Life Caching

Trendwatching is a great free Newsletter looking at trends. It comes highly recommended. The latest trend turns out to be Life Caching....

Thanks to the onslaught of new technologies and tools, from blogging software to memory sticks to high definition camera phones with lots of storage space and other 'life capturing and storing devices', an almost biblical flood of 'personal content' is being collected, and waiting to be stored to allow for ongoing trips down memory lane.

TRENDWATCHING.COM has dubbed this emerging mega trend 'LIFE CACHING': collecting, storing and displaying one's entire life, for private use, or for friends, family, even the entire world to peruse. The LIFE CACHING trend owes much to bloggers: ever since writing and publishing one's diary has become as easy as typing in www.blogger.com, millions of people have taken to digitally indexing their thoughts, rants and God knows what else; all online, disclosing the virtual caches of their daily lives, exciting or boring. Next came moblogging, connecting camera phones to online diaries, allowing not only for more visuals to be added to blogs, but also for real-time, on the go postings of experiences and events. And that's still just the beginning.

Why do we think this trend is ready to take off? Well, the necessary enablers are now all in place: required hardware and software are ubiquitious, there's ample availability of affordable storage space, blogging mentality is hitting the masses, and some of the major 'new economy' brands are getting in on the game, promising mass LIFE CACHING products at mass prices. We're talking Nokia, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Samsung and many more. All of this is putting in place an infrastructure for LIFE CACHING that will soon have GENERATION C and 'Generation Digital' caching every second of their existence.

A brief, random selection of some of the latest LIFE CACHING initiatives, to get you going:

• Nokia just launched its Lifeblog service: software that automatically arranges all messages, images, notes, videos and sound clips that consumers capture with their mobile phones, starting with the Nokia 6620 Imaging Phone, which comes with a 1.1 megapixel camera.*

Nokia's Lifeblog software runs on a PC: when a phone is connected to the machine, it will download all the content stored on the handset. It then populates a timeline with the information, arranging it chronologically, (with tags annotating when and where something was done, with help from codes that uniquely identify cell phone base stations). A full version of the software package costs approximately EUR 30/USD 37. (Source: BBC).

• In true LIFE CACHING fashion, Samsung's current "Show Your World" US ad campaign urges camera phone users to record their daily lives and turn them into movies. In one of the first commercials, a perky actress shoots her way through a love story, a rain storm, flambéed meals, a fashion show, a boardwalk game arcade, a hip night spot and a hotel balcony overlooking the Empire State Building. In Samsung's own words: "the most vibrant way to capture and share life experiences with family and friends." (Source: AdRants.) Expect the camera phone to become the centerpiece of LIFE CACHING around the globe.


• Microsoft's SenseCam is a badge-sized wearable camera that captures up to 2000 VGA images per day onto 128Mbyte FLASH memory. In addition, sensor data such as movement, light level and temperature is recorded every second. This is similar to an aircraft "Black Box" accident recorder but miniaturised for the human body. The SenseCam is part of Microsoft's LifeBits program, an experiment in lifetime storage.

• With Google's Gmail setting new standards for massive free storage of email messages, files and everything else, expect free online storage to become the new craze for millions of consumers engaging in LIFE CACHING. In Google's own words: "Don't throw anything away: 1,000 megabytes of free storage so you'll never need to delete another message." Other email services like Hotmail, Yahoo and Rediff are already following suit, piling up the extra hundreds of megabytes. TRENDWATCHING.COM expects services like Gmail to morph into the digital equivalent of self storage spaces now found in most big cities.

• Even more on storage. One of the lifelines of LIFE CACHING: from Malaysia to Hong Kong, key cord memory sticks and mini-MP3 players are the new Asian fashion accessory: with sticks storing up to 1 GB of content, consumers can (and do!) wear their entire 'digital life files' around their neck, from music to movies to documents to photos to presentations. It's LIFE CACHING going mobile: with sticks, MP3 players and camera phones boasting increased storage capacities, functionality, and quality, consumers will soon be able to show, play and share their entire LIFE with whomever, wherever.

• And last but not least, let's not forget Apple's mega-popular iPod: a new version in the works may contain up to 50 Gigabyte of storage space, which means even the biggest music fanatics will be able to forever build, store and carry their entire life collection of music (and soon video and data?), in a device the size of a pack of cigarettes.

Basically, LIFE CACHING is what happens after you've figured out how to provide your customers with an experience. More...

Luxemborg based for Itunes

Things are hotting up in Luxembourg. Already well known as a financial centre and the leading upload point for many of Europe's Satellite Digital Radio and TV services, Luxembourg is fast becoming a hub for locating a company's European e-Commerce operations.

