July 23, 2007

Internet Tablet - Nokia N800

I received a Nokia n800 Internet tablet sample today ...it is a fun device though only for early adopters...By far the coolest feature is the ability to control my music collection over wifi. I have a network-attached storage in the basement with zillions of GBs of music...in the livingroom, I have a Roku Soundbridge M1000 attached to my stereo...the hassle with the Roku out of the box is that it has a two-line LCD display...rifling through long lists of artists and albums was tiresome. To boot, the remote was infrared...so I have to be relatively close to the Roku to control it with the original remote control.

The Nokia N800 has a software called Media Streamer (which I had to download and install, mind you) which finds my NAS through UPnP (the great TwonkyMedia server is installed on it) I can then use the larger UI (ten lines) to rifle through my collection, select albums, songs or playlists to add to the song queue and send the music to any UPnP "renderer" ...in this case the Roku Soundbridge but I can all send the music to play to any PC in the house. Now I can lounge on the couch and control my music collection...It even shows the cover art and all...no need for an expensive Sonos!

The original software that came with the N800 (the creatively named Media Player) crashes trying to load my collection (huge) so I had to search out and install the aforementiond Media Streamer which worked like a charm...they're both from Nokia so I am not sure why they don't have more distinct names and aren't both pre-loaded onto the device. Even the Media Streamer UI could use some improvements...it is easy to use but they don't make use of the screen's real estate very well. They could add buttons for often used tasks since there is a fair amount of UI real estate.

Another cool feature of the Internet tablet is its ability to Skype...very cool...I was pleasantly surprised to find the device has a cool video camera...but I wonder why they didn't support the video in Skype...One can use the video camera with Google Talk but I don't know anyone who is on Google Talk (other than Google employees) and can't find another software that uses the camera...

The device is Linux based so presumably developing software is straightforward. However, the installed base is miniscule and I can't see many (brand name) developers focusing any effort on releasing software for it. Well, at least it makes a cool remote control.

Posted by raza at 3:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 7, 2005

From the anti-iPod Department

Microsoft is increasing their anti-iPod efforts. There are the goofy "taglines" added to the playsforsure logo for Audio and video devices and software. The "checklists" that accompany the Plays for Sure logo are hilarious -- http://www.playsforsure.com/ItemDetail.aspx?id=26 They may actually succeed in lowering returns but I doubt it will increase sales.

Of more interest are the behind-the-scenes efforts...foremost, the effort to standardize their Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) through the USB Implementers Forum. It won't be the first time that Microsoft offers a technology to an industry standard body (they've done this with WMV9 for the digital cinema industry) but it would be the first to my knowledge at the driver (read: OS component) level. Device manufacturers have to be questioning themselves how tied to Windows is the MTP infrastructure -- that is to say, will any other PC operating system ever support MTP? The PC is still the digital media hub and the place where all media collections are stored.

The next step in this effort from MS is to standardize portable device connectors (as in docking stations for automotive). There is a large ancilliary industry behind the iPod which does not exist elsewhere because of the fragmented nature of the market. The No. 2 player only has about 7% of the market. Standardizing the physical connector, the software protocols to control the devices and eventually the way the content is represented (some XML specification, I presume) will allow companies building products that connect to portable music players to support only two standards: iPod and non-iPod (or MS, if they have their way). Going the open standards route is enables MS to be open and trustworthy but I imagine it slows down the process considerably which must frustrate them to no end.

Posted by raza at 3:09 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2005

Labor of Love or Fool's Errand

For the last three and a half years, I have been helping architect and market a series of XML specifications called MusicPhotoVideo(tm) or MPV for short. The specifications are designed to enable the exchange and interoperability of collections of personal media. Devices that capture and create digital media automatically add certain metadata and consumers add personalized metadata on top of this. They assemble subsets of their collections into playlists or slideshows. Yet when transfering these collections from device to device or to a services, the metadata or collection information is lost. MPV has been trying to solve this.

As a consultant, deciding how much time to dedicate to these industry standard bodies is a tricky game to play. On the one hand, you are regarded as an expert in the field and have the opportunity to engage with experts from large corporations. However, a lot of the committee work is done for free (OSTA, the trade association creating MPV, does pay me for some specific marketing projects). And what is there to show after more than three years -- a total of six companies have released products and all in the camera arena. So much for an über metadata standard.

MPV was hit early on by two setbacks -- a competing standard (HighMat) and the iPod with its playlist XML. HighMat brought the usual fear, uncertainty and doubt to the photo and disc burning causing them to delay activity (on either spec) and the iPod focused software companies on hacking the plist1.0 spec or into pushing their own proprietary format (WMP, RealPlayer both have their own playlist formats). OSTA plowed on crispening our position of open and extensible vs. HighMat and has seen successes in the photo arena but the MPV Music Profile has gone nowhere and is now just an ancilliary to photo.

Perhaps it was too ambitious and lofty a goal and the industry has other pressing problems to solve (file format interoperability, piracy). In the photo industry, the notion of albums or collections has a valid place and solves many issues. Adios, über metadata standard.

Posted by raza at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)