FCC Recommends Ultra High-Speed Connections from Military Installations.
Friday, March 12, 2010

Following consultation with the Department of Defense (DoD), the team developing the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan has included a recommendation that the DoD equip select military installations with ultra high-speed broadband connections that would provide military personnel and their families with improved access to enhanced broadband connectivity. “The nation’s military installations house, train, educate, heal, and support tens of thousands of service personnel and their families,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “These military communities should be first in line to benefit from the latest technologies and ultra high-speed connectivity. This initiative also has the potential to help spur development of the next generation of broadband applications that take advantage of ultra-high speeds.” "I'm extremely pleased that the National Broadband Plan will recognize the central role that communications technologies play not only in the training and education of military personnel, but also in that of their families," said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Network and Information Integration)/DoD Chief Information Officer Cheryl J. Roby.” The FCC’s Plan outlines strategies for providing robust, affordable broadband to the entire nation and integrating broadband fully into the American economy and the daily lives of Americans. The DoD and FCC have discussed the merit of this proposal and agree this particular recommendation will be aligned with the missions of the Armed Forces. The recommendation reflects a tactic in the plan to investigate using federal facilities as a powerful way to push broadband more deeply into all corners of the nation. Military installations typically already have broadband connectivity but are ideal communities for ultra high-speed broadband connectivity, due to their scale and the variety of services they provide to military personnel and their families. The National Broadband Plan will recommend that the Defense Department create a task force, in consultation with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, to make recommendations on the selection, level of connectivity, and applications that could be deployed and supported. The military would retain operational control over the requirements and project implementation. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 directed the FCC to submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress that addresses broadband deployment, adoption, affordability, and the use of broadband to advance solutions to national priorities.

NAB Show Launches New 'Post Pit' on Show Floor.
Thursday, March 11, 2010

The National Association of Broadcasters announced today the debut of a new digital video workflow presentation stage, complete with a networking lounge and series of mini sessions, which will be held on the show floor at the 2010 NAB Show. Located in the South Lower Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Post Pit brings together user groups and individuals who use post-production and other digital story-telling software and hardware products on display at the NAB Show. Produced in partnership with Final Cut Pro User Group (FCPUG) Network SuperMeet, fxguide, Digital Production Buzz and Future Media Concepts (FMC), Post Pit will offer attendees and exhibitors an interactive experience in which to showcase creative content, while top talent take the stage to share tips and tricks to aid digital video creators and editors in navigating the various tools used in the trade. "We applaud NAB's decision to add the Post Pit as an exciting new venue to the NAB Show exhibit hall and appreciate our active role in providing speakers from within our community as highlights to the Post Pit schedule," said SuperMeet co-producers Daniel Berube (Boston FCPUG) and Michael Horton (Los Angeles FCPUG) in a joint statement. "We expect the networking prospects and guru talk offered within the Post Pit to be a big draw for content creators and digital filmmakers. Think of the Post Pit as our central gathering spot for the creative community at this year's NAB Show," they said. A networking lounge within Post Pit will provide an intimate space for attendees to meet with other content professionals, see interactive demonstrations and mingle with a broad representation of vendors including Adobe, Avid, AJA Video, Blackmagic Design, Canon, GenArts, Inc., The Foundry and JVC. Post Pit will also feature networking receptions during the day and after hours. "We're targeting serious production pros," said fxguide Co-Founder Mike Seymour, whose Post Pit program addresses high end digital capture to final feature film post production. "We've lined up directors and visual effects supervisors to share real world production techniques using the latest gear." The 2010 NAB Show runs April 12-15 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Grab Your Bike and Go with Google Maps.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

If you’re one of the 57 million Americans who ride a bike, mapping your daily commute, exploring new trails, and planning recreational rides just became a little bit easier. Unveiled at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, Google announced today that it has added biking directions in the U.S. to Google Maps. The new feature provides step-by-step, bike-specific routing suggestions – similar to the directions provided by the driving, walking, or public transit modes. Simply enter a start point and destination and select “Bicycling" from the drop-down menu. You will receive a route that is optimized for cycling, taking advantage of bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly streets and avoiding hilly terrain whenever possible. You can also access the other features in Google Maps, such as Street View, so you can tell exactly where you might need to turn on your route or preview how wide a bike lane is, and Local Search, so you know where you can take a water break or where the bike shops are along your route. Biking directions provides time estimates for routes based on an algorithm that takes into account the length of the route, the number of hills, fatigue over time, and other variables. According to Google, thousands of miles of trails in the US have also been added directly onto the map. This helps cyclists better plan their routes, and can also expose the availability and convenience of bike trails to a new audience. Google has partnered with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit that creates networks of trails from former rail lines, to provide information on bike trails in more than 150 cities. “The demand for trail maps and information has never been higher, especially as more people recognize biking as a viable, inexpensive and healthy alternative to driving,” says Rails-to-Trails President Keith Laughlin. “Sharing our trail data is an exceptional way to introduce the world to what 150,000 RTC members and supporters already know—biking is the ideal way to get where you’re going. The addition of biking directions to Google Maps makes life easier for bikers, whether they are commuting to work or biking for fun, and it can introduce our network of trails to a whole new audience of cyclists-to-be.” Biking directions is currently in Beta available on desktop versions of Google Maps for the United States, but a mobile version is planned.

