The new Zune portable media players come preloaded with content, including several podcasts.

Here’s what buyers will find:

via Generation Zune

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) wants your input on a set of Rich Media Measurement Guidelines which determine at what point a rich media ad impression is counted.

Members of the industry (advertising agencies, advertisers, online publishers and technology vendors) are encouraged to read the proposed guidelines and submit comments on the IAB site. After the 30-day comment period, the feedback will be reviewed and the guidelines will be finalized and publicly released.

Online ad revenues continue their unrelenting climb upward. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers today announced that Internet advertising revenues exceeded $5.2 billion for the third quarter of 2007, representing yet another historic high for a quarter and a $1.1 billion increase, or 25.3 percent, over Q3 2006.

All three quarters in 2007 have set new highs—Q1 at $4.9 billion, Q2 at $5.1 billion, and now Q3 at $5.2 billon. Revenues for the first nine months of 2007 totaled $15.2 billion, up nearly 26 percent over the $12.1 billion recorded during the first nine months of 2006.

“The continued robust growth of the industry indicates that marketers increasingly understand and appreciate the benefits of interactive advertising,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “Marketers large and small have come to accept digital media as the fulcrum of any marketing strategy.”

 

Microsoft has officially announced tomorrow as the release date for its updated line of Zune portable media players. The new Zunes promise higher capacities, useful wireless capabilities and support for podcasts. Updated Zune software will also be available, bringing new capabilities to the first-generation Zune players.

Microsoft is also offering customization options for the new Zunes (Zune Originals),including a variety of artwork that can be etched on players’ backs.

Zune Specifications

Three new Zune models will be on store shelves tomorrow:

• the black Zune 80GB, which has a bright 3.2-inch screen and comes with premium in-ear noise-isolating headphones (ERP $249.99);
• the ultra-portable Zune 4GB (ERP $149.99); and
• the Zune 8GB (ERP $199.99), both available in pink, green, black and red.

The new Zune models also feature the new Zune Pad, aka the squircle, a touch-sensitive navigation button that lets people navigate through menus or lists with the flick of their thumb, or click to easily change songs or adjust the volume. Every Zune player includes wireless sync and wireless sharing, a built-in FM tuner, and a bright color screen to display music, pictures, videos and podcasts. Existing Zune owners will receive all new software features via a free and easy upgrade, available Nov 13.

The updated design of the new Zune players is complemented by new software and a facelift for the Zune Marketplace.

Zune Features

• Wireless sync. Users can set their Zune to automatically sync to their PC via a home wireless network whenever it’s placed in its dock or plugged in to charge, making it easy to keep the Zune updated with the latest music or podcasts. Consumers can also manually start a wireless sync from their device as soon as they are within range of their wireless network.
• Wireless sharing. Share select music, pictures and audio podcasts with other Zune devices nearby. Users can listen to any received song up to three times and even pass it along to other friends with a Zune.
• Redesigned Zune software. Easily drag and drop music, videos and photos to simple icons to sync content to a Zune, create playlists or burn CDs. A new search feature gives users one master view across music, videos and podcasts. Search for an artist to find all relevant content, what’s already in a consumer’s collection and what’s available in Zune Marketplace.
• Zune Social. Consumers can find music they like by seeing what other like-minded individuals are listening to. People can create customizable Zune Cards, which update automatically based on the music they listen to on their Zune and via the Zune software on their PC. See what friends are listening to, play samples of music directly from others‚ Zune Cards, send song recommendations or browse artist pages. When consumers find something they like, they can link directly to Zune Marketplace to buy it.
• Updated Zune Marketplace. Users can choose from over 3 million songs and a broad collection of albums, music videos, podcasts, and digital rights management (DRM)-free MP3s to download and sync to a Zune.
• Zune Pass. For about the price of one CD per month ($14.99 per month), users can get flat-rate access to millions of available songs. They also have the option to buy songs, albums and music videos individually.
• Recorded television content to go. The Zune software will now import broadcast content recorded on Microsoft Windows Media Center for Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, so consumers can sync it to their Zune.
• FM tuner. Consumers can tune into their favorite FM radio stations on the go. Zune will display the name of the song and the artist, using Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) information from stations that broadcast it.

Cool Hunting has the scoop on Zune Originals, a collection of 27 original artworks by 18 international artists, designed to be engraved onto the back of the device.

On the Zune Originals site, launching tomorrow (13 November 2007), visitors will be able to customize their Zune by size, color, illustration and with up to four optional lines of text—all free of charge, at least for the time being.

While the Zune Originals “tattoos” aren’t an iPod-killing feature, they offer a welcome choice for buyers to personalize their portable media players…..and lots for options for the Zune Guy, too.

The Observer reports that Google is in secret talks with Simon Fuller, the British entertainment guru behind the Spice Girls and American Idol, about a joint venture that “could change the way TV is watched over the Internet.”

According to the report, Google execs have been in discussions with Fuller for about a year. Although details of the deal are a closely guarded secret, The Observer’s sources say it could revolutionize the way entertainment and music are distributed.

‘It’s a big idea on a global scale,’ according to a source close to Fuller. ‘It will change television in much the way iTunes changed the way music is disseminated.’

Although he is best known for his association with the Spice Girls and managing David Beckham, Fuller created the Pop Idol format and its hugely successful US spin-off American Idol. Versions of the show are now available in more than 30 countries.

by James Lewin

The market for handheld devices such as Palms and Pocket PCs is tanking. The worldwide handheld device market posted its fifteenth consecutive quarter of decline in shipments. According to IDC, vendors shipped 728,894 handheld devices in 3Q07, 39.3% less from the same quarter a year ago.

