The Online Reporter back issues from Saturday, February 2:
Move over Apple & Microsoft, here comes Amazon.
Feb 02, 2008 ... - Acquires Audible.com and Its 80,000 Spoken Word Audios - DRM Free Music, Movie Downloads, Kindle Book Reader, Audio Books & News Amazon.com looks determined to compete head-on with iTunes, Xbox Live, the Netflix-LG partnership and other online services that offer ...
AT&T, Apple, BT, O2, BBC lead charge to free Wi-Fi.
Feb 02, 2008 ... AT&T's decision to make its 10,000 or so Wi-Fi hotspots available for free to subscribers to its wired (as opposed to mobile) broadband customers is part of a trend that could have a major impact on such varied things as eliminating CD/DVD drives from laptops and other portable devices to ...
Apple prices.(APPLE SLICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Purchasing an iPhone in the UK costs $135 more than it does to buy one in the States. Last October when iPhones were available only in the US, we reported that out of 1.4 million iPhones sold since the device debuted June 29, some 250,000 had not been activated to run on AT&T's ...
Netflix movie streaming coming to Macs.(APPLE SLICES)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... All those Apple aficionados who were whining about lack of Mac support from Netflix for its movie streaming service can take heart from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings' ...
IPod touch sales numbers.(APPLE SLICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... - IPod Touch as Mobile Platform - Not Just an iPod with Touch Screen We've looked high and low for the number of iPod touches that Apple has sold - unsuccessfully. The closest we can get are the following numbers from Apple: <Pre> Total sales of all iPod for ...
O2 sweetens iPhone offer.(APPLE SLICES)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... O2, which has not made public its iPhone sales results since it launched the product in November 2007, will next month treble the number of talk minutes and double the number of free texts that iPhone users get on the basic [pounds sterling]35 a month plan. Subscribers who pay the [pounds ...
IPhone for businesses.(APPLE SLICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... PCs started life in businesses and then headed towards consumers. IPhone started as a consumer device and now appears headed to the office. Two recently announced applications should help Apple increase sales of iPhones to large organizations. A version of IBM's Lotus Notes e-mail and ...
Apple: Air, now; TV, later.(APPLE SLICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... The Apple TV upgrade will be a couple of weeks later than promised. It will allow users to rent and purchase movies from the Apple TV box--no PC required, as is now the case. Movies that are purchased on Apple TV are synched back to iTunes on the PC and can be copied to iPhones ...
Where have all the iPhones gone?(APPLE SLICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... iPhone watchers and Apple analysts have been getting their knickers in a twist lately trying to figure out the mystery of the 'missing' mobile phones. You see, Apple said in its Q1 earnings call in January that it had sold 3.75 million iPhones at the end of 2007. A ...
Mobile, FiOS broadband & pay-TV boost Verizon.(BROADBAND BEAT)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Verizon Communications added a net of 264,000 new broadband connections -DSL and FiOS combined during its fourth quarter of 2007, ending the year with 8.2 million broadband subscribers. That's an increase of 17.9% compared with year-end 2006. FiOS The company added a ...
Virgin to go to 10 Mbps, then to 50 Mbps.(BROADBAND BEAT)(Virgin Media)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Virgin Media's 'L' tier broadband subscribers will shortly be upgraded for free from the present 4Mbps to 10Mbps. That'll give it a 2Mbps advantage over BT Broadband and other DSL services. The upgrades will be completed by summer. Customers will be able to download music tracks in four ...
Deutsche Telekom on a broadband tear.(BROADBAND BEAT)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Few of the world's legacy telcos are able to sign up more new broadband subscribers than they lost in residential phone service as exemplified by the two major Chinese telcos reporting they lost four million residential phone customers in the fourth quarter of 2007. Deutsche ...
The New York Times texts.(BROADBAND BEAT)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... The New York Times launched a text messaging service last week, featuring breaking news updates, features, paper columns and features from The Times Magazine for mobile devices. By texting a keyword now found in the newspaper's section to "689689" users can receive the three most recent ...
