May 29, 2006
Volume 13, Issue 7
Zattoo Launches P2P IPTV
Zattoo last week unveiled a groundbreaking new peer-to-peer (P2P) IPTV service that makes live, quick-start, long-play Internet television a reality.
"Advances in broadband, video compression, and multicast streaming technology are rapidly lowering the technical hurdles for Internet and television to merge on a PC. However, there is still the matter of cost," said Sugih Jamin, CTO & Co-founder of Zattoo.
"Our streaming network solves that problem by reducing broadcasters’ costs by a factor of ten, making it compelling for them to switch to our technology and broaden their service offering.
Also, Zattoo’s proprietary P2P streaming technology ensures a video delivery and smoothness that has until now been impossible to achieve."
Developed by leading researchers and software engineers from University of Michigan, Zattoo offers a DRM-secure, commercial P2P network optimized for streaming video that is uniquely capable of serving the needs of consumers, broadcasters, content owners, and advertisers.
MySee Brings World Cup to P2P
Excerpted from China Tech News Report
P2P technology provider MySee has reached a long-term strategic relationship agreement with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) to distribute live video broadcasts of the 2006 World Cup.
According to the agreement, MySee will customize a P2P media technology platform for SMG, which owns the exclusive Chinese rights to live broadcasting of the event through online video frequencies, to distribute the championship soccer matches to Chinese netizens.
MySee is a high-tech company backed by Tsinghua University. Set up in July 2004, it has cooperated with a number of websites in broadcasting such events as Taiwan officials’ visits to the mainland, the launching of the Shenzhou VI rocket, and the Spring Festival Gala.
SMG says that it chose MySee as partner for the event because of the company’s rich experience and advanced technology for live broadcasting via P2P.
Taste of Broadway on P2P
A benefit program entitled A Taste of Broadway was performed live on May 23rd and is now being distributed by DCIA Member INTENT MediaWorks across P2P networks globally.
1,600 children of the NYC Board of Education’s Attendance Incentive Drop Out Prevention Program (AIDP) attended the free show held at Centennial Memorial Temple. Musical group Blacksmith performed along side of Broadway stars and the USO troupe at this successful fundraiser.
The event also demonstrated how well Blacksmith’s music resonates with younger audiences (grades 4-6) and was very enthusiastically received by attendees.
Skype Flash Phones for Media
Excerpted from Digital Lifestyle Magazine Report by Alex Baranosvskiy
Here’s a decently original concept: take a Skype phone, and add portable media player functionality to it!
New Skype Flash Phones rely on implied flash memory as a form of storage and come in two different versions, the first of which has 128 MB, the second having 256 MB. Both feature a 65k color screen that will be useful when utilizing the flash phone as a VoIP device, or when running videos/photos on it. The devices also rely on the screen for a built in e-book reader feature.
One of the most prominent aspects of any PMP is the formats that it supports. This one can play WMV, MPEG 1/2, Quicktime, and AVI on the video side of things, while the MP3, WMA, and WAV formats are supported when it comes to music. There’s an FM tuner, and even a voice recorder.
You can use the service on any computer with an Internet connection, even if it doesn’t have Skype. Once you connect the Skype Flash Phone to a PC, the Skype program, personal configurations, and everything else is automatically run for you. It’s like you’re at home on your own personal computer.
The Skype Flash Phones will cost $75 with 128 MB of memory and $85 with 256 MB.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 The DCIA is proud to announce the speakers and agenda for our upcoming P2P MEDIA SUMMIT. This first annual DCIA Conference & Exposition is scheduled for June 22nd-23rd in McLean, VA.
For both observers and participants in our emerging high-growth industry, the P2P MEDIA SUMMIT is a must-attend event that promises to be of enormous value to delegates.
The June 22nd Conference will feature keynotes from top P2P software distributors, panels of industry leaders, and valuable workshops. There will be a continental breakfast, luncheon, and networking cocktail reception with live entertainment.
The June 23rd Exposition is being held in conjunction with the Digital Media Conference, and registration for the full DCIA Conference & Exposition includes that event as well.
