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ArchivesAirborne Entertainment Creates Mobile Content for Speed ChannelAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 5:16am.
Montreal - Airborne Entertainment announced on Monday that it has created a suite of ringtones, wallpapaers and other mobile content for the Speed Channel. Speed TV Mobile content is now available from North American wireless carriers.
Arturo Gotti, Micky Ward to Grace Cover of EA's "Fight Night Round 3"Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 5:12am.
Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts announced on Monday that boxers Arturo Gotti and Micky Ward will serve as cover athletes and spokesmen for its "Fight Night Round 3" title for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Developed by EA Chicago, the title will ship in February 2006. The company added that a different cover athlete for the Xbox 360 and Sony PSP versions of the game will be announced at E3.
AOL Co-Founder Steve Case Calls for Breakup of Time WarnerAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 4:11am.
Dulles, Va. - Steve Case, the former head of America Online who six years ago spearheaded that company's merger with media giant Time Warner, now says that it's time to undo the much-maligned merger, advocating the break-up of the company into four independent parts. Writing in Sunday's Washington Post, Case said that the original intent of the deal was to spur collaboration between Time Warner's various businesses, but that the spirit never took hold. In fact, innovation sputtered, particularly with regard to AOL, he said. "Instead of propelling AOL to new heights, the association with Time Warner has weighed AOL down, while its competitors, such as Google and Yahoo, have made important strides forward," Case wrote. He said that he expressed his views to the company's board in July, calling for its separation into four freestanding companies -- Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Entertainment, Time Inc. and AOL. With its own stock, he said, AOL could return to its old philosophy of growing through acquisitions, such as it did by acquiring companies like MapQuest and ICQ, and would be more free to push forward into areas such as Internet phone and social networking. Case, now the chairman and CEO of DC-based private investment firm Revolution, recently gave up his board seat at Time Warner but remains one of its largest shareholders, with holding of more than $250 million.
Appeals Court Rejects File-Swapper's "Fair Use" Claim in Copyright SuitAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 4:09am.
Chicago - A federal appeals court has ruled against a Chicago woman who said she was merely "sampling" songs she downloaded from the Kazaa file-sharing network as a "fair use" of the copyrighted works in determining whether or not to buy them, CNET News.com reported. Cecilia Gonzalez rejected a $3,000-$4,000 settlement offer from with the Recording Industry Association of America, choosing to plead the copyright infringement case against her in court. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Gonzalez' "fair use" claim, ordering her to pay $22,500 to the record labels for copyright infringement; the ruling also includes an injunction to prevent her from future infringement. "As file sharing has increased over the last four years, the sales of recorded music have dropped by approximately 30 percent," the 7th Circuit wrote in its ruling. "Perhaps other economic factors contributed, but the events likely are related." The 7th Circuit's ruling -- which sets precedent only in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin -- also referred to the Supreme Court decision earlier this year that found file-swappers could be held liable for copyright infringement.
Study: Violent Video Games Alter Brain's Response to ViolenceAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 4:07am.
London - Violent video games have been shown to desensitize players' response to depictions of real-world violence, as well as increase their aggressiveness within such games, NewScientist.com reported, citing a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The study showed the brain waves (EEGs) of subjects who played violent games were more "neutral" when shown images of real-life violence than those who didn't play violent games. When asked to "punish" an opponent in a video game, this subject group of violent game players who showed "neutral" responses also doled out the most severe punishments to their video game opponents. "As far as I'm aware, this is the first study to show that exposure to violent games has effects on the brain that predict aggressive behavior," psychologist Bruce Bartholow told NewScientist. Some peers were skeptical of the study's conclusions. "We habituate to any kind of stimulus," University of Toronto psychologist Jonathan Freedman told NewScientist. "All we are really getting is desensitization to images. There's no way to show that this relates to real-life aggression."
Top Cable TV Providers to Offer Family-Friendly Subscription PackagesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 4:04am.
