Category: Software

This year the three day Microsoft event will have competitors from across domains like ICICI, Unilever, Mico, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Satyam Computer Services, Barclays Bank, Pepsi Foods, JWT, Reliance Capital, Morgan Stanley, JM Financial, RMZ and Indiatimes.

Based on a non-linear race format, the Microsoft Corporate Challenge is contested across five to six stages, each demanding a combination of physical and mental activities.

From running, cycling, rowing and trekking, to light engineering tasks, cracking codes and negotiating board games with a twist, the event challenges teams to push themselves to the extreme and work together as a unit.

Each team will consist of seven members out of which at least two members must be women and one a part of the senior management of the organization.

Speaking on Microsoft‘s association with the Corporate Challenge, Microsoft COO Doug Hauger said, “Microsoft has found the event to be a great platform for demonstrating and inspiring people to translate their potential into achieving real goals much like our ‘people ready‘ business software. No other event exemplifies the importance of people and teamwork more than the Microsoft Corporate Challenge and we are happy to continue our association with the event till 2009”.

The Microsoft Corporate Challenge has been conceptualized and is managed and produced by Sports Media Limited and DNA Networks.

Sports Media Ltd MD Prem Bhatia said, “With ICICI winning the inaugural event, and Standard Chartered winning the second edition, this year is going to be tougher and far more competitive. The course design has taken us six months to finalize and will reward the physically able, mentally astute, and companies that have good strategy and are completely cohesive as a unit.”

The first edition of the Microsoft Corporate Challenge was held in Goa in 2005 and the second edition in 2006 was held in Kochi.

Standard Chartered Bank emerged victorious in 2006, while Bennett Coleman and Company finished second and JM Morgan Stanley in third place.

it is in advanced talks with Singapore-based telecom company Singtel.

Talks are on for making Zee library‘s content available for Singtel subscribers on the Isee platform under Isee Zone. DMCL CEO Ishwar Jha refused to comment.

On the national front, Isee will soon be available for BSNL users in the eastern states.

DMCL recently completed creating the Indian Cricket League‘s (ICL) official website www.indiancricketleague.in. This site will function as DMCL‘s sports portal and the company will add new features facilitating interaction between users.

Further, the company is adding a new portal to its bouquet which it is readying for launch by the first quarter of 2008. “We are currently structuring a service-outsourcing portal. The self-employed services sector is unorganised and this portal will provide a direct interaction platform between clients and self-employed service professionals like lawyers, architects and artists,” says Jha.

The current bouquet of portals that DMCL has announced includes party site, entertainment portal and a social networking site. It plans to launch these portals by December 2008.

Through this collaboration, the AdSense service places contextually relevant ads alongside CNN.com content, allowing both small and large advertisers to target CNN.com specifically and connect with high quality content and traffic.

Under the terms of the deal, Google will serve as the exclusive provider of auction-based text advertisements throughout CNN.com.

CNN.com SVP and GM David Payne remarked, ‘‘At CNN.com, our mission is laser-focused on providing up-to-the-minute news and information to our users. Our new relationship with Google will deliver relevant ads to our users, enhancing their overall experience on CNN.com. We look forward to a successful partnership.‘‘

Google offers publishers a simple way to monetize their content by connecting them with hundreds of thousands of advertisers. With a variety of ad formats including text, image and video, AdSense gives advertisers the ability to communicate their messages in compelling ways and allows publishers to customize the look and feel of their sites to give consumers the best possible online experience.

AdSense has a number of targeting options so publishers can maximize their revenue potential and advertisers can effectively meet their campaign goals no matter what their budget. Site targeting, a feature of AdSense available to all program participants, helps publishers earn even more revenue by connecting them with new advertisers who are willing to bid a higher cost-per-thousand impressions for space on their site.

MUMBAI: Meridian Mobile, which is part of the UK based Meridian Group, has launched its flagship brand for GSM phones, “Fly” in India.

