March 27, 2006
Volume 12, Issue 10
New P2P Technology for Television
Excerpted from Delft University of Technology Report
The new peer-to-peer (P2P) "Tribler" system, based on open-source software, was launched Friday during the Workshop on Technical and Legal Aspects of P2P Television in Amsterdam. The software, developed at the Delft University of Technology (Holland), offers a revolutionary way of distributing TV programs via the Internet.
Various public broadcasting corporations, commercial TV stations, cable and telecommunications companies are showing keen interest in the distribution of television programs via the Internet. While the current method makes use of centrally located computer systems, research is now being conducted at Delft University of Technology, among other institutes, into TV distribution through P2P systems.
This type of distribution is carried out through large groups of normal PCs operated by normal users. This method enables TV programs to be broadcast at almost no cost and opens the way to new TV stations operating through the Internet. Moreover, this method guarantees a much more direct linking of program makers with viewers.
"If the public broadcasting corporations were to make use of P2P technology, then the high cost of data distribution, such as was recently the case during the Olympic Games, would be a thing of the past," said Johan Pouwelse, a researcher involved in the development of the Tribler software.
When using this method of transmission, it is crucial that the rights to the visual material be carefully handled and protected. In the workshop, the current state of this promising technology was discussed by researchers, domestic and foreign TV producers, and experts in the field of licensing.
Universal Plans Film Downloads
Excerpted from Red Herring Report
Universal Pictures International plans to debut the first "download-to-own" movie service in the United Kingdom, allowing customers to download digital versions of blockbuster movies for keeps when they purchase a DVD of the movie.
The media and entertainment company, in conjunction with UK DVD distributor LoveFilm, will offer a $34.83 package that includes a DVD, a copy to view on a portable DVD player, as well as two digital downloads for PC or laptop. The first movie to be made available for download will be "King Kong" starting April 10th.
Universal is the second major player to announce a digital movie download service in Europe. In January, Warner Bros. and Bertelsmann subsidiary arvato mobile, a DCIA Member, said they would launch In2Movies, a P2P service available in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It will allow consumers to download some 80 movies and TV shows from the Warner catalog (see Warner Debuts P2P Film Service).
Customers who want to download Universal's films need Windows Media Player 10 on their PCs and a portable device that supports WMV9 SP content, a digital rights management (DRM) tool that prevents the movie from being copied, burned to a disc, uploaded to the web, or e-mailed. Warner's In2Movies service, which uses P2P, also includes technology designed to protect copyrights and licensee requirements.
Notably, the movie companies are experimenting with the new download models in Europe rather than the US. Europe's DVD distribution market is far more fragmented and less powerful than in the United States, where chains such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart dominate.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 This week at Digital Hollywood, the DCIA will proudly honor two Members that exemplify the promise and spirit of the emerging distributed computing industry.
INTENT MediaWorks will commercially launch its newest service offering, "MyPeer," at a series of private live demonstrations culminating in a media event.
And Digital Containers will celebrate the awarding of its third patent, "Delivering Electronic Content," at several conference venues.
Digital Containers CEO Chip Venters and INTENT President, Andy Cooper, will also be featured on Digital Hollywood's Next Generation P2P Track I Panel Thursday morning. We hope to see you there.
According to INTENT, "Consumers are increasingly calling the shots in a converged media world. 18-to-35 year-olds are defining how, when, and where they consume their favorite entertainment, buying from like-minded vendors in virtual communities and social networks.
Enter the power of MyPeer, a private label distribution platform that allows content owners, advertisers, and consumers to discover, search, configure, and exchange professionally produced and user-generated content.
For content owners, MyPeer is a robust brand management platform that provides secure, multi-channel distribution via file-sharing systems: P2P, IPTV, RSS, IM, web-based download stores, e-mail, social networks, and blogs.