Dell goes retail, closes Kiosks.(BROADBAND BEAT)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Dell is closing its 140 or so of it kiosks in the US. After HP knocked dell from its position as the largest PC seller, Dell began selling through retailers such as Best Buy, Staples, Wal-Mart, DSG International, ...
Alienware media server holds lifetime of digital media.(BROADBAND BEAT)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Dell's Alienware has a new media server that packs 4TB of storage, enough, the company says, to hold a lifetime's worth of digital movies, music, photos and other such. Users can simultaneously stream multiple files wirelessly or via a home network to any computer in the house ...
VisibleSuite Measures online video audience's viewing habits.(ENABLING TECHNOLOGY)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Visible Measures, a company that focuses on measuring the behavior of Internet audiences, has unleashed VisibleSuite, a service geared towards growing a video publisher and advertiser's audience by monitoring and reporting on current audience behaviors. The company's data ...
RoyaltyShare tracks online music transactions.(ENABLING TECHNOLOGY)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Keeping track of all those pennies and pence in the online music business can be taxing. RoyaltyShare's new Web-based Content Management Service provides record labels and small distributors with a cost-effective way to manage the complexities of the digital sales process, ...
Nokia snags Trolltech.(ENABLING TECHNOLOGY)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Strengthening its hand against Google's upcoming Android open source mobile phone platform, handset leader Nokia is buying Linux-based software tools vendor Trolltech for $155 million to develop its Internet services business and boost its cross-platform software strategy for mobile ...
VX30 releases new Java video-streaming update, throws last version out of Windows.(ENABLING TECHNOLOGY)
Feb 02, 2008 ... VX30 is a Java-based streaming video company that has released a new version of its Java media player. VX30 still requires no software, plug-ins or specific operating system; it needs only a Java enabled browser. The newest version comes with improved quality and reduces the ...
Powerline networks: standards, European acceptance.(HOME NETWORKING)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Many consider Powerline network technology the best possibility for "wiring" up homes without doing any new wiring. Every first world home has electrical wires throughout the home, with many homes having electrical outlets on most every wall. Coax is mostly found in homes in North America ...
Actiontec to offer media center.(HOME NETWORKING)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Everyone wants in on the media center market. Actiontec Electronics's zControl series of home automation gateways are designed to centrally manage household electronics such as lights, security cameras, thermostats, motion detectors, garage door openers, motorized shades and ...
This week in finance deals.
Feb 02, 2008 ... <Pre> This Week in Finance Deals Companies Details China Mobile MediaChina Mobile Media Technology, distributors of proprietary and branded mobile devices, has completed RMB 150 million ($20.8 ...
French Govt may e-mail warnings if it sees illegal downloading.(LEGAL MATTERS)
Feb 02, 2008 ... The French government is hoping that legislation allowing it to send warnings via e-mail to anyone illegally downloading music tracks will be passed by the summer. Illegal downloading and file sharing has reached such staggering proportions in France that authorities have ...
UK government's Federation takes file sharing fight to ISPs.(LEGAL MATTERS)
Feb 02, 2008 ... ISPs are likely to bear the brunt of new illegal file sharing enforcement standards according to the UK's Federation Against Software Theft (The Federation). The Federation has applauded the most recent announcement by Lord Triesman, the Minister for Intellectual Property, that said the ...
CellSpin makes it easier to share from mobile to Web sites.(MOBILE MEDIA)(Website overview)
Feb 02, 2008 ... CellSpin has launched its self-titled application that allows users to create content--audio, video, text and photos--on their mobiles or the CellSpin Web site and post it to social networking sites. CellSpin currently supports Facebook, YouTube, Blogger, Flickr, Live Journal, ...
