Amazon customers can now store 250 songs for free with the new update for Cloud Player, Amazon’s challenge to Apple’s iTunes Match.
“The update includes a new feature that scans folders containing music on your computer and automatically matches up that music to songs within Amazon’s catalog,” reports Digital Trends. “It doesn’t matter if the music was ripped from a compact disc or purchased through another competing service.”
“After matching up the music, customers will be able to access the music within Cloud Player. Similar to Apple’s iTunes Match, the music will be upgraded to 256 Kbps quality despite the original bit rate of each song,” explains the post.
Also new is the inclusion of all the past music purchases on a specific Amazon account, allowing users to access music from any browser and mobile device. Amazon is also offering its Premium package that allows storage of 250,000 songs for $24.99 per year.
“In addition, all songs purchased on Amazon don’t count towards the 250 or 250,000 limit,” notes Digital Trends. “Beyond the Cloud Player features, Amazon is also splitting up Cloud Player from the Cloud Drive product. Any Amazon user can get 5GB of file storage for free with Cloud Drive, but can pay for premium plans up to $500 a year for 1TB of online data storage.”
In a related article by Ars Technica, Amazon is changing its stance on the need for music licenses. With the Cloud Player’s initial launch over a year ago, the company viewed the service as a media management application that did not require licenses.
But this week in a press release, Amazon announced licensing agreements “with Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and more than 150 independent distributors, aggregators and music publishers.”
Microsoft’s Windows 8 is officially completed and ready for its “release to manufacturing,” according to the company.
Consumers will still wait until the public release on October 26, but developers with Microsoft’s MSDN subscription or a TechNet subscription will have access as early as August 15. The following day, businesses with Software Assurance, a volume license deal, can also get the new OS.
“Microsoft also said that, as of today, software developers can now offer paid apps via the operating system’s new ‘Windows Store.’ Until now, only free programs were allowed in the marketplace,” reports AllThingsD.
An attempt to make a cohesive operating system for both desktops and tablets, “Windows 8 represents Microsoft’s biggest-ever overhaul to its flagship product,” the article states. “The new Windows works on both traditional PC chips as well as on the kinds of ARM processors used for cell phones (though that version is called Windows RT). Microsoft is also shaking up how programs are written and delivered.”
As previously reported, Microsoft’s Surface tablet is also scheduled for public availability on October 26.
Although Yahoo and Google’s Gmail dominate in the U.S., Microsoft’s Hotmail is still the leading Web email service across the world, according to comScore.
This week, Microsoft is updating the email service, giving it a new name and adding new features that rival the other popular U.S. services.
AllThingsD writer Katherine Boehret has been using the pre-release version of the new Outlook.com — renamed to align with all of Microsoft’s email offerings — and reports encouraging results.
The new version “includes dozens of smart features that simplify the otherwise-exasperating process of managing your email inbox,” she writes. “Examples include optional one-click scheduled cleanups of mail that delete all but the last message you got from someone; a safe, built-in way to unsubscribe from newsletters; and easy methods for creating email sorting rules for new and old messages. I cut the number of emails in my inbox in half after the first day of using Outlook.com.”
The update is also bringing social to email, incorporating profile photos and status updates from various social networks.
As a challenge to other email services, Outlook.com can import contacts from other services and receive emails from other accounts.
Although Microsoft has been somewhat eclipsed by Apple in recent years, this summer has been full of new announcements including its new Surface tablet, the Windows 8 fall launch and upcoming Office 2013.
The social network that once seemed unstoppable has seen major challenges with its IPO and stock prices after its first earnings report. But, according to Fortune, Facebook’s biggest problem doesn’t have to do with investors or ads. It has to do with maintaining its 901 million active users.
“Social network users can be extremely fickle,” the article states. “They might love the service one minute and run away another,” as evidenced by failed sites such as Friendster, Myspace and Google’s Buzz.
Facebook acknowledged this threat in its S-1 Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “There is no guarantee that we will not experience a similar erosion of our active user base or engagement levels,” the company wrote.
Gartner analyst Brian Blau recently described the social space as “a hit-driven industry,” one in which missteps or lack of innovation can cause a rapid downward spiral.
“The issue for Facebook and all other social networks is that they have yet to land in the rarified position of ‘necessary,'” suggests Fortune.
“Google has become a necessary resource for finding Web sites. Facebook is just a place to hang out and communicate with friends and family. And despite Facebook’s best efforts to deliver games, applications, and extend its reach beyond its own domain, it hasn’t done anything yet that would totally safeguard it from possible obsolescence,” concludes the article.
Some companies are now trading out their traditional focus groups for social media, using popular social networks for consumer research.
