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TiVo, Nero Unveil Package That Lets PCs Record TV
WALL STREET JOURNAL
TiVo Inc. and Nero AG of Germany on Monday unveiled a package that turns a Windows PC into a TV recorder, just like a TiVo set-top box. The interface on the computer screen looks just like the one on a TV equipped with a TiVo box. It isn’t the first software that allows TV recording on the PC. That has been possible for years on computers equipped with TV tuners, and some versions of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system include the necessary software. But it will be the first time that both the TiVo interface and functions have been replicated on a PC.
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Nokia Launches Music Store in Spain
CENTERNETWORKS
Mobile provider Nokia has announced the launch of the Nokia Music Store in Spain today. Today’s launch in Spain comes several months after Nokia launched in Ireland, Netherlands, Australia, France and Singapore. To access the music store you need a computer or a Nokia mobile device. On the computer, the service is 10 euros a month for unlimited streaming. On the Nokia handheld devices, songs are 1.50 euros each and albums are priced at 10 euros. The streaming service is DRM-protected. The desktop application also functions like iTunes in that you can transfer songs from computer to mobile.
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Motorola Building Up 350-Person Android Team
TECHCRUNCH
The iPhone may be the only game in town for serious mobile Web developers right now, but that won’t last long. Next year, the iPhone will see some serious competition from Google’s Android platform. Of course, T-Mobile will start selling the first Android phone, the G1 made by HTC, on October 22. But other cell phone manufacturers are gearing up for a major Android push. The most significant of these may come from Motorola. One of the original partners in the Open Handset Alliance behind the open-source mobile OS, Motorola already has 50 people on its Android team and is growing that to 350, according to an Android developer approached by a headhunter to join the team.
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Vysr Widget Platform to Support Open Social Apps
CNET
Vysr, which makes a toolbar plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer that allows quick access to various app widgets, is set to launch on Monday the capability for said toolbar platform to access Open Social apps independently of the social networks or sites where they may be installed.
Apparently, users will be able to invoke Open Social apps even when they are not on a social-network page, and most importantly, will be able to run those widget-like apps against whatever social networks they belong to, including Facebook, which does not itself support Open Social.
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Report: Letting Our Fingers Do the Talking
NEW YORK TIMES
In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber’s volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly. Nicholas Covey, director of insights for Nielsen Mobile, attributed the spike in messaging to the spread of QWERTY-style keypads, whose users send 54 percent more text messages than those with ordinary keypads. He also said that phone companies had encouraged users to text by offering large or unlimited text-messaging bundles.
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Hole in Adobe Software Allows Free Movie Downloads
REUTERS
A security hole in Adobe Systems Inc software, used to distribute movies and TV shows over the Internet, is giving users free access to record and copy from Amazon.com Inc’s video streaming service. The problem exposes online video content to the rampant piracy that plagued the music industry during the Napster era and is undermining efforts by retailers, movie studios and television networks to cash in on a huge Web audience.
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Theaters, Studios Near Deal for Digital Projection
REUTERS
A consortium of the nation’s top movie-theater chains will announce within two weeks a $1 billion-plus financing agreement with four major studios to equip more than 15,000 screens nationwide with digital-projection systems during the next three years. Universal, Paramount, Disney and Fox with financing backing from JPMorgan Securities — are expected to announce the funding of systems to be rolled out by New York-based Digital Cinema Implementation Partners.
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Baidu Invests $15 Million in Chinese Online TV Operator UiTV
PAIDCONTENT
Baidu, the top Chinese search player, has taken a $15 million, 8.3 percent stake in UiTV, a Chinese online TV firm. The strategic investment calls for UiTV to host Baidu’s film and movie channel, hosted at movie.baidu.com-the company claims it has the largest legal collection of downloadable movies and TV shows in the country. UiTV’s strategy is to sign content licensing deals and to provide a platform, allowing other companies to immediately offer a full-fledged online video content service. It was founded in 2003.
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SkyDeck Raises $3 Million to Manage, Enhance Your Phone Bill
TECHCRUNCH
SkyDeck , the site that uses your mobile phone bills to help you manage and analyze your relationships with your peers, has closed a $3 million Series A funding round led by Saban Ventures. The round brings SkyDeck’s total funding to $4 million, as it had previously raised $1 million in angel funding. SkyDeck originally launched its private beta in March with a basic set of features that allowed users to automatically pair contacts from their address books to calls in their phone records.
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