Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) can be described as a system for encoding, transmitting, receiving and displaying a video stream on a Television where all transmission takes place over Internet Protocol (IP) packets and IP networks. Estimates by Parks Associates have IPTV achieving 60 million subscribers globally by the year 2011. While IPTV has some tremendous advantages over proprietary TV systems of old, few people openly discuss its similarities. In fact, many of these similarities restrict IPTV just as they restrict much older proprietary TV systems. What you should know about IPTV that its hype fails to teach. (more…)
Although the price per GB of data storage is dropping, online data storage service vendors like Data Backup Solutions, eSureIT, EVault and IBackup have thus far found a way to charge a premium for their services over and above what the going rate for data storage on the Internet. This premium is based on what other online services charge for related storage of content of any type. Because of this growing differential, the online data storage service sector should experience further consolidation as other more established players in consumer online content storage sector test these markets with lower cost entry level services.
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Have you purchased music from the Microsoft first music service (MSN Music) that came bundled with WMP10? If you have, make doubly sure that you have backed up all your music licenses. When WMP10 was alive and well and you lost a license for a song purchased on MSN Music, you could recover it gracefully online. However, Microsoft’s new WMP11 and URGE service have changed all that. Now with WMP11 and URGE they are NOT backwards compatible with MSN Music. In fact, MSN Music no longer exists and if you want service on MSN Music account (such as recovering purchased songs), get in line… only be prepared to be disappointed. Of course you can purchase support from Microsoft who may be able to help you recover some of your music library but you could end up paying double for what you paid for the music in the first place. (more…)
At the recent NCTA in Las Vegas, Jacobs Rimell of UK announced the offering of a QuickStart SIP UE for mass device configuration and provisioning. QuickStart SIP UE addresses the needs of network service providers who are faced the need to configure and provision a rapidly growing spectrum of SIP devices in their networks. QuickStart software provides an easier way to bulk configure and provision these devices enabling service providers to move more quickly into offering support for SIP applications and CD devices. While certainly such an application performs a useful function for network service provider’s this may not be what CE device manufacturers had in mind as they struggle to differentiate themselves from their competitors, or is it? (more…)
CD-Text is the ability to store each song’s title and artist on the CD allowing players capable of reading CD-Text to comprehend this information and to display something other than track 1, 2, 3, etc. with no artist information. Having just completed a rather exhaustive effort to implement CD-Text for use in burning music CDs for my personal library here is a collection of lessons learned about using CD-Text, which players support it, and how you can save countless hours trying to do this yourself. Here are some of my take aways: (more…)
In big demand these days is software to configure mass numbers of devices on a network. Service providers are calling on their vendors to build them management systems to help them configure large numbers of devices quickly and painlessly. Only device manufacturers didn’t have “bulk configuration” in mind when they set about building advanced functionality devices or applications. Rather bulk configuration is how service providers are answering the call. How does this need for bulk configuration impact the high margin premium device and application sector? Will we see more smarter devices or a smarter network? (more…)