There is a financial incentive. Recent EU regulations call for B2C operators to collect European Sales tax, or Value Added Tax, on sales of products and services delivered over the
Internet to European end users. As Luxembourg has the lowest level of VAT of
the 25 EU members, it is the logical choice for US companies to set up in
Europe. Microsoft Corp, Skype and Time Warner's America Online unit recently
announced plans to run their European operations from Luxembourg. And now
Apple iTunes has established a company here.

AOL Wins Patent for IM TV

Now this is interesting for researchers. It is a potentially powerful application. Although AOL won't go into details, the patent describes the gist of the new technology: When an AOL user pops up her buddy list, it would show what TV shows her friends are currently watching. Click a link, and her TV would change to that channel. "This enables friends to exchange messages that include links to a particular network or TV show," the patent says. Very intriguing.

In Holland, I notice kids saying "Tot MSN" instead of "Tot Ziens" and the notion of sharing TV experiences isn't that crazy. Worrying for "linear" programme makers though.

Dirty Bomb Distraction

The biggest danger from radiological weapons is the misplaced panic that they would cause, at least according to Richard A. Muller in an article last week (June 23rd). I see that CNN is again talking about "possible threats during 4th July" again.

Terrorists might attack the U.S. homeland again this summer, the Justice Department and the FBI warned last month. The same day, the Department of Energy announced a $450 million plan to counter terrorist nuclear weapons and dirty bombs. And shortly afterwards, the Justice Department released some details about Jose Padilla, the one-time street thug who had received extensive al Qaeda training and had hoped to explode a dirty bomb in the United States.

But according to the Justice Department announcement, al Qaeda had doubted that Padilla’s proposal to build a dirty bomb was practical. They directed him instead to blow up two apartment buildings using natural gas. They apparently felt that such an action would have a greater chance of spreading death and destruction than would a radiological weapon.

Al Qaeda was right. Perhaps that should scare you. Al Qaeda appears to understand the limitations of these devices better than do many government leaders, newspapers, and even many scientists.

Our experience with radiological weapons—the fancier name for dirty bombs—is limited. They do not require a chain reaction like fission or fusion weapons, but instead use ordinary explosives to spread pre-existing radioactive material. Saddam Hussein reportedly tested such a weapon in 1987, but abandoned the effort when he saw how poorly it worked. In 1995, Chechen rebels buried dynamite and a small amount of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 in Moscow’s Ismailovsky park. They then told a TV station where to dig it up. Perhaps they recognized the truth: that the bomb’s news value could be greater if it were discovered before it went off. For such weapons, the psychological impact can be greater than the limited harm they are likely to cause.

WFMT charges for Internet streams

This Chicago classical music station also distributes Radio Netherlands jazz material. Looks like they are really going to test if people are willing to pay for Internet audio feeds (my guess is only the really dedicated few).

After enjoying WFMT-FM (98.7) via their cable television systems for 25 years, thousands of listeners from coast to coast soon won't be hearing the classical music station anymore.

Due to the proverbial "circumstances beyond their control" -- in this case, a unilateral decision by Tribune Co. to drop the audio service next month from its cable superstation feed -- WFMT bosses are scrambling for a substitute method of distribution.

Starting in early July, the station will begin streaming its signal online on a paid-subscription basis. It is expected to cost $60 a year for WFMT Fine Arts Circle members and $100 a year for non-members.

Some insiders are dubious about creation of a pay-stream service, citing few successful broadcast models for such a system. But without a national presence, WFMT stands to lose much of its listenership, clients and revenue.

Listeners interested in the new service are invited to write to: streaming@wfmt.com

WiMAX 'Overhyped,' But Arriving On Schedule

This interesting article from Ted Shelton, IP Inferno

CHICAGO -- Dr. Mohammad S. Shakouri, the chair of the marketing working group for the WiMAX Forum, is worried that WiMAX has been overhyped.

"This isn't our doing, it is the marketplace getting excited before the technology is ready," said Shakouri, the assistant vice president for business development at WiMAX equipment vendor Alvarion. Shakouri, interviewed at the Supercomm show here Tuesday, worries that WiMAX may suffer the same fate as Bluetooth.

"It (Bluetooth) is a great technology, but the expectations were so high there was disappointment." For the WiMAX Forum, he said, "managing the hype and executing over the next few years are our biggest problems." The WiMAX Forum, a marketing organization created to promote the various flavors of the 802.16 standard, has more than 100 members, including big names like Intel, Fujitsu, Alcatel and AT&T, as well as providers like Qwest, British Telecom and France Telecom.

