Tech to wish for in 2015

Its a new year and I'm really eager to blog more. I've got lots of posts planed for 2015 some I probably should have posted in 2014 but didn't quite get around to finishing.


So to kick of the year I thought's do some tech wishes for 2015. I'm not saying these will make it to the UK market, but some are in US market so next logical step is Europe.

and after all we are in the future......

First on my list is Disc to Digital, now this is slowly growing in US but essentially is a way to get your DVD's onto the ultraviolet platform and then have ability to play them. I'd like to see this so I can get my large DVD collection in the cloud and eventually into HD (cost permitting). I though can't see why it has to be a cost per disc  CD ripping was around for years and then came iTunes Match and Amazons Auto Rip both of which brought those digital files to the cloud at a reasonable cost.

Oh how nice it would be to free my shelf space of DVD's.

This leads me to my next wish.

Ultraviolet  movie access across itunes/google play, if my collection is in the cloud i'd like to have option of where to watch it from. As an Apple fan I love using my Apple TV to watch my TV collection but my ultraviolet collection is a pain to watch currently its all third party apps which don't let me watch on my television easily or in HD.

One App that has enabled this and I'm really hoping will come to UK is Disney Anywhere  not only can you sync your movies between iTunes and Google it brings the great Disney collection together and all in HD and with iTunes Extras (which for me brings best of DVD to digital).

So keeping with movie theme I'd like to see the release of a TV next year and no not a TV made by apple (though look forward to seeing what they come up with) but a TV built on YouView technology.  Having owned a box I can say currently it is a great connected television box. Like with everything there are still a lot they've just not got right but I think they may just be about to fix all that with future upgrades.

Also if TalkTalk buy Tesco's Blinkbox then we could finally see Ultraviolet get a proper platform on TV in UK. Which if falling in place could see Youview as a technology moving across the world.

Before I move on from TV there is going to be an explosion of programs from British producers flooding the worldwide market in 2015 and it will all start with the launch of BBC Store. The one stop shop to get BBC programming from last 50 years. It will also mean other platforms getting access to these programs for their platforms and more as BBC attempts to untangle ownership rights so that all programs ever broadcast on BBC are released on demand. This will obviously see programs broadcast but not owned by other UK Broadcasters profited from for first time in years.

I better wrap up this blog but I think 2015 will be the year of innovation and introduction. We already can see technology for hover-boards on their way. I think its developments from these kind of projects and scientific endeavours that we shall see the biggest change in our lives.

Think new dentistry techniques coming to the market. New health treatments, automated houses, big data used to benefit our lives, the list goes on. I don't even know what to expect or to take educated guesses with.

I want to talk about so much technology in 2015 because I think it will be known as the year that inspired a generation. The year man kind reached a new technological peak. So I hope that I actually have some time to write about things this year as 2015 is ours to explore. 

UK copyright law digital makeover -benifit or curse

UK copyright law is about to get a digital makeover as number of reforms have been put forward by The Hargreaves Report.

The report requested by British Prime minister David Cameron looks at reforming many of the UK's copyright laws that are outdated in the Internet age.

The report doesn't do recommend anything particularly  groundbreaking or as radical as some people asked for. What it does do is brink the UK more in line with Europe, US and the Internet age. Though in some instances it doesn't go as far as the US as the rest of Europe would need to come into line first.

The report goes through several things but there are two pieces of change that I think will change the digital landscape in a significant way but more for the consumer than possibly the industry.

First is what is known as the legalization of format shifting for personal use. We all do this, its when copy a CD to our computer to put on our MP3 Players. So for all the years the UK has been doing this its been technically illegally.

The change though makes an interesting new loop whole that allows you to copy your DVD's legally to your computer too. Now this has always been a fuzzy area of law as the movie industry fight losing money in the way the music industry did. I have to say though the Music industry is now stronger creatively for the digital downloads and part of the benifit has been the ability to continue growing music collections rather than re-purchasing. I deliberately look out for DVD's with a digital download included but very few have this in UK but Blue-ray does. I'd be happy to bay £1 to get a digital version of my DVD but I wouldn't want to re-buy my full 100 plus DVD's at £7-15 each, if i did I'd never buy new films again. So the change in law would benifit the consumer but what about the industry, only time will tell.

The second intriguing part of the Hargreaves Report is the proposal of a formation of a Digital Copyright Exchange to act as a "one-stop shop" to make it easier to get clearance for the use of copyrighted content. This is a big change it'll allow more of the back catalog of media onto television and internet. Like the MCPRS pays artists and performers for their work the Digital Copyright Exchange will do the same for those pieces of work where the owners can't be found straight away.

I look forward  to seeing what develops form this report and I think the UK and eventually hopefully the world will become better for it.