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BetaNews.Com (6 non lus)

Bitbop aims to take on FloTV, Sling with Blackberry exclusive mobile entertainment service

Publié: juin 24, 2010, 11:45pm CEST par Ed Oswald

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

News Corp-owned subsidiary Fox Mobile Group launched late Wednesday its fee-based Bitbop mobile entertainment service, aiming to compete with the likes of Sling and FloTV in offering entertainment on the go.
Bitbop has launched exclusively on the BlackBerry platform, although company representatives told BetaNews that versions of the application will be made available for the iPhone and Android platforms in the near future. The company declined to offer any specific time frame.
"Think of Sling without the box," Bitbop spokesperson Leigh Anne Varney said in describing the product.
As one would expect, the focus of Bitbop's initial content offering centers around networks that its parent company has an interest in: Fox, FX, Fuel TV, and the National Geographic Channel. However, non-News Corp. networks are also well-represented and include the other three major broadcast networks and cable outlets A&E, Bravo, Logo, MTV, Spike, and TLC, among others.
Bitbop will be provided as a free download through Blackberry's App World and includes a seven day free trial that allows for the viewing of up to three shows. Afterwards, users would need to pay a $9.99 monthly service fee for unlimited use. Content is viewable over 3G and Wi-Fi, with an option to download for offline viewing.
"The potential of the smartphone has barely been tapped," Fox Mobile Group products head Joe Billman said. "Our goal is to provide consumers with an exciting new entertainment experience."
What Bitbop is doing is not necessarily new, however. FloTV has been offering a similar service for both AT&T and Verizon phones for over two years now, and the Qualcomm-powered technology behind that service has been around for long before that.
The one factor that does make Bitbop different and new is the fact that it is controlled by a media company itself rather than a technology manufacturer. Being that media companies traditionally are more apt to work among themselves -- Hulu being the best example of this -- it could mean content may appear on Bitbop far faster than it does on its competitors.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

BlackBerry - iPhone - Hulu - National Geographic Channel - BlackBerry App World
Smartphones with HD video cams won't cut into pocket camcorder sales for 3-4 years

Publié: juin 24, 2010, 9:38pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

The ability to record 720p HD video has become a standard feature in the big flagship smartphones this year. The Google Nexus One, Apple iPhone 4, Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G, and Nokia N8, for example, can all capture HD video.
For companies involved in the pocket camcorder business like Cisco, Kodak, and Creative, this convergence poses a threat to sales of their small, ultraportable cameras. But according to a report from Futuresource Consulting today, the consumer camcorder business has not yet begun to feel these effects.
In the 17 leading countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Futuresource actually tracked a 6% overall growth in unit sales in the first quarter of 2010, driven by big gains in France and Germany, which had 12% and 13% increases respectively. Furthermore, pocket camcorders like the Flip, Vado, and Bloggie lines accounted for 35% of all shipments.
"The continued surge in online video applications and a thirst for user-generated web video uploads...is fuelling the demand for video capture devices, [and] is also going some way towards driving sales of converged devices such as mobile phones and Apple's iPod Nano," Simon Bryant, Principal Consultant at Futuresource Consulting said in a statement today. "However, the relatively poorer quality optics - including optical zoom - and other sacrifices associated with multifunctional devices - including processing speeds, battery life, memory limitations and imaging aids - will help reduce the long term threat from these devices."
Futuresource expects camcorder shipment volumes to recover and exhibit some growth over the next three to four years, when market saturation and convergence will finally take effect.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

IPhone - Apple - Motorola - HTC Corporation - iPod Nano
Headphone company Koss sues former VP and accounting firm in $30m embezzlement scandal

Publié: juin 24, 2010, 6:11pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

American consumer electronics company Koss, famous for its stereo headphones, has filed a lawsuit against its former Vice President of Finance, Sujata Sachdeva, and against Grant Thornton, LLP, one of the nation's largest accounting firms, alleging fraud and deceit, professional negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty.
The company says that Sachdeva embezzled funds for at least five years, and that Grant Thornton failed to properly audit the company's financial statements and discover Sachdeva's actions.
It was discovered last December that Sachdeva had embezzled tens of millions of dollars from Koss, and used the money to "fund a lavish lifestyle complete with furs, jewelry and high-end clothing."
"Grant Thornton was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to properly audit the company's financial statements and they failed miserably," said Michael Avenatti, lead attorney representing Koss. "This failure included repeatedly assuring the company and its board that the company's internal controls were effective. A company should be able to rely on its auditors."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Consumer electronics - Koss Corporation - United States - Business - Financial statements
Roku and Clearleap present complete solution to cable companies for over the top video on demand

Publié: juin 24, 2010, 5:05pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Entertainment hardware company Roku and Web-based TV platform maker Clearleap today announced an interesting partnership which could result in cable companies offering their own video on demand station on Roku's popular streaming set top box.
The two companies will begin offering a solution that lets Internet-based video on demand purchases be routed through a customer's pay TV subscription. Similar to the way the Roku set top box allows Netflix customers to have access to all of the Netflix Instant streaming content on their TV; this new partnership could, for example, bring a "Comcast channel" to the Roku box, where subscribers have access to all the free or pay-per-view content they'd have on a Comcast set top box.
Except, of course, it would be available over IP, and would only require an over-the-top solution like the Roku box.
"Clearleap's platform opens a clear and easy pathway for premium programmers and TV operators to diversify the distribution of their content through the Roku player and will dramatically strengthen our value as an engaging living room entertainment device," said David Krall, president and COO of Roku in a statement today. "This also makes a strong case for [Multi-system Operators] to consider using Roku players in the home with Clearleap as a complete managed [Video on demand] service."
The two companies will be running tests over the next six months, and expect to launch a limited commercial deployment with an unnamed pay TV operator by the end of this year.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Television - Clearleap - Roku - Netflix - Cable television
District Court rules YouTube did not infringe on Viacom's copyrights, case to be appealed

