August 16, 2010
Volume XXXI, Issue 11
GenosTV Seeks Beta Testers, Eliminates STB Requirement
GenosTV this week announced that it is seeking beta testers to ensure that its offering exceeds consumers' expectations for next generation television service. Interested parties are encouraged to e-mail their contact information and reasons for wishing to participate in the trial to betatesters@genos.tv.
The company also explained that a GenosTV set-top box (STB) will not be needed for its service. The television service will be VIRTUAL and easily accessible by a "button" on the user interface of Internet protocol (IP) connected televisions sets, blue-ray players, mobile-phones, and other IPTV services. (Pandora's Internet radio is a related example of this business strategy).
Television manufacturers will have a new opportunity to generate revenue beyond the one-time mark-up they receive from their hardware sales by partnering with GenosTV and turning their TVs into a recurring revenue stream. The same will be true for other Internet-enabled consumer electronics (CE) devices.
The company is also forming relationships and seeking agreements with distribution partners worldwide, focusing especially on established broadcast television station and cable system operators.
This new strategy will allow consumers to switch to GenosTV without any upfront fees or new equipment and will create the distribution necessary for GenosTV to offer television programmers millions of new customers as the service reaches "off net" consumers in rural areas.
"GenosTV is one of the most disruptive business models in history," said Rob Shambro, the company's Chairman & CEO.
"When researchers and analysts fully evaluate the impact of GenosTV on consumers, including how its embedded application TVME will give everyone a stage; its impact on existing television programming services, broadcast stations, and cable systems, including how its expanded footprint will contribute to unprecedented industry growth, new jobs, and business opportunities; they will begin to understand the massive impact that Genos is going to have on media worldwide."
"Remember when Orbitz and Travelocity revolutionized the travel business? Their impact suggests the kind of effect GenosTV will have on the media sector."
Marc Diego, GenosTV VP Corporate Development, a former graduate of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is spearheading a prelaunch of the service at the UCLA campus along with managing collegiate marketing teams nationwide. GenosTV is accepting applications for campus representatives across the country. Interested parties can submit their resumes to jobs@genos.tv.
GenosTV will launch its service at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) taking place January 6th-9th in Las Vegas, NV.
Media Value Destruction and Creation: A Work in Progress
Excerpted from On Media Report by Diane Mermigas
Valuing disrupted media is a sobering and challenging task that will continue complicating mergers and acquisitions for years, even in a recovering economy.
The incessant flow of new interactive devices and applications disrupting every facet of media remains at odds with the lingering albatross of costly legacy. That juxtaposition throws values and potential deal math into uncertainty, tipping the scales between obstacle and opportunity.
The latest stunning example is the sale of Newsweek to Dr. Sidney Harman for $1 and some liabilities in exchange for his pledge to The Washington Post sellers that he will not dismantle the magazine. How the new owner juggles continuing losses at Newsweek may give rise to a new definition of what constitutes "dismantling."
Like the sale of TV Guide to private equity for $1 in 2008, the transaction heightens concerns about the future implications of not being able to accurately value and trade media whose legacy operations and assets are severely challenged. Their intellectual capital has enduring merit; their debts are a concrete reminder of how much it costs to secure.
What will television stations be worth when video finds its way to every screen by way of the Internet or cloud computing?
Even cable, satellite, and telecom operators will be challenged - their bundled services and programming gradually stunted by anywhere, anytime on-demand standard. What will newspapers and magazines be worth if their subscription and advertising revenues are too deeply undercut by the prevalence of free virtual content and marketing?
How do you assess the value of even the most sophisticated video games and films that become fodder for social network mash ups and manipulation?
No one knows. So much value creation amid steady value destruction makes for a more promising outlook than current earnings multiples and weak growth forecasts suggest. Qualifying it is the problem.
Valuations based on this year's earnings generally reflect "catch up" improvements from last year's recessionary abyss. Next year's projected earnings will look tepid by comparison. The digital reshaping of user payments and advertising into an interactive marketing will create more valuable revenue streams. But the transformation will take time. Until then, how will media values be determined and justified?
Return on invested capital (ROIC) is one way to measure disrupted media value in the near term. It provides a finite snapshot of the way companies build value during this tumultuous transition, regardless of where values have been or where they might be years from now.
For instance, Lewis Dvorkin's revamping Forbes in the mode of online entrepreneurial journalism is one approach to jump-starting the digital value of existing print resources.
Comcast-owned Daily Candy's launch of a location-triggered shopping alert app for mobile devices for stores where its registered users roam is another way to remake advertising into an interactive, personalized marketing tool.
Needham analyst Laura Martin endorses ROIC as the best way to measure the value that disrupted media could accrue by innovating with cash and existing resources. Historically, there has been an 85% to 90% statistical correlation between ROIC and valuation in the media space, she said. "As applications evolve that use the Internet's unique strengths, a broad swath of traditional businesses will become extinct," Martin observes in a new report.