“While consumers may think of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare as places to post musings and interact with friends, companies like Walmart and Samuel Adams are turning them into extensions of market research departments,” reports The New York Times. “And companies are just beginning to figure out how to use the enormous amount of information available.”
Currently, Frito-Lay is using a Facebook app for customers to suggest new flavors and vote on their preferences. Walmart used Twitter chatter to determine whether to keep in-store stock of lollipop-shape cake makers. Samuel Adams used Facebook to create a crowdsourced beer.
“The social media approach also attracts younger customers. People who sign up for focus groups or consumer panels are generally not young fad followers, but Facebook users often are, so adding social media to the mix lets Frito-Lay get a wide range of consumer feedback,” notes NYT.
“Companies using data from social media said the ability to see what consumers do, want and are talking about on such a big scale, without consumers necessarily knowing the companies are listening in, was unprecedented,” the article states.
“This is like the biggest focus group someone could ever imagine,’ suggests Mark LaRow, SVP for products at software company MicroStrategy.
GigaOM writer Dave Greenbaum takes a look at Google Fiber in action, noting some drawbacks to the otherwise impressive, high-speed network.
To start, he downloaded various files to test the speed over the wired connection and Wi-Fi. “These tests show one of the limitations of Google’s Fiber network, other services. Since Google Fiber is providing virtually unheard of speeds for their subscribers, companies like Apple and I suspect Hulu, Netflix and Amazon will need to keep up,” he explains.
“I downloaded a few (legal) torrents and while it’s hard to compare torrents at any given moment, a popular file downloaded at extremely high speeds,” he notes. “Subscribers will pay for high-speed Internet but may not notice the difference when compared with friends with top-tier broadband.”
“Another limitation may be the fact that Google appears to be using a gigabit PON based on a screen shot of an interface to the Network box. If this is the case, speed could be reduced by other users,” Greenbaum writes.
Other concerns include: lack of popular cable channels, outstanding contracts with other providers, the lack of a landline IP, compatibility issues with Google’s Network Box (the required router for Fiber), and finally privacy (will Google be spying on users’ Internet use?).
All in all, the service is still promising. “I’m delighted they have bucked the trend against slow speeds and obnoxious bandwidth caps,” Greenbaum concludes. “I realize that in order to control the experience, you’ll have to use their hardware but Google has everything to gain by making their system as configurable as possible. As the service becomes more popular, content systems will be forced to upgrade their networks to keep up, although that means that bandwidth could slow down for some customers in theory.”
Cable subscriptions average $60-$80 a month compared with streaming services that typically cost around $10 a month. ITworld writer Brian Proffitt walks his readers through the steps to determine if cord cutting is right for them, acknowledging that streaming services are, in fact, not for everyone.
First, he recommends that viewers identify their habits — for example, what they watch most (movies, sports or primetime television). According to the post, most online services now have good movie offerings, so movie-watchers should be able to make an easy switch.
Services like Hulu Plus offer a great selection of television. For frequent TV viewers, Proffitt suggests first listing the shows that are watched (even guilty pleasures) and identifying what streaming sites provide them in a timely fashion.
For sports fans, cutting cords can be much more difficult. Many sports have subscription-based seasonal passes, but they are likely subject to blackout rules.
Once a viewer has a good idea of what content is most frequently watched and which services offer them quickly (very important — some TV shows are delayed months on some streaming services), Proffitt recommends a good connection to the Internet without severe data limits. If you are always going over your data allotments, you may find the money you save by cutting cable subscriptions is quickly redirected.
Additional considerations include the cost of the Internet TV device (for example: Boxee, Apple TV or Roku), ensuring high definition and quality sound, and the ability to play other content like home movies on the TV.
Top broadcasters including NBC and Fox are jumping into the wireless world with the soon-expected launch of Dyle.
“Dyle is a service run by Mobile Content Venture, a consortium of broadcasters that are building a network to deliver local and live TV channels to mobile devices,” explains CNET.
Mobile Content Venture (MCV) has agreements with various companies including ABC, CBS, Samsung, LG, Belkin and others.
Using the app on a new phone or in conjunction with a dongle for tablets, users can tune in to live sports, breaking news and other live programming over broadcasting airwaves without overtaxing the cellular network.
“The wireless industry, MCV argues, can benefit from a second network that runs parallel to the cellular one,” notes the article. “Consumers who watch television through Dyle don’t consume data from their plans, an increasingly big concern with more restrictions on data use. In its own way, MCV believes it can alleviate the growing traffic congestion on the mobile highways.”
While CNET writer Roger Cheng expresses skepticism about demand — “history has shown that consumers haven’t exactly clamored for live TV on their mobile devices” — a new study from Research Now (commissioned by Dyle) may suggest otherwise.