The marketing spend in the first year is likely to be $2 million as stated by the company. Malaika Arora has been signed-on as the brand ambassador for the product. She will be part of both, the print as well as the electronic campaign. The campaign aims to reflect the trendy and glamorous styling of the product.

There are many models like Fly SL 500M, Fly SL 300M and Fly MP 330, to name a few, that will be introduced in the tech savvy Indian market. Fly SL 500M has a 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with expandable memory, video ring tones with MPEG 4 and IRDA, Bluetooth and other features such as video recorder and player, MP3 player and 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 tones.

Whereas, Fly SL 300M has features like MP3 player, video player and recorder, 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 ring tones and expandable memory. Whereas,

Meridian Mobile adds that Fly MP 330 is the only phone in the market that can enhance equivalent volume of 40 watts. Besides having a video recorder and a player, 64 polyphonic and MP3 tones, it has features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with woofer and speaker console, which is a new feature and is yet to be launched even in the West.

Fly 2040 comes laden with features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with Flash, Bluetooth enabled (voice, data and music), MP 3 player, continuous video recording and playback, 262K TFT display, video ringtones, 60 MB Internal Memory ( Nand Flash ), Micro SD Card Slot and IrDA connectivity.

Meridian Mobile CEO India operations Rajiv Khanna says, “It is important to have fully loaded phones as the replacement market gets stronger. This is likely to result in huge demand for feature rich and stylish phones. Meridian will offer the critical buyer with smart value choices.”

“Our marketing strategy is to focus on store branding and forging alliances with retailers. In the 1st phase our focus is on placement. We hope to reach 5000 premium counters by the end of the quarter, which will together account for 70 per cent of the over-all retail sales.”

The company is also shipping its first DMB-T transmitter to Yunnan TV in China later this month and will provide upgrade kits for Harris DVB-T transmitters currently installed in China.

Harris debuted the DMB-T transmitter outfitted with a new Harris DTV660 DMB-T exciter. The DTV660 DMB-T exciter is based on Harris‘ field-proven range of Digital Video Broadcast-Terrestrial (DVB-T) standard exciters, and features a new modulator designed specifically to meet the new Chinese digital TV standard.

The new DMB-T transmitter uses Harris Atlas technology, which includes a variety of solid-state, air-cooled and liquid-cooled analogue and DVB-T digital transmitters.

Harris Atlas DVB-T transmitters already in the field today can be upgraded to the DMB-T standard with a board swap and firmware changes.

The DMB-T standard has been designed to provide the best possible reception quality, even in large metropolitan areas with difficult reception conditions. The standard has been engineered to provide a very high level of spectral efficiency. This provides the capability to transmit multiple programs of video, audio and data within the same channel that was previously occupied by a single analog signal. The standard is also designed to allow both terrestrial TV sets and mobile handheld devices to use the same spectrum.

The medium-to-high power liquid-cooled design of Harris DMB-T transmitters is specifically for broadcasters seeking an efficient, high-power density transmitter, resulting in greatly reduced room air-conditioning requirements and overall electricity costs.

The new Harris DMB-T transmitter series also shares the compact footprint of the Atlas transmitter design for broadcasters with limited space in the transmission facility.

NEW DELHI: Keeping up its busy schedule on industry related issues, India‘s broadcast regulator came out with suggestions on DTH regulations today. The regulator has pitched for mandatory interoperability for DTH services and has okayed multi- dwelling unit (MDU) technology with certain riders in consumer interest.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today said that the new set of recommendations provide for “clarifications to certain provisions of the (DTH) licensing conditions” and guidelines to be followed in the adoption of MDU technology, which is basically perceived to be in consumer interest.

According to Trai, the suggested guidelines relating to DTH will ensure that “interests of the consumers,” cable operators and other DTH players are protected.

Some of the major DTH recommendations are as follows:

# Personal Video Recorders and Interoperability: There should not be any amendment in Articles 7.1 and 7.2 of the DTH license agreement, which mandate technical interoperability among DTH service providers.

