archives

o Liberate Beats Out Microsoft for AT&T Interactive TV Contract
o Napster Pushes New Service Launch Date to 'Before End of Year'
o Apple Wins Emmy Award for FireWire Networking Technology
o AtomShockwave Re-Launches Short Films and Game Sites
o Universal's GetMusic, RollingStone.com to Combine Operations
o Interactive Retail Broadcaster Ten Square Shuts Down
o Multimedia Entertainment Firm Stereo Vision Raises $24 Million
o Mobile Entertainment Technology Firm BlueFactory Raises $7 Million
> DMW Panel Discussion: Microsoft vs. AOL | August 30 | Virginia
> DMW Panel Discussion: iTV | Sept. 5 | New York
o Briefly Noted: DivX 4.0, $99 MP3 player, Texas Instruments -
PacketVideo, Linux4.tv, Sirius Satellite Radio - National Lampoon
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> Job Postings: Producer/Consultant, Sr. Business Strategist, Website
Design/Marketing, Director of Strategic Sales, Client Service Rep.,
Editor at Large

> Events/Services: "SHORTSPAN Film & Video Festival: SOUTHEAST Tour,
August 24- Sept. 22," "Digital Rights Management"

Full Job/Event/Services descriptions listed below "Briefly Noted" section
or at http://www.digitalmediawire.com/postings.html

To Post a Job: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html
To Post an Event/Service: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
_____________________________________________

o Liberate Beats Out Microsoft for AT&T Interactive TV Contract

San Carlos, Calif. -- Liberate Technologies, a provider of operating
system software for set-top boxes used to deliver interactive television
services, announced on Wednesday that it has signed a multi-year agreement
with AT&T to provide its software for the company's interactive TV
deployments. Liberate beat out Microsoft -- which offers similar software
-- for the contract. AT&T's HITS (Headend In The Sky) will begin offering
services in the fourth quarter of 2001 that will allow interactive content
to be broadcast over satellite to cable headends and transmitted to cable
customers who have Motorola set-top boxes running Liberate's software. The
initial iTV offerings will include news and information, enhanced TV and
interactive games, with cable operators having the option to upgrade to a
version that enables two-way services such as video on demand, interactive
advertising and e-commerce. The companies said the less-interactive
deployment will make it cheaper for cable providers to provide iTV to
viewers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010822/sfw038a_2.html
http://www.liberate.com
http://www.hits.com
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o Napster Pushes New Service Launch Date to 'Before End of Year'

Aspen, Colo. -- New Napster CEO Konrad Hilbers said that the company's new
subscription service for digital music would come online "by the end of
the year," the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. Both Napster and
Bertelsmann executives have up to now maintained that the service would
launch by the end of this summer; Hilbers made the comment at a summit of
high-tech executives in Aspen, Colorado. The delay will last as long as it
takes for the company to employ technology that effectively blocks
unauthorized copyrighted songs from being traded, and to finalize just how
the new paid system will work. "It is quite obvious that we are
challenging some of the music industry's business models, particularly on
the CD pricing with models that we are coming up with," Hilbers said.
Napster has been offline since July 2, when it voluntarily disabled the
service to fix technical problems with its song filters. Before it could
fix the problems, a court ruling stated it couldn't re-launch until the
filers were "100 percent effective." An appeals court ruling in favor of
Napster said it could resume file-trading, but since then the company
appears to have decided to wait until its paid service is ready to come
back online.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6946163.html?tag=mn_hd
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o Apple Wins Emmy Award for FireWire Networking Technology

Cupertino, Calif. -- Apple Computer announced on Wednesday that it has
received a 2001 Primetime Emmy Engineering Award from the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences for its FireWire technology's impact on the
TV industry. FireWire provides a high-speed connection between digital
camcorders and desktop and laptop PCs, allowing producers to quickly
transfer video from cameras to computers for editing. Invented in the
mid-90's, the technology invented by Cupertino-based Apple was introduced
to the market in 1999 and has since become an industry standard known as
IEEE 1394, which is used in many camcorders, cameras and rival PCs. The
technology provides 30 times the bandwidth of the USB standard, which is
now included on most manufactured PCs. "Apple enabled the desktop video
revolution with its invention of FireWire," said Jon Rubinstein, Apple's
senior vice president of hardware engineering. "Today, Apple builds
FireWire into every computer it sells."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010822/sfw061.html
http://www.apple.com/firewire/
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o AtomShockwave Re-Launches Short Films and Game Sites