The key to building value is using interactivity to create complementary or additive - not substitute - offerings that extend or reinvent traditional advertising, content, and communications. ROIC is a way to track a company's response to the challenges created by the Internet as it evolves into what Martin calls "a general purpose technology" or commodity like electricity.
Even the tactical choices media companies make today, based on the mistakes of newspapers and music, could prove insufficient as the disruption continues down different paths and in different places.
New companies and services spawned by the Internet are not disadvantaged by established media's outmoded, expensive legacy structure and operations. They don't have displacement cost and income. For instance, Hulu generally offers users free programming that otherwise costs an average $70 per month bundled on cable and costs the TV networks millions to produce. Content produced specifically for web consumption, in five-minute episodes for 12 consecutive weeks, may cost only about $100,000 and require much less viewers' or paid advertising to monetize, Martin points out. Such developing emergent economics are at the heart of shifting media values.
The values assigned to new media companies are beset by their own issues. At the recent Techonomy Conference, Google CEO Eric Schmidt conceded the Internet search giant is gobbling up start-ups more for the intellectual talent than assets. Google announced it will pay $182 million for the social gamer Slide.
With so much cash on corporate balance sheets - Google has more than $30 billion in cash - there is no cost of capital to put money to work. The only risk: understanding how to create value from interactivity, which changes everything.
To that end, Martin estimates that of the major media companies she tracks, Viacom will make the biggest strides in ROIC, which will increase 3% to 15.2% in 2011 over this year. At the opposite end of the scale, Time Warner will improve ROIC less than 1% to 7.6% in 2011 over 2010.
The bottom line is whether companies everywhere on media's sprawling spectrum can create lasting value faster than it is lost in the changing digital tides.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 This week, Verizon and Google announced a proposal in the form of a suggested nine-point legislative framework intended as their constructive contribution to the net neutrality debate now at the center of much discussion in Washington, DC.
The timing of this announcement follows the US Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) issuance of a Notice of Inquiry last week seeking guidance on broadband policy and its abandonment of related talks among leading private sector representatives including these two major players.
The announcement was particularly significant because Verizon and Google have been outspoken adversaries on this issue, with Verizon insisting on flexibility in the delivery of web content to protect performance of its network, while Google has been demanding restrictions so that broadband providers couldn't favor their own online offerings over competitors or third parties.
In announcing this plan, the companies acknowledge the enormous contribution of the original architects of the Internet in making the network open, enabling the greatest exchange of ideas in history; and scalable, enabling explosive innovation in its infrastructure.
They also recognize that regulators should, in fact, monitor Internet service providers (ISPs) to ensure they do not block or slow Internet traffic and that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may also have a key role to play in that area.
In order to balance the protection of the future openness of the Internet while also encouraging the rapid deployment of broadband, the companies offered what they characterize as a principled compromise. Verizon and Google stated that they have been guided by two principle objectives: 1) Users should choose what content, applications, or devices they use, since openness has been central to the explosive innovation that has made the Internet a transformative medium; and 2) America must continue to encourage both investment and innovation to support the underlying broadband infrastructure; it is imperative for our global competitiveness.
Both companies have long been proponents of the FCC's current wireline broadband openness principles, which ensure that consumers have access to all legal content on the Internet, and can use whatever applications, services, and devices they choose.
In October, the two companies issued a shared statement of principles on network neutrality. A few months later, they submitted a joint filing to the FCC, and in an April they released a joint op-ed. They also agree that, in addition to these existing principles, there should be a new, enforceable prohibition against discriminatory practices.
This means that for the first time, wireline broadband providers would not be able to discriminate against or prioritize lawful Internet content, applications, or services in a way that causes harm to users or competition.
This new non-discrimination principle includes a presumption against prioritization of Internet traffic - including paid prioritization. So, in addition to not blocking or degrading of Internet content and applications, wireline broadband providers also could not favor particular Internet traffic over other traffic.
It's also important that consumers be fully informed about their Internet experiences. The proposal would create enforceable transparency rules, for both wireline and wireless services. Broadband providers would be required to give consumers clear, understandable information about the services they offer and their capabilities.
Broadband providers would also make available to application and content providers information about network management practices and any other information they need to ensure that they can reach consumers.
The proposal also spells out the FCC's role and authority in the broadband space. In addition to creating enforceable consumer protection and non-discrimination standards that go beyond the FCC's preexisting consumer safeguards, it also provides for a new enforcement mechanism for the FCC to use.
Specifically, the FCC would enforce these openness policies on a case-by-case basis, using a complaint-driven process. The FCC could move swiftly to stop a practice that violates these safeguards, and it could impose a penalty of up to $2 million on bad actors.
In its most controversial provision, the proposal would allow broadband providers to offer additional, differentiated online services, beyond the Internet access and video services offered today.
These new services would have to be distinguishable in scope and purpose from broadband Internet access service, but could make use of or access Internet content, applications, or services and could include traffic prioritization.
