From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Jun 7 20:54:59 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i580sxJ04326; Mon, 7 Jun 2004 20:54:59 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 20:54:59 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200406080054.i580sxJ04326@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #280 TELECOM Digest Mon, 7 Jun 2004 20:55:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 280 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Declan McCullagh: Why the FCC Should Die (VOIP News) Union Needs A Better Vision Of Telecom's Future (VOIP News) US Groups Lobby Over VoIP Regulation (VOIP News) Vonage CEO: States Will Hurt VoIP Start-Ups (VOIP News) Responses TO FCC Proceeding Clarify Battle Lines on VoIP (VOIP News) Enterprise Communications Association Urges FCC to Protect (VOIP News) Comcast Throws Its Weight Behind VoIP (VOIP News) Competing Against the Five Nines -- Supporting the VoIP (VOIP News) Frost & Sullivan Awards Voiceglo With Product Differentiation (VOIP News) PRIMUS Launches 'Lingo' High-Speed Internet Phone Service (VOIP News) Re: Public Copy Cost Unchanged (Barry Margolin) Re: Just Like High-Definition TV, but With Higher Definition (Scott Dorsey) Detective Story: Information for Hire (Monty Solomon) Sonos Digital Music System (Monty Solomon) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 13:08:17 -0400 Subject: Declan McCullagh: Why the FCC Should Die Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://news.com.com/Why+the+FCC+should+die/2010-1028_3-5226979.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news By Declan McCullagh It's time to abolish the Federal Communications Commission. The reason is simple. The venerable FCC, created in 1934, is no longer necessary. Its justification for existence was weak 70 years ago, but advances in technology since then have eliminated whatever arguments remained. Central planning didn't work for the Soviet Union, and it's not working for us. The FCC is now an agency that does more harm than good. Consider some examples of bureaucratic malfeasance that the FCC, with the complicity of the U.S. Congress, has committed. The FCC rejected long-distance telephone service competition in 1968, banned Americans from buying their own non-Bell telephones in 1956, dragged its feet in the 1970s when considering whether video telephones would be allowed and did not grant modern cellular telephone licenses until 1981--about four decades after Bell Labs invented the technology. Along the way, the FCC has preserved monopolistic practices that would have otherwise been illegal under antitrust law. These technologically backward decisions have cost Americans tens of billions of dollars. More recently, the FCC has experienced a string of embarrassing losses, when its grand telecommunications plans were repeatedly vetoed by the courts. A majority of the commissioners want to force local phone companies to pay government-mandated rates when long-distance providers like AT&T and MCI use their phone lines. A federal appeals court recently shot down that scheme and gave the Bush administration until June 15 to appeal to the Supreme Court. There's already talk about higher telephone bills becoming a campaign issue this fall. Meanwhile, the FCC is hard at work, trying to figure out how to muzzle Howard Stern and make a national example of Janet Jackson's right breast. Commissioners are planning how to order voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) companies to comply with arguably unlawful wiretapping requests from the FBI. There's already talk about higher telephone bills becoming a campaign issue this fall. In a sop to Hollywood, the FCC has decided that any device capable of receiving digital television signals must follow a complicated set of "broadcast flag" regulations. When those rules take effect in mid-2005, they will put some PC tuner card makers out of business. These signs warn of an agency that is overreaching. If the FCC had been in charge of overseeing the Internet, we'd likely be waiting for the Mosaic Web browser to receive preliminary approval from the Wireline Competition Bureau. Instead, the Internet has transformed from a research curiosity into a mainstay of the world's economy -- in less time than it took the FCC to approve the first cell phone licenses. Full story at: http://news.com.com/Why+the+FCC+should+die/2010-1028_3-5226979.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:46:55 -0400 Subject: Union Needs A Better Vision Of Telecom's Future Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.networkingpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=21401342 Regulating VoIP won't save big telcos from having to move to an IP-based future. By Paul Kapustka When the Communications Workers of America union called for telecom regulations for Voice over IP earlier this week, it cited consumer protection as its motivating factor. But when you dig deeper into the issue, it's pretty clear who the union is really trying to protect -- big telco companies, who employ most of the union's members. It's an approach that is as short-sighted as it is predictable. And ultimately, it ignores the future -- and perhaps more jobs at better wages for