San Francisco -- AtomShockwave, the company created by the merger of short
films site AtomFilms and software firm Macromedia's game site
Shockwave.com, announced on Wednesday that it has redesigned both of its
sites. The company also announced several new content deals and a new
advertising platform, on which it partnered with streaming services
provider IBeam and online ad firm Doubleclick. Ads will now stream before
all short films played on AtomFilms.com and all games played on
Shockwave.com. Additionally, AtomFilms will now host all of
Shockwave.com's animated shows, plus a new "extreme comedy" series
starring Jim Belushi and a live-action comedy starring Billy Bob Thornton.
San Francisco-based AtomShockwave has laid off approximately 150 employees
since the merger, and the sites have not provided as much content or
opportunities for interaction with the company. "We have taken some flack,
probably justifiably," said Scott Roesch, general manager and executive
producer for AtomShockwave, told IndieWire. "People got used to a level of
interaction with the company that we just couldn't sustain -- we had to
trim back on that -- we're trying to make sure going forward that we don't
bite off more than we can chew as a business."
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/212340058&ticker=
http://www.indiewire.com/film/biz/biz_010822_briefs.html
http://www.atomfilms.com
http://www.shockwave.com
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o Universal's GetMusic, RollingStone.com to Combine Operations

New York -- Vivendi Universal's online music entertainment sites GetMusic
and RollingStone.com will combine their operations and lay off a total of
40 employees, Webnoize reported on Wednesday. The layoffs account for
about 20 percent of the combined staffs, and will be felt most directly at
RollingStone.com's Chicago offices. Vivendi Universal recently acquired
BMG's stake in their joint venture, GetMusic, and took control of
RollingStone.com through its purchase of digital music retailer EMusic,
which acquired the site in February 2000. The combined headquarters for
GetMusic and RollingStone.com will be located in New York.
http://news.webnoize.com
http://www.getmusic.com 
http://www.rollingstone.com
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o Interactive Retail Broadcaster Ten Square Shuts Down

San Jose, Calif. -- Ten Square, a provider of interactive broadcasting
services, has shut down, VentureWire reported. The company was unable to
raise the $15 million fourth round it needed to expand its network, and
decided to liquidate its assets rather than lay off any more employees.
The company's technology delivers short interactive ads via
Internet-connected devices installed on gas pump terminals, ATMs and
vending machines.
http://www.tensquare.com
http://www.venturewire.com
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o Multimedia Entertainment Firm Stereo Vision Raises $24 Million

Beverly Hills, Calif. -- Stereo Vision, a multimedia entertainment holding
company, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $24 million from
Toronto-based investment banking firm Thomson Kernaghan. Beverly
Hills-based Stereo Vision has interests in 3-D and independent film
production and development as well as music production, publishing and
distribution. The company is pursuing opportunities in 3-D TV programming,
Internet content development, webcasting and satellite broadcasting
services.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010822/law026.html
http://www.stereovision.com
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o Mobile Entertainment Technology Firm BlueFactory Raises $7 Million

Stockholm -- BlueFactory, a developer of mobile entertainment enabling
software and wireless games, announced that it has raised $7 million in
its second round of venture capital financing. Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile
Venture Fund, Infocomm Investments and IT Provider participated in the
round. Stockholm-based BlueFactory's technology aids in the development
and distribution of wireless entertainment on the WAP, SMS, GPRS and
Bluetooth standards for wireless networks; it also designs a range of
games for these networks. BlueFactory will use the funds for product
development and marketing.
http://www.bluefactory.com
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> Digital Media Wire Presents a Panel Discussion:
"Microsoft vs. AOL: The Battle of the Internet Titans"

