The DASH Promoters Group is a newly formed collection of companies and organizations, supported by the European Broadcasting Union, that is working to promote the adoption of MPEG-DASH as an international standard for multimedia delivery over the Internet.
According to the group’s website, they believe the use of this open standard “will accelerate market growth, enable interoperability between content preparation tools, servers, CDNs and end devices, reduce the cost of delivery and eventually benefit the end user.”
During the London Olympics, Belgian broadcaster VRT is offering its audience an opportunity to stream the games via MPEG-DASH. “The public trial allows for a maximum of 1,000 concurrent viewers to watch their favorite sport events on a laptop, smartphone or tablet,” explains the site.
This marks the first live public trial of MPEG-DASH (dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP), which the group hopes will serve as the next step toward adoption of a standard and eventual commercial deployment.
The DASH Promoters Group is facilitating the streaming with DRM content protection — available via the VRT Sporza website — but due to copyright restrictions it will not be available outside the Belgian territory.
“This trial is supported by a number of DASH Promoters Group members,” notes the DASH-PG site. “Encoding is provided by Elemental, Harmonic and Media Excel; streaming origins are courtesy of Wowza and CodeShop, who is also providing encryption; Web clients for PC and Android are supplied by Adobe; and BuyDRM is providing applications for iOS and Android, which incorporate its DRM solution.”
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.”
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.”
Viggle, the company that rewards viewers for checking into TV shows from their smart devices, now has one million registered viewers.
Since the mobile app’s launch six months ago, Viggle users have checked in more than 63 million times.
“In exchange for being a couch potato, users receive points that are redeemable for movie tickets and gift cards from places like Best Buy, Amazon, Fandango, iTunes, and Hulu Plus,” explains VentureBeat. “Users can also earn rewards by participating in real-time voting and game features while they watch.”
The New York-based company has released the Viggle Platform Developer Kit (VPDK) for third-party use, that it hopes will enable networks and producers to create social TV experiences that would reside within Viggle’s mobile apps.
Viggle sees potential for complementary and interactive features such as video playlists, news headlines, slideshows, games, polls, prediction cards, “mood-o-meters,” trivia questions and quizzes.
The VPDK is available for free. Developers can work with common Web standards including HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.
To demonstrate the kit’s capabilities, Viggle recently launched “MyGuy,” a real-time fantasy sports game in which users earn points based on how well their selected players perform in a given game.
Fujifilm Australia is looking beyond the concept of digital photo printing with kiosks that enable customers to create special trinkets.
The CE company is developing a consumer 3D printing service intended for shoppers interested in creating their own DIY projects.
“Utilizing the in-store ‘kiosk’ model successfully implemented by Fujifilm for its digital photographs, a range of physical objects will be available for personalization,” reports PSFK.com.
“The catalog of available objects will be rotated to provide variety, but while some retailers may end up with a 3D printer in store, initially these objects are unlikely to be created before the customers’ eyes,” notes the post. “To start, a majority of items will be produced off-site and the customers would need to return to the store to collect their orders.”
The goal is to provide consumers with the opportunity to create a far-reaching range of items through 3D printing technology previously available primarily for professionals (think MakerBot in kiosk form).
“In a retail environment, a customer could use a kiosk to create their customized 3D product from a range of customizable designs or even a photograph, place their order with the retailer and then return to the store at a later time to pick up the product,” explains Michael Mostyn, a key account manager in the commercial division of Fujifilm.
“The prototype consumer kiosk for 3D printing is here,” adds ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld. “Once the consumer behavior catches on, it’s just a matter of swapping out the printers as the range of materials, colors, and options expand for a whole new industry to be born.”
Researcher/hacker Charlie Miller works for security firm Accuvant and his research has been funded in part by DARPA. He spoke at last week’s Black Hat security conference regarding potential pitfalls of NFC technology.
Miller learned “that he could simply flash a near-field-communications (NFC) tag containing a chip next to an Android Nexus S phone to load a malicious URL in the phone’s browser through a feature that Google calls Android Beam,” according to Forbes.
NFC allows smartphone users to pay bills wirelessly and sync with nearby computers, among other things, but it could also be putting users in danger of viruses and/or data theft.
“The whole idea of Android Beam is that if you both have Android phones, you can share a game you’re playing or a Web page or something on Maps,” explains Miller. “But the scary thing is that with just an NFC tag I can make your browser open a Web page and completely own your phone.”
The vulnerabilities Miller showcased have been addressed in Android’s 4.01 version of its Android Beam, but up to 90 percent of users haven’t updated to that version, according to the article.
Miller highlighted similar security risks with some Nokia and Android phones, focusing on what happens when certain applications run NFC-enabled software.
“Once you realize NFC opens the gateway to the browser and other big attacks surfaces, I thought, why waste time exploiting these NFC bugs,” he says. “As an attacker I wouldn’t look for NFC bugs but instead focus on other applications that you can get to run using NFC.”