This means that broadband providers would be empowered to work with other players to develop such new services. These new services might include health care monitoring, the smart grid, advanced educational services, or new entertainment and gaming options.
The proposal includes safeguards to ensure that such online services would have to be distinguishable from traditional broadband Internet access services and not circumvent the rules. The FCC would also monitor the development of these services to make sure they don't interfere with the continued development of Internet access services. ISPs would also be permitted to manage their networks, including the ability to prioritize general classes or types of Internet traffic, based on latency.
In another section that has raised concerns because of the growing importance of wireless Internet access, the proposal would not now apply most of its wireline principles to wireless - except for the transparency requirement. In addition, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) would be required to report to Congress annually on developments in the wireless broadband marketplace, and whether or not current policies are protecting consumers.
Finally, the companies reaffirmed that they believe that it is in the national interest for all Americans to have broadband access to the Internet and therefore voiced their support of reform of the Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF) to focus on deploying broadband in areas where it is not now available.
AT&T said it would examine the proposal and that it remains committed to achieving a consensus solution to the issue either with the FCC or Congress.
The question for all DCINFO readers to answer is whether this legislative policy framework adequately protects consumers, provides the FCC with what would be beneficial authority over broadband, and allows web start-ups to continue to bring their innovations to users.
It would seem to offer broadband providers the flexibility to manage their networks and provide new types of online services, which is what they seek. And it is clearly a highly visible attempt to influence an extremely important area that Congress has yet to address. Share wisely, and take care.
Google Defends Neutrality Proposal
Excerpted from Online Media Daily Report by Wendy Davis
Faced with criticism from neutrality advocates, Google on Thursday defended its joint proposal with Verizon for a plan to manage Internet traffic.
"We believe this proposal represents real progress on what has become a very contentious issue," Richard Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel, wrote on the company's blog.
On Monday, Google and Verizon unveiled a joint proposal for a law to ban Internet service providers from degrading or prioritizing traffic over the so-called public Internet, but would allow companies to pay extra for delivery of specialized services. The proposal doesn't define those specialized services, but says examples could include health care monitoring and new entertainment and gaming options. The proposal also would not require wireless carriers to follow neutrality rules.
Advocacy groups quickly condemned the plan, saying that it could create two separate Internets - a public web for the type of content that is now available, and a separate, fast-lane Internet for managed services. But Google's Whitt argues that enacting some neutrality rules - even if limited - is preferable to the status quo, given that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) currently has no power to prevent Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking traffic.
"At this time there are no enforceable protections - at the FCC or anywhere else - against even the worst forms of carrier discrimination against Internet traffic," Whitt wrote. "We're not saying this solution is perfect, but we believe that a proposal that locks in key enforceable protections for consumers is preferable to no protection at all."
Whitt also said that the companies were not proposing a mandate for wireless neutrality because "the wireless market is more competitive than the wireline market, given that consumers typically have more than just two providers to choose from."
The plan drew much attention by neutrality advocates and other groups, including the Writers Guild of America. That group said it opposed a different set of rules for the public Internet and managed services. "This semantic sleight of hand seeks to prioritize online content, granting privilege and advantage to those content creators with deeper pockets who would like nothing better than to destroy the concept of net neutrality," the group said.
The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said any carve-out for specialized services should be on a case-by-case basis. "There may be some services that need traffic prioritization, such as urgent medical services, but the approach in the proposal creates no real limits," the EFF said.
"It would be much better if space for these services was addressed through waivers or other processes that put the burden on the company suggesting such services to prove that they are needed."
Many consumer advocates also have criticized the plan's lack of neutrality restrictions for wireless carriers.
Will Cloud Computing Become More Important than the Internet?
Excerpted from EBiz Report
In this PC World blog, Cloud Computing Will Surpass the Internet in Importance, Georgetown University professor Mike Nelson is quoted as saying exactly that, going on to say, "Cloud computing will allow developing nations to access software once reserved for affluent countries. Small businesses will save money on capital expenditures."
What do you think? Click here to see responses.
Whatever the Numbers, Cloud Growth Is Skyrocketing
Excerpted from GigaOM Report by Derrick Harris
A UBS research report sparked a lot of discussion this week with its estimate that Amazon Web Services' (AWS)total revenue will top $500 million this year and $1.1 billion by 2014. Analyzing the numbers is fine, but, as I discuss in my weekly column at GigaOM Pro, I think it's most telling to look at the growth curve when assessing the promise of cloud computing.
UBS charted gross revenue growth from 2006 through estimates for 2011 (the chart is available in OM's article), and that number speaks for itself. It's an 801% annual increase ($329.4 million) over five years for an offering all but pulled out of thin air. If AWS hits UBS's 2014 estimates, it will be a 2,890% increase ($1.3 billion) over eight years. Net annual income over the same time period (2006-2014) is estimated to grow by 6,148% ($386 million). Is there anyone out there who wouldn't want to be part of that fast-growing a business, as either a principal, investor, or shareholder?
