Apple and News Corp. have signed an agreement to offer Twentieth Century Fox movies for rent through the iTunes Music Store, the Financial Times reported Thursday.
Users would be able to download the latest Twentieth Century Fox movies from iTunes and view them for a limited time, the Financial Times reported, citing "a person familiar with the situation."
As part of the agreement, Twentieth Century Fox will use Apple's FairPlay digital rights management technology in future DVD releases, marking the first time someone other than Apple has used the technology, the report said. Using this technology would allow users to copy movies from a DVD onto an iPod, it said.
The deal between Apple and Twentieth Century Fox will "likely" be announced on January 14 at the Macworld conference, the Financial Times said.
Besides Twentieth Century Fox, Apple is holding similar talks about online movie rentals and FairPlay with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount and Warner Bros., the Financial Times said.
Apple, which saw its share price top US$200 for the first time on Wednesday, currently offers some movies from Walt Disney and other studios on iTunes, but these are only available for purchase, not for rent.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Panasonic to unveil thinnest Blu-ray Disc drive at CES
Panasonic has developed a Blu-ray Disc drive for laptop computers and plans to unveil it at January's Consumer Electronics Show, the company said Thursday.
The drive is 9.5 millimeters high, which is a standard height for many slim-line laptop optical disc drives. By squeezing the drive down to this height it should be easier for laptop makers to fit into their standard machines without the need for a redesign of the computers.
Panasonic has already begun offering samples of the drives to laptop makers with the hope that the companies will build it into new PCs.
The drive supports 2X writing to single-layer BD-R (write-once) and BR-RE (rewritable) discs and 1X writing to dual-layer discs. Reading of both Blu-ray Disc formats is at 2X. Additionally the drive can read BD-ROM discs, read and write to DVD-RAM, DVD-/+R, DVD-/+RW, CD-R/RW discs and read both DVD-ROM and CD-ROM. Panasonic didn't disclose a price for the drive.
Blu-ray Disc is competing with HD DVD to become the de facto replacement for DVD. In the video market both offer a high-definition picture and audio quality well above that of DVD but most consumers have stayed away from both formats until a clear winner emerges in the format battle. In the PC market, the high cost of drives and plummeting cost of hard-disk drive storage has also meant that both formats remain relatively unused.
Between the two, Blu-ray Disc has the advantage in terms of capacity. A single-layer BD-R disc can accommodate 25G bytes of data while a single-layer HD DVD-R can hold 15G bytes but the difference isn't so simple. However despite Blu-ray Disc's superior capacity the blank media is also more expensive than HD DVD media.
Panasonic is scheduled to hold a news conference at CES in Las Vegas on Jan. 6 at which the drive is expected to be unveiled.
The drive is 9.5 millimeters high, which is a standard height for many slim-line laptop optical disc drives. By squeezing the drive down to this height it should be easier for laptop makers to fit into their standard machines without the need for a redesign of the computers.
Panasonic has already begun offering samples of the drives to laptop makers with the hope that the companies will build it into new PCs.
The drive supports 2X writing to single-layer BD-R (write-once) and BR-RE (rewritable) discs and 1X writing to dual-layer discs. Reading of both Blu-ray Disc formats is at 2X. Additionally the drive can read BD-ROM discs, read and write to DVD-RAM, DVD-/+R, DVD-/+RW, CD-R/RW discs and read both DVD-ROM and CD-ROM. Panasonic didn't disclose a price for the drive.
Blu-ray Disc is competing with HD DVD to become the de facto replacement for DVD. In the video market both offer a high-definition picture and audio quality well above that of DVD but most consumers have stayed away from both formats until a clear winner emerges in the format battle. In the PC market, the high cost of drives and plummeting cost of hard-disk drive storage has also meant that both formats remain relatively unused.
Between the two, Blu-ray Disc has the advantage in terms of capacity. A single-layer BD-R disc can accommodate 25G bytes of data while a single-layer HD DVD-R can hold 15G bytes but the difference isn't so simple. However despite Blu-ray Disc's superior capacity the blank media is also more expensive than HD DVD media.
Panasonic is scheduled to hold a news conference at CES in Las Vegas on Jan. 6 at which the drive is expected to be unveiled.
EMC will buy Document Sciences for $85M
Storage company EMC has agreed to buy Document Sciences, a developer of software for personalizing mailshots and other communications. The acquisition will allow EMC to extend its offering in the field of transactional content management, which it sees as the fastest-growing part of the enterprise content management market. It plans to incorporate Document Sciences into its content management and archiving division.
Using xPression, Document Sciences' flagship application, companies can automate the creation and delivery of personalized communications such as brochures and contracts. The data can be drawn from CRM (customer relationship management), ECM (enterprise content management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, it said.
Automating the processes can save companies money or speed deals along, Document Sciences said. It has more than 500 customers using its software, it said.
Document Sciences and EMC have been partners since 2004, when Document Sciences signed an agreement to integrate its xPression software with EMC's Documentum platform.
Acquiring Document Sciences will allow EMC to further its goal of delivering systems for handling business problems end to end, it said.
The xPression software could be useful for companies building transaction-intensive consumer financial applications such as new account enrollment, wealth management, brokerage and claims processing.
The acquisition, for US$85 million [M] in cash, already has the approval of the companies' boards of directors. Subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of regulators and Document Sciences' shareholders, the companies expect to close the deal by the end of March.
EMC went on a buying spree in 2003, buying Legato and Documentum and has added around 20 companies since then, including security and encryption company RSA Security, virtualization specialist Rainfinity, and other companies such as Acartus, Captiva and Internosis.
Using xPression, Document Sciences' flagship application, companies can automate the creation and delivery of personalized communications such as brochures and contracts. The data can be drawn from CRM (customer relationship management), ECM (enterprise content management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, it said.
Automating the processes can save companies money or speed deals along, Document Sciences said. It has more than 500 customers using its software, it said.
Document Sciences and EMC have been partners since 2004, when Document Sciences signed an agreement to integrate its xPression software with EMC's Documentum platform.
Acquiring Document Sciences will allow EMC to further its goal of delivering systems for handling business problems end to end, it said.
The xPression software could be useful for companies building transaction-intensive consumer financial applications such as new account enrollment, wealth management, brokerage and claims processing.
The acquisition, for US$85 million [M] in cash, already has the approval of the companies' boards of directors. Subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of regulators and Document Sciences' shareholders, the companies expect to close the deal by the end of March.
EMC went on a buying spree in 2003, buying Legato and Documentum and has added around 20 companies since then, including security and encryption company RSA Security, virtualization specialist Rainfinity, and other companies such as Acartus, Captiva and Internosis.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Samsung hits back at Sharp with US, Japan complaints
Samsung Electronics has replied to a patent-infringement lawsuit filed against it by Sharp by lodging complaints of its own with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Tokyo District Court, it said Thursday.
Samsung filed the U.S. complaint on Dec. 21 and alleged that Sharp's LCD products infringe upon four of its U.S. patents. The patents were not detailed in Samsung's statement. It asked the trade regulator to launch an investigation into the complaints and, as is typical in such cases, block Sharp from importing into the U.S. products that contain the LCDs in question. Such products could include TVs, monitors, laptop PCs and cell phones.
The ITC will now examine the complaint and decide whether to move forward with a formal investigation.
Samsung followed the U.S. complaint with a complaint lodged in Tokyo on Wednesday in which it alleged that LCD televisions sold by Sharp in Japan incorporate LCD modules that infringe upon two of Samsung's Japanese patents. As in the U.S. complaint, Samsung asked the court to halt manufacturing and sales of the infringing products in Japan.
On Dec. 12, Sharp filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Samsung in the Seoul Central District Court. The lawsuit alleges the LCD modules and televisions manufactured and/or sold by Samsung in South Korea infringe upon three Sharp patents. The Korean patents concern technology that allows high brightness and high-speed response as well as a wide viewing angle, Sharp said in a statement at the time.
The lawsuit was the second filed by Sharp against Samsung.
On Aug. 6, Sharp filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleging LCD modules manufactured by Samsung and LCD TVs, computer monitors and mobile phones that incorporate the modules infringed on its U.S. patents: 4,649,383, 5,760,855, 6,052,162, 7,027,024 and 7,057,689.
Samsung said Thursday that it is also pursuing lawsuits against Sharp in Delaware and Texas.
Samsung filed the U.S. complaint on Dec. 21 and alleged that Sharp's LCD products infringe upon four of its U.S. patents. The patents were not detailed in Samsung's statement. It asked the trade regulator to launch an investigation into the complaints and, as is typical in such cases, block Sharp from importing into the U.S. products that contain the LCDs in question. Such products could include TVs, monitors, laptop PCs and cell phones.
The ITC will now examine the complaint and decide whether to move forward with a formal investigation.
