Category: Software

BANGALORE: Utiba, a mobile commerce platforms supplier has partnered with MyWay IPTV for its electronic top up solution.

This association highlights the capability of utilising a retail presence enabled by electronic media to distribute or collect payment for an electronic commodity, the company said in a statement.
 
MyWay IPTV is the brand from Smart Digivision, which has entered into long term contract with BSNL and MTNL to provide interactive video services to customers in 54 cities across India.

MyWay IPTV COO Kapil Dev Kumar said, “Association with Utiba enables us to provide our customers easy recharge option so that they can enjoy hassle-free, seamless service. We chose Utiba because they have domain knowledge, technology and a focused attitude towards mobile financial transaction domain.”
 
Utiba co-CEO Justin Ho added, “With our association with MyWay IPTV we have taken Electronic top up beyond the telecom infrastructure. We have witnessed success for this model with some of our installations in other countries. This is one step short of the customer eventually using his own wallet to make such transactions.”

Founded in 2007, MyWay IPTV Service is offered to customers of fixedline telecom BSNL and MTNL, through their broadband network.

MUMBAI: BBC has announced that it is to offer a new range of applications that will deliver BBC Online services to a range of mobile devices.

At a keynote speech at Mobile World Congress, BBC Director of Future Media and Technology Erik Huggers said that the BBC is planning to release mobile applications for BBC News and BBC Sport on a wide range of smartphones, starting with a BBC News application for iPhone in April 2010.

The application will focus on providing quick access to the BBC‘s existing journalistic content, which will be repurposed for the devices. The BBC is also considering BBC iPlayer applications for release later in the year. All applications will be available free of charge.
 
Licence fee payers have already been able to access the BBC website on mobile phones for eight years.

With smartphone usage expected to increase in 2010, audiences now expect to be able to access BBC content and services on the move with an user-experience that‘s simple, personal and optimised for the device.

Huggers said, “It‘s been 12 years since the launch of BBC Online, but as media converges and technology accelerates, licence fee payers are increasingly using sophisticated handheld devices to access information. They tell us that they want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them. This announcement means that we are catching up with our audiences, and the same content that we broadcast on television and make available online can now be better enjoyed on the move. We are putting technology to work to create greater public value.”

The first app to launch will be BBC News, which will offer breaking news and latest stories. It will provide the same content already available on the website, such as features and analysis, reports from BBC correspondents around the world, and a wide range of live and on-demand audio and video content.

The news application, which will be available in early April, will give users flexibility in how they personalise their news experience. More features will be added throughout the year. The news app will initially be available on Apple (iPhone and iPod Touch) devices.  
 

BBC News applications will follow on RIM (Blackberry) and Google (Android) operating systems later in the year. The BBC will also work with other providers to enable these applications on their mobile devices.

A BBC Sport application will be available in The App Store for iPhone and iPod touch in time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The live match experience will be at the heart of the application. For the World Cup, football fans will be able to access live match video, whenever it‘s being broadcast on TV by the BBC, and on-demand clips of every goal scored in the tournament.

Users will also be able to enjoy more of the BBC‘s other unique content on mobile, such as BBC Radio 5 Live, authored live text commentaries from BBC presenters and blogs.

Later in the year, the BBC will create even more value from its sports rights by adding Formula 1 and coverage of other sports. Applications will follow on RIM (Blackberry) and Google (Android) operating systems later in the year.

A range of unauthorised BBC applications are already available in various application stores. These new official applications are intended to give licence payers an authorised alternative.
 

MUMBAI: US broadcaster HBO and Verizon have announced that Verizon’s Fios TV customers will be the first to gain access to HBOGO.com, HBO’s online video destination featuring over 600 hours of HBO programming.

Fios customers who subscribe to HBO will automatically receive free, unlimited online access to HBO programming at any time, from any US location with a broadband connection. These subscribers can access HBO GO with their Verizon FiOS log-in credentials at verizon.com/fiostvonline and hbogo.com. Customers must subscribe to both Fios TV and Fios Internet.
 
HBO co-president Eric Kessler says, “HBO Go immerses customers into an elegantly designed HBO environment with access to a robust offering of HBO programming. Together with Verizon we’ve delivered a simple authentication process that gives FiOS and HBO subscribers easy entry to HBO GO”

Verizon VP consumer strategy and planning Shawn Strickland said, “HBO Go adds more value to Fios TV customers’ HBO subscriptions with the convenience of accessing their programming in more ways and in more places. We’re excited to add this experience to our already extensive HBO offerings, further enhancing the TV and Internet experience that only FiOS delivers.” 
 
With HBO Go, Fios TV customers who subscribe to HBO can instantly watch the programmes from a PC or Mac computer via a browser-based application. HBO Go will support Verizon subaccounts and allow up to three simultaneous users from the same household. Users have the ability to customise their experience through multiple browsing and viewing options, as well as the ability to restrict content with easy to use parental controls.

