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Focus creates online edutainment platform for kids

Published

13 years ago

April 16, 2013

MUMBAI: While kids are increasingly spending time online there aren‘t many platforms that offer content tailor made for them. It is to fill in this need gap that advertising and digital media agency Focus Circle Group is looking to fill.

Focus has launched Worldoo (worldoo.com), a unique platform that offers a blend of entertainment and education from the most popular content from a kid‘s world of interest, through an interactive experience.

Worldoo, according to Focus, is an ‘Ever-evolving Online Ecosystem‘ for kids in the 6-12 age bracket. The aim of Worldoo is to offer kids an interactive experience.

Worldoo has around 16 content partners including ZeeQ, Cartoon Network, Shemaroo, Sony Pictures and National Geographic. Kids can consume the content from their world of interests and earn virtual currency (Stars) by doing so. Stars are earned depending on the amount of content they consume.

Focus Circle Group MD Monish Ghatalia reveals that the site took two and a half years to create. The company has invested Rs 90 million and is hoping to achieve a break-even in three years.

“Our promise is to deliver something new, always. So far 600 kids have registered. We have invested Rs. 90 million and expect to breakeven within three years. We have a revenue sharing arrangement deal with our content partners for ads. Worldoo is an audience focused engagement platform for brands on the internet. With conventional activation mediums, it is challenging for brands to reach out to a large chunk of target audiences at a single point, and even more difficult to sustain the engagement,” he explains.

Ghatalia adds, “We are confident that Worldoo will provide an edge for brands, to engage with the right target audience. It offers the right platform for brands to achieve much more than just impressions and clicks. Worldoo creates engaging experiences for kids as it offers activities, interaction and content, all in one place. Our aim in doing content deals was to have content that imparts both excitement and education, all in a single platform.”

There are seven content sources (landmarks) in the site including Game Den that has games segmented by genre. Companies like ZeeQ and Cartoon Network have their own landmark within Worldoo.

Ghatalia adds that the second phase for the company starts in a few months time. That is when it will look to be available on digital devices like the mobile as well. It will also have regional content. By the end of the year it could have 50 content partners. “We are looking to create content on our end as well. There will be comics, stories, games. The vision for us is long term and we want to touch upon diverse aspects that concern kids.”

Turner International India VP ad sales South Asia Juhi Ravindranath commenting on the content partnership with Worldoo said, “At Turner, our aim has always been to push the boundaries and deliver innovative and entertaining content/experience across various platforms. Worldoo is a unique idea and we are happy to partner with Focus in a bid to create the right brand experience for consumers.”

ZeeQ programming head Aparna Bhosle noted that technology is central to consumption of content. “content consumption is becoming increasingly multi-platform. TV, internet and the mobile phone should together allow greater opportunities to watch your favourite show at any time in any place and on any device. It is keeping this in mind that ZeeQ are excited about partnering with an innovative concept like Worldoo. It is a mechanism through which our shows can be sampled via the internet.”

Shedding light on the ad strategy Worldoo head experience and brand Harsh Wardhan Dave said, “Advertising for kids online has always been restricted to banners, contest pages, micro sites. There is no innovation in this space in terms of customer engagement. The launch of Worldoo is a very proud moment for us, as we fill this gap for brands to think out of the box and create a real life engagement with kids through our digital platform. With all of this we are about digital engagement and not just digital marketing.”

He adds that since Worldoo has a blend of social and engagement, brands can live with kids in Worldoo. Kids can follow brands, make friends with them, get tips from brands etc. Also creatively, they can seamlessly become a part of a user‘s journey as the brand can be present while kids spend their time in their world. For example a breakfast brand can place a bowl of cereals in a Kids Home at Worldoo or a car brand can be driving through the roads of Worldoo and more such tailor made innovations.”

He added that the aim of Worldoo is to reassure parents who are unsure of what their kids are looking at online. “The pre-launch research conducted by IMRB gave us immense confidence that what we are creating is the need of the hour. Kids research told us liked the website as they get so many things in it. They are excited about the various types of games that are there. According to mothers the site has everything that a child needs and so there is no need for their children to go anywhere else. Mothers also feel that it the site is good as only kids will be there.

