Category: Technology

Google brings IIFA home, SRK and Shahid to host the event once again

MUMBAI: Millions of Bollywood fans gear up for one of India‘s biggest Film Awards to be held in Macau this weekend, the International India Film awards (IIFA). This year, IIFA is making Google its home, bringing Bollywood and all its glamour to users with a unique digital experience.

Google hopes to enhance the IIFA experience by bringing the weekend action to users through Google+, YouTube and Search. Bollywood stars will join a Hangout On-Air live from the Green carpet, YouTube will capture the glitzy pre-event parties and Knowledge Panels across Search will showcase everything the viewers need to know about the nominees.

From discussing the Union Budget with the Finance Minister to getting to chat with their favorite cricket star – Hangouts are everywhere and after so many successful ones hosted in areas such as politics, film promotions, spirituality and sports, it comes as no surprise that the platform is being taken to the next level with IIFA this year.

YouTube, too, after just wrapping up the IPL, will bring behind-the-scenes sneak peeks from the IIFA Weekend to fans. And it doesn‘t end there, now, when searching for Shah Rukh Khan or Barfi! Knowledge Panels tell you everything about the movie from within Search, without clicking on a link.

Speaking on this association, Google India marketing director Sandeep Menon said, “We are extremely excited to bring IIFA home this year. With this association we hope to ensure a never before experience to all Indian movie lovers. Since the very beginning, Google has always focused on providing the best user experience possible. We take great care to ensure that all our products ultimately serve the audience. We will be using Google+, Google Search Trends and YouTube in order to provide a great experience to the IIFA watchers. This association will help us to reach out to millions of IIFA fans and bring live action from IIFA 2013 to their desk tops and mobiles.”

The superstar of Indian Cinema, Shah Rukh Khan will play host at the upcoming 14th IIFA Awards at The Venetian Macao along with Shahid Kapoor. This year along with the impressive line-up of performances by the biggest stars in the Indian Film Industry, IIFA 2013 will also see a host of prominent personalities attend the event including Irrfan Khan, Vidya Balan, Anil Kapoor and many more.

July 4, 2013
Cloud based television services company Magine gets $19mn funding

BENGALURU: Magine, a Swedish cloud-based television operator, announced today that it has obtained an additional round of funding to the extent of $19mn that will enable it to expand the supply of its recently launched service of television content online (OTT).

Michael Werner, Matthias Hjelmstedt, Erik Wikstrom, Xavier Ritort and Hakan Tranvik, founders of Magine, obtained the funds through an agreement with a group of Swedish and international investors.

The funding will help Magine to accelerate significantly the time for the implementation of the platform at the international level. Within a few a few months the service will expand from Sweden and will be launched soon in its key television markets of Germany and Spain. It will be available for users across at least five other markets before the end of the year says Magine.

Magine president Michael Werner says “Magine is not just another television platform, but a whole new way to access and enjoy content. It is a service that requires a subscription and has been designed to make people return to following television programs. Because of this, broadcasters and content providers are very likely to use it. Magine helps them to create new forms of monetization while respecting the system of existing copyrights. Our investors realized immediately the extraordinary potential for discovery of content and social interactions available to users, and the service’s ability to generate new revenue streams.”

In Sweden, Magine hosts some of the most famous brands and channels in the world. These includr Discovery, CNN International, BBC, Eurosport, National Geographic, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, in addition to the national broadcasters SVT and TV4. The company has also initiated talks with numerous media and international groups engaged in the entertainment industry, and expect further announcements in this regard later this month.

Last April, Magine was presented to the international television and community members for content production during MIPTV (International market of television), one of the major international events in Europe dedicated to the entertainment industry. The presentation of the service has been hailed as the highlight of the event by commentators, journalists and leading figures in the industry.

Magine is the new television. It is not a new device to follow television programs, but a service that offers absolute freedom to follow live TV, pause or resume viewing at a later time for all channels and all devices at any time, in compliance with the existing copyright. It offers high speed, excellent quality and images protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management, Digital Rights Management) through any type of Internet connection available. It is currently available on Apple devices and the Samsung smart TVs. Soon it will be possible to use the service on other television platforms and tablets with Android operating system.

Also read:

Mipcom unveils keynote line-up reflecting the new golden age of television

MipTV: growing stronger in 50th year; India registers increased presence

July 4, 2013
T-Series crosses one billion views on YouTube

MUMBAI: T-Series, is hitting another high note. The music company has crossed an unprecedented one billion video views for their official YouTube channel.