“The 510-person survey found that 61 percent of consumers would be somewhat or very likely to switch cell phone providers to get access to mobile TV. Even more — 68 percent — said they would watch more live TV if it were available on their mobile device. The study found that consumers wanted to get their local news and weather from mobile TV even if the content is readily available online,” reports CNET.
The project does, however, face a dilemma: without critical mass, big manufacturers and mobile carriers won’t join up, but Dyle may struggle to gain traction without their support.
In response to NBC’s inability to provide live Olympics coverage online for non-cable subscribers, some U.S. viewers have taken up VPN services to access BBC footage with a UK IP address.
StrongVPN.com is one such VPN service provider that has had a jump in UK VPN sales recently, according to its president, Phil Blancett. He, however, holds no responsibility for what users do with their edited IP addresses.
“It’s not the responsibility of the VPN provider how people use our connections,” says Blancett. “We provide a VPN account and a secure connection, not what happens on those connections.”
“He compares the role of a VPN provider to that of an ISP, which should not be monitoring how you are using your Internet connection,” TechCrunch reports. “Another issue [is] that these companies are making money elsewhere and have other concerns with getting their Olympics coverage right.”
“I really don’t think the BBC or NBC really care,” Blancett says. “They’ve got bigger fish to fry.”
These VPN services are frequently used in countries like China that “geo-block a number of sites like Facebook and Twitter for political reasons,” the article explains.
“But as the amount of content — and specifically video content — has continued to grow online, so has the desire among consumers to get it where they want it, and when they want it,” concludes TechCrunch. “And just as torrent sites arose out of a time when getting content elsewhere simply wasn’t there, so has the market for VPNs and what they are getting used for, too.”
Tapping into coverage of the London Olympics could be a good way to spark 3D adoption. This year, NBC and Panasonic have devoted 30 ENG cameras, 20 rigs and three Olympic Broadcasting Services trucks to cover the games in a whole new way.
“NBC is working with Panasonic, the official sponsor of the 2012 Games, to pump more than 300 hours of 3D coverage into homes and bars worldwide,” Mashable reports. “According to the companies, about 80 percent of U.S. households have access to the programming — you just need a 3D-enabled TV to watch it.”
After tests during the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics, the project is now going full force, providing 12 hours of 3D programming each day.
In general, 3D has issues gaining traction despite the 10 million 3D TVs expected to ship to the U.S. this year. Some blame the lack of 3D-worthy content; others point fingers at the resistance to wearing 3D glasses.
While glasses-free 3D TVs aren’t expected to proliferate any time soon, Panasonic Chief Technology Officer Eisuke Tsuyuzaki remains optimistic about the current technology.
“So far, the response has been great,” Tsuyuzaki told Mashable. “We know people love 3D movies and seek them out, so it’s not a surprise that viewers love this too. We just need to give them more programming events in the future, so they keep coming back to watch more in 3D.”
A new geographic region is joining the ranks of Silicon Valley and San Francisco as a hotbed for technology start-ups.
“Silicon Beach” is a 3-mile expanse running from Venice to Santa Monica. It currently serves as home to a collection of start-ups such as Viddy, JibJab, Hitfix, ShoeDazzle, BeachMint and Mogreet.
Most of the young Silicon Beach tech companies share a focus on entertainment, celebrity or mobile innovation.
“Cheaper rents than the Bay Area, better weather and proximity to the beach (most of the start-ups are within two blocks of the ocean) make Silicon Beach an attractive place to be,” reports USA Today. “More than 500 tech start-ups have sprouted in sprawling Los Angeles and its environs, according to members of the L.A. tech scene who have compiled the list online as RepresentLA.com. But most of the action is at the beach.”
“There’s been way more interest from up north about what’s happening here in the last 12 months,” says Michael Yanover, head of business development for Creative Artists Agency. “LA has been under the radar, and it’s finally elevating itself.”
Ashish Soni, a professor at USC’s School of Engineering, and executive director of its Digital Innovation lab, says that many of his graduates are opting for local start-ups rather than heading to Seattle or San Francisco.
The area has a longstanding tradition of innovative pioneers (the article cites Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Jack and Sam Warner), so there are some who question the need for a new name. “Why are we rebranding the best brand in the world?” asks JibJab CEO Gregg Spiridellis. “Los Angeles is an amazing city with such a rich heritage of pioneers using technology to create art. Why can’t we just be Los Angeles? Silicon Beach sounds too hip.”
