July 20, 2009
Volume XXVII, Issue 3
Online Games Increase 22% in a Year
Excerpted from NY Times Report by Dean Takahashi
The number of online game players rose 22% as of May compared to a year ago, drawing more than 87 million players in the US, according to market researcher comScore.
That improvement contrasts to the slide in overall console game revenues in the US, which fell 23% compared to a year ago in dollar sales, according to market researcher NPD.
The comScore analysis showed that gamers are increasingly opting for cheap entertainment alternatives, driven by the recession. Some analysts are expecting console games to post a 20% drop in game sales this month, compared to a year ago. Later in the year, a rebound is expected.
Yahoo Games ranked No. 1 in the category with 19.4 million visitors (up 6% from a year ago), or roughly 22% of the online game market in May. It was followed by EA online with 18 million visitors, up 34% from a year ago, Nickelodeon Casual Games with 14.8 million visitors, and WildTangent Network with 13.8 million visitors, up 16%. GSN Games Networks grew 563% to 6 million visitors, thanks to the addition of partners WorldWinner.com and CrazyMonkeyGames.com.
Online games are growing at 10 times the rate of the overall US Internet population, said Edward Hunter, comScore Director of Gaming Solutions. The category is expanding both through the growth of websites and through the growth of widgets that allow games to be distributed across a variety of sites.
Viral distribution of games (where a company's game appears on numerous different sites) is also catching on.
MochiMedia reached a combined audience of 16.9 million in May, greater than all but two sites in the online gaming category. Games2Win reached 1.8 million people, which compares favorably with the top 20 sites in the category.
P2P-for-Games Working Group (PFGWG)
The DCIA's newest initiative, the P2P-for-Games Working Group (PFGWG), is now actively recruiting members. The PFGWG's mission is to work with peer-to-peer (P2P) software developers, online games publishers, and other entities involved in games distribution over broadband networks to optimize commercial distribution of digital games and updates.
Its mission will be carried out in two or more phases: consumer protection and intellectual property (IP) protection, with follow-on phases as determined by PFGWG participants.
Please call +1-410-476-7965 or e-mail PFGWG@dcia.info for more information or to sign-up.
P2P for games is an area of ongoing rapid expansion and enormous promise. The games industry is digitally sophisticated, aggressive, prolific, and highly innovative - in many ways the ideal content partner for the P2P industry.
The games industry has demonstrated the greatest potential to exploit the advantages of P2P and to address outstanding issues associated with this powerful technology.
Sony's PlayStation 3 Sees VOD Surge
Excerpted from Daily Variety Report by Marc Graser
A year after launching its PlayStation Network, Sony has digitally delivered more than 500 million pieces of content to owners of its PS3 console and PSP handheld device.
That includes sales and rentals of movies, TV shows, and original video programming. Altogether, the video delivery service, available through the PlayStation Store, has registered more than 25 million users since launching on July 15, 2008. It saw a surge of subscribers around E3 in June.
The PlayStation Network initially bowed with 300 movies and 1,200 TV episodes. At the time, it had signed up most of the major studios, including Sony, Warner Bros., Fox, Disney, Paramount, MGM, and Lionsgate.
It now has all of the majors onboard and boasts more than 2,000 movies and over 10,200 TV show episodes, both new releases and library fare, from 38 different content partners. An estimated 35% of the movies on the network are in high-definition (HD).
The numbers are notable at a time when studios are keen on creating ways to generate revenues from home video now that DVDs have reached their earnings peak.
Just how much coin is being collected by the studios from Sony's service has yet to be revealed. One reason: each studio comes up with a different price-point for its programming. For sales, a movie can cost anywhere from $10 to $20, while a TV show ranges from $3 to $6 per episode. Rentals average around $3 per film. HD content typically costs more.
Helping to put financials in perspective are recent reports from analysts that suggest digital downloads are starting to appeal to mainstream audiences. The sale of online videos is expected to generate $3.8 billion this year, according to digital media analysts at Strategy Analytics. That would surpass the $3.5 billion that ad-based videos are expected to earn this year.
Digital distribution is up 21% during the first half of the year, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, generating revenue of $968 million. That compares with $407 million for Blu-ray sales.
Who is doing the downloading from Sony will be key in helping to determine just how lucrative videogame consoles will become as a future revenue stream.
While males 18-34, the traditional game-playing demo, unsurprisingly comprise a majority of its user base, Sony said it's been happy to see that more women are embracing the service and influencing which movies and TV shows are downloaded, broadening the reach of the console.
The trend of moving from early adopters into the mainstream fits in well with Sony's efforts to promote the PS3 as not just a game system but an entertainment hub in consumers' living rooms.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 As the industry prepares for this week's Casual Connect Seattle conference, the questions I've been asked most frequently have been about the implications of Music Ally's newly released survey results regarding music consumption habits in the UK.
The study was conducted by Music Ally's consumer research subsidiary, The Leading Question, by means of 1,000 face-to-face interviews and a series of follow-up focus groups with music fans between the ages of 14 and 64, excluding non-broadband users and those without mobile phones.
