The future of cameras seem to be heading to is smaller, more portable, more disposable and mirrorless (DSLRs have a mirror). When Nokia’s Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki told 2010 that Cell Phone Cameras Will Replace DSLRs, I could not believe that on time. But it really seems to become more and more to truth in 2014: Nowadays you can take professional level (“good enough photos”) using consumer level cameras and smart phones. Technical quality is good enough for majority. There is going on a rampant replacement of point and shoot cameras of all flavors and varieties with smart phones and their built in cameras. Now the market is being effectively gutted. Gone. Non-existent. Same thing is happening to video as well.
Part of the technical race came to a (maybe temporary) end: “How can I match and exceed the quality of conventional metrics that we used to get from medium format film.” There’s nothing else pressing to solve, technically. Many photographers are fully equipped but uninspired to move forward. We have have set down for “good enough.” The engineering idea is that we’ve hit the sweet spot and to go for a Six Sigma improvement would be costly and unnecessary.
DSLR sales were down in 2013, worldwide, by 18.5% according to CIPA. The total decline in the entire dedicated camera market is closer to 43.5%. The decline will continue. Credit Suisse prediction: “Only those who have a strong brand and are competitive on price will last – and only Canon, Nikon and Sony fullfil that criteria”. Mirrorless cameras are not a big market: According to CIPA is the total sales of mirrorless system cameras in N. America was slightly fewer than 39,000 units. Total.
The challenge will be: How do you bridge that gap between high photo-capture quality and high-quality camera devices and the cloud where every amateur photographer’s images live? The company which has the most innovative post-processing, easy to share photos feature set wins! The future of photography is same as future in pretty much everything: software and connectivity. Camera manufacturers have been slow on those: we are just now seeing cameras with full operating systems like Android The advantages to smart phones are size, constant (annoyingly constant) access, multi-task tool set, and the ability to send your images, electronically, to an audience just about anywhere in the world.
Several smartphone makers have clear strategies to take photography to extremes: 40 megapixel camera is already on the market and several manufacturers are playing with re-focus after shooting options.
Consumer video device trend is that separate classic video cameras have pretty much faded from market. New smart phones have high definition video cameras in them, so for most users there is no need for separate video camera. For special uses there are small “action” video cameras that are so tiny that you can place them almost anywhere and they can take some beating while you perform your extreme sports. If the video quality of those do not suffice, many people use their DSLR to shoot higher quality high definition video. For professional video production there is still some market left for professional and prosumer video cameras.
The world seems to be heading to situation where separate DSLRs and separate video cameras will be more like high fidelity audio, which used to be common selling point in 1970s, 80s and early 90s, but now only some geeks care about audio quality. This will more or less happen to photographs and video.
Connected TV technologies get more widely used and the content earlier viewable only on TV can be now seen on many other screens. Your smartphone is the screen in your pocket. Your computer is the screen on your desk. Your tablet is a screen for the couch. This development is far from ready. Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable.
Video streaming has really become mainstream as Netflix And YouTube Account For Over 50% Of Peak Fixed Network Data In North America. Because of the rise in video services like Netflix and YouTube, peer-to-peer file-sharing has dropped (meaning less piracy of movies and TV series). Netflix remains the biggest pig in the broadband python, representing 31.6% of all downstream Internet traffic in North America during primetime hours in September — well ahead of any other streaming service. In other parts of the world, YouTube is the biggest consumer of bandwidth. In Europe, YouTube represented of 28.7% of downstream traffic.
Post HDTV resolution era seems to be coming to TVs as well in form of 4K / UltraHD. It was introduced in the 2013, and the manufacturers start to push it more in 204 because all LCD makers are looking to move their business models on from cheap mass production to higher-margin, premium offerings. They try to innovate and secure their future viability by selling fewer, but more profitable displays. On this road giant curved TVs is gaining ground: LG announces that it will present the “world’s first ” 105-inch curved ultra-hd-TV in January in Las Vegas at CES. Almost at the same time , however, Samsung also announced the proposal at CES “the world’s first and curved” 105-inch ultra HD television.. TV screens are in fact higher resolution the basic 4k level of ultra hd: Samsung and LG screens resolution is 5120 × 2160 pixels in the image (11 megapixels).
4K resolution ecosystem will get more ready for use. Netflix is testing out 4K video streaming and Netflix’s House of Cards was shot in 4K. Amazon Studios also just recently announced that it will shoot all of its 2014 shows in that format as well.
4K and 4K streaming are definitely coming in 2014 regardless of how many people can actually view it. 4K will still require a lot of work “with the compression and decode capability” to be ready for mainstream use. There are a great many things that need to happen before 4K really becomes a reality or needs to do so.
PC hardware with 4G capable graphics cards is already available, so decoding the stream is not a problem. The biggest issue is that the market penetration of 4K-capable televisions needs to grow, but to that happen the prices must drop to ranges for the average consumer. Many users have already fast enough fixed broadband connection, but can the networks handle peak usage 4K streaming? According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, it won’t require more than a stable 15 Mbps to stream 4K.
Extreme overkill resolution will also push to tablet and smart phone markets. There are already smart phones with full HD resolution. In high-end smartphones we may be moving into the overkill zone with extreme resolution that is higher than you can see on small screen: some makers have already demonstrated displays with twice the performance of 1080-progressive. Samsung is planned to release devices with 4k or UHD resolutions. As we have seen in many high tech gadget markets earlier it is a very short journey to copycat behavior. And we will see also see smart phones that can shoot 4K video.
For a long time music has been listened mainly with small portable MP3 player and such, which for most users provide “good enough” audio quality. The market had already shifted from separate MP3 players to the same functionality included to other devices (smart phones and tablets), so sales of music players sales have plummeted in year 2013 as much as as one-third. Separate music players mostly only used for listening music during fitness hobby, and growing popularity of fitness hobby is full of players saved the market from total collapse. Uncompressed music player to appreciate the need of a decent storage capacity, so some hifi people buy some high-end separate players, but that’s a small market.
Apple’s iPod continues to lead an ever-shrinking market of portable media players with a staggering 72 percent of the market for standalone music players. Apple has never been afraid of reducing demand for one of its devices by creating demand for another, in this case iPhone. The future of separate music players looks bleak.