Keynote speakers for the June 22nd DCIA Conference will be eDonkey's Sam Yagan, GNAB's Jan Marc Külper, and MyPeer's Les Ottolenghi.
As a result of market-share shifts among the current generation of open P2P software programs, which have demonstrated steady usage growth for more than three years, MetaMachine's eDonkey now ranks number one on a global basis, ahead of second-ranked BitTorrent.
With the recent launch of its white-label P2P platform branded as In2Movies with partner Warner Bros., GNAB, a service of the Bertelsmann Group’s arvato mobile, exemplifies the industry’s closest collaboration of the entertainment and technology sectors.
And as a result of INTENT MediaWorks unprecedented development and integration work to leverage multiple file-sharing platforms and UI configurations, as well as web-based distribution, MyPeer represents the most advanced implementation of P2P in the marketplace today.
The Conference Luncheon Speaker will be EMI Music's Senior Vice President of Digital Distribution & Development Ted Cohen, introduced by Digimarc Corporation's Director of Licensing and Market Development Nate Alvord. Under Ted Cohen’s guidance, EMI has led the industry with its initiatives in new technologies and new business models. His approach has provided EMI’s artists and labels a substantial advantage in the digital music arena.
The Policy Track features Butera & Andrews’ Phil Corwin, Dreier LLP’s Josh Wattles, the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) Fritz Attaway, and StreamCast Networks’ Mike Weiss (Morpheus), and will address MGM v. Grokster – one year later. As we approach the first anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision, what changes in the regulatory environment affecting P2P technologies have been brought about by this landmark judgment? What important issues are yet to be determined? What else has to happen from a legal and policy standpoint to foster robust commercial development of P2P?
The Technology Track features CacheLogic's David Ferguson, Digital Containers' Chip Venters, Friend Media Technology Systems' (FMTS) Jonathan Friend, and Telcordia's Corey Clinger, and will address P2P file sharing – the evolving distribution chain. What is the current landscape for web-based content distribution and what role do file-sharing technologies play? What trends are emerging in P2P implementation by participants in the distribution chain and in consumer usage? What impact do advances in digital rights management (DRM), data compression, caching, content acceleration, swarming, and other P2P-related technologies have?
The Marketing Track features Global Media Intertainment's (GMI) Jakob Schwerdt, P2P.com's Albe Angel, Serling, Rooks & Ferrara’s Ted Weis (Jun Group ), and Ultramercial's Dana Jones, and will address P2P business models – what’s working and what’s not. Has any alternative business model – paid-download, subscription, or advertising-supported – yet proven to be more promising than adware that first predominated in P2P? Is file sharing more of a promotional tool than a direct sales channel? Have any more innovative approaches been attempted and what has been the learning? How can users navigate among entertainment industry sanctioned P2P service offerings?
The Content Distribution panel features Fun Little Movies' Glen Gulyas, MediaPass Network's Daniel Harris, MusicDish Network's Eric DeFontenay, and the Internet’s "First Rock Star," Scooter Scudieri, and will address the perspective of artists and rights holders – P2P for content creators. What has been the experience to date of content creators who have embraced P2P? What changes do they need to more effectively harness file-sharing and related technologies? Are there innovative art forms in development for the P2P distribution channel?
The Solutions Development panel features CacheLogic's Andrew Parker, Mediaguide's Paul Wright, RawFlow's Ian Franklyn, and RazorPop's Marc Freedman, and will address advancement – creating the commercial P2P ecosystem. What architectural and other technological solutions are now in development that will optimize P2P deployment for the benefit of all participants in the distribution chain? Which of these have been tested and what have been the results to date? Can P2P streaming technology help broadcasters and content providers overcome the limitations of live streaming?
The Support Services panel features BitPass' Denis Concordel, Clickshare's Rick Lerner, Javien's Leslie Poole, and P2P Cash's Tom Meredith, and will address accountability – tracking transactions and paying the players. What are the latest developments in tracking content and advertising delivery, user interaction, and direct response in the P2P distribution channel? What innovative payment processing solutions are becoming available for the file-sharing environment? Have P2P technologies themselves been adopted for e-commerce and related purposes?