According to this research, as of January 2009, the number of teenagers (14-to-18) downloading unauthorized music files at least once monthly by means of file-sharing applications had fallen to 26% in contrast to 42% in December 2007.
Overall, the 22% of those surveyed who were regularly file sharing two years ago has now fallen to 17%. The percentage of UK music fans who have "ever file-shared," however, has risen from 28% to 31%.
Most significantly, 65% of teenagers are now streaming music regularly online, led by P2P streaming service Spotify. In fact, 31% of teenagers are listening to streamed music on their computers every day (compared with 18% of music fans overall).
Spotify's Jim Butcher observed that the company is confident the quality of its P2P-based offerings will continue to attract a growing number of users, premium subscribers, and advertisers.
"One of the fundamental aims of Spotify was to develop a service that was better than infringement," he said. "We've always maintained that fans don't want to file-share unauthorized music, but do want to have everything at their fingertips instantly."
These results are reminiscent of the usage patterns established among older media consumers with the two versions of BBC's P2P-based iPlayer more than a year ago, with the ratio of those choosing the instant gratification of streaming television programs to those accepting the slower satisfaction of downloading TV shows approximately 8:1.
The trend revealed through this research is not as simple as a shift from downloading tracks to streaming them, however: music files are now also increasingly being shared in new ways - including through blogs, bluetooth technology, darknets, and storage lockers, and in a resurgence of old ways - such as direct ripping from MP3 players.
Music fans in the age-group beyond the teen segment, like Dominique Wakefield, 24, provide an insightful perspective into what's happening among their younger counterparts, making comments such as, "I don't really feel the need to own all that music, I know it's always there. I still buy the occasional CD. If I find myself loving a whole album and listening to it again and again, then I will buy it. But it has to be quite special."
Digital sales are also seeing an uptick, although not yet enough to make-up for the shortfall created by the collapse of the physical market. Digital singles were up 41.5% in 2008, while physical singles sales plunged 43.5%, according to the British Phonographic Institute (BPI).
Slightly more music fans are regularly buying single-track downloads (19%) than are file-sharing single tracks (17%). Unauthorized downloads compared to purchased tracks has dropped from 4:1 to 2:1. However, more (13%) share unauthorized albums rather than purchase them (10%).
What is still missing from the mix is an added revenue stream from the monetizing of still unlicensed file-sharing activity in ways such as those being proposed by the Isle of Man, the Songwriters Association of Canada, and Universal Music - Virgin Media.
This is important because of both the volume and pervasiveness of unauthorized file sharing, which has become a deeply ingrained habit among many Internet users.
Indeed, another recent UK survey, comprised exclusively of responses from file sharers, found that even under threat of imminent disconnection of their Internet service, 37% would continue exchanging files - and, if sanctions were limited to mere warnings, 59% would continue swapping
The implications of all this are compelling: P2P software developers and distributors who can expand their offerings to include live streaming will capture larger market share and provide a fuller range of what consumers seek: the immediate "fix" of streaming a song for a quick listen - what marketers call "sampling" or "discovery;" along with the most convenient way to also download-to-"own" music that they want to "keep" or "collect" - through more traditional file-sharing download software.
In addition, as part of this immersive end-to-end music consumption experience, valuable learning about how today's listeners relate to music can take place, and additional opportunities for merchandising commemoratives, linking to related material, selling concert tickets, etc. logically will do better than in any other context.
Licensing needs to encompass both streaming and downloading, and be simplified for the full potential of this opportunity to be realized. Share wisely, and take care.
Clouds Standards Coordination Working Group
The DCIA is joining the Clouds Standards Coordination Working Group, which plans to focus on identifying current and emerging practices and products supporting cloud computing, and helping to rationalize cloud-computing and storage standards.
It expects to concentrate on several dimensions of cloud computing, including: security (authentication and authorization), interfaces to infrastructure as a service, platforms as a service, deployment formats for cloud applications. component descriptions, data-exchange formats, cloud-computing taxonomies, and reference models
The group will also focus on service-level agreements, which are needed for pilot cloud-computing tests.
Other participants include the Cloud Security Alliance, the Distributed Management Task Force, the Open Grid Forum, the Storage Networking Industry Association, and the Open Cloud Consortium.
Current Top Streaming Music Resources
Excerpted from ReadWriteWeb Report by Dana Oshiro
According to The Leading Question's recent research report, as many as 65% of UK teens are streaming music on a monthly basis. Here are some of the streaming sites that currently thrive.
Spotify: Heralded as one of the best P2P music streaming experiences on the market, Spotify is only available in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Spain, France, and Finland. TechDigest TV uploaded a fantastic looking preview of Spotify's much anticipated iPhone app.
Grooveshark: Gainesville, FL based Grooveshark is best known as a service where both rights owners and uploaders were originally compensated for sharing. The online community offers WordPress integration, widgets, and music sharing via Facebook.
