ITV

Category: Software

  • The Meitu App to wow Indian users with the launch of its new ‘Animate’ feature

    The Meitu App to wow Indian users with the launch of its new ‘Animate’ feature

    MUMBAI: Leading global innovator in mobile photo and video technology, Meitu is set to disrupt India’s photo-editing app segment by unveiling its newest Animate feature. Using AI technology, Animate brings pictures to life with a variety of dazzling effects. Whether it’s floral aura, vanishing heart, flying butterfly, flowing hair, petal burst, flame nebula, color filter overlays, or other motion filters, the Animate feature turns your imagination into reality in just one tap.

    Reports indicate that Indian users spend several hours on selfie-editing apps each day, with as many as nearly 2 million people using animated effects for their photos. The Meitu App which has garnered a 435% increase in daily active users (DAU) in India in June has been found to be particularly popular in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh, which substantially contribute to the Meitu App’s overall growth in the market. In this way, the Animate feature speaks to India’s fascination with photo-editing tools that enhance users’ social media posts in exciting new ways.

    Chen JianYi, head of the Meitu App, said, “We believe in turning the extraordinary into reality. Today’s users are always seeking new ways to retouch their photos, but are typically limited to basic filters and editing options. Our extensive research into consumer behavior and preferences shows that users want more out of their photo editing experience. For this reason, we have created a feature that offers a broad range of opportunities for users to explore their creativity by turning their static photos into dynamic flowing worlds.”

    Instantly turn static photos into magical flowing worlds

    The Animate feature adds motion to regular photos, turning them into a visual delight. Inspired by some of the world’s most beloved tales of magic and fantasy, the Animate feature allows users to experience the feeling that they are the masters of their own dynamic universe, just like the wizards and witches of fantastical realms. Not only does the Animate feature create magical portraits instantly, but it may also be used on landscapes, objects, group photos, full body portraits, and more.

    Smart Mode: Ready-to-use templates for the ultimate photo editing experience

    The Animate feature offers a quick tutorial to help users navigate its many possibilities. Simply open the Meitu App, and select a photo and magical template to create a customised animated image. Smart mode is extremely easy-to-use, and offers a range of effects such as Bling Bling, Sakura Beam, and more. Each effect includes different templates to meet users’ needs with multiple scene features.

    Manual Mode: Allows more advanced users to fully explore their creative potential

    More advanced users have the option to use manual mode to explore their creativity with the freedom to edit their photos manually. In this way, users can adjust their photos as they see fit, to create stunning and personalised works of art.

    Meitu’s AI technology creates stunning film-quality effects

    The Meitu App's Animate function uses a combination of cutting-edge AI technologies from MTLab that include instance segmentation and portrait area in-painting technologies. Its portrait segmentation technology is able to handle complex scenarios with multiple people and complicated backgrounds. Not only can it segment humans from scenery, it may also be used to add customised details to individuals within a group.

    Using portrait segmentation technology, Animate’s portrait area in-painting function is able to give portraits entirely new backgrounds. Animate offers a number of background effects, such as Sparkly Locks, Magical World, and Angelic, to add even more enchanting ambience to images that have been enhanced with AR or particle effects.

    Upcoming versions will allow users to apply unique effects to individuals within a group picture in Smart Mode. The Meitu App’s superior instance segmentation algorithm will also continue to improve the processing speed, robustness, precision of different kinds of images.

    Create dynamic fantasy worlds in just one tap with Animate!

  • Shemaroo Bhakti App Acts as a Devotees Guide for Kumbh Mela 2019

    Shemaroo Bhakti App Acts as a Devotees Guide for Kumbh Mela 2019

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment Limited, has curated a special section on Shemaroo Bhakti App for the devotees going to Kumbh Mela. The app will provide information on the history of Kumbh Mela, the upcoming events, travel and stay options and services available at the Mela for its subscribers.

    Shemaroo ventured in the devotional category a decade ago tapping the religious beliefs of Indians. Shemaroo Bhakti app was launched in January 2018 and has received an overwhelming response from subscribers across the globe till now. Shemaroo’s Bhakti app was recently awarded under the Most Innovative Mobile app category at the Drivers of Digital Summit 2018.       

