Filed under: Multimedia

As much as studios and talent unions like go at it about royalties and such, the truth of the matter is that those addicted to ABC's "Lost" must be teased with tiny morsels of Internet and mobile content -- there's no escaping it. To that end, Hollywood labor types have just finalised contracts with ABC to define payments for actors, writers and directors to be featured in two-minute "mobisodes." Sounds to us like talent will be reimbursed and protected in much the same way they are for traditional episodes, just on a smaller scale. This keeps with the show's producers' aims of keeping the quality up to snuff for the "mobisodes," and is being lauded by both sides as a groundbreaking agreement that should set a good precedent for royalties related to micro content. Now, for the real question: did they consult Locke about this?

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Windows Mobile

If citizen journalists have been waiting on live broadcasts from 3G Windows Mobile phones to DVB-H receivers to begin their revolution of fair, balanced, and cute-cat-centric news, the time has come. ComVu, in conjunction with Modeo, has just announced their PocketCaster software for Windows Mobile 5.0 that uses Windows Media codecs to transmit live video to DVB-H users. Modeo hopes to provide those users, with their DVB-H smartphone and networks already in the works. Details are sparse, but we're guessing that video will have to make a stop at a central location before it gets sent out over the DVB-H infrastructure, so there's always the chance that someone might try to cut out the thirty minutes of feline napping in our latest documentary epic -- but we can feel the tides of power shifting.

[Via The Web To Go]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

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Filed under: NTT DoCoMo, GSM, GPRS

About one hundred million Asian mobile subscribers are about to experience a better roaming experience around the continent thanks to a new multi-carrier initiative to create a so-called "Virtual Home Environment." Seven wireless providers covering eight countries and regions -- NTT DoCoMo (Japan), FET (Taiwan), Hutchison Essar (India), Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong and Macau), KTF (South Korea), Indostat (Indonesia), and StarHub (Singapore) -- have formed the "Asia-Pacific Mobile Alliance," as it's tentatively known, to eventually enable seamless voice, video, and data roaming across their networks. According to the joint press release, when the initiative goes live in the latter half of the year, GSM/GPRS and W-CDMA customers will also enjoy access to the basic services they've become accustomed to, such as caller ID and quick access to voicemail and home carrier tech support via short-code service.

Filed under: Portable Video, Transportation, Wireless

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Whew. That's a relief. We were afraid for a while there that we'd have to go a whole week without any rumors about Apple's alleged plans for a "true video iPod." But ThinkSecret has come through as usual. According to the site, Apple had been on track to release the widescreen video iPod in time for the company's 30th birthday this month, but had to delay the project due to display problems and negotiations with movie studios. ThinkSecret claims that Apple is committed to a touchscreen controller including a "virtual track wheel," but actually achieving this has proven to be a challenge for Apple's display manufacturer. Meanwhile Apple is reportedly having a hard time negotiating content deals with movie studios. According to ThinkSecret, the company wants to stick with the iTunes model of selling individual flicks, while the studios are looking for a MusicNet-style subscription service. We've got an idea: as long as Apple is chatting it up with the other Apple, why not see if the rights to "Help" and "A Hard Days Night" are available? Either that or they can see if Disney's working on a sequel to "High School Musical."

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

It's hitting our shores a little later than expected, but you can finally queue up for the US version of Samsung's hot little YM-PD1 personal media player (pictured), the YM-P1 (the absence of the "D" refers to the lack of a DMB over-the-air DTV receiver). Since we've been following this model for some time, you'll no doubt recall that it features a 4-inch widescreen TFT display, sports in-line recording to a 20GB hard drive, and supports a gaggle of formats including MP3, WMA, OGG, AC3, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, AVI, WMV, JPEG, and BMP. You can also jack up the memory a bit via the SDIO slot, listen to and record FM radio, and even play some videogames (although the controls don't look all that well-suited for serious gaming). SamsungHQ spotted the P1 available for pre-order on Datavision's website at $370 (where "Our prices are too low to advertise!"), although there is no mention of when the devices will actually be shipping, so don't toss your Archos aside just yet.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

We have no idea why they chose today to do it, but today seven major movie studioes announced they'll be selling movies online through Movielink and CinemaNow. Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount, Fox, and MGM will all be distributing first-run titles online -- definitely something they've never done before -- through Movielink for between 20 and 30 bones (way, way too much if you ask us), with older movies going for between $10 and $20. Lionsgate (and Sony) also announced distribution through CinemaNow. Really this was only a matter of time -- for these guys it was either sell these things online DRMed all to hell for way too much money (see above), go the subscription route (like Vongo, for example -- not likely) or continue whining without any justification whatsoever about pirates stealing movies in the Internet. At least now they can say they've legitimately offered their digital content up online (hey, you can even make a DVD backup for use only on Movielink-authorized computers), even though they still can't account for the artificial demand they try to create by releasing movies for purchase months after the films have gone out of theater.

