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Beta Tests in software development used to be sandboxes for limited 3rd party testing. That was before Web 2.0, before Internet based services and features became the new face of the software industry.  Now, increasingly Beta has become an ambiguous term. 

Today, Beta’s often start out limited, as invitation-only tests, but they morph into full fledged, publicly accessible services.  Beta has become code for “we may still change it” and “it may still break when you use it.”  It’s  a disclaimer for anything goes.  Company’s like Google have stuck the label on their services for years.  It’s no longer a clear marker, nor a clear meaning.

At Google, Larry Page, has said, “If it’s on there for five years because we think we’re going to make major changes for five years, that’s fine. It’s really a messaging and branding thing."

So, Beta doesn’t mean much as a word anymore. That doesn’t mean there aren’t notable milestones.  The transition from invitation-only to public access is a good one.  When a software product is officially unleashed on the world, it’s crossed a bridge.  Joost, the Internet peer to peer video service, passed that marker this weekend. Click to Read More

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. Click to Read 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. Click to Read 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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.  

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