comScore Releases January 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010

According to the latest data from digital marketing intelligence and measurement company comScore, U.S. Internet users watched 32.4 billion videos in January with Google Sites ranking as the top U.S. video property with 12.8 billion videos. YouTube.com accounted for nearly 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Hulu ranked second with 903.1 million videos, or 2.8 percent of the all online videos viewed. Microsoft Sites ranked third with 491.8 million (1.5 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 435.5 million (1.3 percent) and Viacom Digital with 361.2 million (1.1 percent). More than 173 million viewers watched an average of 187 videos per viewer during the month of January. Google Sites attracted 136.5 million unique viewers during the month (93.9 videos per viewer), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 51.5 million viewers (8.5 videos per viewer) and CBS Interactive with 41.2 million viewers, (5.3 videos per viewer). The average Hulu viewer watched 23.5 videos during the month, representing an all-time high for the property. In January, Tremor Media ranked as the top video ad network with a potential reach of 86 million viewers, or 49.6 percent of the total viewing audience. BBE ranked second with a potential reach of 78.3 million viewers (45.2 percent penetration) closely followed by Advertising.com Video Network with 77.9 million viewers (45.0 percent). comScore also noted that the top video ad networks in terms of their actual reach delivered were: BrightRoll Video Network with 27.2 percent penetration of online video viewers, SpotXchange Video Ad Network with 19.8 percent, and Tremor Media Video Network with 16.6 percent. 135.4 million viewers watched 12.7 billion videos on YouTube.com (93.4 videos per viewer) while the average Hulu viewer watched 23.5 videos, totaling 2.3 hours of videos per viewer. The company also noted that the duration of the average online video across all properties was 4.1 minutes.

Blu-ray Patent Licensing Program Announced by Four Companies.
Monday, March 08, 2010

The Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Thomson Licensing, Toshiba Corporation and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment have announced that the companies have commenced a worldwide joint licensing program. Known as the BD4C Licensing Group, which begun on March 1, 2010, the group will offer licensing for Blu-ray ("BD") and DVD patents essential for BD decoders, BD encoders, BD players, BD read-only discs, BD recordable discs, BD drives, BD/DVD hybrid discs and BD recorders ("BD Products"), including BD Products that incorporate DVD functionality. According to BD4C, potential licensees will benefit from one-stop shopping for the essential patents owned or controlled by the four companies, which will facilitate the development of the BD market. The license portfolio consists of BD and DVD patents, owned or controlled by the four companies, that are essential for BD Products. Licenses for the portfolio will be available for products that comply with the specifications for the BD formats promulgated by the Blu-ray Disc Association. The group said interested parties are also free to negotiate separate license agreements, rather than taking a single portfolio license, with each of the four companies, which have committed to provide such licenses for their respective essential patents under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms and conditions. The companies have authorized Toshiba to act as licensor for the BD4C Licensing Group in licensing their essential BD patents for this joint licensing program. Royalties under the terms of the portfolio license will be as follows:

* BD-Video Disc --- $0.04 per disc
* BD-ROM Disc --- $0.04 per disc
* BD-R Disc --- $0.065 per disc
* BD-RE Disc --- $0.09 per disc
* BD/DVD Hybrid Disc (including BD/DVD Hybrid ROM Discs and BD/DVD Hybrid Video Discs) --- $0.08 per disc
* BD Decoder --- $1.00 per decoder, with an annual cap of
$10,000,000
* BD Encoder --- $1.50 per encoder, with an annual cap of
$15,000,000
* BD-Video Player --- $4.50 per player
* BD-Video Combo Player --- $6.00 per player
* BD Video Recorder --- $7.00 per recorder
* BD-Video Combo Recorder --- $6.00 per recorder
* BD-ROM Drive --- $4.00 per drive
* BD Recordable Disc Drive --- $6.00 per drive
* BD-ROM Combo Drive --- $5.00 per drive
* BD Combo Recordable Disc Drive --- $5.00 per drive

