Pocket PC eBooks Watch - eBook and beyond  
 http://cebooks.blogspot.com 

iWarn
Another warning about iPod use
Representative Edward Mackey (D-Massachusetts) has asked the National Institutes of Health to decide on the health risks of listening to portable music players like the iPod. According to One News, Markey cited the fact that noise above 85 decibels can cause hearing damage if the noise persists for too long. Apple has declined to state the maximum decibel level of the iPod, and cautions about iPod with earbud use have been issued by various personas.

posted by Jerry permanent link

mmmm
MyTinyTV: TV On-the-Go
"No, it's not a replacement for your TiVo, home theater system, big-screen TV or even your regular TV. But it's a great little, ahem, tiny TV that you can use throughout your house. And, you can even bring it along, because it also works across the Internet when you are away from home. Go to your favorite wireless hotspot, like Starbucks, at airports, at hotels, and watch TV. Your own channels from your home cable or antenna, even when you're halfway around the globe. Yes, for remote access you will need a wireless Internet account (for example, as offered by T-Mobile and Verizon) and a pretty decent broadband connection at your house, where the desktop computer with the TV tuner is located."

posted by Jerry permanent link

Anytime Anyplace
Mobile Browsing is Hugely Popular Says Survey. Gosh, Who Would Have Thought?
"Simon Judge just pointed out a new presentation from Nokia about Smartphone usage which is really astounding in some of the light it starts to shed about how people with powerful phones on fast networks actually use their devices. . . . [B]rowsing is the number one (by far) mobile application that uses data, and interestingly, carrier decks only account for 50% of the traffic."

posted by Jerry permanent link

1-1
Amazon introducing better video business model
Online retailer Amazon.com reportedly plans to launch a new service this spring to sell downloadable, full-length versions of feature films. Variety reports that Amazon’s new service will likely marry downloads to DVD sales.
Customers could stream a digital version of the film for a fee and then apply that charge as a credit toward the purchase of the DVD. Another plan would let a customer buy a DVD, and while waiting for it to arrive, he could stream it over his computer.
interesting comment comes from munkey:
"This is a great idea. I wish iTunes would offer something similar. For instance, I just bought season one of Wonder Showzen (best 15 bucks i ever spent) on iTunes, but it would be nice if I got a discount on the DVD version of the show when it comes out (or if it already is out). Or vice-versa for those who buy the DVD but don’t have the technology to rip it."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/29/2006

2-0
Networks test 'iTunes Episode Premieres'
As part of the major deal announced yesterday between MTV Networks and Apple, select episodes from Comedy Central and Nickelodeon shows are being made available on iTunes in advance of their network airing.
On Monday, January 30th, a new episode of Comedy Central’s hit-animated reality series “Drawn Together” will be released on iTunes for free—three days in advance of the February 1st network debut, making it the first “iTunes Episode Premiere.”

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/28/2006

Gates at the Jobs
Microsoft Considering Its Own Media Player to Battle iPod (and PSP)
“It can’t just be our version of the iPod,” says (Xbox boss Peter) Moore, who nonetheless would not confirm that Microsoft is considering making such a device. So in addition to playing music and videos, a Microsoft device would include games. Microsoft would probably use the Xbox brand to market the gadget. “I think the brand is an opportunity,” Moore says.

posted by Jerry permanent link

0-1
Google stumbles out of the gate
Google has admitted making mistakes during the launch of its Google Video store, one of the major competitors to Apple's iTunes. Vice President Marissa Mayer said that television shows available for sale were not promoted well enough, making it difficult for customers to purchase shows like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," and "Survivor," according to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer report, which also stated that the high bar set by iTunes' video download service is making it rather difficult for other companies like Google to follow suit.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/24/2006

Googled
Google Video and Privacy
First, some preliminaries. Google’s DRM, like everybody else’s, can be defeated without great difficulty. Like all DRM schemes that rely on encrypting files, it is vulnerable to capture of the decrypted file, or to capture of the keying information, either of which will let an adversary rip the video into unprotected form. My guess is that Google’s decision to use DRM was driven by the insistence of copyright owners, not by any illusion that the DRM would stop infringement.
The Google DRM system works by trying to tether every protected file to a Google account, so that the account’s username and password has to be entered every time the file is viewed. From the user’s point of view, this has its pros and cons. On the one hand, an honest user can view his video on any Windows PC anywhere; all he has to do is move the file and then enter his username and password on the new machine. On the other hand, the system works only when connected to the net, and it carries privacy risks.

posted by Jerry permanent link

nonPod Unite!
Apple's iTunes to force consolidation?
Participants at the music industry's annual MIDEM conference are warning that a shakeout could be in the works among Apple's many competitors. With roughly 355 online music retailers, there are concerns that some of Apple's smaller competitors might be forced to consolidate, according to a report from Reuters. "I don't imagine all these services can last. Some will go out of business or be consolidated," said Gabriel Levy, head of music in Europe for RealNetworks.