Samsung followed the U.S. complaint with a complaint lodged in Tokyo on Wednesday in which it alleged that LCD televisions sold by Sharp in Japan incorporate LCD modules that infringe upon two of Samsung's Japanese patents. As in the U.S. complaint, Samsung asked the court to halt manufacturing and sales of the infringing products in Japan.
On Dec. 12, Sharp filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Samsung in the Seoul Central District Court. The lawsuit alleges the LCD modules and televisions manufactured and/or sold by Samsung in South Korea infringe upon three Sharp patents. The Korean patents concern technology that allows high brightness and high-speed response as well as a wide viewing angle, Sharp said in a statement at the time.
The lawsuit was the second filed by Sharp against Samsung.
On Aug. 6, Sharp filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleging LCD modules manufactured by Samsung and LCD TVs, computer monitors and mobile phones that incorporate the modules infringed on its U.S. patents: 4,649,383, 5,760,855, 6,052,162, 7,027,024 and 7,057,689.
Samsung said Thursday that it is also pursuing lawsuits against Sharp in Delaware and Texas.
2007's coolest gadgets
The end of the year provides us with the perfect excuse to look back at some of the coolest gadgets that have come out of the consumer electronics giants of east Asia in the last year. As you might expect, the continuing convergence of all sorts of products into smaller and more functional devices was a big theme in 2007. Some of the gadgets also reminded us of the importance of services that often go hand-in-hand with hardware and are a big but often forgotten part of the "cool factor" we attach to such products.
Take for example Casio's Exilim EX-S880. Like many other digital still cameras on the market it does a good job of shooting video but Casio innovated by adding in a capture mode that records videos in the format preferred by YouTube. Combined with a desktop application to upload the videos, this means that movies can be online minutes after you've shot them and with nothing more than a couple of mouse clicks.
On the hardware side, there's been plenty of impressive gadgets and we've also witnessed the birth of a completely new product category: OLED (organic light emitting diode) televisions. Several companies have been promising these for years and in the end it was Sony that made it first to market. You've got to see this TV to fully appreciate its coolness! At just 3 millimeters thick, the TV was the star of October's Ceatec show in Japan and leads off our look back at the coolest gadgets of 2007.
Without a doubt the coolest product of the year was Sony's OLED TV. First shown as a prototype at CES in January, the commercial version came along in October and didn't disappoint -- except perhaps on price. The set has an 11-inch OLED panel and is 3mm thick. OLEDs offer several advantages over LCD and PDP technology, including wider viewing angles, faster response time, and better contrast and colors. However, the technology is difficult to manufacture and the OLED material degrades over time. Sony said the XEL-1 has a viewing life of 30,000 hours, which allows a user to watch eight hours of television every day for 10 years. The television went on sale in Japan on Dec. 1 for ¥200,000 (US$1,750) and promptly sold out. It's not only a cool TV set but perhaps the first product for a few years from Sony that really makes you say "wow." After the turmoil of recent years could Sony finally have its mojo back?
Toshiba Dynabook SS RX1
It may not look very special at first glance, but pick up the Dynabook SS RX1 (called the Portege R500 in some markets) and you'll immediately realize why it was one of the coolest laptop PCs we saw all year. This 12.1-inch screen laptop weighs just 768 grams in its lightest configuration -- more than 100 grams lighter than Sony's impressive Vaio G laptop. At the computer's heart lies a 1.06GHz Intel Core2 Duo processor and on some models you'll also find 802.11n Wi-Fi. Toshiba has put a lot of work into smart design so that it's thin and light. The laptop has also shed a few grams thanks to the use of a 64G-byte solid-state disk (SSD) in place of a conventional hard-disk drive. It costs around US$2,000.
Casio YouTube digital still camera
Casio brought up the first digital cameras with a video mode optimized for YouTube: the Exilim EX-S880 and EX-Z77. Getting a clip onto YouTube is easy: Shoot it, put the camera in the dock, and click a couple of times on the PC uploader application and you're done. The EX-S880 can take 8.1-megapixel images, has a 3X optical zoom and costs about US$300. YouTube mode has subsequently made it into other Casio models. The Casio deal with YouTube gave them exclusivity until the end of the year so you can look for it in devices from other makers in 2008.
NEC Lui concept PC
Imagine most of the PC innovations you've seen in the last few years thrown together inside a single box and you start to get an idea of what the Lui from NEC is all about. The machine is a PC running Windows Vista that can also act as a home server. It has two digital HDTV tuners, so you can watch one channel while you record another. It has DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) connectivity so that programming -- live or recorded -- can be streamed to other DLNA devices over Ethernet, and it will come with a Blu-ray Disc writer so that TV shows can be copied to disc. Users outside the home can log into the server and access content in the same way Slingbox or Location Free TV works. The PC is due on the Japanese market in the first half of 2008 at a price yet to be announced. NEC is one of Japan's leading PC makers despite not being well known for PCs in all countries.
Hitachi Blu-ray Disc camcorder
The first camcorders based on an 8-centimeter Blu-ray Disc appeared in 2007 from an unlikely vendor: Hitachi. The company launched two models, the DZ-BD70 based solely on disc and the DZ-BD7H, which adds a 30G-byte hard disk drive. A single-sided 8 cm recordable (BD-R) or rewritable (BD-RE) disc can store about an hour of footage shot in full high-definition quality (1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels). The hybrid model can store an additional four hours of high-definition video on its hard-disk drive. The cameras have a 10X optical zoom lens, a 2.7-inch widescreen monitor and a viewfinder. Additionally, the cameras can be used to take still images at up to 4.3 megapixel resolution (2,400 pixels by 1,800 pixels). The DZ-BD70 costs about US$1,299 and the DZ-BD7H about US$1,499.
Nissan Pivo 2
From Nissan at the Tokyo Motor Show came the impressive Pivo 2 concept car. Fully electric, it has a cab that can rotate through 360 degrees and can also twist its wheels around so that it can move into parking spaces sideways. Equally impressive is Pivo-kun, the robot embedded in the car's dash. Since Pivo-kun is equipped with voice recognition, the driver can ask questions like the location of the nearest parking lot. Its facial recognition has an important safety aspect: It monitors the driver's face for signs of tiredness and suggests a rest if one is needed. More than that, it provides virtual companionship to the driver and that should mean safer roads -- Nissan research shows happy drivers have fewer accidents. Look for cars like Pivo 2 on city streets around 2015.
NTT DoCoMo Raku-Raku Phone Basic
We love NTT DoCoMo's Raku-Raku Phone Basic for its lack of gadgets. Developed by Fujitsu, the handset is designed to appeal to users for whom the dizzying array of functions, features and buttons on current phones are just too much. The buttons and on-screen text are bigger than conventional cell phones and there are three dedicated speed-dial buttons. The phone includes a neat-sounding "slow voice" function that can slow the speed of the other person's voice without slowing down the conversation (it slows the speech and shortens the gaps between words to compensate) and "clear voice" which automatically adjusts clarity and the ringtone volume to match the surroundings -- now why don't all phones have that?
Samsung TPEG Cell Phone
Samsung Electronics developed a cell phone capable of receiving real-time traffic information using a new system called TPEG. The SPH-B5800 phone can receive and decode the information broadcast using the Transport Protocol Experts Group format, which was developed in Europe in the late 1990s and is already in use in South Korea. The phone updates travel information every five minutes and can also receive TV via the country's Satellite DMB system. It went on sale in South Korea at the beginning of the year for around US$600 and includes a 2-megapixel camera, 330,000-word dictionary and 2-inch color TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD (liquid crystal display) screen. It measures 96 millimeters by 46 mm by 16 mm and weighs 96 grams.
World's smallest high-def camcorder
Panasonic claimed headlines with what it said was the world's smallest camcorder. The HDC-SD7 measures 52 millimeters by 110 mm by 87 mm and weighs 350 grams. One of the secrets to its small size is the use of an SD memory card as a recording medium. The electronics and socket needed for a flash card take up much less space than a DVD or hard-disk drive. It packs three CCD (charge coupled device) sensors behind a 10X zoom lens and has a 2.7-inch widescreen LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor. It can record full HD (1,920 pixel by 1,080 pixel) MPEG4 AVC/H.264 video at a range of quality levels. At the average 9M bps (bit per second) rate, a 4G-byte SD card can hold up to 60 minutes of video. It costs about ¥140,000 (US$1,175) in Japan.
Sony Video Walkman with TV
The year finally brought from Sony a Walkman with video support and then later in the year an upgraded model with mobile digital TV viewing and recording. It's an important addition because Apple's iPod, which is the biggest competitor for the devices, doesn't offer TV reception. The "OneSeg" TV system has proved very popular in Japan and can now be found in many portable gadgets including cell phones, laptop PCs, car navigation systems and even electronic dictionaries. The only difference between the three new Walkman devices with TV is their memory capacity. The NW-A916 has 4G bytes of memory, the NW-A918 has 8G bytes and the NW-A919 16G bytes. Compared to the last players the screen size has been increased to 2.4-inches from 2-inches. They went on sale in November and the NW-A916 costs about ¥30,000 (US$260), the NW-A918 ¥35,000 and the NW-A919 ¥45,000.