Smartphones have taken the music player market. The growing popularity of smart phones and music streaming services will rise in the future to eat even music players sales. If smart watch will become a hit, the music player may be lost in exercisers shopping list.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Optical Microscope Technique Valuable for Manufacturing Next-Generation Computer Chips
http://video.techbriefs.com/video/Optical-Microscope-Technique-Va;Photonics
Research engineer Ravi Attota of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has shown that a technique developed several years ago at NIST can enable optical microscopes to measure the 3D shape of objects at nanometer-scale resolution — far below the normal resolution limit for optical microscopy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hollywood’s Camera Maker ARRI
http://www.eeweb.com/news/hollywoods-camera-maker-arri
The field programmable gate array (FPGA) products and complementary power products of Altera Corporation was chosen to enable a new, versatile documentary-style camera by Munich-based ARRI, the world’s largest maker of cinematographic cameras for Hollywood’s film industry. The AMIRA is the first ARRI camera with its own video processing pipeline enabled on a single Altera Stratix V FPGA
The Stratix V FPGA enables the AMIRA camera to feature the same sensor and exceptional image quality as the ARRI ALEXA camera, but at up to 200 frames per second.
At IBC 2014, ARRI will be demonstrating UHD output support for AMIRA
Tomi Engdahl says:
UltraHD images from the satellite to the TV
ES Astra says that it demoes together SmarDTV and Samsung with UltraHS-quality (3840 x 2160) content encrypted transmission in IBC trade show. Shipping of video is done via satellite DVB standards .
UltraHD- or 4K image broadcasting transmissions demo is a significant milestone. For the first time in the pay-TV content can be transmitted from the satellite directly to the standard CI + module equipped with the UltraHD-TV.
4K TVs have been on market for some time but the content for them has been scarce. Europe has a few 4K TV channel, as well as in South Korea. USA, 4K-area transmissions Baltimore tested for six months. During the summer in Brazil organized football World Cup final shot in 4K resolution, but only Japanese saw it live via satellite signal.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1774:ultrahd-kuvaa-satelliitista-televisioon&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel RealSense
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/realsense-overview.html
Add depth to your devices. With Intel® RealSense™ technology, you can scan, modify, print, and share in 3D, giving you a creative platform like you’ve never seen. What’s more, you’ll be able to naturally manipulate and play with scanned 3D objects using our hand- and finger-sensing technology.
Redefining how you control your devices, the Intel® RealSense™ 3D Camera enables new ways to interact in gaming, entertainment, and content creation. Featuring full 1080p color and a best-in-class depth sensor, the camera gives PCs and tablets 3D vision for new, immersive experiences. Interact more intuitively with facial recognition, emotion tracking, 3D scanning, and background extraction, or use 10-finger gesture recognition for agile device control.
New for 2014: Devices with integrated depth sensing
CES 2014 in Las Vegas saw the release of the world’s first integrated 3D depth and 2D camera module, enabling devices to “see” depth like human eyes. It will be built into mainstream Microsoft Windows* 8 and 8.1 devices, including Ultrabooks™, detachables, notebooks, 2 in 1s, and All-in-Ones (AIOs) from Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, and NEC later in 2014.
Also announced were Intel collaborations with Autodesk, DreamWorks, metaio, Tencent, and others to bring innovative hardware and software products utilizing Intel RealSense technology to enhance depth-based computing experiences.
Enhanced video calling and conferencing
Intel and Microsoft are teaming up to transform video calls on Skype* and Lync* into personable interactions, enabling a more immersive virtual meeting.
3D Capture
With help from 3D Systems*, Intel is bringing 3D scanning, editing, and printing to mainstream computing. Do-it-yourself (DIY) software apps will enable students, hobbyists, and makers to easily and affordably create almost anything. Additionally, scanning technology will also become available to developers as part of the Intel RealSense technology
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Outrages Users By Automatically Installing U2′s Album On Their Devices
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/14/09/15/0111234/apple-outrages-users-by-automatically-installing-u2s-album-on-their-devices
“Apple may have succeeded at breaking two records at once with the free release of U2′s latest album, titled Songs of Innocence, via iTunes. But now, it looks like it’s also on track to become one of the worst music publicity stunts of all time. Users who have opted to download new purchases to their iPhones automatically have found the new U2 album sitting on their phones. But even if iTunes users hadn’t chosen automatic downloads, Songs of Innocence will still be displayed as an “iTunes in the Cloud” purchase.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s Tim Cook: TV is TERRIBLE and stuck in the SEVENTIES
Fruity führer thinks it’s all far too FIDDLY, y’see
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/15/tim_cook_apple_tv_is_terrible_interface_like_1970s/
“TV is one that we continue to have great interest in – I choose my words carefully there – TV is one of those things that, if we’re really honest, it’s stuck back in the seventies,” said Cook.
“Think about how much your life has changed, and all the things around you that have changed. And yet TV, when you go in your living room to watch the TV, or wherever it might be, it almost feels like you’re rewinding the clock and you’ve entered a time capsule and you’re going backwards. The interface is terrible. I mean, it’s awful!”
But if longstanding rumours that Apple has been working on an iDiot Box since the Jobsian golden era are to believed, Cupertino has its heart set on developing a screen much bigger than the timepiece’s sapphire glass face.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Leviton acquires AV-control provider BitWise
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/09/leviton-bitwise.html
On September 9 Leviton announced it has acquired BitWise Controls LLC, which designs and manufactures control and monitoring solutions for commercial and residential facilities’ audio-video systems. Leviton said it “has been carrying BitWise Controls’ automation controllers for some time and is excited to welcome them into Leviton.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oracle slurps another storage upstart: Front Porch Digital joins Ellison’s crew
Nice Big Data market niche biz y’got there, partner
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/16/oracle_hoovers_up_front_porch_digital/
Front Porch Digital (FPD) is a content storage management (CSM) business. Its software products sit in a server between a media network on the one hand and a storage resource storing files, such as videos, in online and archive media, on the other.
The FPD server integrates a media customer’s proprietary content commands and formats with those in the storage library and does whatever the media customer requires, such as retrieve and distribute them, and receive and store them.
Another way of describing FPD is to say it ids a world-wide broadcast archive management supplier against a media background of migration to digital workflows.
Oracle says it and Front Porch Digital “will help organisations more effectively and efficiently manage the growing complexities associated with the migration, integration, storage, and delivery of rich media content,” and the Oracle/FPD combo will “create the most comprehensive enterprise-grade cloud and on-premise content storage management solution.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Roku has sold over 10 million of its streaming players
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/16/6154351/roku-passes-10-million-sales
Roku just hit a milestone: over 10 million of its streaming players have been sold to this point, stretching from the company’s original set-top box — which debuted in 2008 — through today. It’s a big number, and it establishes Roku as one of the leading players in the living room, at least when it comes to streaming boxes. Game consoles obviously sell many more units than that, but Roku has carved out a nice audience by pricing its products aggressively and constantly expanding the ecosystem of apps that run on those boxes. And the products themselves keep getting better.
All told, Roku says it’s now amassed a list of 1,800 channels; the company says that’s 1,000 more than any other streaming player offers. And people really love streaming Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu, Pandora, and other stuff.
