Visitors to fast food outlets in Japan will soon be able to pay for their burgers with their mobile phones.
Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo is teaming up with McDonalds to offer electronic payments and special promotions for mobile users.

Could this be the first step in a whole host of "mobile extensions" that will allow cell phones to act like portable credit card machines, control multimedia devices, unlock and start automobiles and a million other "point and shoot" applications? We'll have to wait and see...

Full story here...

So, finally... The DVD Forum approves the burning of CSS-protected content to a DVD-R disc. This is basically the last piece required for implementation of Sonic's "QFlix" program which will allow licensees to burn CSS-encrypted movies onto recordable media.

The Forum's approval of "managed recording" will allow movie burning kiosks in retail stores to burn DVDs on demand while maintaining the CSS copy protection that accompanies most commercial DVDs today. This effectively allows consumers to buy DVDs and burn them "while-U-wait". Now retailers can stock thousands of "virtual" titles without incurring the significant cost of the shelf space required to physically display all the discs.

"Curse of the Screaming Vampire Accountants 3, sir? Yes, of course we have that - just browse the kiosk."

Long tail here we come...

New on Roxio Labs - Roxio Buzz (alpha): A simple video clip editor and slideshow maker for publishing to the web! You won't find an application out there like this one. Built on Windows Vista user-interface technology and easy to learn, it just might become your everyday tool for sharing videos and photo slideshows with family and friends.

With Buzz, it's easy to remove the stuff you don't want from your video clip, or to select just that one scene you want to share online. It's also the fastest app anywhere for creating photo slideshows with transitions and automotion (the Ken Burns effect) with background music, then getting it online with just a couple clicks.




Notes on the current version:

• Some features not implemented yet such as choice of slideshow transition, adjusting cuts by grabbing the edges, etc.
• We'll be posting new builds approximately each week to finish up the features, improve performance, and fix bugs.
• The current build supports Windows XP only. Windows Vista coming soon.
• Playback performance is reduced when at full screen.
• Sometimes you have to switch to preview mode twice for edits to take effect.
• Delete/Restore buttons don't stay on when mousing over video segments.
• If you uninstall Creator 9 after installing Buzz you may need to reinstall Buzz to repair some shared components.
• You'll need Microsoft .NET 3.0 Framework for Buzz to run. Get it here.

Get Roxio Buzz here! And tell us what you think on the Buzz forum here.

Most of us have become accustomed to the sound of compressed audio (mp3, wma, aac), but Creative wants to remind us of what we're missing. This article from O'Reilly illustrates how the Xmod is a very flexible device for enhancing and "surroundizing" audio in home, car, and headphones.

"Smaller than a computer mouse, the Creative Xmod packs some surprising sonic powers inside its sleek white shell. The Xmod is a combination audio interface and enhancer. When you plug it into your computer's USB port, the Xmod becomes an external soundcard, taking over the audio input and output duties and adding a handy volume knob."

Not sure how long this will last, but these are good prices for Blu-ray movies. X-Men: The Last Stand in high-def? Sweeeet. Oh Mystique, will you ever be blue again?...

Roxio Labs welcomes guest blogger Dave Habiger, CEO:

As the CEO of Sonic Solutions, I find that my To Do list grows at an exponential rate. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly challenging for me to find the time to use all of our software products as well as those of our competitors. This can be frustrating as one of the things I really love about my job is the technology. Specifically, I enjoy using the products we create and, working directly with our talented group of engineers, actively participating in the process to refine them.

Over the years, my daughters, Carolyn and Hannah, 10 and 8 respectively, have begun spending more and more time on the computer - mostly playing games. So my wife and I did the logical thing and put some time limits on PC use…blasphemy! I also decided that we would allocate a specific amount of time on the weekend to create something using Sonic applications and deduct that time as “computer time.” Initially this was met with some resistance; after all, could working with Dad ever be as appealing as thwarting an alien invasion?

