News written by Dave Horvath (April, 2007)

The next generation of mobile phone broadband, aptly named 4th generation or 4G is shaping up to change how mobile users receive and consume their digital media. The major supporter of the fourth generation mobile broadband is Intel by way of their WiMAX technology. WiMAX is similar in capacity to Wi-Fi but has the strength simliar to cellular signal for reaching much greater distances.

Should companies choose to adopt the WiMAX standard, this would significantly lower the cost of providing digital content over the current jammed mobile broadband network. Because of the flexibility of WiMAX, labels are looking into its benefits to support their content.

"We're negotiating over a much larger number, rather than the tight margins we have today,"said Warner Music's strategic management VP Michael Nash.

A representative from MobiTV stated that the benefits of WiMAX would not just be for mobile phones. At a recent trade show, the company showed high definition content being streamed over WiMAX with little to no degradation of quality. This power would enable media to be streamed to virtually any device capable of receiving a WiMAX signal, be it a computer, phone or even future compatable televisions.

Being hailed as the first of its kind, Samsung will be releasing its SGH-F500 mobile phone in late 2007 complete with its own DivX Certification. DivX Inc. does not hand out their certifications lightly as devices are subjected to rigorous tests to ensure interoperability between other DivX enabled devices and also to ensure the quality consumers expect from DivX encoded media.

The F500 is a member of Samsung's premier line of cellular phones and features a large LCD display that sits atop a swivel for optimal viewing range. Samsung claims the device offers high quality DivX viewing in any setting. DivX material can be accessed from either the consumer's own collection, the DivX Stage 6 service or other forms of digital content services.

"The addition of DivX Certification to the Samsung F500 mobile handset opens a broad ecosystem of digital media that can be taken on the road while preserving the kind of high-quality experience that video aficionados demand," said Kevin Hell, President of DivX, Inc. "DivX is working to build a common digital media language that offers real interoperability across devices and platforms, and innovative devices like the Samsung Ultra F500 phone are an important piece of that ecosystem."

Korean based electronics giant, LG, known for everything from cellular phones to flat screen televisions to refrigerators is looking to branch out in yet another electronics market. While pictures of the LG FM37 personal media player have been floating around for some time, details have often been scant at the very best. Now as the player takes to the market, a few more details are available as LG hopes to take portable video to a new level.

Armed with the same processing power as their LDC televisions, the FM37 comes in a shiny aluminum chassis and touted as the best small LCD displays on the planet. Although in early reviews popping up, the media center software is being called unsightly names like "clunky", this still doesn't stop people from giving the little device a shiny review.

Crisp picture in a 2.4" display isn't all as its also got touchscreen ability to help navigate the media software. All of this adds up to great, but not the best sound, according to reviews and a battery life said to reach some 3 hours of continuous video and 20 hours of audio.



Sources:
Engadget and Stuff.tv

It seems the masses will not be content at letting the movie studios deny them the ability to back up their high-definition content as the DRM scheme AACS has once again been exploited. This time, the clever bunch of hackers have exposed the Volume ID any disk inserted into the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive.

Any disk means just that, any disk. Even disks that have had their volume ID previously put on the hot list of the AACS LA (Licensing Authority) will not escape the scrutiny of this exploit. Couple this with the exposed processing keys and you would be able to backup your media for playback on whatever device you choose. This all comes about just one week after WinDVD released and update that was supposed to strengthen AACS efforts but instead, as many expected, became utterly useless.

Of course, this update is only good news for those out there who own an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, but its still good news for things to come.

Source:
Engadget

Virgin Radio has announced that it will take its digital networks onboard with the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3. They are claiming to be the first UK based station to do just that.

Set to be released possibly as an update, each respective console will have a new feature added to the browser which will host a custom player that accesses the Virgin Radio media stream. In addition to standard radio transmission, they hope to broadcast video and special recording sessions. If that wasn't enough, they're also touting the ability to purchase and download concert tickets full albums and individual tracks of select artists.

In efforts to appeal to a younger crowd, Virgin's director of digital media, James Cridland said, "People are treating the consoles as part of their home entertainment media centre, and now Virgin Radio will be part of that experience."

Of course, the main Virgin Radio station will be widely available through the two consoles, but Virgin also says they will include such networks as the guitar heavy Virgin Radio Xtreme, Virgin Radio Classic as well as Virgin Radio Groove for the soulfully minded.

Source:
BBC

Japanese conglomerate, NEC which is known for production of everything from computer chips to defense systems stated that it has developed a new form of plastic. Its bioplastic is a corn based product that conducts heat faster than stainless steel. NEC aims to use this bioplastic as a source material for mobile phones and laptops beginning April 2008.

The benefit of this corn-based bioplastic is that it is lighter and would essentially run cooler than standard build practices. Laptops, for instance, wouldn't need to be burdened with the added weight of stainless steel heat releasing sheets or fans. Mobile phones would see an improvement in weight and heat generation if incorporated with this new plastic.

NEC hopes to replace most of the current plastic with its bioplastic by 2010 and has already begun using plastic made of fermented corn and kenaf fiber in phones in March of last year.

"Cost is still a bottleneck, but we hope to continue lowering bioplastic costs and add value so that other makers will also follow suit," said Shuichi Tahara, general manager of NEC's Nano Electronics Research Laboratories.

The new plastic is cheaper than other fiber-reinforced plastics as it requires less carbon fiber to produce, but it still remains more expensive than stainless steel.