    Kumbh Mela is the largest peaceful gathering in the world and plays a vital role in India’s historical, cultural and spiritual heritage where devotees from across the globe come to attend the holy festival. Users of Shemaroo’s Bhakti App will have information ranging from introduction to Kumbh Mela, Mythological significance, Rituals of Kumbh to the bathing dates and weather updates of Kumbh Mela 2019. The Rituals of Kumbh section will highlight all the important rituals that will go on during the Kumbh Mela. Bathing dates section will have all the bathing dates which can be added to your mobile calendar for reminder. The app is also equipped with a map for easy navigation during Kumbh in Prayagraj along with medical facilities available during the entire Kumbh duration.

    Shemaroo team will be creating content of Kumbh Mela darshan, which will be made available on its DTH & digital platforms.

    Additionally, this year’s Kumbh Mela will see an extravagant experience zone created by Shemaroo wherein the devotees will get hands-on experience of Shemaroo’s devotional services.

  • Messaging Gets Smarter with Classification, Smart Notification and Backup Features for Truecaller Users

    Messaging Gets Smarter with Classification, Smart Notification and Backup Features for Truecaller Users

    MUMBAI: Truecaller introduces three new smart updates called ‘SMS Classification’, ’Smart Notification’ and ‘Messages Backup’ to its existing Messaging Inbox feature, to enhance the SMS messaging experience for all Android users.  Truecaller in its continued effort to make life easier by providing safe and efficient communication tools, has launched the new features to empower users to effectively manage their cluttered Messaging Inbox while ensuring they don’t lose out on valuable information every time they uninstall the app or change their smartphones.

    SMS’s are so frequent that sometimes even important messages are treated no differently than spam-led, coupon codes or promotional updates. SMS Classification, equipped with advanced machine learning algorithms will help sort messages in 3 groups (contacts, others, spam) based on the content of the message. For instance, personal messages will be shown under the contacts tab, blocked/top spammer messages will directly land under the SPAM tab while the rest of the messages will be classified under the others category based on the content. The classification happens offline and locally on the user’s phone without any data being stored on Truecaller’s servers.

    The Smart Notification feature scans through incoming SMS locally on the phone without touching Truecaller’s servers, and creates a smart card highlighting relevant data like OTP number, transaction amount or payment reminders for the users to act on. Additionally, the user will also be able to perform certain actions like recharge or pay bill straight from the smart card that appears on the notification tab by just clicking on the pay option provided.

    SMS Notification converted to Smart cardThe first update will initially show smart messages from HDFC, AXIS, ICICI, CITIBANK, SBI, Bank of Baroda, PNB, BOI, Union Bank and mobile operator including Airtel, Idea, Jio and Vodafone. In line with Truecaller’s aim to provide secured tools, this feature is also designed to work completely offline and will take place only on an individual’s handset ensuring that none of the user’s transactional info or OTPs touch Truecaller servers. Users can choose to disable this update when preferred.

  • Shemaroo Entertainment’s Bhakti App Bags the Innovative Mobile App Award

    Shemaroo Entertainment’s Bhakti App Bags the Innovative Mobile App Award

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd., added another feather to its cap with firm’s ‘Shemaroo Bhakti App’ winning the special mention award under Innovative Mobile App category at the Drivers of Digital Summit 2018, organized by Inkspell. Shemaroo Bhakti app is a one-stop-destination for all the devotional needs of today’s digital savvy devotees and has been downloaded by over 1,00,000 consumers.

    Shemaroo Bhakti app was launched in December 2017 and has been loved by the Indian consumers. The app received an overwhelming response within a year of its launch and is famous for the unique content and services it offers. The app consists of services like live Ganga Aarti from Assi Ghat, 10 days live darshan from Lalbaugcha raja during the Ganpati festival and 12 other temples across India, online pooja booking, donations & Mannat. Consumers can even order devotional products and enjoy unlimited hours of Aartis, Bhajans, Documentaries and many more.

    In addition to this, Shemaroo also bagged an award for the Best Digital Marketing campaign by an Entertainment Enterprise for its #CineWithStars, which was executed in October 2017. Drivers of Digital Summit & Awards is an annual gathering in India that has been designed to identify, acknowledge and reward the enterprises, agencies, and individuals who have significantly transformed the industry by leveraging the power of digital and automated processes.