HBO Go also gives subscribers the ability to create a Watchlist where bookmarked content can be placed for later viewing and where the user will be alerted to the arrival of new episodes selected for Series Pass. HBO GO is the latest in the suite of HBO products offered by Verizon Fios TV, including east and west feeds of seven multiplex channels available in HD, HBO On Demand and HBO On Demand in HD.
 

MUMBAI: Sun Direct has announced the addition of two more channels for their Marathi viewers. The DTH company has added Zee Talkies and Star Parvah to take the Marathi channel’s count on the platform to six.

Apart from the two new channels, Sun Direct already had Zee Marathi, ETV Marathi, Mi Marathi and Star Majha.
 
Sun Direct COO Tony D’Silva said, “The addition of these two new channels widens the choice of entertainment bouquet for our Marathi customers. As specialists in understanding regional nuances, we have always offered region specific entertainment bouquet at the right price point. This will also help us garner a larger share of the DTH market in Maharashtra.”

Maharashtra is a big market for DTH operators and quite a large chunk of subscribers comes from the state. Also the state population consumes more regional language content. Recently, Reliance Communications’ Big TV had also beefed up its Marathi content to ramp up its market share in the state. 
 
On Sun direct, Marathi movie channel Zee Talkies will be available on channel No 657, while Star Parvah, the Marathi general entertainment channel, will be on channel No 653.

MUMBAI: Network 18‘s CNBC-TV18 and Moneycontrol.com have joined hands to launch Moneycontrol My TV, an online TV module.
 
The ‘TV on Demand‘ module will offer programming that the user can control and watch anytime, from anywhere on the computer. The online channel will also provide Live streaming of all CNBC-TV18 programming, Moneycontrol My TV Specials, on-demand and sponsored shows. 
 
“Moneycontrol My TV has been tailor-made to empower the consumer. It will considerably enhance delivery of financial news and information and allow consumers to customise Live TV feeds as per stocks and investments in their portfolio,” says Web18 CEO Lakshmi Narasimhan.

MUMBAI: Bloomberg Television network has elevated Lindsey Oliver to the post of commercial director in charge of distribution for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Oliver will add to her current responsibilities and oversee marketing and distribution for Asia, effective immediately.

She will continue to report to Bloomberg Television head for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Brian Martinez.
 
In 2009, Oliver increased the distribution of Bloomberg Television‘s single, global English-language network across Europe, Africa and the Middle East to more than 140 million households, up from 28 million in 2008. She was also instrumental in establishing Bloomberg Television‘s brand collaboration in Turkey, BloombergHT (Haberturk), which began airing this January, the company said in a statement.

“”With Oliver‘s newly expanded duties overseeing Asia, she will allow us to make even greater strides in striking new distribution deals and gaining a greater global footprint,” said Martinez. 
 
Oliver joined Bloomberg Television in January 2009. She has previously served as commercial director at Al Jazeera International, where she launched the network in 80 million households, as well as CNBC Europe.

NEW DELHI: The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL), which has been designated as the Telecom Service Provider for the Commonwealth Games 2010, is to get a budget of Rs 1.82 billion.

According to a cabinet decision today, MTNL will establish an exclusive and dedicated telecommunication network to be obtained on Wet Lease inclusive of supply, installation, testing, commissioning, operation and maintenance and providing professional services.
 
The main objective of this project is to provide a robust, effective and fail-proof system of telecommunication. This system will cater to the requirement of high definition broadcast signal, transmission of Games and security data between Sports venues, International Broadcasting Centre, Main Press Centre, Master Control facilities, etc.

The proposed network will comprise two separate networks. One network – Broadcast Network (BN) – will provide an exclusive coverage for video application to facilitate Uncompressed High Definition Studio to Studio, video transport from stadium to IBC and Cable Access TV (CATV) Broadcast Network. 
 
The other network – Managed Data Network (MDN) – will provide coverage to all Games Applications, Administrative and Games Real Time Application, Video Surveillance for security agencies, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Services at all the designated venues along with the management system.

MTNL has planned network with multiple redundancy using high capacity Internet Protocol / Multi Protocol Label Switching (IP / MPLS) Technology. MTNL would also provide Dark Fibre along with IP/MPLS at no cost to the government.
 

BANGALORE: Social networking game provider Zynga has forayed into India with the launch of Zynga Game Network India.

Zynga’s first facility outside the US, the office will be based in Bangalore and will focus on game development and large scale infrastructure to support the delivery of Zynga games.

“Initially we plan to hire about 100 best of breed computer scientists and engineers over the next year for our first international facility,” said Zynga India country manager Shan Kadavil.

