The Price of Free

Publie le 13 novembre 2009 (nytimes.com)

When, in late September, rumors surfaced that Comcast was trying to buy NBC Universal from General Electric, Wall Street reacted with dismay. Grandiose attempts to combine media production and distribution — programming and plumbing — are nothing new in the entertainment business, but they almost always end in disappointment. Witness AOL Time Warner. So what in the world could be prompting the Comcast chief executive, Brian Roberts, to start down this accursed path?
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Heads of State

I fear that I’m to blame.

A few months ago, while stalking the aisles of my local Best Buy, I gave in to techno-temptation. I bought a Blu-ray player. What I didn’t realize until I unpacked the gadget was that it does a lot more than just spin high-definition discs. It is, as they say, Web-enabled. As soon as I plugged it into an outlet in my living room, its built-in WiFi antenna sniffed out my home network and logged on. The Blu-ray player became a gateway between the Internet and my television set.

Ever since, and much to my surprise, I’ve been using the device more to transmit Internet content than to play discs. I stream TV shows and movies from Netflix, music from Pandora and videos from YouTube. Beyond my existing $11-a-month Netflix subscription, I haven’t forked out a penny for any of this programming. It comes flowing out of the Web, whenever I summon it, free.

My new viewing habits must make Brian Roberts very nervous. The more I play movies and TV shows from the Web, the less I use my cable TV service. I almost never order pay-per-view movies anymore. And I recently canceled my premium Showtime subscription. Most of Showtime’s best programs, including “The Tudors,” “Weeds” and “Dexter,” are available to stream through Netflix, as are a lot of the movies currently playing on Showtime’s Starz network. Why pay $23 a month when I can get the stuff for almost nothing?

I have a feeling that it won’t be long before I and a whole lot of other people start asking similar questions about pay-TV subscriptions in general.

Until recently, the TV business was shielded from the turmoil that the Internet has visited upon other media industries, like music and publishing. The reason was largely a matter of network capacity. Sending high-quality video through the Web requires a lot more bandwidth than sending text or music, and until 2007 most Americans lacked high-speed Internet connections at home, according to the Pew Research Center. The Net simply wasn’t a viable alternative for distributing the signals traditionally sent over cables or beamed down from satellites.

That’s changing, and fast. With broadband becoming the norm and connection speeds continuing to quicken, what has happened to music companies and newspapers is beginning to happen to broadcast networks and cable companies. People like me are using the Net to bypass the customary providers of television programming, along with the ads they show and the fees they collect.

My Blu-ray player is just the tip of the iceberg that the TV business is about to hit. Today you can watch snippets of shows on YouTube or entire episodes on sites like Hulu or Yahoo TV. You can view news reports at CNN.com, sports events at ESPN360.com and documentaries at PBS.org. You can download shows, sometimes without charge, from Apple’s iTunes store and watch them on your iPod, iPhone or PC. Or you can stream them through your Xbox or Wii.

Television is escaping the TV set and the cable box. We no longer watch the tube. We watch, to borrow ex-Senator Ted Stevens’s memorable conceit, a series of tubes.

As the technology of television changes, so, too, does the experience of watching it. In the past, TVs often served as the focal points of communal gatherings. Families or groups of friends would collect around the set to watch the prime-time shows or the weekend games. They would laugh at the sitcom slapstick, cheer for their local teams, chat through commercials and, during the duller stretches, keep one another from nodding off. TV may have been a vast wasteland, as Newton Minow, the F.C.C. chairman in the Kennedy administration, said in a speech in 1961, but at least it was a wasteland we shared.

The communal mode of TV viewing isn’t gone, but it’s becoming less common. As screens proliferate and shrink, and as the Web allows us to view whatever we want whenever we want, we spend more time watching video alone. That’s one funny thing about the Internet: it’s an extraordinarily rich communications system, but as an information and entertainment medium, it encourages private consumption. The pictures and sounds served up through our PCs, iPods and smart phones absorb us deeply but in isolation. Even when we’re together today, we’re often apart, peering into our own screens.

Television companies, desperate to protect their sources of revenue, are trying to figure out ways to control or at least influence the shifts in our viewing practices. If a transmission company like Comcast — although it owns a few cable stations, Comcast’s main business is providing cable TV, Internet and telephone service — were to own more of the programs it distributes, it could, at least theoretically, wield more power over how that content reaches viewers. In buying NBC Universal, for instance, Comcast would gain a stake in Hulu, which NBC owns with ABC and Fox. It could impose limits or even fees on the shows streamed through that popular Web site.

Such opportunities reveal the conflict of interest that’s built into the TV business. The companies that supply us with pay-TV subscriptions — not just cable operators like Comcast but telephone companies like AT&T and Verizon — also tend to be the ones that provide us with Internet service. By blocking or slowing certain Net transmissions, they could shunt us toward their own programming and prevent us from viewing alternatives, particularly free ones. If my Internet provider degraded my Netflix signal, I would almost certainly go back to watching more cable programs.

That scenario is not as far-fetched as it may sound. In 2007, Comcast was caught throttling back its customers’ links to BitTorrent, a file-sharing network often used to trade bootleg copies of TV shows and movies. Comcast argues that heavy BitTorrent users were taking up too much bandwidth, to the detriment of other services. Looked at another way, Comcast was using its Web-access franchise to protect its pay-TV franchise.

But, as the company soon found out, impinging on “net neutrality” — the principle that Internet providers should treat all data the same — is a good way to make enemies. Internet purists went ballistic. Consumer advocates denounced the move. The government began an investigation. In 2008, the F.C.C. decided that Comcast had broken its rules, and it ordered the company not to impede access to BitTorrent and other such services. Comcast is appealing the ruling.

Under its new chairman, the Obama-appointee Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. is becoming even more aggressive in defending the openness of the Internet. Last month, it voted to begin preparing regulations aimed at giving net neutrality the force of law. Though controversial, the commission’s move will be welcomed by most Web users. I know that I don’t want my Internet provider to control the sites I visit or services I can use when I’m online. Unimpeded access to the Net has come to feel like a right.

In the end, and whether they gobble up content producers or not, network operators like Comcast may be fated to be in the plumbing business. They’ll turn tidy profits by maintaining the pipes through which we get Internet service, even if we use those pipes to bypass their pay-TV offerings. We’ll go on gorging ourselves on free Internet video. We, the viewers, will be the winners.

Or will we?

The smartest, most creative TV shows, from “Deadwood” to “Mad Men” to NBC’s own “30 Rock,” tend to be the most expensive to produce. They have large, talented casts, top-notch writers and directors, elaborate sets and generally high production values. If the changes in our viewing habits stanch the flow of money back to studios, producing those kinds of programs may no longer be possible. In their place, we’ll get more junk: dopey reality shows, cookie-cutter police dramas, inane gab fests. The vast wasteland will become even vaster.

Even “free” has a price.

300 DVDs On A Single Disc?

Publie le 8 juillet 2009 (http://ca.tech.yahoo.com/)

Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia have come up with a new optical recording method that could allow a giant 1.6 terabytes of information - the equivalent of 300 DVDs - to fit on a single disc, according to Nature.

Their 5-D recording method uses nanometer-scale particles of gold as a recording medium and manipulates the light pointed at them.

How does it work? The nanoparticles record information in different color wavelengths, all in the same physical disc location. As the amount of incoming laser light absorbed by the nanoparticles depends on its polarization, this allows the researchers to record different layers of information at different angles to create the 5-D effect.

Previous recording techniques have been through polarization or color; this is the first to combine the two. And they say that refining the technique could eventually mean being able to put 10TB of information on a single disc.

James Chon, a co-author on the research, told the BBC:

"The optical system to record and read 5-D is very similar to the current DVD system. Therefore the industrial scale production of the compact system is possible."

The cost of the discs for recording this way are about a nickel each, but moving to silver nano-rods would bring that cost down by a factor of 100.

Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick

Most laptops don't come with a TV tuner built-in, but you can connect one through USB with the Pinnacle PCTV Pro Stick HD. The beauty of this product is that you can watch live TV from your cable, satellite or even pick up free over-the-air signals with the included antenna in both standard-definition and high-definition. With the included software, you can also record and store your favourite shows by saving them to your hard drive or burning them directly to a DVD. You even have options for file formats. It's a cool piece of gear and the website has a short video that runs through the set of features. Pinnacle offers a model that works with Macs, and in an added benefit, the USB tuner can actually work with other non-Pinnacle tuner software as well.

Quand l’électronique devient transparente

Publie le 10 juin 2009 (journalmetro.com)

Grâce aux transistors et aux mémoires papier, les écrans transparents et les journaux interactifs pourraient devenir réalité en 2012.

Depuis qu’elle a remporté le prix du Conseil européen de la recherche l’été dernier, Elvira Fortunato est devenue une vedette à qui les étudiants demandent des autographes pendant ses cours magistraux. «Ils sont étonnés que cette technologie soit développée au Portugal», précise-t-elle.