Take for example Casio's Exilim EX-S880. Like many other digital still cameras on the market it does a good job of shooting video but Casio innovated by adding in a capture mode that records videos in the format preferred by YouTube. Combined with a desktop application to upload the videos, this means that movies can be online minutes after you've shot them and with nothing more than a couple of mouse clicks.
On the hardware side, there's been plenty of impressive gadgets and we've also witnessed the birth of a completely new product category: OLED (organic light emitting diode) televisions. Several companies have been promising these for years and in the end it was Sony that made it first to market. You've got to see this TV to fully appreciate its coolness! At just 3 millimeters thick, the TV was the star of October's Ceatec show in Japan and leads off our look back at the coolest gadgets of 2007.
Without a doubt the coolest product of the year was Sony's OLED TV. First shown as a prototype at CES in January, the commercial version came along in October and didn't disappoint -- except perhaps on price. The set has an 11-inch OLED panel and is 3mm thick. OLEDs offer several advantages over LCD and PDP technology, including wider viewing angles, faster response time, and better contrast and colors. However, the technology is difficult to manufacture and the OLED material degrades over time. Sony said the XEL-1 has a viewing life of 30,000 hours, which allows a user to watch eight hours of television every day for 10 years. The television went on sale in Japan on Dec. 1 for ¥200,000 (US$1,750) and promptly sold out. It's not only a cool TV set but perhaps the first product for a few years from Sony that really makes you say "wow." After the turmoil of recent years could Sony finally have its mojo back?
Toshiba Dynabook SS RX1
It may not look very special at first glance, but pick up the Dynabook SS RX1 (called the Portege R500 in some markets) and you'll immediately realize why it was one of the coolest laptop PCs we saw all year. This 12.1-inch screen laptop weighs just 768 grams in its lightest configuration -- more than 100 grams lighter than Sony's impressive Vaio G laptop. At the computer's heart lies a 1.06GHz Intel Core2 Duo processor and on some models you'll also find 802.11n Wi-Fi. Toshiba has put a lot of work into smart design so that it's thin and light. The laptop has also shed a few grams thanks to the use of a 64G-byte solid-state disk (SSD) in place of a conventional hard-disk drive. It costs around US$2,000.
Casio YouTube digital still camera
Casio brought up the first digital cameras with a video mode optimized for YouTube: the Exilim EX-S880 and EX-Z77. Getting a clip onto YouTube is easy: Shoot it, put the camera in the dock, and click a couple of times on the PC uploader application and you're done. The EX-S880 can take 8.1-megapixel images, has a 3X optical zoom and costs about US$300. YouTube mode has subsequently made it into other Casio models. The Casio deal with YouTube gave them exclusivity until the end of the year so you can look for it in devices from other makers in 2008.
NEC Lui concept PC
Imagine most of the PC innovations you've seen in the last few years thrown together inside a single box and you start to get an idea of what the Lui from NEC is all about. The machine is a PC running Windows Vista that can also act as a home server. It has two digital HDTV tuners, so you can watch one channel while you record another. It has DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) connectivity so that programming -- live or recorded -- can be streamed to other DLNA devices over Ethernet, and it will come with a Blu-ray Disc writer so that TV shows can be copied to disc. Users outside the home can log into the server and access content in the same way Slingbox or Location Free TV works. The PC is due on the Japanese market in the first half of 2008 at a price yet to be announced. NEC is one of Japan's leading PC makers despite not being well known for PCs in all countries.
Hitachi Blu-ray Disc camcorder
The first camcorders based on an 8-centimeter Blu-ray Disc appeared in 2007 from an unlikely vendor: Hitachi. The company launched two models, the DZ-BD70 based solely on disc and the DZ-BD7H, which adds a 30G-byte hard disk drive. A single-sided 8 cm recordable (BD-R) or rewritable (BD-RE) disc can store about an hour of footage shot in full high-definition quality (1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels). The hybrid model can store an additional four hours of high-definition video on its hard-disk drive. The cameras have a 10X optical zoom lens, a 2.7-inch widescreen monitor and a viewfinder. Additionally, the cameras can be used to take still images at up to 4.3 megapixel resolution (2,400 pixels by 1,800 pixels). The DZ-BD70 costs about US$1,299 and the DZ-BD7H about US$1,499.
Nissan Pivo 2
From Nissan at the Tokyo Motor Show came the impressive Pivo 2 concept car. Fully electric, it has a cab that can rotate through 360 degrees and can also twist its wheels around so that it can move into parking spaces sideways. Equally impressive is Pivo-kun, the robot embedded in the car's dash. Since Pivo-kun is equipped with voice recognition, the driver can ask questions like the location of the nearest parking lot. Its facial recognition has an important safety aspect: It monitors the driver's face for signs of tiredness and suggests a rest if one is needed. More than that, it provides virtual companionship to the driver and that should mean safer roads -- Nissan research shows happy drivers have fewer accidents. Look for cars like Pivo 2 on city streets around 2015.
NTT DoCoMo Raku-Raku Phone Basic
We love NTT DoCoMo's Raku-Raku Phone Basic for its lack of gadgets. Developed by Fujitsu, the handset is designed to appeal to users for whom the dizzying array of functions, features and buttons on current phones are just too much. The buttons and on-screen text are bigger than conventional cell phones and there are three dedicated speed-dial buttons. The phone includes a neat-sounding "slow voice" function that can slow the speed of the other person's voice without slowing down the conversation (it slows the speech and shortens the gaps between words to compensate) and "clear voice" which automatically adjusts clarity and the ringtone volume to match the surroundings -- now why don't all phones have that?
Samsung TPEG Cell Phone
Samsung Electronics developed a cell phone capable of receiving real-time traffic information using a new system called TPEG. The SPH-B5800 phone can receive and decode the information broadcast using the Transport Protocol Experts Group format, which was developed in Europe in the late 1990s and is already in use in South Korea. The phone updates travel information every five minutes and can also receive TV via the country's Satellite DMB system. It went on sale in South Korea at the beginning of the year for around US$600 and includes a 2-megapixel camera, 330,000-word dictionary and 2-inch color TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD (liquid crystal display) screen. It measures 96 millimeters by 46 mm by 16 mm and weighs 96 grams.
World's smallest high-def camcorder
Panasonic claimed headlines with what it said was the world's smallest camcorder. The HDC-SD7 measures 52 millimeters by 110 mm by 87 mm and weighs 350 grams. One of the secrets to its small size is the use of an SD memory card as a recording medium. The electronics and socket needed for a flash card take up much less space than a DVD or hard-disk drive. It packs three CCD (charge coupled device) sensors behind a 10X zoom lens and has a 2.7-inch widescreen LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor. It can record full HD (1,920 pixel by 1,080 pixel) MPEG4 AVC/H.264 video at a range of quality levels. At the average 9M bps (bit per second) rate, a 4G-byte SD card can hold up to 60 minutes of video. It costs about ¥140,000 (US$1,175) in Japan.
Sony Video Walkman with TV
The year finally brought from Sony a Walkman with video support and then later in the year an upgraded model with mobile digital TV viewing and recording. It's an important addition because Apple's iPod, which is the biggest competitor for the devices, doesn't offer TV reception. The "OneSeg" TV system has proved very popular in Japan and can now be found in many portable gadgets including cell phones, laptop PCs, car navigation systems and even electronic dictionaries. The only difference between the three new Walkman devices with TV is their memory capacity. The NW-A916 has 4G bytes of memory, the NW-A918 has 8G bytes and the NW-A919 16G bytes. Compared to the last players the screen size has been increased to 2.4-inches from 2-inches. They went on sale in November and the NW-A916 costs about ¥30,000 (US$260), the NW-A918 ¥35,000 and the NW-A919 ¥45,000.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Microsoft sues domain name registrar for typosquatting
Microsoft has sued domain name registrar Red Register claiming that it is illegally profiting from Microsoft's trademarks.
In a lawsuit filed in Seattle earlier this month Microsoft alleges that Red Register snatched up 125 domain names, all "confusingly similar to Microsoft's Marks" in order to profit from Web advertising, a practice known as typosquatting and cybersquatting.
Web surfers may be tricked into clicking on ads on these sites "because the person finds it easier to click on the advertisement or hyperlink than to continue searching for the Microsoft site, or because the person mistakenly believes Microsoft has authorized or endorsed the advertisements," the filings state.
Typosquatting is the practice of registering domain names that contain misspellings of trademark terms. Cybersquatting is the registration of a variant of trademark.
Red Register owns domains such as windowslivecare.com, msnmesnger.com, and ageofmathology.com, Microsoft said in court filings.
Microsoft is seeking to take control of the Red Register domains and is asking for the court to fine the company for unspecified damages. The lawsuit was filed Dec. 4 in King County Superior Court in Seattle.
