Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Napster Dumping Client Download
Word is that Napster is dumping their desktop client and relaunching with a fully web based client as part of an effort to broaden their reach. Customers will be able to listen to their music over the web on any computer after signing in. The new web client will make it possible to join a slew of other online music services in creating embeddable music widgets to push their product and become accessible on web enabled devices.
However, the desktop client is only part of what's holding the company back. Napster is still a subscription-centered service, which keeps them incompatible with the leading digital music player, the iPod (not a good idea, say industry experts). Consequently Napster has lagged behind Apple's end to end iTunes system which reportedly controls 70% of the digital music market.
But the company is holding out for a glimmer of hope. Amazon has already crossed the chasm into open digital downloads. Christopher Allen, chief operating officer at Napster, forecasts that by the end of next year these DRM free MP3s will become standard. So far, only Universal Music Group and EMI Group sell music DRM free. However, with labels loving the iPod but hating the revenue split, other labels are sure to follow.
In other music news, Ars Technica is expecting iTunes to lower the price of DRM-free songs to $0.99. That's still $0.10 more per song than Amazon is charging. Note our recently article on the inevitable march of recorded music towards free.
Posted by Augustine at 5:18 PM
50x Faster Than BitTorrent: I Want
Kuo claims that Blin.cn is 50 times faster than BitTorrent and when downloading the show 24 season 6 he was able to start watching it with 2.2% downloaded after only 3 minutes, and all in DVD quality.
It’s interesting to consider the broader ramifications of what Kuo is saying. His general argument is that without the artificial market restrictions imposed on P2P networks in the United States by the RIAA and the MPAA, Chinese companies have been free to innovate and are now producing superior web technology in P2P sharing, and a whole range of related industries. If you think it’s bad that China dominates the market for consumer goods, imagine that today companies in China have already created the next wave of P2P innovation and are thriving, perhaps ironically in a Communist country, with more freedoms than their American counterparts. It’s not unreasonable to consider that next year and into the future that much of what we do online may end up being based on Chinese designed technology and programming, and not good ol’ fashioned American know-how.
(via zeropaid)
Posted by Augustine at 3:59 PM
Indentured Servitude: AT&T Decides to Play Nice, Lets Customers Change Calling Plans Without Penalty
AT&T, the 800-pound gorilla of U.S mobile services, decided to pull a Verizon and let its cellphone users off the hook if they decide to change their contracts. The company says now people can get out of their indentured servitude early without having to pay a flat termination fee. Going a little bit easier on the poor souls, the quit-fines will be reduced according to how long a customer has been letting his blood be sucked by AT&T. Even more important to some users, they'll be allowed to change their level of service without extending the contract, or signing up for more abuse from the Ma Bell giant. If you happen to like AT&T and its fine, fine, cellphone service, please excuse our bile-spitting criticism. [Yahoo News]
Posted by Augustine at 10:41 AM
LG.Philips develops 2.4-inch a-Si LCD with 1mm bezel
[Via AkihabaraNews]
Posted by Augustine at 10:31 AM
Featured Windows Download: Export Hardware Drivers with DriverMax
Windows only: Want to format your hard drive and reinstall Windows but you're not sure you have all the hardware driver disks to get everything working again? Free utility DriverMax analyzes XP or Vista systems for installed hardware drivers and exports them to a folder or external drive. Install DriverMax on a newly built system and import those drivers to get everything from your video card to TV tuner working again. I didn't have the chance to test DriverMax's import function on a clean system, so do image your hard drive just in case. DriverMax isn't the most modern-looking application and you have to hand over an email address to get a free registration code (Boo!). DriverMax is a free download for Windows XP and Vista.
Posted by Augustine at 8:15 AM
Cars: Man Drives From NY to LA in 31 hours and 4 minutes (Gadgets Helped)
The actual time was verified by gas station timestamps on credit card receipts and by Jalopnik editors who witnessed the start and finishes, but Guinness won't have anything to do with verifying illegal acts. The actual race happened a little over a year ago, but Alex couldn't tell anyone of his exploits until the statute of limitations was up in all states he drove through. Congrats to Alex for his spectacular performance. For all the details, there's more at Jalopnik [Departure, Finish, the Record and Gear]
PS Ray Wert, editor at Jalopnik ends the coverage on a sober note, wondering how many more times this record can be beaten before people start dying.
