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Software

TiVoToGo for Mac Announced 118

Posted by Hemos from the maybe-finally dept.
An anonymous reader writes "After much anticipation, some backpedaling, a bite of hope, and a delayed release date, TiVoToGo Mac Edition is here. While there have been some unofficial hacks, those solutions have not been ideal for everyone. With support for transferring shows and burning to DVD/iPod, TiVoToGo is bundled as a part of Roxio's Toast Titanium software that will be announced tomorrow at Macworld."
The Media

Submission + - MacWorld and CES: Apple Steals the Show

Submitted by
Kligmond
Kligmond writes: "Picture a successful global corporation strategically separating themselves from their own industry. Imagine them foregoing participation in their industry's premier trade show — one of the largest and best attended in the world — and instead, creating an event of their own and hosting it the same week as the industry show.

Apple plans to do just that this morning, opening their annual MacWorld in San Francisco just as the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opens in Las Vegas.

A Different Strategy

It's not just a geographic strategy. Apple continues to differentiate themselves from their competitors on a number of fronts.

First, creating and branding your own event alludes to a sense that the competition doesn't exist. As if to imply Apple and their products are a category unto themselves.

And whereas the term, "Consumer Electronics" sounds like a demographic statistical subhead, "MacWorld" evokes a verb-infused sense of interactivity, learning and adventure.

Plus, launching your new product line from a distant locale, staged just for you, buys increased media exposure. At your event, you're it. No competition. Not even from a casino.

And there's Apple's commitment to user experience over added feature sets, and austere and utilitarian form factors in lieu of over-embellished product design.

Innovative Isolation for Incentive

But innovative claims are one thing. Actually being a successful innovator is what makes Apple's isolationist theory work. You won't draw much media attention if you can't deliver the goods. Like Joe Namath's guaranteed win over the heavily favored Colts created additional incentive for the Jets to succeed, throwing an event like MacWorld pushes Apple to stay current, unique and in demand.

Standing Out

Whether Apple discloses information about the iTV, releases a Mac OS X Leopard announcement, unveils a next generation iPod, or the iPod cell phone, one thing is certain, Apple has set itself apart.

On the heels of an uber-successful 2006, Steve Jobs' keynote speech at MacWorld will be followed very closely over at CES. When you develop and launch products as innovative and profitable as Apple's, consumers, media and industry titans alike want to know what's next — or at least want to pretend they couldn't care less.

Differentiating Entails Differentiation

Although most businesses don't enjoy Apple's wherewithal and brand equity, it is important to remember the fundamentals that have propelled Apple's recent success. This year look for innovative ways to differentiate your brand(s) from that of your competition. Isolate a bit, differentiate a lot and steal the show in 2007."
Technology

IEEE's Technology Winners & Losers of 2006 77

Posted by Zonk from the win-some-lose-some dept.
eldavojohn writes "As far as technologies go, there are clear winners and clear losers. This month's IEEE Spectrum issue contains an interesting list of winners and losers from 2006. Among the winners are a new radio technology, IP phone networks & memory technologies along with ethanol from sugarcane. Among the losers are tongue vision, LEDs in clothes, a flying car and ethanol from corn."
Microsoft

Submission + - Vista Beta Users Get First Taste of DRM

Submitted by
darkonc
darkonc writes: "Some people testing Microsoft's Windows Vista got an unexpected holiday surprise: their TVs stopped working.... Microsoft blames this on the fact that they only licensed the MPEG2 CODED for RC1 until the end of 2006 (Beta users were told that the software was good until April), but even people with third party decoders can't access their content (both live and stored). This is how "Trusted Computing" is supposed to work. If somebody in Redmond (or elsewhere) decides that you can't use certain content, nothing that you try to do should allow you access — Owning the content, or obtaining the rights by some other path, is no defense.

5 million people downloaded RC1, and some have access to Vista Final or RC2 (100K copies downloaded). The rest will have to wait until the end of January to access their suddenly banned content."
The Internet

Submission + - Principality of Sealand for Sale

Submitted by
glomph
glomph writes: "The little structure/sovereign nation on concrete pillars in the North Sea 7 miles east of Harwich, UK has been a recurring theme on Slashdot over the past few years. Now it can be yours!. Read the story for a quick synopsis of the history (kidnapping! piracy! international intrigue!) that goes along with this little piece of Heaven. Maybe someone will revive the 'ultra secure data centre' scheme which bounced around for a while."
NASA

NASA May Have Killed The Martians 238

Posted by Zonk from the that's-a-big-oopsie dept.
Sneakernets writes "CNN reports that NASA may have found life on Mars via the Viking space probes in 1976-77, but failed to recognize it and killed it by accident. Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a geology professor at Washington State University, says that Mars microbes that the space probes had found were possibly drowned and baked by accident. Other experts said the new concept is plausible, but more work is needed before they are convinced. From the article: 'A new NASA Mars mission called Phoenix is set for launch this summer, and one of the scientists involved said he is eager to test the new theory about life on Mars. However, scientists must come up with a way to do that using the mission's existing scientific instruments, said NASA astrobiologist and Phoenix co-investigator Chris McKay.'"
Media

Submission + - Reading a DVD with VLC is illegal in France

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Starting December 31st 2006, reading a DVD protected with CSS (as most DVD are) is illegal in France when it is done with software allowing to circumvent the protection, such as VLC or mplayer which can both use the libdvdcss library. This Journal Officiel (where laws and executive orders are published) says that you may be fined 135 (around $180) for doing so. This includes watching any DVD that you have legally purchased.

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