March 25, 2009

Comcasttown: Webkinz for Adults. No lie.

If you're interested in seeing one of the dumbest business ideas ever, have a look at the new Comcasttown.com web site. I heard an ad for it on the radio, and was thinking "Cool. Now I can stream those Comcast TV shows to my PC." I am a subscriber, so I figured they had finally worked out some content deals to get me the TV I already pay for onto my PC.

What I got looks suspiciously like the Webkinz kids site. (My kids play on it constantly, so I know it well. And it's great - for them.) Basically, you're given a "room", and you can buy virtual furniture for it with virtual cash, and there's a Facebook connect thing where you can invite your friends to come over to your virtual room and do god knows what. The irony is that this is a wrapper over Fancast.com. Why shouldn't I go to Fancast (or Hulu) to watch TV on my PC. Why should I be bothered with this nonsense? Worse, it appears you only get the top 5 shows on Fancast - unless you hunt for more I guess. I ran out of patience before investigating further.

What are they going to do next - come out with a line of Comcast stuffed toys? "Commies"? I'd buy one if it was a likeness of the idiot who came up with this idea so I could stick pins in it.

Let me watch the Cable TV I pay for on my laptop so I can ditch my SlingBox! That's what I want.

On the plus side, the ad jingle was really, really catchy. And... no, that's it.

At Applian, we're really good at designing cool products and marketing them well. If there's a marketing angle here I don't see, I'd love to be enlightened. Especially by anyone from Comcast. So, if you're from Comcast, come defend yourself in the comments!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 23, 2009

The "TV Everywhere" initiative

As online video grows in popularity, some people are considering disconnecting their Cable or Satellite TV services and consuming everything online. Services like Hulu, although owned by the big networks, are showing the promise of an online-only world of programming.

Others want a la carte Cable. They ask "why should I pay for channels I don't watch?" KInda, sorta makes sense at first.

Most experts think this pay-as-you-go model is unlikely to happen in the near future. The NY Times had a good explanation of the economics and social benefit of bundling cable service. Mark Cuban also breaks this down nicely.

What will happen is that if you have a Cable or Satellite subscription, you will also be able to consume the same media online. Time Warner is already working towards this.

The Cable and Satellite and the Networks aren't going to kill a very profitable business. But by enhancing it by making the content you already pay for available online, they will get more viewership and be able to serve more ads.

This seems like the best possible solution that balances the interests of consumers and the media companies.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 12, 2009

Kindle, compatible eBooks and DMCA

I just read in Slashdot about how Amazon Uses DMCA To Restrict Ebook Purchases. Basically, someone figured out how to get eBooks from another service onto the Kindle.

As a part of our business, we occasionally have spirited debates about the DMCA, and how it is to be applied properly. Basically, Amazon is trying to use the DMCA to shut out competing eBook formats. The DMCA does not cover interoperability - only copyright infringement - and in my opinion Amazon is clearly in the wrong in this case. No copy protection is being cracked here - a DRMed eBook remains DRMed.

As some of the commenters point out, Amazon's business model is to make money selling the eBooks, and not the hardware. The Kindle is at best a break-even proposition for Amazon. If people are able to purchase eBooks outside of Amazon, then that destroys their business model to a certain degree.

Another comment articulates the legal position really well:

Leaving aside the issue of users' rights, as far as I can see Amazon is just plain wrong on the law and lacks legal justification for the takedown notice. What the DMCA prohibits is the distribution of tools for overcoming technical measures for protecting copyrighted materials. The first program generates a MOBI ID from a kindle serial number. The second program rewrites a non-Amazon ebook so that it contains the id that will allow it to work on the Kindle with the given serial number. Neither program modifies or copies the Kindle's software. Since the ebooks in question are not produced by Amazon, no material whose copyright belongs to Amazon is affected in any way. In other words, this software does not defeat any technical measure of Amazon's for protecting copyrighted material since Amazon has no copyrighted material at stake here. The DMCA is inapplicable, and the takedown notice invalid. Indeed, it is so clear that this software does nothing to defeat protection of copyrighted material that I would say that the takedown notice was issued in bad faith.

What this software actually does is allow for interoperability, which is explicitly protected by the DMCA.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 2, 2009

Are we really ready to cut the cable?

According to this article in TV Week, people are indeed discontinuing Comcast, but may be moving to Satellite and IPTV services like Verizon. Online video may be making an impact amongst the digerati, but until there is a nice easy way to pull it up on your TV, online video has a ways to go. This is all in spite of the horrid economy.