Although the domains are now registered to a Tortola, Virgin Islands, company named Versata Software, they were previously registered to Red Register and Microsoft believes the current Versata registration information to be false, the filings state.
Domain registrars historically made money by registering domain names to third parties, but that has changed as it has become easier to get into the domain name game. Now many registrars have begun to amass portfolios of domains themselves, or even temporarily registering domains and then dropping them before they are required to pay any fees, a practice called "domain tasting," said Karl Kronenberger, a partner with Kronenberger Burgoyne LLP, a law firm specializing in Internet disputes.
Some companies have even set up several domain name registrars and they pass their domain names from one to the other without ever having to pay fees. This is possible, because domains can be held for three days before any fees are due, Kronenberger said.
Registrars must be accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the group that oversees the Internet's domain name system, but once that has happened they can get better access to the database of domain names. Companies like Microsoft and Google have become accredited registrars for this reason.
There are presently more than 1,000 registrars worldwide, according to Kronenberger. "It costs US$8,000 per year to maintain your existence as a registrar," he said. "once you pay that, you can register domains very cheaply."
Some registrars have amassed valuable portfolios without running afoul of trademark law, but Microsoft's Red Register lawsuit is not unprecedented. In October, Yahoo filed a similar lawsuit against Belgium Domains. One month later another lawsuit was filed against Belgium Domains, this time by Dell.
Kronenberger said the Microsoft lawsuit "seems to be a pretty straightforward case of a registrar registering large batches of domains containing trademarks."
Microsoft has filed at least five other similar lawsuits in recent years. In March it announced that reached a $2 million settlement against Jason Cox of New Mexico and Newtonarch LLC. It also announced a $1 million settlement in a similar suit against Partner IV Holdings.
Microsoft and Red Register did not immediately return e-mail seeking comment for this story.
In a lawsuit filed in Seattle earlier this month Microsoft alleges that Red Register snatched up 125 domain names, all "confusingly similar to Microsoft's Marks" in order to profit from Web advertising, a practice known as typosquatting and cybersquatting.
Web surfers may be tricked into clicking on ads on these sites "because the person finds it easier to click on the advertisement or hyperlink than to continue searching for the Microsoft site, or because the person mistakenly believes Microsoft has authorized or endorsed the advertisements," the filings state.
Typosquatting is the practice of registering domain names that contain misspellings of trademark terms. Cybersquatting is the registration of a variant of trademark.
Red Register owns domains such as windowslivecare.com, msnmesnger.com, and ageofmathology.com, Microsoft said in court filings.
Microsoft is seeking to take control of the Red Register domains and is asking for the court to fine the company for unspecified damages. The lawsuit was filed Dec. 4 in King County Superior Court in Seattle.
Although the domains are now registered to a Tortola, Virgin Islands, company named Versata Software, they were previously registered to Red Register and Microsoft believes the current Versata registration information to be false, the filings state.
Domain registrars historically made money by registering domain names to third parties, but that has changed as it has become easier to get into the domain name game. Now many registrars have begun to amass portfolios of domains themselves, or even temporarily registering domains and then dropping them before they are required to pay any fees, a practice called "domain tasting," said Karl Kronenberger, a partner with Kronenberger Burgoyne LLP, a law firm specializing in Internet disputes.
Some companies have even set up several domain name registrars and they pass their domain names from one to the other without ever having to pay fees. This is possible, because domains can be held for three days before any fees are due, Kronenberger said.
Registrars must be accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the group that oversees the Internet's domain name system, but once that has happened they can get better access to the database of domain names. Companies like Microsoft and Google have become accredited registrars for this reason.
There are presently more than 1,000 registrars worldwide, according to Kronenberger. "It costs US$8,000 per year to maintain your existence as a registrar," he said. "once you pay that, you can register domains very cheaply."
Some registrars have amassed valuable portfolios without running afoul of trademark law, but Microsoft's Red Register lawsuit is not unprecedented. In October, Yahoo filed a similar lawsuit against Belgium Domains. One month later another lawsuit was filed against Belgium Domains, this time by Dell.
Kronenberger said the Microsoft lawsuit "seems to be a pretty straightforward case of a registrar registering large batches of domains containing trademarks."
Microsoft has filed at least five other similar lawsuits in recent years. In March it announced that reached a $2 million settlement against Jason Cox of New Mexico and Newtonarch LLC. It also announced a $1 million settlement in a similar suit against Partner IV Holdings.
Microsoft and Red Register did not immediately return e-mail seeking comment for this story.
IBM dishes five predictions for future
Drained by your commute? Blood-sucking utility bills got you down? Wondering if that tomato in your dinner salad was really organic?
The cures to those ills and more may arrive within five years, according to IBM.
The company recently released its second annual set of "Next Five in Five" predictions, visions that sketch out a future where driving is a relative pleasure, eco-friendly devices save you money and super doctors use advanced technology to probe your body's innermost depths in search of disease.
IBM's contention that driving will become safer and less aggravating may be particularly tantalizing for many.
The company said that during the next five years, a "wave of connectivity" between vehicles and roadways will help keep traffic flowing smoothly, drive down pollution and get you to your destination easier, "without the stress."
This will be accomplished through "intelligent" traffic systems that automatically adjust light patterns and shift traffic to alternative routes, as well as cars that exhibit "reflexes" thanks to communication with other vehicles and roadside sensors, according to IBM.
The company's crystal ball also revealed that the long-simmering trend toward "smart energy" devices will proliferate wildly. "Dishwashers, air conditioners, house lights, and more will be connected directly to a 'smart' electric grid, making it possible to turn them on and off using your cell phone or any Web browser," a company statement asserts.
Even the act of eating will take on new meaning, in IBM's view: "You will know everything from the climate and soil the food was grown in, to the pesticides and pollution it was exposed to, to the energy consumed to create the product, to the temperature and air quality of the shipping containers it traveled through on the way to your dinner table."
The report also suggests that doctors' ability to heal us will become even more astounding. Due to advances in X-ray and audio technologies, doctors will gain "superpowers," according to IBM. Computers will also be able to compare your health data to an ocean's worth of other patient records, helping with diagnosis and treatment, the company said.
In addition, the company said cell phones will continue to grow in power and functionality. For example, phones will enable users to snap a photo of an article of clothing, pull in results from the Web about the brand and where to buy it, and then render the garment on top of a 3-D image of the user, IBM said.
IBM's list received a measured nod from Edward Cornish, editor of The Futurist magazine and past president of the World Future Society, an organization based in Bethesda, Maryland.
"Basically, the five forecasts seem to me to be quite reasonable," Cornish said. "They're based on technologies that have been around for a number of years and are simply extrapolations."
The Futurist has released its own list of predictions for 2008 and beyond.
The organization contends, among other things, that the world will have a billion millionaires by 2025; the earth is on the verge of a "significant extinction event"; and "nonhuman entities," such as robots fueled by artificial intelligence, will make more decisions.
The cures to those ills and more may arrive within five years, according to IBM.
The company recently released its second annual set of "Next Five in Five" predictions, visions that sketch out a future where driving is a relative pleasure, eco-friendly devices save you money and super doctors use advanced technology to probe your body's innermost depths in search of disease.
IBM's contention that driving will become safer and less aggravating may be particularly tantalizing for many.
The company said that during the next five years, a "wave of connectivity" between vehicles and roadways will help keep traffic flowing smoothly, drive down pollution and get you to your destination easier, "without the stress."
This will be accomplished through "intelligent" traffic systems that automatically adjust light patterns and shift traffic to alternative routes, as well as cars that exhibit "reflexes" thanks to communication with other vehicles and roadside sensors, according to IBM.
The company's crystal ball also revealed that the long-simmering trend toward "smart energy" devices will proliferate wildly. "Dishwashers, air conditioners, house lights, and more will be connected directly to a 'smart' electric grid, making it possible to turn them on and off using your cell phone or any Web browser," a company statement asserts.
Even the act of eating will take on new meaning, in IBM's view: "You will know everything from the climate and soil the food was grown in, to the pesticides and pollution it was exposed to, to the energy consumed to create the product, to the temperature and air quality of the shipping containers it traveled through on the way to your dinner table."
The report also suggests that doctors' ability to heal us will become even more astounding. Due to advances in X-ray and audio technologies, doctors will gain "superpowers," according to IBM. Computers will also be able to compare your health data to an ocean's worth of other patient records, helping with diagnosis and treatment, the company said.
In addition, the company said cell phones will continue to grow in power and functionality. For example, phones will enable users to snap a photo of an article of clothing, pull in results from the Web about the brand and where to buy it, and then render the garment on top of a 3-D image of the user, IBM said.
IBM's list received a measured nod from Edward Cornish, editor of The Futurist magazine and past president of the World Future Society, an organization based in Bethesda, Maryland.
"Basically, the five forecasts seem to me to be quite reasonable," Cornish said. "They're based on technologies that have been around for a number of years and are simply extrapolations."
