Category: Software

NEW DELHI: The Press Information Bureau has launched mobile version of website, pib.gov.in, to make its content easily accessible to mobile users.

The URL of the mobile website is http://pib.gov.in/mobile.The new mobile site has been customised in such a way that it displays the latest press releases on the home screen and offers links to other matter on the website. In addition, to make it open instantly in places where the internet connectivity is poor, the mobile site does not display the ‘heavy‘ content such as photographs and videos on the homepage. When an alert is issued by PIB, e.g. regarding a press conference to be held soon, this supersedes all content.

The regular website of PIB is highly content rich, with content in text as well as graphic and audio-visual formats. This makes the site a bit heavy for mobile phones and computers with poor internet connectivity. In addition, the small screen of mobile phones does not allow full display of the website as on a computer screen.

At present the mobile version displays only English content. In due course, Hindi and Urdu content of the main website will also be available on the mobile version.

PIB‘s website is one of the most popular information websites in India and is updated many times in a day to provide the latest information on policies and programmes of the Government of India and on official events.

MUMBAI: HBO Nordic, the newly formed joint venture of HBO and Parsifal International, will launch its linear and on-demand premium pay TV service mid-October in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

This is a web-only service and does not require the customer to be signed up with a pay TV service such as cable or satellite. Its competition will be with Netflix which is also expected to launch in the region.

As the first HBO-branded service in the region, HBO Nordic will offer a premium ad-free channel. HBO will offer both subscription and transactional video-on-demand services, providing premium content directly to consumers via HBO Nordic‘s untethered, “over-the-top” platform, hbonordic.com, and also via local distribution partners.

HBO Nordic CEO Herv?© Payan said, “We saw a rapid change in Nordic TV consumption these past years. Our target group is younger and more urban than the existing premium pay TV subscribers and they consume TV on multiple screens, particularly on computers, smartphones and tablets. Most of them associate HBO with best in class series. We view this as a unique opportunity for HBO to grow digital pay-TV subscriptions in the region”.

HBO Nordic will offer subscribers all seasons and behind- the-scene materials of hit series, including ‘Boardwalk Empire‘, ‘The Newsroom‘, ‘Game of Thrones‘ and ‘True Blood‘. The HBO Nordic offering will also include feature films from major Hollywood and international studios, local distributors and independents.

Herv?© Payan said, “HBO Nordic is the first service in the Nordic countries to combine day-and-date delivery and streaming of the latest episodes of an HBO original series subtitled in the local language, with all past seasons. This service will be available on any internet connected device”.

MUMBAI: People in markets such as China, Brazil and India better exploit the opportunities offered by web-connected television, compared to countries such as the UK, US and Germany, according to research carried out across 13 countries by GfK‘s consumer research experts.

The study found that western consumers are stuck in an ‘analogue‘ mindset, whereas viewers in emerging markets are more likely to embrace the digital capabilities of Connected TV.

GfK research shows that a far higher proportion of Chinese, Korean and Indian consumers have used the functionalities of Smart TV in the past months, compared to those in Western markets.

GfK‘s findings show that ‘Social TV‘ has yet to fully take off. Globally, just 28 per cent of viewers said that they found programmes that they can interact with to be more interesting to watch. And just 25 per cent thought that tweeting and commenting on programmes ‘enhances the viewing experience‘.

Viewers in countries such as China, Brazil and India are more motivated by programmes they can interact with than those in markets such as the UK, US and Germany.

Connected TV	usage
China	44%
S. Korea	18%
India	17%
Brazil	14%
Turkey	13%
UK	11%
USA	11%
Mexico	11%
Spain	8%
Germany	8%
Belgium	6%
Russia	5%
Netherlands	5%

Richard Preedy at GfK said: “Our findings suggest that broadcasters need to integrate their social elements far more engagingly into the fabric of the programme, in order to entice the viewer‘s interaction.”

Across all markets, the ability to connect to the internet is less important than price, screen size and display technology, when buying a new TV. But the West is more indifferent than the emerging markets, with only 26 per cent of UK and 29 per cent of US consumers saying they look out for a net enabled set, compared to 61 per cent in India and 64 per cent in China.

MUMBAI: Turner Broadcasting is launching its Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel in HD for the UK market on 4 September.

TCM will be launched on Sky‘s EPG at Channel 317.

The channel is kicking off ‘HD Classic Week‘ in order to mark the launch of TCM HD. It will air some “remarkable” movies for three weeks starting with telecast of movies like Ben Hur, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Casablanca and The Philadelphia Story in the first week.

