Technology360

Podcasting Gold Rush Is On

Steve Friess writes: "The podosphere may be virgin terrain for the online world, but already the race is on to figure out whether there's any real money to be made through the new medium.  ¶  Consider the vast variety of approaches that have cropped up since Apple's iTunes upgrade this summer started delivering thousands of new listeners to podcasters who once toiled in obscurity. ..."  Link:  Wired.

Science Fact: The "Google Grid" of EPIC 2014 Takes Shape

It's been around awhile, but if you haven't seen the terrific EPIC 2014 multimedia presentation referenced below, do it now before you read this analysis.  Takes just a few minutes.  --Dennis

John Blossom writes, "About a year ago Jeff Cutler brought to my attention the online multimedia presentation "EPIC 2014", a science fiction look at how Google would advance the Web into a continuous global grid of content and connectivity. In our weblog at that time I noted that science fiction oftentimes comes true far sooner than its creators would like to think. Today CNET News notes that many of the elements of the "Google Grid" global environment are beginning to fall into place as it unveils piece by piece their plans for a unique global computing network, in large part wireless, that would provide secure and presumably user-free access to the Web and Google services. Providing highly localized content in this environment is one of the projected keys to its success. ..."  Link:  Shore.

Audio Search: Selling Picks and Shovels at the Podcast Gold Rush

Jean Bedford writes:  "Search is rapidly evolving beyond the HTML pages indexed by Google, Yahoo and the other general purpose search engines. This well attended presentation at the first Search SIG (Special Interest Group) for the SDForum, a leading nonprofit for the technology community in Silicon Valley, highlighted emerging companies providing the infrastructure for audio search. Appropriately enough, the program, with the usual tech pizza, was held at the Sunnyvale campus of Yahoo, which released Yahoo Audio Search in August, to mixed reviews, primarily related to issues of available metadata, not the technology. Unlike text which already contains words, audio needs tags to be "findable" and and it's that process that is in its infancy. Audio music needs artist, album and lyrics at the very minimum, while podcasts need dates, station and show identifiers just as a radio program would be cataloged. ..."  Link:  Shore.com.

Here's a report on the SIG meeting from the Yahoo! Search Blog, On the road to personalized audio: We're all ears….  Yahoo! says that the audio of the meeting will soon be available for download.  I'll watch for the link and post it.  --Dennis

‘Broadcast Flag’ May Fly On Digital Television Legislation

Sarah Lai Stirland writes:  "Trade associations representing movie and recording industries are trying to persuade Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, to give the FCC authority to mandate copy protection technology for movies and music. ...¶... RIAA and other artist and music groups are worried that consumers will be able to use software to record and create libraries of high-quality music via digital radio. Some artists worry the practice could undermine revenue they could earn through digital downloads.  ¶  Movie studios, meanwhile, want the FCC to have regulatory authority over television equipment in order to prevent the mass, online redistribution of high-definition entertainment. ..."  Link:  National Journal.

RIAA's Big Push to Copy Protect Digital Radio

Mike Godwin (EFF) writes: "Never mind that digital audio broadcasting is not significantly greater in quality than regular, analog radio. Never mind that its music quality is vastly less than than that of audio CDs. In spite of these inconvenient facts, the RIAA is hoping that the transition to "digital audio broadcasting" will provide enough confusion and panic that they can persuade Congress or the FCC to impose some kind of copy-protection scheme or regulation on digital radio broadcast.  ¶  Immediately below is the text of the joint resolution by RIAA and other groups, asking Congress to copy-protect radio (which has never been copy-protected before). Following that is RIAA's "one-pager" outlining for Congress the reasons RIAA offers for Congress to authorize the FCC to put in place a copy-protection scheme for radio. ..."  Link:  Godwin's Law.

USDTV Signs Agreement with Major Broadcasters to Expand ''Over-the-Air'' Digital Subscription TV

If you've been wondering about the status of USDTV, here's an update (thanks to Mark Schubin).  --Dennis

"U.S. Digital Television, LLC (USDTV) today announced that it signed a $25.75 million funding agreement with an investment group that includes Fox Television Stations, Inc., Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., McGraw-Hill Broadcasting, LIN TV Corp., Morgan-Murphy Stations and Telcom DTV, LLC, providing additional financial and strategic support to expand its low cost, all-digital, 'over-the-air' alternative to cable. ...¶...  For less than $20 a month, USDTV offers consumers approximately 30 all digital channels, comprising local digital and HDTV broadcast channels and 12 leading cable networks, including FOX News Channel, ESPN and The Disney Channel.  ¶  Consumers receive the USDTV service through a VHF/UHF antenna connected to a proprietary USDTV set-top box, producing digital quality picture and sound on standard TVs. USDTV is able to broadcast its service by leasing spectrum from its television station partners in each market. ..."  Link:  USDTV press release via Business Wire.

Boston's WNDS-TV to Relaunch as "My TV" (WZMY-TV)

Tracy Swedlow writes:  "On September 26th, Boston[*] TV station WNDS-TV will be relaunched as 'My TV' (WZMY-TV). The station says that the rebranding is intended to reflect its plan to give viewers a say in its programming schedule, via its Web site, toll-free phone lines and community events. Viewers will also have the opportunity to appear in the station's programs and station ID's. 'My TV will build a relationship with our viewers by involving them in the station and by delivering entertainment and news that relates to their values and reflects their lifestyles,' Diane Sutter, president and CEO of the station's parent company, ShootingStar, said in a prepared statement. 'Consumers want control of their media, and we are uniquely positioned to give the consumer what he or she wants.' ..."  Link:  ITVT.com. [*] Actually, the city of license for WZMY is Derry, NH.  --Dennis

IMS is a Revolutionary Vision for Telecommunications

"The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) has become one of the hottest topics in telecommunications.  In-Stat believes that IMS provides a unifying vision for the future of telecommunications, and that it is more appropriate now to think of IMS as an overall IP Multimedia System that consists of a single, converged architecture for wireline and wireless service providers, end-user devices with the required IP multimedia functionality, and the systems integration necessary to deliver high-quality IP multimedia services for and between any set of wireline and wireless end-users.  ¶  ... IMS is a revolutionary vision for the future of the telecommunications industry, leading to new multimedia services, new network architectures, new business models and relationships, and new end-user devices with new capabilities. In the long term, all telecommunications services (voice services, business networking services, the Internet, IPTV) will be provided through IMS. ..."  Link:  In-Stat press release.  Note:  Wikipedia has a good overview of the technology.  --Dennis

I want My Own TV channel

"Viewers will be able to have their own television channel as part of a range of interactive applications made possible by broadband video services.  ¶  UK telephony provider BT is reported to be considering an application developed by the French telecommunications equipment company Alcatel, dubbed My Own TV.  ¶  This will offer subscribers their own virtual channel, allowing them to share their home videos and photo collections with friends and relatives.  ¶  Alcatel says the same service would allow special interest groups such as local football clubs or small towns to have their own television channels. ..."  Link informitv.com.

Web 2.0 Meme Map

Tim O'Reilly has posted a graphic representation (bel0w) of a brainstorming session on the Web 2.0 meme at the 2005 Friends of O'Reilly (FOO) Camp.  What has this got to do with electronic media?  Well, quite a lot, I think; about which I'll try to write more in the next month or so.  --Dennis