The Futurist has released its own list of predictions for 2008 and beyond.
The organization contends, among other things, that the world will have a billion millionaires by 2025; the earth is on the verge of a "significant extinction event"; and "nonhuman entities," such as robots fueled by artificial intelligence, will make more decisions.
Hitachi, Canon, Panasonic tie in flat-panel displays
Hitachi, Canon and Panasonic have agreed to a wide-ranging collaboration that will see the three companies share the cost, burden and benefits of development and production of flat-panel displays.
The move comes hot on the heels of a tie-up announced last week between Toshiba and Sharp and continues a major realignment in the fast-moving industry.
Under the terms of the initial agreement Canon and Panasonic will each buy a 24.9 percent stake in Hitachi Displays, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi that already makes small and medium size LCD (liquid crystal display) panels. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed before March 31, 2008.
Hitachi said it hopes to accelerate the development of cutting-edge LCD technology through the alliance, which was announced on Tuesday. Competition in the flat-panel display industry is fierce and there is constant pressure on manufacturers to invest in new and efficient production technology to keep prices low and their screens technologically competitive. However a new LCD plant can easily cost US$1 billion [b] or more so companies are increasingly working together to share the costs.
Meanwhile Canon said it hopes to shorten development time and gain a stable supply of LCD panels for its range of digital single-lens reflex cameras. It also hopes to develop new types of displays that can be used in its information management products.
Panasonic, which has invested heavily in PDP (plasma display panel) technology for large-size flat-panel TVs and displays, will invest in a new production line at IPS Alpha Technology. The company is a joint-venture in which Canon and Toshiba also hold stakes although Toshiba is understood to be in talks concerning its exit from the venture. The new production line will help ensure a stable supply of medium-size LCD panels for Panasonic's TV up to about 40-inches in screen size, above which it uses PDPs.
The wide-ranging collaboration and cooperation announced Tuesday is the first step of a series of planned moves that will eventually have Canon take control of Hitachi Displays and Panasonic take control of IPS Alpha Technology, the three companies said.
In addition to the LCD alliance, Canon and Hitachi plan to work together on development of OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays. OLED is a fundamentally different technology from LCD and PDP and has been under development by many display makers for several years. It's viewed by some as a potential replacement for LCD technology because it provides a brighter and richer picture but a lot of work remains before it can be produced in sufficient volume and at a low enough price to compete with LCD.
The world's first commercial OLED TV recently went on sale in Japan. Sony's XEL-1 has an 11-inch screen and is just 3-millimeters thick -- another advantage of OLED because a backlight unit isn't required -- but comes with an equally impressive ¥200,000 (US$1,750) price tag.
Last week Toshiba and Sharp announced plans to work together in the flat-panel display business. Toshiba will buy from Sharp screens for its 32-inch and larger TV sets while Sharp will buy from Toshiba the chips used in its TVs. The cooperation will begin from April next year and will slowly build towards 2010 when two goals are expected to be reached: Sharp will supply Toshiba with 40 percent of its LCD modules and Toshiba will sell to Sharp 50 percent of the chips it needs, they said.
Sony and Samsung Electronics have been cooperating in LCD panel production for sometime and jointly own S-LCD, a manufacturer of cutting-edge LCD panels based in South Korea.
The move comes hot on the heels of a tie-up announced last week between Toshiba and Sharp and continues a major realignment in the fast-moving industry.
Under the terms of the initial agreement Canon and Panasonic will each buy a 24.9 percent stake in Hitachi Displays, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi that already makes small and medium size LCD (liquid crystal display) panels. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed before March 31, 2008.
Hitachi said it hopes to accelerate the development of cutting-edge LCD technology through the alliance, which was announced on Tuesday. Competition in the flat-panel display industry is fierce and there is constant pressure on manufacturers to invest in new and efficient production technology to keep prices low and their screens technologically competitive. However a new LCD plant can easily cost US$1 billion [b] or more so companies are increasingly working together to share the costs.
Meanwhile Canon said it hopes to shorten development time and gain a stable supply of LCD panels for its range of digital single-lens reflex cameras. It also hopes to develop new types of displays that can be used in its information management products.
Panasonic, which has invested heavily in PDP (plasma display panel) technology for large-size flat-panel TVs and displays, will invest in a new production line at IPS Alpha Technology. The company is a joint-venture in which Canon and Toshiba also hold stakes although Toshiba is understood to be in talks concerning its exit from the venture. The new production line will help ensure a stable supply of medium-size LCD panels for Panasonic's TV up to about 40-inches in screen size, above which it uses PDPs.
The wide-ranging collaboration and cooperation announced Tuesday is the first step of a series of planned moves that will eventually have Canon take control of Hitachi Displays and Panasonic take control of IPS Alpha Technology, the three companies said.
In addition to the LCD alliance, Canon and Hitachi plan to work together on development of OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays. OLED is a fundamentally different technology from LCD and PDP and has been under development by many display makers for several years. It's viewed by some as a potential replacement for LCD technology because it provides a brighter and richer picture but a lot of work remains before it can be produced in sufficient volume and at a low enough price to compete with LCD.
The world's first commercial OLED TV recently went on sale in Japan. Sony's XEL-1 has an 11-inch screen and is just 3-millimeters thick -- another advantage of OLED because a backlight unit isn't required -- but comes with an equally impressive ¥200,000 (US$1,750) price tag.
Last week Toshiba and Sharp announced plans to work together in the flat-panel display business. Toshiba will buy from Sharp screens for its 32-inch and larger TV sets while Sharp will buy from Toshiba the chips used in its TVs. The cooperation will begin from April next year and will slowly build towards 2010 when two goals are expected to be reached: Sharp will supply Toshiba with 40 percent of its LCD modules and Toshiba will sell to Sharp 50 percent of the chips it needs, they said.
Sony and Samsung Electronics have been cooperating in LCD panel production for sometime and jointly own S-LCD, a manufacturer of cutting-edge LCD panels based in South Korea.
Storm worm tempts with Christmas strip show
The criminals behind the Storm botnet waited until the last minute, but they've finally started delivering unwanted Christmas presents.
Starting Monday, Storm-infected machines began sending out Christmas-themed spam in yet another attempt to trick victims into downloading malicious software. In this case, the site is named Merrychristmasdude.com, and the malware is a variation of the Storm Trojan horse program that has been plaguing systems around the world since January.
The e-mails contain titles such as "Find Some Christmas Tail," "Warm Up this Christmas" and "Mrs. Clause Is Out Tonight!"
One message reads "Yo, I am pretty sure this is up your alley, from the things you have told me before. This will be the best 2 min you spend this holiday. hehe."
Once the user clicks on the link to Merrychristmasdude.com, he is taken to a Christmas-themed Web site with photos of scantily clad women and offered a free download. That download is a malicious program, called Email-Worm.Win32.Zhelatin.pd by F-Secure, that connects to a P-to-P (peer-to-peer) network and begins downloading even more malware.
Storm's creators have built up networks of infected PCs -- called botnets -- over the past year by using a combination of sophisticated hacking tricks to avoid detection and by spamming potential victims with clever and timely e-mail messages. The network is called Storm because its original messages offered victims video of the deadly storms that battered Europe a year ago, but has also perfected the tactic of sending out holiday-themed messages.
Security experts estimate that the Storm has infected more than 15 million computers over the past year, although the current size of the network is much smaller than that.
This latest variant is being blocked by some antivirus vendors, including Kaspersky, Microsoft and Symantec, according to a technical write-up of the Christmas outbreak.
The SANS Internet Storm Center recommends that administrators block Web and e-mail access to the Merrychristmasdude.com domain.
Starting Monday, Storm-infected machines began sending out Christmas-themed spam in yet another attempt to trick victims into downloading malicious software. In this case, the site is named Merrychristmasdude.com, and the malware is a variation of the Storm Trojan horse program that has been plaguing systems around the world since January.
The e-mails contain titles such as "Find Some Christmas Tail," "Warm Up this Christmas" and "Mrs. Clause Is Out Tonight!"
One message reads "Yo, I am pretty sure this is up your alley, from the things you have told me before. This will be the best 2 min you spend this holiday. hehe."
Once the user clicks on the link to Merrychristmasdude.com, he is taken to a Christmas-themed Web site with photos of scantily clad women and offered a free download. That download is a malicious program, called Email-Worm.Win32.Zhelatin.pd by F-Secure, that connects to a P-to-P (peer-to-peer) network and begins downloading even more malware.
Storm's creators have built up networks of infected PCs -- called botnets -- over the past year by using a combination of sophisticated hacking tricks to avoid detection and by spamming potential victims with clever and timely e-mail messages. The network is called Storm because its original messages offered victims video of the deadly storms that battered Europe a year ago, but has also perfected the tactic of sending out holiday-themed messages.
Security experts estimate that the Storm has infected more than 15 million computers over the past year, although the current size of the network is much smaller than that.
