Microsoft Corp. today announced it has acquired Teleo Inc., a provider of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) software and services that enable the placement of phone calls from PCs to traditional phones and that deliver this technology in unique ways through a variety of software and Web applications. Microsoft expects to combine the technology and expertise of Teleo with the existing VoIP investments of MSN to further develop products and services that connect consumers to the people and information that most matter to them. Financial details were not disclosed. MORE »

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NDS, the leading provider of secure content delivery technology for digital pay-TV, and Frontier Silicon - the leading fabless manufacturer of semiconductors for mobile digital television (DVB-H & T-DMB) and DAB digital radio products – have signed a collaborative agreement for joint development and marketing of secure content protection and digital rights management (DRM) for mobile digital TV and DAB digital radio. MORE »

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Emmy Advanced Media - Television Business News: Do You Really Want To Know?: Shelly Palmer on the future of television as a marketing medium:

LET’S PLAY PRETEND FOR A minute. On the count of three, you will know everything there is to know about the viewing habits of your most coveted television audience: what they watch, when they watch, who’s in the room, how long … everything. In fact, since we are pretending, in this fantasy we’re even going to know how the spots affected lift, purchase intent, and brand awareness. Taken a step further, we’re going to know what non-television media they chose to spend time with and every metric associated with those behaviors as well. In our fantasy we have created a media version of Pandora’s Box.

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I saw this on Matt’s blog where someone is working on a Skype plugin for Windows Media Center and all I can say is about time! The developer is saying he hopes to have a beta out next month – check out his Green Button post for more details and screen shots. MORE »

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Mediabolic, a leading provider of end-to-end software solutions for connected entertainment products, and Maxtor Corporation, one of the world’s leading suppliers of hard disk drives and consumer storage solutions, today announced that Maxtor will integrate Mediabolic’s award-winning Media Server software into the Maxtor Shared Storage Plus, an easy-to-use, consumer/SOHO-targeted network-attached storage (NAS) device. MORE »

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Enough said…. All that’s written in the article has already been described on various news entries on this site, but CNET does a nice job of summing it up. My favorite DRM “feature” (I’m being sarcastic) that I didn’t know existed is that “[Microsoft] is establishing digital security checks that could even shut off a computer’s connections to some monitors or televisions if antipiracy procedures that stop high-quality video copying aren’t in place.” Later in the article the writers explains that “in the case of high-resolution Video Graphics Array (VGA) connections, or some early Digital Video Interface connections, the computer could shut down output of video altogether through those plugs, if the content owners require that.” Lovely.

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Bob over at Managing Rights Management always seems to find the gem articles related to DRM. Today he points readers to Dan Gillmor’s piece, “Vendors Are Keeping Too Many Rights.” MORE »

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CinemaNow Inc., the leader in video-on-demand for broadband, and ARCHOS, Inc., a global consumer electronics manufacturer and leader in portable digital entertainment solutions, today announced a co-marketing agreement to bring the CinemaNow video download service to the new ARCHOS AV 700 Mobile Digital Video Recorder and Gmini 402 Pocket Multimedia Center devices. This agreement represents a significant milestone for consumers looking for additional ways to experience high quality video content on the popular ARCHOS line of portable video players and recorders. MORE »

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CNET News has the scoop on Slide, a new photo sharing service launched by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin on Monday that’s set to steal some of Flickr’s thunder: MORE »

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Home builders sold $11 billion worth of technology products in 2004 and expect sales to increase 10-12% in 2005, according to Parks Associates’ 2004 Builder Survey. These findings show builders growing into a formidable channel for the distribution of advanced products such as home networking and multiroom audio systems, with 62% of all U.S. builders on the lookout for new products and capabilities that could differentiate them in the market. MORE »

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