Behavioral trackers join in promising to behave themselves
We received word this morning of the formation of a coalition of associations, if you will, whose joint purpose will be the establishment of a set of principles for companies in the online advertising business. The promise of this new group of groups, as yet unnamed, will be to develop a set of guidelines for the use of behavioral monitoring tools.
And it's obvious from the get-go that a message is being set to the incoming administration, which could only possibly be more pro-active about consumer protection policies than the current one. It's a very polite message, but what it boils down to is, please, incoming FTC chairperson, leave us alone and let us take care of our own affairs.
Hawaii throws the DTV switch on Thursday
While the incoming Obama administration is considering suspending the countdown for the nationwide switch to digital television, the 50th State is preparing to actually throw the switch on Thursday.
Hawaii's standard-strength broadcasters will power down their analog signals on January 15, in the first statewide test of the DTV transition. However, recently fine-tuned regulations stipulate that low-power (LP) analog broadcasters do not have to power down even after the nationwide February 17 deadline. That affects Hawaii more than most states, since several of the smaller islands are served by LP stations. One such station on Kau'ai, KESU Channel 6, is actually a radio station since the audio portion of Channel 6 has always been available on 87.7 MHz (that's true everywhere in the country). But KESU sometimes supplements its audio signal with a picture, making it one of the nation's only "semi-TV" stations, and it'll be allowed to keep its unusual format.
Violent video game labeling bill enters Congress
Last Wednesday, legislation was introduced in the House that would make the Electronic Software Ratings Board (ESRB) affix a health warning label on T-rated games that links their violent content to real-life aggression.
Called The Video Game Health Labeling Act of 2009 (H.R. 231), and sponsored by Congressmen Joe Baca (D - Calif.) and Frank R. Wolf (R - Va.), the legislation calls for violent video games to be labeled with a sticker that says "WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior."
Was Genachowski FCC nod a done deal pre-CES?
The Washington Post and other mainstream pubs reported yesterday that Obama transition team member Julius Genachowski is on tap for the new head of the FCC, but canny observers spotted an open bag and a leaping cat last Saturday at CES when CEA head Gary Shapiro cracked wise to ongoing chair Kevin Martin about giving Obama's old Harvard Law Review colleague "some advice."
Martin said that he'd tell Genachowski that "If you try to go back to some of the rules that were in place in, oh, 2001, you will depress the telecommunications industry. And you have to be prepared to make hard decisions." Observers of the civil liberties scene wonder if the "rules that were in place" include the restrictions against unauthorized wiretapping, but one supposes that the first crisis he's got on his hands would be the DTV switchover -- whether or not it happens as scheduled on February 17. (Martin stated at CES that he opposes any delay in the switch.)
From the ME: Betanews releases Alpha
"This is an old team," began Edward R. Murrow in his very first See It Now broadcast for CBS Television, "trying to learn a new trade."
Now, over the past few years, I've been guilty of telling folks that Betanews is not a blog, in the same spirit as telling your neighbor trying to borrow your sports car to haul furniture that it's not a truck. A few reasons for that: I don't want Betanews to become one of these peanut-galleries for the practice of would-be journalism -- of essentially replicating stories seen or printed elsewhere and calling it "coverage." We won't be doing that here, and thus ends my list of the things that Betanews Alpha is not.
The Palm Pre: Final thoughts (for now)
It could be here in five months; it could be here sooner. But even before the Palm Pre has a firm release date, there are a few datapoints and checkpoints you need to keep an eye on.
Dollars and demand. In the wake of CES, the pricing and supply picture is becoming clearer. At this point it's believed that the Pre will be priced at under $200 with a two-year Sprint contract and at either $399 or $499 without it. That's steep, sure, but not at all out of line for a high-end handset from Sprint (or anyone else).
The Betanews ground crew sum up CES 2009
It was a week with more than the usual chaos, but it left us all with a different perspective on the CE industry than we had going in. Angela, Jackie, and Tim share their thoughts on "green," on Pre, widgets, and 3-D football.
