Daniel dos Reis » Broadband

Microsoft To Offer TV Shows, Movies Through Xbox Live

Daniel — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 08:53:05 +0000

Round Nr. 2 in the battle for the Multimedia Home Center Entertainment Market. That’s not a surprise that Microsoft starts to offer Video on Demand content. The Xbox360 is more than a simple Video Gamng System.

Microsoft Corp. has teamed up with a handful of Hollywood studios to sell TV shows and movies that can be downloaded through the software maker’s Xbox Live online video-game service and beamed straight onto television sets

The programming — most of it in standard-definition format and some in high-definition — will be available through the Xbox 360 console to any user of Xbox Live’s free or paid online service, which allows gamers with broadband connections to send text or voice messages to each other, and watch movie trailers and other product demonstrations.

Source: NBC10.com – Entertainment – Microsoft To Offer TV Shows, Movies Through Xbox Live

European telecoms | Swamp things | Economist.com Article

Daniel — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 09:04:13 +0000

Short Economist (European telecoms) article with a snapshot of the telecommunication industry in europe.

DivX Stage6 – Video Portal (High-Quality Streams)

Daniel — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:39:20 +0000

Keep an Eye on DivX Stage6. The quality of the video streams is absolutely amazing. Check it out! One thing worth mentioning: You have to install a plugin called “divx web player”.

Google-Mart – What’s Google’s Strategy?

Daniel — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 09:19:30 +0000

Google ist eine dieser Erfolgsstories eines Startup Unternehmens das die Internet Welt im Sturm erobert. Mit einem BÃ¶rsenwert von Ã¼ber 110 Mrd. US-Dollar ist Google mittlerweile mehr Wert als Coca-Cola, Time Warner oder gar Cisco. Und es sieht auch nicht danach aus, als wÃ¼rde sich das Wachstum in nÃ¤chste Zeit dramatisch abschwÃ¤chen. Die Frage die sich stellt: Welche Strategie verfolgt Google? Was sind Google’s Ziele? Wie positioniert sich Google fÃ¼r neue Dienste wie Video on Demand? etc.
Eine mÃ¶gliche Antwort wo die Reise hingehen kann, gibt der folgende Artikel: PBS | I, Cringely . November 17, 2005 – Google-Mart

So why buy-up all that fiber, then?

The probable answer lies in one of Google’s underground parking garages in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn’t just any shipping container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We’re talking about 5000 Opteron processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid.

While Google could put these containers anywhere, it makes the most sense to place them at Internet peering points, of which there are about 300 worldwide.

Die Wachstums Industrie der Zukunft? Videospiele!

Daniel — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 21:39:08 +0000

Bei Businessweek gibt es einen aktuellen Artikel zu einer PWC Studie die den globalen Media Entertainment Markt untersucht. Hier die wichtigsten Informationen aus dem Artikel:

The global video game market, according to PWC, will increase from $25.4 billion in revenue in 2004 to almost $55 billion in 2009, growing at a 16.5 percent compound annual rate…
The growth of the console game market, the largest segment of the industry, is dependent on the cycle of new game consoles. …
The next generation of consoles, with their embedded online capabilities, will also have a positive effect on the demand for online games. The migration to broadband Internet connections will enhance the online gaming experience, spurring demand.
The replacement of current wireless telephone handsets with newer models capable of downloading games will be the major influence on the wireless sector.
The fastest growing region for video games, however, is believed to be EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), which is expected to increase by a compound annual rate of 19.1 percent from $6.0 billion in 2004 to $14.3 billion in 2009.

Bei der Aussage zur Entwicklung des Online Gamings, die angeblich durch die Breitband Penetration getrieben wird, kÃ¶nnte man auch auf die Idee kommen, das Ursache-Wirkungs Prinzip anders herum zu intepretieren. Ohne Content keine Nachfrage nach Breitband.

+++ Nachtrag +++
Weitere Informationen aus der PWC Studie zum Xbox Live Dienst. Click here