Tarmo Virki
Sun

HELSINKI – Sony Ericsson unveiled on Tuesday the first globally available phone with a high-resolution 8 megapixel camera as the handset industry mounted a fresh attack on traditional camera makers.

For more than a year, the best cameraphones have had a 5 megapixel camera, comparable to most digital cameras. A few higher-resolution models are sold in South Korea.

Now other vendors are expected to follow Sony Ericsson’s lead, threatening the camera industry which has had the upper hand with higher pixel counts and better quality pictures.

Sony Ericsson’s C905 Cybershot model will go on sale in the fourth quarter, in time for the holiday rush. Analysts said Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics were set to unveil their own models shortly.

The world’s top cellphone maker Nokia will have a 5 megapixel camera in its next flagship phone model N96, but it is also looking to deploy higher-resolution cameras.

Cameraphones sales long ago leapfrogged traditional camera sales, allowing Nokia to add “the world’s largest camera maker” to its title as handset leader.

The world’s top digital camera makers — Canon Inc, Sony and Eastman Kodak — enjoyed a 24 per cent expansion in their market last year. But consumer spending is expected to be crimped in key western markets.

“The mobile cameraphone industry is closing the quality-gap on portable digital still cameras and this represents an opportunity for growth and new markets,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics.

Nokia controlled 34 per cent of the cameraphone market in January-March, according to Strategy Analytics, with Samsung at 20 per cent and Sony Ericsson at 11 per cent.

“Sony Ericsson is trying to regain the initiative as a mobile-imaging-leader, after losing momentum to Samsung and Nokia in recent months,” Mawston said.

Helped by Cybershot, Sony Ericsson’s share of the cameraphone market is bigger than its share of the handset market. But Nokia and Samsung have brought 5 megapixel quality into the midrange market, attracting a wider range of buyers.

Ben Wood, director at research firm CCS Insight, said Nokia’s approach towards very high resolution cameras on phones looked more conservative than that of smaller rivals.

“We are unsure whether this is due to platform limitations or a focus on delivering the best quality pictures with less megapixels,” he said.

“Quality over pixel count is a rational approach from a technical perspective, but it may see Nokia losing out on the high street as consumers perceive 8 megapixels to be better than 5,” Wood said.

Soren Petersen, head of Nokia’s product portfolio, told Reuters earlier this week the Finnish firm should set the benchmark for others in the top-end of the of phone market.

“In ultra high-end we have stuff in works, but I could see some more there in terms of setting the bar,” he said in an interview. “I could see a combo of 8 megapixel camera, big touch screen, still with a Qwerty keyboard.”

© Reuters 2008

Copyright legislation to take hard line on circumvention devices

Sarah Schmidt
Sun

OTTAWA — The federal government’s new copyright legislation is expected to take a hard line on the use of circumvention devices and that could mean consumers are locked out of digital content they have already paid for.

Lobbyists familiar with the bill, expected to be tabled this week, say those who are lobbying for a prohibition on the devices are taking aim at people who get around digital security so they can make multiple copies and sell them for profit.

And this broad approach could brand as lawbreakers consumers who use circumvention devices to copy legally purchased material, including music and movies, for personal use.

Instead, the law could end up making it illegal for anyone to bypass security on material they already own — either to transfer music from a copy-protected CD to a computer or music player, crack a region-coded DVD or video game from Europe or Asia to play on their Canadian DVD player or console, or to copy portions of electronic books.

While the new bill will likely be updated to make expressly legal the “time shifting” of television programs through widely used personal video recorders, there will be a catch. The bill’s anti-circumvention provisions could also mean that if broadcasters block the ability to digitally record certain shows through digital flags, consumers would not be able to get around that lock legally.

“There are real incentives for broadcasters to do just that,” said Michael Geist, a digital copyright expert at the University of Ottawa.

“It feels as if the Industry minister gives on one hand and takes away with the other, even on the issue of something like time shifting.”