Deezer: Deezer offers users free-and-legal streaming music while sharing advertising revenue with artists and rights owners. The site launched with a Sony BMG partnership and signed a Universal Music deal in 2008. Users can share their favorite music by connecting with friends within the social network, or embedding playlists in 3rd party sites.
Tunerec: Swedish company Tunerec allows users to create music libraries and playlists from recorded radio play. Because libraries are taken from recorded music, it takes a while to populate playlists; however, according to RWW's initial review by Frederic Lardinois, the service is worth the wait.
Last.FM: If you haven't heard of Last.FM, you've probably been living under a rock. The site offers users the ability to create radio stations and stream them complete with AudioScrobbler-powered recommendations.
Pandora: To the user, Pandora and Last.FM are similar recommendation-based radio services; however, where AudioScrobbler makes statistical inferences, Pandora's recommendations are determined by the Music Genome Project's 400 distinct musical characteristics.
Slacker: Slacker is another popular radio recommendation service. Users input tracks and receive recommendations. Slacker first launched with custom mobile hardware and has since expanded onto other mobile devices.
The Hype Machine: This is a fantastic service for those willing to leave music selection to the experts. Like other sites, this one allows listeners to search for music and stream playlists; however, the files on the site are actually streamed from the blogs of top labels, DJs, promoters, and music start-ups.
Blip.fm: Blip.fm is another site where music lovers can access millions of streaming songs. Members receive their own station and the ability to share station programming responsibilities with friends. The site also offers integration with blogs, Twitter, FriendFeed, and Last.fm. The act of blipping refers to the act of linking to a song and attaching a 150 character comment to it.
Please click here for the rest of this impressive list.
HD Travels to Theater via BitTorrent
Excerpted from Home Theater Magazine Report by Mark Fleischmann
What's the best way to get super-high-res high-definition (HD) movies to your neighborhood movie house? An experiment in Norway suggests an unlikely answer: BitTorrent.
In a recent test, the Far North Living Lab used the EU-funded Tribler torrent client to stream a movie at 2K resolution with a data-rate of 19MBps. The movie was "Carved" by Jonas Rejman. This BitTorrent premiere had the permission of the copyright owner.
Torrent technology offers a cheaper way to get indie movies to the big screen without the need for snail-mailing a hard disk - though how torrent distribution could be made secure enough to satisfy Hollywood remains to be seen.
This was not an ordinary torrent. The experimenters seeded it with their own computers. However, upgrading the theater's connection to a one-gigabyte fiber-optic cable may allow future experiments with no local seeds.
The next experiment will be to stream a live concert to Beijing and rural areas in China.
Entertainment: Is it a Rent-to-Never-Own Market?
Excerpted from CNET News Report by Matt Asay
Even as the decline in DVD sales - both in the US and abroad - has accelerated since 2006, DVD rentals through services such as Netflix (adding 25% more customers since 2008) and Redbox (adding 500 machines per month) have been booming.
The reason, as The Economist surmises, may be a shifting view on how consumers prefer to consume entertainment: "The real worry for the movie industry, then, is not that people are abandoning DVDs but that they are abandoning the notion of owning them."
This is perhaps exacerbated by an industry that can't seem to make up its mind by what it means by ownership, as Ogilvy Group UK's Rory Sutherland writes in The Spectator: "The piracy debate is far from one-sided. The very same record industry, which today bleats on about intellectual property (IP), seemed conveniently blind to the concept back in the early 1990s when they charged us 19 pounds (about $31) for every CD they reissued - even when we already owned the very same album on vinyl."
The BBC often commits the same offense. Why should I pay full price for a DVD boxed set of "The Office" when I have already paid for the series through my license fee? Either the value lies in the physical packaging or in the content itself. Publishers try to charge for both; to have their cake and sell it. This is questionable.
Indeed, it is. Whether we're moving to a rental market or finding new ways to apply ownership to digital goods through digital rights management (DRM) and other means, those industries that sell digital content (movies, books, news, software, music, etc.) need to get their story straight. Is the value in the content, or is it in the packaging?
For Apple, it's both. Apple has long insisted that consumers prefer to own rather than rent, and it has sold more than 6 billion songs through its iTunes Store to prove it. But arguably, the value in Apple is in its distribution service (iTunes), more than the bits and bytes of the songs themselves. I can download Bob Marley for free, but I elect to buy through iTunes for a fee. The service justifies the price.
In software, it's increasingly packaging and ancillary services that drive purchasing because the "content" (i.e., the software) is a free download. That packaging, like Apple's iTunes, is worthless without the content; but together, they're a good deal.
The World's Greatest Music Service
Excerpted from Slate Report by Farhad Manjoo
There is one legitimate reason to suspect that Brits have changed their infringing ways. In the last few months, they've had access to the best P2P music-streaming service in the world. It's called Spotify.
Spotify is what iTunes would be like if Apple decided to give everything away for free. The service, which launched late last year, is a stand-alone desktop app that has the look-and-feel of Apple's ubiquitous music player. Instead of showing you the music that you own, Spotify presents you with an enormous catalog of free tracks. At the moment, there are more than 5 million songs, and Spotify adds tens of thousands every few weeks.