Jeff B. Cohen, partner and co-founder of the Beverly Hills-based law firm Cohen Gardner LLP, writes in a guest blog for CNBC about the current direction of movie finance, production, distribution and marketing in a digital era.
Cohen references Ben Silverman, chairman of Electus, who recently spoke at an industry summit in Los Angeles: “Ben noted that 100 years ago in order to make a film you needed 50 acres of land in the San Fernando Valley, an army of various craftsmen, sprawling soundstages, expensive specialized cameras, film labs and more.”
“He went on to say that in order to produce a film today you could likely do it with five dedicated artists, $30,000 worth of equipment and an office in Santa Monica with a green screen,” adds Cohen.
The changes underway in our evolving digital world make Cohen ask the question: “Are motion picture studios becoming irrelevant and what does the future hold for the business of filmed entertainment?”
Cohen cites how Netflix, Amazon and YouTube are financing original content to compete with traditional fare — and notes how crowdfunding is putting pressure on the studios’ role as financier. He also addresses the “democratization of distribution” enabled by Internet technologies and the impact of social media on traditional marketing practices.
“Technology is empowering a new generation of content creators to produce quality projects with little capital and even less permission. It will be fascinating to see how this democratization of financing, production and distribution impacts the art of filmed entertainment,” writes Cohen. “Will these factors fundamentally disrupt the economic and power dynamic of the traditionally studio dominated entertainment industry? It already has.”
“This article echoes what was written 10+ years ago about the music industry, and what became the reality of the music industry much faster than the labels could adapt to,” notes ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld.
“Dolby Laboratories has acquired rival digital cinema sound technology company IMM Sound, a privately owned Barcelona-based business, in a move that Dolby believes will help to speed adoption of its new immersive Atmos sound format,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
As previously reported on ETCentric, a number of companies have been actively working on the next generation of digital cinema sound, the most high-profile of which has been Dolby’s recent launch of Atmos.
“IMM Sound was the company that had something similar to what Dolby was doing,” notes Doug Darrow, senior vice president cinema at Dolby. “We thought if we combine forces, it could allow for more rapid adoption.”
“In the broad sense, both systems involve immersing the audience in an aural experience by placing speakers around the perimeter of an auditorium, as well as on the ceiling,” notes THR. “And both offer tools for sound facilities that would enable more sophisticated sound mixes with the notion of placing ‘objects’ versus ‘channels.'”
Although similar, the technologies developed by the two companies are considered complementary, according to Darrow. The acquisition will lead to a discontinuation of the IMM Sound brand, while IMM technologies would be used for additional Atmos development.
Atmos launched last month in the newly named Dolby Theatre in Hollywood (former Kodak Theatre) when it was used for the premiere of Disney/Pixar’s “Brave.” There are currently about 20 theaters announced as Atmos facilities.
“We’d like to see about 1,000 [Atmos] screens next year, worldwide,” Darrow said, anticipating that Atmos may emerge as a de facto standard. “In order to achieve that and to make the industry more unified we thought this [acquisition] was the right thing to do.”
NBC provided 171 hours of programming for the Atlanta games 16 years ago, and this year will offer about 5,535 hours via online streaming, TV and cable. Yet the network has received some criticism for its decisions to delay coverage of events and require a cable subscription for those wanting to stream events live online.
“At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, broadband wasn’t widely available. In Athens in 2004, the smartphone was in its infancy. In Beijing four years ago, social networks had not yet exploded,” notes Wired. “Today, all three have dovetailed in a crush of information.”
That perfect storm has left NBC is a tough position. It wants viewers to tune into its primetime broadcasts each night, and so is delaying some of its coverage, but many people don’t watch TV that way anymore. It’s too easy (and almost unavoidable) to learn results prior to primetime.
“CBS gets it,” notes Forbes in a related article. “Their telecast of the Grammy’s earlier this year grabbed the largest audience since 1984, mainly because of the vast back-channel conversation blasting through Twitter and Facebook. It was snarky, it was goofy, it was great fun — but you had to watch live to participate.”
However, the Grammy coverage involves a single event that doesn’t face the same challenges in covering multiple daily events from another country that lasts weeks. The Wall Street Journal noted in its review that the approach is “forcing Olympics lovers to consider the unthinkable — staying off the Internet for much of the games’ 17-day span to avoid spoilers.”
As Forbes notes, Olympic-themed tweets may be trending on Twitter in real time, but users are likely unable to watch those events until much later, making it difficult for users to engage socially — a significant component of modern TV viewing.
“I don’t pretend that everything will be perfect,” said Mark Lazarus, head of NBC Sports Group. But the number of people tuning in “is a great early sign that our strategy of driving people to watch NBC in primetime is working.”