posted by Jerry permanent link

iContent
Disney acquires Pixar for $7.4 billion
Disney announced on Tuesday that it would acquire Pixar in an all-stock deal worth $7.4 billion. The deal also gives Apple and Pixar CEO, Steve Jobs, a seat on Disney’s Board of Directors.

posted by Jerry permanent link

uTunes
'iTunes U' catching on with universities, public
Apple describes iTunes U as “a free, hosted service for colleges and universities that provides easy access to your educational content, including lectures and interviews 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” The service is based in iTunes and is navigated and used just like the iTunes Music Store.
While most of the participating universities are just getting started with content for students, Stanford says it is now offering nearly 500 tracks, such as lectures and lessons, that are available to anyone for free.

posted by Jerry permanent link

i pod therefore i am
Video iTunes Triggered Online Video Big Bang, says ABI Research
he momentum Apple created when it announced last year that it would sell videos online through iTunes continues into 2006. While the push to online video had started well before the launch of the video iPod (demonstrated by skyrocketing advertising rates for broadband video impressions throughout 2005, and the launches of various online channels by large content companies) the online video "big bang" started with Apple's announcement and continued through the Consumer Electronics Show.
"At this year's CES, gadgets took a backseat to the bevy of announcements by large online and content players," notes Mike Wolf, principal analyst of broadband and multimedia with ABI Research. "The flood of online content announcements from Google, Yahoo and other

posted by Jerry permanent link

Black PDA
BlackBerry Appeal Turned Down
The Supreme Court refuses to hear an appeal from the maker of the popular wireless e-mail device, pleasing the company that sued it for patent infringement but throwing the future of BlackBerry into confusion.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Dr.M
The Year of Living DRMishly
This year may be the year that gadget makers finally conquer the living room, replacing DVD players, VCRs and personal video recorders with all-in-one media devices that serve up HDTV, pre-recorded movies and digital music. If so, it will likely also be the year that people learn the meaning of DRM, an acronym the industry says stands for digital rights management, but critics say should stand for digital restrictions mongering.
DRM is intended to prevent unauthorized copying and sharing of copyrighted content, and does so by limiting whether and how files can be copied or converted into other types of files.
The technologies come in many flavors. Audio versions of DRM include Apple's FairPlay scheme, which prevents iTunes customers from sharing a song with a friend or playing the song on an MP3 player that isn't an iPod. Sony made waves in the fall when it secretly installed spyware on users' computers to prevent them from turning CD tracks into MP3s.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/23/2006

TVMyPod
IPods pre-loaded with video tread legal gray zone
A tiny Massachusetts company named TVMyPod is selling iPods that come with movies and TV programs already loaded on them, a practice that raises questions of legality as it addresses consumer demand for convenience and portability.
DVDs have copy protection on them, however, and under the terms of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act it is illegal to bypass that technology. Raghavan said his company's process does not involve decryption.
He added that moving the content onto the device is a one-way transfer, which since the purchaser gets both the original and the copy is legal under the fair use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Act.
"It's kind of an obsolete law since Congress was not taking into consideration portability," Raghavan said. "These players are exploding on the market, but the legality of it can sometimes be in a gray area."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/20/2006

Featured Author
David McCullough
Biographer, historian, lecturer, teacher, and award-winning author, David McCullough is the author of six widely acclaimed books, including Truman one of the most popular American biographies of all time and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He is also host of the PBS television series The American Experience and narrator of Ken Burns' production of The Civil War.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Jobs at the Gates
Jobs' Invitation To Microsoft a Trap?
Chris Seibold over at Apple Matters, has written up an interesting analysis on Steve Jobs' suggestion that Microsoft make their own mp3 player. He argues that it is more bait than business plan, a deft move by Steve Jobs to lure Microsoft into a can't-win war. The key, according to the article, is the licensing of FairPlay." From the article: "The folks who stick with Microsoft get to fight over, roughly, twenty percent of the market. The folks that go with Apple would be aligning themselves with what has become the industry standard. The players that license FairPlay would have access to the iTunes store, backwards compatibility with the songs consumers have already purchased, and a chance to compete on a perfectly level playing field with the iPod. It doesn't take a Stanford MBA to deduce that the potential rewards of opting to use FairPlay far outstrip the rewards of going with PlaysForSure."

posted by Jerry permanent link

iPod Doesn't Kill A Radio Star
Review: Apple iPod Radio Remote (5G/nano)
Now Apple has released the iPod Radio Remote ($49), a redesigned version of its prior iPod Remote for 3G, 4G, and mini iPods, now with added FM radio functionality. A new Apple Remote of some sort has been necessary since last year, when iPod 5G and nano lost the top-mounting connector the old Remote relied upon. This version instead connects to the iPod’s bottom Dock Connector port - now with a newer, shorter connector - and makes a few other major changes as well. It is the second FM radio-equipped remote to work with 5G iPods and nanos; Griffin released a modified version of iFM with a Dock Connector (iLounge rating: B+) right before the end of 2005.