[Thanks, Phil]

Filed under: CES, Features, Home Entertainment

Sonos is definetely a fav around the Engadget Mansion, and during CES we got to take a second and talk to them about the new ZP80 ZonePlayer. The new device supports Audible and Rhapsody, but unfortunately still lacks PlaysForSure support.  Peep the vid below for a moving picture demo of the new software update for Sonos, and new ZonePlayer.

Format
[Download] QT MPEG4, 1:37, 6.13 MB

Filed under: Robots

Yesterday we set you off with some video of the ROKR E2 from a CES press event; today, we're giving you a look at the revamped version of Lego Mindstorms. Popular with hackers for its programability, the new mindstorms add some support for Bluetooth and USB 2.0.  To read more check our post on it, but to see it, click below.

Format
QT MPEG4, 2:36, 9.35 MB

[Download Here]

Filed under: CES, Digital Cameras

Canon is throwing down four new consumer camcorders designed for DV beginners -- three models in the ZR series and the Elura 100. All four sport Canon's Widescreen high resolution feature allowing full-screen image viewing on widescreen TVs, and each uses a 2.7-inch Widescreen display planel. The ZR series features 25x optical zoom, with the ZR500 and 600 (pictured above left and right, respectively) doing an 800x digital zoom and an 1000x digital zoom available on the ZR700. All the ZRs also include a level shot control to avoid crooked shooting and digital photo capture to SD media, and are available for $299 (ZR500), $349 (ZR600) and $399 (ZR700), respectively, with the Elura coming in at $399. Look for availability on the ZRs at the end of this month, with the Elura making its appearance at the end of February.

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, RIM, Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility

Last time we checked in with SonaMobile, their video player was in beta and it was looking a bit, well, beta-like — download times were hurting, video quality left a lot to be desired, and content selection was limited at best. Well, times are a-changin’, and it looks like these guys are just about ready to flip the switch for Canadian BlackBerry users on Rogers, Bell, and Telus. So what’s changed? For starters, Sona’s claiming faster download times and reduced storage requirements thanks to an improved compression scheme, though you’re still looking at a 3-5 minute download for a 1-2 minute clip. The commercial launch has also been renamed “bbTV,” offering news, sports, and financial content from Canada’s Global National, and they’ve added an archive feature for reminiscing about last week’s… uh, news, sports, and finances. No word on launch plans outside Canada, though users are claiming it’s easy enough to fool Sona’s site into letting anyone download the goods; the only question is whether you want to put up with some pretty painful download times to watch exclusively Canadian content.

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Filed under: Multimedia, MVNOs

Mobile ESPN might not have attracted quite the following they’d have hoped for so far, but that’s certainly not to say they won’t keep on keepin’ on. In a deal with potentially broad-reaching implications for 3G data, MVNOs, and mobile entertainment in general, the sports-oriented carrier has announced plans to broadcast live college football games to their handsets, with as many as 25 planned for the 2006 season. Details are slim for the picking — including the all-important question of pricing — but if they can get this feature out the door for little or no additional cost on top of their basic service plans, we can definitely see this winning a few converts (not to mention flooding Sprint’s EV-DO pipes in the process).

[Via Moco News]

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Filed under: Culture, Samsung, Misc

We’re not quite sure what to make of this one. A video kicking around the so-called Internet lately (see picture) depicts a rather cheery woman fatally wounding a SGH-X820, and apparently Samsung has taken offense. They’re claiming the phone was probably pre-damaged to make the phone seem unusually easy to destroy, but let’s face it — the phone’s 6.9 millimeters don’t afford a ton of protection against this kind of abuse. At any rate, Sammy’s “conducting a probe” to hunt down the video’s origin and is suggesting that a little courtroom action might be in order. The frightening lesson here, folks, is that if you want to break your phone, don’t do it on camera.

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Filed under: Multimedia, Sprint-Nextel

Despite some evidence that mobile TV isn’t the coolest thing since Elvis in consumers’ eyes, carriers are pressing on with efforts to build out their made-for-mobile video offerings. Most recently, Sprint has announced its Power View network of sports programming, and the use of the term “network” is surprisingly appropriate here — most, if not all of the content will be produced specifically for Power View, with a full 15 camera crews shooting on-location footage of sports events. A host of big-name anchors are filming weekly segments, too, and any handset compatible with Sprint TV will be able to rock the new service at no charge. Let us see the action full-screen (that goes for Sprint Movies, too) and you can count us in.

[Via MobileTracker]

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