  • Livestreaming App SWOO sees momentum in India; Launches Trivia Format in India

    Livestreaming App SWOO sees momentum in India; Launches Trivia Format in India

    MUMBAI: SWOO, a leading global livestreaming platform established in Middle East, today announced the launch of its SWOO TRIVIA SHOW – a celebrity hosted live video streaming game show for Indians. SWOO is a user friendly, engaging and feature-rich live broadcasting app available across Android/ iOS/ Web platforms, providing a space to users to experience anything happening across the world and showcase their talent via live videos.

    Launched about a year ago, SWOO has built a community of close to 6 million users globally and India accounts for about 30% of SWOO’s total user base. Gaining popularity in tier 1 and 2 markets, SWOO aims to further tap into the huge potential of social media savvy Indian users and empower them with a platform to unleash their talent and skills to equip them for a better tomorrow.

    The SWOO Trivia Show is expected to be one of the biggest online live game shows in India, run by a celebrity host right in your palms. Hosted at a specified pre-defined time with 10 multiple choice questions with 3 options, each testing the IQ level of the participants to answer each question in 10 seconds. Prize money worth thousands will be awarded to the winning participants, redeemable through money wallet apps like PayTM.

    Commenting on the launch of SWOO Trivia Show,  CEO of Swoo, Divyesh Mahajan said:  “India is one of the most exciting markets to be in. With a rise in smartphone ownership globally, India is expected to have the second highest smartphone users, 530 million, in 2018. Many young Indians are looking for avenues to showcase their talent and be heard. The proliferation of smartphones coupled with affordable data and the right platforms has empowered Indians like never before. We are extremely excited and overwhelmed to make inroads into the Indian market and foster the growth of this untapped talent. Our aim is to engage with influencers to establish connection with Indian population – be it students, young working professionals or mothers across different parts of the country and encourage them to use SWOO and participate in the SWOO Trivia Show to earn money.”

    The videos on SWOO are broadcasted by influencers, celebrities and experts – giving the audience a peek into the lives of their idols by motivating, inspiring, educating and entertaining them. The technology features of this platform enable broadcasters to create high-quality and interesting content, streamed to far-flung and remote audiences. User videos in Hindi, Urdu, English and Arabic are aggregated under multiple categories like entertainment, travel, technology, culture, sports, health etc.

    Watch or Broadcast live stories, events, chalk talks, reviews, milestones, episodes, pitches, songs, rants, speeches and praise on the SWOO App. You can download SWOO App on your Apple (iStore) and Android (Google Playstore) devices.

  • IET India IoT Panel joins hands with exhibitions india group for the 3rd edition of IoT india congress

    IET India IoT Panel joins hands with exhibitions india group for the 3rd edition of IoT india congress

    MUMBAI: IoT India Congress is India’s Platform of Platforms for the Internet of Things conceptualized by IET India IoT Panel, a think tank constituted by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) India. The 3rd edition of IoT India Congress will be hosted in collaboration with India’s leading trade promotion organisation Exhibitions India Group during October 9-10, 2018 in Bengaluru. With the combined strength and experience of the partners, the future will be presented in an immersive manner through the conference and expo segments. 

    The 1st edition of IoT India Congress was devoted to unifying the IoT ecosystem in India and building the Platform of Platforms for the Internet of Things. The 2nd edition focused on exploiting this platform to unravel business outcomes to demonstrate business opportunities. Continuing focus on the platforms approach, and to enable business opportunities and outcomes, the 3rd edition will bring integrated focus on five pillars to transform businesses in the immediate future, i.e., AI, Blockchain,Cybersecurity,Serving the underserved and Skills. These themes will run through the conference tracks and the deliberations. Focus tracks will include healthcare, manufacturing, media, smart cities, standards andtelecom. 

    A “Primary Healthcare Centre” of the future enabled by IoT will be a special showcase at the healthcare live experience zone. The congress will bring more international presence this year through Country Pavilions. Thought Leadership, Start-up Awards and Argonaut – Money on the table, which will return this year to celebrate the great work in the IoT space. The congress also offers facilitated networking with the opportunity for government, industry and academia to connect on IoT issues relevant to the nation’s development. 