Dans son laboratoire de la Faculté des sciences et des technologies de l’Université Nouvelle de Lisbonne, Elvira Fortunato et Rodrigo Martins, son chef du département, révèlent comment leur découverte révolutionnera notre vie quotidienne. Mme Fortu­nato investit son prix de 2,25 millions d’euros dans une technologie digne de la science-fiction la plus délirante.

Pouvez-vous expliquer en quoi consiste votre invention?
Elvira Fortunato (E.F.) : La silicone sert de semi-conduc­teur depuis l’invention du transistor, vers le milieu du siècle dernier. Nous avons utilisé un matériel céramique, présent dans les briques ou la crème pour la peau, c’est-à-dire des oxydes aux propriétés semi-conductrices, dans des appareils électroniques, ce que personne n’avait jamais essayé auparavant. Outre le recours à des matériaux non conventionnels, leur transformation à la température ambiante est le plus grand mérite qu’on nous reconnaît à l’échelle planétaire. Mes écrans sont souples, car je peux fabriquer toutes les composantes électroniques à la température ambiante. J’arrive à fabriquer un transistor en papier parce que je n’ai pas à le chauffer, comme je devrais le faire dans les processus de production conventionnels. C’est comme si je faisais un gâteau ou cuisinais à basse température.

À quoi ces découvertes peuvent-elles être appliquées?
E.F. : En 2006, nous avons mené un projet avec Samsung, qui nous finançait. Nos découvertes peuvent être directement appliquées dans le domaine des écrans. Chaque pixel des écrans actuels est lié à un minuscule transistor de silicone. Nous fabriquons ces transistors avec des oxydes transparents. C’est ce qui suscite l’intérêt majeur des sociétés internationales d’envergure œuvrant dans ce domaine, en particulier celles d’Asie. Par exemple, l’écran peut être entièrement transparent. En outre, le processus de production à basse température ne pollue pas, et les matériaux sont écologiques, contrairement à la silicone. Même si ces transistors consomment beaucoup plus d’électricité que les transistors de silicone, ils sont moins coûteux. Que des avantages!

Quand seront-ils mis sur le marché?
E.F. : Nous amorçons nos recherches. Entre la phase de la recher­che et celle de la commercialisation, il s’écoule en moyenne 10 ans. Dans ce cas-ci, ces sociétés présentent des prototypes d’écrans conçus avec des transistors à base d’oxydes depuis 2007. Elles offrent déjà cette technique d’affichage, mais ne l’ont pas encore commercialisée. À mon avis, d’ici deux ou trois ans, peut-être même moins, elle sera à la portée de tous.

Cette technologie peut-elle s’appliquer à d’autres types d’écrans?
E.F. : Bien entendu. Vous voyez le nombre d’écrans autour de nous : téléviseurs, ordinateurs, jeux vidéo, cellulaires, écrans tactiles... C’est un immense marché. De plus, la tendance veut que nous remplacions éventuellement les claviers par des écrans. On peut tout avoir sur l’écran, plus besoin d’un écran et d’un clavier. De concert avec Samsung, nous détenons un brevet international. Grâce aux excellents résultats que nous obtenons avec cette entreprise, nous avons lancé un projet avec LG.

Rodrigo Martins (R.M.) : Il s’agit d’un projet différent dans le champ de l’électronique invisible. Il fonctionne au niveau des surfaces de vitre d’une voiture ou d’une maison. Cette nouvelle structure informatique, qui n’est pas physique, permet d’installer directement un GPS dans un pare-brise ou une portière. En collaboration avec Volkswagen et Fiat, nous participons à un projet européen. L’un des concepts consiste à construire la voiture de l’avenir avec un écran incorporé dans la vitre. Toutefois, cette technologie ne sera accessible au public que dans trois ans.

E.F. : Pour le film Minority Report, Steven Spielberg est entré en contact avec des scientifiques parce qu’il voulait prédire l’avenir dans les domaines de la publicité, de l’information et des communications. L’avenir est axé sur l’électronique transparente. Samsung a produit le premier prototype de huit pouces en juillet 2008. En décembre, l’entreprise a présenté un prototype de
40 po (1 m) de diamètre. Selon l’angle, il est parfois impossible de voir clairement l’image, tout comme avec les écrans à cristaux liquides. Cette technologie, combinée aux diodes électroluminescentes organiques (DELO), garantit une définition d’image, une luminosité et un contraste supérieurs.

R.M. : D’après certaines analyses de Samsung, le rendement de l’appareil est trois fois plus élevé et le coût, trois fois plus bas. La technologie de la silicone ne peut pas changer du jour au lendemain, mais ce sont les cellulaires qui présentent le potentiel le plus considérable, selon Samsung. L’écran est petit et la définition, bien plus grande. Alors, il est manifeste que ce créneau commercial est viable.

Pourrons-nous imprimer des journaux avec ce papier?
E.F. : Oui, c’est le concept! Acreo le fait déjà au moyen de presses rotatives, d’après le concept du soi-disant pa­pier électronique. Nous avons le vrai papier électronique!

R.M. : Grâce à un système mis au point avec Acreo, nous l’avons aussi muni d’une mémoire, ce qui nous permet d’insérer plusieurs pages et de l’information dans la même feuille de papier et le même espace. Cette technologie donne une autre vie au papier.

The Future of E Ink

Publie le 1 juin 2009 (nytimes.com)

The introduction of full-color versions of electronic ink displays, the technology used by Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader and many other electronic book-reading devices, came closer to reality Monday with the acquisition of E Ink by Taiwan-based Prime View International.

Prime View said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire E Ink for approximately $215 million. E Ink’s technology is used to display text in e-book readers from more than 20 companies, including a Plastic Logic device publicly demonstrated last week.

“The number-one need in the market is to get color, but we did not have sufficient resources to develop it,” Sriram Peruvemba, E Ink vice president for marketing, said in an interview. “This acquisition gives us the manpower and cash we need.”

E Ink’s headquarters will remain in Cambridge, Mass. The company, which currently employs 130 people, is planning to add about 18 more staffers, including chemical engineers.

Prime View, based in Taipei, makes the electronics that drive the individual pixels in E Ink’s displays. The two companies have been working together since 2005, when Prime View acquired the ePaper assets of Philips Electronics. Prime View also makes LCD displays.

Mr. Peruvemba expects the company to introduce a production color display sometime next year and video in 2011. While E Ink displays can show animation today, the current 250-millisecond response time needs to be reduced to 50 milliseconds to display full motion video.

While E Ink is demonstrating a prototype of its color display at the Computex trade show in Taipei this week, the current quality is not good enough to attract consumers or content providers.

“The color is fine for ads, but it’s not there for applications,” Mr. Peruvemba said. “It needs to be much more dense, like that found in OLED displays.”

Mr. Peruvemba added that part of the challenge in creating a color display is doing so without increasing the power consumption or reducing readability.
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E Ink, the company behind the e-paper displays on the Kindle and Sony e-book lineup, has been acquired by Prime View International, which makes e-paper displays. The deal was valued at $215 million.

E Ink and Prime View (PVI) were already partners. The goal is to combine forces and expand capacity and e-paper improvements.

In a statement, the companies said they hope to push color and flexible displays. According to iSuppli the e-book market is expected to grow from 1.1 million units in 2008 to 20 million units in 2013.

PVI acquired the e-paper business of Philips Electronics in 2005 and partnered with E Ink to provide displays for the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle. PVI also invested in flexible displays and acquired most of Hydis Technologies in Korea. Hydis supplies transistor backplanes used in e-paper.

With the moves, PVI becomes a vertically integrated e-paper technology company.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Web site of PVI

Preparing to Sell E-Books, Google Takes on Amazon

Publie le 30 mai 2009 (nytimes.com)

Google appears to be throwing down the gauntlet in the e-book market.

In discussions with publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York over the weekend, Google signaled its intent to introduce a program by that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their newest books direct to consumers through Google. The move would pit Google against Amazon.com, which is seeking to control the e-book market with the versions it sells for its Kindle reading device.

Google’s move is likely to be welcomed by publishers who have expressed concerns about the possibility that Amazon will dominate the market for e-books with its aggressive pricing strategy. Amazon offers Kindle editions of most new best-sellers for $9.99, a price far lower than the typical $26 at which publishers sell new hardcovers. In early discussions, Google has said it would allow publishers to set a suggested list price, but that Google would ultimately set consumer prices.

“Clearly, any major company coming into the e-book space, providing that we are happy with the pricing structure, the selling price and the security of the technology, will be a welcome addition,” said David Young, chief executive of Hachette Book Group, which publishes blockbuster authors like James Patterson, Stephenie Meyer and Nicholas Sparks.

Google’s e-book retail program would be separate from the company’s settlement with authors and publishers over its book-scanning project, under which Google has scanned more than seven million volumes from several university libraries. A majority of those books are out of print.

The settlement, which is the focus of a Justice Department inquiry about the antitrust implications and is also subject to court review, provides for a way for Google to sell digital access to the scanned volumes.