Mobile games market to hit $3b by 2012.(LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS)
Feb 02, 2008 ... The North American market for mobile games is expected to rise from less than $800 million in 2007 to more than $3 billion by 2012, according to a new report from Juniper Research. Around 18 million Americans now download or rent mobile games at least once a year, but these ...
875m have made an Internet purchase.(LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... More than 875 million people have used the Internet to make a purchase, according to a Nielsen Global Online Survey. That's a 40% increase in online purchasing in the past two years. More than 85% of people with Internet ...
Super Bowl prompts purchase of 2.2m HD TV sets.(LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS)
Feb 02, 2008 ... This Sunday's Super Bowl will cause the purchase of 2.4 million HD TVs in the States, according to a study the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) ...
Boom coming in Internet-connectable CE devices.(LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Shipments of Internet-Protocol (IP)-enabled consumer electronic devices reached 64 million units in 2007, a 73% increase over 2007, according to a report from MultiMedia Intelligence. The market continues to be dominated by Internet-enabled video game consoles such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 ...
95m place shifting devices by 2012.(LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS)
Feb 02, 2008 ... - Expands Consumers' Time for Entertainment - Content Rights & Legal Issues By 2012, there will be 95 million active place shifting devices such as EchoStar's recently acquired Sling Media in broadband households around the world, according to a report from Research ...
China's mobile search market grows, dining and entertainment still top the list.(LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... With an estimated 600 million mobile users, China has seen its mobile search users grow to 61 million at the end of 2007 and will hit 117 million by 2008 and pass 200 million by 2010, according to iResearch. Releasing search-statistics about the Chinese market, mobile search ...
Africa mobile Internet: where no broadband has gone before.(LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Africa's demand for Internet access is on the rise but the continent lacks major line-based infrastructure, leaving the door for mobile Internet to wide open. Operators in Africa are expecting a 40% to 50% growth in mobile Internet demand between the 2006 numbers and 2009, ...
Excellent audiovisual quality is #1 in mobile TV demands.(LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS)
Feb 02, 2008 ... "Excellent audiovisual quality" tops the charts for key features wanted by US and Western Europe mobile TV users according to a new Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Lab report on buyer behavior. The report "Strategy Analytics: Intuitive Menu and On-Screen Guide Essential for ...
Squidcast: HD personal video sent to friends and family for free.(ME MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Squidcast has brought something new to the HD video and high quality market, free sharing. Squidcast recipients can download or stream content at high quality because of its use of the Collaborative Relay Network, a secure platform optimized for private, high-quality exchanges ...
ZoogaTV lunges into the web video melee.(ME MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... ZoogaTV has launched a free online video service featuring on-demand news, sports and entertainment shorts from a broad range of content providers. ZoogaTV features videos from AccuWeather.com, Reuters, TV Guide, The Associated Press, Ford Models, TV One and Sandbox TV. One ...
WorldTV adds video statistics and lists its Top 100 Cities.(ME MEDIA)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... WorldTV, a global online video site, has debuted its new set of video features that lets video providers track and analyze the viewing habits of their audience. WorldTV has also named its Top 100 Cities--cities around the world that are watching the most videos. The top five are ...
Sony dampens PS3 sales forecast.(SONY SCENE)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Sony this week reported that its third quarter 2008 ending December 31, 2007 had a net profit increase of 25% due to strong sales of household electronics such as its Bravia LCD TV sets and digital cameras and an operating profit at its games division for the first time since 2005. ...
WiMAX competitor LTE gets industry approval.(MOBILE INTERNET)
Feb 02, 2008 ... 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) has approved specifications for Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology that will make it possible for mobile phone networks to offer theoretical peak speeds up to 326 Mbps down and 86 Mbps up. Actual speeds ...
Will WiMAX be the savior for 1.2b South Asians?(MOBILE INTERNET)
Feb 02, 2008 ... In North America, Western Europe and parts of Asia like South Korea and Japan, discussions on broadband primarily center round questions like-will Comcast offer 50 Mbps this year, will Verizon's FiOS expand its footprint to my neighborhood or can H2O really deliver 100 Mbps broadband via ...