The channel will then launch ‘HD Western Week‘, in which it will air movies such as Rio Bravo The Searchers and How the West Was Won. It will be followed by ‘HD Musicals Week‘ from 17 September in which movies like The Wizard of Oz, The King and I and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory will air.

Turner Broadcasting director of general entertainment for the U.K. and Ireland Jemma Yates said, “It‘s fantastic news that viewers now have the opportunity to watch TCM‘s vast library of great classic and contemporary films in HD-quality format. This is another exciting step in the channel‘s continuing evolution, giving TCM‘s loyal and growing audience access to an outstanding viewing experience.”

NEW DELHI: Although no tangible evidence is available linking radiation from mobile phones to health issues, mobiles to be manufactured from 1 September will have one tenth of the radiation levels compared to the present mobiles.

The Government has also said that the present mobile handsets with existing designs which are compliant with 2.0 W/kg averaged over 10 gram of human tissue will continue to co-exist up to 31 August 2013. Thereafter, only the mobile handsets with revised SAR value of 1.6 W/kg would be permitted to be manufactured or imported in India.

This has been stated in the new EMF (Electromagnetic Frequency) Radiation Standards issued Friday, making India one of the select few countries in the world to have stringent, established in the interest of public health, for mobile towers and mobile handsets. Indian standards would now be 10 times more stringent than over 90 per cent countries in the world.

Furthermore, the Manufacturer’s mobile handset booklet will contain safety precautions. All cell phone handsets sold in the market in India will comply with relevant standards and shall be available in hand free mode.

A scientific study in India-specific context is being undertaken jointly by the Department. of Telecom and Department of Science & Technology in collaboration with the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the Science & Technology Ministry to derive norms based on credible scientific evidence taking into account diversity of Indian social context.

The guidelines for consumers on mobile handset usage include keeping distance – Holding the cell phone away from body to the extent possible; using a headset (wired or Bluetooth) to keep the handset away from and not pressing against the head, and limiting the length of mobile calls and using text.

Radio Frequency (RF) energy is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source — being very close increases energy absorption much more. Other precautions include putting the cell phone on speaker mode and not carry a mobile phone that is on in chest/breast or pants pocket. When a mobile phone is ON, it automatically transmits at high power every one or two minutes to check (poll) the network.

The norms are as follows:

Mobile Towers (EMF Radiation Norms)

? EMF ( Electromagnetic Frequency) exposure limit (Base Station Emissions) has been lowered to 1/10th of the existing ICNIRP (International Commission On Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) exposure level, effective 1 September.

? Telecom Enforcement Resource & Monitoring (TERM) Cells have been entrusted with the job of conducting audit on the self certification furnished by the Service Providers. TERM Cell will carry out test audit of 10 per cent of the BTS site on random basis and on all cases where there is a public complaint.

? Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) has revised the Test Procedure for measurement of EMF for verification of EMF compliance for BTS towers in accordance with new standards.

? For non-compliance of EMF standards, a penalty of Rs 0.5 million is liable to be levied per BTS per Service Provider.

? The BTS site details i.e. self certification, registration with TERM Cell, test results etc. is proposed to be provided on DoT web site for General Public information.

Mobile Handsets

? All the new design of mobile handsets shall comply with the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values of 1.6 W/kg averaged over 1 gram of human tissue w.e.f. 1st Sept. 2012.

? The mobile handsets with existing designs which are compliant with 2.0 W/kg averaged over 10 gram of human tissue, will continue to co-exist up to 31st August 2013. From 1st Sept. 2013, only the mobile handsets with revised SAR value of 1.6 W/kg would be permitted to be manufactured or imported in India.

? SAR value information display on the mobile handsets like IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) display. The information on SAR values to be made available to the consumer at the point of sale.

? Mobile hand set manufactured and sold in India or imported from other countries shall be checked on random basis for compliance of SAR limit after TEC SAR Laboratory is set up by end of 2012. Test results from international accredited labs will be acceptable in the interim period.

? The manufacturers in India will provide self declaration of SAR value of the handset.

? Suitable amendments in the Indian Telegraph Rule under Indian Telegraph Act 1985 are being enacted in support of ensuring compliance of new SAR values for handsets.

? Manufacturer’s mobile handset booklet will contain safety precautions.

? All cell phone handsets sold in the market in India will comply with relevant standards and shall be available in hand free mode.

SAR Test Laboratory:

? SAR Test Laboratory is being set up in Telecom Engineering Centre for testing of SAR value of mobile handsets imported/ manufactured in India.