Earlier this year, Apple announced that it’s so far sold over 20 million Apple TV units; Google and Amazon have also produced top notch products in Chromecast and Fire TV respectively — though neither company has shared sales figures. (Sundar Pichai previously said Google has sold “millions” of the Chromecast.)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Panasonic puts a 1-inch sensor and a Leica lens on new CM1 smartphone
Seeking to set a new benchmark for the cameraphone category
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/15/6151671/panasonic-leica-cm1-android-cameraphone
Panasonic has made the biggest news of Photokina so far with the announcement of its new Lumix CM1 Android smartphone.
The CM1 comes with a 1-inch sensor that dwarfs most imaging sensors in smartphones today and is on a par with what you’d find inside Sony’s RX100 and Nikon’s 1 Series of cameras. It has a 20-megapixel resolution and is paired with an f/2.8 Leica lens, a mechanical shutter, and a manual control ring. Interestingly, the lens extends out of the body, but is not a zoom lens, its adjustments are purely for focusing purposes.
The rest of the CM1′s specs are pretty conventional for modern smartphones.
Weighing in at 204g and measuring 21mm in thickness, the CM1 is unlikely to be confused for a regular smartphone. Panasonic prefers that it be thought of as a very capable camera that also comes with communication capabilities rather than as a smartphone with great imaging.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DisplayPort 1.3 announced w/ support for upcoming 5K displays, enhanced 4K performance
http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/15/displayport-1-3-announced-w-support-for-upcoming-5k-displays-enhanced-4k-performance/
The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) announced today that it’s introducing the latest DisplayPort technology that brings support for upcoming 5K monitors and more. DisplayPort 1.3 for audio and video increases the standard to a maximum link bandwidth of 32.4 Gbps and as a result supports 5K displays with resolutions of 5120 x 2880 on a single cable without compression methods. In addition, users will notice enhanced performance for 4K displays in multi-monitor setups over a single DisplayPort connection:
The timing of the announcement is notable as a new crop of 5K displays are about to hit market and 4K displays become more affordable. Dell recently announced its first 5K monitor coming soon to consumers, while Apple is rumoured to be working on either a new iMac and or monitor that is expected to sport 5K resolution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It seems that number of surround channels is increasing all the time…
8-out Surround-Sound Codec TDM
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/cirrus_logic/8-out-surround-sound-codec-tdm/
The CS42435 is 108 dB, 192 kHz and 4-in, 8-out TDM codec integrated circuit featuring four 24-bit ADC and eight 24-bit DAC. It has an ADC dynamic range, as well as DAC with compatible industry standard TDM serial interface. It offers programmable ADC high-pass filter for DC offset calibration.
Introduced to specifically meet the needs of automotive audio platforms, the CS42435 audio codec incorporates features such as a flexible power supply, level translators and digital integration.
This IC simplifies the designers’ job, allowing them to deliver advanced multichannel surround-sound performance for entry- and mid-level audio products, all in a single 52-pin LQFP package.
In an automotive entertainment system, the audio input sources could include in-car navigation systems, mobile phones, CD/DVD players as well as the radio tuner.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple releases one-click tool to delete the U2 album you didn’t want
It’s a beautiful day
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/15/6153165/apple-u2-songs-of-innocence-removal-tool
To put it lightly, Apple’s “gift” of a free U2 album hasn’t been warmly received by everyone. And it seems the company has heard the chorus of complaints loud and clear. As of today, Apple’s offering an easy way to permanently erase Songs of Innocence with a single click. Doing so immediately removes U2′s latest album from your iTunes music library and iTunes purchase history. Apple has even set up a support website to guide people through the process.
Note that erasing the album means it will no longer show up in your “purchases” tab. So if you want to re-download it for another listen, you’ll need to go through the regular album purchase process again. Songs of Innocence will remain free until October 13th
Just last week, Tim Cook and U2 announced the giveaway during Apple’s huge product event. Songs of Innocence was immediately gifted to all of Apple’s iTunes customers worldwide (over 500 million), but anger over the company’s approach — Apple basically let itself into the music libraries of its users — came hard and fast in subsequent days.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monster of the camera no longer need to puff out
When Nokia introduced the year before the “monster camera phone” designated 41-megapixel sensor-equipped device, the attention was drawn to the camera cause the other device to the thicker crust. A few years the technology has gone far ahead, because now provides 20-megapixel sensor with compressed less than 6 millimeters thick to smartphones.
T4KA7 sensor has 5384 x 3752 pixels. Image Processor screens can be viewed 22 fps at full resolution. According to the company this is the first image sensor, which allows the 20 megapixel resolution in 6-millimeter thick devices.
Reasearch institute Yele says that CMOS sensor circuits the markets are expected to grow annual 10 percent boost to 2018.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1780:hirviokameran-ei-tarvitse-enaa-pullistella&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
The all-new APx555
The perfect evolution of audio analyzers.
http://apx555.ap.com/?s=AP-PTN-SCAN
The APx555 is the finest instrument Audio Precision has ever made, offering audio engineers an audio
measurement tool that’s a first of its kind.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Panasonic’s ‘connected camera’ pairs an Android smartphone with a one-inch sensor and f/2.8 lens
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/panasonic-lumix-cm1/
Compact, point-and-shoot cameras are dying, simply because people would rather use smartphones and tablets to snap their dinner and instantly share them to Instagram. Unfortunately, that’s a segment of the market that Panasonic abandoned (at least in Europe) back in 2013. That left the company without a convincing rival to the Lumia 1020 and Samsung’s various phone / camera hybrids. That’s why the company has now launched the DMC-CM1, a “connected camera”
For its part, Panasonic knows that the device won’t beat equivalent smartphones on a spec-for-spec basis. Instead, it wants people to concentrate upon the photographic equipment that’s been crammed into this slender device.
The lens is fixed, but works equivalent to a 28mm zoom lens, packing an aperture that’ll run all the way up to f/11. A manual control dial runs around the lens, which you can assign to a function of your choice, lending this an old-school feel. In fact, the CM1 looks like the Lumia 1020 by way of Dieter Rams, all austere chrome with cracked-leather style back, and has a weird retro-futuristic look that’s tremendously attractive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ricoh’s new action cam isn’t a toy, even if it looks like one
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/ricoh-wg-m1-action-camera/
When you’re in the market for an action camera, we’d imagine GoPro or Contour would be the first names that sprang to mind. Ricoh is hoping to crowbar itself onto your psychological roster, however, with the WG-M1, its latest ruggedized action camera.