Google says domo to NTT DoCoMo.(MOBILE INTERNET)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Japan's mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo is pairing up with Google to provide Google's Internet search and other services on its handsets. NTT DoCoMo may soon offer Google's Map for Mobiles on its imode handsets and it is exploring ways to make Google's other services, like Gmail and ...
YouTube goes mobile in a whole new way.(MOBILE INTERNET)
Feb 02, 2008 ... YouTube has been viewable on mobiles since November 2006, but recently it unveiled a new mobile service that is supposed to carry tens of millions of YouTube's videos. Back in November 2006, YouTube first ventured out to deliver a few clips through Verizon Wireless's VCast. Last ...
In Massachusetts, Wi-Fi is for the trains.(MOBILE INTERNET)
Feb 02, 2008 ... The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has announced that it will be testing Wi-Fi on one of its train lines that carries about 18,000 passengers on a typical weekday. The Worcester-Framingham line is about 45 miles long and runs between Boston and Worcester in ...
Azingo takes a LiMo to the land of mobiles.(MOBILE INTERNET)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Azingo, a mobile Linux company, has announced the development of Azingo Mobile, a suite of mobile services based on the LiMo Linux platform. The suite offers services like: web 2.0 applications, music, video and graphics options all geared for mobiles. The platform is set to be ...
Continental takes baby steps with in-flight Wi-Fi.(MOBILE INTERNET)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Continental Airlines became the latest US airline to jump on the inflight Wi-Fi bandwagon. Beginning in January 2009, Continental plans to roll out free e-mail and instant messaging offered by LiveTV. Continental passengers are supposed to be able to use the service ...
FountainHead launches online video network with original content.(MOBILE INTERNET)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... FountainHeadNetworks.TV (FHN), an Internet television entertainment company, has launched its network featuring five new shows. These shows will include programs on stocks, English horoscopes, Spanish horoscopes, wine and cooking quick meals. FHN creates and shows short programs ...
Nokia willing to share revenue of music bundle with operators.(MOBILE MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Nokia is willing to share revenues with phone operators through a program to sell mobiles with unlimited music access. "In those cases where we cooperate with operators, there will be an arrangement so they can get a piece," said Tero Ojanpera, an executive vice president and a ...
Zodigo: mobile content search engine that needs no mobile device to use.(MOBILE MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Interactive TV software developer Zodiac Interactive has announced a new mobile content search engine, Zodigo, currently being shown off at the Demo 08 conference. Zodigo is a software platform built for digital TVs, Blu-ray and HD-DVD players, gaming consoles, and Web sites ...
BBC partners with MySpace, stays leaps and bounds ahead of other stations.(MOBILE MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... BBC is partnering with MySpace to bring some of the BBC's content to a global audience through MySpaceTV. This is MySpace's first deal with a major TV network and one of the largest deals of this kind in the industry. BBC is continuing to lead the charge of television into the ...
Mobile entertainment to hit $64b by 2012.(MOBILE MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... The global mobile entertainment market is projected to rise threefold by 2012, rising from 2007's $20 billion to more than $64 billion according to a new report by Juniper Research. Juniper believes that the music industry will remain the biggest mobile entertainment factor with ...
SK Telecom brings Sony Pictures to mobiles.(MOBILE MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... SK Telecom said that it is bringing over 200 big name movies, such as "The DaVinci Code" and "Spiderman 3," to its mobiles thanks to a partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment. SK Telecom, which features about 22 million subscribers, has signed a four-year deal with Sony to ...
Ezmo has a plan--free music on your mobile! Well some of your mobiles.(MOBILE MEDIA)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Ezmo, an online music player service, has announced a mobile capability of its service allowing users to listen to their music collection via mobile device. Ezmo is a service that lets users upload their music collection, listen to it, share it with up to 10 friends and also ...