You can arrange them in all the ways you're familiar with from iTunes - search for any song, artist, or album; make playlists; list stuff by popularity; or just set the whole thing on shuffle. The free version of Spotify is supported by advertising; 30-second spots play after every few songs. You can avoid the ads by buying a monthly subscription, which goes for £9.99.
Ready to sign-up, my American friends? Not so fast. Spotify is available only in the UK and a few other European countries; if you live anywhere else, the service presents you with an apology when you try to subscribe.
Why isn't Spotify everywhere? Licensing restrictions - the deals that the company cut with record labels that allow it to stream songs in only certain countries. The company says that it's working to provide access to more people, but at the moment, much of the world is in the dark.
To be sure, it's not the first streaming service to hit the market. Rhapsody, which can stream millions of songs to your computer or other devices, launched in 2001. But it's not free - the service goes for $12.99 a month. Napster itself has turned into a similar subscription app. Last year, MySpace launched a streaming site that offers millions of songs for free; but its cluttered, clunky interface is annoying to deal with.
Spotify, by contrast, has the least hassle of any streaming service. Because it runs on the desktop, it's more responsive than MySpace's web app, and it lets you browse music more easily.
A word of caution: you can't listen to the music away from your computer. The good news here is that back in May, Spotify showed off a soon-to-be-released mobile version that works on Google's Android platform - and even when you're out of range of a cell tower. And where there's an Android app, there will surely be an iPhone version as well.
Will Spotify ever come to America? At the moment, that's unclear. Music labels have been asking Spotify to pay exorbitant fees to stream music in the US; so even if it does make it across the pond, a local version would probably have to be overwhelmed by ads.
The labels would be wise to remember, though, that country-specific restrictions rarely work anymore. Even though it's meant only for Americans, people across the world have found ways to hack into Hulu.
Spotify Looks for a New Tune in a New Venue
Excerpted from Forbes Report by Javier Espinoza
The way Americans listen to music online might be about to change. P2P music streaming service, Spotify, an online software program that gives Internet users instant and free access to more than 5 million songs, is set to launch in the US later this summer, following its rapid acceptance in Europe. Part of its popularity is its easy format. Type in the name of any artist or album or play list, double click on your choice and - presto - unlimited streaming.
With 2 million users in the UK and about 4 million users in Europe, Spotify has found a novel way to deal with the problem of infringement (charging nothing for basic membership) and keeping music labels happy (by giving most of its revenue to finance the licensing of artists). It pulls in sales by selling ads in the traditional way radio stations do and by offering premium subscriptions - ranging from 99 pence ($1.62) a day to 9.99 pounds ($16.40) a month - that allow users to block all ads and receive audio streams of 160 kilobits per second (kbps) for free subscriptions and audio streams of 320 kbps for premium subscriptions. It will also start selling individual tunes to members.
Co-founded three years ago by Swedish computer programmer Daniel Ek, now 26, Spotify "is something I have been thinking about for years and years." Ek, who started programming computers at age 13, didn't go to college. Instead, he founded three web companies he sold off after the dot-com implosion. He and co-founder Martin Lorentzon, one of the co-founders of the online ad company Tradedoubler, each invested 4 million euros ($5.6 million) to start Spotify three years ago and together still hold a majority of the company; a couple of venture capital funds (NorthZone Ventures and Creandum) own smaller shares. The music site launched in the UK in February 2009.
"If you look at the market today, who knows where it's going to be in the next two, three years?" Ek says. "We are doubling our revenues month-on-month - that's a very good sign." He's coy about just how much money that is, or how much he's spending to operate the site, but predicts the premium service will break-even by the end of the year.
Ek managed to convince the four major record labels - which represent roughly 80% of all commercial music - to become European partners. Spotify has also signed deals with 20,000 independent labels: Most of them have come knocking at Spotify's doors through online label aggregators, as labels opt to be part of Spotify's P2P network. Still the online market represents only 5% of the total music downloads - the rest, staggeringly, is accounted for by unauthorized file sharing.
Big players are taking Spotify's growth seriously. Ek's R&D team in Stockholm is trying to make its streaming available on all portable devices: Google's Android phone is running a beta version and the iPhone is expected to host the Spotify software very soon. Ek already has a beta version on his iPhone. But Spotify doesn't expect to spend thousands on marketing its product. It hopes to replicate its word-of-mouth and viral approach, which has lured millions of users in the UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Finland, and Norway.
Still, analysts believe Spotify's success in the US is far from a shoo-in. Spotify has signed deals with record companies in Europe but it now has to do the same all over again in the US. Artists usually license their rights to one record company for the North American market and to another for Europe and the rest of the world. So now Spotify has to renegotiate all the deals. It has already spoken to the major labels, but it hasn't signed a single deal yet.
Microsoft Boards Spotify Bandwagon
Excerpted from Direct Traffic Media Report by Lily Townsend
Software giant Microsoft, hot on the heels of its announcement to follow Google's lead with free software for users downloading content from the Internet, announced it would be emulating P2P streaming music service Spotify next.