Content providers using the power of MyPeer in early trials are increasing media consumption and revenue up to 80%, owning the social networks and communities forming around their content and brands, reducing copyright infringement, lowering costs up to 70%, and deploying a system for comprehensive brand management.
MyPeer is fully secure, legally (DRM) compliant, economic, monetizable, and scalable. MyPeer features include secure file sharing: its closed P2P enables the secure distribution and tracking of licensed audio/video content at 1/100th the cost of traditional Internet streaming. Brand social networking: it facilitates blogs, webcams, and communal connectivity via all four IM platforms and VoIP. E-commerce: the MyPeer commerce engine enables the secure purchase and distribution of downloads, videos, and merchandise. And hyper search engine: it allows users to search libraries of authorized content on the web as well as via open P2P.
Protocol features include guaranteed delivery, pause/resume and auto-resume downloads, content access control, central management, and separate controls for WAN/LAN. Peer discovery, allocation, and transport comprise focused peering-based topology, rich automatic topology discovery, load balancing, and NAT/firewall traversal.
Application-level features support subscriptions or 'push' content, ad-serving, content-versions updating, automatic file/stream/player selection, copyright watch enforcement, parental control, and community organization – tags to content.
Technical specifications and system requirements are MSFT Windows 2000, ME, and XP, RedHat Linux 7.2, and Mac OS X. Pentium III or better with 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended). Server standards supported are HTTP 1.0 and 1.1 and UDP for file delivery and SNMP."
As announced last week, Digital Containers has received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office for its "Delivering Electronic Content" technology. With the approval of this third patent application, Digital Containers has been granted protection for a system which allows containerized digital content to be promoted and the request fulfilled instantly from interactive advertising on any P2P network, website, instant message, or e-mail.
The first of Digital Containers' patents to be granted in its super-distribution family was "Regulating Access to Electronic Content" (Patent 6,389,541), which regulates access to digital content using a token-based authorization system that locks content to a user's device or devices. Authorization can be granted with any type of user input data, financial transaction data, or system data. A unique, real-time payment gateway rides with content.
Its second patent, "Tracking Electronic Content" (Patent 6,751,670), tracks users and location of files persistently across distributed networks and on physical media. It allows for the powerful new business model called super-distribution and creates a real-time database of consumer behavior.
When taken in conjunction with these previously awarded patents, "Delivering Electronic Content" provides the architecture for a super-distribution system that delivers, protects, tracks, authorizes, and monetizes any type of digital good.
Digital Containers' solutions are critical to the success of the emerging P2P distribution channel. The optimal way to efficiently reach a global market is through super-distribution, which requires one user passing along media efficiently and securely to the next. DCI's system facilitates super-distribution, making P2P a viable commercial technology.
By serving a large and global market through decentralized file-sharing distribution, industries like ours, which distribute media over the Internet and via P2P, can realize significant cost advantages compared to old methods of centralized distribution that require greater initial and ongoing investments, and are typically unfair to media creators. Share wisely, and take care.
Skype without a Computer
Excerpted from Mathaba.Net Report by Sven Johnsson
DCIA Member Skype provides the popular Internet telephony service that generally requires Skype software to be installed on a computer and the computer to be switched on.
Now a new stand-alone Skype telephone project has been launched. With such a telephone, users can use Skype without a computer.
The main idea of the project is that everyone is welcome to submit their opinions at the website, so that they can affect the final result – a great consumer product for Skype.
Digital River Lifts 1Q Forecast
Excerpted from Business Week Report
DCIA Member Digital River, a provider of e-commerce outsourcing services, has raised its revenue and earnings outlook for the first quarter ending March 31st.
Shares of Digital River surged on the news, adding $2.92, or 7%, to $44.70 in electronic pre-market trading. That topped a recent 52-week high of $42.10.
The company now sees income – excluding charges and stock-option costs – of 48 cents per share on $77 million in revenue. That compares with a previous forecast of 40 cents per share and $70 million of revenue.
