and the digital Olympics and the possibility the Internet will break when billions of people worldwide access the Web to stream video and static content.

In just the past few days there have been announcements regarding schedules, video players, compatibility issues, even behind-the-scene looks at what it will take to produce 2,000 hours of live content for television consumption and 5,000 hours of streaming content for the Web.

If you start now, you just might finish in time for the start of the games on 08-08-08.

Using digital to appeal to youth

Reuters detailed the impact of the digital revolution on the 2008 Olympics, drawing the conclusion that streaming events and highlights over the Internet will attract younger viewers, who are not expected to watch the events live. The average age of people watching the 2004 Games in Athens was more than 40 years old, a statistic that’s not expected to change for the Beijing Games. Continue reading »

LG's Netflix streaming Blu-ray player announced. What, no Wi-Fi?

by Steve O'Hear

July 31st, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments6 Comments

We already knew that Netflix was working with LG Electronics to integrate its Watch Now video streaming service into some juicy new hardware. And today the two companies announced what that hardware will be.

Available this fall, the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player, in addition to being able to play high definition Blu-ray discs and upscale standard DVDs, will give Netflix subscribers the option of streaming any of the 12,000 movies and TV episodes available on Watch Now to their TVs at no additional cost. Continue reading »

Report: Dell to introduce (new and improved!) MP3 player

by Daniel Langendorf

July 30th, 2008 | Posted in Audio | CommentsNo Comments

The ingredients for Dell’s forthcoming MP3 player look yummy. A sub-$100 price point. Wi-Fi. Access to various online music stores. Maybe even DRM-free.

But will anybody care? Seriously. Haven’t people who want a portable digital music player settled on an iPod or one of its competitors from SanDisk or Microsoft?

With Apple owning more than 70 percent of the MP3 player market in North America, is the remaining 20-something percent incentive enough for Dell to want to re-enter the fray after failing with its first line of digital music players?

May the Dell DJs (2003-2006) rest in peace.

Apparently Dell thinks so. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported today that computer maker Dell will re-enter the market with a new player as early as September. Dell thinks it has a chance this time because, aside from a sub-$100 price point and Wi-Fi access to content, it has a new and improved strategy! Continue reading »

"Just like your local record store", Universal launches Lost Tunes

by Steve O'Hear

July 30th, 2008 | Posted in Audio | Comments4 Comments

“Think of us as your small local record store, run by a team dedicated to helping you find the very best music”, reads the welcome page of Universal Music’s new music download store.

Launched first in the UK, with international versions of the site expected in the coming months, Lost Tunes is attempting to tap into a bygone era where music fans regularly scoped out local record stores looking for rare gems. “Lost Tunes comes with a secret stash of records you can’t find anywhere else online” the welcome blurb boasts. “Anywhere else online” being an indirect reference to Apple’s iTunes, hence Universal’s choice of name.

To that end, tracks are offered as mp3s, encoded at the higher bitrate of 320kpbs, and compatible with almost any digital music player, including iPods. Continue reading »

Blinkx launches universal Remote for Internet TV catch-up services in the UK

by Steve O'Hear

July 30th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments1 Comment

As broadcasters continue to roll out their own Internet TV catch-up services, what’s required is an easy way for viewers to find and be alerted to the availability of their favourite TV shows wherever they may be offered online. Enter blinkx “Remote”, a new service from the company behind the video search engine of the same name, which offers UK viewers a single destination to browse, search and access online video content offered by all of the major TV channels including those from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Five. Continue reading »

ESPN to launch Action Sports Network online in fall

by Daniel Langendorf

July 30th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

Fans of action sports such as surfing, skateboarding, motocross, and snowboarding, your time has come. ESPN will unveil a new digital strategy today that’s aimed at you, not the middle-age male sports fan.

ESPN will launch in the fall the ESPN Action Sports Network, which will encompass a bunch of Internet sites dedicated to a specific “action sport.” The action sports network will offer coverage of events that are not carried on mainstream television, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“We felt like we were under-delivering on a year-round basis,” Dave Finger, director of action sports for ESPN Digital Media, told the LAT. “We felt like we were missing out on covering action sports with the same voice and authority that we bring to stick and ball.”

ESPN was the first mainstream media outlet to embrace “anti-establishment” athletes and their fans with the creation of the Extreme Games in 1995, which later became the X Games. The X Games, however, are held only twice-yearly, while the non-team, non-traditional sports included in the X Games are often “played” year-round.

ESPN’s extreme sports Web site, EXPN.com, will now become a part of the ESPN Action Sports Network.

It’s a great move by ESPN. Television will continue to be dominated by the big four sports — football, baseball, basketball, and hockey — and time slots are limited for other sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, and motocross.

Online, however, ESPN can cater to every sport with exclusive video and in-depth content with no time or space limitations. ESPN will expand original digital programming like “Guerilla Cam”, which takes fans behind the scenes at events, and the also will invite fans to upload and share their own videos in an attempt to build community around each sport.

Study: For first time, a significant number of people watch prime-time shows online, not on TV

by Daniel Langendorf

July 29th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

Now these are some sexy — and significant — numbers:

According to a survey released today by Integrated Media Measurement Inc., more than 20 percent of people studied watch some amount of prime-time, episodic programming online.

Within that group of online viewers, 50 percent are watching programs as they become available and are starting to use the computer as a substitute for a television.

The other 50 percent use the Web to watch programming they’ve missed or to re-watch episodes they have already seen.

All of which means . . . Continue reading »

In a smart move Netflix rules out pay-per-view video service

by Steve O'Hear

July 29th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

While Netflix’s video streaming service only offers 10,000 movies and TV episodes compared to the 100,000 titles available via DVD, the company’s all-you-can-eat subscription strategy is the right one, and differentiates it from an increasingly crowded market of pay-per-view offerings. A market which, CEO Reed Hastings says, the company has no plans to get into.

“We don’t plan to enter the pay-per-view segment, where Apple, Amazon, Sony and others focus”, Reed told shareholders and analysts during Friday’s second-quarter earnings call. He also ruled out an ad-supported offering too, where, for example, Hulu and YouTube compete.

“Both of those segments will likely be substantial, but our subscription segment will also be large and will provide Netflix plenty of room for growth”, says Reed.

See also: Netflix is finally coming to Xbox 360, which is getting a dashboard makeover and Mii-like avatars

The problem with the majority of pay-per-view online video services, both rental and to-own, is that they remain prohibitively expensive, often costing equal to a physical DVD, and in some cases more. In comparison, Netflix is offering streaming at no extra charge to members who are already on a high enough DVD tariff, and in the longer term is protecting the subscription model which it helped pioneer.

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