MEMS mics are taking over. Almost every mobile device has ditched its old-fashioned electret microphone invented way back in 1962 at Bell Labs. Expect new piezoelectric MEMS microphones, which promise unheard of signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of up to 80 dB (versus 65 dB in the best current capacitive microphones) in 2015. MEMS microphones are growing like gangbusters.
Analysts and veterans of the International CES expect to see plenty of 4K ultra-high-definition televisions, new smartwatch uses, and a large section of the show floor dedicated to robotics. 2015 will be the first year CES gets behind 4K in a big way, as lower price points make the technology more attractive to consumers. Samsung, Sony, Sharp, and Toshiba will be big players in the 4K arena. OEMs must solve the problem of intelligence and connectivity before 4K will really take off. CES attendees may also see 4K TVs optimized for certain tasks, along with a variety of sizes. There will be 10-inch and 14-inch and 17-inch UHD displays.
4K is not enough anymore? 8K – finally come true? Korean giant LG has promised to introduce ehdan 8K TV at CES 2015 exhibition in January. 8K means a total of 33.2 million pixels, or 7680 x 4320 resolution. 4K video material fate is still uncertain, 8K video can not with certainty not available for a long time.
Sound bars will be a big issue at shows. One problem with new TVs — the thinner they are, the harder it is to get sound out.
Open file formats Matroska Video (MKV) and Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) gets more widely used as Windows 10 To Feature Native Support For MKV and FLAC.
Watching shows online is more common now. More people are watching videos on smaller screens. You can use a tablet as personal TV. Phablets and portable televisions have taken off in China, Japan, and Korea, where many people watch videos during long commutes. Tablets now have become so ubiquitous and inexpensive that you can buy them for a specific application. Much of the innovation will be in software, rather than hardware — tuning the tablets to boot up like a television instead of an Android tablet
We’re all spending more time with smartphones and tablets. So much so that the “second screen” may now be the “first screen,” depending on the data you read. It seems inevitable that smartphones and tablets will replace the television in terms of time spent. Many metrics firms, including Nielsen, report on the rapid increase of mobile device usage—especially when it comes to apps. Half of YouTube’s views now come from phones and tablets.
Qualcomm will push this year broadcast LTE. That will be picked up more and more by some vendors in tablets, so they can have broadcast TV signals, but it doesn’t have to be generic LTE.
There will be lots of talking on traditional TV vs new streaming services, especially on who gets which program material and at what price. While it’s possible to create a TV platform that doesn’t deal with live channels, smart TVs and game consoles alike generally try to integrate the content as best they can.
Netflix’s new strategy to take on cable involves becoming best friends with cable to get its app included on set-top boxes of cable, fiber and satellite TV operators. Roughly 90 million U.S. households subscribe to cable or other forms of pay TV, and more than 73 million subscribe to the biggest five operators alone. That’s why Netflix has been working hard to team up with one of these major operators.
Google intends to integrate content best it can. Google Publishes ‘Live Channels For Android TV’ App Into The Play Store. G The “Live Channels for Android TV” app is unsurprisingly incompatible with phones and tablets, maybe because for some reason those markets are intentionally artificially tried to be kept separate.
Virtual reality video is trying to get to spotlight. Samsung’s new Milk VR to round up 360-degree videos for Gear VR article tells that Milk VR will provide the videos for free as Samsung hopes to goose interest in virtual reality. Milk VR service will provide free 360-degree videos to anyone using a Gear VR virtual-reality headset (uses Galaxy Note 4). Samsung wants to jump-start the virtual-reality movement as the company is looking at virtual reality as a potential growth engine at a time when one of its key traditional revenue sources — smartphones — has slowed down. The videos will also serve as a model for future filmmakers or artists looking to take advantage of the virtual-reality medium, as well as build up an ecosystem and viewership for VR content.
Although digital video is increasing in popularity, analog video remains in use in many applications.
1,154 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
H.264 video I/O IC is optimized for MOST, ADAS networks
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Digital_ICs/Communications_Interface/H_264_video_I_O_IC_is_optimized_for_MOST_ADAS_networks.aspx
The OS85621 video I/O companion IC supports H.264 encoding/decoding of I-Frames only for ultra-low latency applications, such as MOST high-speed automotive infotainment and ADAS video networks. For applications requiring higher compression, the device provides a DDR2 SDRAM interface. It also has Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) coprocessor with up to eight independent data streams for M6 or AES-128 encryption/decryption
The device’s private key can be stored in non-readable OTP memory. The streaming port supports legacy audio formats for synchronous and isochronous data, 7.1 audio (input/output), and audio/video synchronization.
volume pricing from $8.00.
Tomi Engdahl says:
I think that this kind of hack will get pretty dim projected picture to wall….
DIY Second -generation Smartphone Projector For iPhone Android Phones
http://www.banggood.com/DIY-Second-generation-Smartphone-Projector-For-iPhone-Android-Phones-p-970100.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
13 megapixels is time for a typical size of a smart phone cameras. Toshiba says now developed a 13 million points differentiating the image sensor, the physical size of the smallest.
T4KB3-picture circuit is a back-illuminated CMOS process are based circuit, having a size of 6.7 x 6.7 mils. If the circuit is integrated auto focus, increasing the size of 8.5 x 8.5 Mill.
The circuit can also record full 1080p quality HD video at 120 frames per second speed. The performance is sufficient so the better-class smartphones and tablets.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2542:13-megapikselin-kenno-kutistui&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Open Source Drone Camera You Can Modify With Apps
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/open-source-drone-camera-can-modify-apps/
n Israeli startup wants to make adding new features to your drone as easy as downloading apps from an app store.
The company, called Percepto, is currently raising funds on Indiegogo. Percepto will offer a camera that can be mounted to your existing drone. You can then download apps to your mobile phone that can interact with the camera in different ways.
The company has already built apps for the device, including one that can automatically follow and film a particular object. But the idea is to let other developers join in. The company plans to open source its machine vision platform, enabling developers not just to build their own apps, but improve upon the vision software itself—the heart of the technology that allows drones to operate on their own.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HDMI Splitter is also a Decrypter
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/12/hdmi-splitter-is-also-a-decrypter/
It warms our hearts when the community gets together. [esar] needed to get a decrypted HDMI stream for his home theater system. A tip-off in the comments and a ton of good old-fashioned hacking resulted in a HDMI splitter converted into a full-featured HDMI decrypter. Here’s the story.
HDMI Splitter Hack
http://hacks.esar.org.uk/hdmi-splitter-hack/
RoyTheReaper’s instructions work for splitters that are based on the chip sets from Explore Semiconductor, such as the EP9132 in the splitter I had on hand. These splitters contain two chips: the main HDMI splitter (EP9132), which is usually hidden under a heatsink, and a microcontroller (EPF011A) which communicates with the splitter via I2C.