T-Series has become the latest Indian entertainment entity to cross the coveted one billion video views on YouTube in a short span of just over two years with over 2.3 million subscribers. Just recently during the first week of February 2013, T-Series‘ channel reached over one million subscribers and continued to rise, hitting the two-million subscriber mark within the following 15 weeks, and now crossing over one billion video views on its main channel.

CMD Bhushan Kumar said, “I would like to dedicate this success to all our fans all over the world who have helped us reach this milestone. I would like to congratulate my entire in-house digital team and the YouTube team for this tremendous feat. We look forward to achieving greater heights with our dedication and passion to offer quality content and experience to our discerning consumers worldwide”.

Commenting on the milestone achieved, YouTube APAC head of music partnerships Anthony Zameczkowski said, “The Internet is the global distribution channel of the future and T-Series‘ recent momentum is a great example of how music labels are using YouTube to innovate online and find new audiences around the world.”

T-Series‘ official YouTube channel offers a wide choice of content to its discerning fans ranging from Bollywood song videos, audio juke boxes, lyrical Videos, Bollywood twisters, behind the scenes, making of films / songs / videos etc and has been consistently building up a strong community on social networks like G+, Facebook and Twitter etc.

July 3, 2013
Immortalize your lovers name on ‘Virtual’ monuments

MUMBAI: Love birds can now stop inscribing their names on heritage monuments. Instead, use the ‘virtual‘ heritage monuments to immortalize your love. Jodha Akbar, the historical magnum opus aired on Zee TV has launched a Facebook app that allows couples to do just that.

The show through the app will support the preservation of the vast Indian heritage. The app gives users a choice between four different monuments where they would like to have their names inscribed.

Once the user has typed their name and the name of their partner, the app gives them a choice between posting an image of their ‘immortal space‘ on their Facebook page and sending their significant other a more detailed love note via a message.

The app provides lovers with an interesting space to express their love in the virtual arena

“Very often, one finds people in India using the facades of national monuments to engrave their names alongside their lover‘s as a sign of eternal love. However, it is important that India takes adequate and timely measures to conserve its national heritage rather than allow its own citizens to deface historically significant monuments with graffiti. This is what prompted us to come up with a unique solution whereby we provide lovers with an interesting space to express their love in the virtual arena,” says Zeel head-marketing, national channels Akash Chawla.

Besides the app, Zee TV‘s marketing campaign for ‘Jodha Akbar‘ has seen several innovative initiatives. In the pre-launch phase, the channel created boards on Pinterest to familiarize viewers with the architecture, monuments, artifacts, clothes and jewellery from the Mughal era.

The channel also plans to organise edutainment excursions for school children where they will watch the shoot of the show and be taken on a guided tour of the ‘Jodha Akbar‘ sets that resemble Jodha and Akbar‘s palaces, showcasing replicas of the costumes, jewellery, weapons used in the Mughal era that are currently being used in the show.

The app can be accessed on Zee TV‘s official Facebook homepage https://www.facebook.com/ZeeTvIndia

July 3, 2013
Reliance Games launches two action-packed mobile games for Google Play

MUMBAI: Mobile gamers across the world can now experience virtual time travel with Reliance Games‘ two new engaging mobile games Borderwar Galactic Warfare and Cosmo Combat. Reliance Games, one of the leading developer and publisher of mobile games globally has launched these games, one based on an ancient alien race and the other 2D casual tower defense game, primarily for Google Play.

The Borderwar Galactic Warfare mobile game is an extension of Reliance Games‘ popular action and adventure mobile game franchise, Borderwar. The mobile game is a 2D casual tower defense game set in the future, sometime after the year 3000. The upgrades also play a vital role as without them it will be quite difficult to proceed beyond certain levels.

Cosmo Combat allows gamers to join Captain Barros on his first mission into the deep recesses of our galaxy and fight an ancient alien race hell bent on destroying other civilizations. Gamers can earn star points by destroying the enemies and use it to purchase various offensive and defensive upgrades.

Commenting on the launch of the games, Reliance Games Business Head – India Chaitanya Prabhu said, “With the growing popularity of Android devices and Google Play as a platform, we have launched two highly action-packed and immersive mobile games on the platform, that have excellent graphics and engaging gameplay. With Borderwar franchise of mobile games receiving good number of downloads, we decided to extend the franchise and launch ‘Borderwar Galactic Warfare‘. The other game Cosmo Combat is an adventurous and thrilling mobile game that challenges the gamers and keeps them hooked to it. With these launches, I am certain that gamers who enjoy action genre based mobile games will definitely like Borderwar Galactic Warfare and Cosmo Combat.”