“The handheld device market has been under constant pressure, with mobile phones and converged mobile devices appropriating many of the handheld’s salient attributes,” says Ramon T. Llamas, research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Device Technology and Trends team. “Handheld product portfolios have suffered as vendors have reallocated their production resources.”

“However, the handheld device market may be down, but is not necessarily out. The handheld still has a loyal, if shrinking, following in developed economies, especially among enterprise users. In emerging markets, the appeal of the handheld devices seems anchored in the fact that, in the absence of a monthly service plan, it has a lower total cost of ownership compared to mobile phones and/or the converged mobile device.”

One thing Llamas doesn’t touch on is the influence of iPods and iPhones.

As Apple’s portable media players have grown in sophistication, they’ve added many of the features that people used handheld devices for, including calendars, contacts, games. Add to that photos, music and video, and now web browsing and mail, and iPods can do the bulk of the tasks that many people once used Palms and Pocket PCs for.

NBC Direct, a video download service that lets you view recent episodes of popular shows, is now live in beta mode.

We have seen the future, though, and it is not NBC Direct.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here’s a picture of NBC Direct:

Here are some of the limitations that cripple NBC Direct:

• You need to install a new application specifically to watch NBC shows.
• Downloads are DRM’d, so you’re limited to viewing them on a PC. No viewing the downloads on your iPod, iPhone, media center or other devices.
• The NBC Direct service uses a “fixed” and a “temporary” license arrangement. Under the terms of the “fixed” license agreement, all videos can be downloaded and viewed for seven (7) days from the date they are made available. However, within this timeframe, the user is required to renew a “temporary” license every 48 hours in order to continue viewing your selected content. Don’t know what that means? It means that DRM will be a pain in the @#$!
• NBC Direct is limited to Windows XP or Vista, with IE 6 or higher and Windows Media Player version 10 or higher.
• NBC Direct is based on Microsoft’s Windows Media Video format. NBC recommends buying and installing software to protect yourself from using Windows Media files.
• The service is limited to the US.

NBC needs to show some mercy and put NBC Direct out of its misery now.

Update: The net reaction to NBC Direct is consistently negative.

Liveblog of Mark Cuban‘s Closing Keynote at BlogWorld:

My experience on “dancing w stars” is a lot like blogging — people I don’t know come up and feel free to tell me their opinions.

I started my blog in 2004, after doing an interview for Dallas Morning News about Mavericks, half a dozen questions with half a dozen answers. I expected one thing, but what was written was totally different.

Fortunately, there was an email exchange, so I had a record of what we’d said…. I started a blog, put a link to the article w/my email record, and the response was tremendous. All of a sudden, the newspaper realized it wasn’t in charge anymore – they couldn’t control the content, and what the reader responses would be to them

Blogging isn’t just about getting stuff off your chest. It’s a way for alternative ideas, and the truth, to come out, to create a forum for the exchange of ideas. I came to understand what blogging means to me.

Liveblogging the Cult of Blogging session at BlogWorld expo.

We were expecting this panel to be one of the highlights of BlogWorld. Panelists were to include Om Malik of GigaOM; Mike Arrington of TechCrunch; and ubiquitous video podcaster Leo Laporte.

The session got of to an inauspicious start, though. Malik apparently dropped out because of a back injury. Mike Arrington didn’t have as good an excuse, though. According to panelist/keynoter Leo Laporte, “Mike Arrington says he forgot.”

Improvising, the BlogWorld Expo folks asked gorgeous young lifeblogger Justine Ezarik of iJustine.tv to sit on the panel.

So, Leo says, if you want to promote yourself, and create a cult of dedicated fans online, do these two things:

• Add multimedia to what you do;
• Create a community to talk and share about what you do.

“Focus on passion, on what you’re passionate about. To really work, your blog work has to come from your heart.” Leo says. “For some people, that passion is about making money.”

How did you first get become involved in online activities?

Leo’s first experience of online community was the WELL, when in his 20’s. He vividly remembers the epiphany that there were “thousands of people in the world able to commuicate with one another.”

Justine got her start online in sixth grade (!) when she made a Tripod webpage about a mean kid who kicked her at school. Way to make me feel archaic, Justine.

(How) do you make money? How do you build community among your “cult”?

Justine hates the word “monetize” (yay-I don’t like that word, either), but says the last time she had a “real” job was a year and a half ago. She uses Revver to generate revenue with her videos. Her video about her giant iPhone bill was a viral Internet hit. She says if she’d stuck her ad pre-roll, she would have generated even more bucks.

TWiT started on cable, and when it was cancelled, Laporte had a built-in audience to take to the web. Asked for folks to support the show with small, monthly recurring donations. About 5,000 people (out of audience of 470,000) donate a total of about $10,000/ month via Pay Pal. It insures that Leo’s rent is paid, and that his producer gets a salary. People are very supportive when you ask for money, but the percentage is small.

Justine gets some “tips” from visitors, like a small donation with a wish “go get yourself a cup of coffee.”

Justine has a parcoeur video with her roommate. Is launching a Ning social networking website; she tracks people via Twitter. Leo uses Jiku for his microblogging (aka “presence stream”), for his “hardcore fans.” The hardcore fans are your apostles, who spread the word on what you’re doing, Leo says.

Leo: “Building your cult of personality requires geting your inner circle of apostles,” and then spreading your message and brand via Facebook and other social networking tools.