Maybe that will change soon with better software - and easily available content? This should be an interesting year.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 1, 2009

First Newspapers, now Broadcast TV?

You've probably read how many local newspapers are in deep financial doo-doo recently. Some have even closed, like the Rocky Mountain Daily News.

Now, the same thing appears to be happening to Broadcast TV. This article shows the writing on the wall.

The problems with the newspaper and broadcast TV businesses are similar: people prefer on-demand content. Why huddle around your TV at 8 PM Thursday to watch your favorite show, when you can watch tons of great stuff from sites like Hulu whenever you like? Why read the newspaper (which may be 12 hours out-of-date - god forbid!) when you can get the latest breaking news online?

We're moving to an on-demand world, and any businesses that fail to adapt to that mindset are doomed to fail.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 5:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 27, 2009

CBS boldly going where no one has gone before

There's a new iPhone app out from CBS that lets you watch full episodes of some TV shows on your iPhone. Some old Star Trek episodes are available, but not everything. It looks like they are giving this a test run to see what happens.

If this sort of thing becomes prevalent, will it bring all 3G traffic to it's knees? Beware the wrath of AT&T.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 25, 2009

Cable TV - Coming soon to a PC near you!

This is an interesting article relating to Comcast's plans to move into the video space.

It seems the Cable companies are scared to death about being bypassed by online video delivery, so rather than sit idly by and watch their business evaporate, they will be trying to make a compelling offering, with the hopes that their subscribers will stay.

You don't suppose a recording option will be a part of their offering, do you???

Posted by Bill Dettering at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 15, 2009

YouTube cracking down on download sites

Looks like programs like Replay Media Catcher will soon be the only way to download videos from YouTube. TechCrunch's video download tool has recently been blocked by YouTube, and it's likely they will start to block other sites.

Here's the story:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/13/youtube-kills-our-video-download-tool

What do YOU do about this? Use a PC-based download tool like Replay Media Catcher, which works free with YouTube. If you want the technical meat of why this will continue to work read on...

The way TechCrunch (and likely other sites) are being blocked is via the IP address of their servers. The server goes directly to the YouTube site, and pretends to be a web browser, and then figures out the download link. It's easy for YouTube to write a script to block certain IP addresses.

The "client" approach (like Replay Media Catcher) cannot be foiled in this way, since the IP address for the download request comes from an individual user's PC, and not a server. YouTube cannot tell the difference between your web browser, or a client running on your PC, since the IP address of the request is the same.

It will be interesting to see if YouTube continues to crack down on other sites.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 2, 2008

Download Videos from Sling.com

Sling has announced their new media portal to compete with Hulu, YouTube and other sites today. And of course when we read news like this, we ask - how will people be able to download or record these video streams?

At-Large Recorder is already working with SlingPlayer 2.0, so that's one option, but I suspect they will use a different technology (Flash?) for their media service. Once we get our beta invite and try it out, we'll let you know what we discover.

As far as the service goes, here's our take. The Clip-and-Sling idea is moronic - I sincerely doubt people will take the time to make clips of TV shows, and also people will be less than likely to watch them. Of course, people DO this already in YouTube, but the effort involved in this acts as a natural filter for presenting interesting things to viewers. if it's too easy to make clips of TV shows, there will be a lot of noise. Also - being tied to the content owners may limit the flexibility of end-users to make compelling clips. We'll have to see how the service evolves.

However - if they can provide LiveTV over the web, I can see that as being a game changer. And with the new SlingCatcher boxes coming out which let your TV become the viewing hardware for any Sling stream, we may finally get true IPTV. This will open the floodgates for other similar services, as nobody wants to be left behind.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 27, 2008

Article on Downloading Amazon VOD Videos

Technology often moves faster than the news! Here's an example:

We were featured in an article done by Reuters on September 26, mentioning how Replay Media Catcher was able to download movies from Amazon's new VOD (Video on Demand) service.

Apparently, Amazon was asked for comment, and shortly before the article hit the wires, they had updated their system, making Replay Media Catcher (for now anyway) unable to record. Other aspects in the article are still valid though, but Amazon was a particularly big part of the story.

Nevertheless, there are other ways to record from Amazon -- we recommend WM Capture. As this is a real-time high-quality recorder that works by capturing videos directly off of your PC's screen, there's no way it can be blocked.