     “Collaborating with the Exhibitions India Group is part of our strategic focus to continue to create and demonstrate better impact through an all-inclusive and neutral Platform of Platforms for the Internet of Things. We look forward to leveraging both our strengths towards creating a larger and better third edition of IoT India Congress”, said Shekhar Sanyal, Country Head and Director, IET India. 

    Dr. Rishi Bhatnagar, Chairman, IoT India Congress, said “The IET India IoT Panel has been successful in bringing the who’s-who of the Industry and key decision makers to this all-inclusive platform for the Internet of Things. Joining hands with the Exhibitions India Group broadens what we can do in the showcase and experience zones and I am positive about what this partnership”. 

    “We look forward to a long-term collaboration with IET India IoT Panel’s expertise in helping us further improve our service on an ongoing and continual basis. This collaboration is another example of how Exhibitions India Group is working to reinforce the scope of Internet of Things across all industries/sectors,” said Mr Prem Behl, Chairman, Exhibitions India Group.

  • Tata Elxsi’s Automation suite adopted by pan-European Media and Telecommunications Company

    Tata Elxsi’s Automation suite adopted by pan-European Media and Telecommunications Company

    MUMBAI: Tata Elxsi, a global design and technology services company, announced the licensing of its integrated test automation and monitoring suite ‘FalconEye’ to a pan-European media and telecommunications company for OTT automation and improving streaming performance.

    Tata Elxsi’s FalconEye helped the operator in proactive QoE analysis, resulting in quicker triaging of QoE issues, monitoring for video artefacts and CDN anomalies.

    FalconEye also helped the operator improve their performance in varied network conditions and emulate network scenarios to analyze and improve ABR (Adaptive Bit Rate) performance. It also enabled the development and testing teams to address QoE issues before release gates.

  • Verimatrix recognized for contributions to latin american Pay-TV market with PRODU award win at NAB Show

    Verimatrix recognized for contributions to latin american Pay-TV market with PRODU award win at NAB Show

    LAS VEGAS: Verimatrix, a specialist in securing and enhancing revenue for network-connected devices and services, has received the PRODU Award for Best Pay-TV Technology Contribution on behalf of its MultiRights™ OTT solution. MultiRights helps service providers effectively navigate the modern OTT ecosystem by offering a unified entitlement system that embraces multiple digital rights management (DRM) domains.

    For those seeking to grow OTT services, MultiRights provides a harmonized rights management platform for a wide range of video streaming devices that feature native DRM schemes. One service provider successfully achieving that is the biggest media conglomerate in Latin America, Globo.com. The company is responsible for the highest simultaneous video streaming audiences in Brazil, making it critical that MultiRights unifies its security regime across all networks.

    “MultiRights was launched and proven in the early days of IPTV, and it continues to gain traction from operators and online video publishers seeking the freedom to choose their optimal and preferred approach to DRM across all devices,” said Steve Oetegenn, president of Verimatrix. “We are pleased to win this PRODU Award, which reaffirms the business-enabling monetization technology MultiRights provides in a rapidly growing multi-DRM domain.”

    Making its debut at NAB 2017, the PRODU Awards serve to recognize excellence in technology contributions across the pay-TV industry. This is the second consecutive year Verimatrix has been the award recipient for that category; last year the company won for securing Cablevision Argentina’s TV everywhere service. To see the full list of award recipients, click here.

    At NAB, Verimatrix is demoing MultiRights OTT Plus, which is a cloud-based solution that offers multi-DRM, watermarking and analytic capabilities via the Verimatrix Secure Cloud. To see the demo, visit booth #SU7102 or visit the website to learn more.

  • Pune Times joins hands with the Pune Police to launch the ‘City Safe’ app, as part of #MakeMyCitySafe initiative

    Pune Times joins hands with the Pune Police to launch the ‘City Safe’ app, as part of #MakeMyCitySafe initiative

    MUMBAI: Pune Times, city supplement of leading media house, The Times of India, has joined hands with Pune Police to support an initiative for women’s safety in the city. Pune Times has launched its campaign #MakeMyCitySafe as a big shout out to the youth of Pune to come together to make the city safer for everyone. This campaign will also be promoting the new City Safe app by Pune Police, through which the user can signal a SOS when in distress. The key highlight of the app is that it doesn’t require an active internet connection and aims to serve as an important tool in ensuring that one always feel safe in the city. Pune Times has stepped in to raise awareness surrounding women’s safety and spread the word about the app with its 360 degree approach.

