Yahoo's former interim chief executive officer Ross Levinsohn has been appointed chief executive of Guggenheim Digital Media, the digital distribution avenue of private equity firm Guggenheim Partners. The company operates Prometheus Global Media, publisher of Adweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and others.
Dalet has released a new module that provides workflow collaboration between the Dalet Media Asset Management tool and Adobe Premier Pro CS6. Dalet Xtend allows users to connect directly to a Dalet database and view all available content, such as clips, raw video, and sound bytes. The software also makes it possible to trigger specific events, such as review and approval processes, when saving against a placeholder. At the time of writing the product page is inactive, but the software is expected to be demoed at the IBC Exhibition on September 7.
The forthcoming Ceton Echo will incorporate DTS audio enhancements to help users experience immersive sound through all kinds of digital media, from TV to web streaming to their own media libraries. The product essentially works like a bare-bones Apple TV, allowing Windows 7 computers and Ceton Q gateways to stream media from local machines. For PCs equipped with an InfiniTV digital cable tuner, it adds remote DVR and TV capabilities.
More children are spending money on digital media, according to a study titled "Kids and Entertainment Content, 2011 Edition" from NPD Group. The study found that children ages 2-14 spend 21 cents of every entertainment dollar on digital format content, with indications of a shift to a preference for digital formats underway. In 2009, only 15 percent of content purchased by children was in digital form.
Vince Cable, the United Kingdom's Business secretary, has announced major changes to that country's copyright law concerning digital media. The government will legalize "format shifting," or allowing consumers to rip content from CDs and DVDs for personal use. The government will also reverse part of last year's Digital Enforcement Act, which would have blocked websites for hosting copyrighted material. Cable said the law needed to change to conform to reasonable expectations of consumers. "We've got to bring law in line with reality," he said.
SeeFile Software has launched SeeFile 4.7, updating its digital asset management software with an optimized interface and full support for Firefox 3.5, Safari 4 and Internet Explorer 8. The software is geared towards small to mid-sized companies, tracking digital media like images, PDFs and video, and organizing and distributing the media online. SeeFile monitors shared folders and volumes, tracking any changes in the file structure, and updating its database and web interface to synchronize with the file structure changes. It also automatically renders previews and imports metadata.
Days after celebrating iTunes' fifth anniversary, Apple on Thursday is expected to announce a breakthrough movie distribution deal that would allow it to sell new releases at the iTunes Store, offering a digital content delivery alternative to DVD sales. The new agreement will include major studios such as Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and New Line as well as smaller boutiques such as Magnolia and Image Entertainment, but will leave out new titles from MGM, the report said. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the move would allow a broad slate of top-shelf films to be offered day-and-date with home video releases, potentially cannibalizing DVD sales, while simulataneousl putting "significant" pressure on iTunes competitors ranging from Amazon's Unbox to Microsoft XBox Live Marketplace.
The Tennessee State government is reviewing the possibility of implementing a tax on digital media downloads, which would include music videos, movies, news and entertainment programs, music, ringtones, and electronic books, among others. Law firm Waller Landsen notes that standard software downloads would not be taxable, and while the proposition has not been shown to lawmakers, it is predictably drawing negative criticism.
Sony Corporation of America has signed a merger agreement with Gracenote, Inc, and will pay approximately $260 million plus other contingent consideration for the digital media information warehouse. Formerly known as CDDB, Gracenote delivers information -- including lyrics -- on music to various services including Apple iTunes and Yahoo! Music Jukebox. The companies say that Gracenote's existing business will continue to operate separately as a wholly owned Sony subsidiary, and that the senior management team will remain with the company.
Rivet 1.0 has been released, enabling users to stream video, music, and photos from Mac OS X to an Xbox 360 over a home network. Rivet allows users to quickly browse and view their entire collection of digital media from from anywhere in the house on their Xbox 360. The Mac OS X folder structure and organization is completely reproduced to allow you to quickly find the appropriate media. Features include: Music streaming of your iTunes library; Photo streaming of your iPhoto library and user defined folders; Video streaming from user defines folders; Full organization support, your mac is recreated on the Xbox 360 and quick automatic updating on the Xbox 360 when files are added, deleted, or moved. The tool requires Mac OS X v10.5 or later, uses iTunes for music sharing and requires a networked Xbox 360. Rivet is priced at $19.
Olive Media and designer Karim Rashid recently unveiled a stylized version of the Olive's OPUS N°5 digital music player. Rashid – having designed things from Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners to the Smiramis Hotel in Athens, Greece – has created four designs, inspired by binary notation. The boxes can hold up to 2200 CDs in lossless quality, and is capable of outputting up to 352.8 kHz, or up to eight times what a CD is capable of. Olive is currently selling the OPUS N°5 Karim Edition for $3000, and is available from the company's web site.