Since its debut in November of 2001, Apple has released 10 variations of its market dominating portable media device, the iPod. Released in an unofficial sales figure, Apple says it has officially shipped its 100 millionth iPod and by which has reached a hefty milestone.

Shrugging off high profile competitors such as Microsoft with its Zune player as well as several third-party contenders, Apple has remained at the very top of the portable media food chain with a healthy and steady 70% market share. Their iTunes service boasts some 2.5 billion songs, 50 million television shows and over 1.3 million movies sold to further bolster their dominance.

With eager Apple fans awaiting the next product to drop from the lineup, the iPhone continues to generate media buzz. It is scheduled to be released 2 months from now with an expected price tag of $500 or $600.

Source:
ZDNet

A Sony affiliate born out of an agreement to direct funds to a new type of display for flat panel TVs known as Field Emmission Technologies, Inc., is currently developing FED or Field Emmission Displays for use in the corporate sector.

While no plans are currently in the works to use these displays for private home use, it does open up possibilities for more flat panel options in the future. Field emmission displays are said to be more efficient and focus their strengths on creating crisp moving images.

"Our products will be used by professional video creators and at broadcasting companies," Field Emission Technologies Chief Executive Shohei Hasegawa told a news conference. "We have a dream of eventually entering the TV market for general consumers. But we will steer clear of heavy capital investments up front

Hasegawa commented that they will be looking to sign prospective partners by mid-2008 and hope to have product for consumption by 2009.

FED was invented in the 1970s but never gained much ground due to not being commercialized, then eventually lost out to LCD and plasma displays.

Source:
Reuters

Flash memory producer SanDisk released a statement saying that it has recently partnered with Yahoo in a music sharing service directly geared towards their Sansa Connect digital audio player.

Sansa Connect will not only allow users to listen to their favorite MP3s, but it also has built in WiFi which will enable users to connect to Yahoo's music service without the need to first connect to a PC. Details of the agreement are not known, but it is said that the Sansa connect will be associated with both a free service as well as a subscription based service provided by Yahoo.

Released in January and available for sale in the US, the Sansa Connect is said to be the number 2 digital audio player behind longshot front runner, the iPod. SanDisk, like many others before it, hopes to take some of the 70% market share away from Apple and the Sansa Connect player is one of a few devices showcased at this year's Consumer Electronics Show.

SanDisk hopes to reclaim some of the profit drop it has felt with the decline in prices for flash memory and releases this player to the tune of $250.

Source:
Reuters

Leaving nothing to the competition, Microsoft has partnered with Talismoon to bring that tilting goodness previously found only in Nintendo's Wiimote and Sony's SIXAXIS controller.

Talismoon's tiltboard is set to get a full on "mass production" makeover which will polish its control over Microsoft games and allow 360 users the ability to control their games without touching the D-pad or analog control sticks. Details are very slim right now, only a video showing off what it can do in these early stages.

A rather excited representative from Talismoon simply stated that this partnership "will be worth the wait".

Source:
Engadget

Security firm Kaspersky has identified the first virus possible of infecting Apple's iPod. Although this virus is not malicious in nature and is impossible to spread on its own, it has been identified as a "proof of concept" virus. What this means, the developers of the virus have released the file to show that it is possible to infect the platform and can become a problem should the decide to release it upon the world.

In its current form, the virus known as Podloso can only "infect" the iPod with direct user involvement. As stated, being proof of concept only, it has no means of self propogating. Once launched, it scans the hard drive and attaches itself to any executable (.elf) file found. Once any application on the iPod is launched, the user will be treated to a splash screen stating, "You are infected with Oslo the first iPodLinux Virus".

As evident from its message, the Podloso virus only infects those iPods running Linux as its operating system.

No details were found of its origination and as stated before, this virus poses no real threat, carries no malicious payload and can only be infected if you, the user, specifically launches the virus package. Apparently the creators just wanted word to spread that they are not safe anymore.

Basking in the glory of a highly profitable lineup of console games, Japanese game maker Nintendo has revamped their sales target for this year. Nintendo now states that it expects its official sales from the beginning of the year through March to be up from its expected 900 billion Yen ($8.1bn; £4.1bn) to an astounding 966 billion.

Credit can be given to its still wildly successful DS handheld, a successful launch of its new Wii console as well as several sleeper titles that gained massive popularity such as its Brain Teasing exercises.

Many analysts are surprised at Nintendo's success and the speed at which its units are continuously selling out even when faced with stiff competition from Sony's PS3 and the highly successful Microsoft Xbox 360.

Nintendo is expected to release its official sales figures on April 26.

Source:
BBC

Computer manufacturer Hewlett Packard has decided to give the world of video games a shot. Having recently acquired VoodooPC at the end of last year, HP unveiled plans to usher in a new line of PCs tailored to gamers.

With innovative plans in the works such as curved monitors which are said to allow gamers a more surreal experience in their gameplay. One example was a driving game that could give the gamer peripheral vision as well as the standard straight on view. Another plan unveiled with little information is a handheld unit in development to give gamers a solution on the move.

HP stated that it has no intentions at going up against the big 3 in consoles, but only to offer PC gamers an avenue for competant machines, priced a bit higher than their standard machines, but full of impressive hardware. They stated that the machines would, however cost less than the custom PCs once ordered directly from VoodooPC. HP hopes to follow its competitor Dell when it purchased custom PC maker Alienware in March 2006. The 35 billion dollar per year industry has to be tempting for just about anyone with the means of breaking into it.

Source
BBC