Of course, it’s not really meant to be used as a traditional stills camera (although it can take 10-megapixel snaps), but as a video unit for extreme, sorry, EXXTREEEME environments.
we have no reason to doubt the company’s belief that it’d keep working in 10 meters of water, from drops of two meters and at degrees that are 10 below zero (Celsius).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Canon’s most powerful superzoom sports advanced video features, 65x lens
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/15/canon-sx60-hands-on/
If you need a 21-1365mm focal range in a single permanently affixed lens, man does Canon have the camera for you. The PowerShot SX60 HS
The camera’s Advanced Zoom Framing Assist lets you select how much of a person you want to keep in the frame, and the camera will automatically zoom in and out to maintain that composition.
The SX60 has an upgraded 16.1-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, a DIGIC 6 processor, a 922k-dot viewfinder that flips out, up and forward, along with built-in WiFi and NFC.
Tomi Engdahl says:
VESA Releases DisplayPort 1.3 Standard: 50% More Bandwidth, New Features
by Ryan Smith on September 16, 2014 8:00 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8533/vesa-releases-displayport-13-standard-50-more-bandwidth-new-features
Although DisplayPort-equipped 4K monitors are still relatively new, the DisplayPort 1.2 standard underlying those devices is anything but.
VESA working group responsible for DisplayPort needs to aim well ahead of the curve, and all the while DisplayPort 1.2 adoption was ramping up, the VESA was already working on the next iteration of DisplayPort.
DisplayPort 1.3 is a combination signaling and feature update intended to support new products and ultimately enable DisplayPort to push more pixels. The single biggest aspect of this is the introduction of High Bit Rate 3 (HBR3) mode, which increases the per-lane bandwidth rate from 5.4Gbps to 8.1Gbps,
the total connection bandwidth has been increased from 21.4Gbps to 32.4 Gbps
At a hardware level the introduction of HBR3 is being made entirely at the controller level, with new controllers utilizing HBR3 signaling over existing hardware.
For 5K displays DisplayPort’s 32.4Gbps provides enough bandwidth to cover a single 5K@60Hz monitor with traditional 24bit uncompressed color. In that case the physical interface can support either SST or MST operation
Meanwhile the 50% increase in bandwidth also offers just enough of an improvement that DisplayPort 1.3 can even drive a pair of uncompressed 4K@60Hz monitors over a single connection, so long as VESA reduced blanking timings are used to minimize the signaling overhead.
In that case you can technically even get a 4K@60Hz monitor over a 2 lane connection if desired
Alternatively the additional bandwidth can be used to drive a single 4K@60Hz monitor at higher bit depths, such as 30bit and 36bit color.
However for 8K displays, while DisplayPort 1.3 is designed to support them the available bandwidth falls well short of the 45Gbps+ an 8K@60Hz 24bit uncompressed display would require. As such the VESA will be doing the next best thing and supporting Y’CbCr 4:2:0 subsampling, which reduces the bandwidth requirements by only transmitting ¼ of the color (chroma) data.
We’ve already seen 4:2:0 put to use in HDMI, allowing first-generation 4K TVs to support 4K@60Hz over HDMI 1.4 data rates by reducing the color data rate to the same 4:2:0 rate that most media is distributed in, and the idea would be the same for DisplayPort 1.3 and 8K displays.
4:2:0 support is also necessary for better HDMI interoperability, which is the other major aspect to DisplayPort 1.3. 1.3 will introduce the features necessary to allow DP-to-HDMI 2.0 conversion
Support for Display Stream Compression (DSC) apparently did not make the cut, as it is not in the 1.3 specification. DSC is the VESA and MIPI’s visually lossless (i.e. limited lossy) compression format designed to reduce bandwidth requirements,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Clear Channel Renames Itself iHeartMedia in Nod to Digital
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/business/media/embracing-digital-brand-clear-channel-renames-itself-iheartmedia.html?_r=0
When it was introduced by Clear Channel Communications in 2008, the iHeartRadio app had a humble job as an online outlet for the radio giant’s 800-plus stations.
Now iHeartRadio has become such a central part of Clear Channel’s efforts to remake itself as a multiplatform media company that “iHeart” has become the new identity of the entire operation.
On Tuesday, Clear Channel — by far the largest operator of radio stations in the United States — renamed itself iHeartMedia
For Clear Channel, the rebranding is also an effort to reshape perceptions of the company for the digital age, when radio’s dominance is being challenged by digital newcomers like Pandora and Spotify.
According to Clear Channel, more than 50 million people have registered for the iHeartRadio app.
Clear Channel says it reaches 245 million people in the United States each month through its various platforms, but according to Mr. Pittman, less than 5 percent of the listening to the company’s programming is digital.
Any significant growth in radio, however, is likely to come from the digital side. According to the research firm eMarketer, revenue from broadcast radio will remain essentially flat through 2018, at about $15.6 billion, while digital sales will gain more than 160 percent during that time, to $5.3 billion. For Clear Channel, revenue growth is essential to managing the $20 billion in debt still left from its private-equity buyout.
Clear Channel’s businesses are organized through a complex structure of holding companies
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fastly grabs $40M on its quest to build a big, cool content-distribution network
http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/16/fastly-funding/
Fastly, a startup looking to challenge the biggest companies in the business of distributing content around the world for quick online access, has brought on $40 million in fresh money.
“Customers are happy to pay for that,” Bergman said.
The content-distribution network (CDN) market has proven interesting for investments and acquisitions.
Verizon last year acquired EdgeCast. CDN and security provider CloudFlare announced a $50 million round late last year. Apple has started serving web requests through its own CDN, which could be useful when it’s time to download an operating-system update. Meanwhile, CDN giant Akamai has hung around.
Fastly aims to stand out by storing customers’ content on speedy solid-state drives and delivering it over 10-gigabit Ethernet. It even employs software-defined networks based on Arista switching hardware that can help Fastly “choose the best path out into the Internet,” Bergman said, and ultimately deliver content more quickly than it could without such techniques.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jury finds CBS infringes podcasting patent, awards $1.3 million
“Patent troll” lost its damages case, but it can move on to trials against NBC, Fox.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/09/jury-finds-cbs-infringes-podcasting-patent-awards-1-3-million/
A jury in Marshall, Texas, found the infamous “podcasting patent” was infringed by CBS’s website today and said that the TV network should pay $1.3 million to patent holder Personal Audio LLC.
Personal Audio is a holding company, cobbled together from the patents that were left after a failed startup that Jim Logan founded in 1996. The company became one of the poster children for problematic patents when it claimed that its patent number 8,112,504 was infringed by podcasters
Then Personal Audio said that podcasters were actually too poor to bother suing, so it kept up its case against three big TV networks: CBS, NBC, and Fox. The company made the argument that the “podcasting” patent actually covered “episodic content” transmitted over the Internet, including video content. The patent refers to a “compilation file,” which Personal Audio lawyers say correlates to the HTML webpage that CBS hosts its content at.