And Google has already made its 1.5 million public-domain books available for reading on mobile phones as well as the Sony Reader, the Kindle’s largest competitor.

Under the new program, publishers give Google digital files of new and other in-print books. Already on Google, users can search up to about 20 percent of the content of those books and can follow links from Google to online retailers like Amazon.com and the Web site of Barnes & Noble to buy either paper or electronic versions of the books. But Google is now proposing to allow users to buy those digital editions direct from Google.

Google has discussed such plans with publishers before, but it has now committed the company to going live with the project by the end of 2009. In a presentation at BookExpo, Tom Turvey, director of strategic partnerships at Google, added the phrase: “This time we mean it.”

Although Google generates a majority of its revenue from ad sales on its search pages, it has previously charged for content. Three years ago, it opened a Google video store, and sold digital recordings of N.B.A. games as well as episodes of television shows like “CSI” and “The Brady Bunch.” This year, Google said it might eventually charge for premium content on YouTube.

Mr. Turvey said that with books, Google planned to sell readers online access to digital versions of various titles. When offline, Mr. Turvey said, readers would still be able to access their electronic books in cached versions on their browsers.

Publishers briefed on the plans at BookExpo said they were not sure yet how the technology would work, but were optimistic about the new program.

Mr. Turvey said Google’s program would allow consumers to read books on any device with Internet access, including mobile phones, rather than being limited to dedicated reading devices like the Amazon Kindle. “We don’t believe that having a silo or a proprietary system is the way that e-books will go,” he said.

He said that publishers would be allowed to set list prices but that Google would price the e-books for consumers. Amazon also lets publishers set wholesale prices and then establishes its own prices for consumers. In selling e-books at $9.99, Amazon effectively takes a loss on each sale because publishers generally charge booksellers about half the list price of a hardcover ­ typically, around $13 or $14.

Mr. Turvey said that Google would probably allow publishers to charge consumers the same price for digital editions as they do for new hardcover versions. He said Google would reserve the right to adjust prices that it deemed “exorbitant.”

Miguel Helft contributed reporting.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that publishers would establish retail prices for books sold through Google's e-book program. Publishers will be able to set a list price, but Google will set the price paid by consumers.

Le iPhone devient livre électronique

Publie le 12 janvier 2009 (cyberpresse.ca)

D'ici la fin de mois, le iPhone d'Apple pourra devenir un livre électronique grâce à une nouvelle application créée par la société Shortcovers, dévoilée au salon de l'électronique CES à Las Vegas.

Cette application gratuite doit encore obtenir toutes les autorisations nécessaires pour figurer dans la App Store d'Apple, mais à terme elle permettra de lire romans, nouvelles et autres documents écrits, ce qui fera de l'iPhone un concurrent direct de divers modèles de livres électroniques créés par Amazon, Sony ou encore Fujitsu. «Les gens ne lisent pas moins, ils lisent différemment», a expliqué une responsable de Shortcovers, Pamela Hilborn, en faisant la démonstration de son logiciel, «la capacité d'attention est plus réduite».

Shortcovers, une filiale du libraire-disquaire canadien Indigo, prévoit de rentabiliser son programme en faisant payer 99 cent par chapitre, mais les premiers chapitres de nombreux livres seront gratuits, pour que les gens «anticipent le plaisir de la lecture à venir», selon Mme Hilborn.

Next-gen HDMI Turns your TV into an Internet Hub

Publie le 29 mai 2009 (pcworld.com)

The next generation of High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables are going to give your HDTV a boost with a maximum 100Mb-per-second Internet connection, audio upstream capability and HD images at four times the resolution of 1080p. Lost amid this week's Bing and Google hype, was an announcement from HDMI Licensing -- the group responsible for managing the HDMI specification -- that the next generation of HDMI cables will provide new functionality, and do away with separate Ethernet connections for your various devihdmices. Instead of a having tangled mess of cables behind your TV,
the HDTV itself will act as an Internet hub for all those wired goodies in your living room. The new specification is called HDMI 1.4, and aims to take television's Internet connectivity to the next level.

Here's a breakdown of the new features:
HDMI Ethernet Channel

HDMI 1.4 will give High-def televisions a maximum 100Gb/s Internet connection that can be shared with other devices including Blu-ray players, gaming consoles and set-top boxes. This means you will be able to download content for your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 through your TVs Internet connection instead of needing a separate Ethernet cable for your console.
Audio Return Channel

Devices like Blu-ray players connected to your television will no longer need a separate cable to deliver audio and video. It will all be wrapped up in HDMI 1.4.
3D and Super Hi-def support

HDMI 1.4 will support many 3D formats up to 1080p resolution. If you want to go beyond high-def, the new HDMI also supports 4K x 2K resolution which is four times sharper than 1080p.
Better Still Image display

Digital photos will look better than ever with HDMI 1.4. The new specification will be able to display more life-like colors when connected to your digital camera, HDMI licensing says.
HDMI for your Car

Now your car can join in the HDMI fun, with HDMI 1.4's Automotive Connection System. This is a set of standards designed to overcome car-specific problems like heat distribution, vibration and noise to deliver HD images to in-vehicle displays.
The downside to HDMI 1.4

The new HDMI will only work with devices specifically designed for the new standard. HDMI 1.4 will have a 19-pin connector head that is 50 percent smaller than current HDMI cables. You also shouldn't expect any devices based on the new standard to hit store shelves any time soon. HDMI Licensing is set to release the new specifications to manufacturers between now and June 30. That means we probably won't be seeing any 1.4-enabled toys until some time in 2010.

While HDMI 1.4 brings us closer to the goal of having one cable to connect all your devices, I wonder if HDMI cables will be around much longer? The future is going to be wireless, and we've already seen TVs, gaming consoles and a variety of other devices with wireless capability. The push for wireless connectivity is also coming from a range of wireless standards like Bluetooth 3.0, wireless USB, and Wireless HD. There's been talk of wireless HDMI for years, and LG recently presented what it claimed to be a Wireless HDMI TV at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. However, that set required a separate media box to plug your devices into, and then the box would transmit information to the TV. That's not quite the goal we're looking for, but it shows that manufacturers are scrambling towards a wire-free world where even one cable is one too many.

HD Pocket Camcorders Go Head-to-Head

Publie le 29 avril 2009 (pcworld.com)
Pure Digital's Flip was a breakthrough product, but now it has company. We tested high-definition, YouTube-friendly pocket camcorders from Creative, Kodak, Sony, and Pure Digital and picked a champion. Here's a guide to our roundup.

Tim Moynihan, PC World

They may be tiny, but pocket camcorders are a gigantic force to be reckoned with, thanks to the rapid growth in popularity of Pure Digital's Flip line of video cameras. Nearly 1 million Flip cams were sold in 2007, according to IDC Research, and an NPD Research report named Pure Digital's Flip Ultra the top-selling camcorder in the country last June.

Big-name companies are taking notice--Cisco acquired Pure Digital for $590 million in stock in March, and major players are trotting out small, cell-phone-size pocket camcorders to chip away at the Flip's throne, armed with the same dead-simple operation, easy sharing features, and cross-generational appeal as Pure Digital's pioneering moviemaking device.

These ultraportable camcorders make uploading and sharing videos very simple, usually with flip-out USB connectors and on-board software. Though the clips lose a lot of quality once uploaded to the Web, the pocket camcorders tested here are all high-definition models. That gives you greater flexibility with the source video--you can choose to view it on an HDTV or upload it to an HD-friendly Web service.

None of these models can replace a full-on, $1000 HD video camera (see our camcorder buying guide). But you don't have to read a manual to use one, and all are built for quick-and-easy video sharing, are in the $200 price range, and are small enough to tuck into a bag, pocket, or purse.


So can any of them beat the Flip Mino HD at its own game? We tested competing high-definition pocket camcorders from Creative Labs, Kodak, and Sony against the Flip to see which offered the best video quality, the most cinematic footage, the nicest feature set, and the most colorful clips.

In video quality, the Creative Vado HD outshone the competition, and its wider-angle lens is a great touch; but its microphone is one of the weakest. Flip's MinoHD is a great low-light performer and captures filmlike footage, albeit with a yellow tint; its rigid flip-out connector may not play well with your PC's USB-port arrangement. Sony's Webbie HD MHS-PM1 has the best feature set-for a great price, too--but its video quality is middling. Kodak's Zi6 and Zx1 offer the best frame-rate options, but the Zi6 often produced oversaturated colors, and the Zx1 has a weak microphone.

Note: Pure Digital's $200 Flip UltraHD was announced a few weeks too late to make it into this head-to-head battle, but it's another excellent HD pocket camcorder. It shot better low-light video than any camcorder in this roundup, has an HDMI-out port, and runs on AA batteries. Read the full review of the Flip UltraHD.

Here are links to the rest of this package:

In Video: Six HD Pocket Camcorders Side-by-Side

Slide show: HD Camcorders That Fit in Your Pocket

Creative Technology Vado HD Pocket Video CAM

Publie le 9 decembre 2008 (pcworld.com)


The newest addition to the ever expanding mini-camcorder market is the Creative Labs Vado HD, a $230 pocket camcorder that can record 720p high-definition video.