its workers -- in favor of the status quo, a situation that is already getting worse by the day. With big telcos laying off people as fast as they can, CWA union members should be asking their leaders to support, not oppose, VoIP and other advanced IP services, since that is where the jobs of the future will be coming from. Full story at: http://www.networkingpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=21401342 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:48:34 -0400 Subject: US Groups Lobby Over VoIP Regulation Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/03/us_voip_fcc/ By Tim Richardson An Internet telephony trade group has urged US authorities not to tie up the fledgling VoIP industry in red tape. The Voice on the Net (VON) coalition -- which includes AT&T, Intel, MCI, Microsoft and Skype among others -- has called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to apply traditional telephone regulations to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) warning that if it did, consumers would lose out. In a latest round of lobbying, VON urged the FCC to classify VoIP and other IP-enabled services as "unregulated information services" subject exclusively to federal jurisdiction. The FCC is currently looking at whether VoIP and other Internet enabled communications services should continue to be unregulated Internet services. VON believes policymakers should hold back from applying traditional telecom regulation that could stifle VoIP. Full story at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/03/us_voip_fcc/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:28:25 -0400 Subject: Vonage CEO: States Will Hurt VoIP Start-ups Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=7&releaseid=12300&magazinearticleid=199942&siteid=3 by Donny Jackson Telephony, Jun 7, 2004 State regulation could undermine efforts by new VoIP entrants to make business models work by wiping out venture capital funding in nascent providers, according to Jeffrey Citron, CEO of Vonage, currently the largest residential VoIP provider in the U.S. Speaking at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Citron said a recent decision by the New York State Public Utilities Commission declaring Vonage a telecom corporation proves that states will regulate VoIP providers unless prohibited by the FCC or Congress. New York made its ruling largely to ensure that the VoIP provider meets 911 standards. A federal court in Minnesota last year ruled that Vonage is an unregulated information service, but Citron said he does not want to fight such battles in all 50 states. While state litigation is costly, the Minnesota victory sparked $35 million in new funding for Vonage, Citron said. Such venture funding for other VoIP start-ups likely will disappear in the wake of the uncertainty created by the New York ruling, he said. Full story at: http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=7&releaseid=12300&magazinearticleid=199942&siteid=3 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:24:42 -0400 Subject: Responses to FCC Proceeding Clarify Battle Lines on VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=7&releaseid=12300&magazinearticleid=199941&siteid=3 by Donny Jackson Telephony, Jun 7, 2004 Comments filed with the FCC over the past several weeks in response to the commission's voice-over-IP rule-making clarified the lines of arguments various parties are expected to pursue vigorously before the FCC takes action sometime in the next year. Although the proceeding is designed to address all IP-enabled services, the focus of comments submitted clearly was on broadband-based VoIP, which is expected to hit a growth curve that hasn't been predicted for any technology since the dawn of DSL (see graphic). Almost all comments generally called for VoIP providers to be subject to light economic regulation but adhere to social policy goals such as universal service, E911 and surveillance access by law enforcement. But the manner in which these goals should be achieved differed significantly in comments, offering varying barriers of entry to newcomers. Full story at: http://industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=7&releaseid=12300&magazinearticleid=199941&siteid=3 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:13:10 -0400 Subject: Enterprise Communications Association Urges FCC to Protect Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-07-2004/0002188540&STORY&EDATE= Enterprise Communications Association Urges FCC to Protect Competition in VoIP Market by Ensuring Equal Access to ILEC Facilities WASHINGTON, June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission on May 28, 2004, the Enterprise Communications Association (ECA) urged the FCC to minimize the potential for anticompetitive behavior in the market for voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and other Internet protocol (IP) services by requiring incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to grant equal access to their broadband network facilities. ILECs remain the dominant providers of access facilities in most markets and represent a potential bottleneck to all potential VoIP competitors. Therefore, "if IP providers cannot obtain access to the network