Filter looks at the day's top technology news through snapshots and analysis of what the world's media outlets are covering. Washingtonpost.com's new Mon.-Fri. feature is penned by technology reporter Cynthia L. Webb. If a technology story breaks, a company falters or triumphs, or there's a new trend in technology, Filter wants you to know about it.
The service's debut has been a long time coming. "Real and Starz first said they would introduce this service in 2002, but it was delayed several times because of questions over the technology and the reception in the consumer market. The time is right, executives say, because consumers have shown they are willing to pay for audio and video content over the Internet, buying songs from services like Apple's iTunes and video of some news and sports offerings, like Major League Baseball. Equally important, the rapid adoption of high-speed broadband Internet connections makes movie downloads more feasible," The New York Times said.
The Associated Press also picked up on the reason behind the delay for the service. Seattle-based RealNetworks and Starz of Englewood, Colo. "had planned to begin the service in the spring of 2003, after announcing it in December 2002. But RealNetworks vice president Karim Meghji said it was delayed because the companies did not think the market was ready for the offering, which lets people download movies to watch on computers. One big hurdle was broader adoption of high-speed broadband Internet connections, which Meghji said allows the movie files to be downloaded in 30 minutes or less."
Bring the Stars to Your PC
The new "Starz! Ticket On Real Movies!" service is online at movies.real.com or www.starz.com (see a screen shot here). The service will "give viewers access to about 100 movies. The movies are available for viewing an unlimited number of times while they are part of Starz's current roster of films, but the movie is then deleted from the hard drive when the company no longer carries it," The AP said. More on this, from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "The movies remain playable for up to six weeks, after which they automatically delete themselves from the computer's hard drive. About 25 new movies become available each week, as 25 others go out of circulation." Some of the movies initially available on the service? "Finding Nemo," "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," and "Gangs of New York."
• The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: RealNetworks' Reel Offering: $12.95 Per Month to Download Movies to PC
More details from The New York Times: "The Starz service uses technology from Real that allows the movies to be played only by a given subscriber and only within a certain time period. Each film will have an expiration date that coincides with its last showing on the cable station. The movies will be encoded so that they cannot be played after the expiration date. During viewing, movies downloaded from the Starz service will fill the entire screen of a computer monitor -- a sharp improvement over the postcard-size pictures initially offered by online news and music video services. A technically adept user could also wire a computer that contains the downloaded movie to a television set for viewing. But the picture quality is not as high as that of a cable pay-per-view movie, nor is the service as convenient. Digital cable services offer an increasing number of movies on demand, while downloading a movie takes 10 to 30 minutes, depending on connection speeds."
RealNetwork's media player will be used to watch the movies, The New York Times said. But according to The Seattle Times, "Richard Wolpert, RealNetworks' chief strategic officer, didn't rule out offering movies in Microsoft's Windows Media format as well. 'We're going to do whatever makes sense to offer consumers the experience they want.'" Also, The Seattle Times reported that "RealNetworks executives said they are working to extend the service from the PC to the living room, and could have some agreements lined up with makers of set-top boxes and other devices by the end of this year."
• Seattle Times: RealNetworks, Starz Join to Offer Movie Downloads
Online Music Wars Get Hot in Europe
Microsoft has partnered up with British download service OD2 to help bolster Windows Media Players's offerings across the pond. "Windows Media Player users will be able to buy music downloads from a selection of European online stores, after Microsoft Corp and OD2 teamed up to lure fans away from Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes," Reuters reported. "The announcement comes as OD2, long Europe's dominant download firm, and Microsoft Corp brace for the European arrival of the iTunes Net music store, a launch that is expected to jumpstart Europe's tiny music download market. Apple is hosting a press conference on Tuesday in London where, music industry sources said, it will announce the long-awaited European launch date for iTunes. Over the past few weeks, Roxio Inc. has launched Napster in the UK and Sony Corp said it was readying the roll-out later this month of its Sony Connect online music store," the article said.
• Reuters via washingtonpost.com: OD2, Microsoft Team Up On Windows Media Jukebox (Registration required)
The Financial Times has more on Napster's U.K. launch: "Napster, a subsidiary of US media company Roxio, will today unveil a partnership with NTL to offer music subscriptions to the UK cable group's 1m broadband customers." According to the FT, "One person in the industry said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, was expected to be on hand to announce Apple's music store would immediately be available to consumers in the UK, Germany and France. Mr Jobs was also expected to announce plans to eventually roll out the service to other European countries."