“So children will interact with other children of their age. Mothers also feel that the point system will give children some business sense, about how to earn for themselves and then spend wisely. 1/3rd of mothers feel that the site is for 13-15 year olds. More than 80 per cent of mothers surveyed feel that Worldoo is an edutainment site. Our research also showed that Google is favourite site for kids followed by Cartoon Network, Facebook, Yahoo and National Geographic”.

What is interesting about this survey is that two iconic kids brands Disney and Nickelodeon both ranked below National Geographic.

The content that Worldoo offers includes:
– Games from miniclip, the gamebox, zapak.
– Cartoons from Cartoon Network and Chota Bheem
– Animals and Environment and Conservation from National Geographic and JeffCorwinConnect.
– Movies and Trailers from Warner Bros., Shemaroo, Sony Pictures, Reliance Big Flix.
– Edutainment from ZeeQ,
– Books and Comics include Amar Chitra Katha, Crosswords, Landmark, Dreamland, Britanica Books, Robinage, Champak.
– International destination includes Sentosa.

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Applications

Moltbook, the AI-only social network, sparks hype, doubt and fear

Published

5 days ago

February 3, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Moltbook, a Reddit-style social platform built exclusively for artificial intelligence agents, has emerged as the latest obsession in Silicon Valley, drawing intense attention for its explosive growth and surreal bot-driven interactions.

The platform hosts more than 100 communities where AI agents post, argue and joke about topics ranging from governance theory to esoteric “crayfish debugging” concepts. Within days of launch, Moltbook recorded tens of thousands of posts, nearly 200,000 comments and more than 1 million human visitors observing the activity.

Yet the numbers and the autonomy are under scrutiny, as per media reports. A security researcher has suggested as many as 500,000 accounts may trace back to a single address, raising doubts about Moltbook’s membership claims. Many posts could also be the result of humans instructing their AI tools to publish content, rather than bots acting independently.

The platform runs on agentic AI, powered by an open-source tool called OpenClaw, formerly known as Moltbot. Unlike chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini, these agents are designed to perform tasks on users’ devices, from sending messages to managing calendars, with minimal human input. Once authorised, they can interact freely on Moltbook.

Some tech figures have hailed the platform as a glimpse of a post-human internet. Head of crypto custody firm BitGo Bill Lees, called it evidence that “we’re in the singularity”.

Academics are less convinced. Petar Radanliev, an AI and cybersecurity expert at the University of Oxford, said the idea of agents acting independently was “misleading”, describing Moltbook instead as automated coordination within human-set constraints. Columbia Business School assistant professor David Holtz, dismissed the spectacle as “thousands of bots yelling into the void and repeating themselves”.

Beyond hype, security worries loom large. ESET global cybersecurity advisor Jake Moore, warned that granting AI agents access to emails, private messages and files risks prioritising efficiency over privacy. Andrew Rogoyski of the University of Surrey said high-level system access could lead to serious damage, from erased data to compromised company accounts.

Even OpenClaw’s founder Peter Steinberger, has felt the darker side of attention, with scammers hijacking his old social media handles after the platform’s rebrand.

For now, Moltbook remains a strange digital zoo: part experiment, part spectacle, where AI agents banter about philosophy, productivity and, occasionally, their fondness for their human operators.

Applications

Apple appoints Avtar Ram Singh as head of international marketing

Published

6 days ago

February 2, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Apple has handed a bigger global brief to a long-time insider. Avtar Ram Singh has taken over as head of international marketing for the App Store, Apple Arcade and the Apple Games app, deepening his remit across one of the company’s fastest-growing businesses.

“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as head of international marketing, App Store, Apple Arcade and Games App at Apple,” Singh said while announcing the move.

The promotion crowns nearly seven years at Apple, where Singh has led services marketing across Southeast Asia and India and previously served as head of marketing for Southeast Asia content and services, business lead for Apple Podcasts in the region and interim marketing lead for the App Store internationally.

