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Main Stories
o Philips to Offer Music Playback, Security Technology to Internet Retailers
o Shares of TiVo Plunge on Concerns Over DirecTV Relationship
o Motorola, Nintendo Developing Wireless Accessory for Game Boy Advance
o Vivendi Delays "Half-Life 2" Game; Still Expects Holiday Release
o Philips Researchers Develop E-Paper Capable of Displaying Video
o Nintendo to Begin Selling GameCube in China in October
o Report: 55 Million SMS Messages Sent Daily in U.K.
o Reuters Plans to Sell Yankee Group and TowerGroup
o Report: Spain Has Highest Broadband Penetration in Europe

o Briefly Noted: Electronic Arts - NASCAR, RealNetworks - Muze - Asian mobile operators, IBiquity Digital - Kenwood, SunnComm, Sirius Satellite Radio - Pana-Pacific, Coding Technologies - SK Telecom, National Lampoon - TalentMatch.com, Disney Interactive - Square Enix - "Kingdom Hearts," Vivendi Universal Games - "Red Ninja: End of Honor," Konami - Langer Juice Company, French wedding webcasts

 Amsterdam -- Philips Electronics said on Friday that it is developing digital music playback and security technologies that it will offer to online music retailers, Reuters reported. "We are in discussions with parties that want to develop music download sites," Philips' Larry Blanford told Reuters. Philips also said it will not support Microsoft's Windows Media technology in its music initiatives, with Blanford adding, "we need a technology that works, that is available to everyone, managed in a fair way and not constrained to any particular group." http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3515236  http://www.philipsusa.com
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o Shares of TiVo Plunge on Concerns Over DirecTV Relationship

Alviso, Calif. -- Shares of TiVo, a provider of television services for digital video recorders, fell nearly 17% on Thursday amid rumors that DirecTV plans to drop the company's service if acquired by News Corp. In a note published on Thursday morning, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Jeff Goverman called News Corp.'s commitment to TiVo "questionable," and pointed out that News Corp.'s BSkyB European satellite service once partnered with TiVo before becoming a competitor. TiVo, however, said that it had a close relationship with DirecTV and expects the relationship to continue. Nearly half of TiVo's 800,000 subscribers come through DirecTV.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X5B362306 
http://finance.yahoo.com/mp#tivo
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o Motorola, Nintendo Developing Wireless Accessory for Game Boy Advance

Tokyo -- Motorola's semiconductor unit and Japanese video games firm Nintendo on Friday announced a partnership to develop an advanced wireless adapter accessory for use with Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP handheld gaming devices. The device, which allows up to five players to engage in multiplayer gaming, will be launched in Japan in the first half of 2004, in conjunction with the release of game titles "Pokemon FireRed" and "Pokemon LeafGreen."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030926/nyf027_1.html
http://www.motorola.com
http://www.nintendo.com
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o Vivendi Delays "Half-Life 2" Game; Still Expects Holiday Release

Los Angeles -- Vivendi Universal Games said on Friday that Bellevue, Wash.-based game developer Valve Software's highly-anticipated game, "Half-Life 2," will not come out on Tuesday as originally announced. However, Valve said it still expects the game -- one of the most popular attractions at the E3 video game convention in May -- to be released in stores during the holiday shopping season.
http://www.vugames.com
http://www.valvesoftware.com
http://www.planethalflife.com/half-life2
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o Philips Researchers Develop E-Paper Capable of Displaying Video

Eindhoven, the Netherlands -- Scientists at Philips Research in the Netherlands say they have developed a form of electronic paper (e-paper) that can manipulate the fluid residing within the substance's many tiny cells fast enough and with enough accuracy to display video. They call the process "electrowetting." "We demonstrate a colour concept, which is intrinsically four times brighter than reflective liquid-crystal displays and twice as bright as other emerging technologies," the researchers wrote, in the scientific journal Nature. The flexible e-paper has many possible applications, including wearable computer screens.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?G28E45506
http://www.research.philips.com
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3501449
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o Nintendo to Begin Selling GameCube in China in October