Critics of Personal Audio, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Daniel Nazer, say that’s nothing more than an electronic table of contents.
Now that its patent has been validated against CBS, Personal Audio will be allowed to move forward with trials against NBC and Fox. However, it’s still facing a crowd-funded challenge at the patent office brought by EFF, and that effort is scheduled to be heard later this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lemoptix Pico-Projector Excels
Claims brightest, smallest MEMS projector solution
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1323950&
The microelectromechanical system (MEMS) market for pico-projectors is heating up with the entry of Lemoptix SA. This year the Swiss company won the best paper award at Photonics West. Now pico-projectors for smartphones, heads-up displays for automotive windshields, wearable displays like Google Glass, and 3D scanners can get Lemoptix modules from Hamamatsu Photonics KK, its first licensee.
The oldest pico-projector maker, Texas Instruments’ Digital Light Processor (DLP), uses millions of mirrors — one per pixel — instead of raster scanning red, green, and blue lasers with a single mirror.
The other major pico-projector competitor, Microvision Inc., is like Lemoptix in that it uses lasers and a single raster scanning mirror.
Lemoptix has designed what it calls the world’s smallest optical engine — 25 x 25 x 12 mm — and has worked to “despeckle” displays using proprietary technology. Without despeckling, a laser-driven display looks pixelized — with overly sharp pixels surrounded by obvious circles of black.
Tomi Engdahl says:
4K-ing excellent TV is on its way … in its own sweet time, natch
For decades Hollywood actually binned its 4K files. Doh!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/17/breaking_fad_4k_content_drought_coming_to_an_end/
Breaking Fad The 2014 IFA tech expo could well go down as pivotal in the yet to be written sputtering history of 4K home entertainment. While most (well, me) take it as read that the large panel market will migrate entirely to 2160p resolution over the coming months, big questions remain over just what you’ll be able to do with all those extra pixels.
Thankfully in Berlin, the UHD content proposition threatened to become a little more compelling.
Amazon went public with its 4K Instant Video streaming service, which will debut on 2014 HEVC-enabled sets from Panasonic, Sony and Samsung from October. As with Netflix, the amount of material likely to be offered will be limited (more on that later on), but at least Amazon’s original pilots will bolster the 4K library.
There was also commitment from assorted European VOD vendors. German streamer Maxdome, Pan-Euro Wuaki.tv and Italian broadband channel CHILI were all named as content partners ready to disgorge as yet unspecified UHD TV fare.
Sony’s upcoming Privilege Movies 4K promotion will see buyers of any of its 2014 4K tellies given a 500GB hard drive media player containing ten HEVC-encoded titles from the Sony Pictures stable.
The breakthrough news, though, was official confirmation that there will indeed be a 4K upgrade to the Blu-ray specification. UHD-powered Blu-ray MKII is now tentatively scheduled for a late 2015 introduction.
Bandwidth issues will always compromise 4K streaming, he told me: “Netflix 4K at 15Mbps just mandates compromise. In a next-generation Blu-ray environment we’ll be looking at anywhere between 50-70Mbps off the drive with an HEVC compression solution.”
Blu-ray 4K discs (there is no official name for the standard yet, so feel free to offer suggestions in the comments below) will support 2160p up to 60fps”
Dolby argues that Rec 709 (Recommendation ITU-R BT.709) – an HDTV format standardisation drawn up in 1990 is too limiting (8-bit colour used on the RGB channels in broadcast today)
The bit depth in Dolby Vision is 12-bits per pixel and can go up to 16-bits per pixel. With some clever codec tinkering 10-bit HEVC (h.265) can be used with the extra 2-bits managing metadata that adds further enhancements.
Martin suggests that HDR could prove an even bigger reason to upgrade your old flatscreen than 4K resolution alone
A former chair of the SMPTE Working Group on Professional and Studio Monitors,
“As much as we’ve been producing in the 4K format, we didn’t store it because nobody thought we were ever going to use it! We would shoot in legitimate 4096 x 2160, produce in 4K but then archive in 2K. We lost everything, because no one anticipated that it was actually going to come.”
This helps explain why film studios that have been working in the 4K format for over 20 years, have almost nothing to show for it.
Eastman Kodak released the first film scanners able to scan at 4096 x 2160 resolution in 1992
The first movie to be processed in 4K was actually the Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1993. “That was scanned into the electronic domain in 4K, processed and cleaned up, then scanned back out to film. The 4K data was never held,” confesses Kane.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Disney, Twitch, and iHeartRadio add support for Google’s Chromecast
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/16/6226677/twitch-disney-iheartradio-add-chromecast-support
Google’s Chromecast is expanding its list of supported apps today
Chromecast functionality is available on Disney’s apps for both Android and iOS
Twitch: Chromecast owners can now watch live gameplay streams on the big screen by casting Twitch from Chrome, Android, or iOS.
Chromecast also streams music, of course, and iHeartRadio is being added to the list of compatible apps as of today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lemoptix Pico-Projector Excels
Claims brightest, smallest MEMS projector solution
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1323950&
The microelectromechanical system (MEMS) market for pico-projectors is heating up with the entry of Lemoptix SA. This year the Swiss company won the best paper award at Photonics West.
“Our business model is to license our technology to others,” Lemoptix chief technology officer and co-founder Nicolas Abele told us. “Today we have one licensee, Hamamatsu, who has turned our technology into modules for use in a wide range of products.”
Lemoptix has designed what it calls the world’s smallest optical engine — 25 x 25 x 12 mm — and has worked to “despeckle” displays using proprietary technology. Without despeckling, a laser-driven display looks pixelized — with overly sharp pixels surrounded by obvious circles of black.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sling’s TV place-shifting gains Chromecast support
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2684799/slings-tv-place-shifting-gains-chromecast-support.html
Good news for Chromecast dongle users! Sling Media has upgraded its iPhone, iPad, and Android phone Slingplayer smartphone apps to stream Sling-connected content to any TV fitted with a Chromecast dongle. (An Android tablet app is in the works and coming soon.)
The Slingplayer apps’ upgrades gives Chromecast users the same reception capabilities that Sling has already extended to Apple TV and Roku users. The functionality works with TV captured on the company’s Slingbox M1, 350 and SlingTV/500 ‘place-shifting’ boxes, which connect to the user’s cable/satellite TV set-top box.