posted by Jerry permanent link

PocketPC Sirius
Tapping into Satellite Radio on your Pocket PC
If you're already a Sirius subscriber, you can use this free application to access your radio content. It just so happens that an enterprising developer has created a program that allows you access all that content on your Windows Mobile Pocket PC. This article is a quick run-through of how to set up and access XM Radio from your Pocket PC. There is a Smartphone version available but because of the limitations around GPRS, it's only usable on Smartphones with WiFi, 1xRTT, or UMTS.

posted by Jerry permanent link

ClearType Forever
Enabling ClearType in Landscape Mode on the Pocket PC
Windows Mobile has supported ClearType for quite some time now. However, you might have noticed that it refuses to work in landscape mode, even when enabled (this rule has existed for many years). Thankfully, there's a fix, but it involves a little adventure through the registry. If you're well aware of the risks, proceed. If not, you can always use Tweaks2K2 .NET or Spb Pocket PC Tips & Tricks and have it do the dirty work for you.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/18/2006

Nopester
Napster Going Under?
Digital Music News is reporting that the digital music subscription service, Napster, is in a dire financial situation, and that massive layoffs are imminent. Company executives may even be planning exit strategies that include a fire sale, or liquidation.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/14/2006

Google at the Gates
A Google-Microsoft alliance?
It seems absurd to say they could become allies -- Google and Microsoft are increasingly archenemies. But there is one company both envy, one whose growing success could change everything -- Apple.
Its integrated software-device-store model for media is so far ahead of everyone else that there is no number two. Microsoft (Research) cites the iTunes/iPod combination as a paradigm for the kind of product set it wants to offer going forward, in which a service generates ongoing revenue in combination with software on a PC, and a mobile device.

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/13/2006

Video Reader
The Portability of Paid Video
We're already seeing upstart companies jump on the portability train, such as blinkx. Blinkx can now send video search results directly to an iTunes podcast playlist for download onto an iPod. Brilliant.
If 2005 was the year of online video, 2006 will be the year video becomes practical and truly portable. Consumers demand this content portability. If they buy something, they want to own it. Advertisers, content providers, publishers, and hardware manufacturers that deliver on this demand will be the big winners in the end.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Bad Google
Google and CBS release embarrassment of a video store
"This is a truly historical meeting of the established and new media," said Les Moonves, the head of CBS, about his network's new video partnership with Google. Um, no, Les. So far, it's just a really crap web site.
If, like us, you expected the new and improved Google Video service to rival something like Apple's iTunes store, then do yourself a favor and don't visit the Google shop for a few months. Google has done nothing to celebrate its unique access to shows such as CSI, Survivor and Star Trek. Instead, the company has buried CBS's shows beneath a dismal interface wrapped in a shambles of a delivery mechanism.
We wonder though if CBS isn't regretting its decision. Did it buy into the same Google hype as everyone else? ABC must be laughing all the way to the bank as it rides iTunes to millions of sales.
Google, however, seems to have made the same mistake as companies such as Dell when competing with an Apple or a Sony. It's not enough to throw out some cheap MP3 player or web site and expect the standard rules of business to apply to consumers. The Average Joe is willing to pay a bit more for quality in the consumer world rather than mess with some basic, hard-to-use product or service.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Google Rush
Google Video Not Ready for Prime Time?
"Ars Technica has a piece on the Google Video Store, and their opinion is that it seems a little rushed to market. The interface is very bad, with paid and free videos mixed together. While free videos can be viewed in Flash on any platform, their paid DRM'ed videos require a Windows program, and the page tells you the available formats only after you purchase it."

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/12/2006

Google Video Store Open
you can copy the non copy protected version to be played in your ipod and pocket pc

posted by Jerry permanent link

  1/08/2006

Y! 2Go
Yahoo goes mobile
Yahoo's e-mail, instant messaging, photo and other services are now available on mobile phones and PC-connected TVs, as well as on personal computers without using a browser.
Yahoo Go Mobile, which the Internet company launched Friday, is a set of communications and media applications, including Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Photos, calendar, address book, Web and image search, news, sports and finance.

posted by Jerry permanent link

Hardware Watch
Palm Windows-Treo 700w: A marriage not made in heaven
You thought the apocalypse was upon us when Apple Computer switched to processor chips from Intel, which Mac fans had considered the Dark Side for more than 20 years?
Well, try this on for size: Palm's new Treo 700w cell phone-organizer runs on software from Microsoft. Yes, that Microsoft, whose palmtop software was mocked by Palm employees for years as bloated and inefficient.
...But considering that Palm's designers once worshipped at the altar of interface excellence, it's a shame that Microsoft's convoluted software has produced such an awkward marriage with the hardware. Longtime Treo fans, in particular, will be absolutely baffled by the new software layout.
Then again, the 700w wasn't built for longtime Treo fans (who, in any case, can still buy the older 650 model). It was built for corporate buyers, whose top priorities may not include providing the most pleasurable experience possible for the worker bees.

posted by Jerry permanent link