While it isn't quite as compact as Pure Digital's Flip Mino HD and won't win any awards for its ordinary looks, the Vado HD gets high marks thanks to its solid video quality and feature set. It also has the widest-angle lens of any pocket camcorder we've seen--by far.
To see how footage captured with the Creative Vado HD compares to other HD pocket camcorders, watch our test videos: Wide-angle test | Normal lighting test | Low-light test | Audio test

The Vado HD certainly won't incite drooling; its design, which resembles that of an MP3 player at first glance, is rather pedestrian. But it also has a lot to like. Measuring 3.9 by 2.2 by 0.6 inches, the Vado HD is only a hair larger than the Flip Mino HD, making it very pocket-friendly. The Vado HD's large, 2-inch, 680-by-240-pixel display does a great job of previewing video, too, though it is a little hard to see in sunlight.

The Vado HD can output through RCA jacks, as well as HDMI--it even comes with an HDMI cable (but no RCA cable). Also, like many other pocket camcorders, the Vado HD has an integrated USB connector that you plug into a PC to offload your footage and charge the camcorder. As a result, you don't need to carry a USB cable around, though a USB extension cable is bundled with the unit.

Using the Vado HD is straightforward, as it has a mere seven buttons for controlling recording and playback. I found the physical buttons to be better than the Flip Mino HD's touch-sensitive controls, since the Vado HD's buttons aren't as easy to press accidentally. Unfortunately, the four-way rocker button provided less-than-ideal clicking action, especially for the zoom-in/zoom-out controls.

The Vado HD records to AVI video using the H.264 codec. The camcorder works with Windows XP and Vista, as well as with Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later. The integrated 8GB of storage holds up to 2 hours of 720p high-def video in HD+ mode (higher bit rate), up to 4 hours of footage in HD mode (still 720p video, but at a lower bit rate), and up to 8 hours of standard-definition VGA (640 by 480 resolution) video. For my testing, I mainly used the HD+ mode. While the 2-hour battery life is a bit short considering the Vado HD's recording capacity, the battery is user-replaceable, so you can carry an extra battery along and swap it in when necessary.

Creative bundles its VadoCentral software for transferring videos to your computer, managing them, and uploading them to YouTube or other video services, but the software is only for Windows. If you're a Mac user, you'll have to drag videos off the camcorder and onto your hard drive manually, and you'll have to download the Perian codec pack for QuickTime (version 1.1.2 or newer) to actually watch any videos.

Overall, the Vado HD did a pretty good job recording video in my informal tests. Its white balance is good enough to avoid the dreaded yellow tint, and it handles moving between different lighting conditions well; when I did that, the camcorder adjusted in less than a second. I did find the video a little grainy and pixelated, however, and sometimes I saw a slight "jelly effect" when recording shaky video (for example, recording while walking). Like some other pocket camcorders, the Vado HD struggles on close-ups and features only 2X zoom. But by and large, in comparison with similar products, there's little to complain about.

The Vado HD is a pretty slick package. It lacks the sex appeal of some other camcorders in its class, such as the Flip Mino series, and it lacks a Mac-compatible video-management app. Nevertheless, good overall image quality, a user-replaceable battery, and other niceties make the Vado HD an attention-worthy option for a pocketable HD camcorder.

The Pulse Smartpen: A Pen That Is Mightier, Smarter And Louder Than The Sword

In a time when phones are comparable to laptops and you can carry an HD video camera that’s the size of a bar of soap, it’s sometimes tough to find a gadget that impresses people enough to elicit an audible “wow.” But that’s the exact reaction I received when showing friends, family and colleagues the Pulse smartpen from Livescribe.

At first glance, the Pulse smartpen looks like a bigger version of a normal, everyday pen. But on closer examination, it’s much more. The Pulse pen is a recording device like you’ve never seen before. It’s not only capable of recording the audio in the room around you, but also of creating a visual history of every penstroke you make.

The Pulse Smartpen is a two-part device. First, the pen, itself, is unique. It appears to be a slightly oversized rollerball, slightly larger than the average Sharpie. But embedded in the pen’s body is some impressive technology.

At the business end, recessed behind the ink cartridge and rolling head is an infrared camera that records your writing or drawing. Near the pen’s waist is a stereophonic microphone for recording audio around you and a speaker for playback. A little higher is a small OLED display that allows you to interact with the pen’s menus and monitor recording and playback. The pen’s power button is located here, as well. At the top of the pen is a mini headphone jack for listening to your recordings.


The pen can be used like any other pen for jotting notes, agreeing to a third mortgage or signing Executive Orders. But in order to take advantage of its special recording abilities, you have to use the Livescribe notebook. These are available in a variety of options that look similar to normal spiral notebooks or leather journals (you can also print out your own paper on your printer).

The pages of these notebooks look like ordinary ruled paper, with a few exceptions: At the bottom of each page is a printed menu of commands for the pen, which allow control over recording and playback. Look closely at the paper and it appears to be light gray in color, but this color cast is really a series of microdots covering the paper. The infrared camera in the pen is able to read these unique dots and know exactly where the pen is on the paper and use that information to accurately record your penstrokes.

After playing around with the Pulse at home, I took the pen and the special notebook with me to a meeting for work. Sitting at one end of a 15-foot conference room, I was able to successfully record, with good sound, what was being said at the other end and all points between.

With the pen recording what was being said, my note-taking was significantly reduced. Rather than try to capture every detail being said, I simply wrote down keywords pertaining to the conversation. Later, in my office, I touched the pen to the keywords in my notebook. Playback began at the point in the discussion where I had jotted down that word. I was able to jump ahead, back and forth at the touch of pen to paper.

What’s more, the Pulse pen comes with a USB docking station. After downloading a Livescribe application, I was able to download my handwriting and audio to my desktop. I then uploaded my notes to the Livescribe community and shared my notes with my team. They were able to listen to the discussion and see my notes that pertained to them. (The community allows varying levels of access, so you can limit who sees your pages.) See an example of an uploaded document, the page that was used in the video demo, here.

Additionally, the pen allows you to do calculations with a printed calculator, play a piano drawn on paper and translate a handful of words to foreign languages (see video for demonstration). Plus, with more than 2,500 developers, third party apps are starting to be developed for the pen. Who knows what that will bring?

Livescribe is promoting this smartpen system to businesspeople and students. I have another use in mind - recording my kids while they draw and write. That way, I’ll have a lasting memory of their creativity, what they think and their voices at this age.

The Livescribe pen comes in 1GB (100 hrs recording) and 2GB (200 hrs recording) models. It is currently available for $149-199.

Wired: Big “WOW” factor. Great for meetings with lots of facts.

Tired: Pen is kind of big for small hands.

Buying Guide: How to Choose an E-Book Reader

Publie le 22 mai 2009 (wired.com)

E-books are the ‘it’ gadget of the year. But picking an e-book reader is more difficult than choosing a brand of cereal or a bottle of shampoo. Every other week, a new reader is gussied up in the factories of Taiwan, ready to make its debut. At last count, we estimated at least 12 different e-book readers on the market or close to release.

How do you know which one is right for you?

All e-book readers promise to do one thing well: display text, especially for books. But there are a few more basic requirements: It must offer long battery life, be easy to carry, have a screen that doesn’t strain the eyes and can be easily read in all environments including bright sunlight. Fortunately, most e-book readers for sale today meet that basic criteria.

There are many devices to choose from, and there’s also a lot of homogeneity in looks, style and function. Almost all the e-book readers available are paperback-sized and sport a display sourced from E Ink, the Cambridge Massachusetts-based company.

So should you buy the $360 Amazon Kindle (after all, it’s the most widely known e-reader and is backed by the Amazon brand) or the $250 upstart Cool-er e-book reader launched just a week ago?

Read on for our guide on what you need to think about before buying an e-book reader, whether you want to read the latest book from the Twilight saga or Thank God It’s Monday, the current No. 2 bestseller on Amazon’s list.

Location: Whether you are in the lower 48 will determine how well the Amazon Kindle 2 and the upcoming Kindle DX will work for you. Both devices use Sprint’s EVDO network to offer wireless downloads of e-books and periodicals. But tough luck if you are in Alaska or the U.K.

International buyers might have a tough time getting their hands on the Kindle DX. Users have to trick Amazon into believing their billing address is associated with an address in the United States. Even if they get one, they’ll end up with a crippled device that allows only for transfer of e-books using USB.

In which case, it may be a better option to buy a cheaper device that only offers USB-based connectivity such as the Sony Reader, the Hanthe Foxit eSlick Reader or even the newly launched Cool-er. Some of the e-book readers are also country-specific. The BeBook is available largely in the Netherlands, the Fujitsu Flepia that promises a color screen will start shipping in a few weeks but only in Japan.

Access to content: This is probably the single most important factor to consider when you buy an e-book reader. Most e-book manufacturers have their own e-books store. And size matters here. The more publishers the manufacturers can ink deals with, the greater the chances that the book you want is available.