Digital River said it expects to provide updated full-year 2006 guidance when it releases its first-quarter results in late April.
eDonkey Prepares New Version
Excerpted from Slyck.com Report by Thomas Mennecke
MetaMachine's fate seemed sealed when Sam Yagan, President of the P2P development firm, said he was "throwing in the towel" before the US Senate Judiciary Committee. If throwing in the towel means developing a new software version, then perhaps many P2P doom-and-gloom scenarios were premature.
Instead of folding, DCIA Member MetaMachine made the decision to announce an upcoming version of eDonkey. Although well-functioning and popular, eDonkey legal entanglements and a slow pace of development have brought eMule, the open source alternative, into favor. Some estimates suggest that 90% of clients connected to the eDonkey2000 network are eMule.
With a total population of nearly 4 million, that still leaves over 400,000 individuals – more than enough to revitalize the MetaMachine end of the eDonkey2000 network. In order to revitalize, however, they need to stay relevant.
The first step is to build anticipation for an upcoming release. Jed McCaleb, lead programmer of eDonkey, posted the following message on the eDonkey forums, "I know it has been awhile, but we want to put out a new version soon. What would you like to see in it?"
For eDonkey fans, and perhaps file-sharing fans in general, times are changing for the eDonkey2000 client. Sam Yagan clarified the one point sticking in many eDonkey fans' minds – the implication that the days of development are a foregone conclusion.
"The eDonkey business model will evolve over time; I certainly never meant to suggest that by 'throwing in the towel' I was giving up on eDonkey."
Giving up on the legal fight, yes – but eDonkey is here to stay. The upcoming features of the new eDonkey will not be kept clandestine. "The features will be those discussed in the forum." Time-wise, there is no definitive point in which the new eDonkey will be released - other than "soon."
PlayFirst & Foundation 9 Entertainment
DCIA Member PlayFirst, the leading full-service publisher of casual games, announced an exciting new partnership with Foundation 9 Entertainment, North America's largest independent games developer. Under terms of the agreement, PlayFirst will publish the next premier casual game title developed by Foundation 9's award-winning studio, Backbone Entertainment.
Backbone will use PlayFirst's proprietary game development suite, Playground SDK, which will expand the reach of the game to all platforms where casual gamers play.
"We've long admired Foundation 9 and Backbone for their creative energy, their technical know-how across diverse platforms and their boundless enthusiasm for making great games," said Kenny Dinkin, Vice President and Executive Producer, PlayFirst. "We are excited to collaborate with this proven development organization to launch their latest and greatest ideas into the world of casual games."
BitTorrent 101: Guide to File Sharing
Excerpted from PC Authority Report by David Kidd
The Napster revolution in 1999 created an unstoppable crusade from users who wanted to share files, and copyright holders trying to prevent them from doing so. But like a multi-headed hydra, with each court battle that shut down one network, another would spring up, and we now have more choice than ever to share files. People want to share information, and to use the technologies available to them to do it.
And they will. P2P is showing no signs of decline. It currently accounts for more Internet traffic than any other medium, and businesses are trying to harness its power to distribute content faster, cheaper, and wider. P2P is now entering a new phase of maturity, where private, secure networks are helping groups connect together, and technologies like BitTorrent have revolutionized the way files are distributed.
P2P now offers more ways for people to connect than ever before. While Napster was dealt a healthy blow, and Kazaa made a slight detour, the future of P2P is brighter than ever. This feature looks beyond the teething problems and examines the future of P2P networking, the latest networks, and how you can make the most of the original bad boy of Internet.
SVC Financial & Virtual Lending Source
DCIA Member SVC Financial Services, a mobile transaction technology company, announced a strategic sales and distribution relationship with Virtual Lending Source (VLS), a cutting-edge provider of financial products and technological services to automobile dealers. VLS will offer MasterCard-branded Global Pay and Send (GPS) debit cards to its network of over 20,000 auto dealerships throughout the US.