Funny thing happened though, working with Roxio’s photo, video and audio products became one of my daughters’ favorite weekend activities. Using PhotoSuite to morph peoples’ faces quickly became a crowd pleaser (recently a picture of my head on the family dog found its way onto the fridge). We also used a video camera and some footage captured from the TV to do a good old fashioned mash-up and retell a story. An interesting side-effect to this was that we became far more aware of the techniques directors and film editors employ to craft a story.

Carolyn and Hannah now see working with digital media as being on par with playing a video game. They also provide a fresh perspective on using our software and tend to find usability issues that might not be obvious to me. I find the time spent creating with them is a perfect way to blend quality family life with my working world - it's a great way to combine my passion for digital media software with family time - all while keeping that To Do list from growing out of control. Now if only I could find a way to get them excited about doing my expense reports.

Dave Habiger

Included in Netflix' loyal and enthusiastic user base is a smattering of hackers trying to work the system and optimize their personal netflix experience.

"Just weeks after Netflix took its first, long-awaited steps into the digital delivery arena by rolling out its Watch Now instant viewing feature, which allows users to stream some movies and TV shows over the internet, one hacker claims to have figured out how to bypass the mechanism that tracks and limits a subscriber's viewing time."

And more from the Wired technology page here.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Tivo and Amazon's new partnership to download movies from the Internet onto Tivo devices. Since then, the service has been rolled out and I've had a chance to try it out.

Sign-up was simple. I already had an Amazon account and an online Tivo account, so all I had to do was go to Tivo's website and follow the link to Amazon's Unbox registration page. Once registration was complete, Amazon's Unbox service became aware of the two Tivo's I have. Now that I'm registered, renting or purchasing a movie or show can be done with Amazon's One-Click technology. That is, once I find a movie I want to rent, with one click of a button, the transaction is complete and the movie is automatically downloaded to my Tivo. Very nice.

One shortcoming is that Unbox's library of content is still growing, which means I can't quite get rid of my Netflix subscription yet. Another shortcoming is that the download can take up to 15 minutes to start and movies can't be watched until the entire download is complete. So it doesn't quite satisfy that impulse rental, which means I can't rule out my local video store yet, either.

Video quality was better than I expected, which was a nice surprise. Another plus is that the movie is integrated into the Tivo experience, so I don't have to switch out to another device and deal with another remote or set of controls.

I suspect the shortcomings will wither away in the next couple of years and I'll be able to rent movies on impulse, including those oldies that my wife likes. And once I can burn downloaded movies to DVD, most likely using Sonic's Qflix technology, I'll probably start buying movies from Unbox on a regular basis.

Please welcome a new addition to the Roxio Labs family - AJC Directory Synchronizer: a powerful, easy-to-use backup and synchronization application. If you need to synchronize files between computers or compare directories, or work with a laptop and need to backup files AJC Directory Synchronizer is a must-have. Keeping all you data, music, photos and videos synchronized across mulitple devices is only a few clicks away...

Top features include:

• Synchronize files between any two locations e.g. laptop to desktop PC or computer to backup drive.


• Very easy to use with helpful wizards and hints provided.


• Have complete control; know what is going to happen.


• Easily schedule your project for automatic synchronization.


• Built in archiving system lets you recover if you make a mistake.


• More Features

Download the FREE TRIAL (good for 30 days) here.

A feature was recently implemented in MediaTicker which, though subtle, is a very cool addition to the software. It’s an example of where we might take the product in future versions, and an example of how Roxio will integrate web services into it's products in the future.

The latest version of MediaTicker (2.1) allows you to subscribe to premium KodakGallery albums using RSS. Although Kodak only generates one RSS feed per premium subscriber, we’ve tweaked our RSS parsing code to pull out the relevant stuff and display it in MediaTicker.

Here’s how it works:

• You sign up for an account at www.kodakgallery.com
• Then you sign up for a “Premium” account - $24.95/yr. Only “premium” accounts have RSS feeds of your gallery. So getting a premium account is the only way to publish an RSS feed of your gallery.
• Then you create albums, upload photos and “publish” the albums to your “premium” home page. Your home page has a static RSS feed associated with it – the content is updated any time you create and publish a new album, but the URL doesn’t change.
• Copy and paste the RSS feed into MediaTicker's "Options" window, click Add Feed and then OK. Each album you publish shows up as a thumbnail.