Even if the numerical estimates aren't entirely quantifiable, stated growth from other cloud providers suggests UBS's estimated growth curve for AWS is probably accurate. This week, for example, RightScale announced a 1,000% customer spending increase from June 2009 through June 2010.
Rackspace has been seeing growing cloud computing revenues, too. Aside from consistent cloud-based revenue growth, its cloud customer count almost doubled between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010 - from 43,030 to 80,080.
Guy Rosen, who does a quarterly calculation of the top 500,000 websites hosted on cloud platforms, also has tracked impressive growth. As of August 2010, his research shows 3,011 sites hosted on Amazon EC2, and 2,825 hosted on Rackspace Cloud Servers. Those numbers represent 94% and 106% year-over-year growth, respectively. In the case of AWS, especially, the number of high-profile websites is adding up fast.
It's easy to get lost in the exact numbers, but the constant growth tells the story: Cloud computing (of the externally hosted variety) is growing at a breakneck speed, and AWS appears to have the lion's share of the market. Yes, the present revenue numbers are low compared with traditional IT, but the sky is the limit for cloud stakeholders. Isn't that what really matters?
Read the full post here.
Kazaa Adds 500,000+ Playlists and Exciting Music Discovery Features
Kazaa, a leading subscription-based online music provider, continues to expand its music download service offering with the recent release of a comprehensive Playlist Project. With over 500,000+ playlists and other exciting interactive features, music lovers everywhere are provided with a new platform for music discovery and sharing.
The recently launched Playlist Project features fan powered playlists and playlist prioritization based on community rating. The Playlist Project improves music discovery through the ability to share a playlist within the Kazaa community and also through social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.
The Kazaa community now has the ability to watch a live stream of what is being listened to on Kazaa and an advanced music recommendation engine based on a user's preferences.
Emanuel Krassenstein, CTO of Kazaa, said, "The best thing about the playlist feature is that it connects people through music. Kazaa aims at providing the best music discovery environment that encompasses various music genres from pop to country, Latin to hip-hop, where music fans can interact with artists, albums, and songs. Our BHAG is to be the best company in the world for all fields of digital entertainment."
Site usage powers the preference engine which recommends tracks based on a user's taste. Krassenstein said, "The flip side here is that lots of people never create all the playlists they would like to because it's hard work to constantly update those collections. Social collaboration provides an additional way to experience music."
The recent Playlist Project rollout marks a decade of continual innovation in the digital entertainment industry for Kazaa. The Kazaa Playlist Project is just the start in a steady stream of new feature enhancements Kazaa plans to introduce: the Kazaa iPhone mobile application, cutting edge social networking applications, and the much anticipated legal re-launch of the Kazaa P2P media player.
The original P2P media player was developed by Bluemoon Interactive, the founders of which went on to develop Skype and Joost. The announcement coincided with the recent release of Rdio, another music service started by the same founders.
Kazaa, a subsidiary of Brilliant Digital Entertainment (BDE) is a leading provider of major label, licensed music subscription services. It also offers online anti-piracy solutions and customer conversion platforms through its Global File Registry (GFR) product, an industry endorsed, anti-piracy solution for the identification and removal of infringing content and replacement with licensed content through its patented search-and-replace technology.
Imagine a Comprehensive Global Rights Database
Excerpted from Digital Music News Report
So, who benefits from a complicated, fractured rights database that takes years to effectively license? The answer is any company that helps its clients navigate the mess! For everyone else, the byzantine map of overlapping rights is just bad news.
On Tuesday, the industry took another step towards sanity in the form of a global rights database. This is still relatively early, but according to details tipped to Digital Music News by EMI Music Publishing and French society SACEM, the database would traverse both recordings and publishing works.
"The initiative aims to lower the administrative barriers to businesses seeking to distribute content online and ensure that creators of music are quickly and efficiently compensated for their work," a statement from the duo explained.
Actually, the "Global Repertoire Working Group" was first minted in September of 2008 following discussions with EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes. Other members of the consortium include iTunes, Amazon, Nokia, PRS for Music, STIM, and Universal Music Publishing Group.
And, the group is still soliciting input and participation through mid-October. The quest for a central, authoritative global rights database continues...
Why the Music industry Is Not Dead
Excerpted from Online Spin Report by Cory Treffiletti
When was the last time you were in a record store? I used to go once a week. It was fun to browse the new releases, peruse the bins of my favorite artists and plow through the used CDs to see if there was anything I wanted to pick up. Times change, though, and that behavior has become as anachronistic as the pocket watch (and, yes - I still like pocket watches).
The record industry has experienced more dramatic change in the last 10 years than almost any other category of consumer product. Don't be confused by that statement, because the music industry is indeed a very well-defined consumer product, but the advent of digital media has created an entire generation of people who may never set foot in a record store.