The GPS debit cards will utilize SVC's Scoot Mobile Money platform, a service that integrates a prepaid, re-loadable MasterCard debit card with a cell-phone. Anyone with a cell-phone and a GPS debit card can easily and securely transfer funds to friends and family, anywhere in the world. The recipient can collect the money at any participating ATM, use the GPS debit card to make purchases, and will soon be able to pay bills using their cell-phone.
"This initiative demonstrates SVC's ability to expand its distribution network by taking advantage of the synergy that can be achieved with a strong, experienced partner like VLS," said Christopher Haigh, SVC President & CEO.
Social Computing & Interactive Marketing
Excerpted from iMedia Report by Fiona Torrance
A new Forrester Research report argues that companies should discard top-down management and communication strategies, incorporate communities into products and services, and become part of a living tapestry of brand loyalists.
Marketers and strategists not only have to embrace these tactics but also act as role models in approaching customer relationships while also engaging and redefining community in social computing.
Contributors to the Wikipedia describe how social computing emerged from computer-supported collaboration (CSC) research "focused on technology that affects groups, organizations, communities, and societies, e.g., voice-mail, chat."
These studies show that user-generated content and communication are changing the rules of business that Forrester defines as "a social structure in which technology puts power in communities, not institutions."
According to Forrester, "Social computing encompasses fast-growing peer-to-peer (P2P) activities like blogging, RSS, file sharing, open-source software, podcasting, search engines, and user-generated content." Other applications include social networks, user-review portals, consumer-to-consumer electronic commerce (C2C e-commerce), comparison-shopping sites, wikis/collaboration software, and tagging.
Companies pioneering the use of social technology include Facebook (social network), Feedburner (really simple syndication or RSS), MySQL (open source) and TypePad (blogs).
Even the mainstream community can dip into these social technologies, harnessing the power to change social norms. Forrester describes the three main powers driving technological and social change as pioneering youth who internalize the use of technology, aging consumers motivated to connect with society, and an integrating worldwide audience.
With community at the helm and with the availability of evolving technology – powerful network processes, low-cost hardware, and connective software – mass accessibility accelerates and social forces gain momentum. These forces significantly impact marketers striving for a competitive edge.
According to Forrester, three tenets of social computing make collaboration relevant to marketers: communities driving innovation, institutions facilitating experiences shaped and owned by communities, and communities taking power from institutions.
These tenets are significant to marketers because of credible statistics gleaned from Forrester's research in social computing. The statistics indicate that 47% of marketers use or plan to use RSS feeds, 56% of US companies use open-source software (versus 39% in Europe), and a further 19% in the US plan to use open-source software (versus 29% in Europe).
Furthermore, 51% of marketers use or plan to use blogs with 79% of marketers using or planning to use search marketing. Similarly, 79% of US online consumers use search engines weekly according to 2005 results.
Forrester's findings also suggest that an escalating number of socially-connected buyers are less brand-loyal, less trusting, and more independent. The change is partly because buyers expect brands to meet higher standards and also because they prefer to customize products or services for their own use. Another factor is consumer reliance on information from P2P networks.
To maintain relationships with new and existing customers, businesses and marketers will need to evolve with their changing audience of consumers by translating their current strategies into strategies that embrace social computing.
Forrester recommends these approaches: use a new marketing tool kit, implement a bottom-up customer-driven innovative approach, embrace social commuting as a value-added asset, and redefine the role of marketers.
Circumventing the Musical Industrial Complex
Excerpted from DCIA Member Scooter Scudieri CISTA Submission
The new music industry contains two elements: the musician and the fan. It is that simple.
My name is Scooter Scudieri and I am an artist. I use my music as a message of peace and the Internet as a means to connect us all. It is amazing to be alive during such monumental change in world culture. A few short years ago I was one of a handful of trailblazers forging the way for armies of artists to follow. Now, we have become a conscious and collective movement. Our spirit of change is energized and gaining momentum.