New National SAR Standards from Telecom Engineering Centre

? National SAR standards from Telecom Engineering Centre are being finalized.

Measuring Instruments:

? DoT is procuring EMF radiation measuring instruments for TERM cell units.

? Outsourcing for EMF radiation measurement for BTS towers is also being considered.

Guidelines to State Government

? Department of Telecommunication has released Guidelines covering BTS Towers so that some consistency gets evolved on setting up of BTS towers. Guidelines have been placed on DoT website.

Radiation Booklet

? A booklet addressing possible queries from mobile telecom users on radiation-related issues along with other informative inputs is also being placed on DoT website.

TEC Test Procedures Document for Service Providers and Term Cell Units

? TEC has revised the Test Procedure for measurement of EMF elaborating the methodology, calculations, measurements and report formats for verification of EMF compliance for BTS towers in accordance with new standards effective from 1st Sept. 2012. This will be applicable for all Mobile Service Providers and Term Cell Units to verify compliance.

Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & IT has ensured that the new EMF Radiation standards get implemented through close co-ordination with the industry.

The guidelines underline the Government’s efforts at providing the best possible telecom services across the country without compromising on public safety and human health.

MUMBAI: Sixty-two per cent of consumers use social media while watching TV on a weekly basis, an increase of 18 percentage points in one year, says Ericsson ConsumerLab’s annual study presented in the TV & Video Consumer Trend Report 2012.

By gender, 66 per cent of women engage in this behaviour, compared to 58 per cent of men. Twenty-five per cent of consumers use social media to discuss what they are watching while they are watching it.

Ericsson ConsumerLab Senior Advisor Niklas Rönnblom says, “Mobile devices are an important part of the TV experience, as 67 percent of consumers use smartphones, tablets, or laptops for TV and video viewing. Furthermore, sixty percent of consumers say they use on-demand services on a weekly basis. Watching TV on the move is growing in popularity, and 50 percent of the time spent watching TV and video on the smartphone, is done outside the home, where mobile broadband connections are facilitating the increase.”

Although viewing behaviours and demands are changing, only 7 per cent of consumers say they will reduce their TV subscriptions in the future. In fact, instead of looking to cut costs, consumers are willing to pay more for an enhanced viewing experience: 41 per cent of consumers say they are willing to pay for TV and video content in HD.

More than half of consumers want to be able to choose their own TV and video content. Rönnblom says: “As the number of screens and services increase, people are eagerly looking for an easy-to-use, aggregated service that can bring everything together. It should allow consumers to mix on-demand and linear TV including live content, facilitate content discovery, leverage the value of social TV and provide seamless access across devices.”

Data was collected in Brazil, Chile, China, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the US. In all, 14 qualitative and 12,000 quantitative online interviews were conducted representing more than 460 million consumers.

Ericsson ConsumerLab gains its knowledge through a global consumer research programme based on interviews with 100,000 individuals each year, in more than 40 countries and 15 megacities – statistically representing the views of 1.1 billion people. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used, and hundreds of hours are spent with consumers from different cultures.

MUMBAI: India‘s leading e-commerce portals Snapdeal.com has tied up with Ultra Distributors as an online partner for the latter‘s forthcoming film Jalpari – The Desert Mermaid in order to help the producers promote the film online.
 
The portal will be using its network advantage of access to 17 million subscribers to promote this children‘s adventure film. The film released Friday in Mumbai and Delhi initially, followed by other centres later.
 
Jalpari: The Desert Mermaid is based on the grave social issue of female foeticide. The film is sure to gain high visibility from its online promotion on India‘s most trafficked site, Snapdeal.

MUMBAI: Search engine giant Google is closing down its online TV advertising service to focus on its core competency, web advertising. The Google TV Ads service was launched in 2007 to make traditional television advertising easy and accessible using AdWords interface.

“We‘ve made the hard decision to close our TV Ads product over the next few months and move the team to other areas at Google,” Google VP of product (video) Shishir Mehrotra said in a blog post.
 
“In 2007, we launched Google TV Ads in AdWords to bring digital buying and measurement technologies to traditional TV advertising. Since then, lots of our clients have bought traditional TV advertising for the first time,” he added.

According to Mehrotra, video is increasingly going digital and users are now watching across numerous devices. The company sees opportunities to help users access web content on their TV screens, through products like Google TV. 
 
“We‘ll be doubling down on video solutions for our clients (like YouTube, AdWords for Video, and ad serving tools for web video publishers). The future of video advertising is extremely bright and we‘re excited to devote ourselves fully to it,” Mehrotra averred.