facilities needed to deliver services to their customers, all of the Commission's efforts to fashion a regulatory environment that otherwise encourages the development of IP services will be moot," ECA said. In a Notice for Proposed Rulemaking in the matter of IP-enabled services, the Commission is seeking comment on the appropriate regulatory scheme for VoIP and other IP services. ECA is the leading trade association promoting the growth of markets and effective sales channels for converged communications solutions deployed by enterprise businesses. ECA brings together a diverse membership base, including manufacturers, distributors, network service providers, sales channel companies, systems integrators, applications developers and consultants. ECA urged the FCC to require ILECs to adopt Comparably Efficient Interconnection plans for all IP-enabled services and disclose in a timely manner the network information that is relevant to the provision of IP-enabled services and the design of related equipment. To help customer premises equipment (CPE) manufacturers, channel partners and integrators that are driving innovation in IP-enabled services and applications to continue to flourish, ECA said the FCC should restrict the ability of ILECs to bundle the sale of CPE with their IP-enabled service offerings for a transition period. Finally, ECA recommended the FCC promote open systems principles for IP- enabled 911 solutions. ECA stated, "Because VoIP technology is just emerging from infancy, there is significant potential for the providers of local facilities to implement proprietary protocols, engage in preferential routing of 911 calls, or employ discriminatory data screening practices that favor their own VoIP systems and services over those of competitors. The potential for such preferential and discriminatory practices exists in VoIP communications generally; the consequences of such practices would be especially harmful -- not only to competition, but to the public safety, health and welfare -- if they are allowed to be pursued in the area of emergency communications." ABOUT ECA The Enterprise Communications Association (ECA) promotes the growth of healthy markets and effective sales channels for converged voice, video and data communications solutions deployed in the enterprise. ECA programs for executives and technical personnel map out how to profitably transform a voice or data distribution business to pursue convergence markets. For more information on ECA member service, visit the ECA web site at http://www.encomm.org. To view ECA's full comments before the FCC in the matter of IP-enabled services, visit http://www.encomm.org/fcc.htm. CONTACT: Mary Bradshaw Executive Director of the Enterprise Communications Association, +1-202-467-4868, or mary@encomm.org SOURCE Enterprise Communications Association Web Site: http://www.encomm.org ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 11:20:07 -0400 Subject: Comcast Throws Its Weight Behind VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.tvweek.com/technology/060704comcast.html Country's Biggest MSO to Begin Trials in Suburban Markets By Daisy Whitney When the big kid sits on the seesaw, all the weight teeters to that end. Such is Comcast's effect on the cable industry. The operator's formalization of its voice-over-Internet protocol plans late last month raises the questions of how VoIP fits into the cable fabric of the next three to five years, what Comcast's entrance means for the industry and what it means for consumers now that the country's biggest multiple system operator has bestowed its official blessing on VoIP. While Comcast's interest in VoIP was no secret, the operator had not outlined specific details of its plans until late May, when it said trials in suburban Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Springfield, Mass., would begin this year. The Philadelphia trial is an expansion of a test that began there in 2003. "We wanted to get through those trials and hone our provisioning, order-taking, installation, customer service functions," said Robert Smith, a Comcast spokesman. Comcast plans to announce an additional schedule of launches later this year as part of its plans to make 50 percent of its plant VoIP-ready by the end of this year and 90 percent ready by the end of next year. With Comcast's entrance, all the major cable operators are on board now, backing the new technology. Full story at: http://www.tvweek.com/technology/060704comcast.