Spotify is a revolutionary digital medium that gives users the chance to listen to music over an online P2P music stream for free. The company makes money with an advertising revenue stream, as each half hour users are bombarded with a minute of sponsored adverts in return for their free music.
Microsoft has said it is looking to implement a similar music streaming service within the next two weeks. According to an interview with The Daily Telegraph, executive producer at MSN, Peter Bale said, "Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently."
Microsoft is expected to emulate the revenue business model that has made Spotify work, with a compulsory Internet advertising spot at regular intervals for users who wish to listen to music for free. Spotify customers can skip the online marketing part of the service if they pay a monthly subscription fee of £9.99, which Microsoft should also borrow.
Potentially, Microsoft's move could be a shrewd one, which capitalizes on what is still a pretty localized market. Spotify is currently limited to the UK with a few exceptions. Microsoft has the clout to bring free music streaming worldwide, becoming the new dominant player in the market.
Having said that, the last time Microsoft tried to innovate using music online its system backfired spectacularly. For a company which considers music "an important area," the dismal failure of SongSmith leaves much to be desired.
Microsoft's challenge to Spotify is expected to launch before the end of July, but given the company's previous history with hitting deadlines, expect to see this online around mid-autumn.
Windstream's Online Back-Up & File-Sharing Service
Excerpted from TMCnet Report by Shamila Janakiraman
Windstream, a high-speed Internet, phone, and digital TV provider announced the availability of its new online back-up and file-sharing service designed especially for residential and small business customers.
A Parks Associates survey reports that 43% of US households create their own digital content as digital videos to share with friends and family. But only 6% of broadband households are making back-ups of their files in a safe and secure remote location. This growing volume of files need to be secured and stored as even computers are not entirely risk free, the report said.
"We chose Radialpoint's comprehensive solution because it aligned with Windstream's vision of providing services that customers want with simple, easy-to-use technology," said Roger Woziwodzki, Vice President of Strategic Business Development at Windstream.
"Providing customers with Windstream's Online Backup service ensures that their digital media and files are safeguarded and preserved."
Radialpoint caters to Internet service providers (ISPs) through its managed services and support solutions for the digital home. The company's solutions allow ISPs to provide a fully-integrated suite of services which are easy to use and manage and support solutions designed for consumers. Radialpoint is like an "IT Manager" to subscribers protecting, optimizing, and maintaining their Internet-connected systems.
"We are pleased to partner with Windstream, a company that shares our vision of the digital home in providing a portfolio of value-added services that enhance a customer's technology experience," said Singu Srinivas, Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Radialpoint.
Windstream's Online Back-Up service has two integrated components. One is the Back-Up Manager, which provides safe online storage of multiple users' important files like photos, videos, music, and documents. Restoration is an easy process in the event of data loss. The second feature is the Personal Media Manager, which allows Windstream broadband customers to access their files from anywhere via an Internet connection and share the content with others.
The Online Back-Up service is available to residential and small business customers where Windstream broadband service is available. Customers will be allowed to bundle the product with Windstream's Security Suite service.
Share Files for Free Now with Cabos
Excerpted from Washington Post Report by Preston Gralla
iTunes has not killed file sharing using P2P clients. There are still plenty of people who share music, video, and other files with one another. If you're one of those, you may want to give the free Cabos a try. It's a simple file-sharing program that uses the guts of Gnutella and LimeWire with few frills, but it's straightforward to use.
Type in a search term, and Cabos goes out and finds files that match what you want. For each match, you see a great deal of detail, including the file size, the speed of transfer if you decide to download it, the estimated time it will take to download, the artist name, the album name, and more. Double-click any file to download it; you can then manage your downloads with the built-in file manager.
There are few nice extras here, but some of them are useful. If you use iTunes, for example, you can search for the artist or album that you're currently listening to, which is a nice touch. But there's not much extra beyond that - for example, there's no player built into the program. But for those who want file downloads simple and straight-ahead, Cabos is a solid bet.
GigaTribe Partners with DivX to Deliver Video Streaming
GigaTribe, the free community file-sharing software, has partnered with DivX to integrate the DivX Web Player within GigaTribe for unlimited personal video streaming from a web browser while using GigaTribe on the road.
The DivX video streaming feature is available immediately from GigaTribe's Private Area, where users can access their hard drives remotely.
Previously, when downloading video from GigaTribe's Private Area, users had to wait until the video was completely downloaded before beginning to watch it. Now with the new DivX video streaming feature, there's no waiting, so users can view videos while they are still being transferred, even if they are not completely downloaded.
Entire personal video libraries can be remotely accessed through the GigaTribe Private Area without delay and watched when traveling or away from the home or office with only the need of a web browser.
"The ability to stream .avi movies was a missing feature of GigaTribe. From now on, all kinds of files are readable directly through the Private Area. Thanks to this agreement with DivX, GigaTribe has become the perfect solution for people who want to watch their movies anywhere, anytime. At your desk, while traveling, or simply at your computer, it's now even faster to play your movies with the DivX webplayer," said Alexis Leseigneur, GigaTribe CTO.
