Seattle Times Brier Dudley Column: Real to Reveal Latest Media Player
By Brier Dudley, Seattle Times
Nov. 15–Excerpts from the blog
A complete version of RealNetworks new flagship media player is available today, five months after the company released a beta version to the public.
Its standout feature is the ability to “rip” videos from the Web with a click and save them for later viewing. When you have the player running and you browse over an online video clip that doesn’t have copyright locks, a control appears and asks if you’d like to save the video to the player.
The basic player is free while a premium version with additional features, such as DVD burning of saved videos, costs $40.
New in the final version is the ability to view thumbnail images of saved videos.
Real is also announcing new stuff for iPod and Mac users.
The premium version of the RealPlayer now has the ability to transfer saved clips to video iPods in h.264 format.
“We magically do the video conversion to the right video format and then put them on iPod,” Real Vice President Jeff Chasen said.
You transfer the clips as files. Real’s still working on a way to have the player’s library mesh with iTunes so they automatically sync; Chasen said that should come next year.
Also new today is a beta version of the new player for Macs. It’s free, and a final version should be ready in the first half of next year, Chasen said.
Crystal ball gazing
Some highlights from the WSA’s 2008 predictions dinner Tuesday night, with outlook provided by a panel including venture capitalists Enrique Godreau III, Matt McIlwain and Kelly Smith; analyst Steve Lidberg; and Jonathan Sposato, a serial entrepreneur and veteran of Microsoft and Google.
What sort of company would they start if they had $1 million?
Godreau: Develop self-charging batteries that recharge using mechanical motion, similar to the way pedometers work and tidal energy is being harvested.
Lidberg: A Chinese-to-English translation company, or a company involved in digital mapping.
McIlwain: A “personal shopper” that aggregates and communicates things he intends to buy.
Smith: An operating system for e-mail that lets users drag and drop applications such as widgets and autopublish applications into an e-mail platform.
Sposato: “Zeromeout.com,” a consumer focused site to help people evaluate their carbon footprint and purchase offsets, and “howtobeagentleman.com,” a site providing advice for young men how to be polite and conduct business.
Where would they not invest now?
Godreau: Said he’s concerned about less attention being paid to sales and revenues and more to “eyeballs and eardrums.”
McIlwain: “I think cleantech is completely overhyped.”
Smith: Said there are plenty of options now for people to consume high-def video, and he wouldn’t invest in a maker of Facebook applications any more.
Sposato: “Any company that’s creating a social-networking application on Facebook.” Also overhyped are tools for pulling together messaging and social-networking accounts.
Lidberg: Mobile gaming. While casual gaming is seeing interesting new models, the “mobile arena seems way overhyped and overcrowded.”
Where will Google’s stock be at the end of 2008?
Lidberg: “We have an 850 target price on it right now.”
Godreau: $874 — said it’ll hit four figures after a blowout quarter, but will have a quarterly miss due to the macroeconomic environment. “As you start to see a crack in the armor you end up at $874.”
Sposado: “Low sevens by the end of 2008.”
Smith: “I’m going to say $901 and the reason is because I think it’s extremely rare in a person’s lifetime when you see a company with the characteristics of Google.”
McIlwain: Said Microsoft and the aQuantive team shouldn’t be “so heavily discounted,” so he expects Google to be at $725.
The next big Microsoft acquisition?
McIlwain: Virtualization — perhaps Citrix — and on the wireless side perhaps RIM. Also vertical search companies.
Smith: Eyeball acquisitions, perhaps a photo sharing or video-sharing site or a social-networking platform like Beebo.
Goudreau: Virtualization infrastructure.
Watch this blog
This blog may start to look a little different in coming months.
I’m participating in an experiment, launched by Jay Rosen at New York University Journalism School, to see how social-networking tools and other new technologies can be incorporated into beat reporting.
A primary goal is to explore ways to use these new tools to discuss stories and trends with sources and readers. We’ll be using the blog as a platform for the experiment.
Jay announced the participants Wednesday, and I’ll be providing more details here as we firm up the plans.
This material has been edited for print publication.
Brier Dudley’s blog appears Thursdays. Reach him at 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com.
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