Alston & Bird's Aydin Caginalp & Renee Brissette will conduct a special session on corporate value optimization for firms in this emerging high-growth industry.
Live showcase entertainers for the post-conference networking cocktail reception include Kirsten DeHaan, Drew Gonzalves, and the Internet’s "First Rock Star," Scooter Scudieri.
Exhibits and demonstrations for the June 23rd DCIA Exposition, held in conjunction with the Digital Media Conference, feature industry-leading products and services.
Registration can be completed online or by calling 888-864-3242. For sponsor packages and speaker information, please contact Karen Kaplowitz, DCIA Member Services, at 888-890-4240 or karen@dcia.info. Share wisely, and take care.
Free Calls with Regular Phones
Excerpted from Personal Tech Pipeline Report
A gadget called the Skype USB-to-RJ11 Adaptor lets you make and receive free Internet VoIP calls using DCIA Member Skype's flagship software application and your home phone – or your cell phone. The device plugs into your PC’s USB port, and has a place to plug in your regular phone.
Once you set it up, you can use your regular phone to make free calls anywhere in the world.
The adaptor does a lot of neat tricks: 1) record calls; 2) forward Skype calls to your phone; 3) make Skype calls from your phone; 4) make three-way calls that include both Skype and conventional callers; and 5) toggle back-and-forth between a regular landline call and a Skype call.
Best of all, it’s cheap: just $54 at EchoStore.com.
MRE Partners with KlikVU
Mobile Ready Entertainment (MRE), a holding company and aggregator of digital media and wireless content for mobile devices, has signed a strategic alliance agreement with DCIA Member KlikVU, an ASP service provider of video delivery systems and encoding.
L. Joshua Eikov, CEO of Mobile Ready Entertainment, said, "We are very pleased to enter into this alliance with KlikVU. The KlikVU platform will put us in a very good position to offer services and content delivery to consumers and the mobile community at large."
A recent report from KenRadio.com found that the US is at 70% wireless penetration and reaches 200 million subscribers. The report went on to explain how Verizon and Cingular both added 1.7 million customers in Q1 2006 and that wireless revenue from US businesses will grow to $52 billion in 2010. With these statistics at hand Mobile Ready Entertainment is preparing the mymobileready.com platform by partnering with KlikVU to create a streaming video and audio channel for the mobile phone.
"We are happy to be serving Mobile Ready Entertainment as an ASP and know that our platform will provide the best possible service to the customers of MRE," commented Lowell Feuer, CEO of KlikVU.
Digital River Improves E-Commerce
DCIA Member Digital River, a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, announced a major release of its global e-commerce platform. The release, which includes an expanded self-service tool set, offers online merchants even more remote control over their outsourced e-commerce sites. The latest enhancements include powerful new site design tools, advanced site testing and optimization capabilities, and more robust merchandising controls.
"During the past several years, we have made substantial investments in our e-commerce technology to provide our clients more hands-on control over their online stores," said Joel Ronning, Digital River CEO.
"Our self-service tools enable online merchants to control major aspects of their sites, including site content, product catalog and price management, campaigns and payment options. And it allows them to do this while maintaining nearly 100 percent uptime across Digital River’s global data centers. This translates to tremendous efficiencies for our clients and our company. We believe Digital River’s enhanced platform has set the new standard for global enterprise e-commerce."
Digital River’s expanded self-service tool set delivers significant new functionality through an easy-to-use client interface.
Pando Outpaces E-Mail Attachments
Pando Networks announced a first-of-its-kind solution for sharing consumers’ digital media – home movies, folders of family photos, and business presentations – previously too large to send via e-mail.
Pando is a small, free, downloadable application that lets people send large personal media using existing e-mail addresses. Pando users can attach files of up to 1GB, creating no need to sacrifice quality with compression.