Despite concerns about the technology being overly promoted, Shakouri is pleased at WiMAX's progress. He said Tuesday's announcement that Motorola is joining the WiMAX Forum will be joined by more big-name announcements. "Samsung, Lucent, and Nortel -- at least two of these three will definitely be on board soon," Shakouri said.

Shakorui said there are two timelines important for understanding when the marketplace will actually have WiMAX products -- the schedule for standards approval, and when real products will be available. On the standards side, 802.16a was the initial standard and is for fixed broadband wireless. This was published back at the beginning of 2004. The next two standards are "d" and "e" -- with "d" WiMAX adds portability and with "e" mobility. The 802.16d standard has been approved and will be published by mid-July. The 802.16e standard is expected to be approved by the end of Q1 2005 and published in mid-2005.

On implementations, the WiMAX Forum expects to provide WiMAX certification for the first devices, with interoperability between manufacturers, by mid-2005. In the meantime, there are a set of vendors providing "pre-WiMAX" products.

Such products are helpful to early adopters who are already running trials to gain expertise and ready themselves for full rollouts. Europe is leading the overall market, with British Telecom and France Telecom already trialing pre-WiMAX equipment. Shakouri expects that there will be a few Asian service providers in trials within the next three to four months.

While Europe and Asia are leading the charge into WiMAX, the U.S. will be a laggard. This is primarily an issue with spectrum availability, since some of the applicable WiMAX sprectrum is used for military applications in America, while control and availability in other areas of the wireless spectrum remains uncertain. Shakouri expects that it will be late 2005 before WiMAX installations start appearing in the U.S.

Comdex Dead?

Comdex is dead - Long live the Consumer Electronics Fair - I guess


MediaLive International, Inc. today announced that COMDEX® Las Vegas 2004 has been postponed in order to reshape the event with the cooperation of information technology (IT) industry leaders. COMDEX® 2004 had been scheduled to open November 14, 2004, in Las Vegas. The company has established a COMDEX Advisory Board representing the IT industry's foremost companies to determine how COMDEX® can best meet the future needs of the industry.

Dutch Meet Up

Interesting to see how Dutch speakers worldwide seem to be organising themselves....a major event in a few days time.

DRM Receiver Update

Not all that impressed with the Mayah DRM 2010 shortwave portable radio. It only runs on mains power and that is highly polluted with compter gunk. May be it was deliberate, but the power unit only came with a 220 v power supply. Bought another one at Frys which was supposed to be quiet and stablized - it is. So, only chance to test the set will be when I get my hotel room with a balcony.

So, I believe in the system...just not in this early receiver.

Superb Supernova

Spent a few days zooming up and down Silicon Valley, mainly just observing things. There is a clearly a buzz back in the valley and some interesting projects are starting to roll out. A lot is under wraps...I didn't have to sign a non-disclosure but it was made clear that if I ever wanted more info, then watch but don't talk. Bought Clinton's book on CD.. I want to hear him read his own stuff.

Supernova....best talks so far from Kevin Werbach, CEO, Supernova Group and Thomas W. Malone, Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management. He's a great speaker and insightful as to where business is going. Ray Ozzie, CEO, Groove Networks Inc talked a lot about the networks they are building for the military in Iraq and the problems of integrating the various services. In the break out sessions in the afternoon
Greg Reinacker, CEO, Newsgator, Tara Lemmey, LENS Ventures and John Robb, Global Guerillas were the best speakers I saw. More later, when I can get access to the network again...lots of viruses around this sunny Friday morning.

In Search of Luggage

What does BA stand for? Baggage Answering-machine? Baggage Astray? I think so, as I arrived in San Francisco without my suitcase. Flight to here was re-routed via Denver which was enjoying some terrible thunderstorms on Friday. "Do not worry, teams of people are working on your re-booking" was the story in Heathrow as I moved from terminal 4 to Terminal 1 and back again. (The initial BA flight from Amsterdam was delayed by 2 hours because there was one to many suitcases on board). Arrived 7 hours late in SFO to find no-one from BA. United helped me out in the end. BA baggage wanted a 10 figure baggage number (my baggage had an 8 figure label) before they would even answer the phone - absolutely useless. United has a voice response system called Steve, who found my baggage by Sunday morning. I thought Air France was bad - but discovered BA is worse.

But it did give an excuse to wander round Frys in Palo Alto - in theory I was looking for a battery charger. I see that large screen TVs are being pushed as High Definition - when in fact they are only HD ready. No-one could demo me a HD picture. US is indeed way ahead when it comes to useful Wi-Fi gadgets, but seems to have given up already on Bluetooth (probably too slow). The hotel (in fact all the hotels) have free Wireless ADSL access. No wonder they get cross when hotels in Amsterdam want to charge you 40 dollars A DAY to get a similar service.