“When paired with the Slingplayer app, you’ll be able to watch any of your cable or satellite programming (live or recorded) on any TV that’s been set up with Chromecast,” said Slingblog.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lexar has introduced the world’s fastest SD memory cards. The new 2000x series supports data numbers up to 300 megabytes per second. Cards use the UHS-II bus. Lexar 2000x, new cards are primarily intended for professional photographers. 1080p or 4K movie recording
X2000 card has a capacity of 32 GB or 64 GB (about 170 euros).
Lexar introduced at the same time 1000x series SD cards, which even in read speed reaches 150 megabytes per second. The data for these cards is suitable for 16 to 256 gigabytes.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1785:maailman-nopein-sd-muistikortti&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
In the HDMI 2.0 specification, the bandwidth of up to 18 Gbps is one of the most important extensions to allow the 4K image transmission with 4:4:4 full-color format. However, since the transmission rate is double that of HDMI 1.4 while support of existing HDMI cables is required, interoperability issues due to signal distortions have become a big technical challenge for device manufacturers.
Source: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=840220&sessionid=1&key=A75AFA7F8805D4A23B14994D841F1A08&partnerref=MWRFinvite2&sourcepage=register
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exclusive: U2 and Apple Have Another Surprise for You
http://time.com/3393297/u2-apple-new-digital-format/
The four members of the legendary Irish band tell TIME about another new album in the works—and its secret Apple project that might just save the music industry
U2’s decision to team up with Apple to deliver the new album to every iTunes subscriber, unasked, raised valid questions about consumer choice and personal space in a world that routinely infringes on both.
As an article in the new issue of TIME reveals, Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr believe so strongly that artists should be compensated for their work that they have embarked on a secret project with Apple to try to make that happen, no easy task when free-to-access music is everywhere (no) thanks to piracy and legitimate websites such as YouTube. Bono tells TIME he hopes that a new digital music format in the works will prove so irresistibly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music—whole albums as well as individual tracks.
“Songwriters aren’t touring people,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube starts to invest in popular content producers:
Investing in creativity
http://youtubecreator.blogspot.fi/2014/09/investing-in-creativity.html
Over the past four years, YouTube has gone through a dramatic transformation. We’ve seen the fidelity of our videos evolve from the grainy footage of webcams to the crystal clear beauty of 4K. We’ve seen teenagers who began by vlogging in their bedrooms emerge as media heavyweights, with passionate followings and shows that draw more fans than similar shows on cable TV.
Throughout that time, we’ve made a number of key decisions to accelerate this transformation. We first made a series of investments in channels to jumpstart our creator ecosystem.
Then, to ensure our creators had the production support they needed, we created the YouTube Spaces in L.A., Tokyo, London and soon New York. The Spaces offer creators free access to the latest and greatest equipment, sets and support to facilitate creativity and content innovation.
As any creator will tell you, making compelling new content isn’t easy, and we expect to learn a lot through this process. We’ll experiment with new formats and ideas.
Tomi Engdahl says:
There’s no escape!
The pocket-sized spy drone with a 360 degree camera that can fly through windows and navigate tunnels
Tiny hexacopter measures about seven inches
Has been backed by US Air Force who plan to use it to look for IEDs
Carries a panoramic camera that provides 360-degree view from the drone.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2761257/There-s-no-escape-The-pocket-sized-drone-360-degree-fly-windows-tunnels.html#ixzz3DsPUuKuQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix to Finally Add Linux Support
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Netflix-to-Finally-Add-Linux-Support-459419.shtml
It’s been seven years since Netflix introduced its video streaming service to computer browsers. Even though Windows and Mac users can easily access the service, Linux users have to jump through hoops to be able to enjoy a show.
Things are finally about to change and the open-source OS is finally getting Netflix support, especially since the company’s streaming is moving towards HTML5 and away from the Silverlight media player plugin.
Paul Adolf, Netflix Senior Software Engineer posted on a forum dedicated to Ubuntu developers that Netflix will play with Chrome stable in 14.02 if NSS version 3.16.2 or greater is installed. “
Netflix is available on a whole number of devices, such as Roku, Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, Nintendo 2DS and 3DS, TiVo, Apple TV and a number of smart TVs. Furthermore, if you stream movies over a laptop or mobile device and own a Chromecast, then that’s another way to see the movies and TV shows straight on the big screen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix support is officially making its way to Linux, finally
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/19/netflix-linux/
For the longest time Netflix relied on Microsoft’s would-be Flash competitor Silverlight. But, of course, support for the plug in was practically non-existent on the open-source OS. Now, with Silverlight fading, and Netflix embracing the power of HTML5, your wish of watching flicks in your favorite distro (be it Ubuntu, Mint or Arch) may finally come true. Paul Adolph from Netflix posted a message to Ubuntu developers, telling them that, “Netflix will play with Chrome stable in 14.02 if NSS version 3.16.2 or greater is installed.”
So what is NSS? It stands for Network Security Services which is a joint effort of Mozilla, Google and RedHat. They’re nothing you’d normally interact with as a typical end user, but they’re helpful for developers building applications where security is paramount. (And protecting the streams of intellectual property provided by movie studios and television networks is a pretty high priority for the folks at Netflix.)
With the shift to the new HTML5 player, the world’s most popular streaming movie service will officially supported on desktop versions of Linux. Of course, Netflix already works with plenty of Linux-based devices (see Android, Roku, Chrome OS, etc…)
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG’s rollable TVs are (predictably) very flexible
http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/22/lgs-rollable-tvs-are-very-flexible/
Remember when LG announced that it had managed to create a rollable 18-inch display? Well, here’s the proof: a very much flexible OLED display. The resolution might not be there yet (1,200 x 810, alas) but the hopes and dreams of a picnic-blanket TV set — they’re getting more real every day.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK tries to protect kids by rating music videos like movies
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/20/uk-music-video-youtube-age-ratings/
While David Cameron’s broadband filters are doing an admirable job of shielding Britain’s young eyes from adult content, the government reckons it can do more. That’s why, as from October, it’ll treat music videos like movies and begin placing age ratings on them.
The pilot, which will run for three months with assistance from Google, has also been backed by the the three biggest music labels in the UK — Sony, Warner Music and Universal — letting them assign three age-suitable labels (12, 15 or 18) to videos with adult-themed content.
parents will be provided with an option to block videos according to their ratings
Tomi Engdahl says:
Signs continue to point toward record year for machine vision industry
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2014/08/signs-continue-to-point-toward-record-year-for-machine-vision.html
As more second quarter figures from major companies are released, it is looking more and more likely that 2014 could be a record year for the machine vision industry.
Among those companies reporting gains was Cognex
Revenue increased 26% over Q2 2013, and 20% over Q1 2014
to $108,802,000
the largest contribution coming from the factory automation market
Revenue from surface inspection and semiconductor and electronics also saw increases
Similarly, Basler reported that for the first half-year of 2014, order increased by 23% from € 33.3 million to € 40.9 million, year over year.