I consider myself a soldier on the front lines of a music revolution. I'm not talking an US vs. THEM revolution; I'm talking a WE revolution – where we as artists and fans control our destiny. We cannot predict the future, but we can create it. Only music and the love of music are necessary to facilitate this symbiotic paradigm. We are on the cusp of business, social, and artistic change in our society. The challenge is synchronizing them so they pay off big for both artists and fans.
We are not fighting the "musical industrial complex." We are creating a new system. My music lecture series, "Capture Your Spirit, Keep Your Soul" has had a tremendous impact on students in colleges and universities all over the country. I offer an inspirational dialog that helps musicians realize that they can take control of their art AND their business without compromising their talent, their soul, or their integrity. It's designed to empower them with the knowledge that everything they need; they have, and everything they want is attainable.
My website, www.firstrockstar.com, has become a launch pad for my music, mission, and method. By merging online and offline techniques I have created a focal point not only for my message, but for the movement which is redefining the way music is created and distributed. There are fine lines between confidence, arrogance, and ignorance. I know who I am, and in as much as I have to offer; I have much to learn.
Web Rock n'Roll Success
Excerpted from Digital Copyright Canada Report
The Arctic Monkeys foursome got together in 2002. They encouraged their fans to trade tunes online and to post them to websites and P2P networks. Yes, they encouraged file trading. Eventually, more and more people found them on MySpace or on their website via word-of-mouth, and their reach started to widen. Fans started booking them in venues farther and farther away from their hometown. Wherever they played, everyone in the crowd knew the words to the songs. This is all before they even signed to a record label.
Then, when they finally signed to Domino Records (a UK indie) and released their debut album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," it hit number one on the UK charts, selling 360,000 copies in the first week. Nobody anticipated those kinds of numbers. In fact, those kinds of numbers made "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" the fastest-selling independent debut in UK history.
Their story is remarkable because of one fact: grassroots communication channels like MySpace and P2P file trading networks worked better than the major-label hype machine. The Arctic Monkeys became hugely popular because they wrote good songs, made them available to their fans for free, and encouraged them to share the MP3s with their friends.
The final version of "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," was leaked onto P2P networks a few weeks before its official release. And it didn't seem to have hurt the sales numbers when the record hit the retail shelves.
Many of us on the consumer side of the music business have been saying that the old logic is a myth, and that trading songs via P2P actually encourages people to buy more music. They are exposed to more bands and a wider variety of music. They get a chance to get excited about new music in a much more direct and natural way. They aren't told about it by an advertisement or a video. They find it on their own or a friend tells them about it. They check it out, they like it, then they go to the store and buy the CD. And they probably buy more than just that one CD while they're there.
French House Passes P2P Legalization Bill
Excerpted from FOX News Report
The draft law would force Apple, Sony, and others to share proprietary copy-protection technologies so that rivals can offer compatible services and players. Lawmakers in the National Assembly, France's lower house, approved the bill 296-193. The legislation now has to be debated and voted by the Senate — a process expected to begin in May.
Under the bill, companies would be required to reveal the secrets of hitherto-exclusive copy-protection technologies such as Apple's FairPlay format and the ATRAC3 code used by Sony's Connect store and Walkman players.
That could permit consumers for the first time to download music directly to their iPods from stores other than iTunes, or to rival music players from iTunes France.
The new legislation would also introduce penalties ranging from $50 to $180 for those caught infringing music or movies at home and $4,600 for hackers who disable copy-protection systems. Those caught distributing software for online copyright infringement would face fines of up to $365,000 and jail terms.
Net Neutrality Gains New Backers
Excerpted from MediaPost Report
The so-called "Net Neutrality" bill that would keep Internet service providers (ISPs) from being able to allocate network bandwidth as they see fit is gaining serious momentum from consumer groups. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), with its 35 million-plus members, is the latest – and biggest – among a growing list to back the initiative urging Senators to require net neutrality principles by law.
