archives

o Yahoo President and COO to Step Down
o Analysts Speculate on Microsoft Transforming Xbox into "HomeStation"
o Report: Western European Streaming Market Worth $200 Million by 2006
o Boeing Partners with Creative Artists Agency on Digital Cinema Venture
o Briefly Noted: XM Satellite Radio - General Motors, Thomson multimedia -
Intertainer, Radio Free Virgin - Loudeye, Wikipedia, Independent Movie
Database, Toshiba - 1.8" 20GB hard drive, Universal Interactive - "The
Incredible Hulk," Hiwire - Web radio firms, Digital World Services, "Music
in the Age of Free Distribution: MP3 and Society," Philips - wireless home
network security
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o Yahoo President and COO to Step Down

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo announced on Wednesday that company president
and chief operating officer Jeff Mallett will step down from his position
in April, to spend more time with family and pursue other business
interests. "For the past seven years, Jeff has worked tirelessly to help
build Yahoo into a powerful, global franchise, said Yahoo CEO Terry Semel.
"One of Jeff's greatest contributions has been helping assemble the
leading team that will carry Yahoo into its next phase of development."
Mallett's resignation adds to a string of changes to Yahoo's management
team over the past year, including the departure of former CEO Tim Koogle,
SVP of Media David Graves, CFO Gary Valenzuela, marketing head Karen
Edwards and former head of business development Ellen Siminoff. Yahoo did
not announce plans for a successor for Mallett.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020116/160361_1.html
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o Analysts Speculate on Microsoft Transforming Xbox into "HomeStation"

San Francisco -- CNET on Monday reported on speculation among industry
analysts that Microsoft has plans to transform its Xbox video game console
into a device called the "HomeStation," which would offer additional
functionality like DVD playback, email, Web browsing and a digital video
recorder. Richard Doherty of The Envisioneering Group told CNET the
product was supposed to be introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show
last week, but will likely come out by this fall. Prudential analyst Hans
Mosesmann said of the Xbox, "It's basically a PC; it has DVD capability.
You would just add some connectivity there, a bigger hard drive, some
video recording software, some Bluetooth -- and voila, you've got
something that can be marketed as something else." Analyst Matt Rosoff of
research firm Directions did not concur with the speculation. "I don't
think they're going to make any major revisions to the Xbox for the next
12 to 18 months, as far as a bigger hard drive or more memory," he said.
"And I don't envision them putting out an entirely new product in the next
few years -- it just doesn't make sense."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-8495172.html?tag=mn_hd
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o Report: Western European Streaming Market Worth $200 Million by 2006

Cambridge, U.K. -- The market for providing streaming media services to
businesses in Western Europe will grow from $25 million last year to $200
million by 2006, according to research published Wednesday by U.K.-based
analyst firm Analysys. Revenue from services such as webcasting financial
results and other corporate announcements is expected to grow by 90
percent a year, according to the report.
http://www.analysys.com/Articles/StandardArticle.asp?iLeftArticle=955
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o Boeing Partners with Creative Artists Agency on Digital Cinema Venture

Los Angeles -- Boeing Digital Cinema, a division of Boeing that is
developing a system to deliver first-run movies and other content to movie
theatres via satellite and fiber-optic networks, said that it has enlisted
Los Angeles-based talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to consult
on the service. CAA will counsel Boeing on the business strategy and
marketing of Boeing Digital Cinema, including content programming, price
structuring and alliance building. In addition to movies, Boeing Digital
Cinema will offer theatres equipped with the necessary hardware the option
of programming concerts, sporting and corporate events, movie trailers,
advertising and educational programming.
http://www.hsc.com/cinema/cinema_press/02_01_14_caa.html
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020116/en/boeing_digital_cinema_3.html
http://www.caa.com
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Which Developers Made the Best Games in 2001?

Find out at the Game Developers Choice Awards: Nominations open now at
http://www.igda.org/awards

Presented by the International Game Developers Association at the Game
Developers Conference, the Game Developers Choice Awards celebrate games
for their innovations and artistic merit. Recognition is given to
individuals and teams responsible for groundbreaking endeavors in game
development.

All qualified game developers are eligible to make nominations by Friday,
February 9 at http://www.igda.org/awards

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o Briefly Noted:

(Washington, D.C.) XM Satellite Radio, an operator of a national satellite
radio service, announced that carmaker General Motors will offer the
company's radios as an option in 23 models beginning this fall. The
company is currently offering XM radios in only two models. GM said that
customers financing the purchase of their car through GMAC will be able to
include the XM subscription in their car payments. XM Satellite Radio
provides 100 digital channels for $9.99 a month.
http://media.gm.com/news/releases/020114_xm.html

