Category: Software

MUMBAI: Craftsvilla, an online marketplace for unique Indian products, has announced the launch of ‘Places‘ – a marketplace that will help designers, artisans, NGOs and micro-entrepreneurs set up an online shop at Craftvilla.com.

Craftsvilla Places co-founder and head Sarvajeet Chandra said, “An artisan may create a wonderful product but if it is not beautifully presented, it will not entice the online shopper. Apart from presentation, convenience of on-time delivery and safe payment options also adds value to a shopper‘s overall experience.”

“Artisans and small manufacturers should focus on what they do best, creating incredible products that reflect the essence of India. Craftsvilla will manage the rest- the photos, the content and the marketing. We want to create a direct and efficient channel between the seller and the customer,” he added.
 
 
Craftsvilla Places co-founder and head of marketing Tirath Kamdar added, “CraftsVilla is an insight into the exciting merchandise that‘s produced in India. It‘s just not a place to shop but a place to experience the story behind each seller, watch videos and read blogs on trends.”

Craftsvilla has recently changed its tagline from ‘Handcrafted Luxuries‘ to ‘MarketPlace to Discover India‘. The change came about as the founders of Craftsvilla discovered the diversity of artisans and designers in India trying to reach the consumers with their products.

Craftsvilla is an e-commerce portal for unique Indian products, with more than 30,000 products on sale and consumer traffic growing at over 30 per cent per month, the company said.

MUMBAI: Yahoo! India has unveiled its 2011 Year in Review (YIR) and Anna Hazare has emerged as the leader in the ‘top searched‘ list on internet.

The 2011 Year in Review is being released for the third year in India.

It offers an annual look-back into the biggest trends of the year, as learnt from the millions of searches that took place on Yahoo!, plus the editorial selection of what users read, recommended and shared most on the Yahoo! network.

Next to Hazare was Sachin Tendulkar. He is also this year‘s sportsperson of the year, with his elusive 100th ton notwithstanding.

Bollywood‘s ‘Sheila‘ Katrina Kaif, who had topped the charts last year, slipped to third place in 2011.

Yahoo! India managing editor Prem Panicker said, “From frenetic cricket mania to the politics of ‘honesty‘, the Indian Internet audience witnessed interesting happenings in the year 2011, right here on Yahoo!; be it breaking news, engaging cricket coverage, consuming celebrity and Bollywood content, Yahoo! is where millions of Indians came every day to connect with their passions. The Yahoo! Year in Review is truly reflective of the pulse of the Internet user in India – a snapshot of what mattered most to them.”

The Yahoo! YIR also has editorial selection of top trends in 11 other categories. Mamta Banerjee, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, J Jayalalitha all grabbed positions in the Top Newsmakers Category. The performance Metallica, the DK Bose saga, and Lady Gaga all pepped up the music world and secured places in The Year in Song category.

Bizzare stories such as Peta launching a porn site, a woman giving birth to her own grandchild, and kissing can cause cavities, intrigued the nation. Kolaveri (The killer instinct), Poschim Bongo (newly acquired name of West Bengal), the Royal Wedding, Tihar Jail (Tiharis: A Raja, Kanimozhi, Suresh Kalmadi), ‘I‘ (for Innovation guru Steve Jobs), and DK Bose emerged as the hottest Buzzwords online.

Aishwarya-Abhishek‘s baby, Konkana-Ranveer‘s baby, and Lara Dutta‘s pregnancy were all followed with huge interest. Breakups such as Priyanka-Shahid and John-Bipasha featured high in the category- Celeb babies and heartbreaks.

Controversies found their way into the report in the listings for the Facepalm category with Miss India Universe Vasuki Sunkavalli‘s alleged plagiarism, Rakhi Sawant‘s marriage aspirations, and Kiran Bedi‘s travelling economy making their way into the charts.

More trends revolved around Notable quotes, Fond farewells, and Top10 automobile launches.

NEW DELHI: Issues relating to composition and Tariff of Basic Service Tier (BST); retail tariff; pre-paid billing; interconnection issues; and revenue share between MSOs and LCOs are the focus of a new Consultation Paper issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on “Issues related to Implementation of Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems”.