Industry Minister Jim Prentice was set to table the legislation last December, but pulled it amid concerns the Canadian legislation too closely resembled the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, recognized as the toughest legislation worldwide. For example, the U.S. law makes all acts of circumvention an infringement unless subject to a specific exception.

Meanwhile, sources say Internet service providers will get a reprieve in the new legislation, an area where Canada is expected to deviate from provisions under U.S law. The American legislation requires ISPs to block access to allegedly infringing material or remove it from their system when they receive a notification claiming infringement from a copyright holder or their agent.

The Entertainment Software Association of Canada lobbied the government for liability provisions to force ISPs to stop the download of infringing content and block pirated material from moving freely online using peer-to-peer technology.

But observers say absence of a U.S.-style “notice and takedown” system under Canadian copyright law could be meaningless if Canada signs on to the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), to be tabled next month at the G8 summit in Japan.

Details of the international deal, recently leaked on the Internet, could require ISPs to filter out pirated material, hand over the identities of customers accused of copyright infringement, and restrict the use of online privacy tools.

“ACTA threatens to undermine many of the liability provisions anyway if, internationally, we agree to new surveillance requirements for ISPs,” said Geist.

Mark Hayes, a partner in the Intellectual Property Group at the law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon, has watched and participated in government consultations on copyright for the past eight years.

Drafting of the new legislation has been complicated by the fact that business groups are divided on the issue.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Internet companies find they must adjust their ways to remain in favour with countries outside the U.S.

JANINE ZACHARIA
Sun

When Thailand blocked Google Inc.’s YouTube website last year, the company dispatched deputy general counsel Nicole Wong to help restore access. In Bangkok, a sea of yellow shirts stunned her.

It was a Monday, when Thais wear yellow to honour King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Seeing their reverence, Wong says she grasped why officials reacted so strongly to a video blending a picture of Bhumibol with graffiti — an image that ran afoul of a law against insulting the 80-year-old monarch. Google agreed to block the clip in Thailand while leaving it available elsewhere, and YouTube returned to Thai computers.

Welcome to the culture clashes that Google and other U.S. Internet companies are navigating from Thailand to Turkey and China to Pakistan. The owner of the world’s most popular online search and video sites is learning to live with countries that “don’t share the same baseline” about the Web, Wong said in an interview at Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. These governments ban objectionable material because they “don’t know how else to control it.”

The Internet superpower’s corporate diplomacy is establishing far-reaching practices to keep online content, and advertising dollars, flowing across borders. Google’s ambassadors, lobbyists and lawyers are traveling the globe to gauge what governments will tolerate — and showing a readiness to bend America’s cherished belief in free expression.

“The notion that companies chartered in the United States do things in other countries they would never dream of doing in the United States is discomforting, obviously,” says John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. “I think, though, this is the reality of doing business in a multinational environment, joined by a common technological network, which is the Internet.”

China, with an estimated 230 million people online, has been at the centre of the Web freedom controversy, especially since rival Yahoo! Inc. turned over emails and other information to the Chinese government in 2006, leading to the imprisonment of journalist Shi Tao and writer Wang Xiaoning.

“While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies,” then-House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos told Yahoo executives during a 2007 hearing.

Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., apologized, provided financial support to the prisoners’ families and asked the U.S. to discuss their plight with China.

In response to the Yahoo fiasco, Google decided not to offer Gmail, its popular e-mail service, in China to avoid government demands for messages. To prevent disruptions to its Chinese operations, the company maintains regular contact with officials through its office in Beijing.

Those ties are too cozy for some. Two years ago Google created a version of its search engine — Google.cn — that produces Chinese government-sanctioned material when people inside China seek anything on Tibet, Taiwan or Tiananmen Square.

“Even though Google and other companies now provide a disclaimer to notify users that censorship occurs, they still decide what to censor and whether they will even challenge the government’s actions,” Arvind Ganesan of New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch told a U.S. Senate panel on May 20.

Robert Boorstin, a former New York Times reporter who shapes communication strategy for Google from Washington, says the company was “given a choice to open a public library in the form of Google.cn” or be shut out of the country.