Posted by Augustine at 8:13 AM
PMP: Oppo Super Five PMP Can Handle a Ton of Formats
In the case of this Oppo PMP, the moniker "Super" certainly applies. The Super Five can handle just about any format you can throw at it including: RM, RMVB, FLV, DAT, MPG, MPEG, AVI, 3GP in video and OGG, MP3, WMA and WAV and dual-APE, FLAC Lossless audio. Plus, photos in JPEG, BMP, GIF and PNG pose no problem for this little feature packed device. Speaking of small, all of that functionality is crammed into a credit card sized 2GB flash memory player that features a 3-inch color screen with QVGA resolution. Naturally, something this cool isn't going to be found anywhere outside of China, bu if you can make the trip it will only run you $120. Sounds like a steal, but fear not because Oppo has a reputation for delivering quality video at an affordable price. [ Oppo via i4u]
Posted by Augustine at 8:09 AM
Nokia's S60 Touch Interface demonstrated
Continue reading Nokia's S60 Touch Interface demonstrated
Posted by Augustine at 7:31 AM
Apple lowering DRM-free tracks to $0.99 -- embracing Indies?
[Via MacRumors]
Posted by Augustine at 7:30 AM
Monday, October 15, 2007
Verizon Wireless: Verizon Shares Your Call Data Unless You Opt-Out
The folks from Skydeck just received a written notice from Verizon Wireless for an opt-out system for sharing your call records to third-party advertisers. Unless you call them and opt-out, Verizon will sell what numbers you called, how often you called, and your call length with "authorized companies," which includes their "affiliates, agents, and parent companies." Although it doesn't include your own name, number or address, something like this should be opt-in, not opt-out. If you're a Verizon customer, call 1-800-333-9956 and tell them you want to opt-out. Why should you let Verizon get even richer off your data for nothing in return? [Skydeck via Crunchgear]
Posted by Augustine at 7:36 PM
In the Lab: Cleaner Stoves to Stop a Silent Killer
Here's betting you've never heard of one of the world's top ten killers: indoor air pollution. Every day roughly 3 billion people around the world cook and heat their homes by burning biomass such as wood, crop waste, and dung without proper ventilation, and, according to the World Health Organization, the resulting toxic air accounts for a staggering 1.6 million deaths a year — one death every 20 seconds. Indoor air pollution is five times more lethal than outdoor pollution, and its effects range from pneumonia (especially in children) to lung cancer and tuberculosis.
The solution is clean-burning stoves, and a sustainable business plan to get them where they're needed. Enter the Shell Foundation, an independent UK-based charity established by Shell Group (RDS) in 2000. The foundation is partnering with Envirofit, a four-year-old nonprofit with ties to Colorado State University's Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, to develop, market and distribute new clean-burning stove technology.
Envirofit's market plan does not rely on donating or subsidies; rather, it relies on consumer-focused market mechanisms to drive demand. The Shell Foundation, itself business-focused, has committed $25 million over five years to bring 10 million clean-burning stoves to the market, with an initial focus on India.
Posted by Augustine at 6:44 PM
NEC intros diminutive US110 thin-client PC
Filed under: Desktops
Unfortunately, the wee US110 isn't a full-fledged PC, but it should perform quite nicely as a thin-client machine. Measuring in at just 5.9- x 3.7- x 1.2-inches and weighing 0.77-pounds, this device features a fanless design, 128MB of RAM, 128MB of NAND flash memory, five USB 2.0 ports, a VGA connector, resolution support up to 1,600 x 1,200, gigabit Ethernet, audio in / out and support for RDP5.5 / ICA10.0. Those interested can pick one up at the month's end for around ¥49,000 ($417).[Via AkihabaraNews]
Posted by Augustine at 6:43 PM
Hitachi breakthrough: 4TB disks by 2011
When Hitachi -- the first disk manufacturer to go perpendicular and subsequently break the 1TB consumer disk drive barrier -- speaks about advances in hard disk technology, you'd be wise to listen. Today they're touting the world's smallest read-head technology for HDDs. The bold claim? 4TB desktop (3.5-inch) and 1TB laptop (2.5-inch) drives within the next 4 years. The new recording heads are more than 2x smaller than existing gear or about 2,000 times smaller than a human hair. Hmmm, Samsung may have to update their SSD vs. HDD graph after this, eh?
Posted by Augustine at 8:33 AM
Nokia's N95 8GB released with a Spider-Man 3 surprise
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio , Portable Video
Read -- N95 8GB says "Ship Me!"
Read -- Spiderman 3 bundle
Posted by Augustine at 8:31 AM