Just last week I was dropping off a friend of mine when I was reminded of a song I wanted him to hear. When I played it for him, he mentioned that he hadn't yet purchased that deluxe edition box set where the song originates, because he didn't know where to go anymore! The joke was that just when he should have gone to a record store, he didn't even know where one was anymore.
Numerous articles have been written about how the music industry is dying, but that's not what I'm here to write about. Instead, I want to raise awareness of the fact that the business is potentially better than ever. From my perspective, the music industry is now set to experience a rebirth and a reinvigoration because the stars have aligned - the industry part is getting cut out, and the artists are the ones to make the money!
Just look at the way we consume music now. Yes, it's primarily digital, which means poorer sound quality and a less tactile experience, but that also means the art can come through in many new ways. Artists have the ability to create more immersive cover art than ever before, lending value to the experience. Why not create a virtual album cover that is digital video and 3D rendered while being web-based?
You can catch the attention of users browsing through iTunes or Amazon - the main ways to purchase music these days - with intensely visual artwork if you know how to do it. When you release songs as teasers online, the accompanying assets (video, graphical, flash, audio) are easily shared and passed along by fans.
Remixes and expanded versions are eaten up by online users, and interactivity with your art further increases viral consumption. You used to make a mix and give it to your friends; now you can pass music along directly - and with the right tools, you can keep track of that virality!
With sites and services like Pandora and P2P music streaming Spotify, music discovery has never been as easy as it is now. You can discover and try out new music before you buy. It's also easy to unearth rarities and classics from long-forgotten artists, allowing them to reach an altogether new audience. And don't even forget the ease with which users create content in which they can easily integrate music. That music becomes exposed to a new audience, and new fans are born!
Your browser and social media are the best record store you could ever hope for. Your friends are the new record store clerks, and these services are a revenue stream that never existed before. I know the margins may not be as high as they were, but as the famous words go: "fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." The labels were fat, drunk and stupid and now they're paying the price, but the artists are in far more control now than they ever were before.
Which brings me to the last point: the resurrection of artistry. Some of the new albums from The Gaslight Anthem, The National, and Arcade Fire are making me feel good about music again. Even pop albums from Katy Perry and a host of other artists make me feel there is creativity back in the business. So jump back in feet first, and see what you think. Support the artists who are doing it right, and let's watch what happens!
LimeWire's Plans for Working with the Music Industry
Excerpted from WebProNews Report by Chris Crum
Earlier this year, we spoke with LimeWire CEO George Searle about the music industry and the company's future, as it offers one of the most widely used file-sharing services. Now we have engaged in a Q&A with Zeeshan Zaidi, who came to LimeWire as the company's Head of Global in July, with a background as a record label executive, a musician, and a lawyer.
WebProNews: We're told the LimeWire software has been translated into Arabic and will soon be translated into Persian, while the software and website are translated into a total of 23 languages. How are languages chosen and what does this means for the global peer to peer community?
Zeeshan Zaidi: LimeWire has over 50 million users and they are located in virtually every country on the planet. Ideally, we would love to have LimeWire's software and website available in every language so all our users could enjoy LimeWire in their native tongues. To that end, we "crowdsourced" the translation of our software, through the LimeWire Open Source Project, giving users the ability to translate the client into their own languages. This has been a great success and we hope to continue to add languages this way. In addition, we have supplemented these efforts with professional translation, especially of the LimeWire.com website.
Languages are prioritized based on the size of the total Internet population that speaks a given language, as well as the total LimeWire population of native speakers of a language that are currently using our software in English. For example, we already had many users throughout the Middle East and North Africa using LimeWire in English, but with the addition of an Arabic translation, we can now make LimeWire accessible to entire online populations of the countries in the region - we're very excited about this. With the next release in December, we are adding Korean, Greek, Norwegian and Persian to our list of translated languages. With each additional language, we connect more corners of the world to our network.
Sometimes our objectives when choosing languages go beyond reaching the most users - Persian is an example of this. When the Iranian post-election protest movement was gathering steam last summer, and the Iranian government was blocking the flow of coverage and information about the protests, LimeWire took action. We didn't take a stance on the elections themselves, but we are firmly committed to facilitating the free flow of information and strongly opposed to these forms of government censorship. We featured video clips from the protests on our software's home page, and encouraged users throughout the world to download and spread the videos. However, at the time LimeWire did not have a Persian translation so we made that a priority. Coincidentally, Iranian activists have recently approached us letting us know that they want to be able to use LimeWire to share files amongst themselves and circumvent their government's attempts to block their communications. Again, while we are politically neutral, we will always take the side of Internet and information freedom.
WPN: We're told the latest version of the LimeWire software (5.3) improves BitTorrent performance, adds selective-downloading and file-prioritization within the torrent, and faster startup. Can you tell us a little bit about the release and what is on tap for future releases?
