KODAK’S WRITABLE CDS MOVE TO THE DESKTOP

At last month’s Seybold San Francisco conference, Eastman Kodak introduced a writable compact disc publishing system that, if we all play our cards right, could be the first desktop multimedia production system on the market that almost-normal people can afford.

The PCD Writer 200 writes and reads data to and from a $25 write-once optical disc. The drive itself is fully CD-ROM XA compatible, which means that it is physically capable of both multisession recording and reading and writing interleaved data. But Kodak says it doesn’t yet have the hardware to support any of the whizzier, multimedia-style applications.

Larry Zimmer, manager of business development for the Writable CD System, says the first software available for the system is for DOS computers and is only capable of writing in ISO 9660 format, which is best suited for archiving text and numbers. In the works are Macintosh and Unix software.

Multisession next. However, he says the company plans to support multisession recording by the first half of 1993. (Standard CD-ROMs lay data on the disc with all the indexing at the very beginning, so multisession recording is a rather heroic feat of technical sleight-of-hand.)

He won’t, however, commit to when the company will rev the software so that it can support the interleaving of sound with still images, and he won’t even get near the subject of motion video.

“That’s not really our core business, so video’s not in the plan yet,” says Zimmer. However, he added somewhat enticingly, everything’s already in the XA hardware, and Kodak is actively “procuring software from third parties to fill customer needs. We’re only doing our own development where it makes sense.”

That statement is the sound of a fabulous opportunity knocking for some ambitious software developer who wants to figure out how to use the Kodak system to press from one to 100 interactive multimedia discs that contain fully interleaved video, sound, stills and text without leaving home or office.

The desktop system today costs $5,995 for the hardware and $2,495 for the ISO 9660 software.

INDUSTRY BALKS AT FBI WIRETAP POWER

IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, Digital Equipment Corp., Lotus, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others, have formed a coalition to block a proposed congressional bill that would allow the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to increase its wiretap power as well as set technical standards for the computer and communications industry.

As reported in Digital Media (see Vol. 1, No. 11, p. 7), the FBI is concerned that advances in digital telephony technology will leave them out of the loop. It has proposed legislation that will enable the agency to “determine the technological interception needs of the government,” and, from that vantage point, let it determine what is acceptable product design and what is not in the realm of digital communications.

Needless to say, this news did not go over so big with some of the most powerful companies within the computer industry nor with trade associations, computer users, and privacy and consumer protection agencies. And as in times of war, these disparate groups have united against a common enemy. Together, they have formed a coalition and, under the aegis of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, drafted a white paper, “Analysis of the FBI Proposal Regarding Digital Telephony,” opposing the proposed legislation.

For a copy of the white paper call the EEF at (202) 544-6906.

In other news, the FBI is being sued by the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility group. The suit was filed after the FBI failed to make public the information on the proposed digital telephony legislation. According to CPSR Washington Office director Marc Rotenberg, “A full disclosure of the reasons for this proposal is necessary. The FBI simply cannot put forward such a sweeping recommendation, keep important documents secret, and expect the public to sign off.”

SMPTE ADOPTS DIGITAL IMAGE MODEL

In a move that could lead to a single system for the handling of digital images — scalable from the big screen to the computer screen or even smaller — the SMPTE Standards Committee has adopted a report from the Task Force on Digital Image Architecture that endorses an open, interoperable image standard.

The task force, formed in early 1991 and originally headed by David Trzcinski of PictureTel, then by Dr. Will Stackhouse of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was composed of members from the television, motion picture, computer, medical imaging, telecommunications and multimedia communities. In addition, the group that presented the report proposed a model, which is now under consideration, that met many of its criteria for such a system.

Scalable video. The system was designed to imbue a single stream of data with sufficient intelligence that it could display its images on any kind of monitor or screen, in whatever format was required (i.e., NTSC or RGB) without modification. This is what’s called “scalable video,” and many believe its arrival will signal the beginning of truly useful digital media applications, since developers will be released from having to repackage titles for separate platforms. (This is a problem today with the Sony MMCD and Tandy VIS players; see p. 6.)

The SMPTE group believes several criteria are essential for scalable video:

• Selection of a family of image acquisition rates and display refresh rates for computer screens that consider the frame rates of film and TV;
• Use of a square sampling grid (as opposed to the ovals used in TV);
• Use of headers/descriptors to identify the form and content of the data stream;
• Coherent sampling of the image and the use of progressive scanning techniques where feasible;
• Establishment of appropriate levels of compatibility with current motion picture and TV standards.

The task force has also agreed to put the fruits of its labor in the public domain, so that developers wanting to use the modules and interfaces forming the architecture can implement them without paying licensing fees.

FDDI WIRES BOEING FOR PHONE AND GAMES

Boeing Aircraft Co., the largest U.S. aircraft manufacturer, is installing high-speed, fiber-optic networks in its aircraft for inflight multimedia services to passengers and crew. The network, based on National Semiconductor’s Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) chip set, will come standard on all Boeing 777s beginning in 1995.

United has already signed contracts for the multimedia jumbo jets. It plans to offer passengers an extensive line of services: seated passengers can access air-to-ground and ground-to-air phone, online and fax services, multiple video and CD audio channels, electronic games and books, and video displays of flight and travel information.

(There are, in fact, already developers working on applications for these new multimedia-equipped passenger jets.)

Flight crews, maintenance and ground support teams will use the network to communicate, improve safety and streamline operations. For example, flight crews will be able to communicate directly with ground personnel to request meals for the next flight or to place a service repair order. Also, video displays will be available to aid in navigation.

FDDI is a high-speed (100Mbit/second) fiber-optic networking chip set that has typically been too expensive for widespread commercial use. National claims to have improved chip performance while lowering its manufacturing costs.