The other interesting thing is how the story got going in the first place, which we're still trying to figure out. Stay tuned!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 18, 2008

Pandora may be going dark

This article in Ars Technica does a nice job illustrating the demise of Pandora may be just days away. The problem is with the royalty fees they are being asked to pay, in contrast to what broadcast radio pays (nothing) and satellite radio pays (about half). The music business needs a big restructuring, as it's a sad day when cool services like Pandora go belly up, especially when they have revenues of $25 million(!).

Read the entire article to learn more.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 17, 2008

We've been Slashdotted!

An article about Applian, Replay Media Catcher and RTMPE protocol recently was posted on Slashdot. While much of it is a spirited debate about DRM, there is an inaccuracy that we need to clear up. Some of the posters seem to think that we are breaking Adobe's encryption in this latest version, which is false. The content we download is actually unencrypted.

It looks like this was a stopgap solution by Adobe. It appears Adobe made a technical tradeoff between continuing to support their existing ad insertion technology, and fully encrypting their content. There are a lot of really talented engineers at Adobe - I just don't think they have yet built a DMCA compatible system due to time constraints. Their Flash Video server technology is really well done, and after a major re-architecting, they will probably discover a better balance between ad serving and encryption.

As far as the DRM issue goes: never, ever redistribute anything you've recorded without the express written consent of the content owner. Recordings are always for your personal use only. Applian's intent is not to encourage customers to violate copyright laws.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 1:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 11, 2008

iPhone and Remote iTunes

Apple Insider has an article about a new Apple (AAPL) patent filing regarding iPhones accessing iTunes libraries from anywhere. The gist is that your desktop PC can have all your media (songs, videos, Podcasts, and more) on it, and your phone would be able to download and play anything from your desktop PC.

This would be a huge bonus for Replay A/V users. Imagine having your favorite radio shows recorded on a PC at home, imported to iTunes automatically, and available for listening wherever you are. This can be done now with the YouSendIt plug-in we provide (as you can email yourself recorded files automatically), but this mechanism would be much slicker.

Go Apple!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 7, 2008

Recording the Olympics, Part II

Alex has looked into more of the technical details behind how NBC is streaming the Olympics, and has made an interesting discovery. Apparently the stream formats are different for live streams vs. pre-recorded streams. This means that you can make digital recordings of live events, and record from the screen for "rewind" or cached events. Below is his technical summary.

The Silverlight NBC Olympics server uses Windows Media Player for live streams and VP7 for prerecorded videos. VP7 is the format used by web sites like abc.com or fox.com and can provide very high quality (lossless) video compression including HD. The problem with this format is that it cannot be reliably streamed for longer periods of time like the live broadcasts. The math used to compress the video and the audio does not allow recovery when packets are lost which results in out of sync audio. Currently Windows Media Player is the only format that can do this. The live stream Olympics can be recorded with WM Recorder or Replay Media Catcher but the prerecorded clips can only be recorded with WM Capture.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 6, 2008

Recording The Olympics Online

This year NBC has teamed up with Microsoft (MSFT) to provide a wealth of Olympics footage at NBCOlympics.com. If you're really into specific events that aren't shown over your broadcast TV station, then you can likely watch them online. Very cool.

The Microsoft contribution is via the Silverlight video player, which you must install in order to watch video. Few video providers use Silverlight, which is why there are no programs (yet) that can record those feeds via stream capture.

If you're looking to record some of these events and save them forever, the best program to use is WM Capture. This on-screen recorder makes great quality videos from the Olympic feeds.

To burn these recordings to DVD, try the new Replay Converter 3.0, which is currently in beta. You can also make iPod format videos, or AVI files to import them into your favorite video editor.

Oh yeah - Go Team USA!

UPDATE: I noticed that you need to enter a zip code and your Cable provider to watch some online feeds. Try 94118 and ComCast Digital if you're disallowed access.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 26, 2008

People who bought Yahoo Music with DRM are (almost) screwed

Yahoo Music is shuttering their DRM servers, which means that anyone who purchased music from them will eventually no longer be able to play their songs.

This is a great reason to use Replay Music to create unprotected MP3 files from the songs you purchased.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

Clip & Sling II

A quick correction on my previous post regarding Clip & Sling. I went back to the main Sling booth again and learned the following:

1. You can record up to 2 minutes from any source without a content redistribution contract. However, your clips are only accessible to you.
2. All recorded clips are automatically uploaded to the Sling server. There is no local file storage for your own clips.