Washington - Responding to pressure from the chairman of the FCC and several Senators, a number of top U.S. cable TV providers plan to offer "family-friendly" subscription options early next year, Reuters reported. Kyle McSlarrow, head of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, said that Comcast, Time Warner, Insight, Advance Newhouse and two other cable TV firms will offer packages that exclude channels that offer content some deem to be indecent. No details were provided on which channels would be offered or excluded in the plans, or how much such a programming package would cost subscribers. It does not appear that the plans will allow subscribers themselves to cherry-pick which channels they want.
Yahoo Acquires Bookmark-Sharing Service del.icio.usAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 4:01am.
Sunnyvale, Calif. - Adding to its social networking offerings, Yahoo said that it has acquired del.icio.us, a New York-based startup that allows users to keep links to Internet content and access them from any computer on the web. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Del.icio.us will remain in charge of its site, which also allows users to share their favorite links with others, as well as search through other people's favorites. The company, which has nine employees, has signed up more than 300,000 users since its inception in 2003. Yahoo also has recently acquired social networking sites Flickr and Upcoming.org.
Publisher HarperCollins to Digitize 20,000 TitlesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:59am.
New York - Publisher HarperCollins announced on Monday that it plans to digitize 20,000 books in its catalog, in a bid to prevent unauthorized use of the works on the Internet, Reuters reported. The company, which said it initially has no plans to generate revenue through the archive, will host the digitized books and then allow book databases being created by Google, Yahoo and Amazon.com limited access to include the HarperCollins titles in their search indices. HarperCollins president Brian Murray told Reuters the company hopes to have a few thousand books digitized by the middle of 2006. The publisher's move is in part a reaction to Google's Print project, which has drawn lawsuits from the publishing industry because Google does not first ask permission before an author's work is included in its index. By creating its own digital catalog, HarperCollins will retain control over the only authorized digital copies of its authors' works.
Sprint, MSpot Offer First Full-Length Movies Streamed to Cell PhonesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:56am.
Overland Park, Kan. - Sprint on Monday launched a service that lets subscribers stream full-length movies on their cell phones. The company partnered with Palo Alto, Calif.-based MSpot to launch MSpot Movies, which for $6.95 per month will give subscribers mobile TV access to movies in seven genres, including "Short Circuit" and "Night of the Living Dead." The MSpot Movies will be streamed in individual chapters lasting five minutes each, with seven new films to be added each week. In addition to movies, the service will also offer TV shows like "Conan the Adventurer," and live concert performance videos from The Roots and My Chemical Romance. Sprint also offers its subscribers MSpot's mobile radio and music services.
Report: 66% of U.K. Households Have Digital TVAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:53am.
London - According to the latest Digital Television Update by U.K. telecommunications regulator Ofcom, nearly 66% of U.K. households have digital TV. Ofcom said the number of digital TV households increased by 5.9% in the July-September period, from approximately 63% of total households to 65.9%. As of Sept. 30, the total number of households viewing digital TV grew by more than 760,000 to almost 16.5 million, Ofcom said. The report also found that there were more than 1 million sales of Freeview set-top boxes and TVs with integrated Digital Terrestrial Television tuners over the same period, a 55% year-on-year increase.
Lycos: "Paris Hilton" is Top Search Term of 2005Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:51am.
Waltham, Mass. - Lycos on Monday announced that "Paris Hilton" took the top spot in its list of the top 50 search terms for the year 2005. While "Hurricane Katrina" was the most-searched news event of 2005, it was tenth in the overall rankings, behind "Pamela Anderson," "Britney Spears," "Poker," "Dragonball," "Jennifer Lopez," "WWE," "Pokemon" and "Playstation".
Philips Introduces Its First Digital TV Chip for U.S. MarketAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:47am.
Eindhoven, The Netherlands - Philips on Monday introduced its first mobile TV chip for the U.S. market, based on the DVB-H standard. The company partnered with wireless carrier Crown Castle Mobile Media to test the technology, which enables cell phones, personal media players and other devices to receive TV signals. Philips expects devices utilizing its chips to hit the market in 2006.
