Here's a short video clip of Steve Ballmer and Suzan DelBene showing off a bunch of new phones announced at the keynote

• HP 6900
• Samsung i320
• Asustech's P305 3G Smartphone
• HTC "Star Trek"

Interesting to note there are now over 100 Windows Mobile devices on the market. Suzan described these phones as having "direct push technology".  This is exciting stuff- I have a phone with this enabled and I have to say, getting emails on my mobile phone as they arrive in my inbox on my Exchange server is pretty nifty.  While not earth-shattering (the device could poll every few minutes before if you wanted) for customers who need near-real-time access to mail, this is a good thing.

What's even more exciting though for digital media enthusiasts is that Motorola has announced support for Windows Media and PlaysforSure on upcoming mobile music phones with WMA and WMA Pro support.  Also included is support for MTP which will allow for a single USB-plug connection to Windows PCs and no need for additional drivers.  Benefits of this solution over a certain iMusic product I would expect: I won't be limited to 100 songs per device, I can use my own music collection, pay-per-download, or music subscription services such as the upcoming service from MTV/VH1/CMT, "Urge" (or Napster or Yahoo etc.)  What's more, Microsoft and Motorola are working together so that WMA Pro super-high fidelity music can be easily delivered over 3G high-speed wireless networks worldwide. More details in the announcement here.  Michael Gartenberg also weighs in on the announcement and it's impact here. 

With this announcement, Microsoft is actively working with two of the largest handset manufacturers in the world - Motorola and Nokia on mobile media solutions for their platform as well as ours.

I'm off to Japan this weekend for business.  My Slingbox is ready to roll, but I'm really looking forward to taking in the local culture.  Any suggestions, tips, or pointers are appreciated. :)

Call it an ad or what you will, it's a bit european and quirky.  Check out the video the IE7 team put together as a teaser/commercial. 

IE7_Big.wmv       (7.8MB)
IE7_Medium.wmv (2.9MB)
IE7_Small.wmv    (1MB)

News.com is reporting this morning that Aeon Digital, a privately held firm specializing in IPTV-over the Internet has confirmed a licensing agreement with NBC Universal.  The service will be made available via a $299 DVR available at retail and will use Microsoft's Windows Media technology for delivery.

Upon further inspection, Aeon Digital has ambitious plans for their products. Two integrated LCD-TV and two set-top box products.  Features of the DV-220 STB-include:

• IPTV Support
• 200 hour DVR with ability to archive to your PC.  No mention of CableCard support though :(
• Streamed playback of music, photos, and video from your PC
• Component, composite and S-Video outputs
• Built-in 802.11g WiFi router with VOIP support,uPnP, NAT firewall
• Built-in EPG (Program Guide)

Movies such as "Ray" and the "The Motorcycle Diaries" will be made available as well as what looks like some tier-2 television programming.  No details were provided on pricing.

This is a good step in the right direction. For now, this looks to be a contender for stand-alone TiVo Series 2 competition at retail but for the serious enthusiast, without HDTV and CableCard support, it leaves me a bit wanting.  But it does signal an interesting trend- the logjam of IP-accessible content from big-name providers appears to be straining thanks to a lessening of fear (and interest in making more money) via these types of solutions by the content providers.

It's not daily I get excited about terrestrial radio, much less a latecomer to the Internet.  But, today is that day.  I just learned LA's own KROQ- the #1 Rock Station in the US is now broadcasting for free on the Internet in Windows Media.  It's a very solid 96kbps stream offering great fidelity and in-line purchase and the like.

Link to Embedded Player w/ Album art etc.

Announcement here in MediaWeek.

I have to say, I love my Samsung DLP TV for everything but gaming.  Brightness could be a little better too but hey, it's HD!

Now, new HD TV's are on their way that bring the clarity of CRT, the flat-ness of Plasma, and power savings reportedly all into one technology called SED - complete with ink-jet like printability. Canon and Toshiba are working to bring this to production right now.  If they can get the prices down, this could be disruptive technology.

Link

Orbitcast points to a funny article on a guy who discovers his Satellite Radio's FM transmitter is a bit stronger than he expected.  So what does he do?  Shares with his fellow commuters in a fun and viral way.

I've been a fan of Orb, but found it didn't run as stably as I like.  And with a bunch of international business trips coming up, I bit the bullet and am evaluating Slingbox as a way to control and watch my favorite shows recorded on our DVR.  I have to say, wow I'm impressed so far.  The UI could use some work, but the function is solid.

Underneath the hood, it's basically a hardware-based WMV Encoder that can easily be found across the Internet. Put in some quality of service (QoS) goo and away you go.  Lots of folks have been having fun with it including Scoble.  Hundreds of uses - some folks monitor their babycam using one. 

One idea I had was for Slingbox to build a Gadget for Windows Sidebar and Live.com.  They're already close-with the ability to dock the SlingPlayer on the left or right sides of your screen, but it leaves a lot of unused space.  What do you say SlingMedia? 

In the coming months I'll be blogging my experiences with Slingbox from Hong Kong and Japan.  Away we go!

Robert Scoble writes:

TDavid reacts to my request for bloggers to make it easier to deal with them in email. Says that he doesn’t like email. Oh, neither do I, neither do I, but sometimes there are times when I need to get ahold of you privately and not in chat rooms or blog comments (and not via Skype or MSN Messenger either). What else is left? Email.

Here's another idea I've been kicking around: hold "office hours" with live chat using a product like SightMax.  I've been talking to Eric, the president of SmartMax Software which makes SightMax about the potential among bloggers. (Note: Eric hosts my blog) It doesn't require messenger, and provides for 1:1 conversations. You could create another messenger account, but that means you're offline for your regular contacts if logged on the same PC.  It might also be a good solution for live podcasting vs. chat rooms. 

I also find comments often aren't as effective- too slow to respond and I'm not sure if people actually read the resonses. Could this could be another solution?  Perhaps I should take it for a spin.  The question is, if I showed up for "office hours", would anybody wander in?

Anyone working in company of any size should read this article.