The concept of "fair use" is still foreign to these guys. By playing the content owners game, they are digging themselves into a hole for the future.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 8, 2008

Clip & Sling - The Ugly Truth

In keeping with my unhealthy obsession with Slingbox, I talked to a representative today here at CES regarding their "recording" feature in the upcoming SlingPlayer 2.0 called Clip & Sling. As we suspected, it's not pretty.

Turns out Sling has had to reach content redistribution deals with EVERY TV content owner on the planet for this feature. Each content owner must explicitly give Sling permission to record, and then sets the time limit - some may allow 15 seconds, some four minutes, etc. No agreement: no recording.

This is an INSANE amount of work for a feature with dubious value to customers. From our perspective it's great news, as SlingPlayer 2.0 will NOT have any significant recording options.

At-Large Recorder (and every other Applian product) is all about recording for personal use. You've paid for the content already, you can record it. Just don't redistribute it to others.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 26, 2007

Techware Slingbox Hosting Service

In spite of the fact we've been dissed by Sling in the past, I continue to be fascinated with the SlingBox, and how it disrupts the media business.

The latest cool service is the Techware Slingbox Hosting Service. These guys will host a Sling Box for you, and let you stream cable TV from Wisconsin to anywhere in the world. It's not cheap at $45/month, but it appears legit as far as not redistributing cable TV or satellite feeds.

If you're a Packers fan, for example, this is one great way to catch all the action. Not sure how pleased the NFL is with this arrangement though.

You can read more about it here.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 13, 2007

Net Radio Reprieve

Custom radio services like Pandora or last.fm won't have to shutter - yet. Sound Exchange has agreed to not enforce the new rates right away, most likely trying to head off congressional intervention.

Read the wired magazine article here.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 4, 2007

Clear Channel Radio Online

In the past few days, Clear Channel has changed how their online radio stations work. They have made it harder to acquire a static URL that tunes properly to their stations. This is unfortunate, as it interferes with your legal right to automatically schedule recordings for listening later. A lot of online radio directories are similarly hosed.

Fortunately, we've come up with a solution in Replay A/V. If you're looking to record a Clear Channel station, just open Replay A/V and add it from the Media Guide using the Shows menu option. Until Clear Channel changes something, this works great! If your station doesn't work, just tell us, and we'll update our radio station database.

Speaking of Clear Channel, poking around on their site uncovers some interesting discoveries. They are trying to compete with XM/Sirius in the content space with their new Format Lab service. And they have some interesting on-demand music and video content too.

Some people say Clear Channel is getting too large, but the innovation they are doing is pretty impressive, and they are poised to do to the online radio space what they've done to the terrestrial space. Watch out!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 26, 2007

Silent Radio Day

Today is Radio Silence Day, when thousands of online radio music stations go silent to protest the upcoming increase in music fees. This canard promoted by the RIAA basically insures that any internet radio station goes out of business. Not only will fees increase, but they are retroactive to the past 18 months!

Pandora says it best. Read their home page here:
http://pandora.com/

Mad yet? Call your congressman!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 31, 2007

Google Audio Ads

This is one of the weirdest things I've seen in a while: Google is setting up an Adwords-like system to be able to place and track radio ads. It's called Google Audio Ads.

No, this isn't online advertising - these are ads placed on terrestrial AM and FM radio stations. Ads are tracked by a callback phone number in the ads itself.

Why would Google undertake something so far outside their core area of expertise? Either it's incredibly stupid, or really smart.

Perhaps Google thinks it can take over another advertising area, duplicating the success of Adwords and Adsense. Adsense works well for the hosting sites, but in our experience it doesn't do nearly as well as targeted keyword advertising. Radio ads are usually expensive to run and ineffective unless you have a huge budget.

The other possibility is that they are setting up infrastructure for local advertising of all kinds. Location-based ads are hot in the investment community, and show a lot of promise, so perhaps this is Google's way of trying to dominate the sector before the other location-based technologies take hold.

Google Audio Ads an interesting development, but don't be surprised to see it become a total flop.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 20, 2007

Save Pandora

Pandora - the awesome music recommendation internet radio site - is likely to shut down if the new rates for Internet Radio broadcasters are upheld. This is an RIAA backed initiative that will essentially kill Internet Radio, or at least force it overseas.

Read Pandora's letter to learn more.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 2:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 16, 2007

New Video Technologies from Adobe, Microsoft

Adobe and Microsoft are gearing up for battle in the next wave of internet video delivery technology. This article from Streamingmedia.com gives a great summary of what we have to look forward to.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 28, 2007

FAIR USE? Sort of.