That’s where Amazon’s Kindle scores. As the biggest online retailer of books, Amazon has been able to leverage that relationship for the Kindle and its e-book store is probably the largest, with more than 285,000 books, according to Amazon.

But Sony is fast catching up. It announced a partnership with Google to bring about half-million classic books to its digital book store. Sony Readers can get those books for free. Sony had about 100,000 titles in its e-book store at the end of 2008.

Other e-book readers such as the iRex iLiad or the Hanlin eReader don’t have that kind of muscle and though these e-book owners can buy books from other online book stores, it doesn’t offer a smooth, integrated experience. Think buying music through iTunes for the iPod vs. buying music on iTunes for the SanDisk music player.

Formats supported: Almost all the e-book readers support HTML, Txt, MP3 and JPG. The battle of formats in the world of e-books is largely between the proprietary format that Amazon uses called .azw, a flavor of Mobipocket, and the open source ePub. Amazon’s Kindle does not support ePub; almost all other e-book readers do.

Why should you care? Many of the largest publishers have books available in the ePub format, including Google’s classic books. Because ePub is an open source format, it allows book designers to create better-formatted titles than Amazon’s proprietary file format. Also, if you don’t like DRM on your books, you have a better chance of finding DRM-free books in the ePub format than the .azw format. There’s speculation that Amazon might open up the Kindle to support ePub. But till that happens, you have to make the decision: Which side of the fence do you want to be on?

Going beyond just books: What do you want to use your e-book reader for? If the answer is just books, e-book readers such as the Cool-er start at $250. But the Cool-er won’t do much beyond books because it does not support magazines and periodicals. Like to read blogs or newspapers on your e-book reader? You’ll have to get Kindle 2 for that because Amazon lets users publish blogs to the Kindle. Thanks to its wireless connection, the Kindle also offers basic web surfing. Even better, would you like to hack your machine and make it run some cool applications? You’re better off choosing a lesser known e-book reader that runs the Linux operating system

Price and brand: What’s your budget and how important is the brand for you? In this recessionary economy, everyone’s watching their dollars. And while the Kindle is attractive, at $360 it isn’t cheap. If you’d like to save a few bucks, the Bookeen Cybook is an alternative priced at $350. Or go for the Cool-er at just $250. There are cheaper alternatives to the Kindle, but hey, it isn’t a Kindle. Can you live with that?

See also:
Detailed e-book reader matrix wiki from Mobile Read. The wiki offers a list of the most popular e-book models and how they compare in terms of price, formats supported, and features.

Solidtek DigiMemo L2 Digital Notepad

Le DigiMemo A402 est un appareil unique, qui vous permet d'enregistrer et de stocker sous format numerique, tout ce qu vous ecrivez ou dessinez. Vous utilisez un stylo a encre et du papier ordinaire, sans ordinateur. Vous pouvez ensuite visualiser, editer, organiser et partager facilement toutes vos notes grace a votre PC.

Connecte a un PC, le DigiMemo A402 offre une fonction d'ecriture en-ligne qui permet de synchroniser instantanement votre ecriture sur le papier avec la page numerique dans son logiciel dans Windows. Il est auusi une tablette USB pour Windows.

Hands-on Review: Sony Bravia KDL46Z4100 Network TV

Publie le 16 decembre 2008 (marketnews.com)

Colours were generally very natural, though Smith's red Mustang didn't have quite the pop it had on other displays I have reviewed.

PLUS

* Excellent HDTV pictures
* Really nifty Internet option
* Clever Xross Media Bar interface

MINUS

* Blacks are a bit milky and slightly crushed

Sony's Bravia Z-series LCD televisions are three inches deep, making them some of the slimmest TVs on the market (though thicker than the sub-two-inch models reviewed elsewhere in this issue). They're also very svelte when viewed from front, as the bezel surrounding the screen is unusually thin. The 46-inch model reviewed here sells for $3,000; there's also a similar 40-incher for $2,600.

Sony supplied a silver model for me to review, but Z-series TVs are also available in black. On the bottom, between the screen and bezel, is a thin black strip with a Sony logo, which illuminates when the TV is on. For shelf mounting, the TV sits on a supplied rectangular pedestal. The whole package is very attractive in an understated way.

Besides the usual array of input and output jacks, there's an Ethernet networking port and a jack that Sony calls "Digital Media Extender" (Dmex).

On the Net: The Ethernet port lets you connect the Bravia TV to your home network, and browse photos and music stored on networked PCs. But the TV itself doesn't offer Internet connectivity. To get on the Net, you have to add a small component called the "Bravia Internet Video Link (BIVL)." The $300 device can be attached to the side of the Z-series Bravia TV.

Following the wonderfully clear instructions in the manual, I connected the BIVL to my home network, via the SlingLink Turbo Powerline adapter, and to the DMex port and an HDMI connector on the Sony TV. Everything worked perfectly, without any hassle at all.

The BIVL's functions are beautifully integrated into Sony's Xross Media Bar (XMB), the colourful user interface that lets viewers choose sources, adjust settings etc. This is TV for the Internet generation; the remote even has a button for Favourites, giving you quick access to your preferred channels and sources. Scroll to the Internet Video icon on the XMB, and you can choose from a large assortment of Internet video channels.

The most familiar, and for most viewers the most appealing, is YouTube. You use the number keys on the remote control, entering letters cell-phone-style, to search for YouTube videos. It's cludgier than using a PC keyboard to be sure, but texters will be right at home. Text entry isn't as responsive as a phone keypad; you have to wait a little between keystrokes for your entry to register. When you've completed your search and chosen a video, it starts playing in a window on the right of the screen.

There are lots of other choices, including blip.tv, where I found some ineresting low-budget documentaries on Iraq; Minisodes, where I found episodes of old TV shows like The Jeffersons and Dilbert; the Epicurious cooking channel; style.com, a fashion channel.

On the Network menu, there's a My Page area, where you can view local news and weather from Yahoo! (a traffic service is not yet operational in Canada).

While content has a long way to go, the Bravia Internet Video Link provides a very solid platform for getting the Net to the home theatre.

Settings: This Bravia

What’s on Web TV?

In just five years the genre has already begun to transform the way we tell stories.

Publie le 20 avril 2009 (The Christian Science Monitor)

The scene outside the first Streamys – a new awards show for the best in original, episodic Web TV – a few weeks ago was a muddle, with a clogged red carpet and confusing entrances. Inside was little better, with overamplified and indistinct sound. But these ragtag production values belie a message being heard around this company town: serialized, high-quality video – longer than five minutes – is exploding across the “digisphere.” More important, perhaps, the movement is ushering in new story forms and techniques – shorter and more collaborative.

“It’s a paradigm shift,” says Chad Cooper, vice president of marketing, sales, and content at OVGuide, the online video search engine. Television network executives underestimated this market, he adds. “It’s still early but it’s happening faster than anyone expected.”

An Internet analyst, the Diffusion Group, predicts the serialized, longer form will account for nearly 70 percent of ad sales by 2013.

Of course, network TV is now streaming on sites such as hulu.com, TV.com and Joost.com. But the original, direct-to-the-Internet creations – beyond laughing babies and pet tricks – are, if not exactly coming of age, then reaching an important plateau of early adolescence. In slightly more than a year, websites with original “webisodic” material have grown from under two dozen to more than 100, according to OVGuide. A market that didn’t exist five years ago is becoming a serious Hollywood player.

“It’s what’s next,” says Richard Shore, head of content acquisition and production at digital studio RedLever. A film and TV veteran, Mr. Shore says he jumped into the new business because the new story techniques with faster character development and real-time fan feedback “excited” him. The distinction between old and new storytelling modes will begin to fade as early as year’s end, he adds, when the first wave of Internet-enabled TV sets begins to roll out.

This convergence, he says, will produce a single, much-expanded entertainment environment – all fueled by technology – better broadband connections, high-powered cellphones, and cheaper cameras and editing tools. But also in no small part by a bevy of professional writers who got a taste of the possibilities for episodic Web storytelling during the bitter 2007-08 writers’ strike.

“We are a confederacy of the tiny little islands of talent that have been popping up all over the Internet,” says Drew Baldwin, executive producer of the Streamys and a founding member of the International Academy of Web Television. “We want to raise the profile of this field by showing people the best.”

“We’re here to stay,” says Karen Harris, a Writers Guild of America board member who turned out at the Streamys in a show of support for Strike.TV, the Internet showcase founded last year after the labor walkout. The opportunities for talent are too rich to pass up, she says, pointing out that she owns her online show, “Life in General.” “Where else could I own my own show from the start?”

Twenty-three-year-old Taryn Southern, a Streamy nominee for a show she wrote, produced, and starred in, “Private High Musical,” agrees: “No way could someone at such an early stage in [his or her] career do all that and then get attention for that work.” To underline the point, she adds that “Musical” has been picked up as a pilot by MTV.