This is historic for NBC, marking the first time the network is streaming all of the Olympic events. “On Sunday, 11.4 million videos were watched on NBCOlympics.com, and about half of them were watched live,” notes WSJ. “That is almost triple the number from Beijing on its first Sunday of competition.”
While Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey invested in Instagram before its acquisition by Facebook, his company is now playing hardball with the popular social network.
“Twitter has blocked Instagram from using its API to find new friends to follow on the photo-sharing service,” reports Business Insider. “The news comes after Instagram announced on its blog that it hit 80 million users.”
The move marks the second time Twitter has blocked API access to a social network, after it recently ended its two-and-a-half-year partnership with LinkedIn by no longer allowing users to publish tweets to their LinkedIn profiles.
The “Find Your Friends” feature on Twitter has been removed, a helpful feature that enabled users to follow the same people they follow on Twitter via Instagram. However, the “Tweet Photo” feature is still available.
“We’ve learned that the feature is missing due to API restrictions from Twitter’s end, restrictions that possibly came about over concerns about Instagram’s scale and its strain on data pulls,” notes TechCrunch in a related post. “Many social apps like The Fancy and Foursquare still have access to this part of the Twitter API — it seems very likely that Instagram was the largest developer using the Twitter Friend Graph.”
“Twitter’s agenda here isn’t at all clear, but one possibility is that it wants to control the photos experience on its platform (and preclude Facebook from doing the same),” notes TechCrunch. “Selectively limiting API access by company is definitely strange behavior in an ecosystem that thrives on API symbiosis. Imagine if Google just decided to shut off Google Maps access to apps randomly?”
Google wants to reinvent the way we watch television so “you don’t have to settle for old-time television anymore,” according to executives.
Its new Fiber TV, the DVR/cable box service announced this week, enables users to record 500 hours of TV and record up to eight shows at once using Google’s new, ultra-fast Internet network.
For $120/month and a $300 construction fee (waived for those who sign a two year contract), customers can get the Fiber TV service and select various plans, similar to cable boxes.
Customers who buy the TV package will also get a free Google Nexus 7, pre-installed with the Fiber TV app. The app, also available on iOS and Android, allows users to search programs and control live TV and DVR.
“‘Fiber TV will integrate with all popular social networks, making live TV more relevant than ever,’ Google execs said during the presentation. You’ll also be able to watch different shows, on different TVs and devices, in the same house all at the same time,” reports The Verge. “There will be ‘tens of thousands’ of movies and shows on demand, all of which you’ll be able to watch on multiple devices.”
Twitter is reportedly teaming up with Hollywood producers to create original video series for the social platform and, according to inside sources, the new endeavor could be coming as soon as this fall.
“Per sources, the show could live on a standalone Twitter page similar to the events page that Twitter launched in partnership with NASCAR in June, although the series’ page would more closely resemble a microsite in order to feature an expanded video player,” reports AdWeek.
“Another possibility is that the series would be distributed within tweets — promoted, organic or pinned to a brand’s Twitter page — with users clicking to expand the tweet into a full-fledged video player.”
The project is intended to enable real-time viewer participation. Moreover, tweets could even influence the show as it airs.
Twitter stands to gain more advertising revenue from the series, with product integration and promotions within the feed. Its core ad units like Promoted Tweets are frequently sold out, notes AdWeek.
Sources suggest that the move goes beyond launching a Web show to “changing the way people consume and discover media,” the article states. “Twitter wouldn’t be developing the content, but would instead serve as a distribution vehicle and advertising middleman.”
The latest version of Apple OS X, Mountain Lion, just hit the App Store for $19.99.
“Of course, this round is download-only, so if you want to get your grubby paws on the desktop version of AirPlay Monitoring, Messages, Share Sheets and the rest of those 200+ features, this is the only way to do it,” comments Engadget.
Notable new features include: full iCloud integration, an all new Messages app (replacing iChat), the Notification Center, Facebook integration, Gatekeeper (for safer downloading), system updater Power Nap, and a faster Safari browser.
“People are going to love the new features in Mountain Lion and how easy it is to download and install from the Mac App Store,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of Worldwide Marketing. “With iCloud integration, Mountain Lion is even easier to set up, and your important information stays up to date across all your devices so you can keep editing documents, taking notes, creating reminders, and continue conversations whether you started on a Mac, iPhone or iPad.”
“Does Mountain Lion justify its $20 price tag? Yes. Of course it does. If you’re an OS X user with a reasonably new piece of hardware, stop what you’re doing and upgrade now. There are 200 features here — odds are you’re going to discover a couple you like,” notes Engadget in its extensive review.
“In our time with the new operating system, we experienced no major issues; just rare hiccups that can are likely to be fixed in a system update. Heck, even the installation went smoothly. Apple devotees will find a lot to like amid the long list of tweaks and new features.”