The DivX video streaming feature is available immediately with the purchase of the GigaTribe Ultimate version, priced at only $4.99/month or $29.95 a year. Basic GigaTribe is available for free, with the Ultimate version offering more features.
Research and Markets' Mobile P2P: A Tutorial Guide
Excerpted from FOX Business Report
Research and Markets has announced the release of John Wiley and Sons' new book "Mobile Peer-to-Peer (P2P): A Tutorial Guide," which discusses the potential of wireless communication among mobile devices forming mobile P2P networks.
This guide provides the basic programming skills required to set-up wireless communication links between mobile devices, offering a guide to the development process of mobile P2P networks.
Divided into three sections, Part I briefly introduces the basics of wireless technologies, mobile architectures, and communication protocols. Detailed descriptions of Bluetooth, IEEE802.11, and cellular communication link are given and applied to potential communication architectures.
Part II focuses on programming for individual wireless technologies, and gives an understanding of the programming environment for individual wireless technologies.
Part III provides advanced examples for mobile P2P networks.
Maxrave Music Mix: Fashion Gets a Music Makeover
Maxrave Stores is a national retail chain providing apparel, shoes, and accessories, targeted at young women (16-24), which has 282 retail locations throughout the US and Puerto Rico. Maxrave was seeking to create some excitement for its 2009 Back-to-School Campaign and to develop new promotional strategies that would provide a more meaningful connection and brand experience for its customer base.
The company hired DCIA Member Blue Maze Entertainment to develop music marketing strategies and to create and implement a Maxrave music initiative and promotional campaign for both in-store and online execution.
The end result: Blue Maze developed the Maxrave Music Mix centered on a branded micro-site featuring a virtual CD music compilation with digital album redemption. The promotional campaign features streaming music and digital downloads from twelve of the hottest up-and-coming artists, including The Cassette Kids, Maiysha, TeeJay, and Mike Posner. The campaign will be activated by the distribution of 65,000 music download cards as a gift-with-a-purchase (GWP) at Maxrave retail stores nationwide.
Starting on July 20th, fans can listen to full-length streaming songs on the Maxrave site and customers who purchase clothing at Maxrave stores can receive a branded music download card with a redemption code on the back, entitling them to twelve free songs.
Additionally, all online visitors receive two complimentary music downloads as an incentive to share the virtual CD sampler with friends and help spread the buzz. The promotion is a win/win for featured artists and labels that directly benefit from the visibility achieved through the alternative promotion and distribution platform that Blue Maze has created with Maxrave.
As a bonus, select artists will also be featured via the in-store music system and can further benefit from the stores' foot traffic. By capitalizing on new media platforms such as the virtual CD, and the rising stars that are featured in the promotion, Maxrave will raise awareness for the brand and drive traffic to retail stores and online properties.
According to Mitch Towbin, Executive Director for Blue Maze Entertainment, "Turnkey virtual CD music programs make it easy for companies like Maxrave to create compelling online initiatives that address their marketing goals through music-based incentives. It's an effective way to get your brand heard, refresh its look, and remain relevant while pursuing concrete marketing objectives."
The virtual CD with 3D digital album artwork is an emerging standard in online music and new media promotion. The patented virtual CD is a complete digital representation of a physical CD (including artwork, jewel case, and liner notes). The application is based on a digital CD concept, in which consumers are able to listen to music, view photos and video, turn pages, discover featured artists, view product placement, and download tracks, all within a self contained application.
Virtual CDs introduce consumers to artists who reflect their musical tastes while utilizing music as a promotional vehicle to create exposure for presenting brands. Virtual CDs are being used to sponsor the hottest music and artists, and activate music fans with music download cards and redemption micro-sites.
Copyright Wars and P2P: The New Prohibition
Excerpted from ZeroPaid Report
Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society, wrote an op-ed in Playboy Magazine (yes, there are articles in it) recently in which he argues that "ridiculous copyright laws" and the subsequent war against unauthorized file sharing, are to blame for creating another of this country's "hopeless wars of prohibition."
"Over the past decade, copyright extremists have been waging an ever more vicious war against our kids in the name of preserving the sanctity of copyrights," he writes. "They have succeeded in getting the law strengthened at least a dozen times. The RIAA has filed lawsuits against more than 35,000 people since 2003."
We know the MPAA regularly says that infringement funds terrorism even though it clearly has nothing to do with kids sharing files online. Yet, it still uses the word "terrorism" knowing the power it has post-9/11 to get the attention of lawmakers in order to get legislation passed.
In fact a recent article pushed by AFACT, a copyright holder body backed by the MPAA in Australia, showcases the audacity of their efforts with an article titled Movie Pirates Funding Terrorists. It tries to make the argument that infringing movies are being downloaded by terrorists around the globe, burned to DVD, and then sold for huge profits to finance their operations.
To make the point hit home it says that such profits "may have been" funneled to the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah, which was responsible for killing 88 partying teens packed in Bali nightclubs in 2002. The not-so-subtle message is that if you upload a CAM you're aiding militant nutjobs.
