VCs now wait for 'blockbuster hits' before investing in Internet content
At a major gathering of the leaders in Internet content production this morning, producers learned why it may be tougher than ever before to receive first-stage funding. Today, their shows need to already exist...somehow.
NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - A cornucopia of Internet content producers, from the somewhat-known to the wholly unknown, arrived here for an online media conference produced by industry publication AlwaysOn. They met with representatives of some of the nation's biggest venture capital firms, and the news they got this morning may have been sobering.
O2 beefs up iPhone plans in UK to boost sales
British cellular carrier O2 has overhauled its iPhone plans in a likely effort to make the device more appealing to a broader customer base.
In addition to currently available plans, O2 has introduced a new heavy usage plan for customers who may use their iPhones more frequently. Also, customers of one of its plans will be moved down to a less expensive tier.
DVI appears to be losing to HDMI and DisplayPort
While the resolution of the high-def disc format war may end up with few consumers winning, if any, another battle may have bigger consequences: It's about high-bandwidth digital interfaces for connecting PCs, consoles, and displays.
This battle pits the old-guard DVI (digital visual interface) against newer rivals HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) and DisplayPort in the industry race for connecting PCs and other devices over high bandwidth networks.
Gartner analyst: HD DVD has until the end of 2008
A Gartner analyst today predicted that, based on the numbers of movies expected to be available for the two warring high-def disc formats, that HD DVD will once and for all lose out to Blu-ray by the end of this year.
"Gartner expects that, by the end of 2008, Blu-ray will be the winning format in the consumer market, and the war will be over," according to Gartner analyst Hiroyuki Shimizu, writing in Gartner's Semiconductor DQ report today.
FTC decision favors standards over patent holder
In an historic decision that split the FTC almost down the middle, it has issued a complaint against a patent holding company allegedly that apparently sued computer and network manufacturers for having followed the Ethernet standard.
Where does a patented idea end and a standard begin? Judging from public forums alone, you'd think the two ideas would be polar opposites. But business deals between patent holders and standards groups tend to muddy the waters, and last week, one very important example of such an agreement came to a head before the US Federal Trade Commission.
Qtrax hits roadblock in effort to launch legal P2P
The self-proclaimed legal file sharing service is either not so legal or not so sharing: None of the big four music labels have agreements with the service, according to news reports.
Qtrax had planned to launch at midnight Monday, but with its latest round of troubles, it missed its initial launch date. All four major record producers say that while they are in negotiations with the service, none of them have signed final agreements.
German police consider surveillance through Skype
Leaked classified documents could point to a Skype and SSL intercepting system that could be launched in southern Germany next month.
In the wake of a foiled terrorist plot against U.S. installations in Germany in September, discussions began over granting police more freedom in surveillance. Federal interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble, member of the Christian Democratic Union, proposed a surveillance method that would involve the use of Trojan horses, allowing police to remotely and secretly search terror suspects' hard drives. Interior ministers failed to come to a conclusion regarding the legality of such a practice.
Nokia's factory move from Germany to Romania hits more snags
After a high-level meeting today, Nokia has agreed to serve on a joint task force to review its decision to close a cell phone plant in Bochum, Germany. Meanwhile, Nokia's cheaper facility under construction in Romania is in trouble.
With Finnish-based Nokia reaching somewhat of a surprise agreement today to work with German officials on a joint task force, the high-tech vendor's plans to move cell phone production from Bochum, Germany to the more economical Romania have meanwhile been running into construction snags.
Sweden to indict Pirate Bay owners by end of month
The Pirate Bay's days are increasingly looking numbered as Sweden will move this week to press charges against its owners for copyright infringement.
Charges will be filed in a district court in the country on January 31. If the owners are successfully convicted, they may be forced to pay fines and spend up to two years in jail.
Three 'big four' record labels sign with Sony Ericsson
Yesterday, Swedish mobile phone company Sony Ericsson announced deals had been inked with 10 major record labels, adding over 5 million tracks to the company's forthcoming over-the-air download music store.
The new partner labels include: Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, and The Orchard, as well asIODA (independent online distribution alliance), mobile marketing company The PocketGroup, South Asia's Hungama, European digital download label X5 Music, Scandanavian major label Bonnier Amigo, and UK-based mobile music source Vidzone. Deals with additional regional labels are currently being negotiated.
Nokia moves quickly into the mobile software development space
Nokia today announced it will acquire Trolltech, a Norwegian company with more than 5,000 customers relying on its commercial- and open source-licensed software used by well-known companies.
Trolltech is best known for its Qt and Qtopia services, widely used in the free and open source software markets. The Qt software package is designed to allow developers to create and update GUIs for mobile phones. It currently can be found in KDE, Opera, Skype, Google Earth, and other programs requiring cross-platform functionality. Nokia plans to promote the Qt technology under the Trolltech banner in the future, in the open source and commercial sectors.
New mobile browser enables Flash video through server-side rendering
While the mobile phone industry scrambles to adopt faster graphics platforms for rendering video, a startup may have bypassed everyone with an approach so simple, you wonder why nobody tried it already.
In a development that could very well turn the whole mobile rendering technology argument on its ear, a startup company founded just last June called Skyfire emerged from stealth mode this morning with a private beta of a Web browser for mobile phones whose graphics are rendered through a proxy located at the company's servers.
New Google policy will combat 'domain name tasting'
A controversial practice enables some domain name registrars to make short-term gains from registering domains that others might want. Now Google -- the vehicle for their revenue -- says it wants to do something about that.
The problem is somewhat serious, though Google is far from the first to point it out: Domain name registrars have displayed a tendency to register DNS names for themselves, based on recent searches conducted by users of their public WHOIS databases. They don't have any intention of keeping these DNS names longer than the typical five-day grace period, but during that time, they can deploy those fake pages that pretend to be search portals.
Halo effect not enough to prevent Xbox 360 sales decline
Even though Microsoft's best selling game came out right before the holiday quarter, sales of the Xbox 360 console dipped slightly year-over-year.
Microsoft said it had shipped 4.3 million consoles during the final calendar quarter of 2007, down 2.3% from the year previous. Halo 3 was released about a week before the quarter began.
Amazon MP3 looks to expand outside of US
The online retailer said over the weekend that it would begin to roll out its music store worldwide during this year in an effort to more broadly compete with market-leader iTunes.
Amazon launched its MP3 store in September of last year, and has since expanded to include music from all four major labels as well as 33,000 independent labels. The company says that it has the broadest DRM-free offering of any service.
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