McLean, VA | Thursday, August 30th at The Ritz-Carlton, Tyson's Corner

This panel of journalists, policymakers and others will discuss the
increasing rivalry between these two monolithic companies -- and how their
competition will affect the development of the Internet for years to come.
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/DCbattle.html

MODERATOR:
Paul Sherman - Editor | Potomac Tech Wire

SPEAKERS:
Declan McCullagh - Washington Bureau Chief | Wired News
Edmund Sanders - Staff Writer | Los Angeles Times
***Additional Panelists TBA***

MEDIA SPONSOR: Potomac Tech Wire

For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/DCbattle.html
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire & iLounge Present a Panel Discussion:
"iTV: Defining the New Face of Television"

NYC | Wednesday, September 5th at the Verizon Headquarters

This panel of players ranging from content providers to middleware
developers will discuss the new face of television, which will include an
amalgam of services like email, IPGs (interactive program guides), PVRs
(personal video recorders), enhanced TV, etc., and what it means for
Hollywood, the tech industry and most importantly, the consumer.
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv.html

MODERATOR:
Lydia Loizides - Senior Analyst | Jupiter Media Metrix

SPEAKERS:
Sean Bratches - EVP, Affiliate Sales & Marketing | ESPN
Tim Larcombe - Regional President iTV, North America | AGENCY.com
David Nathanson - VP, Broadband Strategy & Channel Development | FOX
***Additional Panelists TBA***

SPONSOR: Verizon

For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(San Diego) DivXNetworks, a developer of video compression technology,
announced on Wednesday the official release of the latest version of its
codec. San Diego-based DivXNetworks claims that its DivX Version 4.0, an
MPEG 4-based codec, offers improved performance, faster encoding speed and
near-DVD quality playback of video transmitted on the Internet.
http://www.divxnetworks.com
http://www.divx.com/download

(Santa Clara, Calif.) Consumer electronics firm Sonicblue announced on
Wednesday the release of its $99 Rio One MP3 player. The device holds 32
MB of data -- or about an hour's worth of music. The price of the device
is evidence of the falling cost of Flash memory storage, which accounts
for a large portion of the device's expense.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010822/222101.html
http://www.riohome.com

(Dallas) Electronics manufacturer Texas Instruments announced on Wednesday
that it has partnered with wireless streaming video developer PacketVideo
to develop technology that will enable voice-activated games and video, as
well as 2D animation and other features on wireless devices. San
Diego-based PacketVideo and TI plan to release co-developed technology for
2.5 and 3G wireless networks to software developers in 2002.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010822/daw005.html
http://www.ti.com/sc/omap
http://www.packetvideo.com

(Santa Clara, Calif.) National Semiconductor and Century Embedded Software
announced on Wednesday the launch of Linux4.tv, a website that will
promote open-source projects -- including Century's -- for interactive TV
and advanced digital set-top boxes. Linux4.tv will host freely available
open-source software projects and applications for a variety of electronic
devices including broadcast and digital TV, Web browsing, gaming and
video-on-demand. Software available on the site will be designed for use
with National's chip and corresponding platform for set-top boxes.
http://www.linux4.tv
http://www.national.com
http://embedded.centurysoftware.com

(New York) Satellite-delivered digital music provider Sirius Satellite
Radio said on Wednesday that National Lampoon will provide comedy
programming for its subscription service. Content will include new
material as well as archived radio show performances from comedians
including Billy Crystal, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Gilda
Radner.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010822/nyw017_2.html
http://www.nationallampoon.com
http://www.siriusradio.com

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Job Postings:
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To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html

> Strategux, Producer/Consultant - Washington, DC

Strategux is seeking to add a producer to our growing team of experienced
architects. Versatile, multi-talented consultants with 3-5 years agency
experience in project leadership of large-scale web, brand, marketing &
design engagements, with emphasis on client services and consulting. Great
benefits, fun atmosphere. Send resumes to: cooljobs@strategux.com
http://www.strategux.com 
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> DF Consulting, Inc., Sr. Business Strategist - New York City