ZZ: With every new release of LimeWire we add new features that are exciting to our users. We added BitTorrent functionality at the beginning of this year because there was a lot of demand for this, and we have been enhancing these capabilities with every release. So LimeWire users can now share files through the BitTorrent protocol in addition to the Gnutella network. The adoption rate of version 5.3 has been great and we are very pleased with the results.
In the next release - 5.4 - we're going to be adding additional features such as a video player and even better BitTorrent features. It is our goal to continue to innovate on the software front and continue to provide our users with the best features.
WPN: It sounds like the LimeWire Store plays a key role in the future of LimeWire. Can you tell us about some of the plans for that?
ZZ: Many people don't realize that in addition to developing file sharing software LimeWire also operates a music store. LimeWire Store has over 4 million tracks available for sale a la carte or through a subscription service. All tracks are fully licensed from record labels and music publishers. Currently, the store is only available in the US.
There is a tremendous opportunity in expanding the nature and breadth of the offering of LimeWire Store and rolling it out internationally. We're working towards launching a new paid subscription music service. We plan to couple this with other ways to monetize the user experience. This plan has tremendous potential for the industry, and if successful, will put lots of money into the hands of copyright owners. LimeWire is serious about this mission: we are in talks with the entire music industry to make it happen. We've also assembled a team of talented and experienced media and technology executives so we can deliver on this vision.
WPN: You arrived at LimeWire after working with Sony BMG, Arista, and RCA overseeing online marketing and running digital business initiatives, as well as being a musician and an attorney. Can you discuss how your background influences your decisions at Lime Wire?
ZZ: As we're planning the expansion of our store and the rollout of the new music service, my perspective is definitely informed by my background as an attorney, musician, and former record label executive. I care that consumers are provided with the best music search, discovery, sharing, and listening experience that takes advantage of cutting edge technology to give our users what they want when they want it.
As LimeWire prepares for the launch of our new subscription music service, these are the company's objectives and we're determined to work in conjunction with the music industry to achieve them.
WPN: A representative for LimeWire tells us file sharing is not about a battle between file sharers and the music industry, and that technology companies such as LimeWire can work with labels and publishers to build and deploy services that consumers will like. How do you see this developing?
ZZ: Although there's currently a lot of heated public debate about file sharing I do not view it as battle between file sharers and the music industry. I have no negative feelings towards the music establishment. Quite the contrary: I respect the magnitude of challenges that they are facing, because I used to tackle them myself. It's not easy to protect a revenue base coming from content when digitization is changing the way your consumers interact with and consume it. My belief, though, is that technology companies such as LimeWire can work with record labels and publishers to build and deploy services that consumers will love. One way of accomplishing this is through rolling out the music service that I describe above.
Twitter Now Even More Torrent-Friendly
Excerpted from TechCrunch Report by Alexia Tsotsis
The sharing and tracking of torrents through Twitter just got a little easier with today's release of BitTorrent's Torrent Tweet , an app that you can add to torrent client uTorrent in order to organize the discussions surrounding individual torrents on Twitter. Through Torrent Tweet, tweets are published with an automatically generated hashtag unique to each torrent file.
From BitTorrent VP Simon Morris: "The point of Torrent Tweet is to adapt the powerful referencing system built into BitTorrent to the incredible social interaction engine that Twitter has built such that people can have conversations about things they are downloading, and they can be sure that they are talking about the same thing."
Morris also hopes that other torrent sites will follow suit and adopt the shortened #bt hashtag convention.
Torrenting activity on Twitter shows no signs of ceasing. Twitter search "Mad+Men+torrent+S4+Ep" shortly after new episodes premier on AMS on Sunday evenings and be amazed at how quickly people post torrent files.
Or just search for "Arcade+Fire+the+Suburbs+ torrent." The launch of a Twitter-specific torrent indexing system only further reinforces the fact that Twitter has now become a powerful locus for file sharing.
Distributed Computing Program Finds Rare Pulsar
Excerpted from Nature News Report by Eugenie Samuel Reich
A rare isolated pulsar with a very low magnetic field has been discovered by a volunteer distributed computing initiative, researchers report today in the journal Science.
When Bruce Allen, Director of the Einstein@Home distributed-computing project, first contacted Chris and Helen Colvin from Ames, IA to tell them that their home computer had made a significant discovery while running the project's software as a screensaver, they did not believe he was serious. The Colvins are among 262,000 volunteers in 192 countries who have loaded and run the Einstein@Home software on their computers.
"This is the first time an astronomical object has been discovered by this kind of distributed-computing project," says Allen, a Director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover, Germany. "I'm really excited we found something."
Like its better known counterpart, SETI@home, Einstein@Home uses the time when volunteers' computers are idle to crunch through massive data sets looking for patterns. Whereas SETI@home searches through radio observations for signals of possible extraterrestrial intelligence, Einstein@Home sends out data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory to be analyzed for the presence of gravitational waves.
