Posts Tagged ‘media/news’

Lala resurgent: how the music service got its groove back

// October 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

You may know Lala as the music streaming service that recently struck a deal with Google to provide music in its search results. Or you may know it as the company that sells insanely cheap 10¢ music streams in addition to its MP3 store . Both of these are recent innovations from the company—Lala has gone through numerous changes since its humble beginnings as a CD swapping service in an attempt to follow the changing tastes of the online consumer, and it seems to have found a second life with a new business model.

HP, UMich deal means a "real" future for scanned books

// October 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

In a retro twist on the Google Books idea, HP has announced a partnership with the University of Michigan library to sell physical copies of over 500,000 rare and out-of-print works, while making the digital versions available online for free.  HP’s BookPrep service, currently in beta, will take in raw scans of books, clean them up to prepare them for re-printing, and then offer print-on-demand copies for sale via normal online book distribution channels like Amazon. This new arrangement mixes a number of aspects of existing efforts like Google Books and current print-on-demand (PoD) offerings, while being a little different from either, and in the process it points the way to a real future for the digital contents of libraries’ special collections.

Hulu to charge for content, but needs to sweeten the deal

// October 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

The free-for-all days of Hulu may soon be over. News Corp. executives indicated ( again ) this week that the free, ad-supported model wasn’t bringing home enough bacon and that the company was preparing to start charging users for content as soon as 2010. This news comes as a harsh reality check to dedicated Hulu fans, and Hulu will have to offer them more than just a browser-based stream if the company wants people to start forking over money. “I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value,” News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey said at the B&C OnScreen summit this week. “Hulu concurs with that; it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.”

Symbian Foundation opens smartphone kernel source code

// October 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

The Symbian Foundation has liberated the source code of the Symbian platform’s EKA2 microkernel. The code base is now available under the terms of the open source Eclipse Public License (EPL). This is a key milestone in the foundation’s plan to open up the entire platform. The group says that it is ahead of schedule and moving forward with its roadmap at a rapid pace. Symbian is the dominant mobile operating system, but its considerable marketshare is being eroded by emerging competitors with more modern technology. Nokia acquired Symbian last year and began an aggressive campaign to reshape the platform with the aim of opening the source code and adopting the powerful Qt toolkit to serve as the basis for a next-generation Symbian user interface.

Google music links look nifty, but unlikely a game-changer

// October 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

Reports are rife that Google is preparing to add music to its search results, allowing users to listen to songs right from the results page. The new feature, which is supposedly set to be announced next week, involves licensing deals all four major music labels as well as a smattering of independents. Though there is revenue sharing involved, the main plan is to use the initiative as a way to keep users on Google for longer. According to insiders speaking to the Wall Street Journal , the music will come in the form of free, embedded streams from either Lala.com or iLike.com . Those who are interested in buying the music will be able to do so from either of those two sites—iLike allows users to buy unprotected MP3s directly but also provides a link to iTunes, while Lala only sells the unprotected MP3 with no other direct links. Rumor has it that Google may eventually incorporate links to iTunes and Amazon—two of the most popular music download services—but that feature doesn’t appear to be set in stone for the launch.

Maddening brilliance: Ars reviews Demon’s Souls

// October 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

It’s been a long time since I played something like Demon’s Souls . I couldn’t pause. I died a lot. It took me roughly six hours to beat the first real level of the game. I died some more. The game’s mood constantly made me feel uneasy and jumpy. I kept on dying. And yet, I continued to play it with relish because I knew from the moment I started the adventure that this action-RPG was something special. The game, created by From Software, is a pain to learn, terrifyingly difficult, and downright eerie a lot of the time. It’s an unforgiving adventure that will probably turn off many gamers, primarily those who are used to easier titles; if you like games that coddle their players, this isn’t for you.  But, if you are willing to put up with the insane difficulty and like to actually work at playing a game, you’ll discover that Demon’s Souls is an incredibly rare gem.

Canada: ISP traffic shaping should only be "last resort"

// October 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

The Canadian telecoms regulator has spoken at last: traffic shaping is a “last resort” measure to deal with Internet congestion, network investment is the “primary solution,” but no “bright line” network neutrality rules will be forthcoming. No bright lines Canadian geeks have awaited this moment for months, though some won’t be thrilled with the “framework” laid out in the new order . The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has been looking into traffic shaping practices for months , collecting data and forcing most major Canadian ISPs to admit publicly that they shape peer-to-peer network for large portions of the day . It also revealed that Canadian traffic levels were growing at only 43 percent a year—robust, but not even at the bottom of the 50-100 percent a year growth rate that doomsayers claim will drown the Internet .

Barnes & Noble puts Android on an e-reader with the Nook

// October 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

Back in July, Barnes & Noble made it clear that it, too, had designs on the developing e-book market, as it launched an e-book store and released reading software for a variety of platforms, from traditional PCs to the iPhone. Today, the company is releasing its dedicated e-book reader, called the Nook, at an event in New York City. The device has many features that distinguish it from its competitors, including a small color touchscreen for control, the use of the Android operating system, all at a $259 price. Information about the device has been appearing on and off at the Barnes & Noble eBook site for the last hour or so, so it’s possible that it will be accessible if you visit. At its most basic, the device evokes the Kindle, with a rounded white plastic frame sporting navigation buttons on either side of an E-Ink screen. The similarities end there, however.

Google book digitization prompts the EU to rethink copyright

// October 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

The legal settlement that would sanctify Google’s book digitization efforts may be on hold, but that hasn’t stopped the sniping over digitization in general, and Google’s specific role in vending e-books. The Frankfurt Book Fair , a major publishing event, is playing host to the latest skirmishes over what role Google and other organizations should play in controlling access to digitized material. Google continues to insist that it’s doing the world a favor by preserving knowledge and bringing lost books back to the public, but at least some European academics are blasting the company’s statements as propaganda. In the meantime, however, the EU itself has used the Fair to announce an effort to update its copyright laws and launch its own pan-European digital library. The Google book settlement was not well received within the EU, in part because of the same sorts of competition concerns that caused the US Department of Justice to weigh in against it. But Europeans had some distinct concerns, as Google has scanned copies of European works that reside in US Libraries, even though these were never licensed for US distribution. This unlicensed content was especially problematic given the settlement’s structure, which would allow Google to distribute the works unless their owners explicitly opted out.

Ars liveblog of Apple Q4 earnings call starts at 5pm ET

// October 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

Apple is set to announce its quarterly earnings today, and is expected to present good results on all fronts today. As usual, Ars plans to cover the fiscal results before the call starts at 5pm Eastern. In the past, we have written a separate post covering the highlights of the call, but we thought we would try something new this time around. We’re going to do our best to record every utterance from Tim Cook’s and Peter Oppenheimer’s mouths by liveblogging the call using the same CoverItLive widget as we have used in our recent keynote coverage. You’ll be able to check back on Ars later to find our live coverage once the call starts at 5pm ET (2pm PT), or you can use the signup box below to get an alert when it starts. We’ll also have the details on Apple’s earnings as soon as they are announced.

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