Elsewhere in Europe, Datalogic announced that preliminary revenues for Q2 came in at €115.8 million, which represents a growth of 7% over the first quarter of 2014.
Image sensor company ON Semiconductor also announced a spike in business for Q2
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your take: Which machine vision interface will be most popular in two years?
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2014/09/your-take-which-machine-vision-interface-will-be-most-popular-in-two-years.html?cmpid=EnlVSDSeptember222014
the question on which machine vision interface is currently most popular, and which will be in two years’ time.
For both of these questions, the GigE interface was chosen. Perhaps not surprisingly, manufacturers indicated that while they do expect GigE to remain the most popular, they expect to see USB 3.0 become increasingly popular.
numerous interfaces exist with which to interface cameras to computers. The most popular interfaces, of course, are Camera Link, GigE Vision, USB3 Vision, and CoaXPress, each of which has different price and performance tradeoffs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Startup’s Piezoelectric MEMS Mics May Take Over
Vesper claims top spot with 70dB signal-to-noise ratio.
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324014&
The high-performance microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphone market is about to be one upped by a startup — Vesper Technologies Inc. (Boston) — using piezoelectric materials to achieve a 70dB signal-to-noise (SNR) — a 5dB advantage over competitors. And that’s just the first generation device, with 80dB in its sights for the future.
“Our piezoelectric material is just beginning to realize its full potential, whereas our competitors using capacitive sensors are approaching the end of the road in optimization,”
According to IHS, MEMS microphones with better than 64dB SNR will grow at a compound annual rate of 40 percent until 2017. In addition, up to 12 MEMS microphones are being used in modern automobiles, six in modern smartphones as well as smaller numbers in cameras, camcorders, hearing aids, Bluetooth headsets, wearables and all types of IoT portending a two billion unit market by 2017.
According to Crowley, Vesper’s high-definition (HD) mics will enable applications that were previously impossible for traditional MEMS mics whose signal-to-noise ratio is limited by the need for a perforated backplate behind the diaphragm. Piezoelectric transducers, on the other hand, have an inherent and enduring advantage over traditional capacitive diaphragms, since piezoelectric tranducers do not require a perforated backplate, which introduces 8db of noise, according to Vesper.
“Today we have the worldwide exclusive rights to piezoelectric microphones and we plan to continue filing patents to cover other aspects that are unique to the functioning of piezoelectric MEMS microphones,” said Vesper.
Vesper’s business model is fashioned after Infineon, which only makes wafers (albeit Vesper’s wafers will be made in a MEMS foundry.) However, one of Vesper’s investors is the company that will dice its wafers and package them into a standard 3.35 x 2.5 x 1 millimeter housings alongside an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that amplifies the sound signal and processes it for analog output (plug compatible with Knowles). Vesper’s first model will use a bottom port, but top-port designs are in the making.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s Beats Music Brand May Go Away. Apple’s Beats Music Service Is Sticking Around.
http://recode.net/2014/09/22/apples-beats-music-brand-may-go-away-apples-beats-music-service-is-sticking-around/
Earlier this year, Apple bought Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $3 billion. Since then, CEO Tim Cook has gone out of his way to rave about the Beats Music subscription service, which sells all-you-can-eat music for $10 a month.
Apple won’t shutter the streaming service. It may, however, modify it over time, and one of those changes could involved changing the Beats Music brand.
Shuttering the Beats Music brand name makes some sense, as the company hadn’t generated a ton of traction before Apple bought it in May — at that time, it only had a few hundred thousand subscribers. On the other hand, the Beats headphone brand, which Apple doesn’t have any plans to dump, does have a lot of recognition, so it would seem bizarre to dump that.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AT&T’s Cord-Cutter Pitch: Broadband, HBO + Amazon, for $40 a Month
http://recode.net/2014/09/22/atts-cord-cutter-pitch-broadband-hbo-amazon-for-40-a-month/
It’s still nearly impossible to get HBO, or any other pay-TV channel, without subscribing to a pay-TV package that gives you a bundle of channels, whether you want them or not.
But the people who sell you TV are starting to tinker with the model, at least at the margins. Several pay-TV providers, for instance, sell “skinny” bundles of pay TV that allow you to buy a handful of channels. Now Dish is looking to do something similar with pay TV sold over the Web, and Sony’s Web TV model may be in the same wheelhouse.
Then there’s another category of offers meant to appeal to people who think they want to cut the cord, or don’t want the cord in the first place: Packages that give users broadband, a smattering of basic cable channels and HBO for $50 or less per month.
Now AT&T has made its cheap broadband+TV package even more interesting: It’s throwing a year of Amazon Prime into the mix, which means subscribers get free shipping on stuff they buy from Jeff Bezos — as well as Amazon’s Netflix-like offering of TV shows and movies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DisplayPort Alternate Mode for USB Type-C Announced – Video, Power, & Data All Over Type-C
by Ryan Smith on September 22, 2014 9:01 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8558/displayport-alternate-mode-for-usb-typec-announced
Earlier this month the USB Implementers Forum announced the new USB Power Delivery 2.0 specification. Long awaited, the Power Deliver 2.0 specification defined new standards for power delivery to allow Type-C USB ports to supply devices with much greater amounts of power than the previous standard allowed, now up to 5A at 5V, 12V, and 20V, for a maximum power delivery of 100W. However also buried in that specification was an interesting, if cryptic announcement regarding USB Alternate Modes, which would allow for different (non-USB) signals to be carried over USB Type-C connector. At the time the specification simply theorized just what protocols could be carried over Type-C as an alternate mode, but today we finally know what the first alternate mode will be: DisplayPort.
Today the VESA is announcing that they are publishing the “DisplayPort Alternate Mode on USB Type-C Connector Standard.” Working in conjunction with the USB-IF, the DP Alt Mode standard will allow standard USB Type-C connectors and cables to carry native DisplayPort signals.
From a technical level the DP Alt Mode specification is actually rather simple. USB Type-C – which immediately implies using/supporting USB 3.1 signaling – uses 4 lanes (pairs) of differential signaling for USB Superspeed data, which are split up in a 2-up/2-down configuration for full duplex communication. Through the Alt Mode specification, DP Alt Mode will then in turn be allowed to take over some of these lanes – one, two, or all four – and run DisplayPort signaling over them in place of USB Superspeed signaling. By doing so a Type-C cable is then able to carry native DisplayPort video alongside its other signals, and from a hardware standpoint this is little different than a native DisplayPort connector/cable pair.