Tokyo -- Nintendo announced on Thursday that it plans to start selling its GameCube video game console in China next month, delivering the news shortly after cutting the price of the GameCube in the U.S. to $99. "We hope to see this market grow bigger than Japan, the United States or Europe," a Nintendo spokesman said, although the company did not set any sales goals for China. The Japanese video game company has seen sluggish sales for the GameCube, which is in third place worldwide behind Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox. Nintendo even halted production of new GameCubes due to a surplus on retailers' shelves, but said Thursday that it will pick up production again in the fall, Reuters reported.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=3504171
http://www.nintendo.com
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o Report: 55 Million SMS Messages Sent Daily in U.K.

London -- According to figures released on Friday by the Mobile Data Association (MDA), a daily average of 55 million chargeable, person-to-person text messages were sent in the U.K. in August. The figures reflect the steady growth of the SMS market: About 34 million messages were sent daily in August 2001, while roughly 45 million were sent in the same month last year. August's numbers takesthe cumulative total for this year to 13.3 billion, the MDA said. The organization predicts that, by year's end, some 20 billion SMS messages will have been sent in the U.K. http://www.mda-mobiledata.org
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o Reuters Plans to Sell Yankee Group and TowerGroup

Boston and Needham, Mass. -- Financial news and information provider Reuters announced that it plans to sell two Massachusetts-based research subsidiaries, TowerGroup and Yankee Group, as it continues efforts to focus on its core business. "Reuters is undergoing a significant transformation of its business and in order to focus fully on this initiative we are divesting noncore assets, which at this time include TowerGroup and Yankee Group," the company said. Reuters acquired TowerGroup, a research firm for the financial services industry that has 72 employees, in 1999, and Yankee Group, a technology research and consulting firm that employs 165, in 2000.
http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=10027
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o Report: Spain Has Highest Broadband Penetration in Europe

Madrid -- According to Jupiter Research's latest findings, Spain boasts the highest percentage of households in Europe with broadband Internet connections -- 37% in 2002. The report may be something of a surprise for many analysts since Spain currently has the highest basic monthly fee in the region. Moreover, Jupiter Research predicts that Spain's current 1 million broadband households will increase to 4 million -- a whopping 67% of the country's total population -- by 2008. By contrast, only 8% of Italy's households enjoy broadband Internet connections. http://www.jup.com

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(Redwood City, Calif.) Video game developer Electronic Arts announced on Friday that it has signed an agreement with NASCAR to become the exclusive developer, publisher and distributor of NASCAR-branded interactive racing games through 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed. Last week, Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts shipped its "NASCAR Thunder 2004" title, which features NASCAR Winston Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart as cover athlete. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030926/265101_1.html
http://www.ea.com
http://www.nascar.com

(Seattle) RealNetworks, a provider of media delivery technology, announced this week that is has licensed New York-based Muze's informational database containing information on 260,000 albums and over 2 million songs for use with its Rhapsody digital music subscription service, as well as in the company's RealOne Player. Separately, Seattle-based RealNetworks announced that two Asian wireless carriers -- MobileOne Ltd. of Singapore and PT Indosat Multimedia Mobile of Indonesia -- have licensed its Helix mobile technology, used to deliver audio and video services to customers' multimedia-enabled cell phones and wireless devices.
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/030923/057839.html  http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030923/sftu071b_1.html
http://www.real.com
http://www.muze.com

(Columbia, Md.) IBiquity Digital, a developer of HD Radio technology that lets radio stations broadcast a digital signal alongside their analog signals, announced on Friday that consumer electronics firm Kenwood has delivered the first commercial production run of 1,000 KTC-HR100 HD Radio Tuners. Maryland-based IBiquity said it will begin taking pre-orders for the devices from broadcasters next week at the NAB Radio Show, and expects retail availability of the devices in time for the Consumer Electronics Show in January. http://www.kenwoodusa.com
http://www.ibiquity.com

