Dave's Download
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Another Hit on Blu-ray: Toshiba Backs Movies on Memory Cards
Continue reading… 15 CommentsNext week should see the launch of a new media delivery system, this one using kiosks that download music and flicks to memory cards. The kiosks will start with single music tracks and then DVD-quality movies, but will eventually dump HD-quality films onto SD cards that can be plugged into set-top players or even TVs.
It seems no coincidence that Toshiba is a major backer of the kiosks. Its HD-DVD lost the format war with Sony's Blu-ray over the replacement for DVDs. Toshiba now seems to be doing what it can to undermine Blu-ray's success.
Toshiba has already rolled out an upscaling DVD player that does the best job yet of turning standard DVDs into near-HD fare. At the time, Toshiba pleaded that it shouldn't be seen as trying to compete with Blu-ray.
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Clogged Servers Delay Videos From Popular Flips
Continue reading… 0 CommentsPopularity has its price. Servers for sharing videos from the fast-selling Flip camcorders choked on Christmas clips, delaying the delivery of some for several days.
I know because I hit "send" repeatedly on Christmas morning, and nothing arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I finally resorted to an upload to YouTube. It wasn't until Sunday that a flood of the original links arrived, one for each of the fruitless launches three days earlier.
A spokeswoman for the Flip's maker, Pure Digital, acknowledged today the company's servers "were strained for a short period." She added that the problem is resolved. "I guess there was a surge in video sharing over the holidays."
Maybe just a burp, but still a disappointing one for the Flip, whose whole pitch is simplicity in sharing videos.
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Another Take on LG's Embrace of Streaming
Continue reading… 0 CommentsOn LG's rush to add Internet video to its Blu-ray players, this from Paul Sweeting in the Media Wonk blog:
LG seems to be trying to graft an entirely new functionality onto its BD players, tuning them into Web-enabled set-top boxes as much as disc players. You probably wouldn't do that if you believed the original functionality, by itself, was sufficiently compelling.
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LG Adds CinemaNow, YouTube to Blu-ray Players
Continue reading… 1 CommentLG says it will add free videos from YouTube and pay-per-views from CinemaNow to its line of Blu-ray players, which already get streams from Netflix. Expect others to follow suit. Samsung already offers Netflix on some Blu-ray players.
Isn't there is irony in tacking on streaming to help sell Blu-ray? Internet video is one of the threats to Blu-ray, which is fighting for a foothold in living rooms. Maybe it's as simple as join 'em if you can't fight 'em. Or maybe the Blu-ray backers want to prove the superiority of their disks with easy, head-to-head comparisons.
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New iPhone Might be a BlackBerry Killer
Continue reading… 10 CommentsThis could be the best of all worlds: an iPhone with a BlackBerry-like keyboard. That's the prediction of a leading Apple watcher, who says the do-all handset could appear early next year.
Not only that, it might be the elusive, Bigfoot-like cheaper iPhone that is claimed to be lurking in the woods. This according to Gene Munster, an equities analyst at Piper Jaffray:
Specifically, we believe Apple could introduce a lower-end model that is slightly thicker due to the inclusion of a slider keyboard for students (texting) and business use (email) between $99 and $149.
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Apple May Compete With HP Home Server
Continue reading… 2 CommentsHP says it will add Mac-centric features to its MediaSmart Home Servers, the PCs loaded with special Windows software to be a central digital closet.
More hopeful are reports that Apple might release a competitor.
The PC versions haven't caught on since launched more than a year ago. Everyday Joes don't know they want a central computer at home. The best that Microsoft could do for marketing was to spoof the deadly "home server" name.
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Portable Digital TVs Arriving
Continue reading… 4 CommentsOften overlooked in the upcoming switch to digital TV are the millions of portable TVs that will be worthless. Surprisingly few models are available with digital tuners like those now found commonly in large, flat-panel TVs.
A company called Eviant will introduce a range of portable models at next week's Consumer Electronics Show. The company hasn't disclosed prices, but a competitor already available at Radio Shack is pricey at $200.
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Readers: BlackBerry Storm a Worthy Competitor to Apple iPhone
Continue reading… 25 CommentsReaders have responded with a raft of thoughtful comments on a recent report critical of the BlackBerry Storm's initial launch, at least compared to Apple's iPhone.
A number noted that a recent software update appears to have eased problems with the Storm. Still, says Prasad from Calif.:
[Overall] the timing was not right in the first place - releasing with bugs and app store not in place - bad timing - wake up RIM managers.
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Digital TV Will Strand Some Viewers
Continue reading… 4 CommentsAbout one in five TV stations won't reach all their current viewers after they turn off analog signals in February, regulators say. Those stations will go dark for at least two percent of their broadcast viewers, the FCC says.
But most stations will reach more viewers because of the stronger reach of digital broadcast, according to the agency.
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Notebook PCs Overtake Desktops Worldwide
Continue reading… 4 CommentsNotebook computers outsold desktops for the first time in the third quarter, iSuppli reports. Manufacturers shipped 40 percent more notebooks in the quarter compared to 2007, while desktops slipped slightly.
"The notebook PC is no longer a tool only for the business market, or a computer for the well-off consumer; it’s now a computer for everyman,” says iSuppli analyst Matthew Wilkins.
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Microsoft Launches Help Site for Vista
Continue reading… 11 CommentsThose vexed by Vista can get answers from the horse's mouth at a new site called Microsoft Answers. If you're willing to sign in, you can post questions of your own. You can also get notified by E-mail when an answer gets posted by other users or perhaps Microsoft techs. Or you can browse and search Q&A's already posted.
The site looks useful. But it's startling that Microsoft took so long to set up the kind of community support that is standard at other companies. And Vista, with all of its real and imagined problems, has needed any support it can get.
