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Personal Tech

Buzz: You may love Windows Media Player, but it doesn't love podcasts

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 13, 2006

Microsoft has released a new version of its Windows Media Player software, with a revamped look and updated features - but it's missing one capability that tech enthusiasts have come to expect in the age of digital media.

Windows Media Player 11 doesn't come with its own feature for subscribing to podcasts, the increasingly popular form of online audio and video programs. To be sure, it can play them and transfer them to portable devices. But a major appeal of podcasts - some would say the defining characteristic - is the ability to receive the programs automatically over the Internet.

In the same way, the first version of the PC software for Microsoft's upcoming Zune portable media player will require people to use separate software if they want to subscribe to podcasts for watching or listening on the device.

Podcaster Paul Colligan, the Portland, Ore., author of the Business Podcasting Bible, started a blog on the subject, at ZuneLuv.com. Its theme, as stated on the site: "Microsoft Zune and Podcasting: Will We Feel the Luv?" "I wanted to embarrass them into doing it," Colligan said. It hasn't worked - yet.

You'll have your hands full with this

Samsung Electronics Co. wants you to check out a three-way gadget that's a phone, personal computer and music player tailored for an emerging wireless broadband technology. The Mobile Intelligent Terminal weighs about a pound and contains a fold-out keyboard, 5-inch screen and 30-gigabyte hard drive. It runs the full version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system and supports the CDMA mobile phone communications standard. Samsung execs say the gadget is the world's first WiMax device that also works as a mobile phone. It also can access the Internet, make video phone calls and display television as well as other video. No price or U.S. release date was announced.

Save the postcard: See a big city in 3-D

Microsoft has unveiled an advanced project to create three-dimensional cyber replicas of cities all over the world. Fifteen American cities went online at maps.live.com, including San Jose, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Seattle. Microsoft plans to produce 100 cities by next summer. The site's first users said the Virtual Earth 3-D project trumped Google Earth, which provides 3-D replicas of buildings in some cities created by users of its SketchUp modeling product. "They have outinnovated Google," said Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.

Mozilla hopes code will sizzle up Firefox

Adobe Systems Inc. is contributing some of the computer code behind its widely used Flash player to the Mozilla Foundation so it can be improved upon and blended into an upcoming version of Mozilla's Firefox Web browser. The improvements eventually will be incorporated into the Firefox browser, probably in an upgrade scheduled for the first half of 2008. Mozilla is counting on the improvements to make Web applications run more smoothly.

Disney will build a studio for games

Walt Disney Co. is creating a video game studio to make titles exclusively for Nintendo Co., targeting audiences for its animated characters. The studio, called Fall Line, will build games for the Nintendo Wii console to be released this month and the DS and Game Boy handheld players.

Just what you want on your phone: ads

Yahoo Inc. will start showing graphical ads for companies including PepsiCo Inc. on Internet sites that people access with their mobile phones. Users clicking on Yahoo's ads will be taken to the mobile Web site of the client or a customized page hosted by Yahoo.

Circuit City gets into HD radio game

Circuit City began selling high-definition radios that pick up digital signals from more than 1,030 U.S. radio stations. Radio Shack Corp. also increased the number of stores that sell the radios to 2,500 in 56 markets. HD technology lets stations broadcast an additional signal with higher-quality sound. Retail prices of the radios are starting to come down. Victor Co. of Japan is offering a receiver for $149 after a $50 rebate. HD radios range in price from $199 to $599.

Gannett joins with bloggers on news

Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper chain, plans to create stories with information from bloggers, people who post in Internet discussion groups and other nonjournalists, in hopes of winning readers from other news sources. Company officials said the move allows papers to tap into areas of expertise that many journalists don't have. The Fort Myers News-Press enlisted retired engineers, accountants and other readers to examine documents and determine why connecting water and sewer service to new homes was so expensive.

[Last modified November 13, 2006, 05:44:51]