The paper, issued in the wake of Parliament passing the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, also addresses issues like Quality of Service Standards and redressal of Consumer Complaints

The broadcasting Industry with about 150 million TV households is set for a major transformation. The analog nature of the cable TV service, which caters to around 94 million households, has been the roadblock in exploiting the full potential of the sector in the era of convergence.

Keeping this in view, Trai in consultation with all the stakeholders had in August 2010 recommended to the Government complete digitisation with addressability of the Cable TV services, in a phased manner. Subsequently, the Government issued a notification on 11 November 2011 in this connection with addressability in a phased manner to be completed by December 2014.

The smooth transition to Digital Addressable system would involve various measures. In order to facilitate this transformation, Trai in consultation with the stakeholders has identified certain key issues that need to be determined.

All these issues have been discussed in the consultation paper specifically bringing out the issues for consultation.

Written comments on the issues raised in this consultation paper are invited from the stakeholders by 16 January 2012, and counter-comments on the comments by 23 January 2012. It has been made clear that there will be no extension of time.
Trai wants to know whether an ad-free channel is viable in the context of Indian television market and should there be a separate prescription in respect of tariff for ad-free channels at both the wholesale and retail level. Furthermore, what should the provisions in the interconnection regulations in respect of ad-free channels be and what should the revenue sharing arrangement be between broadcasters and distributors in respect of ad-free channels.

Stakeholders have been asked to suggest the minimum number of free-to-air (FTA) channels that a cable operator should offer in the basic-service-tier and whether this should be different for different states, cities, towns or areas of the country.

In the composition of BST, stakeholders have been asked to suggest the genre-wise (entertainment, information, education etc.) mix of channels and the pricing of BST.

Trai has sought to know whether the retail tariff should be determined by it or left to market forces and should the a-la-carte channel price at the retail be linked to its
wholesale price.

Those replying will also suggest whether there should be a common ceiling across all genres for the pay channels or different ceilings for different genres and what these ceilings should be in each case.

Suggestions have also been sought on whether any of the existing clauses of the Interconnection Regulations require modifications and whether Trai should determine the subscription revenue share between the MSO and LCO or leave it to the negotiations between the two.

Stakeholders should advise whether the ‘must carry‘ provision should be mandated for the MSOs, operating in the DAS areas and the qualifying conditions when a broadcaster seeks access to the MSO network under the provision of ‘must carry‘. In case the ‘must carry‘ is mandated, what should be the manner in which an MSO should offer access of its network, for the carriage of TV channel, on nondiscriminatory terms to the broadcasters.

Should the carriage fee be regulated for the digital addressable cable TV systems in
India and how, Trai wants to know. Should the quantum of carriage fee be linked to some parameters and should these parameters be linked to the carriage fee.

Can a cap be placed on the quantum of carriage fee, asks TRAI, adding whether it should prescribe a standard interconnection agreement between service providers on similar lines as that for notified CAS areas with conditions as applicable for DAS areas.

TRAI wants to know if there is an impact on the wholesale channel rates after the sunset date – 31 December 2014.

MUMBAI: B4U, the Bollywood network has launched two of its channels – B4U Movies, and B4U Music – on two platforms in East Africa.

Both the channels have been launched on Zuku, the cable network, and Star Times, the DTT operator in East Africa.

Both StarTimes and Zuku, cater to the local Asian community in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Burundi, Entrea, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and Sudan.

B4U head of business and international distribution Ashok Shenoy said, “We at B4U are excited to launch both our channels in East Africa on these prestigious platforms. With this launch B4U has now become the most widely distributed South Asian channel in the African continent. We are confident that B4U will cater to the large Bollywood fan base in the community and that they will enjoy the variety offered.”

B4U Network CEO Sunil Rohra said, “B4U is proud to launch in East Africa, a territory which has a highly populated Indian community, with generations rich in culture. The B4U channels will show the best of Bollywood movies and music and exemplify the quality of B4U content. Our ongoing expansion strategy is proving to be a success in delivering the B4U brand to a variety of countries and we will continue to launch the channel in many more territories globally.”

