After a great deal of speculation, Facebook has quietly activated its desktop chatting client.
Digital Trends reports, “you can now keep tabs on your notifications, friend requests, ticker, and chat all without opening your browser.”
Facebook’s Messenger could potentially serve a deathblow to other message systems such as AIM and Yahoo Messenger, suggests the post.
The review is generally positive, but offers the following caveat: “The one feature we wish were available would be the viewing and commenting controls that you have when you’re visiting Facebook in-browser. Via Messenger, the ticker won’t actually reveal the items it’s announcing: instead, you’re redirected to the site. Included items like listening in with friends or viewing pictures via the desktop app would be a huge improvement.”
Microsoft has reported record holiday sales for its Xbox 360 game console. During the week of Black Friday, the company moved 960,000 consoles in the U.S. alone, while 750,000 Kinect sensors were also sold during the same period.
Digital Trends provides some interesting tips to help change your Xbox 360 from a simple game console into a full home entertainment system.
The post offers details on Xbox Live; personalizing the dashboard; recommended apps including ESPN, iHeartRadio, Netflix and Hulu Plus (with HBO Go on its way); the Kinect add-on and more.
At the heart of the Xbox 360’s entertainment ecosystem is an Xbox Live account ($59.99 for a 12-month subscription). “XBL gives users access to the Xbox marketplace, streaming, apps, and the friends list which makes the Xbox great for online gaming,” notes the post. “Using the friends list, players can jump into games with friends and see what they are playing, plus they can join a party and talk to them no matter what game or app they are in. It’s great for setting up impromptu gaming sessions, as well as keeping in touch with friends scattered around the world.”
“Make sure you check out the Live Marketplace to download games, extra content, demos, and trailers,” suggests Digital Trends.
Also highly recommended: “When you are setting up your console, if you have an HDTV we recommend using an HDMI cable, which is not included with the Xbox 360.”
Netflix is expected to face significant challenges in 2012, as its customer-satisfaction ratings have fallen below those of Amazon and new competitors continue to emerge with original video plans.
“There’s many more digital players that will command the attention of studios and consumers in 2012, from would-be Netflix rivals to those sporting entirely different business models and aiming to deliver TV programs and movies to every screen in U.S. homes,” reports Variety.
The success of the Netflix model has led to a new category known as subscription VOD, which is expected to spawn imitators. “Hulu, for one, built an SVOD component, Hulu Plus, off its massive ad-supported base that has nabbed 1 million subs in over a year,” notes the article. Both Netflix and Hulu have commissioned original content and continue to secure exclusives on catalog fare.
Amazon’s SVOD spinoff could present a challenge to Netflix, as Amazon Prime is also closing catalog deals. And Verizon “may enter the space in conjunction with Redbox.” We may also see SVOD models from Walmart’s Vudu and Dish Network’s Blockbuster.
The article cites the possible impact of a la carte digital rental options, such as iVOD offerings through Apple’s iTunes, and the one-off movie offerings Facebook has been testing.
Variety notes an additional possibility: “Microsoft’s Xbox Live was the first to try a third digital-distribution model for video that everyone from Verizon to Sony has been reported considering: the virtual MSO model, which bundles a bunch of linear channels akin to how a cable operator does, but with much fewer channels at a much lower price point. All the while, Xbox stays in the iVOD biz via its Zune marketplace.”
Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service allows authors to upload changes or even new versions to published books. This allows mistakes or typos to be corrected. New information can also be incorporated.
However, governments and school boards can alter works to create politically correct versions. And readers can be tracked to discover how they progress through the material.
“An e-book, I realized, is far different from an old-fashioned printed one,” writes Nicholas Carr in The Wall Street Journal. “The words in the latter stay put. In the former, the words can keep changing, at the whim of the author or anyone else with access to the source file. The endless malleability of digital writing promises to overturn a whole lot of our assumptions about publishing.”
“The promise of stronger sales and profits will make it hard to resist tinkering with a book,” suggests Carr. “What will be lost, or at least diminished, is the sense of a book as a finished and complete object, a self-contained work of art.”
Are we losing the sense of having a finished work? Will unfinished videos and films be next?
Analyst Nathan Safran, writing for Mashable, discusses the emerging shifts regarding the creation, delivery and consumption of visual media.
“Content creators make it, cable providers deliver it, and viewers consume it on the big screen in their living room,” he writes, in regards to the traditional model.
“In the last few years, however, we’ve seen a fundamental shift in the visual content landscape,” he explains. “For the first time since the advent of cable television in 1948, the lines are blurring as the quality of content created by non-prime networks — and even individuals — continues to improve. Plus, content increasingly reaches us over the Internet, consumed on whatever screen we happen to be in front of.”
Safran suggests this will have an impact on the rumored Apple television offering and what that might entail in terms of possible subscription packaging and licensing issues.
“Perhaps it’s time for Apple to get into the content creation business and license its own content. Imagine if the company approached a number of successful producers and convinced them to create an Apple series, for instance, ‘TV Series X by Steven Spielberg, exclusively on iTunes,’ or Quentin Tarantino, or Tom Hanks.”