While AARP isn't typically the kind of organization you would think would back technology legislation one way or another, recent surveys show that some 72% of 50-to-59-year-olds access the web on a regular basis. Network providers like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and others argue that concerns about Internet control via the proposed fast lane are theoretical, making new laws unnecessary.
AARP sent a letter to Congress urging legislators to back the net neutrality bill proposed by Senator Wyden (R-OR). A total of 64 companies have sent identical letters to the House Energy and Commerce Committee backing legislation, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, TiVo, eBay, Yahoo, Adobe Systems, BT America, and Sony Electronics. All argue that "unfettered" Internet access is essential to any consumers' bill of rights.
Coming Events of Interest
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Digital Media Revenue Strategies – March 27th at Digital Sandbox, New York, NY. Advancements in delivering and monetizing digital assets are happening at an extraordinary pace. Find out how leading edge B2B media companies have used digital technology to increase revenue, streamline operations, and open up new markets.
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Omma West Conference and Expo-Hollywood – March 27th-28th in Los Angeles. The rash of technology innovations and content syndication deals over the past year, coupled with consumer adoption of broadband, DVRs, VOD, and an unwavering insistence on media control, are taking the shape of an infrastructure the media industry's most forward thinking prophets have long heralded. The Internet is now becoming what it was meant to be – the distribution channel for all media.
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Digital Hollywood Spring – An expanded agenda of events will be featured during the 17th Annual Digital Hollywood Spring at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Los Angeles, CA March 27th-30th. Digital Hollywood is the leading gathering of entertainment, media and technology executives. DCIA Member Fun Little Movies' President & Chief Creative Officer Frank Chindamo will speak on a panel Monday afternoon. The DCIA will moderate the "Next Generation P2P" panel on Thursday featuring Andy Cooper, President, INTENT MediaWorks; Billy McNair, CEO, Peerflix; Chip Venters, CEO, Digital Containers; John Beezer, President, Shared Media Licensing; Leslie Poole, CEO, Javien Digital Payment Solutions; Robert Summer, Executive Chairman, iMesh; and Srivats Sampath, President & CEO, Mercora.
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P2P Digital Watermark Working Group (PDWG) – The formative meeting of the PDWG will be held during Digital Hollywood at 8:30 AM on March 29th. Presentations will be made by the DCIA, Digimarc, INTENT MediaWorks, and Verance. A continental breakfast will be served. Please call 888-864-3242 to register for this meeting.
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MIPDOC and MIPTV – MIPDOC is the international showcase for documentary screenings April 1st–2nd at the Carlton Hotel, Cannes, France; and MIPTV featuring MILIA – is the world's largest audiovisual and digital content market for mobile, iTV, and broadband distribution April 3rd–7th at the Palais des Festivals also in Cannes, France.
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First Annual DCIA Conference & Expo – The first-ever global "P2P Media Summit" will cover policy, marketing, and technology issues affecting commercial development of this emerging high-growth industry. June 22nd-23rd at the Intercontinental/HI, Tysons Corner, McLean, VA. Exhibits and demonstrations will feature industry-leading products and services. Alston & Bird's Aydin Caginalp & Renee Brissette will conduct a special session on corporate value optimization for firms in the distributed computing industry. For sponsor packages and speaker information, please contact Karen Kaplowitz at 888-890-4240 or karen@dcia.info. DCIA Member Music Dish Network is our media sponsor. Plan now to attend.
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Washington Digital Media Conference – June 23rd at the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner, McLean, VA. DCIA Conference & Expo attendees can attend this executive briefing on emerging business, policy, and technology issues & opportunities at half-price. This is a must-attend event for media, entertainment and technology businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies involved in the digital distribution of media. The Washington Post calls the event: "a confab of powerful communicators and content providers in the region."
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