Ars Technica has a nice analysis of the new pro-consumer FAIR USE bill being proposed in the USA. It's a start, but there's still a long way to go before true "fair use" recording rights are protected.

Basically, the bill gives hardware companies an exemption, but does nothing for software. To me, it seems like a way to get the content companies and the hardware companies on the same side, and then crush the software companies, where all the true innovation is taking place.

Go read the entire article.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 13, 2007

PERFORMance Anxiety

Looks like the PERFORM act just won't die. This is the nonsense legislation - sponsored by the RIAA - that would force satellite, digital, and Internet radio providers (but not over-the-air radio) to implement measures designed to restrict the ability of listeners to record audio from the services.

On the Internet side, given the plethora of radio stations all over the world, this would basically kill American Internet radio.

You can read more from Ars Technica.

Once you're sufficiently outraged, contact your senators here.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 10, 2007

Sling Media's Clip and Sling

Sling has finally announced their "recording" solution for Sling Box owners - "Clip and Sling".

I don't think it placates any of the hundreds of people who come to us looking for a way to record their Sling streams on their PC. But it does have some "gee whiz" appeal.

*sigh*

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 27, 2006

Avoid Windows Vista at all costs?

This article in Techworld paints a picture of a business disaster waiting to happen, all because of overzealous DRM (copy protection) in Microsoft's new Vista Operating System.

Clearly Microsoft has gone out of their way to disable recording of premium content in Vista. It will be interesting to see what customers think.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 27, 2006

PERFORM act will kill Internet Radio

I just received this email from iPAc (reprinted in full):

Few power plays are as blatant and harmful as the PERFORM Act (S. 2644)
from northern California's own Dianne Feinstein. Simply put, PEFORM revokes
your right to tape radio shows while imposing draconian DRM on all internet
radio.

The Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) explicitly allows a person to record
radio programs for their own personal use. In exchange, we all pay a
Hollywood Cartel tax on some blank CDs and tapes. It's a bill that has
served us well for over a decade, but now with advanced satellite radio
receivers that allow paying subscribers to time shift their favorite
programs the Hollywood Cartels are asking for 'backsies' on the AHRA.
Always eager to please her real constituents in Hollywood, Dianne Feinstein
stepped up to the plate and introduced PERFORM.

But, if overturning the AHRA wasn't enough, Feinstein slipped in a
provision that changes the Copyright Act to force Internet radio stations
to impose the most severe and draconian DRM possible. All of the Internet
radio stations that you know and love will be forced to abandon MP3
streams. Innovative companies like Pandora are already heavily burdened and
taxed by the DMCA, forcing them to spends additional money to license DRM
is an undue burden.

Who does Dianne Feinstein represent? Is it Northern California, the
economic engine for the entire state and the nation? Or is it Southern
California, the repressive monopolists that seek to limit expression and
technology?

You can find out how you can stop Senator Feinstein's PERFORM Act at
http://ipaction.org/action/perform

Thanks very much for your continued support of IPac.

Sincerely,

Jake Fisher
Executive Director
IPac.org

Posted by Bill Dettering at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 26, 2006

Finetune vs. Pandora

Just got wind of an interesting new Music/Radio site: Finetune. Check it out!

You can build playlists, and then let others listen to them. Plus, it can build custom radio stations based upon a favorite artist and it's playlist data.

The design is neat, and once you know it's a radio site, it's a great way to start listening with no hassles. And if you want to become a DJ, building your own 45 track (or more) playlist/station is easy.

And it works great with Replay Music too.

Check it out!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 22, 2006

Unbelieveable

I just learned today YouTube posted it's first video online in December 2005.

Is that amazing or what???

Look for some amazing YouTube recording tricks from us in the near future.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 21, 2006

Fair Use Threatened

I received this email from Jake Fisher of iPac today, and I'm taking the liberty of reprinting it in full. It's an important topic - the Big Media companies are threatening to take away our Fair Use recording rights.

Here's the letter in full:

Dear IPac supporter,

In June we brought attention to S1RA (The Section 115 Reform Act), which
has the laudable goal of bringing mechanical licensing into the 21st
Century. However, buried deep within the legislation was a provision that
required all incidental copies of a song to have their own separate
license. In other words, a copyright holder could charge you for every
copy that exists in a caching server, your ISP's own cache, or even the
buffer on your computer. It's double dipping, redefining fair use, and now
it's back and worse than ever. S1RA lives on under the title of the
Copyright Modernization Act of 2006. Sounds ominous enough. It still
includes all the terrible provisions of S1RA by taking aim at Internet
radio and satellite radio by gutting the Audio Home Recording Act, which
explicitly allows devices to time-shift radio.