“This space is full of talent that has either been shut out by mainstream film and TV or who have something to prove,” says Jonathan Gray, assistant professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University in New York. “Many of them are going to help transform the way we tell stories and communicate with each other.” But the audience may need coaxing. “It’s going to take patience and some trust that this new medium is worth the time and attention.”

Big-name stars will help, says Mr. Gray, such as the first two Streamy winners: William Shatner and Neil Patrick Harris. And if self-promotion is any indication of maturity, then this Internet niche is well on its way. Besides the Streamys, four days earlier, “Harper’s Globe,” a new online drama from Eqal, threw a launch party at a Hollywood nightclub to celebrate the debut of the series – a pricey shindig usually held for films and premium television shows. The series has partnered with CBS and is designed to expand interest in the coming CBS series, “Harper’s Island.”

Creator Miles Beckett, who also conceived of and co-wrote “Lonelygirl15,” the 2006 Internet sensation, suggests this new material shouldn’t even be called television. “I call it a social show,” he says, “more about fostering dialogue and community.” Fans exchange e-mails and blog postings with the series’ characters. The weekly episode is then created from the exchange. “I see this as a new way of having a dialogue around information and entertainment,” he says. “This is more like the earliest days of story creation as a group effort. It’s just on a global scale.”

Shorter attention spans in a more mobile environment are hallmarks of the new storytelling, says Mark Avnet, professor of creative technology at the Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter in Richmond. But some values are being obscured, he says. “I worry that in the same way that the new portable music world with tiny headphones and mobile-phone speakers has trivialized and diminished music, the kind of deep storytelling experience that can only be had in a contemplative environment will be experienced less and less.”

Internet and TV: a marriage that never works

Column: Intel and Yahoo are the latest to try to merge the two media. Why past efforts have failed.

Publie le 13 janvier 2009 (The Christian Science Monitor)

Every year, tech geeks look forward to the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas the way many children anticipate Christmas morning.

But reports from this year’s show, which ended Sunday, indicated there was little under the tree to get excited about. As one report I heard said, no one is talking about 150-inch plasma TVs. The focus was much more on what people can realistically afford in today’s bad economy.

One idea that generated a lot of buzz was Web-enabled TV. Last August, Intel and Yahoo announced “The Widget Channel.” The feature will let you use “widgets” to access Internet services, such as stock quotes and news feeds, on your home television.

To do this, however, you must own an Internet-enabled TV. So at CES, Yahoo announced that it would work with TV manufacturers, such as Toshiba and Samsung, to build sets that can access the Widget Channel. The idea was also pushed by one of the Widget Channel’s partners, MySpace, which wants to move aggressively into the TV “space.”

Well, I’m sorry, but I’ll believe it when I see it. The idea of watching the Internet on TV is like cold fusion. People will tell you that it’s a great idea and will revolutionize society as we know it. But no one has been able to do it, regardless of how many times they’ve tried.

Industry experts keep saying that in the battle for the interactive future, the TV will come out on top. Yet desktop computers, laptops, and mobile devices seem to be consistently winning the battle for eyeballs.
This idea of putting the Internet on TV has been around for a while. I went back into the Monitor archives and found several articles about how the marriage of the TV and the Internet was inevitable.

For example, Monitor writer Laurent Belsie wrote in 1996 that “in the next few years, someone is going to marry the action of television with the data of the Internet in such a compelling way that consumers will flock to see it. A new medium will be born.”

The first idea was WebTV, a box that cost about $300, with a monthly subscription fee of $20. It was not intertwined with TV programming. It basically was a way to access the Web. In 1997, Microsoft bought it for about $450 million, and it went nowhere. Ultimately, its biggest market was seniors, who found it easier to read than a computer screen.

Attitude toward the Internet on the tube tempered a bit after that, but we were still hearing about “the revolution” in 2000. In another Monitor article, Harry Brunius wrote: “so far, attempts by the high-tech industry to make TV even more the center of American life – with games, online shopping, and e-mail – have been met with all the avid interest generally shown to cooking infomercials.

“That may be about to change. Later this month, America Online will launch AOLTV, its version of interactive television. With its online community of 22.5 million members and its pending merger with TimeWarner, AOL could become one of the first to bring the new era of digital television to a broad audience.”

Anyone out there who remembers AOLTV raise your hand … anyone? That’s what I thought.
So now we have The Widget Channel. The names change, but the tune remains the same. I don’t mean to rain on Yahoo and Intel’s parade, but here is why I don’t think it will work:

•The experience of watching TV as opposed to using a laptop computer or mobile device is different. I watch TV when I want to “veg out.” It’s a passive activity, while using a computer or cellphone is more interactive. And watching TV with a keyboard in your hand just won’t fly, in my opinion. I mean, we argue now about who gets to use the remote control. Imagine if that argument expands to an interactive TV keyboard.

•TV is a “one to many” medium. When a show is on the tube, the entire family can sit and watch. But when I’m online, whether checking e-mail or reading the news, I want to do it on my own.

But some aspects of the Internet-TV marriage can work. For example, downloading movies from Netflix to your TV is brilliant, because movies are a shared viewing experience. In this case, we’re using the Internet not as an interactive medium, but as a quicker delivery mechanism than the US mail.

I can also see a widget working when you want to vote someone off “Survivor” or for your favorite singer on “American Idol.” (Then again, who at home gets to decide how to vote if one of you likes David Archuleta and the other likes David Cook?)

But don’t be surprised if, in four or five years, we’re hearing about yet another breakthrough in the struggle to get us to move from the computer to the TV. And then we can also look for news on the latest breakthrough in cold fusion.

Amazon Kindle 2: It's All About the E Ink

Publie le 9 fevrier 2009 (pcworld.com)

Everyone's talking today about the new Amazon Kindle 2 e-book reader. The second-generation device features a sleeker profile, a speedier operation, and a host of new features and updated options. Behind all of that, though, is the real brilliance of the mobile reading device: the high-tech "virtual ink" that makes the whole thing possible.

The Ink Inside the Amazon Kindle

Amazon's Kindle 2 is powered by technology developed by E Ink Corp., an electronic paper display company born out of the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass. It's the same company that created the system behind the Sony Reader.

E Ink's "ink" is some complex stuff, too. As its engineers explain it, "electronic ink is a straightforward fusion of chemistry, physics and electronics to create this new material." Err...what?

Translated into its simplest terms, electronic ink is all about a bunch of tiny slimy bubbles. The bubbles live in plastic sheets of film within the displays, and inside each one is a mix of black and white particles floating around in fluid. The Kindle sends an electrical charge into the bubbles, and that makes the particles move upward or downward -- thus creating the ink-like appearance of images and words on your screen.


Electronic Ink Applications

So what could electronic ink do for us in the future? Just look to some of the recent trials for an answer. E Ink created that cool moving image on the cover of Esquire last fall. The company has also helped build a whole host of other cutting-edge products marketed worldwide (mainly, of course, outside of America).


Check out, for example, the Citizen E Ink flexible clock from Japan. This bad boy lets you bend time at your will. We could sure use that ability in this office.

Then there's the Seiko electronic ink watch, offering a bracelet-style adjustable timepiece for ladies who need a little fashionable technology in their lives.


When it comes to E Ink-powered e-readers, the growth is staggering. Nearly 550,000 units shipped in 2008, a jump of 235 percent from the previous year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. With the launch of the new Kindle 2 and word that other e-reader contenders may soon hit the market as well, the business of electronic ink seems poised to write its own destiny -- virtually speaking, of course.

Not bad for a bunch of tiny slimy bubbles.

Just In: Sony Reader Digital Book PRS-700

Sony's premium e-book reader poses a strong challenge to the Amazon Kindle 2, but falls short in many areas.
Publie le 26 mars 2009 (pcworld.com)

The overhyped and feature-heavy Amazon Kindle 2 has a challenger: The Sony Reader Digital Book PRS-700 weighs in at $400 and has some strengths, but it has encountered tough sledding going against the Kindle's overall design and integration with Amazon's bookstore. (However, the announcement earlier this month of a deal between Google and Sony to distribute public-domain titles as e-books could change this.)

Across multiple points of comparison, the PRS-700 differs dramatically from the Kindle. It's not as tall, and it trades in a keyboard for a more compact shape. It has a touch-screen overlay on top of its e-ink electronic paper display. The display measures 6 inches, and has a resolution of 800 by 600, just like the Kindle 2. But it looks larger--in part, perhaps, because it dominates the device, and partly because of its half-inch thick silver border that matches the gray background of the electronic paper display. The screen also felt easier on my eyes, probably because of its silver border, surrounded by black. The display's text isn't as sharp, and graphics aren't as detailed as on the Kindle 2.
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As a touch-screen fan, I appreciated the PRS-700's display. Unfortunately, I disliked having to press hard to make the touch screen work. I could use my finger to select words and annotations (not easy with the on-screen touch keyboard). The screen does support gesture motions; I could conveniently swipe my finger left or right to change pages (even at an angle--neat), and swipe and hold my finger to jump through multiple pages at a time. But even with page swipes, I felt the pressure required to accomplish tasks was unnecessarily hard, and nothing like what I'm used to on, say, a Palm Treo 680 or an Apple iPhone.