(Paris) Thomson multimedia, a developer of digital video products and
services, announced on Wednesday that it will incorporate Internet-based
video-on-demand provider Intertainer's content and delivery service on a
new digital set-top box. The DSL or cable modem-connected device connects
to a TV and will be able to access the Internet, email, and Intertainer
and MSN content in addition to other entertainment and data services.
Culver City-based Intertainer offers more than 70,000 hours of content
from major film and TV companies. Thomson recently announced a deal to
provide digital set-top boxes to satellite TV firm EchoStar.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020116/162427_1.html
http://www.intertainer.tv
http://www.thomson-multimedia.com

(Seattle) Radio Free Virgin, a network of staff-programmed Web radio
stations owned by Virgin Audio Holdings, announced on Wednesday that it
will use Seattle-based Loudeye's streaming media ad insertion technology
and advertising sales services. "We were seeking a solution for generating
revenue that worked with our current infrastructure and chose Loudeye
based on the strength of their technology, and experience of their sales
team," said Zack Zalon, general manager of Radio Free Virgin.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020116/sfw026_1.html
http://www.radiofreevirgin.com
http://www.loudeye.com

(San Diego) Wikipedia, a collaborative, Web-based free encyclopedia
project that encourages users to create and edit entries, announced that
it has compiled 20,000 entries in its first year of existence. The
creators of the Wikipedia estimate that 200 contributors are working on
the project daily. It is released under the GNU Free Documentation
License, which ensures that anyone may reuse the entries on the site in
any way they wish, including commercially, as long as they too preserve
that right in their own versions.
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

(Seattle) The Independent Movie Database (IMDB), an online database owned
by Amazon.com that contains information on movies and the film industry,
announced on Wednesday the launch of a subscription service for industry
professionals. For $12.95 per month, IMDbPro.com subscribers will get
access to market research tools based on IMDB data, box office reports, a
calendar of releases, festivals and industry events and an ad-free version
of the company's database of 300,000 movies and 1 million actors.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020116/162119_1.html
http://www.imdb.com

(Irvine, Calif.) Consumer electronics manufacturer Toshiba announced on
Wednesday that it has developed new small (1.8") hard drives with
capacities of 10GB and 20GB. The drives will be marketed as a means of
increasing the storage capacity of devices like portable MP3 players,
digital video cameras, digital cameras, and portable PCs and PDAs. Toshiba
did not provide pricing details for the drives, will begin shipping in
March.
http://www.toshiba.com/taecdpd/news/press44.shtml

(Universal City, Calif.) Universal Interactive, a subsidiary of Vivendi
Universal that develops and publishes of video games, said on Wednesday
that it has signed an agreement with Marvel Characters for the rights to
create video games based on the "Incredible Hulk" comic book character.
Universal Interactive did not provide titles, platform information or
release dates for any Incredible Hulk games. Marvel yesterday licensed
game rights for its "Daredevil" character to Encore Software.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020116/law033_1.html
http://www.universalinteractive.com
http://www.marvel.com/comics/bios/bio_hulk.htm

(Los Angeles) Los Angeles-based Hiwire, a provider of ad sales services
for streaming media, said on Wednesday that it will provide ad sales for
online radio sites Live365, Beethoven.com, SurferNetwork and StreamAudio,
a firm that provides streaming ad insertion services to broadcasting
groups including Cox Radio.
http://www.hiwire.com

(New York) Digital World Services, a Bertelsmann subsidiary that offers
digital rights management services, said on Wednesday that CEO Johann
Butting is leaving the company to pursue a New York-based start-up. Former
chief operating officer Arni Sigurdsson has been named as the company's
new CEO. New York-based Digital World Services provides security
technology for the digital distribution of music, books, software and
games.
http://www.dwsco.com

(Chicago) First Monday, a peer-reviewed online journal, recently published
a lengthy article entitled, "Music in the Age of Free Distribution: MP3
and Society." The article examines "the MP3 phenomenon" as a part of
ongoing challenges to the music industry's status quo, in addition to its
role "as a part of the cultural transformation that the Internet
'explosion' produces on a global scale."
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_1/kasaras/

(Las Vegas) The EE Times, an industry publication for engineers, reported
that Philips Semiconductors is working with other manufacturers to develop
a copy-protection and digital rights management standard that would be
used for TVs and other devices connected by a wireless home network.
Negotiations between Philips and Sony, Samsung, Cisco and Thomson
multimedia are aimed at stemming concerns from Hollywood that these
"floating" re-broadcasts could be pirated, by creating a standard for
security measures before wireless home networks are widely adopted. Cisco,
Thomson and the 5C Entity are among those developing such security
technologies.
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020111S0060
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Larta Panel Session -- Jan. 24 @ USC
"Digital Cinema: Hollywood's Emerging Challenge"

Speakers for this discussion at The Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital
Arts at USC will include Dean Elizabeth Daley of the USC School of Cinema
and Television, Bob Dowling, Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, Ken
Williams, President, Technicolor Digital Cinema, Michael Karagosian,
Digital Cinema Consultant and other leading executives.

For more information:
http://www.larta.org/Research/HollywoodUnstrung.asp
______________________

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Register as a provider in the Digital Media Directory at
http://digitalmediawire.newmediary.com/dmw111301nl
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