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:07:13 -0400 Subject: Competing Against the Five Nines -- Supporting the VoIP Experience Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.convergedigest.com/blueprint/ttp04/z3supportsoft1.asp?ID=138&ctgy=3 by James Morehead, Senior Director, Product Marketing SupportSoft Led by the North American cable companies (MSOs), VoIP telephony services are beginning to hit the mass market. In a May 2004 research report, Juniper Research claims that VoIP will account for over 12% of all telephony revenues by 2009, an indication that its revenue potential for providers is growing along with consumer desire for the service. Yet in order for VoIP to viably compete with traditional telephony services the good old telephone VoIP needs to ensure that it can stack up against the five nines of reliability that telephone users receive: they can count on their phone working for them 99.999% of the time. Service and support of the VoIP experience directly influences the widespread adoption among consumers and whether providers can profitably provide the service. With competitive pressures from carriers and satellite vendors, the MSOs have a significant revenue incentive to include telephony services as part of their strategy to lock-in customers with a triple play offering of digital video, broadband data and telephony. The MSOs are not alone, however. Knowing that their core access business is at stake, Telcos are also building VoIP offerings; some more quickly than others, such as AT&T with CallVantage. Their strategy is to provide a broader approach that is services rich to VoIP offerings than the MSOs and new entrants. New entrants such as Vonage are attempting to leverage the rapidly increasing growth of broadband Internet services by focusing on VoIP services, not the enabling network. The reason for all of these players to be aggressively pursuing this approach is that VoIP has a proven to be a cost advantage and can enable the rapid introduction of new value-added telephony services. However, critical to the long-term success of VoIP is not simply introducing a myriad of slick features or aggressive pricing, but rather the ability of the service provider to profitably manage the subscriber lifecycle. The VoIP provider will need to meet or exceed what has become the benchmark for voice telephony services, it is self-installable, auto-configured, and provides quality service at 99.999% reliability. Full story at: http://www.convergedigest.com/blueprint/ttp04/z3supportsoft1.asp?ID=138&ctgy=3 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 19:06:57 -0400 Subject: Frost & Sullivan Awards Voiceglo With Product Differentiation Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040607005950&newsLang=en Frost & Sullivan Awards Voiceglo with Product Differentiation Innovation Award for Global Leadership in Residential VoIP Services PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2004--Frost & Sullivan, a global leader in growth consulting, has selected Voiceglo (OTCBB:TGLO) for its 2004 Product Differentiation Innovation Award for outstanding achievement in the global Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) market in its recent analysis, "The North American Residential VoIP Market." Frost & Sullivan acknowledged Voiceglo's unique product innovation, the GloPhone (www.glophone.com), which has helped the company effectively compete in a highly commoditized market where most VoIP providers are lowering prices to gain market share. By offering cost-effective technology bundled with calling feature-enriched capabilities such as voice mail, call forwarding, call waiting, caller ID, voice2email, buddy lists and many others, Voiceglo has successfully launched the Glophone, a VoIP offering unique within the industry. In a very short time, the Glophone has created high demand among consumers seeking a lower cost alternative to traditional phone service. Glophone is the ultimate hybrid service, providing global peer-to-peer VoIP calling, along with access to public switched telephone networks (PSTN), resulting in a very cost-effective phone service option. Moreover, while most other free or peer-to-peer services can be accessed only when both parties are online, the GloPhone makes it possible to place or receive calls from a landline or a cellular phone. Additionally, unlike other services that work only through high-speed broadband, Voiceglo's GloPhone also works with dial-up services. "Other services such as Skype and Free World Dialup, usually require the phone to be connected to a broadband interface, so the service is tied down to a physical connection," said Jon Arnold, VoIP Program Leader for Frost & Sullivan. "GloPhone, on the other hand, is a truly portable, Web-enabled browser service that can be accessed from any Internet-connected computer in the world." Another advantage of the GloPhone is that customers subscribing to the service are provided with a North American phone number. This is appealing to users from high tariff countries since international calls originating in North America receive very favorable caller rates. Also, calls made to North America are viewed as local calls. Voiceglo has also shown innovation with a very flexible range of payment options. As with other broadband VoIP providers, subscribers pay through the convenience of credit cards. However, Voiceglo does not require a North American billing address. Soon, the company will offer alternate payment methods such as PayPal, making their service available to those who do not use or have credit cards. The Frost & Sullivan award also recognizes the company's ability to cater to the economic capabilities of a wide range of end users. For example, GloPhone Blue, the most basic service offered, caters to customers who simply want to call other GloPhone customers worldwide for free. For mid-level users, Voiceglo offers the GloPhone Green and GloPhone Gold service plans, both notable for their cost efficiency, as users can make and receive