(Phoenix, Ariz.) SunnComm, a developer of CD copy-protection technology, announced on Friday that it has entered into new licensing and revenue agreements with Atlanta-based ON4 Productions, Houston-based mXm Records, and Arizona-based Steve Myland Publishing for its MediaMax CD-3 technology. Arizona-based SunnComm's technology was recently used on major record label BMG's first copy-protected commercial CD release in the U.S. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030926/265116_1.html
http://www.sunncomm.com

(New York) Sirius Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite-delivered digital radio programming, has partnered with Pana-Pacific, a provider of electronics to the commercial and off-road vehicle market, to offer the Streamer, a new satellite radio receiver designed with truckers in mind. The device features an extra large display, large controls designed for gloved hands, and a satellite-updated alarm clock with sleep timer. Sirius and Pana-Pacific will jointly market the $109 receiver at truck dealers and truck stops. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030925/nyth024_1.html  http://www.siriusradio.com
http://www.panapacific.com

(Mountain View, Calif.) Coding Technologies, a provider of audio compression technologies for mobile, digital broadcasting and the Internet, said that South Korean wireless carrier SK Telecom will be the first to deploy its aacPlus audio codec into SK's 3G content service offerings. SK currently provides video-on-demand and music-on-demand services to one million subscribers in South Korea. The companies said they expect aacPlus to reduce download costs for subscribers and operating costs for SK Telecom, and that handsets supporting aacPlus support are currently in development.
http://www.sktelecom.com
http://www.codingtechnologies.com

(Seattle) National Lampoon has partnered with TalentMatch.com, a site for aspiring comics, actors, directors, writers, musicians and models, and will surmise the 60,000-member community for possible casting in upcoming TV, film, radio, Internet and live entertainment projects. Seattle-based TalentMatch.com said it will also take advantage of National Lampoon's reach to 4.6 million college students through its campus cable network to cull potential new talent. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030924/245546_1.html  http://www.nationallampoon.com
http://www.talentmatch.com

(Los Angeles) Game publisher Disney Interactive announced on Friday that it will once again partner with Japanese developer Square Enix to create two sequels to their "Kingdom Hearts" game, which features a range of Disney characters. "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Melodies" for Game Boy Advance is slated for release in Japan in 2004, followed by North America and Europe; the companies did not provide a release date for "Kingdom Hearts II" for PlayStation 2. The original "Kingdom Hearts" title has sold 3.3 million units to date worldwide. http://www.disneyinteractive.com
http://www.square-enix.co.jp

(Tokyo) Vivendi Universal Games on Friday announced the development of "Red Ninja: End of Honor" for PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. Developed by Tranji, a new studio formed by the Japanese developers New Corporation and Opus, the game will feature a story written by famed Japanese feature film director, Shinsuke Sato. The title is scheduled for release in the fall of 2004. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030925/lath003b_1.html
http://redninjagame.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Konami of America, the U.S. unit of the Japanese video game publisher, has partnered with the Langer Juice Company to promote the release of its "Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand" title for Nintendo Game Boy Advance. The game is the first to utilize natural sunlight -- via a solar sensor on the game cartridge -- as a part of gameplay. The Langer-Boktai Sweepstakes will be specially marked on over 1 million juice bottles, and will send the winner for a week's holiday to sunny Hawaii http://www.konami.com/usa/press/langers092203.html
http://www.langers.com

(Montbeliard, France) The Montbeliard City Hall will offer live webcasts of civil wedding ceremonies, according to Agence France-Presse. It's not exactly streaming video, as images will be transmitted every three seconds, but officials say it will give those unable to attend a way to be a part of the ceremony. Of course, those who don't want millions of voyeurs to watch their ceremony can decline.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S3F724406

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