    Pune Times has initiated conversations in the city by using the campaign hashtag – #MakeMyCitySafe – to shed light on the high-priority issue of women’s safety. Driving conversations across the city dwellers, Pune Times will reach out to the youth across the city, engaging in college debates, capturing video messages from public figures in the city, dignitaries and police authorities, which will be shared across social media platforms. Videos teaching self-defence to women will also be created in partnership with Pune Police to ensure that they are aware about the immediate steps to be taken to protect themselves.

    Speaking about the initiative, Brand TOI, Director, Sanjeev Bhargava said, A smart city needs to be safe city too. With more millennials and women in the workforce, it is important that one feels safe always – in office, while traveling, and even in late hours.  As the leading newspaper of the city, we feel our participation in this effort is essential. We are proud to partner with Pune Police to promote their City Safe app. It will enable the Puneites to always have a direct line to the Pune Police. Through multiple initiative in print and digital, we will engage the readers to share their feedback on safety issues and drive awareness on using technology and the app to make the city safer.”    

    Speaking about the partnership, Pune City Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla said, “We are proud to associate ourselves with Pune Times to highlight the need of the hour – women’s safety in the city. We believe our City Safe app will be important in enabling youngsters feel safer and alert police immediately in case of trouble. It is a matter of utmost importance to us and we are taking a 360-degree approach to ensure that the message and gravity of this issue is communicated to every individual in the city. Together, we can make our city safer for all of us. Do join in the campaign and spread the message.”    

    Pune Times will take things a step ahead with on-ground activities in colleges as well as an engaging social media campaign to reach out to millennials in the city and inform them about the initiative. The messaging is being amplified through hoardings across key locations and traffic junctions in the city. The city’s police will support the campaign by sporting jackets with branding.    

  • Republic TV launches Android app

    Republic TV launches Android app

    MUMBAI: Republic TV is on a roll. From rocking the ratings chart in launch week itself to going international, the channel has added one more accomplishment to its kitty. The Republic TV Android app is now live.

    Claiming to be the lightest on phone storage but ‘heaviest on news’, there are three unique features. First is the ‘vertical format’ feature which ensures a deeply personal and engaging HD live video streaming experience optimised for portrait viewing on mobile phones. This feature relies on the debate production being specially produced and streamed in real-time in a 9:16 video format.

    Second is the ‘interactive format’ feature where the app users can directly engage and talk to Arnab Goswami, anchors and panellists on Live TV. This technological innovation will allow users to participate in on-air debates in real-time by expressing their opinion and immediately respond to breaking news stories on-air.

    Written entirely in Kotlin with an extremely tiny memory footprint of just 3.6 MB, gives it its third feature of being the lightest English news app.

    Republic TV founder and editor in chief Arnab Goswami said, “Republic has been on super-fast expansion spree – we launched the channel in May, the website in July and now the app in November. I am so proud of my entire team and the technology team especially, who after months of determined effort have produced one of the world’s lightest news apps without compromising on the content or video quality for a superior user experience. With the app, Republic has established itself as a media -tech company which reflects in our new tagline – Republic- Digital. TV. Media.”

    RepublicWorld COO Jay Chauhan said, “Since our inception earlier this year, we’ve been focused on newer ways of driving engagement with our content and delivering the best possible user experience. That’s reflected in our strategy to invest in amazing technology and content teams, produce live and VoD content in mobile specific aspect ratios, our choice of the tech stack and a host of other interactive and personalisation features part of our product pipeline.”

    The Republic World App brings to users the widest range of trending stories, viral videos and angular opinion from across news genres of politics, sports, business, regional, lifestyle, travel, wheels, music, gadgets and society.

    Using its top editorial partnerships news stories and video content is provided in English, Hindi, and eight Indian regional languages including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Odia and Gujarati.

    The iOS app will launch by the end of November.