As it turns out, the splitter’s outputs are unencrypted by default regardless of whether the incoming signal is encrypted or not, and all that’s needed to disable encryption of the splitter’s output is to stop the microcontroller from talking to the main splitter chip. This can be achieved via any of a number of different methods
What I needed was to find a way to keep the microcontroller doing all the other things it usually does, while still stopping it from enabling encryption of the outputs. As its only connection to the splitter chip was via the I2C bus, maybe I could intercept any attempts to enable encryption…
The datasheet for the EP9132 is fairly easy to find
To do this I decided to use an Atmel ATTINY9 microcontroller, which is a tiny SOT23 package device with 6 pins, an internal 8MHz clock, 1KB of program space and 32 bytes of RAM. I connected the ATTINY to the splitter’s I2C bus and wrote some code
Unfortunately this didn’t quite work.
Going back to the datasheet, I found another interesting looking register
I updated the code in the ATTINY to target this new register, and… success! I got unencrypted output.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Free Sirius One-Ups Siri
Open-source Sirius bests Cortana, Now
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326014&
Apple’s Siri started the trend, followed by Google’s Now and Microsoft’s Cortana, but they all are just copy-cats of a flawed original, according to the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Yes, they all answer verbal questions about things you can look up on the Internet, but the the University of Michigan’s free open-source Sirius one-ups all three by doing the things that they can’t, plus allows users to customize it to do things that none have ever done before.
“We’ve put together the best of the best open-source algorithms — in many cases from the same sources as the others — plus added capabilities that Siri, Now and Cortana will have to add to keep up with Sirius,” Jason Mars, U-M assistant professor of computer science and engineering and co-director of Clarity Lab where Sirius was developed, told EE Times.
For example, with Sirius you can take a snapshot of a building, monument, animal — almost anything — and then ask questions about it
Mars — together with professor Lingjia Tang and co-director of Clarity Lab, along with doctoral candidates Johann Hauswald and Yiping Kang — have worked hard to one-up Siri, Now and Cortana, but not to go into competition with them. Actually, their original motivation was to investigate what types of resources will be required of cloud services in the future.
“The project has been so successful, that now we are not only still investigating what resources the servers of the future will need — since most of Siri’s, Now’s and Cortana’s services are performed in cloud servers — but we are also investigating how the quad- and octal-core processors in handhelds can help off-load some of the workload from the servers.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The FAA Says You Can’t Post Drone Videos on YouTube
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-faa-says-you-cant-post-drone-videos-on-youtube
If you fly a drone and post footage on YouTube, you could end up with a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Earlier this week, the agency sent a legal notice to Jayson Hanes, a Tampa-based drone hobbyist who has been posting drone-shot videos online for roughly the last year.
The FAA said that, because there are ads on YouTube, Hanes’s flights constituted a commercial use of the technology subject to stricter regulations and enforcement action from the agency. It said that if he did not stop flying “commercially,” he could be subject to fines or sanctions.
The hobby use of drones and other model aircraft has never been regulated by the FAA, but the agency has been adamant about making a distinction between hobby and commercial use, which has led to much confusion over the last couple years.
Where, exactly, does commercial use begin and hobby use end, for instance? If you fly for fun, but happen to sell your footage later, were you flying for a “commercial purpose?” What if you give it to a news organization that runs it on a television station that has ads on it? What if you upload it to YouTube and Google happens to put an ad on it? What if you decide to put an ad on it?
“With this letter the FAA is claiming that drone-obtained art created by a hobbyist becomes retroactively ‘commercial’ if it is ever sold, or if, as here, it is displayed on a website that offers monetization in the form of advertising,” Peter Sachs, a Connecticut-based attorney specializing in drone issues told me. “Selling art is unquestionably one’s right, and the government is forbidden from infringing upon that right.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube Turns 10: How Competition Crashed the Party
http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/youtube-10th-anniversary-competitors-hulu-facebook-vimeo-1201448925/
But when the time came for Wong’s digital studio, RocketJump, to shoot his next project, he says YouTube didn’t exactly jump at the idea.
“We said, ‘Here’s the show we want to do, and here is the budget we need,’ ” he says. “And they hemmed and hawed, and said, ‘Sure, do it for more minutes and for less money.’ ”
Unsatisfied with YouTube’s offer, RocketJump and Lionsgate Television steered the project to Hulu, where the untitled eight-episode series will be available exclusively. “Hulu understood how much content costs,” says Wong. “By remaining defensive, YouTube is losing various aspects of video — longform, for example — to other companies.”
Hulu is not the only company complicating life for YouTube these days. It’s bad enough that social-media giants like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat have upped efforts to bring video to their services — and plan to more aggressively compete with YouTube for advertising dollars. But there are also upstarts like Vessel and IAC-owned Vimeo, which, like Hulu, are signing deals with some of YouTube’s homegrown talent, and promising creators bigger bucks for their work in exchange for exclusive rights.
While YouTube’s topline metrics don’t currently indicate any deviation from the growth that fueled its incredible scale — from time spent viewing to total hours uploaded — the competitive landscape is changing. “There’s a critical mass of threats that represent real challenges to YouTube’s complete dominance for the first time,”
Indeed, some disgruntled partners aren’t convinced the No. 1 vidsite will be able to fully retain its share of eyeballs moving forward.
YouTube recently marked two milestones: The startup’s founders registered the YouTube.com domain name Feb. 14, 2005, just months before going live in May of that year. But perhaps of more significance than the company’s 10th birthday to CEO Susan Wojcicki, who took the job in February 2014, is that she’s arguably facing a more challenging environment than the one she encountered when she became topper.
The company is already a multibillion-dollar advertising juggernaut, although its profits may be negligible — or nonexistent. Last year, the service pulled in about $4 billion of revenue, up from $3 billion in 2013, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing anonymous sources. However, YouTube basically broke even, after accounting for content and infrastructure costs.
But YouTube’s growth trajectory could be thrown off by Facebook and other aggressive new players in the video space. Facebook is coming on strong in video. At the end of 2014, the world’s biggest social-media company delivered an average of 3 billion views per day of video uploaded to the social site — up from 1 billion daily over the course of the summer. It’s worth noting that Facebook counts a view as any autoplay video that is visible for at least three seconds, whether users click on it or not. Still, 3 billion is a very big daily number.
Ad agencies are taking notice of social networks’ stepped-up focus on video, seeing a huge opportunity to exploit their users’ sharing of creatively produced marketing content. “Compared to YouTube, Facebook has a beautiful read on what people like,” says Brent Smart, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi NY. “And it’s much easier to share video on Facebook.”
Meanwhile, in January, Twitter rolled out the ability to capture, edit and share mobile users’ videoclips of up to 30 seconds, expanding beyond its looping, 6-second Vine service.
And Snapchat, the ephemeral-messaging service that has an estimated 100 million-plus active users who are mostly millennials, debuted in January a video and news service, Discover, with more than a dozen media partners — including CNN, ESPN, Food Network and Vice — to share daily updates that remain available for 24 hours.
Notably, however, unlike YouTube, none of the ad-supported social services has shown any ongoing ability to significantly monetize video content.
That means for media and entertainment companies, YouTube stands alone as a source of revenue, if not yet prof-it, among open Internet video platforms.
“YouTube is an incredibly important platform,” Hindle says. “You get frustrated with them from time to time — with the terms they have, it makes it hard to justify higher content costs. But it adds up if you have significant scale, as we do.”
