Issue 10, Volume 3

Apologies for the late ‘to press’ here but I was on pins and needles all day awaiting the Anna Nicole DNA results and was distracted. Whew! I am so relived it is all over and we can rest assured little baby =(uh, actually I forget its name) will be well cared for.  Okay that really hurt to write as I felt a drop in IQ points as I wrote it. I also feel really dirty and not in that good way.

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* Wifi*

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Wireless — Brush Up on Your Bluetooth

But while voice is probably the most common use for Bluetooth, it can also be used for many other things, including data networking. In some respects, Bluetooth is similar to Wi-Fi — in fact, both use the same 2.4 GHz frequencies — but Wi-Fi is a relatively long-range technology, while Bluetooth is designed to be used over comparatively short distances. For example, Bluetooth can be an ideal way to link a PDA or smartphone to your laptop, so you can do things such as synchronize PIM data, transfer files, or share an Internet connection, all without a cable.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/032907bluetooth.htm

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T6 Commentary:  Most of us think of Bluetooth in limited functions such as the cell phone headset connection or maybe a printer connection, it can be used for so much more. My eyes were opened by an associate who stayed late one night to get his Bluetooth enabled MP3 capable phone to connect to his computers music files. This was cool enough and sounded decent-(it was a mid-priced Motorola phone, so how much was I expecting?)- then provided a link via the Windows media player to an early version of the Crestron AAS hard disc player.  Now that was something to think about. As for the distance limitations, does no one recall the Blue tooth Sniper mentioned in Volume one issue 4 of T6?   à http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4599106   

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In-Home Cellular Boosters Get Boost

Wi-EX and Samsung have announced products that boost indoor cellular coverage, each in markedly different ways.

Atlanta-based Wi-EX has unveiled a pair of indoor cellular-signal boosters, and Samsung has unveiled Ubicell-branded femtocells, which are essentially low-power cell sites scaled down to book size.

A 50-milliwatt in-home femtocell communicates via cellular spectrum to a cellphone within a 5,000-square-foot area. Within that range, a cellular conversation is routed over an Ethernet-connected broadband modem, traveling via the Internet to a carrier-operated “soft switch”

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6431468.html

T6 Commentary:  While the initial market for this device is the person who only has a cell phone and has dispensed with the landline or even VoIP, I see this as an entry product for in home distribution systems ala WiMax. With support for UMA and support from the Sprint \ Nextel consortium the possibilities to support video distribution via WiMax beyond mobile devices is huge. Just as the cable companies wanted in on the phone companies telecom market and the phone companies wanted in on cable media distribution market; so the wireless companies want in on both of the former. Indeed this would be a consumer paradigm shift requiring great infrastructure changes, but the wireless companies can afford to build slowly.  The mobile media market is simply exploding (yet again I call the Phil Swann inverse square rule into effect). Look for Wifi manufactures and Cell device manufactures to start developing cross standard devices and finally to attempt bold encroachment into one another’s core markets.   

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* Format Wars *

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Porn Will NOT Determine HDTV DVD War

If the porn industry wanted to break the logjam of HD-DVD and Blu-ray, it could," Forrester Research's James Mr McQuivey tells Reuters. "If they said 'We are going to go with HD-DVD' you would see a few million homes immediately go out and buy HD-DVD players. They have that power."

http://www.tvpredictions.com/forum/comments.php?y=07&m=04&entry=entry070409-143959

T6 commentary:  I have often stated that I presumed the adult film industry could turn the tide in favor of one format.  So far it appears Sony and the Blu-Ray consortium are a bit bi-polar on the issue of will they or won’t they allow the pressing of adult films on Blu-Ray format.  The one sided alliance the adult film industry has with HD-DVD has not seemed to help the format’s prospect at all. The article quoted above has changed my mind on the situation and I now agree that Porn will not be a factor –(or nearly so powerful as some may think) for the two reasons stated:

1. Adult content is readily accessible over the Internet – despite ICANN noting that it only makes up 1% of total Internet content.

2. There are far more options for viewing any movie not just one of two formats as it was in the early 80’s.

This is not your father’s format war. My only consideration that the adult industry may have some influence is the relative anonymity a physical format provides. You buy the disc once and usually without much record of title or type,  if you purchase at a traditional brick and mortar store.  On the Internet your every move can be traced and stored for further examination and collation, this is true for your purchase at Amazon or some live feed site.

What we should focus on is the full bore acceptance of fee based IPTV-type distribution  and it is the adult industry that has shown a proven profit model.  As stated here and by other pundits, the war over a physical format may well be much ado about nuttin.

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*H\DTV *

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Celebrities In HD: You're So Vain 

Apparently scared silly by the introduction of High-Definition TV, which is so clear that it can expose the smallest facial flaw, some TV stars are now hiding behind special camera filters and other tricks of the trade.

The effect is to soften the realistic HD image so the on-air talent will look younger and appear to have fewer facial imperfections.

For years, we've softened the image for certain performers," the executive said in an e-mail interview. "To do so in HD is just a continuation of that."

http://www.tvpredictions.com/forum/

T6 commentary: I can find some sympathy with Swanni's oft-stated presumption that HDTV will bring down the unrealistic expectations of beauty and youth the mass media presents us with. It can be harsh to compare ones' self with un attainable beauty the airbrushed magazines and TV shows present - especially the pressure it forces upon young women.

