Earlier this week, Metue reported on a rumor that Sony would soon revisit its failed market segmentation efforts with the introduction of a new lower priced PS3 console.  The speculation was for a 40GB hard drive and an Xbox 360 comparable price of $399.

Now the first definitive proof such a console is in the works has been found. (more…)

Mix Hollywood Dreams and Sandhill’s Green and you get a lot of would be movie moguls focusing their creative powers on Internet video.

The latest to add to the growing list is Deca, a Santa Monica based studio that’s billing itself as “the best of Hollywood, Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley.”

Deca will start out with $5m in funding from Mayfield Fund, General Catalyst Partners and Atomica Partners, a fund from Joost co founder Niklas Zennstrom. The financing was closed in July using the name Digital Entertainment Corp of America. Deca, being the obvious acronym. CEO and Co-Founder, Michael Wayne was formerly a VP for strategic alliances at Sony Pictures.

Internet Video Studios (“IV Studios”) like Deca are popping up like weeds. (more…)

It seems the only way for the music industry to break Apple’s iTunes monopoly is to sell music in a truly universal format; something that plays on all players.  That’s exactly what Amazon has been planning to do.  And now, after months of seesawing and an extended private beta test, Amazon is live with a public beta of a digital download store called Amazon MP3.

The store features more than 2,000,000 song titles, 180,000 artists and no digital rights management technology.  At most, the only addition to the music will be a discrete watermark that identifies music was purchased at Amazon. 

(more…)

Vivendi, owner of Universal Music, has been complaining Apple’s share of digital music revenue is too high.  They’ve canceled their long term contract with iTunes and threatened to walk for good.  But for all the posturing is there anywhere for them to walk to?  It’s starting to look like there isn’t, like there’s only one game in town.  Apple controls more than 70 percent of the digital music market and one by one competitor’s, handcuffed by the record labels insistence on requiring copyright protections that won’t play on iPods, are dropping out.

(more…)

Friday, place-shifting TV technology company Sling Media announced a deal to stream NFL games to DirecTV customers. The move away from consumer hardware and software and into business to business services came as a surprise.  Even more surprising is Sling’s Monday evening announcement.  The company announced it will sell itself to DirecTV competitor Echostar (operating of Dish Network) for approximately $380m.

(more…)

Is someone at Sony throwing darts and hoping something will stick? It’s starting to look that way with the PS3.  From the beginning the company’s sent mixed messages and the practice is continuing.

When Sony first began selling PlayStation 3 consoles in November 2006 they chose to offer two models. A $100 price difference and 40GB’s of hard drive capacity separated the two.  It was a decision that left consumers scratching their heads instead of opening their wallets. 

By April, when Sony corrected its mistake and discontinued the smaller model, it had been outsold by its sibling 10:1.  

(more…)

YouTube’s on the iPhone. Now MySpace will be too, at least indirectly.   As of today, MySpace, and soon most of its siblings at Fox Interactive Media, will be available in a specially formatted mobile offering formatted specifically for cellular use.

Unlike MySpace’s existing subscription based service which is offered on AT&T and Helio wireless services, the new mobile MySpace launching today will be free and ad supported.   It will work on all U.S. carriers and any phone that has the ability to surf the Internet.  Popular MySpace functionality, like the ability to send and receive messages and friend requests, or update blogs, or search for friends will all be supported.

Fox Interactive is taking its mobile initiative seriously.  John Smelzer, a senior vice president at Fox Interactive believes "Accessing the Internet from your mobile phone will soon be as common as text messaging and voice calling."  

(more…)