YouTube, too, is plowing bucks back into its most popular talent — a bid to keep its top creators from jumping to Vessel, Vimeo or others. With the YouTube Originals initiative, the Google subsidiary is paying its biggest stars to produce family and comedy programming
“YouTube’s in a great position, because it provides both reach and monetization,” says George Strompolos, founder and CEO of Fullscreen, a multichannel network that delivers 5 billion views per month. “But other solutions will emerge, and savvy creators will find a way to build their audiences there.”
YouTube may launch subscription video service for a monthly fee
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/15/8218943/youtube-subscription-video-service-rumor
YouTube may soon have a subscription option for its best original content. A comment buried in a Variety report reveals that the Google-owned video site is “exploring the prospect of launching its own subscription VOD service.” The service would presumably offer ad-free streaming of certain video content that’s part of the program. That could likely include videos from YouTube stars under the YouTube Originals banner.
The move into a subscription model can be seen as a response to pressure from competitors like Vimeo, Hulu, Vessel, and others. Such video sites are working to entice video creators and YouTube stars to host their videos on their sites in exchange for a more lucrative percentage of ad revenue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Have advanced camera phones stunted our abilities to recognize professional photography?
http://thenextweb.com/creativity/2015/03/16/have-advanced-camera-phones-stunted-our-abilities-to-recognize-professional-photography/
In the wake of mass layoffs of photographers from major news organizations like the Chicago Sun Times and Sports Illustrated, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) wanted to find out whether or not typical newspaper readers preferred — or could even tell the difference between — photos shot by professional photographers and those contributed by amateur shutterbugs.
The results, contained in the newly released scientific Eyetracking Photojournalism Study and commissioned by the NPPA, were the topic of a SXSW panel, “Who’s Driving the Extinction of Pro Photographers?” They should surprise no one.
The study found, among other things, that the public is fluent in the quality of photojournalism and they trust professional images more than user contributions. The study also found users spent the most time looking at faces and people and reading photo captions.
Furthermore, the conclusion states that the public is distrustful of manipulated images, preferring real-life interactions to posed photos and associates professional images with better quality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rex Sorgatz / Medium:
How The Daily Show triumphed: by enabling disruptive technology and embracing media inventions
How The Daily Show Triumphed
http://medium.com/message/how-the-daily-show-triumphed-1438a60a8718
(By Enabling Disruptive Technology and Embracing Media Inventions, But Only When It Made Sense, Which Was Less Often Than One Might Think; Also: Some Luck)
I would argue that The Daily Show rode the disruptive waves as masterfully as one could. It adopted a sound strategy: experiment with new platforms and technology, iterate on success, and, perhaps most importantly, shrug and move on from what fails.
But it also got lucky. While certain new technologies posed a corporeal threat, other media inventions fit perfectly into the show’s DNA. Technology both imperiled and propelled the show. Much of the The Daily Show’s success can be attributed to shrewd decisions; some of it, sublime coincidence.
The Daily Show instantly became the poster child of the time-shifted, on-demand future. Chunked into discrete pieces, the DVR-friendly format created a new viewing experience.
Television is, by nature, a derivative craft. It copies and refines more than it invents.
But it would not be a stretch to say that The Daily Show invented a specific genre of story, which has since become a staple of television. This particular narrative technique did not exist in the past, because the technology that enables it did not exist. For it to flourish, we needed advances in deep tech: data archiving and search indexing and speech-to-text.
Of course, the invention was the montage segment — those stories that splice together snippets of video, sometimes culled from across decades, to expose moments of political hypocrisy or media duplicity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chris O’Falt / Hollywood Reporter:
SXSW: 1 in 3 Films in Competition Funded by Kickstarter — It’s a very Kickstarter South by Southwest. — 28 films playing playing this week at SXSW were backed by successful Kickstarter campaigns. These films include four of the ten narrative features in competition and 30 percent of the festival’s entire competition slate.
SXSW: 1 in 3 Films in Competition Funded by Kickstarter
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sxsw-1-3-films-competition-781228
In total, the 28 films raised more than $1.7 million from over 23,000 people.
“In part, the strong showing of Kickstarter films at SXSW year after year reflects the truly DIY nature of the festival,” Kickstarter spokesman Justin Kazmark tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And, in part, it’s about the interdisciplinary spirit that pervades both of our communities — the mix of music, film, and interactive is what animates Kickstarter as well.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google hatching YouTube Kiddie Vids – report
Chocolate Factory goes after tiny consumer units with all its power
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/20/google_poised_to_announce_youtube_for_kiddies/
Google is about to enter the lucrative revenue stream of advertising to children, with the Chocolate Factory set to reportedly announce a YouTube app for kids.
The ad giant is said to be discussing plans to generate revenue by displaying ads in the app.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix tells Australian ISPs how to tap its fat video pipes
Video-on-demand outfit reveals download-enhancing peering plans ahead of local launch
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/17/netflix_tells_australian_isps_how_to_tap_its_fat_video_pipes/
Netflix has announced that it is ready to work with Australian internet service providers (ISPs) to ensure its content reaches their subscribers quickly and at low cost by offering them “peering” arrangements.
The video-on-demand outfit has posted on the Australian Network Operators Group mailing list, explaining it is “ available on the Equinix Exchange, Megaport and NSW-IX Sydney” and is “accepting routes”.
That’s a big-ish deal for local ISPs, because peering means an ISP can hook straight into Netflix’s traffic rather than relying on a third party interconnect. That means faster data flows and ultimately a better customer experience.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Janko Roettgers / Medium:
Chromecast can be controlled by select TV remotes; feature made possible by HDMI-CEC protocol — Chromecast now works with your TV’s remote control — One of the most frequent complaints about Chromecast has been that it doesn’t come with a remote control
Chromecast now works with your TV’s remote control
https://medium.com/@jankoroettgers/chromecast-now-works-with-your-tv-s-remote-control-b8572fe2d0b1
One of the most frequent complaints about Chromecast has been that it doesn’t come with a remote control, requiring users to fiddle with their phone even if they just want to pause a program for a few seconds. Well, complain no more: A recent update to Google’s streaming stick has added the ability to pause and resume playback with any old TV remote control
This new feature is possible due to Chromecast’s use of HDMI-CEC, an extension of the HDMI protocol that’s capable of sending control commands back and forth between your TV and any attached device. HDMI-CEC is what allows your TV remote to control your Blu-ray player, and Chromecast has been using it since day one to turn on your TV and switch inputs whenever you start to cast media to the dongle — something I’ve called Chromecast’s secret weapon when the device was first released a little less than two years ago.
Pause and resume functionality for HDMI-CEC was added to Chromecast with the latest 27946 firmware update. Your mileage may vary based on whether your TV actually supports CEC, but I’ve successfully tested it with YouTube. Folks on Reddit are reporting that it also works with apps like WatchESPN, HBO Go, Allcast, iPlayer, TuneIn, Plex and others.
Player state is reported back to your mobile device, so you can pause playback with your remote control and resume it with your phone if you feel like it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple aiming to launch online TV service in September with about 25 channels, anchored by ABC, CBS, Fox
Apple Plans Web TV Service in Fall
In talks with programmers to offer a slimmed-down bundle of about 25 channels
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/apple-in-talks-to-launch-online-tv-service-1426555611-lMyQjAxMTA1NTEzNjUxOTY0Wj
Apple Inc.’s lofty plans to build an online television service are coming into sharper focus.