calls in the U.S. and Canada for 3.9 cents per minute and can also utilize numerous bundled features. GloPhone Platinum is the most comprehensive of the offering and targets high-end users with unlimited service and a much wider range of features and services. GloPhone also supports numerous call management features that enable subscribers to handle their voice mail, initiate conferencing, forward calls to their landlines or cellular phones and locate other members in the online directory and buddy list. Voiceglo's Glophone service was introduced in mid-February 2004, but has made rapid gains in the VoIP market with a philosophy and business model that differentiates them radically from their competitors. It is the ultimate hybrid service, combining the allure of free, global peer-to-peer broadband or dial-up VoIP, along with PSTN access for very affordable calling to or from any conventional telephone or wireless phone, anywhere in the world. For its success in accelerating the global market growth of VoIP services through product differentiation, as well as affordability, and ease of use, Voiceglo has been selected as the recipient of the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Product Differentiation Innovation Award. Full story at: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040607005950&newsLang=en ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 19:22:21 -0400 Subject: PRIMUS Launches 'Lingo' High-Speed Internet Phone Service Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20040607005101&newsLang=en&beanID=202776713&viewID=news_view June 07, 2004 08:00 AM US Eastern Timezone MCLEAN, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2004-- "Lingo" Offers 3-Months Free, Unmatched $19.95 Monthly Rate For Unlimited Local and Long-Distance Calling in U.S., Plus Unlimited Calling to Canada and Western Europe Primus Telecommunications, Inc. ("PRIMUS") today eclipsed existing Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telecommunications companies in the United States by introducing "Lingo," a VOIP service that offers unmatched value and geographic coverage. Leveraging PRIMUS' global presence, and a VOIP network that reaches over 150 countries, the new Lingo service offers consumers free, unlimited calling to Western Europe - something no other broadband phone service provides. Lingo brings consumers with a broadband connection an alternative to their traditional U.S. telephone company -- at savings of up to 80 percent. Lingo is available free for a three-month period to consumers, and includes unlimited local and long-distance calling in the U.S., unlimited international calling to Canada and Western Europe, and over 25 popular calling features at no additional charge. Consumers can learn more about Lingo and sign up online for the service by visiting http://www.Lingo.com. The Lingo Offer After three-months free, the same Lingo service will cost $19.95 per month, and be offered on a month-to-month basis without extended contract requirements. The plan includes: -- Unlimited local and long-distance calls in the U.S., and unlimited international calls to Canada and Western Europe -- Very low rates to over 230 other top international locations -- The opportunity to keep your current phone number -- A free Lingo Analog Telephone Adapter ("ATA") -- Over 25 calling features at no charge -- Unlimited calls between Lingo customers "The Internet knows no geographical boundaries, so why should telephone services?" said John Melick, co-president of PRIMUS. "As a multi-national company, it is second nature for PRIMUS to provide quality, unlimited domestic and international calling opportunities at an inexpensive price. We are delighted to have Lingo customers join millions of residential and business customers served by the PRIMUS network here in the U.S., and around the globe." How It Works All that customers need for the Lingo high-speed Internet phone service is a broadband Internet connection -- either cable or digital subscriber line (DSL) -- an analog telephone adapter (ATA) provided by PRIMUS, and a standard telephone. Lingo customers may place calls and simultaneously use the same broadband connection with PCs and other devices. Other Lingo Calling Plans and Features Lingo offers a series of calling plans to meet the needs of residential and small/home-based businesses, ranging in price from $14.95 to $99.95 per month. All Lingo calling plans provide a variety of enhanced features at no additional charge, including: -- Online Web portal for customers to personalize their services, set features, and manage their account -- Do Not Disturb, Call Forwarding, Call Blocking, and Caller ID services -- Voicemail to email delivery -- "Distinctive Ring" tones for each number, so the customer may distinguish between one phone number and another -- "Simultaneous Ring," allowing important calls to be sent to several other telephone numbers at the same time (e.g., your cell phone) -- Emergency Calling Service -- Anonymous Call Rejection, Redial, *69 About PRIMUS PRIMUS is the principal U.S. subsidiary of Primus Telecommunications Group, Incorporated (Nasdaq:PRTL), a Fortune 1000(R) global telecommunications company with over $1.3 billion in annual revenue. Headquartered in