However, Safran adds that the term “content creator” does not suggest that Apple will become the next Disney. He believes “content facilitator” is a more accurate term, “suggesting that Apple target other established, successful creators to generate compelling content that Apple would then exclusively distribute.”
Apple’s TV will still require participation from the usual content creators/owners, but if the company offers exclusive content, it may help drive hardware sales. According to Steve Rubel, EVP at Edelman: “Seems like Amazon and Apple are really opposites. Amazon uses devices to sell more content. Apple uses content to sell more devices.”
Last March, a federal district court ruled that artist Richard Prince had broken copyright law by using a series of photographs without permission to create his own artwork, which was later sold for $2.5 million. The artist is appealing under Fair Use laws which allows for re-use if the new piece “adds value to the original,” reports The New York Times.
The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan filed papers supporting Prince based on “the strong public interest in the free flow of creative expression.”
The tradition of appropriation is evident in the art world over much of the last half century. One could argue that appropriation is becoming even more pronounced with the digital flow where one can access almost any image or clip and share it with the world.
Digital tools are evolving to encourage re-use. A new iPad app called Mixel, for example, allows you to grab images, create a collage and share with your social network.
The case centers on the intention of the artist. Fair use allows one to copy for the purpose of criticism, comment or news reporting. Should, in the words of the artist, “to make great art that makes people feel good,” be covered under Fair Use?
Samsung’s Galaxy Note, the 5.3-inch Android tablet/smartphone hybrid with stylus that Engadget calls an “unconventional powerhouse,” has shipped one million units in under just two months.
The phone has yet to arrive in the U.S., but European and Asian fans are already devouring it, which “bodes well for the device’s eventual reception in the U.S.,” reports Engadget.
“The rapid global sales of Galaxy Note are notable since it is creating a new market for something between smartphone and tablet PC,” suggests the company’s press release.
Digital Trends adds that rumors suggest the U.S. launch may include “a revised front panel with the traditional Galaxy home button removed, and the usual four-button Android layout instead, plus the potential for a 4G LTE model.”
We should expect to hear more about the Galaxy Note at CES in January.
ADR Studio has designed a new concept called the Apple iCam (tagline: “Photography becomes smart”), which builds upon the iPhone’s design and camera system.
“The iCam takes the minimalist design Apple is known for and adds an aluminum body, front touch screen, LED flash, Siri compatibility, and a front pico-projector,” reports Digital Trends.
According to the ADR Studio site, the 10.1 megapixel concept also features interchangeable lenses, a motion sensor, ISO range from 100 to 3200, full HD at 60 fps, and Bluetooth connectivity. The site includes a photo gallery and brief video demo.
“Not every great idea has to start in some company’s expensive R&D department,” comments Digital Trends. “ADR Studio seeks to do for the point and shoot camera what Apple has done with the mobile phone.”
In addition to demonstrating its 55-inch OLED TV at CES next month, LG has announced it will unveil an 84-inch Ultra Definition TV.
According to the press release: “LG’s 3D UD TV boasts superb picture quality with 8 million pixels, four times the resolution clarity (3840×2160) of existing Full HD TV panels.”
“The 3D UD TV will also feature 3D Depth Control to allow users to customize their viewing experience by controlling the 3D effect, and 3D Sound Zooming will give users immersive 3D sound,” reports Ubergizmo. The TV will have access to LG’s Smart TV ecosystem, feature a 2D-to-3D conversion engine and support the new Magic Remote.
As previously reported on ETCentric, LG’s Magic Remote recognizes four command inputs: Voice Recognition, Wheel, Magic Gesture and Point.
LG’s Smart TV ecosystem currently features more than “1,200 apps and gives users access to a growing range of premium content services such as the 3D Zone where viewers can select from a wealth of 3D movies,” adds the release.
The company has yet to announce price or release date for the prototype.
Five important developments will take place next year for Microsoft, predicts CNET senior writer Jay Greene.
“The company posted record revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30,” writes Greene about Microsoft’s 2011. “And its 2-year-old PC operating system, Windows 7, hit 500 million copies sold… But 2011 had few big product launches at the company, Office 365 and Internet Explorer 9 notwithstanding.”
“Next year will be altogether different,” he suggests. “Microsoft is prepping the big kahuna of its product arsenal, Windows 8. The company hasn’t set a date, though most analysts expect the flagship operating system to debut before the end of the year… From that product, much else from Redmond flows.”
Worth watching in 2012: 1) The emergence of Windows 8-based tablet computers (“As the core of computing moves beyond the PC, Microsoft needs Windows 8 tablets to succeed”); 2) Increased live TV viewing on the Xbox 360 (“The company is moving toward the goal of getting consumers to fire up their Xbox whenever they flip on their TVs, not just when they want to play a game”); 3) A higher profile for the Windows Phone 7 OS; 4) Microsoft will become more aggressive with patent litigation (including suits against Barnes & Noble and Motorola); and 5) Integration of the Bing search engine with Facebook and other social platforms.
Digital Trends takes a look at the year in consumer electronics by publishing its Best of 2011 Awards.
The multi-section report features categories including: Digital Cameras, Headphones, Computers, Home Theater, Cell Phones, Tablets & eReaders.