July 3, 2013
Robosoft picks up investment from Kalaari Capital to hasten growth

MUMBAI: Robosoft, a leading developer of mobile apps and games, announced that the company has received funding from Kalaari Capital (formerly IndoUS Venture Partners) to accelerate growth and fund expansion. The new investment is a push to Robosoft’s rise as one of the premier mobile application developers. It also boosts the company’s vision to be the Partner of Choice to implement and enhance mobile experiences to leading brands and enterprises the world over.

Robosoft builds engaging applications for the iOS, Android, and Windows platforms. The business had traditionally focused on the US market but is now gaining traction in Europe, Middle East, and India too.

“Robosoft has established some great partnerships in the last few years in the mobile space. We’ve achieved this with our focus on customer delight, engineering excellence, and investment in our people,” said Robosoft Founder and CEO Rohith Bhat. “The new investment from Kalaari will help us turbocharge our growth in new markets and industry segments, add new sales, design, engineering talent to our team, and help us move toward a full-service model.”

Commenting on the investment Kaalari Capital MD Kumar Shiralagi said, “Robosoft’s wealth of engineering talent, their successful track record of building consumer facing products for some of the best brands in the world and their leadership position in the mobile services segment got us interested. Equally enticing were their initiatives in building global IP like ‘WordsWorth’, ‘Camera Plus Pro’, ‘Game your Video’, ‘Boom’, and the amount of traction they already had there. Their clear vision for the future got us interested and we are confident about their ability to execute on that potential.”

July 2, 2013

Voice your opinion on ‘Opinion Square’, a game introduced by Foreseegame.com

MUMBAI: Have an opinion on trending topics? Log on to Foreseegame.com. This unique game portal has introduced a new category of interesting and thought-provoking games called ‘Opinion Square‘. The game helps in understanding the opinion of Indians on various trending topics.

The latest from ‘Opinion Square‘ is a set of ten games for smart phones which caters to the need of the gadget-savvy generation of today. This new set of games on smart phone is designed to explore the mindset of the consumers and their preferences regarding the smart phones they buy and use.

Foreseegame.com which received an overwhelming response to this new set of opinion-based games, prepared a survey report in association with Microsec Research based on these results. Microsec Research is the research wing of Microsec Capital having experienced analysts across sectors.

17,000 users of www.foreseegame.com participated in this survey, who were registered only on the basis of unique mobile numbers. The participation was monitored by Google.

The report brings out a number of interesting facts about the growing smart phone market like consumers‘ preference for touch screen phones, high-tech features, operating system and social networking on the go.

The report states that majority of the buyers consider the operating system while buying a phone. Interestingly, Android holds the lion‘s share amongst the most preferred operating systems. Blackberry and Windows, with almost equal fondness, are contesting for the distant second position.

Touch screen rules the market while touch and type is the second preference. Sole keypad usage is fading away. Buying trend shows that most of the people like to buy a smart phone either with E.M.I without interest or one-time payment.

Communication on the go is the best utility of smart phones and getting in touch via messengers such as WhatsApp and BBM wins the race. Respondents showed hesitance in using mobile banking due to data security issues and uneasiness of operating.

Consumers today look for innovation related to battery like long lasting battery, wireless charger, solar power chargeable battery and link to home care management like integrated remote control for TV, A.C., home robot and car key.

The report also states that even with the multiple features attached with mobile phone, it fails to replace the utility of a watch, which is still used to check time.

The report has got the pulse of Indian consumers in relation to the fast growing smart phone market.

July 2, 2013

Robosoft picks up investment from Kalaari Capital to hasten growth

MUMBAI: Robosoft, a leading developer of mobile apps and games, announced that the company has received funding from Kalaari Capital (formerly IndoUS Venture Partners) to accelerate growth and fund expansion. The new investment is a push to Robosoft‘s rise as one of the premier mobile application developers. It also boosts the company‘s vision to be the Partner of Choice to implement and enhance mobile experiences to leading brands and enterprises the world over.

Robosoft builds engaging applications for the iOS, Android, and Windows platforms. The business had traditionally focused on the US market but is now gaining traction in Europe, Middle East, and India too.

“Robosoft has established some great partnerships in the last few years in the mobile space. We‘ve achieved this with our focus on customer delight, engineering excellence, and investment in our people,” said Robosoft Founder and CEO Rohith Bhat. “The new investment from Kalaari will help us turbocharge our growth in new markets and industry segments, add new sales, design, engineering talent to our team, and help us move toward a full-service model.”

Commenting on the investment Kaalari Capital MD Kumar Shiralagi said, “Robosoft‘s wealth of engineering talent, their successful track record of building consumer facing products for some of the best brands in the world and their leadership position in the mobile services segment got us interested. Equally enticing were their initiatives in building global IP like ‘WordsWorth‘, ‘Camera Plus Pro‘, ‘Game your Video‘, ‘Boom‘, and the amount of traction they already had there. Their clear vision for the future got us interested and we are confident about their ability to execute on that potential.”