“We knew that users of the Google Chinese service would not be able to see a small, important part of the library,” he says. “But the alternative was no library cards for anyone.”

Customers in China and other countries are increasingly important for U.S. Internet companies: 48 per cent of Google’s revenue came from outside the U.S. last year, up from 39 per cent in 2005.

“Our goal is to maximize free expression,” Boorstin says. “But you face these situations where governments come to you and say, ‘You are violating our laws’.”

David Gross, U.S. government coordinator for international communications and information policy, endorses Google’s approach.

“We believe, of course, that companies need to respect domestic laws,” Gross says. “Having said that, finding technical solutions that don’t disadvantage those who live outside those countries is very important.”

Some say Google is in a unique position to take a tougher line in its Web diplomacy. “Google may be the first entity humankind has ever known with the global economic power and social influence to take the ethical high road and to treat free and open expression like a moral absolute,” says Jonathan Askin, a Brooklyn Law School professor and lawyer for Internet clients.

“If Google doesn’t have the wherewithal to exert its influence for the good of humanity, I don’t know who will have the courage going forward,” he says.

Shogo is almost like a large PDA with WiFi capability

Jim Jamieson
Province

What it is: Shogo digital picture frame

Price: $299.99.

Why you need it: You like the idea of being able to look at your family photos almost anytime, anywhere.

Why you don’t: All the photos you really want to see can fit in your wallet.

Our rating: 3

Digital picture frames are an acquired taste, but definitely one that is growing in popularity.

Sure, you can display your photos on your computer in various sizes, modes and slideshow configurations, but these devices tend to be more novelty items than useful tech tools and typically end up in the closet.

Introduced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Shogo, from RealEase, aims to up the ante, by greatly expanding functionality. The Shogo is almost like a large PDA, with an eight-inch touch screen and WiFi capability. This allows you to subscribe to Flickr feeds, access weather forecasts and stream Internet radio without the need of a PC.

Like some other digital frames, you can also share photos with another Shogo user through a website — the myshogo.com portal, that is fully integrated with major photo sites such as Flickr, Picasa, SmugMug and .Mac.

The Shogo features one gigabyte of internal memory allowing for the storage of thousands of pictures, depending on size of course.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Tech Toys

Sun

Jawbone Bluetooth headset, Aliph, $140

The latest Bluetooth headset-as-a-fashion-accessory offering from Aliph launches in Canada this week, 50-per-cent smaller than the original Jawbone but with the same leading edge noise-cancelling technology, NoiseAssassin. It weighs a mere 10 grams and offers more than four hours talk time and more than eight days standby. It has a 10-metre range and charges 100 per cent in less than an hour. It supports Bluetooth 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0. Billed as ‘earware‘ it’s more jewelry than ho hum headset and comes in black, silver and rose gold to accessorize with your every outfit. Hands-free driving has never been so elegant. www.jawbone.com

Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution, Logitech, $200

Even though we’re in an increasingly wireless world, the average desktop can look like an octopus on steroids and like an octopus’s arms those cords seem to take on a life of their own, entwining and jamming into a hopeless mess. Clear some of the clutter with Logitech’s new keyboard that combos with a hyper-fast scrolling MX Revolution cordless laser mouse. Rechargeable mouse and Bluetooth 2.0 for cordless connectivity that reaches almost 10 metres. www.logitech.com.

Mophie Knox, $40

Just so Dad can carry around the iPod Nano you’ll be giving him for Father’s Day. This holds cash and credit cards plus a Nano in an aircraft-grade aluminum case. Third Gen Nanos must be in a Radura case — a crystal clear polycarbonate protector — but that comes with the Knox. www.mophie.com

Nokia 5310, Rogers Wireless, $100 with a three-year contract

A new phone for music aficionadas the 5310 is one of Nokia’s XpressMusic handsets. It has a microSD card for boosting memory to hold more music and it also incorporates a video camera and two-megapixel still camera with a four times digital zoom. Nokia is running an online contest through June 12 with the prize a Nokia 5310 plus an invitation to the 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto on June 15. Contest details are at www.muchmusic.com/promo/nokia08. As well as music the 5310 has video playback and Bluetooth 2.0 technology so you can pair it with that stylish Jawbone. www.rogers.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Critics blast federal government for move that could see border guards checking private gadgets for infringement

Vito Pilieci
Sun

OTTAWA — The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws that could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.