Talk about grasping at straws.
Lessig also criticizes how "our new prohibition" is leading to once unimaginable responses like expelling kids from college or permanently disconnecting people from the Internet.
Are the loss of education and the tools for participation in a democratic state really worth the perceived losses of sharing music and movies for no financial gain?
"An important test for whether a certain law should exist is whether that law will work - not because we shouldn't clutter the law books with useless or ineffective regulation but because a culture swimming in laws that are not respected is a culture that breeds contempt for the law and for the rule of law," adds Lessig.
"That is precisely what is happening with our kids. In the decade since we began to wage this copyright war, we have not reduced P2P file sharing. It has only increased. We have not reduced the class of kids engaging in behavior they know to be wrong. We have only caused that class to grow, as more people know the behavior is illegal and engage in it nonetheless."
"Measured along any dimension of success, this war has been a failure: artists don't have more money, businesses haven't had a clear set of rules to compete against, and a whole generation of children has been raised to think the law is an ass - and an ass that is to be ignored," he says.
Moreover, what makes the "copyright war" intrinsically foolish is that there is no way to achieve victory. Technology will always win in the end and it's time copyright holders and government realized this.
So what's Lessig's advice?
"Congress should move on to the task of remaking the copyright system in order to make sense of digital technologies, not fight them."
Stephen Fry Lambasts Music Industry over P2P Stance
Excerpted from ITProPortal Report by Desire Athow
Gadget enthusiast and actor, Stephen Fry has launched a scathing attack on the movie and music industries regarding their methods and the general mindset they have adopted over the whole issue of copyright.
His tirade was made at a live event at the Camden roundhouse organized by none other than Apple. He criticized the "three strikes and you're out" heavy handed approach that aims to aggressively tackle those who download unauthorized material.
Fry went on to say that it does no good to label downloaders as criminals. He also poked fun at the "preposterous" commercials on DVDs (and in cinemas) that tell audiences about stealing a handbag. This, he says, shows how blind the content industry is in the way they treat their customers.
Those who should be prosecuted according to Fry, are the ones who download on an industrial scale and/or make a profit from their activity.
He ended his informal speech by saying that he downloaded unlicensed episodes of "House," starring his former sidekick and friend, Hugh Laurie.
Another Bout of Three-Strikes Hits New Zealand
Excerpted from Digital Music News Report
Blame it on the weather, but New Zealand is now girding its way through another bout of three-strikes. The country originally shelved plans to implement disconnections for repeat infringers, based on heavy opposition from consumer rights organizations, civil liberties groups, and ISPs themselves.
Since then, three-strikes proponents have been stymied in France, part of a global mood against the aggressive enforcement tactic. So where does New Zealand go from here?
In France, a three-strikes measure failed because of a lack of constitutional due process, and New Zealand faced a similar issue. Now, New Zealand lawmakers are softening their initial approach - instead of directly snipping the ISP connection after a third violation, a mediation and tribunal process is being considered.
Sounds like a reasonable compromise, though this is not what rights holders initially envisioned. Ahead of the tribunal hearing, the media company can request the identity of the infringer from the ISP, and initiate the proceeding accordingly.
That bears similarity to a 'John Doe' clarification process in the United States, a system that directly involves the courts and has largely been judged ineffective against broader piracy.
Music Industry Wants Cut of Pirate Bay Sale
Excerpted from CNET News Report by Greg Sandoval
The music industry will attempt to seize money paid to acquire The Pirate Bay (TPB), according to a high-level music industry source and a spokesman for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the trade group representing the music industry worldwide.
Global Gaming Factory (GGF), a Swedish software company, made big news two weeks ago by announcing that it would acquire TPB, the popular outlaw file-sharing site, for $7.8 million.
What remains to be seen is how that sale might be affected by attempts of the music industry to collect the $3.6 million damages that a court in Sweden awarded it in April. The court found the four operators of TPB - Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, and Carl Lundstrom - guilty of copyright violations and sentenced each to a year in jail. The court also ordered them to pay, collectively, 30 million Swedish kronor ($3.6 million).
Alex Jacob, a spokesman for IFPI, said that the group has always intended to collect the damages award, but now, should the sale go through, music execs know that the original TPB operators have access to the money.
Whether these attempts to seize part of the proceeds could hold-up a sale remain unclear. The first thing to remember is that the sale isn't yet done.
According to a press release, GGF's offer is to pay half of the $7.8 million in cash and the other half in the company's stock. To finance the deal, GGF must issue new shares and to do that it needs the blessing of investors and board of directors. Any acquisition isn't expected to be finalized before August, the company said.
On the other side, TPB's founders have said that they haven't owned the company for years.
"We never had any interest in earning money from TPB," Peter Sunde told Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish newspaper. "We haven't owned TPB since the search-and-seizure in 2006. Those who will get the money, friends in a foreign company, have agreed as a condition to put the money in a foundation for future Internet projects."
