Minnetonka Audio Software is shipping AudioTools Batch Pro, a new app that promises to fully automate audio file processing.

Batch Pro is a powerful tool for editing, converting, transcoding, encoding, and applying plug-ins to sets of audio files in a batch mode. Users specify input files, configure a chain of processors, set parameters for each processor and run the job. All files are automatically processed and placed in the specified output location.

Integrated access to vintage analog processors, external digital processors, and VST plug-ins both stereo and surround, including Minnetonka’s SurCode for Dolby Pro Logic II VST plug-in, is possible.

If you still have any doubts about whether Apple is going to sell a boatload of iPhones, industry analysts have found that 90% of the people they surveyed think that Apple’s iPhone is better than their own phone.

In a joint research effort between its Wireless Device Lab and Intelligent System Strategies program, Strategy Analytics explored the appeal of iPhone features, developed comparisons with current products, investigated the nature of the iPhone experience, and gained insights on design criteria for future devices.

“An overwhelming 90 percent of respondents gave the iPhone higher marks than their own handset and over 40 percent of respondents rated the iPhone much better across key functional categories– including music player, web browsing, voice mail, and phone call management–indicating real innovation in designing a user experience,” said Harvey Cohen, President of Strategy Analytics, who conducted this research.

Three out of five now watch online video, and more than half said they engage in some sort of
response activity, such as visiting a Web site, going to a physical location or making a purchase, according to a new report by The Kelsey Group.

“YouTube has largely popularized the concept of watching short videos on a computer screen and has likewise familiarized consumers with the idea of watching short video ads,” said the report’s author, Michael Boland, Kelsey Group senior analyst. “A wide range of business models are coming to market in the hopes of tapping into the growing demand for video. We are in a ‘wild west’ phase of experimentation on all fronts — content generation, licensing, search and monetization.”

According to the report, video production companies can produce and distribute video ads for small businesses at price points that are significantly lower than those of traditional advertising, bringing video advertising within the grasp of many small businesses for the first time. The report also reasons that the value of video may be easier to comprehend for many small businesses, compared with some forms of online performance-based marketing.

CBS Interactive has announced that it is partnering with community-building websites and social application providers to let users put CBS clips into their profiles, websites, blogs, widgets, wikis, and community pages.

“Today, we are taking the CBS Audience Network directly to the user,” said Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive. “We now want to empower our audience to be creative and deepen their experience with our content by allowing them to share and embed CBS-provided clips to their blogs, wikis, widgets, community sites and whatever else gets thrown our way.”

The online partners that currently make up the syndication side of the CBS Audience Network include AOL, Microsoft, CNET Networks, Comcast, Joost, Bebo, Brightcove, Netvibes, Sling Media and Veoh. CBS also has distribution deals with Amazon, Apple and Yahoo, among others.

Media conglomerate Vivendi has formed a new unit called Vivendi Mobile Entertainment that the company hopes will compete with YouTube and MySpace. The site will distribute multimedia for PCs, televisions and mobile phones.

The site is expected to first launch in France, eventually expanding to neighboring countries in Europe. The venture will be Vivendi’s second effort in the space, following the demise of its Vizzavi portal joint venture with Vodafone.

The head of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority yesterday announced a new policy limiting the number of employees allowed to make copies of videos captured by highway surveillance cameras.

The new policy was prompted by the release last week of a video showing a fiery, fatal car crash at the Great Egg Harbor Toll Plaza on the Garden State Parkway. The video, which was taken by one of the Turnpike Authority’s cameras, was posted to YouTube.com and LiveLeak.com. Officials were angered by the incident.

“These kinds of tapes are for operational and law enforcement purposes, not for entertainment purposes,” said state Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri. “I’m not happy with the fact that these were released. We’re going to take every action we can to figure out who is responsible and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The new policy forbids making copies of video captured by authority cameras without the permission of the executive director, the internal audit director or the electronic toll collection director.

The movie industry is considering changes to HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc licensing agreements that would formally give consumers the right to make several legal copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies they’ve purchased. The agreement would let buyers make a backup copy in case their original disc is damaged and another copy for their home media server, said Michael Ayers, a representative of an industry group that licenses the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) copy-prevention system.

Many buyers would consider backing up DVDs or using them on a home media server fair use, and already are making backups. AACS, the copy-protection technology used on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, has been cracked, and free utilities are available for ripping discs.

The licensing agreement is under negotiation between the AACS Licensing Adminstrator, which Ayers represents, and companies using AACS technology, including Sony, IBM, Walt Disney, Warner Bros., and Microsoft.

AACS LA, the group that licenses AACS technology, is pushing studios to support “managed copying”. Their hope is that companies could charge a premium for discs that would allow copying, much like Apple is pricing DRM-free MP3s at a premium.
“We want to be able to maximize the number of movies that are able to be offered,” said Ayers.

via InfoWorld

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) today released the Internet Advertising Revenue Report which shows record results for the full year and final quarter of 2006. Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. continued upward totaling $16.9 billion in 2006, 35% over 2005 revenues. Q4 2006 internet advertising revenues totaled $4.8 billion, representing record revenues for a single quarter and a 35% increase over same period in 2005.

“We have every confidence that this growth trend will continue as marketers allocate more of their total marketing dollars to interactive and the industry delivers effective and innovative platforms for connecting with consumers,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB.

The increased spending on Internet advertising presents new opportunities for bloggers, podcasters and video podcasters as advertisers fight for the attention of the increasingly important Internet audience.

“The results for 2006 show the internet continues to offer marketers the widest spectrum of advertising formats, from search-based text ads to dynamic rich-media and broadband video ads,” notes Peter Petrusky, director, Advisory, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Online publishers may continue to experience growth as marketing budget allocations to all interactive forms continue to increase.”

via Clickz

George Lucas has had his chance to remix Star Wars, and now he’s wants you to give it a try.

This week, Lucasfilm will make clips of Star Wars available on the Internet for fans to use in remixes. Over 200 clips, taken from all six Star Wars movies, will be available on StarWars.com beginning Friday, May 25 as part of the 30th-anniversary celebrations of the release of the original movie.

Lucasfilm has updated the StarWars.com site, adding an online video-editing tool provided by Eyespot. It allows users to add their own video shots to more than 250 scenes and music taken from all six Star Wars films and create their own Star Wars movies to share with others.

StarWars.com is also unveiling a new collection of hundreds of videos – many never before seen on the Internet – that will let fans enjoy some of the best user-generated Star Wars videos from across the web, including such cult favorites as “Chad Vader,” and five years worth of Star Wars Fan Movie Festival shorts, co-presented by AtomFilms.com. StarWars.com will also showcase extensive mini-documentaries that explore the making of the Star Wars Saga.

Companies hoping to create the “AdSense for video” just got some major competition.

Google has announced that it is launching a pilot with a small group of publishers to test streaming video ads in their online video content. With this pilot, publishers control when the ads play in their videos and choose which videos get the ads.

Google has several video projects relating to AdSense:

• Click-to-play video ads: This is a video ad type on Google’s content network. Any publisher opted into image ads and using one of the supported formats may see these click-to-play video ads on their sites.
• AdSense video distribution and sponsorship: Google ran 2 pilots that allowed publishers to choose video channels (short-form video clips bundled with video ads) to display on their sites.
• AdSense for Video pilot: Google is extending AdSense to online video content. Publishers in this test will be able to define at what point in their videos that streaming video ads will appear.