"Tomorrowland," that wonderfully boastful exhibit that was the hallmark of Disneyland since it first opened, let folks ride on a treadmill as animatronic scenes of our electronic, robotic, servo-motorized future dazzled them like Christmas displays in downtown retail store windows.
CES 2009: What have we learned this week?
Last year's Consumer Electronics Show was marked by decisive, pronounced changes in direction for the electronics industry. This year, the battle lines are being completely redrawn.
The single most pronounced aspect of CES 2009 was that, in nearly every industry category, the momentum had shifted in a completely different direction. The leaders and the followers, in many respects, had shifted direction -- in some cases, very surprisingly and almost impossibly. Here's some key examples:
China experiences the onset of a 3G boom
All three Chinese telecommunications companies received 3G licenses last week from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and each has a different standard of choice.
China Mobile, the largest mobile phone operator in China, will build and operate a TD-SCDMA 3G network. The 3G standard is a Chinese development that differs from W-CDMA in that it uses Time Division Duplexing, a method of separating uplink and downlink signals and dynamically allocating spectrum to each. Over the weekend, the company told the Beijing News that its plan for the network includes a 58.8 billion yuan investment ($8.6b/ €6.43b) on some 60,000 TS-SCDMA base stations and have coverage in 238 cities.
Analysis: Is IPTV finally the key to convergence?
A world of choice and opportunity in televised media was offered up last week at CES, with the Internet enabling new channels and greater viewer choices. Of course, that world won't get here on its own.
If you ask ordinary Americans what bothers them most about the ongoing DTV transition, it's the notion that there doesn't seem to be a clear resolution to the problem of attaching another old-style dongle-like device to their televisions. It's not so much that older analog TVs have to be retrofitted; that much they can handle. It's that the cable, satellite, and now the phone/fiberoptic companies as well are all compelling or forcing customers to attach an even bigger set-top box (STB) to their existing displays, even if those displays are brand-new 1080p HDTV receivers.
TV.com delivers TV content rather than just TV listings
CBS' TV.com, a site formerly providing information about television programming has begun its transition to a video site, and is expected to announce some critical distribution deals today.
Numerous reports have surfaced that CBS has signed content distribution deals with PBS, Showtime, MGM, Sony, and Endemol USA (the company responsible for Deal or No Deal, and 1 vs. 100) that will bring a multitude of new shows to TV.com's streaming video library.
Microsoft on Win7 Beta: 'The download experience was not ideal'
Download Windows 7 Beta from Fileforum now (or at least try).
After adding some server horsepower to the Windows 7 beta download over the weekend, some testers did manage to receive working copies. That's not to say everything's working perfectly just yet.
Nokia launches three new phones at CES, previews another
As part of a bigger push into the United States, Nokia launched the E63, 7510 and 1006 phones at CES this week, while also giving a North American showing of the N97.
In a demo at the Nokia booth on Sunday, Jacqueline Evory, manager of communications devices, described the E63 phone as a less costly consumer edition of Nokia's messaging-oriented E71 business phone. The E63 was available in overseas markets before getting to the US, and Nokia will now sell the phone unlocked for North America.
Best Buy-owned Napster ponders location-based music services
Newly bought out by Best Buy, Web-based music maven Napster is now looking into delivering location-based services such as notifying Best Buy customers on their cell phones about local concerts, said Napster's CEO, speaking at CES last night.
Addressing an audience at a CES mobile forum, Napster CEO Brad Duea pointed to a study by JupiterMedia analysts showing that, of all location-based services they'd most like to use, music -- at 11 percent -- is topped only by weather, at 14 percent.
First look at EchoStar SlingLoaded 922 HD DVR
At CES 2009, EchoStar previewed a new 1 TB HD DVR with an integrated Slingbox. Combining TV and IP technologies, the DVR will include a touchpad remote control, RF support, and brand new, tile-based user interface.
"We've never had anything like this before," , said Tony Kozlowski, senior product manager, showing off the new EchoStar SlingLoaded 922 HD DVR in the EchoStar booth at CES on Sunday afternoon for Betanews.
Most Commented Stories
Betanews Is Growing Alongside You
Only a fool still uses Windows 7
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.