“Our goal is to provide all our customers with the best digital marketing opportunities,” he asserted.

NEW DELHI: The government has taken its first punitive action against two MSOs, signaling to the industry its serious intent about sticking to its digitisation deadline in the four metros.

The Information & Broadcasting Ministry has revoked the registration of Home Cable Network (P) Limited and Swami Cable Network, both from Delhi, for not providing information on their preparedness for switching to digital delivery from 1 November 2012,

The two MSOs are registered with the Ministry and had been asked to furnish information regarding preparations for implementation of digital addressable systems (DAS) and their plans for infrastructure expansion as mandated in the DAS regime.

The non submission of data by the two MSOs “is indicative of their lack of seriousness to pursue their business as per the terms and conditions of their registration”, the Ministry said today, adding that in the overall context of implementation of DAS it had taken a serious view of the non-compliance of directions of the ministry by these two MSOs and revoked their registration after due notice.

Despite repeated written requests by the ministry, the information/data/details have not been furnished by both the MSOs and, therefore, have failed to comply with the provisions of Cable Act and Rules, the Ministry added.

When contacted, Home Cable founder-promoter Vikki Choudhry said he would move the Supreme Court. “I&B Minister Ambika Soni is being misguided by her advisors who had their own agenda. I will seek justice from the apex court.”

Choudhry also told indiantelevision.com that the action was mala fide as he had already met all the deadlines and even set up toll-free phones and seeded STBs in most homes. He said he had written to the Ministry on 7 August in reply to a show cause notice.

He said it was interesting that even though the government had set 1 June as the sunset date earlier, he had received his provisional registration only on 17 July and, therefore, the government itself was working behind schedules.

As part of regular monitoring of implementation of DAS in Phase-I in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, the ministry had sought data/information in three formats from MSOs.

The requisite data is essential to gauge the preparations, including plan of preparations afoot by MSOs to ensure that all the consumers on their networks are covered by the necessary technical infrastructure such as installation of set-top boxes (STBs) in the premises of subscribers so that no consumer is put to any hardship in the form of interruption in Cable TV services due to switch off of analogue signals on the date of implementation of DAS.

The ministry said in a statement that the preparedness of various activities for the implementation of DAS was being closely monitored. The success of DAS depends on timely seeding of STBs at the consumer premises.

Availability and deployment of STBs by MSOs/LCOs are of paramount importance for the implementation of DAS. Timely availability of accurate data with regard to the seeding of STBs by MSOs is critical for the ministry to ensure switchover to digital delivery within the time-frame as well as for taking mid-course corrections if necessary.

The ministry reiterated that “any non seriousness on the part of MSOs registered with the ministry would evoke stern action”.

MUMBAI: Global electronics major Sony Electronics has announced its first TV capable of displaying 4K images. The new 84-inch set, model XBR-84X900, is equipped with a 4K (3840 x 2160) LCD panel that delivers an image four times the resolution of Full HD and creates an immersive viewing experience previously unavailable from a TV.

The new XBR 4KTV will arrive in Sony Stores and select retail locations in North America later this year.

“From Trinitron to HD, 3D and now 4K, Sony has led the way, innovating TV since 1968. This new model redefines what consumers should expect from their television‘s performance,” said Sony Electronics‘ TV Group VP Brian Siegel.

“Our professional division continues to see the migration toward 4K content creation with major film and broadcast productions. Armed with this knowledge and expertise, only Sony continues to push the television experience with innovation and immersive products.”

Incorporating proprietary upscaling technology including the 4K X-Reality PRO picture engine, the new TV is designed to ensure that every frame looks clear and crisp, with a 4K resolution regardless of the content source.

The 4K TV incorporates a 10 Unit Live Speaker system which is optimized for this large-sized screen. Drawing on Sony‘s storied sound signal-processing technology, these speakers envelop the viewer in virtual 5.1 surround sound.

The new TV also offers consumers to display on the large screen at 4K resolution by simply connecting a digital camera.

PlayStation 3 software such as PlayMemories Studio can be used to easily manage and playback photographs at 4K resolution.

The XBR 4K TV also has full network connectivity, allowing consumers control of their viewing experience via a tablet or smartphone with the downloadable Media Remote App.

With built-in WiFi they can access movies, TV shows, and online video and music through the Sony Entertainment Network suite of services including Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited, Netflix, Pandora, Yahoo! Broadcast Interactivity and more than 50 other popular internet entertainment providers.