Pando is perfect for the vast majority of people who don’t have the time or inclination to maintain a social network or don’t feel comfortable posting their personal photos and videos to a public website. With Pando, large files are sent privately, securely, and directly from one person’s computer to another using the familiar and unrivaled standard for sending files – e-mail.
Until now, Pando has been in a closed, invitation-only beta test, during which time Pando users could invite friends to download the application. During its five-month closed-beta period, and with no publicity, Pando became a viral success story with well over a half-million installs. To date, Pando has delivered 1.5 petabytes (a billion-and-a-half megabytes) of data.
"Every computer user has experienced the frustration of trying to send large files via e-mail," said Robert Levitan, Pando Co-founder and CEO. "Pando’s intuitive, drag-and-drop interface allows users to send personal media – files and folders – to anyone with an e-mail address, regardless of his or her computing skill level. As a viral product with great consumer benefit, Pando can accelerate the sharing of home videos, photos, and large business documents over the Internet for users worldwide."
Pando is the first P2P/e-mail hybrid of its kind; Pando combines the distribution efficiencies of P2P technology with the asynchronous "send-and-forget" paradigm of e-mail. Using expanded BitTorrent technology, the Pando application bypasses e-mail servers and clogged inboxes to transport large files and folders directly from senders’ to recipients’ computers.
Seamless P2P Tests & Campaigns
DCIA Member Seamless P2P's sister company, Seamless Internet, began an advertising campaign on BusinessWeek Technology and CNET websites to drive awareness of the company’s "Name the Next Generation Mobile Communications and Computing Device" contest. The ad campaign will run through the end of May. The current working name for the device is PPC.
Seamless is redesigning the PPC, which won a Consumer Electronics Show "Best of Innovations" award, as a portable business computer measuring only 5"x4"x2" and weighing less than 12 ounces, which offers a full-fledged computing platform with communications and entertainment functionality and an easy-to-use fold-out almost full-size keyboard.
In addition, Seamless P2P announced that due to unprecedented demand for participation in the company’s Phenom 3.0 P2P Virtual Private Network Software alpha and beta testing programs, the company will adjust its plans to accommodate varied schedules of the most highly desired test participants.
MySpace’s Big Challenger
Excerpted from Media Life Report by Heidi Dawley
Among social networking sites, MySpace has been dominating the headlines as the top site, particularly since Rupert Murdoch’s recent acquisition. How much longer that is so is quite another matter. Social networkingis a fickle field in which destinies are rewritten by the day.
Bebo, born only 10 months ago, has just nabbed the No. 2 spot among social networking and chat sites in Britain and could be at No. 1 by September, and just this morning it became No. 1 in New Zealand, according to Hitwise, the online competitive intelligence provider.
Next, it’s America, says the company, with a fresh $15 million investmentin cash in its pockets."Within the next quarter or two we will start making a push in the US," says Jim Scheinman, Vice President of Bebo, based in San Francisco.
As a larger market, the US could also be tougher, but Bebo’s prospects for challenging MySpace here as well are no less strong, say analysts. "It certainly can grow in the US, and I think that the infusion of capital they got this week will help that," observes Heather Hopkins, Director of Research at Hitwise UK.
Bebo is focused around schools and university communities and allows its users to create home pages, blog, and make friends. Its tight focus around each user’s school can mean that it can spring quickly to popularity within a region as groups of friends at particular schools shift to the site.
Business Collaboration by NetAlter
The 21st century has spawned a new business culture. One without boundaries and now it is possible for people in one part of the world to sell goods to other parts of the world; without spending a nickel on setting up a physical showroom or recruiting a global sales force.
Business can now be transacted with a click of the mouse. Though the birth of e-commerce happened sometime back, its significance in the form of cutting costs across the enterprise has been realized quite recently.
Business-to-Business (B2B) collaborations have gone virtual, leading to the demise of the fax machine and tons of paperwork. Information is now available on-the-fly and on-request anytime, anywhere.