CMA is trying to elbow itself into law by wrapping itself in a good bill:
the Orphan Works Act of 2006. This bill is an important piece of
legislation that removes significant hurdles that artists have to jump to
create their art. Right now, with our over-reaching copyright regime, if a
documentary film makers wants to include an image, film clip, or song in
their work, but no copyright holder can be found, the film maker is out of
luck. OWA allows the artist to include the work, assuming they employed due
diligence to track down the copyright holder, and would severely limit any
damages stemming from an infringement suit if the owner suddenly
reappeared.

However good the Orphan Works Act is, S1RA is worse and negates the
benefits that come from OWA. We cannot sacrifice our technological future
by imposing an innovation tax on internet and satellite radio.

For a FAQ on CMA and to find out how to stop it please see:
http://ipaction.org/campaigns/cma/

Thanks very much for your continued support of IPac.

Sincerely,

Jake Fisher
Executive Director
IPac

Posted by Bill Dettering at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 19, 2006

To the Zune, Alice!

This article from the EFF highlights a curious feature of the new Microsoft Zune - namely that it won't play songs purchased using Microsoft's own Plays For Sure system. And it apears they may be abandoning the technology altogether.

If you were unlucky enough to purchase songs using Plays For Sure, you can at least re-record them for your own personal use.

I guess now that Microsoft is competing against its former partners with their own Media Players it's time to throw them all under the bus. While Microsoft does use their hardware/software business model effectively in the PC business, burning your hardware partners can't bode well for future projects. Microsoft PC anyone?

Personally - I'm a big fan of the iPod, and I also welcome a serious challenger to the media player space. I hope the Zune does well, but if this flops, nobody's going to break Apple's stranglehold for a long while.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 8, 2006

TimeTrax goes belly-up

TimeTrax - the hardware/software combo that let people record XM and Sirius radio - is no longer. If you recall, these are the guys that made XM discontinue the XM PCR because of worries people were recording and splitting songs off of the radio.

It's not that surprising - the business model was fundamentally flawed - as people weren't willing to pay $200 for hardware to do this when programs like Replay Music and Replay A/V do a better job for a lot less.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 28, 2006

Just how sensitive are they?

The RIAA shows an "abundance of sensitivity."

Posted by Bill Dettering at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 23, 2006

I agree with the RIAA

Hell has not frozen over.

The RIAA is behind a compulsory licensing system for mobile phone ring tones, which would make it easier for everyone to adopt the technology. The alternative where royalties are negotiated song-by-song is being pushed by the Songwriters Guild among others.

Radio is another place where compulsory licensing is in effect, and this system was a great catalyst to the nascent radio technology.

Article here in Hollywood Reporter.

Now, if only the music labels would come up with a way to purchase unrestricted MP3s at a reasonable cost... then Hell would really have frozen over!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 3, 2006

Google Snags IPTV Executive

This is interesting. From Fierce IPTV:

Back in April the industry got a whiff of Google's future IPTV plans when the company sent out its feelers for IPTV talent: engineers, programmers and product managers. Now, OpenTV, an IPTV middleware company, has announced that its CTO, Vincent Dureau, has joined Google at a "senior engineering role." Dureau was responsible for developing OpenTV's key technologies, global business relationships and, in the early days, building its engineering team from scratch. Most interestingly, Dureau took the lead of OpenTV's advanced advertising technologies, even penning a white paper that reads: "We believe that addressable advertising, where specific video ads are targeted to specific audiences will become central to advertising on digital television within the next 5 years... advertisers will be ready to pay premium rates to cable operators who can demonstrate increased efficiency of their advertising network through targeting."

Just last month, two research scientists at Google developed a way for your computer to quickly identify which programs you're watching on TV and feed you personalized content based on that information. While the scientists harp on the increased personalization aspects of it, you can bet Google has its eye on an advanced advertising platform that repurposes its keyword advertising scheme for TV. Looks like Dureau could be the one spearheading this initiative.

More from the Fierce IPTV blog link.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 23, 2006

Engadget weighs in on Sling Encryption

This article is a party-neutral summary of the At-Large Recorder and Slingbox device encryption issue.

It's always a delight to read well-written articles. Way to go Engadget!

