The Guitar phone

Another wonderful patent find by Barry Fox on New Scientist

"Musicians could soon have a new instrument to play – their phone. Motorola is patenting a cellphone that displays the layout of a guitar neck on its screen, and allows its keypad to be "plucked" or "strummed" by a user. The resulting guitar sounds can be played through the phone's speaker or can be inflicted on a friend at the other end of the line.

... The guitar phone can be played live, to adoring fans, or a melody can be composed in private and stored in memory for use as a ring tone or meeting reminder. Motorola says the phone could even be converted into a banjo or violin at the flick of a switch, with strings automatically retuning.

Illustration on Engadgetmobile.

News Corp. launches Mobizzo

Media conglomerate . News Corp. announced the US launch of Mobizzo to carry entertainment, games and music content on mobile telephones. [via AFP]

"Mobizzo will feature content from News Corp.'s Fox television and movie brands along with downloaded games and music from labels such as Warner Music".

[via Engadget Mobile]

Jazzing Up the Home Phone

To keep landline customers, AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth add Web access and ringtones. The WSJ reports.

"With the home phone fast becoming outmoded, traditional phone companies are moving away from basic landline service and re-creating their products as sleek new multipurpose devices featuring high-speed Internet access, electronic phone books, stock quotes and popular cellphone features such as ringtones to landlines.

-- AT&T Inc. is launching a cordless landline phone dubbed Project Jazz that allows users to make free calls over the Internet, though they still pay for calls over the phone lines.

-- Verizon Communications Inc. has launched an Internet-linked landline phone that can tell time, give local weather updates, news, stock quotes and movie listings.

-- And BellSouth Corp. is offering a new cordless home phone with a color screen. Several phone companies are also bringing popular cellphone features such as ringtones to landlines.

Recording Industry Mulls Setting Website For Musical Ringtone

Handphone owners who loves to download the latest ringtone of popular songs from the Internet or from mobile phone dealers may soon have an avenue to download them legally, reports Bernama.com, Malaysia's National News Agency.

The Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) with the assistance of composers, recording companies, telecommunication companies, mobile phone dealers and Internet Service Providers will create a special website to enable mobile phone owners to download the latest ringtones.

Ringtone piracy needs to be addresed urgently as it would cripple the recording industry in the long run.

Ringtone piracy is a serious criminal offence as stipulated under Section 41 of the Copyright Act 1987 which provides a penalty of minimum RM2,000 ($ 540.- ) per song or a maximum RM20,000 ($ 5'400.- ) per song or five years imprisonment or both.

... Ringtone sellers do not have official permission from the copyright owners. ...Losses suffered by the recording industry from ringtone piracy was estimated at RM10 million a year."

Turning your baby's voice into a ringtone

My friend Alexandra de Waresquiel who runs Paris-based See My SMS, has just launched a service which enables parents to turn their baby's voice (cries, laughs, gurgles) into ringtones. Available on bledina.

Mission ringtone symphony

The bag check area at the Strand bookstore,NYc, has about 120 cubbies. Phones left in the bag there are going off regularly, the employees are now used to it.

Improv Everywhere, the New York City scene-makers known for causing random inexplicable acts of absurdity, thought it might be turned into a cell phone symphony. They asked participants to come with a bag and their phone.

"The first step was to divide everyone up by cell phone brand. In addition to creating a cacophony of 60 phones going off at once, I also wanted to have different sections play at different times, like a symphony. Instead of the "string section", we would have the "Samsung section".

The crowd divided into brands and each group tried to find a common ring tone that all of their phones had. The Nokia group had the "Nokia Tune", Motorola folks had "Hello Moto", etc. Those without common ring tones would either partner up with someone who did, or partner with someone else without a common tone. Agents began to pair off and trade phone numbers, deciding who would enter the store and who would be a caller.

Small groups of agents headed down one at a time to enter the store and check their bags.

Once everyone was in the store with their bag checked, I called our conductor Agent Kula back in Union Square and told him it was time for the first movement. He counted down and had all 60 callers hit send simultaneously.

At once, the phones started ringing in the bag check. In addition to the pre-set groups of phones, there were many more random ring tones firing off in a maelstrom of high-pitched beeps. The primary audience for this mission was the Strand employees, specifically the two who were working at the bag check."

Via Popgadget.