July 2, 2013

Boredom and amusement lead most to use social media on Internet for cyberbullying

NEW DELHI: Research shows that boredom and amusement are behind many incidents of cyberbullying and trolling on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Lancaster University in the United Kingdom has said in its study that those who engage in trolling – Internet user behaviour that is meant to intentionally anger or frustrate someone else in order to provoke a response – do so for their own amusement and because they are bored.

Dr Claire Hardaker, a linguistics expert from the University‘s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, studied almost 4,000 online cases involving claims of trolling.

According to a report in The Independent newspaper, trolls operate out of a feeling of power, amusement, boredom and revenge and thrive on the anonymity which the internet provides, she found. The research identified seven tactics used by trolls to bombard their victims with insults and threats.

The seven tactics include digressing from the topic at hand, especially onto sensitive topics, and hypocriticising – pedantic criticism of grammar, spelling or punctuation in a post which itself contains proof-reading errors. Antipathising, by taking up an alienating position, asking pseudo-naive questions is another tactic used by trolls besides giving dangerous advice and encouraging risky behaviour. Trolls also employ ‘shock strategy‘ by being insensitive about sensitive topics, explicit about taboo topics, etc. They also provoke others by insulting or threatening them.

They may cross-post – sending the same offensive or provocative message to multiple groups then waiting for the response. “Aggression, deception and manipulation are increasingly part of online interaction, yet many users are unaware not only that some of these behaviours exist, but of how destructive and insidious they can be,” Hardaker said. She also found that while trolling is associated with the young, trolls come from all ages and backgrounds.

“An incredible amount of time and strategy can be involved in trolling, as my research into the techniques they use highlights,” she said. She warned that trolling can in some cases develop into more serious behaviour, including cyberharassment and cyberstalking.

July 2, 2013

Tips Music crosses 2 million fans mark on Facebook

MUMBAI: Tips Music has become one of the largest entertainment brands on Facebook in India. The company‘s Facebook community crossed 2 million fans and has reported to have one of the highest engagement rates on the social network.

Tips was one of the last to join the social media bandwagon but has surpassed their competitors in a short span of two years. The company has the largest fan following on Facebook, not only amongst the music companies, but also in the film production companies in India.

“We‘re very excited to cross this milestone on Facebook, we appreciate all the support our fans have given us in the last few years. Our company mission has always been to give the audience quality music and films and we‘re happy to be spreading this to the digital platform. I‘m personally very active on various social mediums and enjoy having conversations with people on Facebook and Twitter,” informs Tips Industries Limited managing director Kumar Taurani.

Tips Music, unlike its competitors, broke the trend of depending only on new music to grow their community and leveraged their rich 90s music catalogue to engage with fans. “When we started our Facebook initiative, every expert we met told us the page would only grow during the time of a new soundtrack release. The problem was, at the time we only had one film up for release and a gap of a year till the next,” says Taurani.

Tips which has a catalogue of 25,000+ tracks, did not want to limit their Facebook promotions to 10-15 recent songs. “We developed a unique strategy where the main focus was to refresh people‘s memory with the music from our 90s catalogue while introducing the youth to classic songs they may have never heard,” says Tips Industries Limited senior VP and business head Sahas Malhotra.

The company also started sharing its content from films like Khal Nayak, Rangeela, Imtihaan, Phool Aur Kaante and Raja Hindustani. “Our initial interaction with people was very low. This forced us to question our decision. Though music from the 60s, 70s and 80s are considered evergreen and retro cool from a young person‘s perspective, the 90s did not yet have a label.”

Tips then started receiving messages from their fans thanking them for sharing a song they had heard 15 years ago. “People now knew where they could get the hit songs of the 90s. Our fans on Facebook then started sending pictures of a cassette, asking if the title was available digitally. This forced us to dig deeper into our catalogue and churn out compilations with songs we didn‘t even think would be popular in this day and age. We were pleasantly surprised to see the overwhelming response from the youth and it‘s a great sign to see them consuming hits from the 90s.”

Prabhudheva‘s Ramaiya Vastavaiya starring Girish Kumar and Shruti Haasan releasing 19 July, Rajkumar Santoshi‘s Phata Poster Nikhla Hero starring Shahid Kapoor and Ileana D‘Cruz on 20 September and ‘It‘s Entertainment‘ starring Akshay Kumar and Tamannah Bhatia directed by renowned screenplay writers Sajid-Farhad releasing 28 March 2014 are the forthcoming movies of Tips Music.

July 1, 2013