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 Wall Street Journal on Monday had more details on Moxi's bells and whistles: "The devices make use of Digeo's software for navigating through TV channels and managing other entertainment options, including digital video recording, games, stored photos and music. The Moxi design, named after a Silicon Valley company Digeo bought in 2002, is styled as a 'media center' along the lines of a flood of new gadgets being designed by computer and consumer-electronics companies. The device uses the Linux operating system and the Intel Corp. chip design used in personal computers."
• The Wall Street Journal: Comcast To Test Digeo Set-Top Box (Subscription required)
More on the digital recording trend and its potential pitfalls for the cable industry, from the front page of Monday's The Wall Street Journal: "Comcast ... is installing the device in customers' homes as quickly as it can. So are other top cable operators such as Time Warner Inc.'s Time Warner Cable unit. So far, only about 3.5 million homes have the recorders, but they are spreading fast. The cable industry's embrace of digital video recorders, or DVRs, is a huge gamble. Cable companies are bulking up their profits by charging customers an extra $10 or so each month to use the machines. But if people tune ads out, it could undermine the basic economics of the television business. Advertisers spent $54.5 billion on U.S. television advertising in 2003, according to TNS Media Intelligence, more than any other medium. Many of the companies that sell monthly cable-TV service also own cable channels that rely on advertising revenue."
• The Wall Street Journal: In Embracing Digital Recorders, Cable Companies Take Big Risk (Subscription required)
Taking Tech To The Movies
Digital entertainment isn't just about turning computers into home entertainment hubs. It's also about using technology to improve movies on the silver screen. The Los Angeles Times on Sunday wrote about the University of Southern California's Entertainment Technology Center, "a research group backed by the major studios as they gird for the advent of digital cinema" and its work at the Pacific Hollywood theater, a virtual lab for movie-making technology.
Excerpt: On the old theater's roof "is the future: a battery of satellite dishes. And along the back wall of the Hollywood's projection booth, a bank of 12 powerful computer servers blink furiously. Peering out at the five-story screen are three projectors: A high-end model by Kinoton able to handle 35-millimeter and 70-millimeter film and two high-resolution digital projectors, all cooled with a dedicated air conditioning system. The $1 million worth of equipment represents a fraction of the $1 billion the seven major studios believe they can save annually by embracing a future without film, when movies shown in theaters will be the result of streams of 0s and 1s flowing either from a high-speed Internet connection or from optical discs. That's years away. Many aspects of Hollywood production have already been digitized, from editing to special effects. Capturing and exhibiting the work remain almost exclusively film, though more and more productions are replacing film with digital cameras because it's easier and cheaper. Converting theaters to digital remains the latest frontier for movies. By doing so, studios could save hundreds of millions of dollars currently spent on printing and distributing film. Plus, picture quality would remain perfect, unlike film, which degrades over successive trips through a projector."
• The Los Angeles Times: Theater's Front-Row Seat To Digital Future (Registration required)
I Want My Flat-Screen TV
Fancy cable TV boxes may be a couch potato's dream, but check this out: The furniture industry is seizing opportunities presented by the popularity of jumbo TVs. Reuters reported "with demand for the TVs growing, many furniture companies are looking to cash-in with armoirs and consoles that perfectly fit even a massive 60-inch screen. Prior to this year, the bulk of home entertainment centers were too expensive, too small or too wide for the sets. But flat-screen friendly is quickly becoming the norm. 'Most furniture companies have a flat-screen product now. They're everywhere,' said furniture analyst Keith Hughes of Suntrust Robinson Humphrey."
• Reuters: Flat-Screen TVs Spawn Remote Controlled Furniture
What Would Ziggy Think?
Rocker David Bowie is taking a novel approach to digital piracy. He "has invited fans to bootleg his music -- and he's offering prizes for the most creative theft. The musician's Web site urges fans to mix classic Bowie songs with material from his latest album, Reality, to create a 'mash-up' - a track that uses vocals from one song superimposed over the backing tracks of another. Developments in music software has made the technique long employed by record producers easily accessible to thousands of 'bedroom DJs' - a fact that has alarmed record companies battling for control of Internet music distribution. But Bowie, 57, was quoted as saying in Monday's editions of The Times newspaper that mash-ups were 'a great appropriation idea waiting to happen,'" the Canadian Press wrote, picking up on the report. "Being a hybrid maker off and on over the years, I'm very comfortable with the idea and have been the subject of quite a few pretty good mash-ups myself," The Times quoted Bowie as saying.
• Canadian Press via Canada.com: Take My Songs -- Please, Says Bowie • The Times of London: Just Steal My Greatest Hits, Says Bowie
Flat Sales = Fewer New Products?
Is the fascination with handheld computers finally wearing off? That might be one of the reasons why Palm has scaled back its line of new PDAs. Today's Wall Street Journal reported that "PalmOne Inc. will introduce two new hand-held computers Wednesday, in its first product offerings since spinning off its software division PalmSource Inc. last year. The two new hand-helds, dubbed the Zire 72 and Zire 31, are indicative of a new direction for palmOne. The Milpitas, Calif. company has often brought out three or more new hand-helds every spring, with high-end models as well as cheaper entry-level ones. But this time, the company is whittling down the number of new hand-helds it is offering to two and isn't offering any high-end devices. Indeed, palmOne is now devoting more resources to smartphones instead; it is expected to expand its Treo smartphone family later this year. Meanwhile, the new Zire 72 will cost $299 and the Zire 31 is priced at $149 and will be on store shelves starting this week. Both devices have color screens and some multimedia capabilities."
• The Wall Street Journal: PalmOne Offers 2 New Hand-Helds (Subscription 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.