• The Financial Times: Apple and Napster Expand Online Music Services
Get Ready For Liftoff
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen thinks space is the place. A team led by renowned aircraft designer Burt Rutan and funded by Allen "has developed a spacecraft that it plans to launch in a piloted mission next week to an altitude of 62 miles -- the beginning of space. Last month, the same rocket-powered craft, called SpaceShipOne, made it to an altitude of more than 40 miles with little trouble. If the new mission, set to launch in the desert outside Los Angeles, is successful, Mr. Rutan's team would be the first entity outside a government space program to send an astronaut into suborbital space. The pilot, who would be in effect the first private astronaut, hasn't been named," The Wall Street Journal explained.
• The Wall Street Journal: Private Space Mission Is Ready For Take Off (Subscription required)
• The Washington Post: A Rocket Flight for the Common Man? (Registration required)
A Web site produced by the company behind the launch has more information and photos of the craft.
The New York Times also has a feature in advance of next week's launch. An excerpt" "Mr. Allen, 51, says he has spent more than $20 million to fulfill fantasies that were fueled by science fiction and the real-life space program. 'As a child, I read everything I could about space travel,' he said. In 1981, he attended the first shuttle launching, that of the Columbia. 'When any of us were growing up, that is some kind of underlying dream - to pursue these things when we're older and have a chance to be involved,' Mr. Allen said. For Mr. Rutan, 60, it is an opportunity to show again that he is one of the world's most innovative aerospace engineers. His most famous plane, Voyager, flew around the world without refueling in 1986."
• The New York Times: Private Space Travel? Dreamers Hope a Catalyst Will Rise From the Mojave Desert (Registration required)
Another one of Allen's science fiction-themed projects is a sci-fi museum in Seattle. "The reclusive billionaire is creating the country's first Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, set to open Friday," The San Jose Mercury News reported. "Allen, who is using his earthly riches to search for extraterrestrial life forms and to launch the first private rocket into space this month, has packed the $20 million museum with his personal memorabilia. The artifacts include Captain Kirk's command chair from the television series 'Star Trek,' the model spaceship from the 1951 film 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' and the B9 robot from the television series 'Lost in Space.'"
• The San Jose Mercury News: Sci-Fi In Seattle (Registration required)
Computer security companies are trying new tricks of the trade to help squelch mass-mailing computer viruses before they get to PC users. "The technology involves monitoring e-mail traffic across a large number of organizations for anomalies caused by viruses or other malicious programs, then taking action to slow or block their delivery. This approach is expected to offer a head start over conventional responses, which are based on individually analyzing new viruses and sending out data that allows antivirus programs to identify and stop them," The Wall Street Journal reported, writing about IronPort Systems Inc., which "plans to announce today a new feature called Virus Outbreak Filters that takes the early-warning approach to the problem. The San Bruno, Calif., company makes specialized hardware for delivering e-mail and protecting corporate networks against spam and virus programs."
• The Wall Street Journal: E-Mail Security Companies Speed Up Response to Viruses (Subscription required)
And Los Angeles Times columnist Mike Hiltzik puts spam through the ringer today, picking up on the not-so-new idea of making people pay to send bulk e-mails. "It's a sign of progress, therefore, that the Internet community finally recognizes that the only effective way to fight spam is to saddle commercial senders with more cost. The idea is to make legitimate bulk mailers shoulder the burden of establishing their own bona fides, and then to grant only those users access to customers."
Hiltzik joins the IronPort media blitz as well: "The second element is to provide bulk e-mailers with a way to establish their track records for good behavior -- that they don't try to conceal their identities, address mail randomly, ignore customer requests for removal from mailing lists and so on. Among the most prominent such programs is Bonded Sender, established in 2002 by San Bruno, Calif.-based IronPort Systems Inc. The program's users subject themselves to a sort of reputational credit check, pay an annual fee of up to $10,000 and post a bond ranging from $500 to more than $4,000, based on mail volume. For every complaint from recipients exceeding a low threshold, $20 is debited from the bond. IronPort says about 28,000 Internet service providers, corporations and universities hosting 230 million mailboxes already have agreed to pass mail from Bonded Sender members through their spam filters without further screening."
• The Los Angeles Times: Latest Strategy Against Spam: Identify Bulk E-Mailers and Make Them Pay (Registration required)
Filter is designed for hard-core techies, news junkies and technology professionals alike. Have suggestions, cool links or interesting tales to share? Send your tips and feedback to cindyDOTwebbATwashingtonpost.com.