It is estimated that in 2006, the annual online retail business in the US alone would be worth around $105 billion and the net global online trade is fast approaching the trillion dollar mark.
Industry watchers predict that by the turn of this century almost all forms of collaboration would be done via a software or using online processes.
NetAlter has realized the importance of the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) model in bringing about a profound change in the way we do business.
This has resulted in developing a unique and innovative business framework. The NetAlter framework is based on a unique ICC infrastructure that brings together some of the latest Internet-wide technologies such as SOA based Service Browser, AI Agents, Super Fast Intelligent Deep Wide P2P Search, Grid Supercomputing, Semantic Web, Trusted Flexible Layers, etc within a single platform.
It aims to leverage existing Internet-wide technologies in saving social as well as business costs to millions of users and thousands of organizations.
House Panel Approves Net Neutrality
Excerpted from Multichannel News Report by Ted Hearn
Cable and other broadband-access providers would violate federal antitrust laws if they discriminated against Internet-based companies that offer content, run applications, and offer search services under a bill passed by the House Judiciary Committee Thursday.
Passage of the bill presages a potential House floor fight over the need to impose so-called network-neutrality mandates on cable operators, phone companies, and other providers of broadband-access service, which rapidly connects millions of consumers to their favorite websites to shop, bank, debate and learn. The bill (H.R. 5417) passed by a 20-13 vote. All Democrats voting supported the bill, but 13 of 19 Republicans voted against it, even though committee chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) is the chief sponsor of the bill.
FTC Disarms P2P Pirate Captain
Excerpted from Broadcasting & Cable Report by John Eggerton
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled a case against a company that was inducing unlicensed video and audio downloads, creating a band of possibly unsuspecting digital copyright infringers.
The operator of mp3downloadcity.com has agreed not to misrepresent his service and to refund $15,000 to 611 customers who signed up for his service, which sought to mimic licensed subscription services.
According to the complaint, Cashier Myricks charged $24.95 for a membership, which actually got the customer a tutorial on the use of free P2P file-sharing software and claimed that downloads of video and audio files, including movies and songs, were 100% legal. They weren’t.
As part of the settlement, he must disclose the civil and criminal liability of downloading copyrighted material without permission.
The FTC filed suit against Myricks in September 2005 in federal court, which had issued a temporary injunction against the claims. The agreement with Myricks settles that case.
Morpheus P2P Creators Sue eBay
Excerpted from Beta News Report by Ed Oswald
The creators of P2P software Morpheus sued eBay earlier this week, claiming its Skype division broke an agreement that gave StreamCast Networks first right of sale to the FastTrack network protocol. The technology is the foundation of Skype’s Internet calling, and was used for file sharing in Morpheus.
StreamCast first filed the suit in January, but Monday’s filing adds eBay as a defendant. The company is asking for $4 billion in damages and an injunction that would stop the distribution of Skype VoIP.
Coming Events of Interest
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Canadian Telecom Reform – May 30th at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC. Telecommunications Review Panel Member Hank Intven and former Deputy Prime Minister John Manley will discuss net neutrality, broadband deregulation, and related issues. Ambassador Michael Wilson will make opening remarks.
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P2P MEDIA SUMMIT – June 22nd-23rd at the Intercontinental Holiday Inn, Tysons Corner, McLean, VA. This first annual DCIA Conference & Exposition will cover policy, marketing, and technology issues affecting commercial development of this emerging high-growth industry. Exhibits and demonstrations will feature industry-leading products and services. For sponsor packages and speaker information, please contact Karen Kaplowitz at 888-890-4240 or karen@dcia.info. DCIA Members Music Dish Network and Javien are our media and e-commerce partners respectively. 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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6th Annual Future of Music Policy Summit – October 5th–7th at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. FMC sees hosting this Summit in Canada as an opportunity to expand its perspective on a range of issues – from copyright, to sampling, to digital royalties, to radio, to how various musical communities are managing change. The music marketplace has become truly global, and some of the biggest challenges are navigating the assortment of legal and licensing schemes that encourage and/or impede the promotion and sale of music.
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