Wolf Tracking

At this year’s NAB, high-definition (HD) definition products were everywhere.

From new whiz-bang HD cameras to HD blank recordable media and even virtual HD booth babes, there’s no doubt that it’s finally here.

And while all of this is exciting (I have two Panasonic HD TVs myself), the HD displays at NAB didn’t knock my socks off.

But there’s a little something called iVDR that did. As luck would have it, it’s not yet commercially available in the US and not expected to hit the consumer market until late 2008. Although, it’s already in Japan.

So what’s iVDR?

iVDR is a secured, removable hard disk drive that is supposed to be a new information platform designed for interconnecting homes, cars and mobile living. It’s 160 GB and will cost about $300.

In the future, TVs will have a port that allows you to plug in the iVDR and record your favorite music videos, DVDs and the like. Furthermore, new automobile manufacturers such as Toyota and Nissan have plans to produce cars with HD TVs that will have a cartridge to house this hard drive.

Of course, intellectual property and copyright protection of digital content issues will have to be resolved before my dream of this ultimate convenience can truly be realized.

And yes, Apple knows this (hint: Apple TV) and consumers do too.

Nevertheless, for me, a tech’d out Mom of two little ones, who routinely pops in new DVDs like Happy Feet and Charlotte’s Web while transporting them around town and taking long road trips, this is certainly GOOD news!

While I enjoy cool tech stuff and gadgets, the real way to capture my pocketbook is to make my life easier.

This is exactly what the iVDR will do.

Instead of shuffling DVDs in and out of the car, I’ll be able to record up to about 30 standard DVDs (each DVD holds about 4.7 gigs) and let them zombie out in the car-while I ride in absolute tranquility . . .

Following two years of research and thousands of consumer comments, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced this week that it will maintain its ban on the use of cell phones in-flight.  The ban has been in effect since 1991.

In contrast to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), whose ban on cell phone use is based on a fear of interference with mission-critical navigational and communications systems, the FCC’s concern is interference with cell phone signals on the ground. 

The seatback phones we’ve all grown accustomed to use a special FCC frequency that operates outside the range of regular cellular phones, circumnavigating the interference concerns voiced by the two agencies.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of allowing cell phone use on airplanes.  Let’s face it – who wants to hear, “no, I love you more honey bun,” or, “dude, I’m flying over the Grand Canyon right now – it’s so cool!” during a 5-hour flight across the country? 

But as today’s consumer grows more accustomed to constant connectivity, the FCC and FAA are going to have to find a solution to satisfy travelers’ needs (desires really).  Think about how much more productive you would be on that cross-country flight with access to the outside world – it could change business travelers’ outlook on flying, and perhaps, business altogether.

So what’s next? 

Onboard broadband connections are scheduled to debut as early as next year using cabin Wi-Fi hotspots according to the FCC.  Simultaneous to its investigation of in-flight cell phone use, the FCC began the process to wirelessly connect travelers to the Web.

According to CNET, a spokesman for AirCell, the Colorado firm that received an FCC license last year enabling it to set up hot spots on aircraft, confirmed Tuesday that the company still plans to begin offering its exclusive service to passengers by early 2008. 

AirCell says customers can expect connection speeds on par with those on ground, and that access for a day will cost $10.

Fliers taking advantage of onboard Internet access may not be able to conduct VoIP calls, however, as that would still require the blessing of both the FCC and FAA.

For now, the cell-phone issue is closed as far as the FCC is concerned, but the issue may arise again. The agency said it may “reconsider this issue in the future if appropriate technical data is available for our review.”  Either way, frequent fliers should be pleased that flying will soon be a much less isolating experience as email, Google searches, and instant messaging are on the horizon.  

At the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco earlier this week, Nokia announced a new initiative to connect with gamers, and put cell phones on par with Nintendo’s DS and Sony’s PSP as a go-to mobile gaming device. Their head of game publishing, Gregg Sauter, promised a new delivery platform, a solid lineup of games from recognized publishers like EA and THQ, and a new site to support developers, complete with a blog.

What I found particularly interesting from Gregg’s announcement is that Nokia’s platform, dubbed N-Gage, will be compatible with tens of millions of devices that are already in the hands of users- even phones made by competitors LG and Motorola. Why wouldn’t Nokia, the world’s largest cell phone manufacturer, try to own the mobile gaming space by themselves? Couldn’t they build a killer handheld console that doubles as a phone?

The truth is, Nokia already tried that. And failed. In late 2003 Nokia released a dedicated gaming phone, also called N-Gage, to a disappointed and largely puzzled gaming community. The price point was twice as high as the day’s leading handheld system, GameBoy Advance. The graphics looked muddy, the user interface was terrible, and users had to hold the device sideways to talk on the phone (which earned N-Gage the nickname “taco”). To make matters worse, N-Gage games couldn’t be delivered wirelessly, and had to be purchased as separate cartridges—a huge no-no when it comes to mobile content. The combined crummy phone and sub-par gaming device shuffled off this mortal coil in 2005.

Similarly, Disney launched Mobile ESPN in November 2005, exclusive handsets and all. While we all remember the “guy at a wedding cheers loudly in reaction to the sports clip on his phone” commercials, I’ve never met anyone that actually owned one of these. It was taken out behind the barn in December ’06. Just like N-Gage, Mobile ESPN was resurrected last month as a subscription-based service for Verizon Wireless subscribers.

Clearly, these two companies have wised up after their embarrassing attempts at hardware. Content is king, and if the media machine behind the mouse can’t build a better phone, other media companies should take their cue and explore their options on bringing their IP to mobile devices as a third party. I’m interested to see how big media companies will deliver content to the next generation of mobile phones. Open-ended, smart interfaces, like Apple’s iPhone, coupled with a constantly growing wireless infrastructure, should open up the third screen in ways we’ve only dreamed of.