McLean, VA, and founded in 1994, the company is among the largest international telecommunications concerns. PRIMUS owns and operates an extensive global network, including a VOIP "backbone" that reaches over 150 countries through 550 points-of-presence (POPs) throughout the world. The company offers voice, Internet, voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP), digital subscriber line (DSL), and other data services to corporate customers, small- and medium-sized businesses, residential customers, and other communications carriers located throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company first entered the VOIP market in 1999, and now carries more than one billion minutes of VOIP traffic. This year, Primus was the first communications company in Canada to roll out consumer broadband telephone services, and, in 2002, brought VOIP-based PC-to-phone service to the desktop through a partnership arrangement with Microsoft MSN(R) Messenger. Lingo is a trademark of PRIMUS. Microsoft Messenger and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. For more information about Lingo, visit: http://www.Lingo.com. Contacts PRIMUS Media & Industry Analyst Contact: Gerry A. Simone, 703-394-4519 gsimone@primustel.com or Investor Relations Contact: John F. DePodesta, 703-902-2800 IR@primustel.com Full press release at: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20040607005101&newsLang=en&beanID=202776713&viewID=news_view ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Public Copy Cost Unchanged Organization: Looking for work Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2004 17:56:13 -0400 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) wrote: > I was at the library and used the public copying machine. It was > 10 cents a copy. > I realized this price is the same since I was a kid, back when a > payphone call was a dime. Bus fares, now $2.00 were 35 cents. I remember copying machines going up from a nickel to a dime when I was a kid, and I'm not yet eligible for Social Security. But I agree that it's remarkable that it has stayed the same for so long (around 30 years). Pat suggested that the towns may be subsidizing this, but lots of convenience stores, as well as chains like Staples and UPS Store, offer self-serve copying. I don't think they're still a dime, but they're not much more expensive either. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Just Like High-Definition TV, but With Higher Definition Date: 7 Jun 2004 18:55:23 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Phil Earnhardt wrote: > One comparison the reporter missed is to the Texas Instruments DLP > system for cinemas ( www.dlp.com ). This is the digital projection > system that George Lucas has been hyping and critics like Roger Ebert > have been panning. Movies like "Star Wars Episode 1", "Star Wars > Episode 2", and "Ice Age" were released on the DLP format. I was > thoroughly unimpressed with this projection technique; there were > lots of jaggies on the screen. AFAICT, the DLP system has a horizontal > resolution of 2K, which would give it about 3.5 million pixels/frame. > This is only marginally higher resolution than HDTV. This is substantially higher resolution than HDTV. Unfortunately, it's still not anywhere near enough resolution for theatre applications. What distresses me is not the poor resolution, though, but the poor grey scale. The total range of tones isn't really any better than conventional NTSC video, with very restricted shadows and highlights that blow out far too easily. It's nowhere near as good as I expect in a theatrical presentation. > The other comparison would be to the IMAX DMR technology. This system > takes a 35mm film and does a computation-intensive frame-by-frame > processing of the images to master a high-resolution release of the > movie onto IMAX film. The third "Harry Potter" film is being released > with this technology in about 50 IMAX theaters today. > The DMR processing can produce stunning results. One of the first > films to be re-released with this technology was "Apollo 13". If you > recall, there are several scenes prominently featuring a > black-and-white television in the middle of that film. The DMR image > of that television cabinet was absolutely stunning. Scenes with a > small depth-of-field have an amazing 3-D effect; they are sometimes so > dramatic that I'm guessing that the DMR processing allows the > technicians/artists doing to conversion to de-tune the effect. Frankly, the DMR stuff doesn't look any better than 35mm projection from a good EK print. Where it wins is that it can be much brighter (meaning it can be shown on a much larger screen and still get good shadow detail), and that the prints are comparatively easy to make. Making good prints directly off the camera negative is difficult and results in substantial wear to the original elements, so most prints in theatres are several generations down. Resolution in the original negative disappears after a couple generations of printer slip. The DMR prints make this much less of an issue because any number of internegs can be struck from the digital intermediate. Greyscale still isn't what it ought to be, though. > I have never heard estimates about the resolution of the