04:55 PM by ignatz in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

I discovered a new website recently, Kitabe.com, which seems to have applied the Netflix method to the audiobook problem. But the best part of the deal is that they distribute their audiobooks on MP3-CD, so that books that would take up 10 CDs can be sent on just one. I didn't even realize that publishers were releasing books in this format.

Interestingly, their faq does not mention ipod-like devices, focusing instead on playing on car and home stereos and computers. Is there DRM in place to prevent copying these files into your DAP? Or are they just not going to mention it to avoid advocating that you copy these files?

Anyway the price is $12.75/month for one audiobook at a time, no late fees, free shipping, etc. They have a decent selection of history and non-fiction, but not extraordinary. They do seem to have plenty of popular fiction. If they can capture a market niche, perhaps their library will continue to grow.

Does anyone have any experience with this site? Sounds like it might be worth pursuing for me, being a dedicated devourer of auditory input. I'd love to hear other's thoughts.

01:22 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

"The Mobile Wireless Classroom (MWC) is a transportable, self-contained classroom set of handheld computers and a centralized server for electronic polling, quizzing, testing, assessment, and streaming audio & video, connected via an ad hoc wireless network. In a nutshell, the MWC is a set of 30 Pocket PCs stored in a custom built cart (complete with charging cradles, laptop server, projector, and wireless access points) that can be moved to any classroom on campus and used by any instructor in any subject."

Sound futuristic? Actually, it was rolled out in 2003 at Eastern Washington University for a Microbiology class. It "got very positive reactions from the students and the instructor."

Check out the rest of the story at Pocket PC Magazine.

01:14 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

The new program by Clear Channel Radio (which has over 1,200 US radio stations) will put new artist's music on their station's web sites. This is done with permission from the labels. "Labels that have agreed to provide artists include Atlantic, Capitol, Columbia, Def Jam, Lava, Manhattan, RMG, Rounder, Sony/BMG, Virgin, Warner Bros. and Wind-Up. Clear Channel partner GarageBand.com will provide unsigned artists."

"The program will feature hundreds of songs on-demand from rock and pop to country. Each quarter, 16 artists will be featured, along with their artist-produced home video." The artists will be made available for 90 days each.

Read more from this TechWeb story here.

01:08 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Select customers will be able to test drive the new version of Yahoo's web email service. It's a good quality web email right now, with about 1gig storage available per user.

Competition is tough with Google's Gmail service becoming more widely available. But the new Yahoo mail test may put Yahoo in a better position to keep and attract users.

(Via AP report at Yahoo)

08:36 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

It's not enough that Palm had the ingenious idea of illuminatable hardware buttons; now they strike back with another revolutionary invention: raised keys on a miniature keyboard. According to the patent, the height of the keys are patterned in a way to improve data entry and decrease the chance of depressing multiple keys at a time.

There exists a need for a miniature keyboard that allows the user to accurately and confidently input the desired characters while maintaining a small and compact design that is desired by users and useful for portable applications...by incorporating different key arrangements and alternating the height of the keys, key differentiation and data input accuracy is greatly improved. Key differentiation is improved because better tactile feedback is provided when depressing keys. A point of reference is provided thereby avoiding pressing multiple keys or improper keys.

I'm hoping to wake up to find it's just an elaborate joke.

07:50 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Remember when the world reeled from the shock and empathetic pain when a hacker broke into Paris Hilton's Sidekick and revealed disturbingly personal information? Turned out the culprit was a 17-year-old kid who got sentenced yesterday to 11 months' detention at a juvenile facility, and as an adult he won't be allowed to use a computer or cell phone for two years.

In January, the teen hacked into the telephone records system of T-Mobile International. He used a security flaw in the company's Web site that allowed him to reset the password of anyone using a Sidekick, a pricey phone-organizer-camera device that stores videos, photos and other data on T-Mobile's central computer servers. A month later, the teen would use that flaw to gain access to Hilton's Sidekick files, according to corroborating information and screen shots he shared with washingtonpost.com.

More in today's Washington Post.

10:09 PM by Brian in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

According to a recent report by In-Stat titled Video Content Availability Will Be A Key Factor in Portable Media Player Growth, a number of key factors must be addressed before the Portable Media Player (PMP) market expands beyond early adopters. The report cites DRM, high price points, and the lack of legal video download services as barriers to mass market adoption.

Some other important points from the report:

- Portable Media Players are competing with other converged devices like PDAs, handheld gaming consoles like Sony's PSP, and portable DVD players.

- Early adopters will remain the primary market for Portable Media Players in 2005.

- The mass market is not willing to pay the $400-$500 for a dedicated Personal Media Player.

- By the end of the decade, worldwide Portable Media Player shipments are expected to reach 7.5 million units.

There is some encouraging news, however. According to Stephanie Guza, an In-Stat analyst, there has been a notable increase in activity by device manufacturers and content providers within the last six months to promote the availability of portable video content.

So far, Portable Media Player sales have been lackluster to say the least. The cumbersome and legally questionable process of transferring content like DVDs and TV shows onto these devices isn't helping mass market adoption, and BitTorrent downloads suffer the same issues. Is Steve Jobs right to hold off on the release of a video iPod and iTunes Movie Store until the market is ready, or should Apple, Microsoft, Creative and others work with content providers to build it, and they (the mass market) will come?

06:45 PM by sUnShInE in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Here's an interesting proposal for an internet-style emergency response system by former FCC commissioner Reed Hundt and Net guru Carl Malamud from AmericanProgress:

The United States should allocate a part of our spectrum to emergency responders. While there is a huge debate in Washington about how to divvy up the spectrum among the many competing uses, in this case there is no reason for any debate. Congress can authorize the FCC to dedicate a chunk of spectrum to an emergency response system.... After allocating spectrum, the government should specify the access mechanism. There is nothing to invent here: something like WiFi and the Internet is the obvious solution. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. Instead, the government should simply ask the standards bodies that define specifications for WiFi and the Internet to specify which of their existing standards need to be used. The important point is that any standards used should be free from any patent, or licensing considerations that would hinder open source development efforts. What could you do with this spectrum? A look in any PC magazine or at the thousands of blogs devoted to hardware shows that a lot of what you want out of an emergency response system already exists in the wild on the Internet. Indeed, when the city of New Orleans needed to restablish communication with the outside world, a PC and an Internet phone call were the Mayor's only communications link....

When you think of the lives Wi-Fi or WiMax could have saved during and after the hurricane, it is truly mindboggling.

via Tim O'Reilly's blog