From a hardware perspective this will be a simple mux. USB alternate modes do not encapsulate other protocols (ala Thunderbolt) but instead allocate lanes to those other signals as necessary
Along with utilizing USB lanes for DP lanes, the DP Alt Mode standard also includes provisions for reconfiguring the Type-C secondary bus (SBU) to carry the DisplayPort AUX channel. This half-duplex channel is normally used by DisplayPort devices to carry additional non-video data such as audio, EDID, HDCP, touchscreen data, MST topology data, and more.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix and Liberty Global clash over net neutrality
http://www.digitaltveurope.net/245582/netflix-and-liberty-global-clash-over-net-neutrality/?
The CEOs of Netflix and Liberty Global have clashed over the topic of net neutrality, arguing over who should meet the costs and what regulation is required for video internet traffic.
Netflix: Maybe ISPs Should Pay Some of Our Content Costs
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Netflix-Maybe-ISPs-Should-Pay-Some-of-Our-Content-Costs-130540
Of course in reality Netflix and Google pay plenty for bandwidth (not to mention own massive networks of their own), and consumers using these services pay for bandwidth on their end as well. In fact here in the States consumers already pay some of the highest rates among all developed countries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Plans To Shut Down Beats Music
http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/22/apple-plans-to-shut-down-beats-music/?ncid=reddit_social_share
Apple will discontinue the streaming music service Beats Music it acquired in May, according to five sources, including several prominent employees at Apple and Beats. Many engineers from Beats Music have already been moved off the product and onto other projects at Apple, including iTunes.
Update: Apple has told TechCrunch that our report of Beats being shut down “is not true”, but sources familiar with the situation tell Re/code that Apple “may, however, modify [Beats Music] over time, and one of those changes could involved changing the Beats Music brand.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teardown: Blu-ray player doesn’t live up to the hype
http://edn.com/design/consumer/4434812/Teardown–Blu-ray-player-doesn-t-live-up-to-the-hype?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20140923&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20140923&elq=81107abddc3f4ed99123ddb271a7c90e&elqCampaignId=19277
Blu-ray optical disc format has undershot its backers’ original rosy prognostications for the format, and the aggressive price moves (with detrimental profit outcomes) that those same backers had needed to make to generate what limited consumer demand has existed. The BDP2100/F7 Blu-ray player, sold by one of the format’s two pioneers, Philips (Sony being the other), is a perfect case study of that reality
Initially offered in March 2013, the product’s MSRP is $69.99. My particular unit was a refurb from Groupon, and cost me only $29.99.
Look at the back panel, and you’ll find no analog audio output capabilities, or analog video facilities beyond composite video
Peering at the back panel, you’ll also find a wired Ethernet port. But if you buy the BDP2100/F7 anticipating built-in Wi-Fi network connectivity, you’ll be disappointed. To get it, you’ll need to purchase the ~$30 WUB1110/00 2.4 GHz 802.11n USB adapter
After all, comparable featured wireless USB adapters regularly “sell” for free after rebate
In the absence of visual validation, I’m still pretty sure that the IC under the heat sink is sourced from MediaTek. The company’s MT8551 single-chip Blu-ray controller is definitely in other Philips product line members. And following in the footsteps of another, I downloaded the BDP2100 open-source code and found several references to MediaTek inside. Regardless of the chip’s identity, it’s not the only IC to focus on. To the right and directly below, for example, are Nanya NT5CB64M16DP-CF 1 Gbit DDR3 SDRAMs with 16-bit system interfaces.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix refuses CRTC demand to hand over subscriber data
Video streaming company not ‘in a position to produce competitively sensitive information’
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/netflix-refuses-crtc-demand-to-hand-over-subscriber-data-1.2774921
Netflix says it won’t turn over confidential subscriber information to Canada’s broadcast regulator in order to safeguard private corporate information.
The video streaming company was ordered last week to give the data to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission by Monday, along with information related to the Canadian content it creates or provides to subscribers.
A Netflix official said Tuesday that while the company has responded to a number of CRTC requests, it is not “in a position to produce the confidential and competitively sensitive information.”
Netflix was one of 13 organizations that testified on the last day of public hearings last week before the CRTC on the future of television regulation in Canada.
The impact of Netflix and other online video providers on the country’s traditional TV broadcasting sector was central to the hearings.
“Netflix believes that regulatory intervention online is unnecessary and could have consequences that are inconsistent with the interests of consumers,” Wright said.
She said viewers should have the ability “to vote with their dollars and eyeballs to shape the media marketplace.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPhone camera evolution: How does the iPhone 6 camera compare to previous iPhone cameras?
http://snapsnapsnap.photos/how-does-the-iphone-6-camera-compare-to-previous-iphone-cameras/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter connects your Miracast devices to HDTVs
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2014/09/23/microsoft-wireless-display-adapter-connects-miracast-devices-hdtvs/
The first 10 to 15 minutes of any presentation usually involves trying to figure out which cable connects to the TV. For any Windows or Android device that supports Miracast (a peer-to-peer wireless screencasting standard) the new Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter takes the pain out of cables by mirroring your screen wirelessly.
The $59.95 dongle connects to your HDTVs HDMI port and is powered by USB.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Startup’s Piezoelectric MEMS Mics May Take Over
Vesper claims top spot with 70dB signal-to-noise ratio.
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324014&
The high-performance microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphone market is about to be one upped by a startup — Vesper Technologies Inc. (Boston) — using piezoelectric materials to achieve a 70dB signal-to-noise (SNR) — a 5dB advantage over competitors. And that’s just the first generation device, with 80dB in its sights for the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Probably the hottest new thermal camera component product:
FLIR Lepton®
Change the way you see the world!
http://www.flir.com/cvs/cores/view/?id=62648
The FLIR Lepton® is the most compact longwave infrared (LWIR) sensor available as an OEM product. It packs a resolution of 80 × 60 pixels into a camera body that is smaller than a dime. This revolutionary camera core is poised to equip a new generation of mobile and handheld devices, as well as small fixed-mount camera systems, with thermal imaging capabilities never seen before.
Lepton® is the technology behind FLIR’s ground-breaking FLIR One camera mount for the iPhone 5 and iPhone—and that’s only the beginning.
Lepton® contains a breakthrough lens fabricated in wafer form, along with a microbolometer focal plane array (FPA) and advanced thermal image processing.
Lepton® Applications
Safety & Security – See people lurking around in the dark at your home or business.
Automotive – Detect living beings in a car to prevent children or animals from being left in hot cars.
Micro and Nano UAV/UGV platforms – Lepton® makes even smaller UAV/UAG platforms possible.
Home Repair & Energy Efficiency – Find hidden air leaks, missing insulation, and water damage.
Building Automation & Presence Detection – Use Lepton® as a sensor to operate doors or activate HVAC systems automatically.