• Click a thumbnail in the ticker to go right to an album and view all the pictures.


• Since MediaTicker checks for feed updates every 30 minutes, any time you add a new album it will show up in MediaTicker in 30 minutes or less (you can also hit “F5” to refresh the ticker manually).

Download the latest MediaTicker here.

Visit KodakGallery here.

After almost three years with a Treo 650, which I simultaneously loved for its features and hated for its flaws, it was time for an upgrade. I chose the Cingular 8525 as it seemed to have all the features I was looking for: 802.11 wireless, touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.0, 3G support, and a large screen.


But before I get into the details, I want to get on my soapbox for a second...

Though I will not be buying an iPhone, I'm very excited that Apple is entering the phone market, because there will finally be some pressure on mobile software vendors to create truly compelling mobile experiences. When Steve Jobs joked about adding a stylus to the iPhone at his keynote, he could not have been more right. The stylus is the WORST thing ever to happen to a phone. I promptly lost mine in the first week and I sure as heck don't want to fuddle around with it every time I need to do something on my phone. I use my fingers like everyone else.

To top it off, Windows Mobile looks like it was BUILT for use with a stylus. Instead of making a software experience that works great 12 inches from your head, they built a desktop PC experience but made it a lot smaller. Where's the creative vision? Don't get me wrong, it does the job and is fun in a tweaky sort of way, but it doesn't really offer anything for a mobile experience.

I look forward to 2009 when no doubt Microsoft will release a new version of Windows Mobile that works well FOR YOUR FINGER (probably looking as much like Zune as Windows Mobile I'd wager).

...end rant. Now, the phone...

The Good:
• 3G support! I was able to get UMTS service in San Francisco and San Jose.
• Nice network support. Connecting to wireless networks was easy and fun. (Finding VPN buried in the settings was not so fun.)
• No antenna sticking out. It's embedded in the form.
• 2MPixel camera and MP4 video camera.
• Bluetooth 2.0, fast enough for stereo listening.
• Scroll wheel on the side like the Blackberry.
• Cingular Xpress mail worked great the first time for mobile email access.
• Love the slideout keypad - it automatically changes the screen from vertical to horizontal and a light sensor backlights the keypad in a cool blue when it's dark out!
• Powered with a USB mini connector. Smart.
• Voice Speed dial built-in, works great.
• Push email support with our Exchange system. My email, tasks, contacts are always updated and setup was a breeze.
• SIM card support so I can pop in another card when in a foreign country and get local network rates.
• It's generally pretty snappy to use.

The Bad:
• Medium to Low light performance is quite poor with the camera, shutter lag is significant (hey, it's a phone, what can you do).
• Battery life not so great, especially if you forget to turn wireless off or set it for auto-shutoff. I sometimes barely make it through the day with the juice from an overnight charge.
• Push-To-Talk not activated yet.
• No on-screen button to turn off the bluetooth headset (I liked that about the Treo.)
• I do miss immediately typing in a few characters to find contacts. With the slideout keypad it's not as simple. I tend not to use the on-screen keypad or handwriting detection because I find it annoying.
• Camera modes take too long to switch between, confusing interface (no text help).
• Takes too long to sign into MSN IM. Chews up battery.

The Ugly:
• Crashes 2-3 times per week, always at the worst times of course.
• No external volume control for shutting off the speaker.

Despite the cons, I would still highly recommend this device. It's great fun, it's excellent for both business use and multimedia, and it's loaded with features.

There are now so many video sharing sites that it is impractical to even compare them as a consumer. It's like picking breakfast cereal, you just have to try one and see if you like it. At some point they will be more numerous than cable channels. [Ed: and you will need a remote to "surf" them.] The PC becomes the "Idiot Box 2: Revenge of the video bite."

Lightreading.com has a super cheat sheet which, although not exhaustive, is still impressive.

See it here.