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Audio: Cheap Projectors Enable Poor Man's Home Theater
Continue reading… 0 CommentsWe've had a minimalist home theater in our unfinished basement for a couple of years. A $500 projector does a great job of splashing a DVD movie onto a painted cement wall. When the lights are off, we forget the bare room and settle in for a theater-like experience.
Cheap Projectors
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In an interview this weekend with WTOP, I described how today's inexpensive projectors make it possible to have a poor man's home theater in just about any dark room.
For sound from our movies, we're using an old stereo that was otherwise gathering dust. A good sound system will be the next investment.
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BlackBerry vs. iPhone: The Storm Stumbles
Continue reading… 43 CommentsAn early survey of Storm users puts numbers to reports that the first BlackBerry with a touch screen has disappointed users. This from a description by Paul Carton at ChangeWave, which conducted the survey:
The overall satisfaction rating given by new owners of the Blackberry Storm can, at best, be characterized as lukewarm. One in three Storm owners (33%) said they were "Very Satisfied" with their new model, well below the 52% "Very Satisfied" rating given by all current owners of BlackBerry smart phones.
The rest of the survey is encouraging for Research in Motion, whose BlackBerrys have the potential to again outpace Apple in sales next year. The Storm, the Bold and other new models have generated enough buzz that the BlackBerry can compete with the iPhone for smart phone "market supremacy" in 2009, Carton says.
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Roku Begins Streaming Netflix HD
Continue reading… 0 CommentsRoku is joining the Netflix march to high definition, saying it is rolling out a software upgrade to its $100 box. That's catch-up to others. More intriguingly, Roku says it also will move beyond Netflix early next year with HD stream from other providers.
It looked for a while as if Roku was falling behind with its device, which was a pioneer last spring in delivering Netflix streaming to TVs. A number of companies had beaten Roku to Netflix HD. They include TiVo, Samsung and LG Blu-ray players, and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
Roku can't afford to just play catch up. It needs to quickly partner with other video streamers to stay ahead, or at least keep pace with devices like TiVo. The digital recorder seemingly adds a new Web source every month or two.
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The Internet's "Naughty Nine" Malware Threats of 2008
Continue reading… 4 CommentsOnce again, the bad guys went after the curious, gullible and careless with lots of Web malware. Particularly malevolent were the attacks that relied on readers' enthusiasm for all things Barack Obama, and their distress over the credit crisis.
Below is a list of the most notable malware attacks in 2008, at least so far. The ‘Naughty Nine’ and their descriptions are courtesy of MessageLabs, a security company that is now part of Symantec.
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Windows XP Gets Another Reprieve
Continue reading… 0 CommentsWindows XP is managing to stay alive, with begrudging help from Microsoft. The software company is telling system builders they can get copies of the old software until May 30. It's what the ChannelWeb site says is another sign of market resistance to Vista.
System builders are not the big PC makers, notes Mary Jo Foley at All About Microsoft. They're sometimes called “white box” vendors and include Systemax, Seneca Data, Cheap Guys Computers. They also include local PC shops that build custom systems. She also notes the latest reprieve is getting close to the hoped-for delivery of Windows 7:
It should be interesting to see what the channel does if there’s a gap of a few months between the XP delivery cut-off date and Windows 7 availability. Will they continue to avoid preloading Vista on new custom PCs and wait it out for 7?
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Forbes: "Bad Vudu" Sopping Up Bandwidth
Continue reading… 4 CommentsAn interesting take on "Bad Vudu" from Lee Gomes at Forbes. He's concerned that Vudu is sopping up bandwidth with the peer-to-peer system it uses to deliver movies. That means somebody watching Iron Man might be getting pieces of the movie from your Vudu.
Gomes concedes he hasn't noticed any network slowdown. But he complains it should be clear to buyers how Vudu operates before they spend $300 on its box. He has a point. Gomes is tech savvy, and if he didn't understand, then most people wouldn't -- and they should.
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Record Industry Shifting Away From Suing Song Swappers
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe recording industry says it is going to shift away from suing people who trade in pirated music. After the public relations disaster of filing suit against tens of thousands of its customers, the industry instead is getting the cooperation of Internet providers to throttle access for people who are illegally sharing music.
The new approach isn't drawing much applause, though. Stan Schroeder at the Mashable blog says it doesn't make the recording studios any less evil:
You’re sharing music over the internet? They’ll monitor you, they’ll hunt you down, and they’ll (at least that’s one of the suggestions I’m seeing) take away your access to the Internet.
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Broadcast TV: The Ultimate in Wireless Video
Continue reading… 1 CommentI have a relative who took my suggestion and canned cable for free TV broadcasts. His family was paying for cable mostly to get a clear picture, at least compared to old analog broadcasts. He's delighted at saving money with digital broadcasts that are even better than cable HDTV.
There is one other big benefit, he points out. He can put his TVs anywhere in the house. He's no longer beholden to where the cable jacks are.
Broadcast is the ultimate in wireless, whole-house video distribution.
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Video Games Helping Music Sales
Continue reading… 0 CommentsAn endorsement of music-playing video games as song sellers. This one from NPD, which said music demand fell about 2 percent in the third quarter compared to a year ago, at least among Internet users who were surveyed. That includes sales, peer-to-peer sharing and tunes "borrowed" for ripping.
It might be worse, the market analysts said, if not for the games:
Twenty-two percent of music buyers (CDs, digital or mobile) overall and 35 percent of consumers under the age of 35 reported playing a music-based video game, such as Rock Band or Guitar Hero, in the prior three months. Many of these music gamers reported that the gaming experience had a positive outcome, such as creating music discovery or triggering a digital-music or CD purchase.