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PC Mag Editor not happy about Sling Encryption

From Stu, one of our best customers and sources of information:

Jim Louderback, the editor of PC Mag, made a mention that his favorite add-on no longer works. He was referring to your Slingbox recorder. This was done on his podcast - What's New Now? (July 21)

Looks like Sling is going to be facing more competition - not just from Sony's LocationFree, but also new companies called HAVA and AirEpoch. It's going to be hard to maintain the encryption policy, especially if the competition is open to recording.

I predict that there will be a permanent recording solution for Slingbox devices by January 1, 2007. Or even earlier if they want to HAVA good Christmas season.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 21, 2006

Another great reason to record Sling streams

Here's an At-Large Recorder customer who used At-Large Recorder and Slingbox to record closed-circuit surveillance video:

"I love the software and it helped catch a break-in at my house. Turned it over to the authorities."
- Art Gimpleton

This is one example of a very good use of recording technology via a vis Sling.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 19, 2006

Fight for your right to record

I posted this on the Sling Community forum, and liked it so much, I decided to share it with you. It's in response to why it's such a big deal about Sling encrypting their stream. I feel it expresses what Applian stands for as a company really well.

Why should anyone care? It's important to fight for your right to make recordings for your personal use. If you have a TiVo, imagine a world without it. Or what if ripping MP3s from a CD became illegal? Every so often, a piece of horrible legislation is proposed to curb your personal recording rights, and so far, none have passed. Even if you don't own At-Large Recorder, you have a vested interest in retaining the status quo vis a vis your rights to record.

So far nobody's been able to come up with a good law-based explanation why being able to record your Sling stream is illegal, or puts Sling in any legal risk. Granted there is the desire for Sling not to do more to rock the boat with the Content Owners, but recording and place-shifting are really two distinct, separate issues.

You're already paying for your Cable or Satellite TV. You can record it via TiVo or your PC and copy it to your iPod. You should be able to do the same with your Sling stream.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sling and Applian in PC Magazine

We're still hoping Sling comes up with a way to work with us so their customers can make recordings for their personal use.

In the meantime, PC Magazine has hooked onto the story:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1991289,00.asp

Posted by Bill Dettering at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2006

The Sling Encryption Mystery

There's quite a thread going on at the Sling Community forum regarding Sling's new encryption "feature" and its impact on At-Large Recorder. Jeremy T from Sling is doing his best to answer the critics, and has made his third post.

The money quote (emphasis mine):

Finally, I've tried to be clear that there are issues regarding this topic that I simply cannot discuss. Some of the other users in this thread have guessed at them, and I appreciate those posts. In my last comment I asked readers to sit back and really think about our motivation here. You think we are motivated to try to "screw third parties"? I already stated we plan to have some form of API/SDK coming out down the road. You really think that we want to "screw Slingbox owners"? Why on Earth would we want to do that??

I guess Jeremy didn't really make it clear that there were other motivators to the decision. Web users, and especially early adopters like those who buy Slingbox devices, are very sophisticated, and the attempt to say encrypting the stream to "protect users privacy" didn't really make sense to anybody. Likewise with the protecting "content owners" reason. He probably would have been better off saying "I simply cannot discuss" like he finally did in the third post. While nobody likes that excuse, they can respect it at least. I respect it.

The fact that Sling cannot discuss the rationale for the decision makes for an entertaining game of speculation. The Sling Community forum participants certainly have a lot of theories. Since I have no inside knowledge, I get to speculate, too!

Sling has received a huge amount of investment money - $55 million or so. One of the investors is EchoStar. The content people are always paranoid about these new technologies (TiVo has investments from the major networks), and investing in these companies is a good way to keep the technologies under control. One theory is that as a condition for the investment, Sling agreed to ensure the stream couldn't be redirected. They probably didn't think it could be done until At-Large Recorder appeared, hence the need to quickly add encryption, and the fact that this was "always on the product roadmap" as Jeremy suggests.

This also keeps them out of possible legal trouble with HBO, MLB any anyone else concerned with geographic rebroadcast issues.

Sling has taken great care to ensure the streams couldn't be "split" and beamed to several people at once. Theoretically, if the stream can be recorded, it can be retransmitted to several people at once. This breaks the legal protections they have put in place.

I don't think the "recording" aspect is the cause for the consternation. The way At-Large Recorder works, you can't really retransmit in real time anyway, as the file isn't viewable until recording ends.

Anyway, that's MY theory. We'll probably never know.

Sling is in a bit of a pickle, in that they can't do anything and everything to make their product the best it can be. It would be great is they could be more open about the reasons behind the decision, but this may leave them open to legal trouble by recognizing any legal weaknesses publicly, so it'll likely remain a secret. I believe that if Jeremy T could say more he would - he's clearly (and rightfully) a little upset about being beaten up on the Sling forums.