Sony expands its PlayNow with 5M new tracks.(MOBILE MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Sony Ericsson unveiled the latest musical infusion to its PlayNow, an over-the-air mobile music download service, by announcing deals with 10 major record labels totaling over five million new tracks. Sony also showed off the design of PlayNow arena and launched PlayNow Uncut--a.k.a ....
BlackBerry: less black box, more little black dress.(MOBILE MEDIA)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... BlackBerry is forgoing the blocky handsets frequented by lawyers, politicians and executives for new, sleeker retail devices that have more of a "lifestyle" feel. Research In Motion (RIM) decided on the transition to a retail market, which can easily be seen in devices like the pink ...
Myxer's mobile multitude meets milestone of 5 million--the letter M's stock rises.(MOBILE MEDIA)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Myxer has declared it's surpassed five million users and 12 million downloads per month, quite possibly making it the largest ad-supported mobile content site. In April 2007, Myxer hit the one million mark and then reached three million in the following October. Currently it is averaging ...
Amazon takes its MP3s to an international stage.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Amazon this year will begin international deployment of Amazon MP3, its DRM-free MP3 store that's compatible with just about every device under the sun. As it currently stands, Amazon MP3 is the only one to have DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels, as well as over ...
RadioIO sets a goal of 32 new music channels in 30 days.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... RadioIO, the Internet radio service from IOWorld Media, is introducing new music channels faster than a speeding bullet. It is looking to move from 28 channels to 60 in a period of only 30 days, ending February 1. The 60 channels will feature the staples of any good Internet ...
Target targets online music.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Target has launched a new music store with the help of Sony BMG and Hip Digital Media. Target is testing the waters offering high-quality MP3s of just on artist and just one album--John Legend's Live from Philadelphia. The album is $10, is DRM-free and comes with no option to ...
U2's manager rails against ISPs and device makers, then hopes they'll join his side.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... U2's manager Paul McGuinness has called for the music industry to shift its focus on piracy away from small, illegal P2P sites and to focus on companies that provide the basic services and devices used in conjunction with these sites. This call came at Midem, the music industry's ...
Last.fm is the first to offer free on-demand songs online.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Last.fm is changing its service to allow anyone to listen to music for free on its site. With this launch, Last.fm is the first and most likely the largest Web site to offer free, on-demand access to a library comprised of titles from the four major labels--Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and ...
Embarq introduces unlimited music.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Embarq, a provider of phone, Internet and satellite services to the home, has launched its first premium music product, Embarq Unlimited Music. This service will allow Embarq's current residential Internet customers to download and listen to over 3 million tracks via the ...
For all the talk of iPods and Zunes, 2007 was not a good year for music.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... The ratio of illegal music tracks downloaded to legal tracks sold was about 20 to 1 in 2007. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a London based group that represents the major labels, said that tens of billions of illegal files were traded in 2007. ...
Sunrise communications relaunches Sunrise Musicworld.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Sunrise has relaunched its Musicworld application looking to break into the market with an integrated mobile and Internet shop allowing users to download content ...
PermissionTV launches interactive media player.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Let's say you want to set up a Web site with a video player that shows consumers a product's features or how the product can be used. Rather than developing the Web site and video player from scratch, you'd contract with a company that has an online video platform and video player such as ...
Napster mobile debuts in Italy.(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Ericsson and Napster have launched the Napster Mobile music service with Telecom Italia through its mobile brand TIM. Napster Mobile's premium music service offers ringtones, artist images, wallpaper and access to its catalog of five million songs to the 35 million subscribers ...
Qtrax, what is left to say?(ONLINE MUSIC SERVICES)
Feb 02, 2008 ... Qtrax has been pummeled to death by the media since its Sunday announcement of 25 to 30 million free, downloadable songs, including songs from the four major record labels, none of which is true. Qtrax was the hope beyond hope for some consumers, seeing it as the labels finally ...