The technology giant is in talks with programmers to offer a slimmed-down bundle of TV networks this fall, according to people familiar with the matter. The service would have about 25 channels, anchored by broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox and would be available on Apple devices such as the Apple TV, they said.
Some media executives said they believed Apple was aiming to price the service at about $30 to $40 a month. The company is aiming to announce its new service in June and launch it in September, according to people familiar with the matter.
Apple has had on-and-off talks with media companies for years in the hopes of creating a subscription TV service that would be delivered over the Internet.
In the most recent talks, Apple is continuing to propose creating a live TV streaming service with a vast on-demand library that would be stored in the “cloud.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cablevision to Offer HBO Now to Broadband-Only Customers
http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/cablevision-to-offer-hbo-now-to-broadband-only-customers-1201453713/
Cablevision Systems is the first pay-TV provider to agree to offer HBO’s standalone Internet-streaming service — without having to also buy a TV package.
Pricing for HBO Now as purchased through Cablevision’s Optimum service was not announced. HBO last week said HBO Now would launch on Apple TV for $14.99 per month (with the first 30 days free), as the exclusive Internet-device partner for three months.
The New York-based MSO is the first cable provider to partner with HBO to offer the new over-the-top service, expected to launch in April in time for the fifth season of “Game of Thrones.”
Whether Cablevision’s opting in to HBO Now leads other operators to follow suit remains in question — as does how the operator’s decision will affect its TV subscriber base. In any case, for HBO, the deal represents a small piece of the overall pie: As of the end of 2014, Cablevision reported 2.68 million video and 2.76 million broadband customers. That’s just a fraction of the 100.8 million U.S. pay-TV homes estimated by Nielsen as of the end of last year.
Like the HBO Go service — which is available to pay-TV subs, including Cablevision’s Optimum TV subscribers who take HBO — HBO Now provides access to every episode of the premium cabler’s original series, films, documentaries, and sports, comedy and music specials, along with movies.
Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and AT&T are among pay-TV ops that have offered HBO as part of a broadband-centric bundle that includes basic broadcast TV service along with HBO
HBO is targeting what it sees as 10 million-12 million U.S. households that have broadband but not pay-TV service, hoping to capture money it might be leaving on the table.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jordan Pearson / Motherboard:
‘Sirius’ Is the Google-Backed Open Source Siri
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/sirius-is-the-google-backed-open-source-siri
Sirius, a Google-funded open source program similar to Apple’s Siri or Google’s Google Now voice recognition application, could finally democratize the virtual assistant.
RIght now, virtual assistants are a game for the big kids of the tech world—Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google itself all have their own versions. Sirius, developed by researchers at the University of Michigan’s Clarity Lab, aims to do what those programs can with an open source twist.
Other backers include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US military’s research wing, and the National Science Foundation.
The idea is that anybody can contribute to the program on GitHub, a site for coders to collaborate. It’s also being released under a BSD license, documents on the project’s GitHub indicate, meaning that it will be completely free for anyone to use or distribute. Researchers will be able to use it to explore the possibilities of virtual assistants, according to a university statement, and eventually, anybody can put it on their own homebrew device.
Right now, it’s only been tested on Ubuntu desktops, but it could one day make it onto phones and other devices. Jason Mars, the researcher that headed up the project, describes Sirius as a Linux-like version of Siri.
Sirius already has capabilities lacking from its corporate counterparts. For example, you can take a picture, feed it to Sirius, and ask a question about it. Siri can’t do that. But, unlike Siri, Sirius isn’t exactly elegant; it’s a patchwork of other open source projects that, when stitched together, give Sirius its capabilities.
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube for Kids: the App Gives Children a Non-Internet Internet
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/youtube-for-kids-the-app-gives-children-a-non-internet-internet?trk_source=recommended
YouTube recently developed a mobile app specifically for kids. Imagine a babyproofed version of YouTube, where the sharp edges have been covered in bubble wrap and all the pills are out of your child’s reach. This may seem like a no-brainer, slam dunk, A+ win for technology and kids alike.
YouTube Kids, in theory, is a sound concept. There is a discrete number of videos accessible and searchable, carefully curated by adults. Playlists include Sesame Street and Thomas the Tank Engine, and there is no ability for kids to upload their own videos.
Children are not ready for the full-fledged power of the internet, and exposure to unlimited YouTube videos could lead to actual, documented cases of Premature Web Exposure Syndrome. But I don’t think this is the way to do it.
People my age, who grew up with the internet, are now making babies of their own. They need to figure out a way to introduce the internet to their child. A kid-safe app lets a parent toss their kid an iPad and leave them alone to explore.
A separate, sheltered app deprives kids of the opportunity to connect and participate in the zeitgeist
This gated-off playpen YouTube is exposing kids to all terrible parts of the internet, with none of the good. Kids will still be exposed to blue light, which can affect sleep patterns and circadian rhythms. The app still fosters antisocial tendencies, if not more so than YouTube, as an adult can leave a child alone with their YouTube Kids app, unsupervised.
As the generations that grew up on the internet begin procreating, there should be a plan. We need to start having this conversation. There needs to be a determination on where the responsibility lies. Is it in the technology itself, like a YouTube Kids App? Or is it still in the human? Is it “Mommy and Me” YouTube classes?
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet Can Now Satisfy Every Toddler’s Most Compulsive Video Content Needs
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-youtube-of-trucks?trk_source=recommended
I discovered this strange alley on the toddler YouTube video map the same way every parent does
I was bleary-eyed, and there were no real garbage trucks or cable repair trucks to be found on the pre-dawn streets to point at and observe.
then I searched “truck videos.” We’d watch these videos together
It wasn’t long before I found Twenty Trucks, the channel responsible not only for “Dump Truck,” but such rousing hits as “Vacuum Truck” and “Feller Buncher.” Later, I would become more specific when I hunted for truck videos—there are vast depths to plumb when you’re searching for Internet truck videos, which occupy, apparently, a wildly popular niche.
Parents are often the forgotten audience members of toddler-oriented videos, our preferences (and ears, and eyes) dismissed because of the assumption (often correct) that we’re just happy that our kids—perhaps flu-stricken, temporarily emotionally inconsolable, or waiting way too long for breadsticks to arrive at a restaurant—have found something calming to watch for three-and-a-half minutes.
The remote-controlled truck video niche (over 320,000 results) is an interesting exercise in scale
Toddlers are notoriously undiscerning
Twenty Trucks has about 55,000 subscribers and its most popular video—a six-year-old musical ode to the excavator—has over 25 million views. It wasn’t born into the digital world, but began in the meatspace in 2004 when creator Jim Gardner released his first DVD on Amazon, a few independent toy stores and distributors, and through his own website.
Gardner had been inspired to create his own videos when his truck-obsessed twins, Pierce and Kassidy, objected to what was previously available on the market: specifically, they didn’t like human characters intruding on what would ideally be trucks-only narratives.