Like the Palm Treo, the PRS-700 comes with a stylus, integrated into the right-top side of the unit. The stylus is thin, which makes it uncomfortable to hold for long periods; but it also can be used for gestures, an unexpected surprise.

The main Home screen is divided into four main touch buttons, one each for Continue Reading, Books, Collections, and notes; three more buttons line the bottom of the screen, for accessing audio, pictures, and settings. The unit's physical buttons are below the screen, in a neat row; from left to right, they are return, page back, page forward, home (conveniently, larger than the other buttons), search, enlarge, and option (for accessing context-sensitive menus).

The books are listed by title and author, with an alphabetical bar along the right to help you navigate. You can sort by title, author, or date loaded; and display either in a list (default) or by thumbnail (three across, for nine books on screen). Sounds navigable, right? Wrong.

While reading, I found myself wanting to push buttons alongside the screen, not way down at the bottom. The swipes were a secondary approach, and not one I wanted to use often.

One thing I loved: The ability to switch orientation from vertical to landscape. And built into the perimeter of the screen is an LED light; slide the light glide switch at the bottom of the unit once for illumination around the edges, and twice for a slightly brighter illumination that just barely reaches the center of the page. That illumination can be a lifesaver at times--one of my gripes with the Kindle 2 is you can't use it in an environment without ambient light, which means you can't read on a darkened airplane without your seat light on, for example.

The built-in memory holds up to about 350 books; the unit can also access books stored on memory cards (at the top are two slots--one each for a Memory Stick Duo and an SD card).

Sony supports only PCs (not other devices) with its eBook Library 2.5 software, which is a required download in order to shop for and transfer books purchased from ebookstore.sony.com. It also works with Adobe PDF documents (with reflow), Microsoft Word documents, other text documents, and even EPUB files and Adobe Digital Editions. The lack of native, non-Kindle file support remains one of the Amazon Kindle 2's major weaknesses. The PRS-700 also supports MP3 and MP4 audio files, so use the headphone jack at the bottom of the unit to rock out while reading.

Particularly in the deal with Google mentioned earlier, Sony scores some hits with the PRS-700. But I need a more responsive touch screen and better navigation controls to be enticed into using this e-book device. And the lack of integrated wireless makes using the Sony Reader--and finding and buying new reading material--far less intuitive and impulsive than with the Kindle. In the end, this round goes to Amazon.

--Melissa J. Perenson

Yahoo Aims to Connect Internet and TV

New service, called Yahoo ConnectedTV, will let you overlay Web-based content on the screens of networked TVs.

Mark Sullivan
Publie le 8 janvier 2009 (pcworld.com)

For a long time people have been talking about marrying internet content with TV content, but trying to do so has vexed many companies in the past (remember WebTV?). Yahoo has a new approach: a set of widgets called Yahoo ConnectedTV. I took a good look at the service at the Digital Experience pre-CES kickoff event, and I was impressed.


According to one of the Yahoo engineers (who have been working on the project for the past three years), Yahoo ConnectedTV is a package of widgets specially designed for a new wave of "connected HDTVs" that will begin hitting the market (starting with Samsung) in the second quarter of 2009.

Many companies are using this year's CES to unveil connected TVs, which offer some sort of Internet or network connection. LG, for example, announced a similar technology this week that will allow users to view Netflix internet video on their TVs, no PC required.

With your TV wired directly to the Internet, you go to a Yahoo site and install the widget of your choice on the Linux operating system working inside your TV. No PC, no keyboard, no mouse needed. The widget installs on your TV and begins introducing internet content as a sort of overlay on top of your regularly scheduled programming.

For instance, you might click a widget for eBay or Flickr from your widgets "dock" at the bottom of your TV screen, so you can shop or view photos while watching TV. But the most interesting widgets will be the ones that work in harmony with the shows. For instance, you might hit your Twitter widget, and begin "tweeting" about the show you're watching in real time. Another widget could send you to a blog containing the latest gossip about whatever celeb happens to be on the screen. A YouTube or Hulu widget might send you to an Internet video of an episode that you missed.

The widgets themselves will be created by the third parties (like YouTube or Twitter or Disney) using a development kit provided by Yahoo. Yahoo hopes to make its money in advertising and profit-sharing agreements with those third parties.

But HDTV manufacturers are going to have to step up the functionality of their remotes to better accommodate the vast array of content on the Internet. We are talking about a whole new type of remote control here that uses cell-phone style touch screens or Blackberry-style rollerball pointers. If the TV makers don't get these new remotes right, some other third party like Logitech or Acoustic Research will have to step in.

The new Yahoo ConnectedTV widgets will be downloadable for free when the first connected TVs hit the market.

* See more like this:
* ces 2009,
* yahoo,
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HDTVs and Internet Tie Knot in Vegas

HDTV makers and Net-based content mavens scramble for the right formula for mixing traditional TV and Internet content, and find success.

Mark Sullivan, PC World
Publie le 6 janvier 2009 (pcworld.com)

There is no Elvis wedding chapel hosting the ceremony here in Las Vegas this week, but two technologies tied the knot: The Internet and HDTVs.

The marriage of TV and Internet content on one big screen in the living room has been a dream in the tech and telecom industries for years now. At this year's CES, a number of tech companies are taking the first major steps toward making that dream a reality.

Some of the most promising of those steps are being made by TV manufacturers introducing Internet-connected TVs, and media companies like Yahoo designing ways to get Web content onto those TVs.

A spate of new Internet-connected TVs were announced here at CES, including ones from Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba and Vizio. Connected TVs come with an ethernet port on the back so that you can plug your DSL directly into the TV and watch YouTube videos, rent Internet movies from services like Netflix or view your Flickr photos from the comfort of your couch. You don't need a PC, a keyboard or a mouse, just a remote control.

Starting with the TVs, Panasonic announced two new connected TVs this year, as well as new direct-to-TV content agreements with Amazon movies, YouTube and others.

Similarly, LG announced direct-to-TV content arrangements with Netflix Watch Instantly, CinemaNow and YouTube. (A Netflix person I spoke to here at the show says his company intents to pipe its Watch Instantly movie service directly to every device "from toaster ovens to ham radios." LG also announced before the CES show that those same net video services could be accesses and viewed through their new connected Blu-Ray Disc players.

Sony's new XBR9 and Z-series televisions are both Ethernet-ready and will be able to stream video from the likes of YouTube, Amazon, and music from Slacker.

On the content side, Yahoo is leading the way with its new Yahoo ConnectedTV product, a platform allowing a series of "web widgets" to appear in a "dock" at the bottom of the screen of your Internet-connected TV. So while you're watching your favorite TV show, these "mini-applications" let you pop out to the Web and watch YouTube videos, social network on News Corp's MySpace.com, track stocks and sports teams using Yahoo's services, buy and sell on eBay, micro-blog on Twitter, or look at photos at Flickr.

Expect many other websites to develop widgets for Yahoo's ConnectedTV platform. I spoke casually with a Skype executive who wondered why his company did not already have one on display - a Skype widget would be a natural for Yahoo's platform.

Yahoo says that new connected TVs from Samsung, Sony, LG and Vizio will support its ConnectedTV widgets. Samsung will likely be the first TV maker to hit the market with Internet content on the TV this summer. Toshiba is said to have a separate agreement to provide Yahoo content on its new connected sets later this year.

Networking Gear Makers Also in the Hunt

The TV makers and Yahoo may have the most promising approach, but they're not the only ones trying to put Internet content on your TV.

For example, Netgear's new Internet TV Player, barely bigger than a deck of cards, is a new set-top device that streams a variety of Web TV directly to your TV screen, organizing it in a simple programming guide. You simply attach the device to a broadband connection near your TV and it's pretty much plug-and-play from there, Netgear tells me.

Netgear, like Digeo's Moxi DVR, wants to provide you with the software and hardware you need to store and organize the flood of digital content you already have, along with the stuff that you will stream from the Web. Netgear's new Digital Entertainer "Elite" set-top/media streamer now offers 500 gigabytes of content storage, as well as the ability to connect wirelessly to your home network. The device essentially grabs all the music, movies and images from your home network, organizes it in a menu, and allows you to watch it all on the TV in the living room.

Netflix has wisely developed a couple of new adapters which enable users to route HD video around the home using either the electrical wiring in the house or the existing cable wiring. Digeo's Moxi product does a very similar thing, with a slightly different approach, and a nicer interface.

My criticism of Netgear's (and many of the home networking companies') approach is that it does not facilitate enough direct interplay between Internet content and traditional TV content. For instance, the devices do not see what's playing on cable and intelligently give me related information or video from the Web.

Interestingly, Netgear's main competitors in the home networking space - Belking and D-Link - did not exhibit at this year's CES show. Cisco/Linksys

Setting the Stage for Social Viewing

Some of the most interesting Web TV aggregators are the ones that make watching TV a team sport.