“Smartphones now connect at 4G speeds, pack dual-core processors, and run two mature, fully featured operating systems, with a third still brewing,” reports Digital Trends. “Ultrabooks have taken the successful design elements pioneered by the MacBook Air and made them more affordable. A number of potent Android tablets have given the iPad a run for its money, and low-price introductions like Amazon’s outstanding Kindle Fire now sell for as low as $200. It’s a good time to be a geek.”
Best desktops and laptops of 2011: Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, $1,299 and up); HP Pavilion dm1z laptop ($400 and up); Origin Genesis with quad-core Intel processor ($1,337 and up); HP TouchSmart 610 with touchscreen ($1,350 and up); and the ASUS G74SX laptop ($1,449 and up).
And some of the other winners: Fujifilm Finepix X10 (under Digital Cameras), Sony XBR HX929 LED TV series (Best LED TV), Samsung D8000 series (Best Plasma TV), Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Apple iPhone 4S (under Cell Phones).
Industry analyst Tim Bajarin predicts hybrid tablet/ultra-thin laptops will be “the hot product of the New Year.”
“But unlike swivel-based laptop/tablet convertibles of the past, these devices will be ultra-thin laptops with tablet-based screens that pop off and turn into modern day tablets,” writes Bajarin in PCMag.
“The big change is going to come when Microsoft introduces Windows 8 for tablets and Windows 8 for Ultrabooks,” he explains. “The basic idea is that it will use Windows 8 when in notebook mode and Windows 8 tablet version in tablet mode. Both will have the Windows 8 Metro UI on them so that the user experience will be the same.”
Bajarin expects we will see as many as five hybrids at CES, but notes that none of them can be released until Microsoft launches the “commercial versions of Windows 8 on both platforms, which is currently slated for October 22, 2012.”
Digital Trends recently interviewed Silicon Valley’s most prominent firms regarding what tech categories are expected to stand out in 2012.
“If the venture capital community has anything to do with it, this time next year, you’ll be monitoring your blood pressure with your iPhone, recruiting helpers from the Web to help around the house, and automatically receiving coupons for free coffee at your destination the next time you board a train,” indicates the post.
According to the VCs, categories set to explode include Healthcare, Education Technology, Data Science and Big Data, Consumerization of the Enterprise, and Collaborative Consumption.
Healthcare-related companies to watch: Healthtap, Vertos Medical, Avado, Skimble, Patientslikeme and 23andme.
Education-related companies to watch: Khan Academy,Grockit, Piazza, Course Hero, Codecademy, Skillshare and Tutorspree.
Data-related companies to watch: Socrata, Palantir, Addepar, Hortonworks, CitusData and Relevvant.
Enterprise-related companies to watch: Evernote, Box, Socialcast, Survey Monkey, Yammer and Dropbox.
Collaboration-related companies to watch: Airbnb, GetAround, Rentcycle, Zipcar, Kickstarter and Task Rabbit.
Painter Loren Munk offers a compelling social media twist to the art world, posting hundreds of videos to YouTube that cover a wide range of New York museum and gallery shows.
Using the alias James Kalm, Munk once had a combative relationship with venues and security forces concerned about copyright infringement.
However, now that his videos have attracted about 2 million views, galleries are turning to him for free publicity.
“His videos — recognizable for their unseen narrator’s labored breathing, jerky camera work and informed but uncritical commentary — run about 10 minutes and are shot with a tiny Canon Elph digital camera,” reports The New York Times.
“Coverage of the art world is fading from the mainstream press, so I’m trying to use alternative media to fill the void,” explains Munk.
While recently recording some charcoal drawings by the painter Bob Thompson (who died in 1966 at age 28), Munk was spotted by artist Katherine Bradford. “He deserves a MacArthur grant for what he’s doing,” she said, adding that Munk had shot one of her shows in 2007. “Look at him,” Bradford said. “Bob Thompson’s been dead over 40 years, and here’s Loren doing him a favor.”
The migration from Internet Protocol version four (IPv4) to Internet Protocol version six (IPv6) has already been underway for over a decade, reports TVTechnology.
“The current system, which uses 32 bit IP addresses, is being replaced with a system that uses 128 bit IP addresses. IPv6 also uses a completely different packet header than IPv4,” indicates the article. “These differences mean that IPv4 devices cannot communicate with IPv6 websites and vice-versa. Fortunately, both protocols can work over existing Ethernet and other low-level networking technologies, so there is no need to replace the physical infrastructure of LANs or carrier networks.”
Content providers, including broadcasters that run websites, may one day need to address users who only have IPv6 addresses. “To support these users, many websites are employing a ‘dual-stack’ approach, where Web servers are configured to have interfaces for both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic.”
Additional challenges for broadcast facilities include “the added overhead of the larger IP packet headers,” and “the cost in both time and support fees that could be required to update and verify all of the specialized equipment used inside a broadcast facility, including video file servers and editing workstations.”
The transition to IP V6 will be like a slow Y2K event. It will enable major opportunities in tagging content and devices, but it will not be fully backward compatible with existing Web data, formats, and metadata.
