Watching TV shows on a laptop from the couch will remain the dominant way to view non-native TV programming for the foreseeable future, online video panelists agreed at the Digital Media Conference near Washington Thursday. The poorer quality of online video and lack of interest in open platforms from TV makers point to segregated platforms, they said. TiVo may be the only device that can serve as the bridge between screens, said John Girard, CEO of Click ability, a Web content optimization company.
Watching TV shows on a laptop from the couch will remain the dominant way to view non-native TV programming for the foreseeable future, online video panelists agreed at the Digital Media Conference near Washington Thursday. The poorer quality of online video and lack of interest in open platforms from TV makers point to segregated platforms, they said. TiVo may be the only device that can serve as the bridge between screens, said John Girard, CEO of Clickability, a Web content optimization company.
Sony confirmed it will release yet another firmware upgrade for PS3, this one enabling gamers to access the console’s system menu without having to pause or exit a game. The Version 2.40 upgrade formally is called “XMB access in- game.” It came to light last week on Sony’s PS3 blog site, with no release date. A spokesman for Sony Computer Electronics America told Consumer Electronics Daily that the V2.40 update is forthcoming, but did not say when. “We're not providing any additional comment at this point beyond what’s in the original blog post,” the spokesman told us. “We'll have additional information to share soon,” he said. In the meantime, Sony will release a V2.36 upgrade. Essentially a software-fix to improve playback of PS3 game discs already in the field, it resembles other updates released since PS3’s debut “to improve system stability when playing select PlayStation format software titles.” V2.40 adds a “trophies” feature to PS3 on-line gaming, the spokesman said. This is expected to give winning gamers graphics to flaunt. The advantage of V2.40’s “XMB access in- game” is to spare gamers from having to stop then re-load a game, such as data-heavy titles like Grand Theft Auto IV.
Hispanics might adopt the Internet more slowly under Google’s search ad deal with Yahoo, the League of United Latin American Citizens said Thursday. There are “serious concerns for consumer privacy and the ability of Hispanic small businesses to reach their target markets,” if online ad rates rise, said National Executive Director Brent Wilkes. The group endorses a call by Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., for a congressional inquiry, Wilkes said. The Justice Department should analyze the deal’s impact on Hispanic shoppers and small business, he said. LULAC’s statement tracks the House Small Business Committee’s scheduling of an online ad hearing (WID June 19 p1); the body is chaired by Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., who is of Puerto Rican descent. Oddly, in mid-May, LULAC held a Spanish-language seminar at Google’s Washington office, “geared to helping Hispanic small business owners access the latest Google tools that are being offered,” including AdSense, according to a May 16 press release. The trials were announced a month before LULAC’s seminar with Google (WID April 10 p9). That test was seen widely as Yahoo’s last-ditch attempt to give investors an alternative to a Microsoft acquisition. “We're not saying we're opposing this deal,” Wilkes later clarified to us. LULAC simply wants DoJ and SEC scrutiny, perhaps with conditions such as a freeze on ad rates, he said. The tech industry rarely weighs diversity issues, so LULAC raises them, he said, citing the group’s complaint against an investment firm’s takeover of Univision. AT&T’s SBC merger stands in contrast, he added: “Those companies usually respond with efforts” and have policies to help minorities in broadband access and other areas. Explaining its seminar with Google, Wilkes said the group has raised diversity concerns with the company: “We don’t pause our programmatic effort because there’s a policy difference with a partner like Google.” LULAC leaders aren’t likely to attend next week’s House Small Business Trade Subcommittee hearing because its national convention is the same week, he said.
Claiming to have developed PVR software with “no precedent,” Dish Network and EchoStar sued TiVo on Friday. They asked a federal court to find that their satellite receivers/PVRs don’t infringe the so-called time-warp patent.
Claiming to have developed PVR software with “no precedent,” Dish Network and EchoStar sued TiVo on Friday. They asked a federal court to find that their satellite receivers/PVRs don’t infringe the so-called time-warp patent.
LAGUNA CLIFFS, Calif. -- On a campaign to become the No. 1 AV receiver company in the U.S., Denon this week launched 10 new receivers for 2008 at its corporate line show. The models come on the heels of last year’s complete overhaul of the Denon receiver line, which marked the first time that the company has replaced all its receivers at once.
Wilmington, N.C., stood alone as a Sept. 8 DTV test market in the FCC’s announcement last Thursday (CED May 9 p5) because broadcasters in at least six other markets snubbed the commission’s request to participate, FCC and industry officials said Friday.
Broadcasters in several markets aren’t participating in an early cutoff of analog signals in a test of digital TV, FCC and industry officials said. Wilmington, N.C., on Thursday became the first test market (CD May 9 p3). TV stations in six to 10 other cities were asked to take part in pilots by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Commissioner Michael Copps and other commission officials, industry officials said.
Federal legislation requiring universities to fight P2P infringement has overshadowed state legislation, now ramping up, university officials told an Educause policy conference Thursday. The higher-education technology group urged members to alert them to state rumblings before the RIAA influences legislators who lack technical understanding and embrace the entertainment industry’s economic loss estimates. Schools’ success in enforcing campus copyright policy -- and failures with blocking technologies pushed by the industry -- “is a story we can tell our legislators that they have not heard,” said Steve Worona, Educause policy director.