MUMBAI: Google, the worlds biggest search engine, has released the Zeitgeist list that sorts billions of Google searches to capture the year‘s 10 fastest-rising global queries and the rest of the spirit of 2011.

Among many others, five Bollywood celebrities were found to be part of the ‘Top Searches‘ from people across India. Besides activist Anna Hazare who made it at the No. 2 spot on this list, Katrina Kaif topped the actors‘ list while Salman Khan made it to the No. 3 spot.

Following were Poonam Pandey, Justin Bieber, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Kareena Kapoor, Steve Jobs and Priyanka Chopra.

On the other hand, six Bollywood films made it to the top 10 list. Besides, there are two Hollywood films, one Tamil and one Telugu film. The list includes Bodyguard, Ra.One, Harry Potter, Delhi Belly, Singham, Ready, Mankatha, Transformers 3, Dookudu and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

NEW DELHI: Eight multichannel TV networks from across Asia Pacific have presented a unified message from the region‘s leading broadcasters, previewing the Casbaa channels‘ highlights for 2012 to more than 20 selected decision-making media buyers, agency heads and clients.

The networks were participating in the inaugural Asia Pacific TV Upfronts earlier this month in Singapore, presented by Casbaa.

“Where individual broadcasters have previously presented as single entities before, Casbaa is delighted to provide the Asia Pacific multichannel TV industry with a platform to demonstrate a consolidated view on the power of advertising on pay TV,” said Casbaa chairman Marcel Fenez. “We look forward to more joint Upfronts and are already planning for the next one in Hong Kong during Q1 of 2012.”

Broadcasters A+E Networks, Bloomberg Television, Discovery Networks Asia, Fox International Channels, NBCUniversal, MTV Asia, Sony Pictures Television Entertainment and Turner International all participated in the special screenings.

Additionally, guest speaker and BBDO/Proximity chairman of the Asia Planning Council Andy Wilson shared his insights into people‘s engagement with their mobile devices, TV‘s and PC‘s. “TV‘s primary role is to entertain and offer an emotional connection with audiences,” he said.

Chevron International Caltex Global Brand Manager Brian Fisher also spoke on his brand‘s experiences with pay-TV and other content. “Brands need better ways to have more interesting integrated conversations through compelling and local content. Sell us the whole package and not the spots,” he concluded.

“The reach and return on investment of pay-TV can no longer be denied,” added Fenez. “With multichannel TV now in more than 50 per cent of TV homes across Asia, compelling content offered by leading broadcasters and affluent, targeted demographics, it just makes good business sense to invest in multichannel TV in the region.”

MUMBAI: Colors, the Hindi general entertainment channel from the Viacom18 stable, has officially launched in Canada, as Aapka Colors.

The channel is being distributed through Asian Television Network (ATN), one of the Canada’s largest South Asian Broadcaster, on Rogers Cable in Ontario and on recently launched Bell Fibe TV in Toronto and Montreal.

Indiantelevision had first reported in March this year that Viacom18 Media has signed an exclusive distribution deal for the channel.

While Rogers Cable gives the Hindi GEC a reach of about two million households, Bell Fibe TV subscriber base is of 20,000.

Starting immediately, ATN subscribers can tune in to Aapka Colors (Channel 690 on Rogers and Channel 790 on Bell Vibe TV).

ATN president and CEO Shan Chandrasekar said, “We are delighted to have Viacom18 Media as a programming partner, and to share this outstanding channel Aapka Colors, with its compelling content across Canada.”

Viacom18 head- distribution & international business and Sun18 COO Gaurav Gandhi said, “We are delighted with the launch of Aapka Colors in Canada on the two leading platforms – Rogers and Bell Fibe, and fulfilling the demands of the South Asian diaspora with our very distinct and popular content offering.”

With this launch in Canada, Colors is now available in close to 50 countries globally. It is already available in the US, the UK, Australia –New Zealand and Middle-East.

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Colors sets foot in Canada with ATN

MUMBAI: The latest Nokia smartphones Nokia Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 will now come preloaded with the timesPoynt application, which helps locate nightlife, events, movie theaters and weather information.