After a four-year search for gravitational waves drew a blank, Allen decided to dedicate 35% of Einstein@Home's computing time to searching for signals from pulsars - collapsed neutron stars that emit beams of radiation along their axis as they spin - in radio observations taken at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. "Searching for gravitational waves is a long-term proposition and I thought it would be fun for Einstein@Home volunteers to have something that could be found at a rate of one or two a year," says Allen.
The first of the new data were sent out in March 2009, and in June, the Colvins' computer scored a hit: the detection of a previously unknown pulsar that was emitting a radio pulse at a rate of 41 per second, faster than 90% of known pulsars. Three days later, the pulsar was redetected by computers belonging to the music informatics department at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, where the system administrator Daniel Gebhardt had uploaded Einstein@Home. Gebhardt says he has no scientific background but is a big fan of distributed computing: "I've never thought I could find anything. Nice feeling." Allen's collaborators followed-up with observations at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to confirm that the new pulsar was real.
Named PSR J2007+2722, the fast spin rate of the pulsar suggests that it is a 'recycled' pulsar that has recently accreted material from a companion star. As the material collapsed onto the star, that star's rate of spin increased - in the same way that an ice skater speeds up their rotation by pulling in their arms. Repeat measurements of the pulsar's spin suggest it is slowing down again at a remarkably slow rate, which implies a weak magnetic field; a strong field would produce a braking effect which would cause the pulsar to spin down sooner. Radio signals from PSR J2007+2722 are not shifted in frequency as would be expected if it was currently orbiting another star, suggesting that the companion has since gone supernova, leaving the pulsar isolated. There are only about a dozen recycled isolated pulsars known, and PSR J2007+2722 is thought to be the fastest spinner of the bunch. The newly found object is located 17,000 light years away, in the direction of the constellation Vulpecula.
As well as PSR J2007+2722, the Einstein@Home project has redetected 120 previously known pulsars. Those results were made public on the project's website, but the latest finding was held back for publication.
Cole Miller, an astronomer at the University of Maryland in College Park, says it is nice that the pulsar was detected with Einstein@Home, because it validates the idea of using massive volunteer-computing projects to detect new sources of radiation in astronomical data sets. But he adds that the find is not tremendously noteworthy, as the number of new pulsars found is small compared with the number of redetections, suggesting that the extra computing power has not made a big difference. He points out that other distributed computing projects have already made significant findings; for example, Rosetta@Home has made important discoveries in protein folding, and the Galaxy Zoo project has classified 1.25 million individual galaxies as either elliptical or spiral.
But Einstein@Home is one of the biggest distributed computing projects, and some experts on radio pulsars are thrilled. "I think it's really exciting," says Paul Ray, an astrophysicist at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. Ray is working with a large data set of X ³-ray observations taken with the NASA-operated Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and says he wants to set up a similar computing project to detect pulsars emitting X-rays. "We've found 24, but we know there are more we aren't able to find," he says.
Ray hopes that the publicity surrounding the detection of PSR J2007+2722 will encourage more people to enroll their computers in projects such as Einstein@Home and make more computing power available. "It would be very exciting if the first true measurement of a gravitational wave came from someone running Einstein@Home," he says.
Helen Colvin says that she and Chris loaded Einstein@Home after a period of running SETI@Home because it seemed more likely to get a result some day. Still, she is surprised to own the computer that actually found something. "It was a bit like winning the lottery," she says.
Help Defend Gaming: Sign the Gamer Petition
Excerpted from Report by Posted by Hal Halpin, President, Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA)
This winter, the game industry - developers, publishers, retailers, et al - will face the single biggest legal challenge that such entertainment, broadly, has ever been up against and in the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). The State of California had appealed the US Ninth Circuit decision to strike down the so-called CA "video game violence" law in Schwarzenegger v. EMA, which every court had done in every such "violent video game" case.
But this time was different; for the first time, SCOTUS agreed to review the case (via "accepting certiorari" aka "cert"). To be blunt, none of us expected it and we were all taken back by the decision. Just one percent of cases filed are granted cert - 1%!
At stake: gaming in America. Yes, you read that correctly.
California State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) is the former child psychologist who championed the "violent video game" bill from inception and is coordinating with California Attorney General, Jerry Brown (D-Oakland), and their legal team to muster forces representing the anti-game side.
In the pro-games corner are trade associations representing the corporations which make and sell games and other groups which have skin in the game, such as First Amendment rights organizations.
Both sides have an impressive roster of academics, researchers, and legal teams committed to a decisive win. Forget 800-pound gorillas; this is more like armies going to war. And the reason is simple: all legal precedent can go right out the window. The slate is cleaned.
In the time since the Court's announcement, there has been a lot of media coverage, both from the enthusiast outlets and the national press. A disturbing theme that you'd find too often in the consumer comments is one of apathy. Perhaps it arose from winning in each of the violence in video game cases. Maybe because, from our perspective, it's hard to wrap your head around the idea that we could lose - the logic seems pretty obvious.