“At the time, there was no way to ‘monetize’ content,”
By 2013, Gardner was not feeling optimistic. Ad revenues had stagnated despite an increase in views, and the general demand for physical DVDs was lessening
Twenty Trucks’ production is in-house, so production costs are low, but the brothers try to keep their expenses for each video to the equivalent of three to four months’ ad revenue—which, Gardner points out, “can fluctuate wildly [...] depending on YouTube’s mysterious algorithm” for quantifying views.
He hopes that—if he can keep the channel growing at its current rate—the truck proceeds can help send his kids to college
Kids Truck Video – Dump Truck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omCDE64AveU#t=52
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube Is Full of People Burning Things
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/youtube-is-full-of-people-burning-things?trk_source=recommended
The National Fire Prevention Association lists six different motivations for arson: arson for revenge, for excitement, for vandalism, for profit, for crime concealment, and for political or religious extremism.
Short of crime concealment, each of the above can easily be found on YouTube; in particular the first two, which are also the most popular motives: revenge (41 percent of arson crimes) and excitement (30 percent). YouTube is full of people burning things, and communities have sprung up around the most niche fiery pursuits, turning them into acts of exhibitionism.
The resulting videos are boring yet awesomely strange, for the very fact of their existence.
As with porn, there’s a standard progression of narrative: The flames climb higher, the fire builds, then finally there’s a pay-off
The burning videos can be unexpectedly soothing to watch–slow, meditative and predictable.
Regardless the motive, what most videos share is that the item burned must have value to merit destruction, usually to the person setting it alight.
Perhaps without intending to, the clothes burning fetish films of YouTube also serve as anti-capitalist statements.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Powerful H.265 Video Codec Solution
http://www.eeweb.com/news/powerful-h.265-video-codec-solution
Altera Corporation announced that a new Avaya Scopia videoconferencing system takes advantage of Altera’s powerful H.265 video codec solution, which is capable of handling full duplex encoding and decoding on a single FPGA, enabling best-in-class videoconferencing. The new Altera H.265 codec enables multi-channel support for today’s 1080p60 resolutions on a single, low-power chip; the device will also manage 4K video. Avaya announced the addition to its Team Engagement videoconferencing portfolio, the Avaya Scopia XT7100, which uses Altera’s H.265 solution, on March 11.
Altera’s advanced technology combines high-end FPGA hardware and IP (software) to deliver a high performance H.265 codec that enables the “heavy-lifting” required in videoconferencing—encoding the live streams to enable superior picture quality with ultra-low video latency.
Altera offers a highly bit-efficient H.265 algorithm deployed in silicon that delivers an unprecedented combination of device utilization efficiency and video quality for the Avaya Scopia XT7100.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SmartSet
http://www.labhuman.com/en/node/837
High performance at an affordable cost
High performance low cost virtual studios for creative industries SMEs.
Description:
SmartSet project, funded by the European Commission on the Horizon 2020 frame and coordinated by BrainStorm Multimedia, proposes the development of a group of tools to design and operate virtual studios through the adaptation of the BrainStorm eStudio engine.
The objective is to provide the users a ser of tools to perform camera calibration, virtual set design and chroma key the talent in order to integrate it to the virtual set, all in a professional, cheap and easy way.
More info in http://smartsetproject.brainstorm.es/
Tomi Engdahl says:
DisplayPort Alternate Mode for USB Type-C Announced – Video, Power, & Data All Over Type-C
by Ryan Smith on September 22, 2014 9:01 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8558/displayport-alternate-mode-for-usb-typec-announced
Earlier this month the USB Implementers Forum announced the new USB Power Delivery 2.0 specification. Long awaited, the Power Deliver 2.0 specification defined new standards for power delivery to allow Type-C USB ports to supply devices with much greater amounts of power than the previous standard allowed, now up to 5A at 5V, 12V, and 20V, for a maximum power delivery of 100W. However also buried in that specification was an interesting, if cryptic announcement regarding USB Alternate Modes, which would allow for different (non-USB) signals to be carried over USB Type-C connector.
Today the VESA is announcing that they are publishing the “DisplayPort Alternate Mode on USB Type-C Connector Standard.” Working in conjunction with the USB-IF, the DP Alt Mode standard will allow standard USB Type-C connectors and cables to carry native DisplayPort signals.
DisplayPort can be muxed over Type-C, USB is one step closer to that with the ability to carry native video.
From a technical level the DP Alt Mode specification is actually rather simple.
DP Alt Mode will then in turn be allowed to take over some of these lanes – one, two, or all four – and run DisplayPort signaling over them in place of USB Superspeed signaling. By doing so a Type-C cable is then able to carry native DisplayPort video alongside its other signals, and from a hardware standpoint this is little different than a native DisplayPort connector/cable pair.
Tomi Engdahl says:
VESA® Brings DisplayPort™ to New USB Type-C Connector
http://www.vesa.org/news/vesa-brings-displayport-to-new-usb-type-c-connector/
VESA uses USB Type-C ‘Alternate Mode’ to enable DisplayPort Capabilities over the New, Slim, Reversible USB Type-C Connector
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Audio Standard Released
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/03/17/1417216/3d-audio-standard-released
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) has released its new 3D Audio Standard (AES69-2015), covering topics such as binaural listening, which is growing due to increased usage of smartphones, tablets and other individual entertainment systems that offer audio using headphones.
AES Announces 3D Audio Standard
http://www.cepro.com/article/aes_announces_3d_audio_standard/
The new AES69-2015 provides standards for the development of 3D, binaural audio to help drive the adoption of this increasingly popular form of audio.
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) has published its new AES69-2015 standard, which provides a framework for the growing binaural and 3D personal audio industries. The standard, which describes the format and exchange of spatial acoustics files, is the product of the AES Standards Committee.
In the past, AES points out, the lack of a standard for the exchange of HRTF data made it difficult for developers to exchange binaural capture and rendering algorithms effectively. While 3D audio continues to gain popularity among end users, binaural listening could be the very first 3D audio vector with sufficient fidelity of HRTF.
The new AES69-2015 standard defines a file format to exchange space-related acoustic data in various forms. These include HRTF, as well as directional room impulse responses (DRIR). The format is designed to be scalable to match the available rendering process and is designed to be sufficiently flexible to include source materials from different databases.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DIY Hololens Uses Pepper’s Ghost in a Box!
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/17/diy-hololens-uses-peppers-ghost-in-a-box/
Entirely too excited about Microsoft’s Hololens, the DIY community has leaped on the challenge to make some hardware before the real deal comes out. [Sean Hall] has an excellent 3D printed prototype that makes use of the Pepper’s Ghost illusion to create a “hologram” for this pair of unique VR goggles.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Claire Atkinson / New York Post:
Sources: Apple offers to share viewer data with partners for online TV service to enable better ad targeting — Apple offers to share TV data to entice programming partners — Apple is offering to share data with programming partners to get them on board with its cable-like TV network package, The Post has learned.