Sling and Applian are a little similar, in that we both are pushing the envelope of what people can do with their media. Sometimes we can't market our products the way we'd like either. Fortunately, people are still able to find us when they want the best tools for recording online video, music or radio, and they tell their friends.

If Sling wants to work with us to make a recording solution that doesn't put them in legal jeopardy, that would be terrific. It would be great for Sling, and their users. Or maybe products like HAVA and others will add this capability, and they'll just open it up, as it will cease to be an issue if everybody is doing it. I hope we'll be able to come up with a solution soon.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 13, 2006

Slung Out To Dry

Most hardware companies are delighted when a third party develops a complementary product for their platform. Apple, Microsoft, and many other companies have an active ISV (Independent Software Developer) recruitment effort, as they realize the benefits of others working on their behalf (for free) to make their products better.

When we developed our SlingBox device recording product, we kind of expected the same red carpet treatment. The SlingBox device is a terrific piece of hardware that attaches to your TV, and lets you watch it remotely from anywhere with a high speed internet connection. Sony has a competing product called LocationFree, and if I were competing with Sony, I'd want to do everything possible to make my product stand out.

Sling's reaction was not what we expected.

First of all, they had an issue with the product name, as it used the letters "sling" in it. Kind of a trademark deal. Our conversation went something like this:

Us: "Can we license the "Sling" part, and pay you a royalty on each copy sold."

Sling: "No."

Us: OK, how about changing the name to "SBox Recorder."

Sling: "too close."

Us: "Hmmm... how about "S Recorder. "

"Still too close."

"OK, we'll call it "Blake's recorder" or something. " (Blake is the CEO).

Long pause. "Well, I guess that would be OK."

Sling: "Your trade-dress is too much like our product - you need to change it, too." (Our UI was red and grey, in the shape of a Slingbox device.)

Us: "OK - we'll change the shape to a parallelogram."

Sling: "No - the angles would be similar."

Us: "You're kidding.... OK - we'll make it a rounded rectangle then."

Sling: "You'll have to change the colors, too. Don't use either red or grey."

Us: "You're messing with me now."

Sling: "No - we need to strongly defend our trademark and trade dress." (At this point, it was Sling's IP lawyer in this exchange. She was very polite, and was just doing her job. It's still pretty ludicrous.)

Us: "bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"

Anyway, we went ahead and complied with their requests, and came out with At-Large Recorder. Definitely no trademark issues there. I thought we were in the clear and good to go.

Today we learn Sling is encrypting their stream transmission, thereby rendering our product inoperable in its present form.

I actually talked with Blake - Sling's CEO - when we first launched and he was very cordial, although slightly annoyed. Said something about "getting a phone call" about our product. And brought up the trademark issues. That was about it.

So - what's the deal?

Theory #1: Sling is pushing into uncharted legal territory - removing the geographical limitations on TV viewing isn't taken very well by Major League Baseball, to name one. Anything they can do to reduce their legal risks may be a part of the strategy.

Theory #2: Sling is going to produce their own recording add-on.

Theory #3: Don't know. Leave a comment and tell me your theory. Sling representatives are particularly welcome to respond.

Update: Sling responds, and we dig deeper.

Update #2: Digg this story.

Posted by Bill Dettering at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 26, 2006

Broadcast Flag legislation

I got this today from ipacaction.org:

Dear IPac Supporter,

Tomorrow the Senate Judiciary committee continues its markup of Senator
Ted Stevens' omnibus communications bill. It's a lengthy and complicated
piece of legislation, but hidden deep within are the broadcast and audio
flags. Both represent the latest and perhaps most desperate attempts by
the Hollywood cartels to control innovation, roll back fair use, and
disrupt the free market.

The bill mandates a government technology committee that would approve
or reject devices based on their functionality, just like Hollywood
wants. For example, new personal video recorders could be blocked from
the market for having too much functionality, allowing users to tweak
their settings, or interfacing with non-approved devices in your
entertainment system. This kind of silly bottleneck would be laughable
if it wasn't so close to becoming law.

Now is the time to let our representatives know how the flags would
decimate the consumer electronics industry while erasing our fair use
rights.

Please call the Senators on the Judiciary committee and let your voice
be heard.

http://ipaction.org/blog/2006/06/help-lower-broadcast-flag.html

Posted by Bill Dettering at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)