Boxee is a neat software application that gathers video from the web (and from the stuff on your hard drive) and puts it in a very neat and easy to use interface. It reminded me of the spare and approachable design you see in Mac environments. You can also set it up to move around the web and find other video you like (Hulu, YouTube, CNN.com, whatever), and it will bring it into that same interface. You don't have to surf around the web, all your favorite web video is right in front of you.


But the really cool part is that you can see the video your friends are watching too. You form friend groups with other Boxee users, who give you tips on new stuff to check out. There's simply no better way to find good new video, music or anything else, than by getting referrals from like minds.

Monsoon's HAVA, a Slingbox-like video place shifting device does a similar thing, but in a slightly different way. Using the company's newly announced SociableTV service, not only can you watch your own cable anywhere and anytime, but you can now tune in to what your HAVA-using friends around the world are watching, too. If you like what they're watching, you can click on the small video window above their name and tune in.

New Microsoft OS Geared for Media

Microsoft has been fighting to be the central media manager in your home for years now. CEO Steve Ballmer was here in Vegas yesterday hyping the new Windows 7 OS. One of the coolest aspects of the OS is digital media management and gather all types of media at your TV. Part of the OS is called HomeGroups, which give structure to the process of organizing all digital media, including TV and Web video, and distributing it to various devices around the home-PCs, TVs or wireless devices. Specifically, setting up a HomeGroup between two or more Windows 7 PCs automates the sharing of Libraries (collections of pictures, music files, movies, or documents), printers, and storage devices. We'll learn more about the media chops of this new OS as information becomes available.

These Three Screens

Of course many other hardware, software, gadgets and Web services shown at CES play some part of the digital media convergence theme described in the examples above-certainly too many to include here. Suffice it to say that much of the new tech development shown at CES this year is driven by a concept that the telecom companies have been calling the "Three Screens" ideal.

This means the ability to watch, read or listen to any kind of content (recorded or streaming live) on any kind of device (mobile or stationary) anytime and anywhere-wirelessly if possible. As I roamed the show floor thinking of this idea, much of the new development in everything from TVs to phones to storage devices seemed to make sense, and that's saying a lot at a huge show like this.

The convergence of traditional TV and the Web at the TV set is just in its beginning stages. Next year we'll see even more exciting synchronicities between content from the two mediums, all for our viewing and surfing pleasure. That is, if anybody has any money left for R&D in 2009 . .

Le numérique passe à table

Publie le 6 mai 2009 (lefigaro.fr)

Plateau de jeu, catalogue numérique, support éducatif : les tables interactives s'installent dans les bureaux et les magasins avant d'intégrer nos salons.

Posez deux doigts sur la table, écartez-les et voici l'image de la Terre qui s'agrandit. Faites glisser une main vers la droite, et la planète se met à tourner. Écartez encore les mains pour localiser votre ville, puis attrapez la fenêtre qui apparaît au coin de l'écran pour afficher les informations historiques et touristiques à son sujet. De la science-fiction ? Pas vraiment. Cette démonstration de Google Earth, qui rappelle les manipulations sur écran de Minority Report, le film de Spielberg, illustre les capacités des tables interactives, qui mobilisent de plus en plus d'industriels. À vrai dire, l'idée de ces supports ne date pas d'hier. Le MIT travaille depuis plusieurs années à ce concept et le projet Surface de Microsoft, l'un des pionniers en la matière, a vu le jour en 2001, suivi d'un premier prototype en 2003.

En 2006, c'était au tour de Philips de présenter l'Entertaible, une table de jeu tactile de 30 pouces de diagonale (76 cm) qui reproduisait le plateau d'un jeu de société sur lequel on déplaçait des pions réels et on sélectionnait des cases au doigt . Plus récemment, d'autres constructeurs se sont pris au jeu, comme Intuilab, Circle Twelve, Panasonic ou Mitsubishi Electric . Dans la majorité des cas, le principe est le même. On se trouve face à une sorte d'iPhone géant, avec un large écran positionné à l'horizontale - la surface de la table - et une interface qui permet de manipuler des éléments au moyen de gestes de la main. Caractéristique principale de l'écran, il est multitactile : plusieurs utilisateurs peuvent en même temps manipuler des éléments affichés à sa surface avec un ou plusieurs doigts. « L'un des bouleversements de l'écran horizontal, c'est la suppression des notions de haut et de bas : des utilisateurs face à face n'ont qu'à tourner un document du bout du doigt pour le positionner face à eux», note Vincent Encontre, directeur général d'Intuilab, une société toulousaine spécialisée dans le développement d'applications pour tables interactives .

En y regardant de plus près, on s'aperçoit que la table interactive dissimule un rétroprojecteur sous sa surface. C'est lui qui affiche les informations que l'utilisateur manipule à l'écran. Plusieurs caméras infrarouges sont également placées sous l'écran pour détecter la pression des doigts et leurs mouvements. Le tout est relié à un ordinateur qui analyse ces informations pour gérer les applications et les données affichées. À l'avenir, des tables intégreront certainement des écrans tactiles mais la technologie actuelle ne le permet pas encore.

Exercices scolaires et commandes personnalisées

Pour l'instant, une majorité des applications sont encore à l'état de projet ou de démonstration. Parfois bluffantes. Mais de plus en plus d'éditeurs se mettent à imaginer des usages professionnels ou grand public : aide à la vente, éducation, communication, loisirs. Pour Vincent Encontre, «on n'a pas encore trouvé la killer application des tables interactives, celle que l'on ne pourrait utiliser sans ce dispositif et qui s'imposerait comme une évidence, comme le tableur l'est devenu sur le PC».

La table interactive intéresse le monde de l'éducation. Elle donnerait la possibilité aux élèves de travailler en groupe, chacun apportant son écot au projet commun, ce qui n'est que rarement le cas avec un ordinateur unique partagé par plusieurs enfants. Répartis autour d'une table interactive comme celle du projet Smart, les élèves manipuleraient divers éléments (photo, texte, vidéo, etc.) et les positionneraient à volonté, chacun intervenant à son rythme. Dans une salle comprenant plusieurs tables, l'enseignant pourrait diffuser à partir de la sienne les exercices à réaliser, surveiller à distance les activités de chaque groupe et intervenir sur leurs travaux.

La table interactive commence également à s'imposer dans les salles de réunion pour réaliser des présentations sur lesquelles plusieurs participants peuvent intervenir directement. À l'usage, pointer du doigt un élément se révèle plus pratique que de l'évoquer oralement. On prévoit aussi son développement dans les magasins : le client l'utiliserait alors pour feuilleter le catalogue, trier et comparer des produits. Il pourrait également personnaliser sa commande : en quelques mouvements de doigt, il choisirait un modèle dans le catalogue d'un constructeur automobile, le visualiserait dans les diverses teintes disponibles avec telle ou telle option. Dans une boutique d'ameublement, il disposerait les meubles dans une représentation virtuelle de son habitat ou même élaborerait en détail sa cuisine ou sa salle de bains. « Lorsque vous avez participé à la création de votre projet, vous êtes plus prompt à l'acheter » souligne Vincent Encontre. On voit aussi des tables interactives s'installer dans des bars et des restaurants pour donner au client la possibilité de passer sa commande en sélectionnant les images des plats, de jouer en attendant d'être servi puis de régler sa note en pianotant du doigt.

Visualiser le contenu d'un mobile

D'autres tables interactives, plus évoluées, pourront dialoguer avec des objets du monde réel. Dans les magasins, certaines pourront lire les informations contenues dans la puce RFID d'une carte de fidélité pour afficher sur leur écran des promotions ciblées. Mieux : il existe des tables exploitant la technologie NFC (Near Field Communication), qui fait communiquer directement deux appareils électroniques posés l'un contre l'autre. Placez un téléphone portable sur la surface de la table pour afficher ses caractéristiques et le comparer à d'autres modèles posés côte à côte. Chez Panasonic, la table permet de visualiser, de déplacer ou d'effacer toutes les données contenues dans un téléphone portable . Et aussi de programmer différents appareils domestiques : chauffage, climatisation, téléviseur, enregistreur, etc. Une autre application transfère sur une table des photos pour les trier, les agrandir, les imprimer ou encore les transmettre par Internet. Le même type d'application existe pour la musique ou la vidéo. On est facilement séduit par ce principe qui donne l'impression de manipuler de vraies photos avec, en plus, la possibilité de les agrandir à loisir et de les tourner en tous sens.

Même si des tables interactives sont déjà utilisées professionnellement (notamment dans la chaîne de bars restaurants uWink), il faudra attendre encore un peu pour les voir dans notre quotidien : actuellement, le prix d'une table seule, sans application, démarre autour de 10 000 €. Mais, rappelle Vincent Encontre, « il existe déjà des tables dual touch (où l'on peut utiliser seulement deux doigts, NDLR), aux applications plus limitées, qui ne coûtent “que” 3 500 à 4 000 €. Et l'on connaît le sens de l'histoire : les produits vont s'améliorer en même temps que les prix vont baisser ». Patience, donc.