The deal could also impose strict regulations on Internet service providers, forcing those companies to hand over customer information without a court order.

Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.

The agreement is being structured much like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) except it will create rules and regulations regarding private copying and copyright laws.

Federal trade agreements do not require parliamentary approval.

The deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that “infringes” on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.

The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.

The agreement proposes any content that may have been copied from a DVD or digital video recorder would be open for scrutiny by officials — even if the content was copied legally.

“If Hollywood could order intellectual property laws for Christmas what would they look like? This is pretty close,” said David Fewer, staff counsel at the University of Ottawa‘s Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. “The process on ACTA so far has been cloak and dagger. This certainly raises concerns.”

The leaked ACTA document states officials should be given the “authority to take action against infringers (i.e., authority to act without complaint by rights holders).”

Anyone found with infringing content in their possession would be open to a fine.

They may also have their device confiscated or destroyed, according to the four-page document.

Michael Geist, Canada research chair of Internet and E-commerce law at the University of Ottawa and expert on Canadian copyright law, blasted the government for advancing ACTA with little public consultation.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Jim Jamieson
Province

What it is: Vestalife Ladybug portable iPod speakers

Price: $119.99.

Why you need it: You want a portable speaker system for your iPod and you’re looking for something a little different.

Why you don’t: You care more about performance than style in an iPod speaker.

Our rating: 4

When my teenage daughter first saw the Vestalife Ladybug, she ooh-ed and ahh-ed. “It’s so-o cute,” she said.

That’s the cachet of the Ladybug, which is about the same size and shape as a cantaloupe, but has flip-out speaker ‘wings.’ It is, of course, bright red. The wings vibrate with the base and it features a built-in sub-woofer and digital amplifier.

It has the usual inputs/outputs, including AV out (if you want to watch videos on your TV), an Aux-in to connect non-docking iPods, other audio sources; a DC-in and a USB port that allows for connection to a computer for synching and an assortment of dock adapters so variations of the music player can be attached.

The package includes a remote control unit so you don’t have to get off the couch to skip through a playlist, and it also works on batteries, making it truly portable. The sound quality is average, so the Ladybug is not for an audiophile. Available exclusively at The Source By Circuit City.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Research In Motion to become big player in handset industry

David George-Cosh
Province

Research In Motion Ltd. appears poised to enter a renaissance period of market expansion after details of the smart-phone maker’s oft-rumoured “iPhone killer” were revealed this week.

With media reports all but confirming a new BlackBerry “Thunder” model — a touchscreen device said to compete directly with Apple Inc.’s popular iPhone smart phone — RIM has at least three new handsets set to be released within the next year, with analysts suggesting more may be on the way.

RBC Capital Markets telecom analyst Mike Abramsky said a “slider” BlackBerry, a clam-shell model dubbed the “Kickstart,” the Thunder model and different configurations of touchscreen interfaces and handsets similar in style to its hugely popular Pearl model are set to join the BlackBerry Bold 3G device announced earlier this week.

“I don’t think this is the end of the innovations that [RIM’s] going to emerge with to maximize the broader consumer handset market,” Abramsky said.

“The most exciting thing about this industry right now is that the kinds of changes we are witnessing and participating as consumers are more profound than prior technology cycles like the Internet. And RIM is square at ground zero of that.”

The Wall Street Journal said it had confirmed details of the BlackBerry Thunder, which were earlier reported from a gadget blog. The Journal said the device is to be sold in the third quarter of this year through Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodafone PLC overseas.

“It is clear to us that RIM is laying out a strong foundation to become a much bigger player in the handset industry,” UBS analysts Maynard Um and Jeffrey Fan wrote in a note to clients.