This latest variant is being blocked by some antivirus vendors, including Kaspersky, Microsoft and Symantec, according to a technical write-up of the Christmas outbreak.
The SANS Internet Storm Center recommends that administrators block Web and e-mail access to the Merrychristmasdude.com domain.
U.K. health chief defends plan for records database
The head of the U.K. National Health Service has defended plans to build a centralized database of patient records following another embarrassing loss of personal information by the government.
The U.K. Department of Health admitted this weekend that nine of its regional NHS trusts have reported losing patient data. One of the trusts, the City and Hackney Primary Care Trust, in east London, lost the medical records for about 160,000 children, according to newspaper reports. The total number of records has not been disclosed.
The losses emerged as part of a wider review following similar government blunders, and have revived questions about the security of building a centralized patient records database, part of the U.K.'s National Programme for IT (NPfIT). But David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, said the project is essential and should go ahead.
"It's vitally important that when a doctor is sitting in front of a patient they have all the information they need at their fingertips, and that's what's been driving us through all this," Nicholson told BBC Radio 4's Today program on Monday.
The proposed system will not be a single large records database, but a series of interconnected regional databases, he said. And the security system will be more rigorous than that used with most Internet banking systems, according to Nicholson.
"You'd need a user name, a password and a smart card [to access patient records] and you would have role-controlled access," he said. "So a nurse on a ward with a smart card and a password could only access a relatively small number of patient records."
The information that was reported lost over the weekend was encrypted and so not vulnerable to misuse, Nicholson said.
But Ross Anderson, a security expert at the University of Cambridge, told Radio 4 that whether the data is encrypted is not the main issue.
"One of the questions you have to ask here is not whether the data was encrypted or password protected, but why someone was able to have access to 160,000 children's records," he said. "In private industry ... if someone tried to make off with hundreds of thousands of records the alarms would sound."
Opposition leaders pounced on the latest misstep as evidence that the Labour government can't be trusted with its citizens' data. They called for further studies to show how the proposed patient records system would protect privacy.
The incident comes after the U.K.'s HM Revenue and Customs lost personal records for 25 million Britons, and the Driving Standards Agency lost records for more than 3 million learner drivers.
"The power of technology means it can be very easy to use the information, but also very easy to lose the information," the Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said on the Today program. "The events of the last few weeks have woken up everybody to the importance of taking these matters seriously."
The U.K. Department of Health admitted this weekend that nine of its regional NHS trusts have reported losing patient data. One of the trusts, the City and Hackney Primary Care Trust, in east London, lost the medical records for about 160,000 children, according to newspaper reports. The total number of records has not been disclosed.
The losses emerged as part of a wider review following similar government blunders, and have revived questions about the security of building a centralized patient records database, part of the U.K.'s National Programme for IT (NPfIT). But David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, said the project is essential and should go ahead.
"It's vitally important that when a doctor is sitting in front of a patient they have all the information they need at their fingertips, and that's what's been driving us through all this," Nicholson told BBC Radio 4's Today program on Monday.
The proposed system will not be a single large records database, but a series of interconnected regional databases, he said. And the security system will be more rigorous than that used with most Internet banking systems, according to Nicholson.
"You'd need a user name, a password and a smart card [to access patient records] and you would have role-controlled access," he said. "So a nurse on a ward with a smart card and a password could only access a relatively small number of patient records."
The information that was reported lost over the weekend was encrypted and so not vulnerable to misuse, Nicholson said.
But Ross Anderson, a security expert at the University of Cambridge, told Radio 4 that whether the data is encrypted is not the main issue.
"One of the questions you have to ask here is not whether the data was encrypted or password protected, but why someone was able to have access to 160,000 children's records," he said. "In private industry ... if someone tried to make off with hundreds of thousands of records the alarms would sound."
Opposition leaders pounced on the latest misstep as evidence that the Labour government can't be trusted with its citizens' data. They called for further studies to show how the proposed patient records system would protect privacy.
The incident comes after the U.K.'s HM Revenue and Customs lost personal records for 25 million Britons, and the Driving Standards Agency lost records for more than 3 million learner drivers.
"The power of technology means it can be very easy to use the information, but also very easy to lose the information," the Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said on the Today program. "The events of the last few weeks have woken up everybody to the importance of taking these matters seriously."
The Queen logs on to YouTube
The Queen's Christmas message, an annual greeting from the U.K.'s Queen Elizabeth II to her subjects, will be available on YouTube for the first time this year as part of an official YouTube channel opened on Sunday by Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Channel, dubbed "the official YouTube channel of the British monarchy," carries both current and archive footage of the royal family and promises regular updates with new video.
The highlight of the first 18 videos is the first televised Christmas Broadcast of 1957. The channel also includes clips of The Queen Mother's wedding and the first episodes of several series such as "A day in the life of The Prince of Wales."
The clips have already attracted several thousand views since hitting YouTube about a week ago, according to statistics on the site. The 1957 broadcast has garnered a lot more attention and had just under 300,000 views at time of writing. That makes it the fifth most popular video viewed in the U.K. this week, according to YouTube.
Beating The Queen to the top-spot in the U.K. is a trailer for a new season of TV show "Lost," a teaser for the long-awaited "Duke Nukem Forever" computer game, a clip of the winning entry from TV show "X Factor" and, as the most-viewed video of the week in the U.K., a video from a Britney Spears look-a-like offering parenting tips to Britney's pregnant sister.
Buckingham Palace established its cyber credentials last year when it began offering The Queen's Christmas Message and other addresses via an RSS feed for download into iPods and other video players. Until then it had been most widely available online through the BBC's Web site.
This year's Christmas Message will be available shortly after 3pm local time (3pm GMT) on Dec. 25, at about the same time it is broadcast on British TV.
The Royal Channel, dubbed "the official YouTube channel of the British monarchy," carries both current and archive footage of the royal family and promises regular updates with new video.
The highlight of the first 18 videos is the first televised Christmas Broadcast of 1957. The channel also includes clips of The Queen Mother's wedding and the first episodes of several series such as "A day in the life of The Prince of Wales."
The clips have already attracted several thousand views since hitting YouTube about a week ago, according to statistics on the site. The 1957 broadcast has garnered a lot more attention and had just under 300,000 views at time of writing. That makes it the fifth most popular video viewed in the U.K. this week, according to YouTube.
Beating The Queen to the top-spot in the U.K. is a trailer for a new season of TV show "Lost," a teaser for the long-awaited "Duke Nukem Forever" computer game, a clip of the winning entry from TV show "X Factor" and, as the most-viewed video of the week in the U.K., a video from a Britney Spears look-a-like offering parenting tips to Britney's pregnant sister.
Buckingham Palace established its cyber credentials last year when it began offering The Queen's Christmas Message and other addresses via an RSS feed for download into iPods and other video players. Until then it had been most widely available online through the BBC's Web site.
This year's Christmas Message will be available shortly after 3pm local time (3pm GMT) on Dec. 25, at about the same time it is broadcast on British TV.
Google replies to lawmaker's questions on privacy
Google has responded to a U.S. congressman's series of questions about its privacy practices, with the company defending its use of consumer data.
Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, sent a letter to Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt Dec. 12, after privacy groups raised questions about the implications of Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of online ad server DoubleClick.
During an earlier meeting with Schmidt, Barton had "voiced concern regarding the potential consumer protection and privacy implications of the merger," Barton said in his letter. "I believe Google's participation in our research into and consideration of the consumer protection implications of a merger of any online search engine and any behavioral or targeted advertising firms is vital to crafting sound national policy."
In response to Barton's questions about the privacy implications of the merger, Google repeated its calls for Congress to pass a national privacy law that would create a "uniform framework for privacy."
"Concerns about online privacy cannot be solved by one company alone," said the Google letter, by Alan Davidson, the company's head of U.S. public policy. "Moreover, both technologies and best practices for protecting privacy are changing rapidly. We therefore encourage you and your staff to ask these questions of other providers of online services."
Barton, ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, had asked Google to respond to his letter before Dec. 18, about when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was expected to complete its examination of the antitrust implications of the merger. Google's response was dated Friday, one day after the FTC announced it would not block the DoubleClick acquisition. Google hosted Barton's staff at its headquarters Wednesday and Thursday, however.
The FTC approval is the last U.S. hurdle for the merger; the European Union is still reviewing it.
Barton's letter asked several questions about Google's privacy practices, including how long Google retains search queries, e-mail drafted on Google's Gmail service and Web histories. Barton also asked why Google needed to retain data.
The IP (Internet Protocol) addresses associated with search queries will be partially deleted after 18 months, as Google previously has announced, the letter said. In other services, such as Gmail and Google Web History, the privacy preferences are customized by individual users, the letter said.
Google retains data about searches as a way to improve its search algorithms and to improve services such as the spell checking feature on Google search, the letter said. The company also uses the data to fight click fraud and other malicious efforts, the letter said.