Mobile rings during hearing, complaing lodged against court clerk

Cities Express India reports that a court clerc's cell phone rang while an important case was being discussed in the metropolitan court in India. The court clerc, Hasmukh Patel, was surfing through his ringtones.

"A non-cognisable offence has been registered against clerk Hasmukh Patel under Section 116 of the Bombay Police Act for interruption/ disturbance caused during court proceedings.

Several non-cognisable offences have been registered against mobile users by various courts. Recently, a complainant in one of the cases was asked to pay Rs 900 ($20) as fine after his phone started ringing in court. Twenty-four courts have registered 50-odd such cases in the past six months."

O2 to offer better music downloads

Mobile phone network O2 will soon launch its new Music Service, offering users the chance to pay once for a track but download it to a number of devices, from their mobile phones to their Xbox. Artists will include acts such as Brightonian posters, The Upper Room (pictured). [via Stuff Magazine]

O2’s rival 3 has been offering a similar dual-download scheme called Dual Download since last autumn.

One Click Ringtones

A new free software has just been released by MonkeyBongo.com that will enable mobile users to turn their entire MP3 collection into free ringtones .... with a single click.

OneClickRingtones searches your computer for MP3 files and displays them letting you select which files you want to convert to MP3 ringtones. Select one song, or ALL of your MP3 collection. Select how long you want the new MP3 ringtones to be and click to create the new files. Your new MP3 ringtones will be stored in their own folder and your original files will not be affected

[Press Release]

Pheratones in the New York Times

Pherotones, ringtones with names like Testeroni or El Cuddlero that claim to make you irresistible to the opposite sex (posted several weeks ago in Ringtonia) have been written up in the New York Times who reveals that everything about Pheratones is part of an eleborate and carefully planned viral advertising and marketing campaign - including fake entries in Wikipedia.

"Rather than the revolutionary product that Pherotones promised, the ads were the beginning of a buzz marketing campaign under the guise of a fake product (Pherotones) and a fake doctor (Dr. Myra Vanderhood) with a fake Web site (Pherotones.com), all for a real client with less than $250,000 to spend.

The real client is Oasys Mobile , a little-known cellphone content provider who wanted to introduce its brand inexpensively — with a nontraditional campaign that it hoped would grab the attention of its desired 18-to-24-year-old demographic.

... After placing ads on blogs like Gawker and Defamer, Pherotones.com is now averaging 10,000 page views a day.

.. A video featuring a mock wedding ceremony where the ring tone on a male guest's cellphone compels the groom to run from the altar and passionately embrace the stunned guest has been downloaded about 3,000 times.

... Last week on Technorati, Pherotones.com was in the top 10 percent of the most popular blogs worldwide. It has also attracted attention on insider blogs like AdRants, a Web site that closely tracks the advertising industry.

-- Now Oasys will be able to test the campaign's effect on sales: starting today, the Pherotones Web site is revealing its client by directing visitors to Oasysmobile.com."

Juvenile Offers Fans Customizable Ringtones

While most rap artists would rather sell their hit singles as ringtones, Juvenile wants his fans to make their own ringtones from any part of a song featured in his upcoming album, reports SoHH.com

" Due March 7, Reality. will be the first U.S. released album to include ID Interactive's UrTone player which allows consumers to create and purchase personalized ringtones.

A demo of this ing tone technology can currently be viewed at www.juvenilerealitycheck.com.

Atlantic is constantly looking for new ways for consumers to feel personally involved with our artists' music. By giving his fans the ability to create their own unique ring tones, Juvenile has taken the connection between artist and audience to an exciting new place." said ID Interactive Vice President of Sales & Marketing Bobby Israeli.

3GSM - Craig David sets tone for mobile entertainment

Musician Craig David set the tone of the mobile entertainment summit at the 3GSM World Congress on Wednesday by singing a song and telling a packed auditorium that mobile phones will have a huge impact on the music industry. [via Network World]

"The music industry has gone from vinyl records to CDs and is now moving to mobile devices," said David, a former DJ turned singer. "We all need to work together on this new channel -- musicians, recording companies, handset manufacturers and mobile phone operators alike."

Verizon, MySpace Give Bands a Chance

Leveraging the newest medium for artists to reach their fans, the "Calling All Bands" contest from Verizon Wireless and MySpace offers one lucky unsigned band the opportunity to have their song, music video, ring tone and ring back tone released on Verizon Wireless -- the nation's leading wireless provider with 51.3 million customers.