His new portfolio spans three pillars of Apple’s services push. The App Store, which Apple positions as a safe and trusted discovery platform, now attracts more than 850 million average weekly users globally. Since 2008, developers have earned over $550 billion on the platform.

Apple Arcade, the company’s gaming subscription service, offers unlimited access to a catalogue ranging from brain teasers to big-name franchises. The recent addition of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Arcade Edition brings a AAA PC title to iPhone, iPad and Mac from 5 February.

Then there is the Apple Games app, unveiled at WWDC as a unified destination for games from the App Store and Arcade. It aggregates titles in one place, surfaces personalised recommendations, tracks events and achievements, and lets users compete with friends or connect controllers for a console-like experience.

Singh arrives with a hybrid background in strategy, data and creativity. His career spans digital and social media marketing, business intelligence, content, editorial and analytics across culturally diverse markets. He has worked on brands including P&G, Accor, Audi, UBS, Nikon, Samsung, Sony, Pizza Hut, HBO and Singapore Airlines-linked businesses such as Scoot.

Before Apple, Singh led strategy at Falcon Agency, focusing on performance marketing and ROI-driven digital frameworks. He earlier ran the social practice at Publicis Singapore, where he oversaw operations, business development and regional social strategy for multinational clients. His career also includes roles at Ogilvy-linked Circus Social, Rocket Internet ventures Lazada and Zalora, and research firm IDC in Bangkok, where he analysed technology markets and won early awards for collaboration and client retention.

At Apple, he has been close to several service launches and expansions, including Apple Fitness+ in Singapore, Apple Creator Studio, global podcast subscriptions and new App Store marketing tools.

The timing is notable. Apple’s services business has posted record years, and gaming is becoming a sharper battleground as platforms chase engagement and recurring revenue. Singh’s brief sits at the intersection of content, community and commerce.

In a market where attention is scarce and loyalty scarcer, Apple is betting that sharper storytelling and smarter marketing can keep users inside its ecosystem. Singh now holds the megaphone. The real test will be how loudly the world listens.

Applications

Cloud nine in the capital Bharathcloud plugs Delhi into its AI plans

Published

1 week ago

January 30, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Bharathcloud is bringing its cloud closer to power. The Hyderabad-based sovereign AI cloud services provider has opened its Delhi office, marking its formal entry into North India and setting the stage for its next phase of growth.

The expansion comes as India’s digital transformation fuels rising demand for AI-ready cloud infrastructure, driven by wider adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things and data-heavy applications. With the new office, Bharathcloud plans to onboard more than 100 employees in 2026, strengthening its workforce to support customers across government, enterprises, MSMEs and social sectors.

The Delhi presence is expected to sharpen the company’s engagement with organisations seeking secure, scalable and cost-efficient cloud platforms that comply with India’s data sovereignty requirements. It also positions Bharathcloud closer to policy, public sector and enterprise decision-makers in the region.

Founded in Hyderabad, Bharathcloud offers AI-ready cloud infrastructure including Kubernetes-as-a-Service, zero-trust security architecture and multi-level data protection frameworks. Its platform supports AI and ML workloads, blockchain application migration from hyperscalers and distributed data management, with an emphasis on reliability, low latency and operational continuity.

“With the Delhi expansion, we are positioning Bharathcloud to engage more closely with AI-driven enterprises and technology hubs in North India,” said Bharathcloud co-founder Rahul Takallapally. He added that the move would help nurture local cloud and AI talent while accelerating the adoption of secure and resilient AI infrastructure across sectors.

The company currently operates in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai, employing over 200 people and serving more than 1,500 clients across manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, IT and media. Aligned with national initiatives such as Digital India and Make in India, Bharathcloud continues to focus on building indigenous AI-cloud infrastructure to support data localisation and the country’s growing appetite for next-generation digital solutions.

With its Delhi office now live, the company is signalling a clear intent: to make sovereign, AI-ready cloud infrastructure not just an alternative, but a mainstream choice for India’s north as well as its tech capitals.