The legal adviser for GGF has said that TPB is owned by a company in the Seychelles called Reservella.
Jacob says it makes no difference who owns TPB. He said, "The judge found the four operators guilty and ordered them to pay the damages." That's who IFPI will try to get the money from.
Post-TPB, a Federated Tracker Network Emerges
Excerpted from NewTeeVee Report by Janko Roettgers
The Pirate Bay's (TPB) impending sale has been worrying BitTorrent users around the world. One reason for these worries is TPB has been the backbone of many of the web's BitTorrent sites and communities. Take TPB's tracker servers away, and sites like Mininova would be left in a dry spell, with users unable to download pretty much anything at all.
However, two weeks after the announcement of the sale, it looks like the often-feared BitTorrent meltdown won't happen. Not only are new trackers popping up everywhere, but there's also some new technology that could help interconnect these trackers to a giant, federated mesh network without any single point-of-failure.
TPB's trackers are still up-and-running, helping around 20 million users connect with each other and download files linked to almost 2 million torrents. Dutch researchers estimated earlier this year that TPB is responsible for tracking around 50% of the world's publicly accessible torrents.
Its number of users has grown over time, with BitTorrent becoming more and more important and surpassing other file-sharing networks in recent years. The folks behind TPB have been responding to this growth by adding more servers, to the point that there are currently nine machines exclusively dedicated to tracking torrents.
Synchronizing the data among these servers used to be a major headache, according to a TPB insider. Each server used to poll and update the database every five minutes, with users connecting to different servers in between those updates not being able to share with each other. However, the folks behind TPB's tracker system, also known as Opentracker, eventually came up with a solution. They established a sync feature that instantly sends out all the necessary data via UDP multicast within TPB's LAN.
The site's spokesman, Peter Sunde, has been talking about new trackers filling the gap ever since the sale was announced, and he's also been hinting at improving BitTorrent's infrastructure. Details about what he meant have started to emerge.
First, a new tracker called OpenBitTorrent.com surfaced, and looks familiar: OpenBitTorrent uses the same IP addresses and tracks the same torrents as the TPB's trackers. Its domain was originally registered by TPB co-founder Fredrik Neij, but the domain info has since been anonymized. Insiders have told us that there's a team involved in running the project, just as there was for much of TPB's operations.
A week or so later, a second, unrelated tracker called PublicBT.com popped up. We've also heard that at least one major torrent site is working on a third tracker project. Common to all these projects is that they're based on Opentracker, just like TPB.
Admins of OpenBitTorrent and the yet unnamed third-party project are currently working on setting up an encrypted connection between the two trackers with the goal of syncing their data, just as if the machines were part of the same LAN set-up. An admin involved with PublicBT said that setting up a similar connection is "an option that's on the table."
The result of these connections would be a kind of federated tracker network that would enable BitTorrent users to be part of an interconnected cloud. One admin involved with OpenBitTorrent described it this way: "The clients will be distributed among the trackers and still have access to the bigger picture." In other words, users connected to OpenBitTorrent would be able to share data with those connected to PublicBT, and vice-versa.
A set-up like this would also be much more fail-safe than the way BitTorrent currently works. Take down one tracker, and the rest of the network will still be able to track the same torrents and service the same users. One of the admins involved in this project described it as an attempt to build a "transnational tracker cluster." The foundation for such a cluster seems to be in place, and we should expect to see other trackers join the mesh in the coming months.
Coming Events of Interest
Casual Connect Seattle - July 21st-23rd in Seattle, WA. The most anticipated conference for the casual games industry in the United States. Over 2000 industry professionals will flock to the Pacific Northwest.
Online Games & Virtual Worlds - July 23rd in Los Angeles, CA. AMEC seminar on different business models used in online games and virtual worlds and how to avoid the legal pitfalls that are germane to these businesses.
Bandwidth Conference - August 27th-28th in San Francisco, CA. Annual gathering of music/media executives and digital music professionals. Bandwidth explores the evolving musical experience - how people discover, purchase, interact with, and are exposed to new music.
all2gethernow! - September 16th-18th in Berlin, Germany. An "open source" forward-looking Music 2.0 substitute for the postponed PopKomm, one of the leading international conferences and expos for the music and entertainment businesses worldwide.
New York Games Conference - September 30th in New York, NY. Join games industry leaders - including leading videogame publishers and developers, carriers, portals, technology companies, advertising execs, venture capitalists, lawyers, analysts, and many more.
P2P and Games Conference - October 19th in Santa Monica, CA. The DCIA's first-ever event focusing on the use of P2P technologies for the distribution of games and updates. Industry leaders from around the world will participate.
Digital Hollywood Fall - October 19th-22nd in Santa Monica, CA. With many new sessions and feature events, DHF has become the premiere digital entertainment conference and exposition. DCIA Member companies will exhibit and speak on a number of panels.
Cloud Computing Expo - November 2nd-4th in Santa Clara, CA. Fourth international conference on this subject. Cloud computing is a game changer. The cloud is disrupting traditional software and hardware business models by disrupting how IT service gets delivered.
|
