"Tech Talk"-Opening A New Window & Making Music
Thursday, February 15, 2007"Tech Talk"-Opening A New Window & Making Music
SUSIE GHARIB: In our tech talk segment tonight, selling Windows, selling cell phones and selling songs to people who really can't name that tune. Here's our technology maven Scott Gurvey with the latest from the sell side.
SCOTT GURVEY, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Week one results are in, the market research firm NPD reporting sales of new PCs loaded with Microsoft's Windows Vista are up 67 percent over the first week of sales for Windows XP in 2001. But, sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista are down 32 percent compared to XP sales. This may be due to the fact the new Vista graphics system requires powerful hardware to work with all its features.
In tech law news tonight, today was the deadline Cisco set for Apple to answer its complaint over use of the trade name iPhone. No word yet from either company. And the Electronic Freedom Foundation is looking for youtube contributors who believe they were falsely accused of copyright violations by Viacom. A lawsuit may follow. Frustrated at having to carry multiple communications devices? Microsoft's mobile marketing VP Suzan Delbene, says the trend is to phones which operate on multiple networks.
SUZAN DELBENE, VP, MOBILE MARKETING, MICROSOFT: Many of our devices also have wi-fi incorporated in them so they have the ability to connect to wi-fi and to the Internet as well as using the cellular radio to do that.
GURVEY: Ever dream of turning a school project into a money maker? A team who met at Stanford have started a company they named Melodis and launched a web site named Midomi. Midomi plays a sort of electronic name that tune. CEO Kayvan Mohajer says you just sing, hum, or whistle a melody and it identifies the music.
KEYVAN MOHAJER, CEO, MELODIS CORPORATION: The problem is not every piece of music can be identified with the same feature. Sometimes it's the melodic information. Sometimes it's the tempo. Sometimes it's the combination of melody and tempo. Sometimes it's the lyrics because the melody is very monotonic.
GURVEY: Unlike some other sites that are similar which I've tried in the past, I found the results at Midomi impressive. All you do is press the start voice search button and sing... "yesterday, all my troubles seemed to so far away." Now while it's searching, you can make nasty comments about my lack of singing talent. There we go, several versions of yesterday by the Beatles. I didn't know Elvis had recorded it. Melodis makes money by offering downloads for sale of available recordings of the music.
MOHAJER: You can buy CDs of the same song. You can buy the concert ticket if the artist has a concert in your area. There will be targeted advertising. Eventually there will be music videos.
GURVEY: Melodis also plans to offer its system by cell phone, so if you hear a tune when you're out and about, you can search for its name right away. Scott Gurvey, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, New York.
GHARIB: You know Paul, I know that Scott loves opera, but I didn't know he sings as well.
KANGAS: I still don't think so.