Starz: 70% of Cable TV VOD Users No Longer Visit Video StoreAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:41am.
Englewood, Colo. - Starz, a premium cable TV movie channel owned by Liberty Media, announced on Monday that a recent survey of users of its video-on-demand service found that 70% no longer go to the video store. The survey of 488 Starz subscribers also found that 72% said they rent fewer DVDs, and 60% said they buy fewer DVDs. "The overwhelming majority of Starz on Demand users are no longer going to the video store because of Starz On Demand, which provides a virtual video store of more than 100 movies every month in tandem with the cable operators' other on-demand offerings," said Starz executive vice president Jerry Maglio.
Music Choice: On-Demand Music Videos Surpass 200 Million ViewsAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:35am.
Horsham, Penn. - Music Choice, a provider of digital audio and music video channels to cable TV providers, announced on Monday that its Music Choice On Demand video-on-demand service has surpassed 200 million views since launching with Comcast last November. The service, which now averages over 20 million views per month, offers free music videos, concerts, in-studio performances and interviews produced by Music Choice. Music Choice said that Ciara's video for "1, 2, Step" is the top video on the service, with nearly four million on-demand viewings.
Survey: 80% of U.S. Radio Stations Now Receiving Digital SinglesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:32am.
Los Angeles - Nearly 80% of U.S. radio stations now receive some of the songs they play on the air in digital format from record labels -- as opposed to on CD -- and 84% of broadcasters said they would prefer digital distribution if it were more secure, and easier to access and manage than CDs, according to a report from Billboard magazine and Musicrypt, a provider of such services to radio stations. Seventy percent of those surveyed ranked "broadcast quality" as the most important benefit when receiving music to distribute, while 58% cited "security." Thirty percent of broadcasters said they do not feel record labels are keeping up with market demand for delivering music digitally. Cablevision, Sesame Workshop Launch Children's Interactive TV GamesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:27am.
Bethpage, N.Y. - Cable TV provider Cablevision announced on Monday that it has partnered with children's television producer Sesame Workshop to launch a subscription-based interactive TV educational games service. Sesame Street Games, initially available in the New York metro area for $4.95 per month, the TV games are aimed at toddlers through kindergarten-aged children.
Sirius Satellite Radio Launches Christian Talk ChannelAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:24am.
New York - Sirius Satellite Radio, a provider of subscription radio programming, announced on Tuesday that it has launched a Christian talk radio channel. The channel will feature content from the Southern Baptist Convention's FamilyNet broadcast arm, including "The 700 Club with Pat Robertson."
tags: Sirius Satellite Radio | Christian Talk Channel |
European Mobile Network O2 Offers Killers-Branded Cell PhoneAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:21am.
London - European mobile phone network O2 announced on Monday that it will offer a specially branded Sony Ericsson cell phone for Irish rock band the Killers. The Sony Ericsson K700i handset will come loaded with Killers ringtones, wallpapers, full-length tracks and video clips from live performances. The $199 phone will be sold exclusively at O2 and Golden Discs stores.
MediaBay to Sell Audio Downloads of A&E TV ShowsAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:19am.
Cedar Knolls, N.J. - MediaBay, a distributor of spoken word audio content, announced on Monday that it has teamed with A&E Television Networks to distribute digital audio download versions of select series from A&E and The History Channel. Audio episodes of shows including "Biography," "Cold Case Files" and "Weapons at War" will be available in WMA format, and transferable to a range of portable players -- excluding the iPod.
Blinkx Adds EuroNews Content to Web Video Search IndexAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 3:17am.
San Francisco - Blinkx, a searchable index of Web video, announced on Monday that it has added content from the international EuroNews channel to its index. San Francisco-based Blinkx also indexes video news stories from Reuters, Business Week and The New York Times.
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