Publié: juin 24, 2010, 3:35pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Copyrighted content uploaded to YouTube has been a problem ever since the site launched in 2005. In fact, "Me at the zoo," the first video ever uploaded to YouTube, is dated April 23, 2005. The first time Viacom took legal action against YouTube was exactly one month later, on May 24, 2005, when it issued a subpeona for information about a user who uploaded copyrighted material to the site.
In late 2006, YouTube and Viacom reached a content syndication agreement, but after Google completed its $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube, the company retracted its agreement, pulled all of its content from the site, and sued Google for over 63,000 counts of copyright infringement.
After three years of litigation and accusations that one was "built on lawsuits" while the other was "built on infringement," federal judge Louis Stanton handed down a major victory to Google yesterday. The judge upheld Google's use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's "safe harbor" provision that protects the site from claims of copyright infringement.
"This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other. We're excited about this decision and look forward to renewing our focus on supporting the incredible variety of ideas and expression that billions of people post and watch on YouTube every day around the world," Kent Walker, Vice President and General Counsel of Google wrote in the YouTube blog yesterday.
Viacom's Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary Michael Fricklas, who has been the company's mouthpiece in this case, issued a statement yesterday as well. "We are disappointed with the judge's ruling, but confident we will win on appeal...YouTube and Google stole hundreds of thousands of video clips from artists and content creators, including Viacom, building a substantial business that was sold for billions of dollars. We believe that should not be allowed by law or common sense. This case has always been about whether intentional theft of copyrighted works is permitted under existing law and we always knew that the critical underlying issue would need to be addressed by courts at the appellate levels. Today's decision accelerates our opportunity to do so."
Walker later updated YouTube's blog to remind us that this ruling affects other lawsuits against YouTube, including the British Premier League, who filed a class action suit against YouTube in 2007 for copyright infringement. Many of the League's original claims were dismissed in 2009, but claims for "statutory damages for works not registered in the US" were upheld.
The case with Viacom is, of course, far from over, but this ruling will serve as a strong precedent in future litigation.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

YouTube - Viacom - Digital Millennium Copyright Act - Google - Copyright
What's wrong with iPhone 4's antenna?

Publié: juin 24, 2010, 2:06am CEST par Joe Wilcox

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

The rumors are true: iPhone 4 signal strength wavers when the device is held in the hand. Isn't that like the typical position for holding a cell phone? I can confirm the behavior with the unit FedEx delivered about 3 hours ago. When the phone is flat down, I see four to five bars. When I hold the device in my left hand, the bars slowly go down until either there is one bar or "searching" appears on the screen.
I want to thank Justin Horn for bringing the problem to my attention. I had complained about "searching" behavior on Twitter. He posted: "Is the new iPhone 4 antenna design causing signal issues?" Gizmodo has crowdsourced the story, getting readers to confirm the declining bars scenario; good for Giz practicing some fine "process journalism."
By appearances, the act of holding the phone impares signal strength. I'm not so bothered because I typically use a Bluetooth headset rather than hold a phone. Flat or holstered in a case are the handset's typical positions when used. But many other people do palm their iPhones when making calls. More significantly, the problem raises possibilities of a flaw in the newly redesigned antenna array. In my brief testing on one phone call, the recipient reported degradation in calling quality -- "crackling" -- after the bars receded to none.
A cell phone should be a phone first and everything else second. It's unclear yet how serious the problem really is and how much it could affect calling quality on AT&T's "seemingly always dropping calls" network. The problem also raises questions about a known design flaw. I ask because of Apple's iPhone "Bumper" guards, which from their announcement seemed strange starter accessories to me. But what if using the Bumpers separate the metal band from the hand enough to remove any signal interference? I don't have the Bumper accessory, so I can't say. Anyone with iPhone 4 and Bumper want to chime in with an answer -- in comments?
[Update: If I hold the phone out from my palm, but sill firmly gripped, the number of bars diminishes only slightly. The signal strength decline is most bothersome when left thumb covers the volume keys and silent button and remaining side of the phone presses against the palm.]
Otherwise, my initial reaction to iPhone 4 is favorable. The design and "Retina Display" are hugely appealing. The phone feels surprisingly solid in the hand, and it is responsive, as in fast.
FedEx delivered iPhone 4 in the early afternoon Pacific Time. The deliveryman said he had about 40 phones on the truck when he started the daily run. I was near the last of his iPhone 4 deliveries.
Phones are looking to be in short supply for tomorrow's official launch. A friend went into a regular Apple Store -- in an East Coast mall -- to make sure there was a handset reserved from him. He got a "Yes" and a warning: Only 1,000 phones in stock, and they'll be available on a first-come basis. An Apple Store employee suggested lining up outside the store before 5 a.m. for the 7 a.m. opening.
Regarding iPhone availability, I've got to wonder about the white iPhone 4 delay. How much did white models factor into Apple's logistical planning and when in the manufacturing process did problems occur? The answers might explain why there are already supply shortages, beyond demand, if Apple planned on white but pulled the models late in manufacturing and distribution process.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

IPhone - Apple - Twitter - AT&T - FedEx