"Verizon Wireless will release the "Calling All Bands" winner's song on V CAST Music -- marking the first time an unsigned band will release its first single on a wireless phone.

The winner will also work with Verizon Wireless to produce a music video that will be released on V CAST, plus a ring tone and ring back tone of the winning song that will be available for purchase by Verizon Wireless customers.

[Press Release]

Related, sort of:

-- Cingular Launches New Concert-Content For Video Phones

-- New Fugees album exclusively available through VCast

Paranormal message installs itself as default ringtone

Something out of the ordinary appeared in my in-box yesterday, news of a paranormal ringtone.

According to my source, a paranormal message was received on a Sony Ericsson phone, and installed itself as the default ringtone.

The voice is said to belong to a deceased. An expert preview said theres a number mentioned in the message: '2013' in danish. The material is rated 94% genuine according to local paranormalists.

Here comes my favorite part Mobiltjenester has the exclusive right to distribute it as is.

China Mobile's Music Revenue

Wang Jianzhou, speaking for the first time at the 3GSM conference, talked about the money China Mobile is making off new services. "He said the total revenue of mobile music in China last year surpassed the entire revenue of the traditional music industry. A single song was downloaded 15 million times over China Mobile's network in the last six months, a rate 15 times higher than a typical best-selling music CD".

[Wireless Week]

Cingular Aims to Name That Tune

Can't name that tune? Cingular has introduced a new service that will help its users do just that -- by identifying the song for them. Announced Monday and called MusicID, the service uses the cellular voice network to listen to a recorded song and identify it based on what it hears.

The service is a collaboration between Cingular and London-based Shazam Entzertainment , the creator of the MusicID technology. [via Beta News]

Related:

-- Using Your Cell to Name That Tune

-- Song Recognition Application Included on Select Motorola Mobile Devices

-- MusicKube Launches SongLink'd Service

-- Fido Names That Tune

-- 411-SONG

-- Asia's First Mobile Music Recognition Service

-- Shazam in the UK and Europe

-- Gracenote's service with Philips, in U.S.

-- Dial-That-Tune Comes to U.S.

Ericsson to offer hosted Napster service

Ericsson has announced a new service allowing users to pay for and download music, ringtones and artist images from the Napster P2P network to their mobile phones and PCs, the Swedish telecommunications equipment manufacturer announced today at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.

Ericsson will offer Napster Mobile as a hosted service to mobile operators, which will in turn make the offering available to their customers.

[via PC Advisor]

The Mobile Olympics

Internet News has written up mobile options for fans to access ringtones, including Olympic themes, national anthems or athlete playlists, and wallpapers, such as country flags and images of the Torino Games.

Cingular Launches New Concert-Content For Video Phones

Cingular is creating a series of concerts specifically to record them and sell the resulting music video content on their mobile phones, reports Moco News.

"Cingular’s effort (Cingular Sounds Live) will coincide with the release of its on-demand streaming video service Cingular Video. “The music program debuted in Los Angeles Thursday with a performance by Reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee and pop musical group, The Pussycat Dolls.”

Sony BMG Declares War On Ringtone ‘Theft’

There’s a case in front of the Advertising Standards Authority in South Africa between Sony BMG and iTouch over the use of the phrase “truetone” in adverts for ringtones that are recordings of cover bands performing songs, reports Moco News. "Well, it’s actually in the appeal phase at the moment, with judgement due to be handed down in 7-10 days."

... James Pearce points out that "the main problem is that when realtones/truetones were introduced the name was intended to convey the style of recording as different from monophonic and polyphonic ringtones, not to make a claim about whether or not the song is by the “original” artist."

BBC, Orange bring 'The Office' to mobile phones

The BBC has struck a deal with mobile phone company Orange to offer clips and ringtones from shows such as "The Office," "Little Britain" and "Doctor Who."

"Under terms of the deal between France Telecom's Orange unit and BBC Worldwide, the broadcaster's commercial arm, users will be able to purchase ringtones, photos or videos from Thursday."

[via Reuters and Moco News]

O2 to launch 'radio with pictures'

O2 has pledged to become the first mobile phone network to bring Nokia's 'visual radio' technology to UK consumers, courtesy of a tie-in with the Virgin Radio station. It's a "completely new kind of radio experience", apparently, according to The Register.

"According to O2, it's all about providing "interactive mobile content" relating to the song or show they're listening to.

