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Forty percent of Internet users have broadband at home

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In a report yesterday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project placed the adult residential broadband population at 48 million, or 25 percent of all adults.

Among college-educated adults 35 and younger, penetration has reached 52 percent.

The survey also found that one-third of all adult Americans have a broadband connection at home or work.

Most of the growth has been since November from connections over souped-up phone lines called DSL, which now make up 42 percent of the home broadband market, up from 28 percent in March 2003.

Broadband fees have dropped since last year, with DSL available in some markets late last year for just a few dollars more than dial-up.

John Horrigan, Pew's senior research specialist, said Americans are increasingly making a "time is money" calculation: If they are spending more time online, they find savings from high-speed connections even if they must pay a little more.

DVD-authoring software to use Windows Media Video

Microsoft is expected to announce today that Sonic Solutions, a Novato, Calif., company that develops DVD-authoring software, will launch an application that allows professional video producers to create DVDs in the high-definition Windows Media Video format.

Microsoft also plans to say that three broadcast companies will begin using the format: Rainbow DBS, Cablevision's satellite-service division; U.S. Digital Television, a digital-television service that uses local stations' transmitters; and Akimbo, a service that delivers video-on-demand over the Internet to a television.

The announcements are being made at the National Association of Broadcasters conference, running through Thursday in Las Vegas.
 
Apple introduces updates for digital video editing

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Computer yesterday unveiled the latest versions of its digital video-editing, DVD creation and special-effects software, including a program called Motion that it says will vastly ease motion-graphics effects.

Apple says the versions should broaden the market for its film and DVD-editing products as moviemaking becomes more digitized and high-definition television catches on.

Apple's Final Cut PRO HD, available now for $999, enables broadcasters, producers and post-production professionals to capture, edit and create broadcast-quality HD video, the company said.

The new Motion program allows for interactive animation of text, graphics and video.

Motion graphics are the types of animation and images that, for example, accompany football and baseball games broadcast on television, Apple said.

Motion will be available this summer for $299.

Corbis tries new approach to curb copyright violations

NEW YORK — The photo agency owned by Bill Gates is getting more aggressive in using technology to go after copyright violators.

Corbis, which owns more than 3 million photographs, hides a digital watermark in images it disseminates online so the company can detect if someone is using a Corbis picture without paying licensing fees.

But the watermark can become difficult to detect if a photo is printed, then scanned back into digital form.

So Corbis recently began comparing the pixel patterns of images found online with those of its original photos. Using the new method — think of it as looking at a photo's "fingerprint" — Corbis has discovered "over 20 high-volume pirates engaging in massive infringement," said David Green, senior corporate counsel.

"It's an extremely powerful tool for us," he said.

The pixel-matching software comes from Vima Technologies of Santa Barbara, Calif. Vima is one of a handful of companies with image-searching software, which will become increasingly important as multimedia content expands on the Internet.

ZymoGenetics to test drug on liver-surgery patients

ZymoGenetics, a Seattle biotech company, is announcing today that it has started a midstage clinical trial of patients undergoing liver surgery to see whether its experimental biotech drug Thrombin can control surgical bleeding.

The company said it also plans to begin using Thrombin shortly in three other experimental surgical settings, including lower-back surgery. The four trials, which will be double-blinded and placebo-controlled, will enroll 160 patients. The trials will be designed to measure safety and how long it takes to stop bleeding.

There will be a 28-day follow-up exam to see if patients develop antibodies to Thrombin. ZymoGenetics said it hopes to finish the midstage trials later this year and move to the final stage of clinical testing in early 2005.

Dell PC shipments top HP for the first quarter

LOS ANGELES — Dell's personal-computer shipments topped Hewlett-Packard's in the first quarter as worldwide demand rose because corporations and consumers increased their purchases, two market-research firms said.

Dell's shipments rose 29 percent to 7.49 million units in the quarter, topping Hewlett-Packard's 6.33 million units, the Gartner firm said.

IDC reported Dell's shipments at 7.68 million units, up 28 percent, compared with Hewlett-Packard's 6.42 million units, a 16 percent rise.

Overall demand rose 16.5 percent in the first quarter, IDC said. Gartner said the increase was 13.4 percent.

Corporations are replacing PCs at a strong pace, and consumers want to use their PCs for photography and videos, IDC analyst Roger Kay said.

New products including storage devices and expansion in Europe and China are helping Dell ship more PCs, said Neil Hand, Dell's director of worldwide enterprise marketing.

McDonald's plans to offer wireless Internet access

McDonald's plans to deliver wireless Internet access service, along with its burgers and fries, to thousands of its U.S. restaurants.

The company said last week it has begun converting hundreds of pilot locations to service provided exclusively by Wayport.

The goal is to offer high-speed access for laptops based on the Wi-Fi wireless standard in 3,000 stores by Labor Day, and eventually in 13,000 outlets. The Chicago, New York and Seattle markets are first on the list.

Compiled from Seattle Times business staff, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company