DMR IMAX > films. In general, I think it's a vastly superior technology to the TI > DLP system. That's not saying all that much. >> Add to that UHDV's beefed-up refresh rate of 60 frames per second >> (twice that of conventional video), projected onto a 450-inch diagonal >> screen with more than 20 channels of audio, and you've got an >> impressive home theater on your hands. >> Of course, UHDV's current dimensions make it impractical for most >> homes. The NHK researchers are investigating how to squeeze all those >> pixels onto smaller screens. > The numbers are way overkill for a home system. OTOH, this system > could hold promise for commercial cinemas. Hollywood should embrace > systems that deliver stunningly higher performance in theaters than > people can see at home. At this point in time (and IMHO), the DLP > system has failed to deliver on its promise. I dunno, I run 35mm at home and even on a little 12 foot screen here, I can see _very_ clear differences between an archive EK print and a typical theatrical print. You can't have enough resolution or good enough grey scale for any application. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 02:46:35 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Detective Story: Information for Hire ONLINE SHOPPER By JAMES GORMAN IT was a hot day, but it was cold inside, cold as an unplugged computer at a San Jose server farm. I was at the keyboard, trying to find a telephone number for someone who worked in bioinformatics. Don't ask why. Then I saw them, lurking in the corner of the screen like a come-on for cheap pharmaceuticals or expensive credit cards or unclothed women, or unclothed men or, well, you know what I'm talking about. There are all those advertisements that you always wonder about but don't want to click on because you know that sooner or later the F.B.I. will vacuum data from every hard drive you ever used and tell the world that you were a regular visitor to the Victoria's Secret site but never bought a thing. Maybe because it was hot, or maybe because it was cold, or maybe because interviewing people about bioinformatics is not terrifically exciting, I figured I'd make an information buy, get some personal data on someone, just to pass the time. I wasn't going to start tracking down my old elementary school teachers, because they were nuns. You can't just plug Sister Kevin into a search engine and expect a whole lot. So I thought I'd pick someone better known, like, say, Brad Pitt. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/technology/circuits/03shop.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 18:45:23 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Sonos Digital Music System Multi-Zone Digital Music System Renders the Traditional Black Stereo Rack Obsolete CARLSBAD, CALIF., June 7, 2004 - Digital music fans can now listen to rock in the garden, punk in the playroom and fusion in the bedroom, with the launch of the Sonos Digital Music System, which is previewing this week at the "D2: All Things Digital" conference in Carlsbad, Calif. The Sonos offering is the first and only multi-zone digital music system with a wireless, full-color LCD screen controller that lets consumers play all their digital music, all over their home, while controlling it all from the palm of their hand. The Sonos Digital Music System is comprised of two stylish components: the Sonos ZonePlayer, a networked audio player that distributes, plays and amplifies music in any "zone" in the home, and the Sonos Controller, a wireless handheld device with a full-color screen which allows the user to access, customize and control the music anywhere- from the bedroom to the backyard. The ZonePlayer delivers great sound in every room through a powerful and compact 50 Watts/channel amplifier with component-quality audio specifications. The ZonePlayer can access and play a wide variety of music formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC (MPEG4) and WAV, stored on a PC, Mac or Network Attached Storage (NAS), and comes bundled with customizable Internet Radio stations. Built-in wired and wireless capabilities provide the consumer flexibility of installation at no extra cost. The intuitive Controller, designed with a full-color LCD screen and touch-sensitive scroll wheel, provides consumers with simplicity - pick a zone, pick a song and hit play - unrestricted by line of sight. Consumers can play the same song synchronously in every room or play different songs in different rooms, queue-up favorites for the evening or rediscover their collection via random play; the options are virtually unlimited. The high resolution LCD shows what is playing in any zone at any time, including album art when available. Network set-up is simple as the system automatically configures a secure wireless mesh network that seamlessly links the consumer's existing digital music library to the ZonePlayers and Controllers. The systems modular design allows the user to decide upon the number of ZonePlayers and Controllers needed based upon lay-out of the home and personal needs. http://sonos.com/news_and_reviews/press_releases/2004/pr_0606_launch.htm ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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