“We view new form factors as the first step toward becoming a larger player within the smart phone industry and believe carrier promotions will also help to drive unit volumes.”

RIM declined to comment on the touchscreen device, citing a company policy regarding rumours and speculation.

Rob Enderle, president of market research firm The Enderle Group, calls RIM’s touchscreen device the beginning of a bullish run at the global handset market.

“It’s a broad attack,” Enderle said. “Much like how Apple has been shifting from their initial approach in multimedia approach to corporate, RIM is going the other way.”

Both Enderle and Abramsky cite struggles by rivals Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. as a window of opportunity for RIM to emerge as a key player in the mobile phone industry. According to Abramsky, the global smart phone market is expected to experience quadruple growth by 2010 to reach 400 million devices.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Sun

Headset with remote control for PlayStation Portable, Sony Computer Entertainment America, $30

Turn your PSP into a Skype phone to make calls over the Internet with this affordable headset from Sony that can replace the earlier method that involved two accessories — the PSP headset plus the PSP-2000 headphones with remote control for the same job. The PSP-2000 can use the long distance service thanks to a firmware update and you can call anywhere in the world. Calls to other Skype users on a PSP, a computer or a Skype-enabled phone are free. To check on the upgrades you may need, go to www.us.playstation.com/PSP/About/SystemUpdate

– – –

HP 2133 Mini PC, $499

Usually we round up to prices but for all you sub-$500 notebook seekers, here is the latest from HP, a mini version designed for the education market. It could also come in handy for anyone looking for a fully-functioning mini machine with a mini price tag to match. Weighing just over a kilogram it doesn’t add too much to the back-breaking weight of a school backpack or a briefcase yet it delivers all the wireless capability — WiFi standard and Bluetooth an option –and other gizmos you need to work or play. The screen is also mini, at 8.9-inches (22.6 cm) and it has some features to help it withstand the rough and tumble of student use, from the HP Durakey, with a clear coating over the notebook keyboard for protection to a HP3D DriveGuard which shuts down the hard drive on sudden movement or shock. An important feature comes thanks to Vancouver‘s Absolute Software’s Computrace security solution. This service gets your computer to call in if it is ever lost or stolen. The computer delivers a silent signal to Absolute’s monitoring centre the first time it is connected to the Internet, delivering location information that enables police to recover it.

– – –

Floral Fashion Laptop Case, Targus, $100

And for carrying that laptop, or the full-sized versions, a flower-design tote that has a little office inside with protection for your computer, pockets for cell phones, business cards, pens, files and all the other paraphernalia of a working woman’s life. See them at www.targus.com/ca

– – –

ACE smartphone, Samsung, $200 with a three-year contract from Bell Mobility

If you’re a card shark you’ll know the importance of having an ace up your sleeve. Apparently so does Bell which is upping the ante by being the first carrier in Canada to introduce Samsung’s ACE Windows Mobile smartphone. For users who want all the functionality of Windows Mobile, this offers it along with a full QWERTY keyboard, a camera and camcorder, Bluetooth capability and expandable memory with a slot for a microSD card.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Asus pins future on small but mighty laptop

Michelle Kessler
USA Today

FREMONT, Calif. — Asus plans to be the No. 3 laptop maker in the world in six years.

Pretty ambitious, considering that many Americans probably have never heard of the Taipei, Taiwan-based company.

Asus’ big goal rides on a tiny product: a hugely successful, itty-bitty laptop called the Eee PC. It’s a bit larger than a tissue box, weighs just 2 pounds and starts at the bargain-basement price of $299.

There’s nothing quite like it on the market. Buyers — many of them early adopters — are snapping up Eee PCs almost as fast as Asus can make them. The company expects to sell nearly 2 million in the first six months of the year. They’re available at Best Buy, Amazon and many local retailers.

This week, Asus launches a $549 version with a bigger screen and more features. A desktop version is on the way, probably this summer, says Jackie Hsu, president of Asus’ U.S. division. More Eee products are on the drawing board.