Contract Consultant needed with at least 4-5 years of business strategy
and planning or bizdev exp. working with either a cell phone manufacturer
or wireless telecommunications carrier. Applicants must be able to produce
case studies and references. A wide variety of bizdev/ business strategy
and planning disciplines related to wireless telecommunications is a plus.
Send resumes to: seisenberg@dfconsulting.com
http://www.dfconsulting.com
______________________

> InternetFuel.com, Website Design/Marketing - Los Angeles

We are a marketing firm looking for an experienced and motivated Webmaster
with a background in web and print design. You must have an excellent
working knowledge of Photoshop, HTML and JavaScript on a PC platform (Mac
available). Duties include: Webpage design & maintenance, online/print
advertising and creative marketing.
Send resumes to: jobs@internetfuel.com
http://www.internetfuel.com
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> National Hockey League, Director of Strategic Sales - New York City

Generate revenue via the sale of online advertising and sponsorships to
league sponsors and non-league prospects. The director will be required to
identify and create sales opportunities, follow up on targeted contacts
and close deals. Must have strong understanding of the Internet and
successful sales strategies, experience in sports and/or entertainment,
and demonstrated advertising sales and marketing accomplishments.
Send resumes to: knova@nhl.com
http://www.nhl.com
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> Verance, Client Service Rep. (Western Region) - Los Angeles

Responsible for the day-to-day servicing of the advertiser/agency client
base, which includes training clients in all aspects of utilizing the
various Media Information Group systems and product offerings, encoding
content, utilizing the website for registering content, producing and
understanding reports and utilizing these reports to further their
respective business. Minimum 3 years advertising industry-related
experience.
Send resumes to: jobs@verance.com
http://www.verance.com
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> CNET Networks, Editor at Large - San Francisco

This newsroom leader is expected to write an average of 1-3 stories per
day if needed, and on a more analytical & exclusive basis than the average
reporter's assignment. Other duties include proposing and writing Special
Reports, news analyses, features and investigative stories. This position
also plays a key role at budget meetings, performs editing functions as
needed and serves as a mentor for less experienced reporters.
Send resumes to: careers@cnet.com and seanl@cnet.com
http://www.cnet.com

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Events/Services Postings:
===================================================
To Post Events/Services: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html

> SHORTSPAN Film & Video Festival, SOUTHEAST Tour, Aug. 24 - Sept. 22

SHORT MOVIES! Dreamspan presents the 9TH Annual Short Attention Span Film & Video Festival. Shortspan is a non-stop two hour program of ALL NEW
two-minute-or-shorter films, including ultra-short documentaries like
"Peekaboo Sunday," a story about raising miniature horses or "Exotic
World," an inside look at the lives of some of America's first burlesque
performers-- and 57 more shorts! The tour will travel to 30 North American
cities. Southeastern tour dates include:

ATLANTA, GA: The Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center - August 24th - 8PM
ATHENS, GA: The Georgia Museum of Art - September 5 th - 7:30PM
ATLANTA, GA: Cinefest Theatre- September 14th and 15th - 9PM/12PM
ATHENS, GA: The Georgia Theater - September 18th - 10PM
SAVANNAH, GA: Trustee's Theater - September 20 th - 9PM
GAINSVILLE, FL: The University of Florida - September 22nd

More info: http://www.dreamspan.com/shortspan
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> Digital Rights Management, September 20-21 - New York City

DRM for Sports, Media & Entertainment -- Learn How To Monetize & Protect
Content, Digital Assets & Intellectual Property. Featuring Forecasts, Case
Studies & Strategies from: AOL Time Warner, Sony Music, NY Times, National
Hockey League, A&E Networks, Microsoft Corporation, BET, Artisan,
Reciprocal, IBM, NASCAR Digital Entertainment and many more!
Contact dmitry@worldrg.com -- mention this ad for a special discount!
http://www.DRMconference.com
______________________

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