Broadband Wifi Growth In Latin America

"We expect wireless-enabled POS terminals to become more mainstream over the next several years, particularly when the solution is delivered with the right partners," said Bill Nichols, Verifone's marketing director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Since emerging from the fringe "Free Network Movement" early in the new millennium, Wi-Fi wireless networking technology, also known as 802.11, has moved rapidly into the mainstream. The technology has gathered many adherents involved in one aspect or another of e-commerce, from network equipment suppliers and e-payment service providers to traditional online merchants.
With their ease of installation, low cost and high performance, wireless networks now are adding users and advocates in Latin America and other developing markets around the world.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the title of "world's first Wi-Fi-linked e-payments network" is claimed by The Mall of San Marino in Guayaquil, Ecuador. To create this network, which supports physical and online retail sales and management for the Mall's 250-plus merchants, U.S.-based e-payments equipment and services provider Verifone joined with wireless network equipment supplier D-Link's South American subsidiary and local payments processor MediaNet.

The Mall's Wi-Fi project team was able to eliminate merchants' multiple dial-up phone lines and Internet access points. Instead, the team limited the number of access lines to one or two per merchant site on average -- one primary and one backup -- by using IP-based Wi-Fi and wired Ethernet LANs to network Verifone's Omni3750 multimodal network access point-of-sale terminals within stores.
Not only did this cut merchants' long-distance phone charges, but the online wireless network and systems platform provided 24-7 availability. It also improved payment processing speeds and the transfer of data to merchants' management centers by up to 350 percent, or an average four seconds per transaction, according to project team participants.

"We expect wireless-enabled POS terminals to become more mainstream over the next several years, particularly when the solution is delivered with the right partners," said Bill Nichols, Verifone's marketing director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Linking the World

Further south, D-Link South America recently completed the first phase of a satellite-based wireless networking project that has, for the first time, brought affordable Internet access and telecommunications services to the small, isolated pueblo of Cora Cora in the south of Chile's Ayacucho province.

More from ecommerce times

Sirius Survives... Just

Sirius stock survives a critical report yesterday morning from Wachovia Securities.
The Wall Street firm predicts Sirius will have to raise additional capital by 2006 and says it's "unlikely" to hit its goal of free cash flow breakeven - with 2 million subscribers - by the end of 2005. But the Sirius stock price withstands the bad news.

In the meantime XM Radio has already passed the 2 million mark. Interesting to see that in Silicon Valley, at least, Sirius seems to have a higher profile. I thought some of their packaging was misleading though. There is a 99 dollar home radio in the special offer bin at Frys, one of the California's leading electronics outlets. But the box says only in very small print that you will need a holder and dish, not included in the price. I guess some people were disappointed on Father's Day.

Digital Radio AntiPiracy

This from John Borland Staff Writer, CNET News.com

June 16, 2004, 5:30 PM PDT



Consumer groups, electronics companies and record labels squared off Wednesday in the first full public airing of proposals for antipiracy protections for digital radio networks.
Digital radio, which transforms traditional over-the-air broadcasts into the same kind of bits and bytes used in Internet transmissions, promises to boost the audio quality of FM signals to that of a CD. But it also holds out the promise of transforming radio listening in the same way that TiVo hard drive-based recorders have changed TV--by providing powerful recording and playback options.

The new medium has attracted the attention of the Federal Communications Commission, which recently began a proceeding that could end up laying out content protection rules and other regulations for it.

On Wednesday, the Recording Industry Association of America asked the FCC for new antipiracy protections that would prevent listeners from archiving songs without paying for them--and from trading recorded songs online. The RIAA and musicians' trade groups are worried that consumers might one day forgo buying albums or songs from iTunes-like services in favor of recording CD-quality songs off digital radio services.

"We know this (technology) will be attractive to consumers," RIAA Chief Executive Officer Mitch Bainwol said. "For us, it's the challenge that peer-to-peer introduces but made more complex by the fact that there are no viruses, there is no spyware or other file-sharing (problems)."

The debate is shaping up to resemble the earlier discussion around digital television technology, which similarly had movie studios worried that their products would be recorded and traded online. Both debates have pitted powerful forces against each other in Washington, D.C., and have given content companies a key role in helping shape the future of a nascent technological medium.