Barton also asked if Google plans to merge its consumer data with DoubleClick's after the merger. He asked what was the benefit of the merger if Google did not plan to merge data.
"We are new to the third-party display ad serving business, so we have not yet decided whether or how we would merge DoubleClick and Google data," Davidson's letter said.
The merger would create "numerous efficiencies" not related to DoubleClick's data, Davidson added. "Acquiring DoubleClick's expertise in display ad serving will assist Google in its efforts to design an integrated interface for advertisers to manage their texts and display advertising campaigns," the letter said. "In addition, the acquisition will allow Google to provide advertisers with better metrics for the display ads the place in our advertising network."
Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, sent a letter to Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt Dec. 12, after privacy groups raised questions about the implications of Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of online ad server DoubleClick.
During an earlier meeting with Schmidt, Barton had "voiced concern regarding the potential consumer protection and privacy implications of the merger," Barton said in his letter. "I believe Google's participation in our research into and consideration of the consumer protection implications of a merger of any online search engine and any behavioral or targeted advertising firms is vital to crafting sound national policy."
In response to Barton's questions about the privacy implications of the merger, Google repeated its calls for Congress to pass a national privacy law that would create a "uniform framework for privacy."
"Concerns about online privacy cannot be solved by one company alone," said the Google letter, by Alan Davidson, the company's head of U.S. public policy. "Moreover, both technologies and best practices for protecting privacy are changing rapidly. We therefore encourage you and your staff to ask these questions of other providers of online services."
Barton, ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, had asked Google to respond to his letter before Dec. 18, about when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was expected to complete its examination of the antitrust implications of the merger. Google's response was dated Friday, one day after the FTC announced it would not block the DoubleClick acquisition. Google hosted Barton's staff at its headquarters Wednesday and Thursday, however.
The FTC approval is the last U.S. hurdle for the merger; the European Union is still reviewing it.
Barton's letter asked several questions about Google's privacy practices, including how long Google retains search queries, e-mail drafted on Google's Gmail service and Web histories. Barton also asked why Google needed to retain data.
The IP (Internet Protocol) addresses associated with search queries will be partially deleted after 18 months, as Google previously has announced, the letter said. In other services, such as Gmail and Google Web History, the privacy preferences are customized by individual users, the letter said.
Google retains data about searches as a way to improve its search algorithms and to improve services such as the spell checking feature on Google search, the letter said. The company also uses the data to fight click fraud and other malicious efforts, the letter said.
Barton also asked if Google plans to merge its consumer data with DoubleClick's after the merger. He asked what was the benefit of the merger if Google did not plan to merge data.
"We are new to the third-party display ad serving business, so we have not yet decided whether or how we would merge DoubleClick and Google data," Davidson's letter said.
The merger would create "numerous efficiencies" not related to DoubleClick's data, Davidson added. "Acquiring DoubleClick's expertise in display ad serving will assist Google in its efforts to design an integrated interface for advertisers to manage their texts and display advertising campaigns," the letter said. "In addition, the acquisition will allow Google to provide advertisers with better metrics for the display ads the place in our advertising network."
Wikia search project to launch Jan. 7, Wales says
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has set Jan. 7 as the launch date for an open-source search project that eventually hopes to challenge Google and other established players.
The Wikia Search project has assembled the basic technologies for a search engine, including a search application, search algorithm and Web crawler. The project will allow technology enthusiasts to help filter sites and rank search results, using a community model akin to that of Wikipedia.
The idea is to challenge the established players by offering a search service that is more transparent to end users, meaning they can see how search results are arrived at. Wales has described Yahoo and Google as opaque services that don't explain how results are arrived at.
Wales has started to invite a handful of people to test an early version of the search platform, which will be publicly launched on Jan. 7, he wrote in an email to the Wikia mailing list Monday.
The search tool will take time to evolve, and the initial service won't match the capabilities of the leading search engines. Contributors will have to develop the search platform over time, in a similar way that Wikipedia took time to get enough entries to be useful.
The search project is part of Wales' for-profit company, Wikia Inc., which offers a software platform that anyone can use to build wikis. In a similar way, the Wikia Project will allow other people to build their own search engines.
Wikia Inc. was started in 2004 and has received investment money from Amazon.com and Bessemer Venture Partners.
The Wikia Search project has assembled the basic technologies for a search engine, including a search application, search algorithm and Web crawler. The project will allow technology enthusiasts to help filter sites and rank search results, using a community model akin to that of Wikipedia.
The idea is to challenge the established players by offering a search service that is more transparent to end users, meaning they can see how search results are arrived at. Wales has described Yahoo and Google as opaque services that don't explain how results are arrived at.
Wales has started to invite a handful of people to test an early version of the search platform, which will be publicly launched on Jan. 7, he wrote in an email to the Wikia mailing list Monday.
The search tool will take time to evolve, and the initial service won't match the capabilities of the leading search engines. Contributors will have to develop the search platform over time, in a similar way that Wikipedia took time to get enough entries to be useful.
The search project is part of Wales' for-profit company, Wikia Inc., which offers a software platform that anyone can use to build wikis. In a similar way, the Wikia Project will allow other people to build their own search engines.
Wikia Inc. was started in 2004 and has received investment money from Amazon.com and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Cisco green plan looks beyond routers
Cisco Systems wants to turn the enterprise data network into an electricity meter.
Using open standards, the company wants to get server and storage vendors to collect and share information about their equipment and send it to Cisco routers and switches. The data could include power consumption, operating temperature and more. It's becoming a critical job, and because the network touches all IT resources across the enterprise, data collection should happen there, according to Paul Marcoux, vice president of green engineering.
Marcoux joined Cisco from American Power Conversion only about six weeks ago, after Cisco created the position to overlook energy issues across all parts of the company. Networking gear itself makes up a much smaller portion of IT power consumption than do servers or storage, but Cisco plans to go beyond just making its own products more efficient.
Power is a growing issue in data centers as the cost of energy rises and concerns about global climate change increase. Being able to collect and analyze information about power usage is a big part of the battle and becoming more crucial in the age of virtualization, according to Marcoux. Distributing storage and processing cycles without regard for power issues is not just inefficient, it's dangerous, he said.
If virtualization software looks at a process that requires more computing power or storage space, then enlists servers or storage devices that are near to overheating or running out of power, it could send a rack of servers over the edge and shut it down, Marcoux said. For that reason, the virtualization system needs to know the power status of all the resources it may call upon, he said.
By the same token, consolidated data centers typically serve many departments of an enterprise and consume a lot of power, but those groups generally don't have to pay for their part of the power. In fact, the electricity bill often bypasses even the IT department, going to building management instead, Marcoux said. Collecting data about the power consumed by each device, and eventually by individual transactions, would allow enterprises to bill each department for the power it uses, he said.
Software on routers and switches would collect the information and then take actions or forward it on to separate building management, energy management or virtualization control systems, Marcoux said. Given the large amount of energy data to be processed, Cisco may introduce daughtercards for its platforms to provide extra computing power, he said. He hopes the technology will be in place and collecting information in enterprises within three years.
Because data centers contain gear from so many vendors, open standards are the only way to make such a system work, according to Cisco. Fortunately, there already are several available standards, Marcoux said. Having standards already in place will help speed up adoption, Marcoux said.
"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're just trying now to utilize the wheel," Marcoux said.
Cisco's proposal would represent a whole new role for networks beyond communications, said Burton Group analyst Dave Passmore. Server vendors might go along with the plan, but Cisco can't count on smooth sailing, he said. Centralized power regulation would play a role in overall management of the data center, an area where Cisco is attempting to make inroads with other initiatives as well.
"Who controls virtualization in the data center is going to be the new battleground," Passmore said.
Using open standards, the company wants to get server and storage vendors to collect and share information about their equipment and send it to Cisco routers and switches. The data could include power consumption, operating temperature and more. It's becoming a critical job, and because the network touches all IT resources across the enterprise, data collection should happen there, according to Paul Marcoux, vice president of green engineering.
Marcoux joined Cisco from American Power Conversion only about six weeks ago, after Cisco created the position to overlook energy issues across all parts of the company. Networking gear itself makes up a much smaller portion of IT power consumption than do servers or storage, but Cisco plans to go beyond just making its own products more efficient.
Power is a growing issue in data centers as the cost of energy rises and concerns about global climate change increase. Being able to collect and analyze information about power usage is a big part of the battle and becoming more crucial in the age of virtualization, according to Marcoux. Distributing storage and processing cycles without regard for power issues is not just inefficient, it's dangerous, he said.
If virtualization software looks at a process that requires more computing power or storage space, then enlists servers or storage devices that are near to overheating or running out of power, it could send a rack of servers over the edge and shut it down, Marcoux said. For that reason, the virtualization system needs to know the power status of all the resources it may call upon, he said.