The application has been developed by Times Internet Limited (TIL) a mobile and internet venture, and Poynt Corporation, a provider of mobile local search and advertising services. A free application powered by data from Timescity.com, timesPoynt features the ability to allow users to click-to-call businesses, get directions, browse listing websites, send details to a friend or add listings to their device calendar or address book.

TIL CEO Rishi Khiani said, “Preburning timesPoynt on Nokia Smartphones augments our reach in the savvy-mobile audiences. With this, we hope to see significant uptakes in our search queries and consequently more contextual and location-based advertising.”

TimesPoynt SVP – Business Development and Global Distribution Marco Hunstad said, “We have seen tremendous uptake and retention with the Poynt Platform with each preload we have launched to date and we anticipate that the Indian market will be no different. The partnership is continuing to pursue additional preload opportunities for timesPoynt with carriers and OEM‘s in India, in order to continue strong user growth and retention.”

As part of its initial plans at the time of launch, the partnership between TIL and Poynt Corp. will leverage TIL‘s relationships in India with advertisers, agencies and merchants in order to monetize the app. It plans to market and promote timesPoynt through all its media vehicles such as radio, television, magazines and newsprint.

MUMBAI: Times Internet‘s property portal MagickBricks.com has launched the new look, after user-research, client feedback and product development.

MagicBricks.com business head Sudhir Pai said, “Improving ‘discovery‘ of banners and property listings on our site and making ‘search‘ more user-friendly and simpler was always a priority item for us. The current build makes significant breakthroughs on these areas.”

“We‘ve also made changes to UI (user interface) and site navigation and introduced features that not only enhance user experience, but improve user engagement and generate better responses to our customer,” Pai added.

The enhanced features of MagicBricks.com include:

Main Search Form – Improved on all home pages, now with a bigger and bolder layout that helps improve searches done and enhances results of user‘s search behavior. The overall look, feel and colour of these pages have also been modified.

Global ‘Keyword‘ Search – The keyword search field now does many things from installing the auto suggest and spell checking features made popular by Google, user can now search for localities, security, amenities, builder names.

Geo-targeted contextual banners and galleries – Geo grouped contextual banners now display sleeker and improvised inventories like buttons, banners and developer galleries on the basis of the city from where the user‘s logged in. For instance, if one is logging from Mumbai, he will see Mumbai banners first. This change will enhance both the user experience and response for clients.

‘New Project‘ search function- On the results page users now get detailed info within the listings and have user-friendly refine options on the left panel. This will also significantly improve user experience as well as client response.

‘Home Worth‘ calculator- launched in Beta version. This calculator allows a quick assessment of the sale or rental value of a house. Find it under ‘Rate and Trends” dropdown on the main tab. This increases user engagement and should develop into user ‘delight‘ shortly.

Online Photo Cropping tool- is an easier method to upload photos on MB. With the File Size limit increased to 1MB Users will now find it much easier to crop and attach photos of their property while posting.

MUMBAI: LinkedIn has appointed Hetal Sonpal as director-strategic sales for India in order to further strengthen the professional networks‘ leadership team.

Sonpal joins in from Microsoft Corporation where he was lead- Telecom Alliances. At LinkedIn he will identify and build strategic relationships in the marketing and recruitment ecosystems. He will be focused on building and strengthening relationships with key clients and oversee the execution of strategic deals to help accelerate the growth of LinkedIn in India.

LinkedIn India country manager Hari V Krishnan said, “Having had operations in India for over two years now, LinkedIn has emerged as a platform of choice for recruiters and brands seeking to engage with an influential and highly educated audience. We have built a strong business across India with high quality sales and marketing professionals and Hetal‘s addition to the leadership team will add value and scale to our operations. It reinforces our commitment to our customers in India as we seek to build strong long-term relationships with our partners across the country.”

Sonpal brings in over 13 years of experience and will work closely with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions and LinkedIn Hiring Solutions.

Prior to Microsoft, he has also worked with Wipro for over 11 years and was serving as regional sales head for North India before moving.