This general agreement being stated do we really want a Logan's Run effect in TV and Movies? Should the new standard be 'if your over thirty find another career - like Radio'? HD is a great advance but do I really need to see EVERYTHING to the minute detail? When multi-track digital recorders started to become standard in recording studios a similar 'filtering' was introduced -(and still is on 90% of the final mixdowns). Every single studio purchased gobs of processing gear to insert effects, which reproduced the 'harsh' sound of tape saturation and 2nd order harmonic distortion. Compared side-to-side most still choose the altered version as more 'musical'. 

I personally suspect that as HD becomes the only format available, most people will not find it disturbing to see a slight degradation in detail on certain shots. Even more so, I suspect we will all become accustomed to it and view the facial softening as ‘appealing‘. The 'golden eyes' among us will decry this as accommodating the least common denominator and making HD no better then NTSC. Yes, just as the fidelity of MP3's or even FlACKK or PCM is far worse then the best analog recordings- VERY few truly consider it enough to invest in taking up hard disc space or in the price of better codec's. (Again purists will howl- but such is the harsh reality of ubiquitous market saturation).

How small a pool of 'talent' are you willing to choose from ?
HD will shorten the careers of nearly all actors - present and future- and minimize the already small number of people who are 'acceptable' for such work. Think of any classic leading man or character actor from the past - 90% would be unacceptable to work on straight HD without some form of filtering. The loss of talent and new perspectives can be detrimental to the craft. Not that all beautiful people are lousy actors or dimwitted, nor are the less then stellar among us.

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* New Media *

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Dell stops selling Axim handheld

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The Axim X51 family is no longer being offered, and we have no plans for a follow-on product at this time," Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden said in an e-mail. Camden noted that the company does sell handhelds from other makers on its Web site, including GPS devices and smart phones.

http://news.com.com/Dell+stops+selling+Axim+handheld/2100-1041_3-6174546.html

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T6 Commentary: More proof the PDA revolution’s death throes will be witnessed by the mobile the content generations millions. Statistics have long showed a decline in PDA sales with marked favor towards the cell phone organizer\ Media player, of which the iPhone is only a glam’d up media darling version of. What is of major interest here is the admittedly  small number of who uber geek’d out their PDA’s to be the email machine AND the HOME REMOTES are now turning to mobile windows\cell  platforms. I will grant you that initially  the numbers will be as small as the PDA users for awhile, but as home automation becomes the growth industry Intel, Microsoft and the Wall Street Journal _( not to mention a plethora of small market start ups) _ predict it will be, this type of interface will become a defacto standard.  This is not futurist treatise or a one shot 1950’s popular science cover story, the number of companies supporting and planning to utilize such an ubiquitous tool grows with each new phone, iTunes user or mobile video subscriber. 

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VESA approves DisplayPort 1.1: kiss those DVI and VGA ports goodbye

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the DisplayPort 1.1 specification was just approved. The new VESA-approved digital interface standard is meant to replace DVI and VGA ports while co-existing with HDMI for HDTV connectivity. As you can see in the picture above, it's about the size of a USB connector yet offers 2x the performance of DVI in a much smaller package. They also bake in a nasty dollop of HDCP 1.3 content protection to keep the Blu-ray and HD DVD kiddies happy

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/04/vesa-approves-displayport-1-1-kiss-those-dvi-and-vga-ports-good/

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T6 Commentary: I thought about including this under the ‘format war’ heading but the lack of industry discord is not really present.  To bad, it could be kind of fun to watch –(while I could foresee an industry stunting battle for market recognition and dominance, which in the short run is bad for the manufactures and integrators- hey, I am a passionate hockey fan and love a good fight. Plus with the Stanley Cup playoffs upon us the lady bing play is now at hand so I need to find rancor where I can. I really think I am going to miss watching Sean Avery mix it up).  For more on the standard see the VESA info at http://www.vesa.org/press/displayportaug.htm

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* Tech Arcane *

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Mix and Record Music onto your iPod

Belkin's TuneStudio for iPod 5th generation (video) is the first 4-channel audio mixer that lets you create high-quality digital recordings directly onto your iPod. This mixer allows the input of up to four different instruments or audio sources, and records the audio onto your iPod for instant playback.

http://www.belkin.com/tunestudio/#

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T6 Commentary: I am not sure what to make of this except to say the device has become a part of damn nearly every AV market sector.  Yeah, I’d buy it and use it till the knobs dropped off – then use pliers to tweak where the knobs once were to use it more.

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Check out T6’s ‘Culture Corner’ with links to bands you should know and Inspired technical links from those who inspire me.

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Does anyone actually read the liner notes? Let me know, the comments section of T6 is now open.  At the end of every issue find the Comments link.

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All quoted material is the copyright of the respective sites and \ or authors- except were noted or comments are clearly mine.

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All t6 commentary opinions expressed are mine alone and are not necessarily those of Crestron Electronics, its employees, associates or even their families. Just my big mouth