The service goes live next month with Virgin as the first station, though others will be added in the near future, O2 said. Punters will need a Nokia handset, of course, with an FM radio receiver to pick up the broadcasts. The "interactive mobile content" is delivered across the cellular network, synchronised with the show currently on air."

Nokia launched visual radio more than two years ago."

The Smart DJ

Smart DJ offers 3G mobile phone users the ultimate in digital music experience, by creating a new online entertainment service that accurately analyzes listeners' music preferences and then delivers a stream of mp3 songs totally in-sync with the listener's taste with 80% success rate.

Music Genome will be showcasing the Smart DJ product as part of the Israel Mobile Industry Event at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona

Acting as a personal music agent, it proposes play lists that can be cross-genre or targeted to a specific mood and atmosphere. Based on Artificial Intelligence technology Smart DJ simulates each user's taste and delivers the music that s/he loves, even music never heard before. Over time Smart DJ continues to adjust to a person's taste and keeps it updated by performing "fine tuning", so that music can be delivered with growing precision.

[Press release ]

5M Mobile Music Downloads Per Day In Japan

According to the latest Mobile Music Japan newsletter from Eurotechnology “5 million music downloads to mobile phones are sold every day in Japan according to our estimates — 99.8% of music downloads are to mobile phones and 0.2% are to PCs and portable MP3 players.”

Keeping up the music wars KDDI/AU has launched a 4-GB Music HDD Phone which can hold 2000 songs. It also launched Lismo, an integrated online/mobile music store which “competes in the same arena as iPod/iTunes”.

reBlogged from Moco News

Crazy Frog Mic

Tech Digest spotted something very wonderful at London Toy Fair 2006, a Crazy Frog karaoke mic from Nikko Toys, so "youngsters learn and perform a number of the Crazy Frog’s ‘hits’". That made my day.

[via Tech Digest]

China's wannabes are making the Internet work for them

The Electric New Paper reports that aspiring Chinese singers are now using the Internet as a springboard to a music career, rather than releasing albums through record labels.

" They upload their music on the Net, allowing users to download the songs for free. Criticism from the online music community is also taken in stride. There's even a Chinese Cyber Songs Billboard on yooshow.com for Internet-singer wannabes to showcase their compositions.

... And three music lovers have been uploading their music on the Internet. They have four original tracks and the website has 8,000 registered visitors as of last December.

A few WAP service companies even approached them last year, asking to use their songs as ringtones.

New Fugees album exclusively available through VCast

Verizon Wireless has partnered with Columbia Records and reunited hip-hop act the Fugees , for a series of industry firsts designed to promote Verizon's new VCast music service. Billboard reports.

"Music from the upcoming new Fugees album will be made available exclusively to the service. Although "Take It Easy,"the first track from the untitled album, is currently available at a number of digital services (including iTunes and Rhapsody), subsequent singles will be limited to VCast.

And while record labels have made a standard practice of debuting singles as ringtones, this is the first time that studio masters to an unreleased album will debut exclusively via a wireless full-song music download service.

The use of exclusive content is considered essential to drive awareness and adoption of mobile music services. The VCast service went live only last month, with competitor Sprint operating a similar service since last November.

Sprint is making the live performance of the Rolling Stones' Super Bowl halftime show available as an exclusive download of its music store, powered by Groove Mobile."

Smash Hits to Close - Mobile Phones Blamed

UK publisher, EMAP, is to close its Smash Hits title after 28 years and according to Mobhappy, is blaming mobile phones.

"The magazine was the music and entertainment “must read” for generations of teens... The publisher says that teens these days get their information online and anyway, spend a high proportion of their disposable income on running their mobile phone and content."

This reminds me of a Variety article in 2004 about a music industry mogul blaming the declining sales of CD's on competition from alternative entertainment-related spending options for teens, such as cell phones and videogames. In both cases, it's likely to be true.

Podcasts for Cell Phones

Rogers Wireless and Melodeo, Inc., a developer of software and services that bring digital media content to mobile phones, have announced the launch of Rogers Podcast Service for cell phones.

Through Mobilcast listeners can download Podcasts directly to their mobile phones over-the-air.

"The catalogue of Podcasts consists of 16 categories: music, news and sports, food and drink, international, health and science, technology, comedy, travel, business and finance, podcasts, talk radio, public radio, arts and entertainment, holiday, general, and religion. "

[via Market Newswire]