The company has helped create a new type of computer — a laptop that’s both small and inexpensive, says tech analyst Bob O’Donnell at researcher IDC.

Asus made 81% of the laptops that sold for less than $500 last year, but its good times probably won’t last, O’Donnell says. Just about every PC maker is considering its own tiny, inexpensive laptop. That means that little Asus — the No. 9 PC maker in the world — could soon face competition from giants Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer, he says.

The market will grow, but not fast enough to generate numerous big successes, O’Donnell says. “Asus has gained a lot of mindshare … for such a little company. But they’re going to be under a lot more pressure.”

Big leap for small laptops

The market for sub-$500 laptops was marginal until 2007, when 430,000 were sold, O’Donnell says. That number is expected to jump to 3.6 million this year, with the vast majority of sales in the USA and Asia.

That’s a surprise. Cheap, small laptops were rare until a non-profit group, One Laptop Per Child, started cranking out student-size computers in 2007 that sold for about $200. They were designed for a limited market, mainly schools in developing nations. So were similar computers from a rival project, Classmate PC.

In the USA, Japan and other developed nations, most small laptops remained high-end business models that sold for a premium. Lenovo’s 2.4-pound IdeaPad U110 starts at $1,899, while Sony’s (SNE) 1.2-pound Vaio UX starts at $2,500, for example.

Asus changed that. It took the same low-cost model employed by OLPC and used it to create a computer that shoppers in developed countries wanted to buy.

Hsu says few tech-savvy Americans would use the Eee PC as their primary laptop. One midrange, $399 model has a 7-inch screen and a keyboard that feels cramped to adult hands. Its 900-MHz Intel Celeron processor is much less powerful than those found in most laptops. And its 4-GB hard drive is only as big as Apple’s (AAPL) smallest iPod. But it’s just fine for e-mail or simple Web surfing — which makes the Eee PC a great backup laptop to take on the road, Hsu says. It’s also a good gift for kids or elderly parents, he says.

Asus tried to compensate for the Eee PC’s technical shortcomings with an easy-to-use interface that appeals to this audience. The original Eee PC offered games, Web browsing and other features on a simple screen layout, based on the open-source Linux operating system. The company later released a version running Microsoft’s Windows XP.

What’s ahead for Asus

Asus’ parent company, AsusTek, used to be best known for making motherboards, a crucial if unsexy component in every PC.

AsusTek also manufactured computers for Apple, Sony, Hewlett-Packard and others behind the scenes. That’s fairly common. Many brand-name companies focus on design and marketing, and hire outside factories to do at least part of the manufacturing.

AsusTek also sold laptops under its own name. But that market was limited, partly because its manufacturing customers didn’t want the competition.

AsusTek addressed that issue this year by becoming a holding company, with three separate firms underneath. Pegatron makes components and does manufacturing for other companies. Unihan makes plastic computer cases and other parts. And the renamed Asus builds products it sells under its own name, such as the Eee PC.

The change hasn’t alienated manufacturing customers so far, Hsu says. “We think it’s OK. Orders haven’t fallen,” he says.

Asus has also rolled out cellphones, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and home networking gear. It’s considering expanding into any product that combines computing, communications and electronics. “We want to grow,” Hsu says.

But rivals will soon start moving onto Asus’ turf, says tech analyst Martin Reynolds at researcher Gartner. One potentially huge threat: Apple. The company behind the iPod “has been looking really hard at the future,” Reynolds says. “You could see Apple notebooks getting really low in price.”

It’s unlikely that Asus will be able to win by cutting costs. Even cheap laptops cost about $200 to make, O’Donnell says. (Asus’ non-Eee laptops sell for an average price of $1,250.)

Hsu, a longtime Asus executive who came to the USA last year, already knows how to sound like an American business leader. “We hope to see more competitors come in. We want a big pie,” he says.

The question is how big the pie will get. O’Donnell says many companies are overestimating it.

But O’Donnell and others agree that the PC market will never be the same again. “Low-cost laptops are here to stay,” Reynolds says.