Apple offers to share TV data to entice programming partners
http://nypost.com/2015/03/17/apple-offers-to-share-tv-data-to-entice-programming-partners/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kyle Russell / TechCrunch:
Ustream opening up its internal SDK and API to developers, enabling anyone to build Meerkat-like apps, by invitation only for now — Ustream’s New Live-Broadcasting SDK Lets You Build Your Own Meerkat — Call it a sign of the times: hot on the heels of Meerkat’s sudden boom …
Ustream’s New Live-Broadcasting SDK Lets You Build Your Own Meerkat
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/17/ustreams-new-live-broadcasting-sdk-lets-you-build-your-own-meerkat/
Call it a sign of the times: hot on the heels of Meerkat’s sudden boom in popularity among techies and Twitter’s kneecapping of the service as SXSW began, live-streaming startup Ustream is opening its internal API to the public so that anyone can build their own Meerkat-like broadcasting app.
Timing aside, it’s a natural progression for the company, which shifted its focus to providing live-broadcasting-as-a-service for enterprises early last year. Businesses (including TechCrunch) have used Ustream to host “town hall” events for employees working from a distance, as well as for showing live footage from large events like Disrupt.
Previously, that worked via companies pumping their video in one end and distributing it via embedded media players hosted on web pages. Now, any developer will have access to the input and output ends of that broadcasting infrastructure, giving greater control for the previously mentioned use cases, as well as the ability to build apps that draw in and distribute footage from many more sources, as we see on Meerkat (and for beta users, Periscope) today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rhapsody launches music sharing on Twitter: Full-track playback without subscription
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/rhapsody-launches-music-sharing-on-twitter-offering-full-track-playback-without-subscription/
A new initiative from streaming music service Rhapsody will let its subscribers share songs from its 34-million track catalog with their Twitter followers — who will be able to play the tracks in full without leaving Twitter, even if they don’t pay for a Rhapsody subscription.
Rhapsody says it’s the first streaming music service to offer full-track playback on Twitter, using the social network’s Audio Cards feature. The music is fully licensed by Rhapsody, with a cut going to artists, labels and publishers — a hot-button issue given the emergence of freemium streaming services, such as Spotify.
Rhapsody says one reason for the approach is “to reinforce that music isn’t free.”
The feature will be available in the U.S. only. Rhapsody is testing the feature to see if it can recoup the licensing fees, over time, by converting the Twitter exposure into new subscribers for its $9.99/month music service.
“It’s going to be a huge experiment in how we make music social again,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maxx by Waves
http://www.maxx.com/
Maxx is a suite of psycho-acoustic DSP technologies that bring professional studio-quality sound to consumer electronics.
Maxx by Waves currently offers three customizable suites of audio enhancement technologies, for both input and output processing: MaxxAudio for studio-quality music, movies and games; MaxxVoice for voice communications; and MaxxSpeech for improved Automatic Speech Recognition performance.
With clearer highs, enhanced bass, and increased volume, MaxxAudio provides a better listening experience on any device, whether it’s a PC, TV, laptop, smartphone or tablet. Now, what sounded great in the studio will sound great on the go.
MaxxAudio is also a powerful design tool that gives manufacturers the ability to get bigger sound from smaller components.
Tomi Engdahl says:
6 Things You Should Know About the VR Horror Film Catatonic
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/catatonic-vr-horror-film/
There are few things scarier than insane-asylum horror. The creepy corridors, the twisted psychiatrists, the subtle sense that maybe the crazy one is you; it’s all just too much. But there’s one thing that could make it spookier: putting it all in virtual reality.
Director Guy Shelmerdine’s Catatonic does just that. The experience, currently making the rounds at South by Southwest events, straps you in a wheelchair and takes you on a five-minute tour of a 1950s mental institution, steering you through the psych ward and eventually into a chapel where you…well, where you die.
“As the story goes along the route becomes more and more disturbing,”
Sounds fun. And totally horrific. (If there’s one place the intense intimacy of VR should tread lightly, it’s horror, which is scary enough when you still have the ability to cover your eyes.)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Steve Jobs: “I Just Don’t Like Television. Apple Will Never Make A TV Again”
http://www.fastcompany.com/3043645/steve-jobs-i-just-dont-like-television-apple-will-never-make-a-tv-again
In an exclusive excerpt from Becoming Steve Jobs, the late Apple cofounder revealed his disdain for television.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to… start a record label
http://www.factmag.com/2012/06/23/how-to-start-a-record-label/
Ever wanted to start a record label?
Chances are, if you’re reading FACT, that the answer is yes. Hell, you may already have one. The major labels of this world may be in trouble, but not since the DIY explosion of the late 1970s – which led to the formation of Rough Trade, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, Mute and literally hundreds of others – has the independent sector been in such rude health.
now that it’s virtually impossible for a decent label to turn anything more than a modest profit, the chancers who used to get into this game for the money have moved on, and it’s the music-lovers who remain.
It’s not hard to produce a 12″ single and get it out into the world. You can get two tracks mastered and 300 vinyl copies pressed up – to a fairly high standard – without breaking the £1000 mark. True, it’s no small sum
And in terms of getting the music heard, and getting it to market, we’re living in a golden age: you can reach customers without having to rely on traditional distribution networks, and you don’t need radioplay or elaborate promo to raise awareness. Thanks to Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Big Cartel, Blogspot and the like, you can build the profile of your label and have your releases on sale in next to no time – if the music’s good, the customers will come to you.
a nuts and bolts guide to the business of founding and running a record label
there’s enough of that sort of thing already plentifully available on the internet
Tomi Engdahl says:
Erasure’s Vince Clarke has designed his own range of synth modules
http://www.factmag.com/2015/03/19/vince-clarke-auto-tune-modular-synth-analogue-solutions/
With the assistance of boutique UK synth manufacturer Analogue Solutions, Clarke has developed his own range of modules based on the popular Eurorack format. The first product to come from Clarke’s mind is Auto Tune, designed to offer an easy solution to the problems of tuning and scaling vintage synthesisers and modern VCO Eurorack modules.
“For those of you who work with synthesisers using CV and Gate, you will all be aware of the problems of calibration,” says Clarke in a press release. “Having tried many a cumbersome software-based package over the years, I wondered if there might be a neater solution — a kind of all-in-one MIDI-to-CV convertor with auto-calibration.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
New treatment offers fresh hope for tinnitus sufferers
http://www.factmag.com/2012/03/19/new-treatment-offers-fresh-hope-for-tinnitus-sufferers/
Potential good news is on the horizon, however: The Independent report that a new personalised treatment for the ear condition – which has a history of affecting DJs and clubbers alike – may offer hope to sufferers.
This unusual therapy, known as Acoustic Co-ordinated Reset (CR) Neuromodulation, is designed to “reset” auditory nerve cells in the brain to “stop them misfiring” and in trials has reduced the symptoms of tinnitus in three quarters of patients.
At this point, the £4,500 treatment is only available to private patient
Scientists develop nerve implant to stop tinnitus
http://www.factmag.com/2014/07/25/nerve-implant-retrains-the-brain-to-stop-tinnitus/
A nerve stimulating device could eliminate that pesky ringing for good.
Chronic sufferers of tinnitus, that buzz-killing condition which can arise from overexposure to loud, repetitive beats, will know that there is no straightforward cure for the ailment. While some scientists have suggested that MDMA could reduce the symptoms (seriously), a more significant breakthrough has recently been made by US medical company MicroTransponder, which specialises in “neurostimulation” to treat strokes and chronic pain
To get started, patients put on a pair of headphones and listen to various tones that trigger the tinnitus before being played different frequencies close to the problematic one. At the same time, the implant sends small pulses to the vagus nerve, which trigger the release of chemicals that increase the brain’s ability to reconfigure itself.