By the same token, consolidated data centers typically serve many departments of an enterprise and consume a lot of power, but those groups generally don't have to pay for their part of the power. In fact, the electricity bill often bypasses even the IT department, going to building management instead, Marcoux said. Collecting data about the power consumed by each device, and eventually by individual transactions, would allow enterprises to bill each department for the power it uses, he said.
Software on routers and switches would collect the information and then take actions or forward it on to separate building management, energy management or virtualization control systems, Marcoux said. Given the large amount of energy data to be processed, Cisco may introduce daughtercards for its platforms to provide extra computing power, he said. He hopes the technology will be in place and collecting information in enterprises within three years.
Because data centers contain gear from so many vendors, open standards are the only way to make such a system work, according to Cisco. Fortunately, there already are several available standards, Marcoux said. Having standards already in place will help speed up adoption, Marcoux said.
"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're just trying now to utilize the wheel," Marcoux said.
Cisco's proposal would represent a whole new role for networks beyond communications, said Burton Group analyst Dave Passmore. Server vendors might go along with the plan, but Cisco can't count on smooth sailing, he said. Centralized power regulation would play a role in overall management of the data center, an area where Cisco is attempting to make inroads with other initiatives as well.
"Who controls virtualization in the data center is going to be the new battleground," Passmore said.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Google's DoubleClick deal brings greater focus on privacy
Nearly lost in the news about the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's approval on Thursday of Google's acquisition of DoubleClick was another action by the agency: the publication of a proposed set of privacy principles governing online behavioral advertising.
The release of the privacy principles is an important and welcome step, said Peter Swire, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, and a law professor at Ohio State University. Although some privacy groups blasted the FTC for approving Google's DoubleClick deal, the acquisition has helped place focus on the entire online advertising industry's privacy practices, Swire said.
"It's good that the FTC is shining a spotlight on this industry," Swire said Friday. "Online advertising is in its second boom. They're trying lots of new techniques; some of those techniques have privacy problems."
The FTC hosted a workshop on behavioral advertising and privacy in November. The agency's proposed privacy principles, a series of "self-regulatory" steps the FTC is recommending for online advertisers, come in part from that workshop.
Among the FTC's proposals:
-- Web sites that collect information for behavioral advertising should provide a "clear, consumer-friendly, and prominent statement" about the reason for collecting that data. Consumers should be able to choose whether they will allow that information to be collected.
-- Any company that collects or stores consumer data for behavioral advertising should provide "reasonable security" and should keep data only as long as necessary to fulfill legitimate business or law enforcement needs.
-- Companies should only collect sensitive data for behavioral advertising if they obtain express consent from the consumer.
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a group focused on online privacy and civil liberties, also praised the FTC for releasing its privacy principles. The principles are a "clear sign that the commission does not believe that the industry's current self-regulation framework is sufficient to protect consumers today,” CDT Deputy Director Ari Schwartz said in a statement.
CDT also called on Google to "step up and make a clear, public statement about its plans for proactively protecting consumer privacy." Consumer privacy in the behavioral advertising market remains an industrywide concern that requires the focus of consumers, policymakers and companies, CDT said.
The release of the privacy principles should send a signal to online advertisers, said Leslie Harris, CDT's president. "In releasing these principles, the FTC hasn't closed the door to other options," she said in a statement. "Self-regulation is part of the solution for protecting consumer privacy, but clearly self-regulation hasn't lived up to its promises. ... We'll need a rigorous mix of self-regulation backed by regulatory enforcement."
Other privacy groups criticized the FTC for its ruling allowing Google's acquisition of DoubleClick to move forward. The agency had reason to act on privacy concerns raised by the merger and failed, said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), one of three privacy groups that asked the FTC to block the merger or impose privacy conditions.
The FTC could have established "the necessary safeguards for personal data and competition that could have allowed a global [privacy] framework to emerge," Rotenberg said. "[The FTC's] sole purpose is to protect the public interest. It failed to do so ... in a case that will have far-reaching implications for the Internet economy and the privacy rights of American consumers."
Joseph Turow, a communication professor at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed. The European Union is still investigating the Google-DoubleClick deal, with a decision not due until April, and it is likely that regulators there will take a harder look at privacy issues, he said.
Consumer tracking and privacy should be part of the FTC's antitrust review when it looks at online advertising deals, he said. "You can't talk about the digital advertising market today without talking about competition in targeting Americans," he said.
Google supports the FTC's efforts to create privacy guidelines, David Drummond, the company's senior vice president for corporate development and chief legal officer, said in a blog post. "The FTC’s decision publicly affirms what we and numerous independent analysts have been saying for months: Our acquisition does not threaten competition in what is a robust, innovative, and quickly evolving online advertising space," Drummond wrote. "In fact, we firmly believe the transaction will increase competition and bring substantial benefits to consumers, web publishers, and online advertisers."
Critics failed to show specific privacy harms, added Thomas Lenard, president of iGrowthGlobal, a conservative think tank. "I don’t see a problem because nobody has demonstrated the acquisition will result in any privacy harm to consumers," he said. "All the allegations are very hypothetical. Privacy advocates assert that Google’s and DoubleClick’s activities injure consumers, but they don’t provide any evidence."
If the FTC had blocked the deal, it would be "penalizing success, and that would send a bad signal to the marketplace," Lenard added. "That would also be bad for consumers."
The release of the privacy principles is an important and welcome step, said Peter Swire, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, and a law professor at Ohio State University. Although some privacy groups blasted the FTC for approving Google's DoubleClick deal, the acquisition has helped place focus on the entire online advertising industry's privacy practices, Swire said.
"It's good that the FTC is shining a spotlight on this industry," Swire said Friday. "Online advertising is in its second boom. They're trying lots of new techniques; some of those techniques have privacy problems."
The FTC hosted a workshop on behavioral advertising and privacy in November. The agency's proposed privacy principles, a series of "self-regulatory" steps the FTC is recommending for online advertisers, come in part from that workshop.
Among the FTC's proposals:
-- Web sites that collect information for behavioral advertising should provide a "clear, consumer-friendly, and prominent statement" about the reason for collecting that data. Consumers should be able to choose whether they will allow that information to be collected.
-- Any company that collects or stores consumer data for behavioral advertising should provide "reasonable security" and should keep data only as long as necessary to fulfill legitimate business or law enforcement needs.
-- Companies should only collect sensitive data for behavioral advertising if they obtain express consent from the consumer.
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a group focused on online privacy and civil liberties, also praised the FTC for releasing its privacy principles. The principles are a "clear sign that the commission does not believe that the industry's current self-regulation framework is sufficient to protect consumers today,” CDT Deputy Director Ari Schwartz said in a statement.
CDT also called on Google to "step up and make a clear, public statement about its plans for proactively protecting consumer privacy." Consumer privacy in the behavioral advertising market remains an industrywide concern that requires the focus of consumers, policymakers and companies, CDT said.
The release of the privacy principles should send a signal to online advertisers, said Leslie Harris, CDT's president. "In releasing these principles, the FTC hasn't closed the door to other options," she said in a statement. "Self-regulation is part of the solution for protecting consumer privacy, but clearly self-regulation hasn't lived up to its promises. ... We'll need a rigorous mix of self-regulation backed by regulatory enforcement."
Other privacy groups criticized the FTC for its ruling allowing Google's acquisition of DoubleClick to move forward. The agency had reason to act on privacy concerns raised by the merger and failed, said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), one of three privacy groups that asked the FTC to block the merger or impose privacy conditions.
The FTC could have established "the necessary safeguards for personal data and competition that could have allowed a global [privacy] framework to emerge," Rotenberg said. "[The FTC's] sole purpose is to protect the public interest. It failed to do so ... in a case that will have far-reaching implications for the Internet economy and the privacy rights of American consumers."
Joseph Turow, a communication professor at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed. The European Union is still investigating the Google-DoubleClick deal, with a decision not due until April, and it is likely that regulators there will take a harder look at privacy issues, he said.
Consumer tracking and privacy should be part of the FTC's antitrust review when it looks at online advertising deals, he said. "You can't talk about the digital advertising market today without talking about competition in targeting Americans," he said.
Google supports the FTC's efforts to create privacy guidelines, David Drummond, the company's senior vice president for corporate development and chief legal officer, said in a blog post. "The FTC’s decision publicly affirms what we and numerous independent analysts have been saying for months: Our acquisition does not threaten competition in what is a robust, innovative, and quickly evolving online advertising space," Drummond wrote. "In fact, we firmly believe the transaction will increase competition and bring substantial benefits to consumers, web publishers, and online advertisers."
Critics failed to show specific privacy harms, added Thomas Lenard, president of iGrowthGlobal, a conservative think tank. "I don’t see a problem because nobody has demonstrated the acquisition will result in any privacy harm to consumers," he said. "All the allegations are very hypothetical. Privacy advocates assert that Google’s and DoubleClick’s activities injure consumers, but they don’t provide any evidence."
If the FTC had blocked the deal, it would be "penalizing success, and that would send a bad signal to the marketplace," Lenard added. "That would also be bad for consumers."
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