“Our focus will be on building the next generation infrastructure that can handle the tremendous growth of Zynga games. We plan to building game studios that can do end-to-end game development in India,” he added.
 
The company says that though most game players play for free, 3 to 5 per cent of the users actually pay to play games. Some of the paying players pay for ‘extra turns’, while others pay for exclusive virtual items and collecting. The desire to spend by the paying players is driven by what Zynga terms as ‘Social capital’.

Zynga CTO Cader Lee revealed that virtual goods were a better revenue generation model than an advertisement based one.

Zynga revealed that according to Think Equity LLC estimates in March 2009, for the five top daily developers, daily actual users’ size had grown by five times over the preceding six months. The top 20 of the 25 applications on Facebook were games as compared to six months before that when 16 games were among the top 50 applications of social networking sites. 
 
Zynga Chief People Officer Colleen McCureary revealed that social networking gaming had a potential to grow to a size of around $10-12 billion over the next two years and estimates the number of social networking game users to grow to around 500 million this year.

Zynga’s has a bouquet of 20 online games currently and plans to launch four more games shortly. Its games are available on Facebook, Myspace, MSM games, Tagged, Yahoo and iPhone include FarmVille, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars, Café World, FishVille and Petville.
 
 

MUMBAI: Skype has taken another step toward solidifying its position in the global communications market by landing a major deal with Verizon Wireless.

By way of an agreement reached yesterday, Verizon has allowed its users who are signed up with data plans to use Skype on their smart phones by next month absolutely free.
Skype customers will be able to make international calls at Skype‘s normal rate of 2.1 cents per minute, which is much lower than Verizon‘s international rates. 
 
Instant messaging and monthly unlimited packages will also be offered as options with the Skype application. Verizon also plans to allow its subscribers using Blackberry and Android handsets to use Skype on its data network.

Skype has been a controversial application for carriers, which initially saw it as a threat to their voice business but are now realizing its potential for driving data traffic. Skype currently has 521 million users who consume an estimated 12 per cent of the world‘s international minutes, according to a USA Today report. 
 
Verizon, the largest wireless carrier in the US, has been aiming to beef up its data plan usage as demand for voice calls have been receeding.

Meanwhile, interest in Skype is growing rapidly and its software is being downloaded at a rate of 300,000 per day.

Last month, Skype rolled out its latest version of Skype for Windows, which can deliver HD-quality video at 1,280 x 720 resolution with a 30-frame-per-second refresh rate.
 

MUMBAI: Qualcomm will offer previews of forthcoming Flo -enabled smartbook applications at the GSMA Mobile World Congress.

The applications unite live TV viewing with real-time Web content, social networking capabilities and personalised digital media stored on the device that can be accessed at anytime.
 
Running on Snapdragon-enabled smartbook devices, the applications are designed to deliver powerful new consumer entertainment experiences. The technology combines live mobile TV programming with personalised, real-time streaming data and access to social networking sites like Twitter, along with additional content, such as video clips and e-magazines.

The new smartbook applications illustrate Qualcomm’s vision for the future of broadcast mobile media and allow consumers to receive rich, relevant content while watching their favorite programs and simultaneously connecting with other people that share similar interests. For instance, sports fans watching a live match can receive real-time data streams about athletes and team stats while also engaging with fans around the world watching the same event. 
 
Among the applications that are being broadcast over Flo technology are:
• Live Twitter Feed, allowing consumers to watch a live TV channel while monitoring a contextual Twitter feed
• Local Buzz, a real-time aggregated Web feed personalised by location, which shows news, weather, traffic and other topics of local relevance
• Live breaking news dynamically refreshed throughout the day
• Sportscast, offering live sporting events while gaining access to player and team statistics and relevant sports video clips delivered over broadcast
• Video-on-Demand Carousel, featuring an array of video clips delivered and stored on smartbook devices that can be selected and viewed anytime
• Library, a catalogue of e-magazines cached and ready to view where and when the consumer wants

Qualcomm CDMA Technologies senior VP of product management Luis Pineda says, “Snapdragon-based devices with their long battery life and advanced 3G connectivity are changing the way consumers access mobile content and entertainment. Combining the strengths of Flo mobile broadcast technology with our chip platform makes for a powerful and addictive connected entertainment experience for consumers and helps us to clearly differentiate and rise above competitive mobile entertainment solutions.”

Another first-time demonstration will feature a Windows-based portable computer with the Zinio Reader application. The interactive digital magazine demonstration will showcase how FLO technology can be employed for the broadcast delivery of data-intensive multimedia files.

Digital magazines are delivered over a dedicated Flo network and stored on the mobile device for a convenient, optimized reading experience. As a dedicated mobile broadcast technology, FLO technology is ideally suited to offload data traffic from 3G networks or to deliver other types of data to large audiences, thereby freeing 3G networks to support more voice traffic and other revenue services.