It’s not just speculation – the process has already been effective in rats
Tomi Engdahl says:
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Magic Leap demos its augmented reality tech in YouTube video showing in-office gameplay experience
Watch Magic Leap’s Video Of Seamless Augmented Reality Office Game Play
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/19/watch-magic-leaps-video-of-seamless-augmented-reality-office-game-play/
Magic Leap is showing what it might look like to use its hardware for augmented reality gaming in the future, with a new demo of what the team is apparently “playing in the office” right now. The interface, which includes non-game interaction and then a short demo of an in-office virtual shooter experience, was created in tandem with Weta Workshop, a concept art studio responsible for work on projects like Lord of the Rings.
The brief video shows examples of interacting with YouTube and Gmail apps, along with browsing a menu system for OS-level interaction.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
RIAA finds streaming services made $1.87B in 2014, eclipsing US CD sales for the first time
Sales of Streaming Music Top CDs in Flat Year for Industry
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/business/media/sales-of-streaming-music-top-cds-in-flat-year-for-industry.html?_r=0
The American market for recorded music was flat in 2014, but income from streaming services like Spotify and Pandora has quickly grown to become a major part of the business, eclipsing CD sales for the first time, according to a report released Wednesday by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The association, a trade group that represents the major record companies, said that recorded music generated $6.97 billion in 2014, down less than 0.5 percent from the year before, when revenue was slightly more than $7 billion.
Overall revenue from recorded music, after falling from a high of $14.6 billion in 1999 — when CDs were the dominant format — has remained relatively stable for the last several years, hovering around $7 billion, according to the recording industry association. But within that total, the sources of income have changed significantly as consumers have increasingly shifted their purchasing habits online.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reality Check: Comparing HoloLens and Magic Leap
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/535806/reality-check-comparing-hololens-and-magic-leap/
After trying demos of Magic Leap and HoloLens, it’s clear that commercializing augmented reality technology will be difficult.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Horace Dediu / Asymco:
Market saturation, rising monthly fees, lack of innovation, and broadband expansion make cable TV’s decline inevitable in the US
http://www.asymco.com/2015/03/19/peak-cable/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digital Light Processing, So Many Tiny Mirrors
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/22/digital-light-processing-so-many-tiny-mirrors/
Did you know there are a million little mirrors flickering back and forth, reflecting light within some modern projectors; like a flip-dot display but at the micro level? In his video, [Ben Krasnow] explains the tiny magic at work in DLP, or digital light processing technology with a scaled up model he constructed of the moving parts.
LCD projectors work much like old slide projectors. Light is shined through a transparent screen containing the image, which is then focused and enlarged through a lens. DLP projectors however achieve the moving image in a slightly different way. A beam of focused light is shined onto a chip equipped with an array of astonishingly small mirrors
http://benkrasnow.blogspot.fi/2015/03/how-digital-light-processing-dlp-works.html?m=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
At Kodak, Clinging to a Future Beyond Film
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/business/at-kodak-clinging-to-a-future-beyond-film.html?_r=0
Of the roughly 200 buildings that once stood on the 1,300-acre campus of Eastman Kodak’s business park in Rochester, 80 have been demolished and 59 others sold off. Terry Taber, bespectacled, 60, and a loyal Kodak employee of 34 years, still works in one of the remaining Kodak structures, rubble from demolition not far from its doors.
Mr. Taber oversees research and development at Kodak. Many people might be surprised to know that Kodak is still in business at all, much less employing someone in the hopeful-sounding enterprise of developing new technology ideas. But if the film company, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2013, has any light in its future, Mr. Taber is likely to have something to do with it.
In a warren of basement labs, some of the 300 scientists and engineers who work for Mr. Taber are studying nanoparticle wonder inks, cheap sensors that can be embedded in packaging to indicate whether meats or medicines have spoiled, and touch screens that could make smartphones cheaper.
Much of this is old stuff, left over from the company’s glory days. But Mr. Taber’s boss hopes that somewhere in those projects there might be a nugget of gold.
“I’m mining the history of this company for its underlying technologies,”
What happens after a tech company is left for dead but the people left behind refuse to give up the fight? At Kodak the answer is to dig deep into a legacy of innovation in the photography business and see if its remaining talent in optics and chemistry can be turned into new money in other industries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Universal takes on Spotify freemium model
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0%2F5645cf6c-ce73-11e4-900c-00144feab7de.html#axzz3V9OC7nxz
The “freemium” model used by Spotify to amass 60m users and 15m paying subscribers around the world
Now, Universal Music Group
Digital downloads, a reliable source of industry revenue for the past decade, have peaked and are in steady decline. Revenues from streaming, meanwhile, have eclipsed CD sales and are closing in on downloads as music’s largest source of revenue in the US, the industry’s biggest market.
Ad-supported free streaming generated $295m in the US for music labels in 2014, much less than the nearly $800m generated by paid subscription.
Spotify has resisted tightening or changing the free aspect of its service: it says doing so would slow the conversion of free users to paying subscribers and likely send those users to pirated music or free sites such as YouTube. “Without free, pay has never succeeded,”
The company also rejects the suggestion that its ad-supported tier is responsible for declines in download sales.
YouTube is one of several Spotify competitors bringing streaming services to the market this year.
is working on its own paid subscription service, which will launch in 2015.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cinematograph records 1st footage, March 19, 1895
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/edn-moments/4410221/Cinematograph-records-1st-footage–March-19–1895?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150319&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150319&elq=24d90c098d1e4244abe788aa1421edaf&elqCampaignId=22166&elqaid=24900&elqat=1&elqTrackId=821740bd8f06412fb3ce2668953b51ac
Auguste and Louis Lumière record their first footage using their newly patented cinematograph, a competing device to Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope, on March 19, 1895.
The film, La Sortie des usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon), was a 46-second-long, black-and-white, silent documentary. It is a single scene in which workers leave the factory.
The cinematograph was a motion picture film camera, which also serves as a film projector and developer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Crowd sourcing speeds image classification development
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/print/volume-20/issue-3/features/crowd-sourcing-speeds-image-classification-development.html?cmpid=EnlVSDMarch232015
One of the major challenges in building automated supervised image classification systems is the amount of training data that needs to be correctly identified. In such systems, hundreds or thousands of correctly labeled images need to be presented to the system since more labeled data will result in a system more effective than one where just a few data is presented to the classifier
“In the development of an obstacle avoidance system for an automotive manufacturer,” says Dr. Daniel Kondermann, President of Pallas Ludens (Mannheim, Germany; http://www.pallas-ludens.com), “hundreds of thousands of images such as automobiles, pedestrians, trees, and other obstacles need to be properly identified at multiple scales.” Similarly, to build such a system to identify brain tumors in MRI images, a physician must isolate the relevant pixel regions in multiple images. Although global segmentation algorithms may be used to perform this task,” says Kondermann, the results of these algorithms may be ambiguous and not as accurate as those performed by an expensive human operator.”