HDMI Releases Specification for 3D Broadcast Content.
Friday, March 05, 2010

HDMI Licensing, LLC, the agent responsible for licensing the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) specification, this week announced, on behalf of the HDMI Founders, the release of HDMI Specification Version 1.4a featuring key enhancements for 3D applications including the addition of mandatory 3D formats for broadcast content as well as the addition of the 3D format referred to as Top-and-Bottom. The latest HDMI Specification adds key enhancements to support the market requirements for bringing broadcast 3D content into the home including the addition of Top-and-Bottom to the Specification as well as the addition Side-by-Side Horizontal and Top-and-Bottom mandatory formats for broadcast content. According to HDMI with the addition of these two mandatory formats, the HDMI Specification Version 1.4a provides a level of interoperability for devices designed to deliver 3D content over the HDMI connection allowing devices to speak a common 3D language when transmitting and receiving 3D content. The complete HDMI Specification Version 1.4a, along with the 1.4a version of the Compliance Test Specification (CTS), is available to Adopters on the HDMI Adopter Extranet. An extraction of the 3D portion of Specification Version 1.4a is available for public download on the HDMI Web site. The purpose of the extraction document is to provide public access to the 3D portion of the HDMI Specification for those companies and organizations that are not HDMI Adopters but require access to this portion of the Specification. "We published these latest enhancements to support the market need for broadcast 3D content," said Steve Venuti, president of HDMI Licensing, LLC. "When we launched 1.4 in June of 2009, we deferred the selection of mandatory 3D format(s) for broadcast content until the market direction was more clearly defined. The market has spoken and the HDMI Consortium has listened and responded to accommodate those market needs." HDMI Adopters will have 90 days from the publication of the Specification Version 1.4a to build and sell products that are compliant with 1.4a as well as pass the CTS Version 1.4a. This also applies to legacy set-top boxes that may have upgraded to use Specification Version 1.4 signaling.

Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement.
Thursday, March 04, 2010

Cupertino, California based Apple Inc. this week filed a lawsuit against fellow consumer electronics and smartphone maker High Tech Computer (HTC), for infringing on what Apple calls 20 patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware. "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours." According to HTC, the Taiwanese company, the world’s largest maker of smartphones that use Google’s Android mobile operating system, including the Nexus One, has been building mobile devices including smartphones for 13 years, “and so HTC is not only a mobile technology innovator, [we] also hold a large number of patents,” the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Apple’s filing includes smartphones from HTC that use Google’s Android OS as well as some that run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS. HTC will work with the U.S. justice system to protect its own innovations and rights, it said, adding that it does not believe the Apple lawsuit poses a threat to its business in the short-term. Apple is credited with having reinvented the mobile phone in 2007 with its revolutionary iPhone, and again in 2008 with its pioneering App Store, which now offers more than 150,000 mobile applications in over 90 countries. Over 40 million iPhones have been sold worldwide. It is not unusual however, for technology companies to file lawsuits against each other. As popularity of smartphones increase, smartphone vendors have been actively filing lawsuits. Sometimes for legitimate claims and sometimes as a ploy to harm a rival’s business. Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone vendor, sued Apple last October over the alleged infringement of 10 patents. Apple turned around and sued Nokia over claims of its own.

Online Film Demand Declines.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Hollywood's hopes for a future built on digital film downloads have been severely undermined by new research showing cooling consumer demand for movies online. The film industry was banking on digital distribution eventually replacing the income it generates from sales of DVDs, which have been in steep decline for the past two years. But while sales of digital films rose sharply in 2007 and 2008 growth stuttered in 2009, according to a recent report by Screen Digest. The media research group had forecast total online movie sales in the US of $360m for 2009, based on the sharp growth of 2007 and a near doubling of sales in 2008 to $219m. Yet after a slowdown in the second half of the year, US revenues for 2009 were substantially lower than forecast at $291m. "The market just cooled off," said Arash Amel, a research director with Screen Digest. "This wasn't caused by economic factors . . . the level of interest in digital downloads just isn't there." He believes consumers have been deterred by an array of competing online platforms that prevent viewers from watching digitally downloaded films on the devices of their choice. A consumer buying a film from Apple's iTunes store is unable to watch it on their Microsoft Xbox console, for example. "Digital downloading is characterised by its restrictions – it's all about what viewers can't do, rather than what they can do,"added Mr Amel. Hollywood has moved to address problems associated with digital distribution yet the industry is divided on the best way forward. Disney has created Keychest, which it describes as "enabling technology" that allows consumers to buy a film once and watch it anywhere. But the rest of the industry is supporting the rival Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem coalition, which is backed by Sony Pictures. With no immediate solution in sight, the Screen Digest report is likely to make grim reading in Hollywood. The private equity and hedge fund money that poured into the industry fuelling a production boom has evaporated following the financial crisis, leaving the studios desperate for new revenue sources. While studios have made efforts to cut the pay offered to top stars, the number of films going into production in 2009 fell almost 20 per cent to 520 and is forecast to fall again this year. Screen Digest has slashed its growth forecasts for digital film sales by 30 per cent after the smaller-than-expected rise last year. 

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