Hacker unveils content sharing platform for mobiles

The 24 year old hacker credited with breaking the DVD encryption format has released a platform designed to help consumers share and move media files between their multiple mobile devices.

Jon Lech Johansen, also know as 'DVD Jon', unveiled the fruits of his labour as CTO of doubleTwist Corporation on Tuesday.

Founded in March 2007 by Monique Farantzos and Johansen, doubleTwist's set out to help consumers enjoy their digital media on the widest possible range of devices. Although the explosive adoption of portable electronics has enabled any consumer to create and consume digital media, the process of sharing and moving media between these various devices is a well documented nightmare.

"When you receive an email, you can read it on your BlackBerry, web mail, or Outlook. Email just works. With digital media such as video from a friend's cell phone or your own iTunes playlists, it's a jungle out there. It can be an hour-long exercise in futility to convert files to the correct format and transfer them to your Sony PSP or your phone," said Farantzos, co-founder and CEO of doubleTwist.

 "The digital media landscape has become a tower of Babel, alienating and frustrating consumers. Our goal is to provide a simple and well integrated solution that the average consumer can use to eliminate the headaches associated with their expanding digital universe," Farantzos added.

The initial doubleTwist product offerings released this week include doubleTwist desktop, an application for sharing, consuming and syncing personal media, and Twist me!, a social network that allows users to share media directly from their profile.

The beta release enables users to share media with their Facebook friends and provides sync support for the Sony PSP, Nokia N Series, Sony Ericsson Walkman and Cybershot phones, LG Viewty, and Windows Mobile smart phones such as those from HTC and Palm. Apple iPhone users will soon be able to view content they receive from friends by accessing doubleTwist from their phone's Safari browser.

When a user connects a digital camera, mobile phone or PSP to a computer with the doubleTwist application installed, media files are found and displayed on the doubleTwist desktop. Users then select the media they wish to transfer and the application transparently handles any necessary format conversions. The application also integrates with iTunes, allowing users to sync their music playlists and iTunes music purchases with a variety of phones.

"We've built a format agnostic solution that handles the complexity of file and device compatibility so consumers don't have to," said Johansen.

doubleTwist also announced the close of its Series A venture funding from Index Ventures and Northzone Ventures this week.

Norwegian born DVD Jon was prosecuted for hacking in 2002 after he released an application called DeCSS, which allowed users to decrypt DVDs, allowing them to be copied. Johansen was acquitted in 2003 after successfully arguing that he did not illegally access any other parties' information, seeing as he owned the DVDs he cracked.

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