But this is SCOTUS, the only court in our country where the Justices don't have to "follow the law" because they make the law that everyone else follows. And here's the rub, as industry executives will openly admit: a loss wouldn't just be limited to any one demographic, such as minors; or any one area, such as California; or even to any one art form, such as video games. It wouldn't solely change how games are merchandised and sold. Should SCOTUS determine that games may not necessarily enjoy the same First Amendment protections as music and movies do now, it would be catastrophic and the implications for gaming and gamers, and entertainment consumers generally, widespread.
Many states and legislators across the country will be watching the outcome of this case closely and are eager to see that there may be an opportunity to re-start their regulatory efforts.
Developers are anxious because their rights as artists and creators may be substantially diminished. A loss would have a chilling effect on the medium as a whole - not limited to the United States. Other forms of media could quickly follow, with movies, music, books and all other previously protected First Amendment free speech on the block.
Foreign governments often fashion and amend their own laws after SCOTUS decisions. Retailers and publishers, who presently employ a self-regulated ratings system (ESRB), not unlike movies, may be forced to comply with a regulatory environment, like alcohol, tobacco, and firearms.
This case may significantly impact the rights of minors, as one of many First Amendment points to be debated will likely be whether minors have them or deserve to keep them. The age of majority is also inconsistent from state to state. The business, legal and cultural implications are mind-boggling.
In most SCOTUS cases, the perspective of the citizens is represented by the politicians - who are presumed to be representing the will of the people. The industry and its trade organizations represent the business. The idea of abdicating our personal consumer representation to the political figures in this case was and is unfathomable.
The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is the non-profit membership organization which represents the rights of gamers in the US and Canada. Our members pay an annual dues fee and in exchange receive advocacy representation, affinity benefits, and discounts on games-related goods and services.
We will be submitting a Friend of the Court document, called the consumer amicus brief, in support of the industry. That move, while it may appear obvious, is very uncommon. Similar membership organizations such as AAA or AARP are among the few that have the resources to bring such a document to bear. Additionally, ECA will be attaching a consumer petition, which any American of any age can sign on to. It simply, but emphatically, states:
"We, the undersigned American video game consumers, purchase, rent and play video games the way we do other entertainment content such as movies and music. We respectfully request that you hold that video games are indeed free speech, protected under the First Amendment, like other entertainment media."
Petitions, historically, have not made or broken any SCOTUS cases; they have little legal bearing. The vast majority of what will determine whether we win or lose is predetermined. What a consumer amicus, and attached petition, will do is inform the justices, staff, clerks, historians, members of the Bar, and Supreme Court press corps that consumers, in this case, are represented by consumers - not politicians.
We will be showing that the will of the people is present, is not "covered" by a few select elected officials, and that we are making our case via the consumer amicus and also backing it up with the convictions of petition signatories. A petition that is viewed as successful may or may not be impactful, but one that is not successful could in fact harm the case. Maybe the amicus and petition will only change the game by one percent. Maybe it'll be the same long odds that led to it being heard in the first place.
If you care about gaming and your rights, please, consider signing the petition.
Coming Events of Interest
NY Games Conference - September 21st in New York, NY.The most influential decision-makers in the digital media industry gather to network, do deals, and share ideas about the future of games and connected entertainment. Now in its 3rd year, this show features lively debate on timely cutting-edge business topics.
M2M Evolution Conference - October 4th-6th in Los Angeles, CA. Machine-to-machine (M2M) embraces the any-to-any strategy of the Internet today. "M2M: Transformers on the Net" showcases the solutions, and examines the data strategies and technological requirements that enterprises and carriers need to capitalize on a market segment that is estimated to grow to $300 Billion in the year ahead.
Digital Content Monetization 2010 - October 4th-7th in New York, NY. DCM 2010 is a rights-holder focused event exploring how media and entertainment owners can develop sustainable digital content monetization strategies.
Digital Music Forum West - October 6th-7th in Los Angeles, CA. Over 300 of the most influential decision-makers in the music industry gather in Los Angeles each year for this incredible 2-day deal-makers forum to network, do deals, and share ideas about the business.
Digital Hollywood Fall - October 18th-21st in Santa Monica, CA. Digital Hollywood Spring (DHS) is the premier entertainment and technology conference in the country covering the convergence of entertainment, the web, television, and technology.
P2P Streaming Workshop - October 29th in Firenze, Italy. ACM Multimedia presents this workshop on advanced video streaming techniques for P2P networks and social networking. The focus will be on novel contributions on all aspects of P2P-based video coding, streaming, and content distribution, which is informed by social networks.
Fifth International Conference on P2P, Parallel, Grid, Cloud, and Internet Computing - November 4th-6th in Fukuoka, Japan. The aim of this conference is to present innovative research results, methods and development techniques from both theoretical and practical perspectives related to P2P, grid, cloud and Internet computing. A number of workshops will take place.
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