In digital radio, the RIAA would like to see music transmissions encrypted so that only authorized receivers that follow content protection rules could play the songs. It would also like to see a "flag" inserted in a song's data stream to prevent any recordings made from being transmitted online.

Those ideas have drawn deep opposition from consumer groups and electronics companies, which say the FCC has no congressional mandate to impose content protection on radio broadcasts of any kind.

"Interfering with radio broadcasters' shift to digital broadcasting would choke off advancement and modernization," Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, said in a statement released Wednesday. "Not only is that un-American, it's totally without merit."

Consumer groups echoed Shapiro's opposition to the RIAA's proposals.

"No one at the Recording Industry Association of America or the FCC has demonstrated any need whatsoever for content protection on a service that doesn't exist in the U.S.," said Gigi Sohn, co-founder of Public Knowledge, a copyright campaign group that is working with Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America on the issue. "The recording industry is trying to fool the FCC into regulating home taping of radio, which is protected by law."

The first round of comments on the digital radio issues had a deadline of Wednesday for submission to the FCC. Another round of comments is due on July 16.

Blackout hits major Web sites

This from CNET explains difficulty with some e-mails over the last few hours. Thanks to Lou Josephs for the tip.


June 15, 2004, 11:20 AM PT

A domain name outage Tuesday morning left many popular Web sites such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft.com and Apple.com temporarily inaccessible, according to a Web research company.

For just more than two hours--from 5:30 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. PDT--many of the world's most popular sites suffered from widespread outages, according to Keynote Systems, which compiles statistics related to Web surfing. On a typical day, the top 40 sites measured by Keynote rarely dip below 99 percent availability. On Tuesday, however, Keynote saw availability drop to 81 percent.

Keynote said the site blackouts stemmed from an outage suffered by Akamai Technologies' domain name server system, which translates word-based URLs into numeric Web addresses to link surfers to company sites.

Though Keynote did not have solid confirmation of the source of the issue, one executive there speculated that Akamai may have suffered a denial-of-service attack. DoS attacks flood a company's servers with millions of simultaneous requests for data. The attacks often overwhelm and shut down servers.

"I know folks who built Akamai's infrastructure, and they are really sharp people," Lloyd Taylor, vice president of technology at Keynote, said in an interview. "While it's possible that there was internal failure, I think it's a low possibility."

An Akamai representative did not return calls requesting comment.

Spectrum Opens Up in the US

Internet Policy weblog just carried this significant piece of news...

Jeffrey Silva wrote for RCR Wireless News on 10 June: "The [US] Federal Communications Commission today opened a huge swath of spectrum for wireless broadband services, creating incentives for businesses to invest in a third digital pipe to homes and businesses across the country... Nearly 200 MegaHertz in the 2.5 GHz band will become available for wireless broadband services. By revamping the 2.5 GHz band, it is now technically feasible and financially attractive to deploy wireless broadband systems [in the United States].... The FCC set a three-year transition period for [existing licensees in the 2.495 - 2.690 GHz band] to adapt to new rule changes, and established guidelines for negotiations among stakeholders. At the same time, the commission launched a new inquiry to study whether other mechanisms—including auctions—can be employed to maximize use of 2.5 GHz frequencies."

Additional details from Roy Mark at Internetnews.com: "The new rules restructure the band currently used by Multipoint Distribution Services (MDS) - commercial operators who send data and video programming - and Instructional Television Fixed Services (ITFS) used by schools and other educational entities... In addition, the FCC renamed the MDS service the Broadband Radio Service (BRS)... 'The magnitude of today's ruling is apparent when one considers that this band is double the spectrum that sparked the Wi-Fi explosion at 2.4GHz and equivalent to the entire spectrum devoted to terrestrial mobile wireless services,' FCC Chairman Michael Powell said."

Click here for the FCC news release about this decision...which came on the same day that the FCC unveiled their Internet history website.

Wireless Wifi Wireless

I'm watching this UK company to see when they release their WiFi radio on the market. Hope they don't go the same way of the Kerbango set or the (useless) Philips Streamium radio. But I see the photos are changing and someone has made a mock-up of the set in a kitchen.

Wonder what it sounds like.....

Digitale Radio Mondiale Schedule Data

I'll be testing out this new Mayah DRM 2010 shortwave portable radio during a trip to the USA. In theory, I should have "FM quality" of European stations like BBC and Radio Netherlands while driving around the West Coast.

Radio Academy Festival Birmingham

Also looks to be a great conference in the UK for radio fans.

SuperNova Blog

Supernova starts in around 10 days time. Looks to be a very interesting event. Hope also to visit a few radio and TV stations that have gone the HDTV TV route.

Ideas? Use the comments section