National plans to sell its FDDI chip sets to other parties. Sony, Samsung, Performance Technologies and Team ASA are working on incorporating the technology into desktop computers.

“We see communications as a massive, growing area,” says Ray Farnham, president of National’s Communications and Computing Group. “In the next two to three years we expect this FDDI chip set to generate multiple ten of millions of dollars.”

EO’S TALKING PDAS, BUT NOT PRODUCT

Mountain View, CA-based EO, Inc., has joined the ranks of General Magic, Apple, Tandy, Sharp and IBM (and likely many others we don’t know about yet) in the race to supply mankind with the first personal digital assistant. In early October, the barely one-year-old start-up announced its partnership with AT&T, Matsushita and Marubeni — and its intention to show a wireless personal communication device by year’s end.

EO’s devices will be based on AT&T’s low-power, RISC-based Hobbit microprocessor and GO’s PenPoint operating system. Although EO is mum about what sort of functionality the first product will have, it claims future generations of its technology will incorporate fax machines, cellular phones, modems, pagers, electronic mail and pen computing.

Two models are currently envisioned: a home model priced at $150 and a cellular model priced at $250. It’s a little hard to judge how spectacular a price point this is, however, when the company won’t discuss what the two devices will do.

With the cost of cellular telephones still teetering at about $500, it’s hard to imagine that EO can achieve the economies of scale to pull off this price point, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

AT&T will furnish the network structure based on its digital signal processing (DSP), phone network and advanced messaging technologies. Matsushita will provide the miniaturization and mass manufacturing know-how, cellular technology, LCDs and battery or power supplies.

Software is currently being designed by third-party vendors, which EO’s CEO and president, Alain Rossman, declined to name.

Marubeni, an international trading company, will provide distribution support and a line of credit. Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, a venture capital firm in Palo Alto, CA, is also a major investor in the company.

EO has its eyes on a vast worldwide market. To this end, it plans to add a European partner to the team by year’s end. By the year 2000, EO projects that more than 100 million personal communicators — whether EO’s or not — will be sold.

IHS GAINS RIGHTS TO IMAGE ARCHIVES

Interactive Home Systems, founded by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, is still busy licensing and acquiring image rights. The Redmond, WA-based company, which has quietly been building a “digital information library” since 1989, recently acquired non-exclusive rights to four more important collections.

The company acquired non-exclusive rights to Europe’s largest photo archive, Hulton Deutsch Collection in London; selected photographs and illustrations from Dorling Kindersley, renowned London publisher; color slides from the Francis G. Mayer Collection, which include images of architecture, public monuments and decorative arts from around the world; and a portion of the private collection of distinguished English photographer Roger Wood.

In addition, IHS already has long-term relationships with The National Gallery of London and the Seattle Art Museum (see Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 18).

IHS was the target of strong criticism by the museum community when it was founded because of its aggressive stance toward acquiring exclusive digital rights. Since then, it has been mending both its ways and the fences it trampled in the early days; this latest announcement is a likely indicator of increased trust.

PACBELL NOW AN INFO PROVIDER

San Francisco-based Pacific Bell became one of the first telecommunication companies in the nation to delve into real-world information delivery services with a project called Knowledge Network Gateway.

The project is in a one-year test period in which it will offer access to educational databases and online services to students and teachers at two San Francisco Bay Area high schools.

Gateway connects students and teachers to the Internet at UC Davis and the National Science Foundation. The Internet accesses worldwide data networks for universities, institutions and commercial R&D databases. Teachers and students receive special training on how to use varying features of the system — from research to downloading software and electronic mail.

If all goes well on this project, Pacific Bell plans to expand network capabilities to include online textbook and curricula updates and access to commercial databases.

Gateway is a part of a grander scheme of things as well — PacBell’s Knowledge Network Vision program which outlines a plan for linking the entire California state educational system to a PacBell network. To this end, PacBell has partnered with AT&T, IBM and Northern Telecom and is providing video teleconferencing as well as distance learning programs to state educational institutions.

In July 1991, a federal judge ruled to allow telecommunication companies to provide information services (see Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 7). Telcos were long prohibited from providing information services on the basis that because they control the conduit, it would be an unfair monopolistic advantage for them to provide content over those same lines.

Currently, legislation is being considered which would once again restrict telcos from offering information services — an outcome Pacific Bell is surely waiting for with bated breath.

ANOTHER WEE RADIO MODEM

Motorola’s Paging and Wireless Data Group has announced a new member of its evolving line of wireless radio data communicators. The latest arrival is a dual-purpose radio packet modem called InfoTAC.

The 6.8-by-1.3-inch, 17-ounce device is a step above its predecessors, the RPM400i and the RPM405i, in multi-functionality. InfoTAC is a modem for portable devices. It connects to any laptop, notebook or pen-based computer via a standard RS-232 port connection. Two built-in software interfaces provide initial interfaces with communication software. Additionally, it’s designed to be power efficient.

InfoTAC is also a standalone two-way messaging unit. It’s capable of receiving and storing multiple messages and of sending customized messages as well. The unit also issues receipts of acknowledgment for each message, so senders know immediately whether or not their message was received.

InfoTAC will employ wireless data networks, such as Ardis in North America.

Ardis, a Motorola/IBM venture formed in 1990, is the largest wireless data network in the U.S. Its service area reaches more than 80 percent of the population and 90 percent of heavy business activity zones.

Ardis employs IBM’s CelluPlan technology, which allows data transmissions to be sent over existing cellular networks without disturbing voice calls or requiring additional bandwidth or capability (see Vol. 1, No. 12, p. 20).

The network was based upon Motorola’s MDC 4800 protocol. However, Motorola opened the protocols used in the network last spring to encourage other companies to make products compatible with the network.