Industry Archives - Page 102 of 145

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs. Technology Interest vs. Adoption: Connected Home 2 Go Motorola’s Downloadable MediaCipher (DM): Connected Home 2 Go 104 Channels On And Still Too Much To Watch: Davis Freeberg Voice Convergence Arrives in Denmark: Connected Home 2 Go

The DTV Transition

Are you aware of the 2009 deadline for transitioning everyone over to digital television? Of course you are. Which means you can now feel superior to more than 60% of Americans according to a study cited by John Lawson, President and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS).

The Digital TV panel at the CEA Washington Forum brought together some unlikely fellows working toward a common goal of getting consumers educated about the DTV transition. While the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) are on opposite sides of the fence on some issues (like, say, CableCARD), their CEOs, Gary Shapiro and Kyle McSlarrow, certainly agreed that DTV requires significant cooperation over the next couple of years. Shapiro went so far as to compare the transition to the move from horse and buggy to automobile. (Yeah, not sure I agree with that, but maybe true in the long term.)

Lawson meanwhile emphasized the benefits coming out of DTV, including specifically the availability of new content. Apparently public television is doing a lot more with multicasting than I knew, including adding three new 24/7 channels – a Spanish channel, a “How-To” channel and a public affairs channel.

Celebrity Shots

Here in the geek world, we have an entirely different sort of celebrity. It’s the guy (or girl) who knows all the right geek and gadget stuff. I caught Dave Graveline in the middle of a radio broadcast yesterday at the CEA Washington Forum. Dave is the host of the consumer electronics show “Into Tomorrow”, and he graciously agreed to pose for photos between interviews. (I am shameless.)

More official blogging on DTV a little later today. One more photo with me and Graveline after the jump.

Mari’s not the only one traveling this week. 36 hours after returning from a week in California, I flew on down to Orlando yesterday. I did enjoy a quiet dinner at the pool while Georgetown embarrassed UNC in overtime last night. But today, it’s all business: Double duty at CTIA as both an industry guy and as a blogger (tips for the PR folks). Anyone else in Orlando? Drop me a line.

Riding the Green Wave

This morning’s first session at the CEA Washington Forum focused on electronics recycling – an interesting topic, but I’d guess not what a lot of the attendees are here for. The panel talked specifically about state recycling initiatives and the rather patchwork result of a state-by-state approach. A few interesting points from the discussion:

Some states put the burden of recycling solely on manufacturers (much to the CEA’s dismay), and some spread the responsibility across manufacturers and retailers.
Sometimes responsibility falls on the actual manufacturer and sometimes it’s on the brand company that uses a manufacturer’s products. Disney, for example, is responsible for recycling in some states because its brand is on electronics, even though the company doesn’t have anything to do with making those products.
California has the most mature recycling program, yet its collection of recycled electronics in 2006 amounted to only 3.4 lbs per capita, much less than the theoretically available 10 lbs of recyclable electronics per capita.
In a consumer survey, three out of four consumers had no idea how to recycle their electronic products, yet most of them would if they knew how to do so.
Read more

On Site at CEA Washington Forum

Other people may think the CTIA show is the sexiest place to be right now, but they don’t know what they’re missing at the CEA Washington Forum. Senator Ron Wyden is on stage starting the day out by talking about protectionism vs. innovation. He’s already referenced the Internet tax debate and net neutrality. Wow. More … Read more

TiVo v Echostar: Movement in Georgia

One stockholder’s take…

In the ongoing legal maneuvering over the disclosure of documents relating to the Merchant & Gould “Opinion Letter” (of non-infringement), Judge William Duffey of the U.S. Circuit Court in northern Georgia issued the following order on 3/22:

ORDER DIRECTING that Echostar and Homer Knearl SHOW CAUSE by 3/30/07, why the following documents should not be produced: MG PRIV 16, 27, 32-35, 37, 55, 68, 69, 72, 73, 75, 85, 88, 95, 105, 177, 179, 180, 271, 274, 276, 287, 291, and 305. Echostar or Knearl must state in detail for each document the privilege asserted, and the grounds for that privilege, including a description of the identity and role of each author, recipient, cc recipient, or bcc recipient of the document. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if any portion of the above documents was submitted to the Court in redacted form, unredacted copies be provided for in camera review by 3/30/07. These documents shall be marked in such a way as to allow the Court to discern easily which portions were previously redacted. Signed by Judge William S. Duffey Jr. on 3/22/07. (kt) (Entered: 03/22/2007)

The clarified rules of discovery issued by a U.S. Court of Appeals last year for this situation require documents to be produced to TiVo only if they were communicated by the law firm to the client (i.e., Echostar), or if they reference a communication with the client.

Sure you can see Apple TV “unboxing” photos all over the place. But where else can you find photos of Apple TV in its native environment, i.e. the Apple Store at the local mall? (King of Prussia Mall in this case)

I must admit to some skepticism about Apple TV, but the Apple fanaticism is real, and many analysts have positive things to say. Ross Rubin compares and contrasts Apple TV (pretty favorably) against TiVo in his recent Engadget column. Steve Wildstrom on the other hand is a bit more ambiguous on Apple TV’s future. Then of course there’s Dave Z.’s opinion…