MIT scientists have developed a new set of software algorithms, a process they refer to as “Eulerian Video Magnification,” which applies spatial decomposition and temporal filtering to deconstruct visual elements of video frames and rebuild them in order to detect hidden information.
“These aspects could include the variations in redness in a man’s face caused by his pulse,” notes Technology Review. The process “can amplify aspects of a video and reveal what is normally undetectable to human eyesight, making it possible to, for example, measure someone’s pulse by shooting a video of him and capturing the way blood is flowing across his face.”
“Just like optics has enabled [someone] to see things normally too small, computation can enable people to see things not visible to the naked eye,” says MIT computer scientist Fredo Durand, a co-author of the research paper.
The team plans to release the software code this summer, and “predicts the primary application will be for remote medical diagnostics, but it could be used to detect any small motion, so that it might let, for example, structural engineers measure the way wind makes a building sway or deform slightly,” notes the article.
The technique works for any type of video footage. However, artifacts such as graininess will also be amplified, so higher quality video will have better results.
ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld asks: “Could this be used for video compression algorithm testing and evaluation?”
Unofficial Disney news source StitchKingdom reports, “one of the pioneering technologies employed by The Walt Disney Company is being updated in a fascinating new way that will attempt to make audio animatronic figures rival the most advanced 3D, high definition screens.”
The Physical Face Cloning patent application “seeks to improve upon the decades-old theme park experience by using some complicated algorithms to produce the most life-like audio animatronic figures to date,” suggests the post.
Physical Face Cloning will be presented as a SIGGRAPH technical paper in August. According to the conference program, the technology is described as: “A complete process for designing, simulating, and fabricating synthetic skin for an animatronic character that mimics the face of a given subject and its expressions.”
The process uses motion capture technology to digitize faces and create life-like synthetic skins from material such as silicone rubber. Directions for attaching the skin to a framework will enable manipulation of the figure to create realistic visuals.
According to the patent abstract: “The method includes capturing a plurality of expressive poses from a human subject and generating a computational model based on one or more material parameters… The method further includes optimizing a shape geometry of the synthetic skin based on the computational model and the captured expressive poses. An optimization process is provided that varies the thickness of the synthetic skin based on a minimization of an elastic energy with respect to rest state positions of the synthetic skin.”
The important but little known Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), “is misleadingly labeled as a trade agreement, making it seem like a relatively narrow and limited agreement involving traditional topics like tariffs and exchange of goods — the sort of government-to-government discussions that seem too esoteric to have much impact on the everyday citizen,” writes Slate.
As explained by the United States Trade Representative, TPP is an “ambitious, next-generation, Asia-Pacific trade agreement that reflects U.S. priorities and values.”
President Obama has touted TPP, saying it will “boost our economies, lowering barriers to trade and investment, increasing exports, and creating more jobs for our people, which is my No. 1 priority.”
Based on recently leaked information, Slate suggests that TPP would enact “significant changes in U.S. and/or other signatory countries’ laws.”
It would also “curb public access to vast amounts of information in the name of combating intellectual property infringement (or piracy, depending on your choice of words). The owner of the copyright in a song or movie could use a ‘technological protection measure’ — what are often called ‘digital locks’ — to prevent your access to it, even for educational purposes, and regardless of whether the owner had the legal right to do so.”
There are more than 20 chapters within TPP, spanning subjects like “customs, cross-border services, telecommunications, government procurement, competition policy, and cooperation and capacity building” and more.
According to Slate, this is the “same closed-door mentality that killed the Stop Online Piracy Act and has led to the near death of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. It likely will kill TPP if its negotiations do not change course. At a minimum, it will lead to an imbalanced and poorly drafted law.”
Originally scheduled to ship in July, the $299 Nexus Q will be delayed while Google makes improvements after hearing “initial feedback from users that they want Nexus Q to do even more than it does today,” the company wrote in an email to those who pre-ordered the device.
“The Nexus Q, a black orb that looks somewhat like a Magic 8-ball, was internally designed and manufactured in the U.S., a departure from recent industry norms in consumer electronics,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“It was designed to stream music and videos from Google’s YouTube video service and its Play service and is seen as competing against devices such as Apple Inc.’s Apple TV and Sonos Inc.’s home-audio system,” explains the article.
The duration of the postponement has yet to be announced, but it’s not completely bad news for early adopters. According to the Google email message: “To thank you for your early interest, we’d like to extend the Nexus Q preview to our pre-order customers and send you a free device.”
The Android-based media steaming device has received some criticism for its price point and lack of features, especially when compared to its competitors.
“Currently, the Nexus Q can only play back content from Android devices, and lacks its own user interface,” notes The Verge in a related post. “If we had to guess, we’d say that Google will address that issue before it commits to a re-release.”