Realizing this, Pallas Ludens has developed an elegant way to solve the task of rapid image classification development. Instead of requiring a single trained professional to identify multiple images or objects within images, the company has leveraged the power of crowd sourcing to complete the task
“Companies in the medical, automotive and entertainment industries require classification systems that must be as accurate as possible,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D facial imaging aids early autism detection
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/print/volume-20/issue-3/features/3d-facial-imaging-aids-early-autism-detection.html?cmpid=EnlVSDMarch232015
Autism is a spectrum of closely related disorders diagnosed in patients who exhibit a shared core of symptoms that include delays in learning, communication and social interaction. Early detection of autism in children is the key for treatments to be most effective and produce the best outcomes.
However, rather than perform such extensive interviews and observations, recent work by Dr. Ye Duan, an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Missouri (MU; Columbia, MO, USA; http://www.engineering.missouri.edu) has shown that, using 3D facial imaging measurement and statistical analysis techniques may lead to a screening tool for young children and provide clues to its genetic causes.
“Detecting the specific facial traits of the face of a child with autism,” says Duan “may help define the facial structures common to children with autism and potentially enable early screening for the disorder.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hollywood’s Women Problem: Why Female Filmmakers Have Hit the Glass Ceiling
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/22/hollywood-s-women-problem-why-female-filmmakers-have-hit-the-glass-ceiling.html?utm_source=digg&utm_medium=email
Despite making up 50.8 percent of the U.S. population, women are vastly underrepresented in Hollywood, comprising 17 percent of directors, writers, and producers. The situation is dire.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kevin Clark / Wall Street Journal:
NFL to broadcast one game via Internet for upcoming season for the first time in its history
NFL to Broadcast a Game Nationally Via Internet Only
Move marks first time league will air national broadcast solely by streaming
http://www.wsj.com/articles/nfl-to-broadcast-a-game-nationally-via-internet-only-1427134766
For the first time in its history, the NFL will use something other than television to distribute the national broadcast of a football game, a person familiar with the situation said on Monday.
The decision was made Monday at the league’s owners meetings and could reflect a turning point in the league’s history.
For this upcoming season’s Jacksonville Jaguars-Buffalo Bills game in Week 7, the NFL will sell the rights to a digital distribution company, be it Youtube, Facebook or another company.
The game will be broadcast locally on over-the-air networks in the home markets of Jacksonville and Buffalo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Magzet adapter is like MagSafe for your headphones
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/24/8276087/magzet-adaptor-magsafe-headphones
A new Kickstarter project named Magzet is promising to do for headphones what Apple’s MagSafe connector did for power cables. The two-part audio connector works with any standard 3.5mm jack to magnetically attach your headphones to your laptop, MP3 player, or smartphone. One half of the Magzet (the MagJack) fits over the jack on your headphones while the other (the MagKap) plugs directly into the audio port on your devices. These then snap together with magnets, meaning that any sudden movement disconnects the two halves, rather than sending your pricey gadgets crashing to the floor.
MAGZET: The Audio Jack Reinvented with the Power of Magnets
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magzet/magzet-the-audio-jack-reinvented-with-the-power-of
Yes! MAGZET will bring innovation to the audio connection with the power of magnetic technology…
Think about it, if we add magnetic technology in the middle (and we did with the MAGZET Series1!), we can keep all the accessories and devices and that we already invested in and make them…
“Snap” connect enabled – The magnet technology conveniently pulls them together in a “snap” and auto-aligns even in dark environments without specific visual focus.
More reliable – Once the MAGkap (the side you plug into the audio cable) and MAGjack (the side you plug into the device) is installed, the device’s jack and your audio cable are protected from wear-out.
Safer – The magnetic technology breakaway feature protects your ears, headphones, accessories, or even worse, your device from being catapulted into hard surfaces with very expensive and inconvenient consequences.
What’s so wrong with the traditional audio jack?
We have all experienced the flaws of the audio jack as we know it today…
Inconvenient – We have to “visually” focus and locate a small hole to slide things together which is difficult to do when you’re driving and in tight or dark places such as a handbag, backpack or a dark room.
Fragile – The audio plug has been known to breakoff in a device’s jack and/or the device’s audio jack is known to wear-out and stop working.
Costly/Painful – Pull on the audio or headset cable from a bad angle and devices have been known to be catapulted into hard surfaces with very expensive and inconvenient consequences or your ears, head, and other body parts can take some serious punishment!
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Spectrum Analyzer uses 1280 LEDs
http://hackaday.com/2015/03/23/3d-spectrum-analyzer-uses-1280-leds/
One of [Dooievriend]’s friends recently pressed him into service to write software for a 3d spectrum analyzer/VU that he made. The VU is a fairly complex build: it’s made up of 1280 LEDs in a 16x16x5 matrix controlled by a PIC32 clocked at 80MHz. [Dooievriend] wrote some firmware for the PIC that uses a variation on a discrete Fourier transform to create a 3D VU effect.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Did you know that on YouTube’s sound quality?
Much of the music uploaded to YouTube has traditionally been a weak kind of sound quality. The audio track is in the worst cases, pulled through several lossy packing processes, and the original file is left as the ultimate components.
Official music videos, the situation has often been a little better, sometimes even quite tolerable quality selection possibilities.
Source: http://www.hifimaailma.fi/uutiset/tiesitko-taman-youtuben-aanenlaadusta/
YouTube just put the final nail in the Loudness War’s coffin
http://productionadvice.co.uk/youtube-loudness/
It’s the loudness output of a YouTube playlist, as measured by the MeterPlugs LCast loudness meter.
What does this mean ?
It means that YouTube have been using loudness normalisation on their music videos – and they’ve been doing it since December last year. Everything plays at a similar loudness, regardless of how it was mastered. And no-one has noticed.
Hear it for yourself – this playlist is composed almost entirely of current releases, with a wide variety of loudness on CD – and some of them are REALLY loud
So for example, at the more dynamic end of the spectrum, Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars’ massive hit ”Uptown Funk” measures -12 LUFS
But on YouTube, all of them are being played back at a similar loudness of roughly -13 LUFS.
And that’s HUGE, because YouTube is the single largest online discovery source for music. More kids look for music on YouTube than on iTunes, TV or radio, or anywhere.
This is where they hear new music for the first time, decide if they like it, and whether to share it with their friends.
Dynamic is the new Loud
It’s now irrelevant how high the mastering levels of your music are – as I’ve shown before, on iTunes Radio, on Spotify and now on YouTube, we have no control about how loud people hear it – just as it’s always been on FM radio.
In fact, heavily crushed, distorted “loudness war casualties” will often sound worse than more dynamic releases.
When music is loudness normalised, “loudness war” mixing and mastering sounds worse – and music with balanced dynamics sounds better.
This is the final nail in the coffin. The loudness war really is over – the only remaining question is, how long will it take for people take to notice, and start releasing music with great dynamics again ?
So why do people even bother with loudness any more ?
If you’re new to this issue, you’re probably asking, like everyone else – “why is music still being crushed like this ?”
If loudness is irrelevant on iTunes Radio, on Spotify, and now on YouTube – why bother ? You can read my answer here:
Learn the Loudness War’s dirty little secret
But we still haven’t heard the whole story, yet.
The plot is actually thicker…