# The license conditions should be amended to provide for casting an obligation on the service provider to inform and educate the consumers about the limited technical interoperability of the Set Top Boxes with Personal
Video Recorders/Digital Video Recorders.

# Uplinking and Platform Services: The guidelines for uplinking from India should be amended to exclude DTH platform services aimed at enabling the subscribers to utilize the platform efficiently and informing them of platform functionality and services.

# MDU technology: The DTH license conditions should be amended to specifically permit use of MDU technology subject to the following conditions:

a. The DTH service provider should not insist on any exclusive arrangement for installation of MDU technology to the detriment of other distributors of TV channels.

b. Signals from the MDU technology shall not be provided to a consumer outside the multi-dwelling unit building, where the MDU technology is installed.

c. The MDU technology should not carry the content from any other service provider other than the DTH service provider and

d. The DTH operator shall obtain written consent from those subscribers living in a multiple dwelling unit who are desirous of availing the facility of MDU technology, before installing the same. A general permission obtained from office bearers of the Residents Welfare Association/group housing society will not be considered sufficient.

The government had sought Trai‘s views regarding certain issues relating to the licensing provisions of DTH. A full text of Trai‘s suggestions could be accessed at www.trai.gov.in.

Nokia customers in 11 countries with compatible S60 devices can download the new suite, enabling access to Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Contacts and Windows Live Spaces.

Starting next year, customers who purchase compatible Nokia Series 40 handsets will also have access to these popular Windows Live services.

Nokia and Microsoft are empowering the mobile lifestyle by providing mobile customers with easy access to their world of online relationships, information and interests. By enabling access to Windows Live services on both the Nokia S60 and Series 40 platforms using standard Web services protocols, the customers will have the power to seamlessly move between contacts, e-mail, messenger, phone calls, text messaging, camera, gallery and browsing, all in an integrated way.

“By taking advantage of the extensive and agile distribution network that Nokia has, we have the opportunity to bring the power of Windows Live services to Nokia devices, thus ensuring our customers can take their most important online information with them on the go,” said Nokia Multimedia VP strategy and technology Jari Pasanen.

Nokia customers who own the Nokia N73, N80 Internet Edition, N95, N76 and the N93i can get the Windows Live services via the Download! application in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, U.K., Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Users can also check the availability of their country on the nokia website. Initially the service will be available as a free trial, and then customers in select markets wanting to continue using the service may be asked to pay a monthly fee.

“The availability of Windows Live services for Nokia‘s devices
demonstrates our commitment to delivering great mobile experiences and extending people‘s online lives — taking them from the PC to the device,” said Microsoft SVP online services business Steve Berkowitz.

“The alliance will enable a much broader group of consumers to experience the benefits Windows Live has to offer, easily connecting them to the information and people that matter most from virtually anywhere”,added Berkowitz.

Today‘s announcement builds on the existing cooperation between Nokia and Microsoft, which integrated Microsoft‘s Live Search for Mobile into the Nokia Mobile Search application. Nokia also plans to extend this service onto the Series 40 platform to enhance the search experience across a greater range of devices.

EISA praised the Nokia N95 as containing practically every feature one could imagine in a mobile device. Additionally the award citation of the EISA jury goes on to say, “It‘s no mere mobile phone and no mere status symbol. Pick up a Nokia N95 and you hold in your hands a state-of-the-art communication tool – the ideal way to remain permanently in touch and on track with the world that surrounds you.”

The judging panel cited Nokia N95 features such as GPS, 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and MPEG4 video capture of upto 30 fps. EISA also highlighted the device‘s data access of up to 3.5MB/s, advanced web browser, Wi-Fi, microSD slot and audio reproduction of multiple audio formats.

Nokia head of Nokia Nseries players category Multimedia Jonas Geust says, “The Nokia N95 has evidently raised the bar for mobile devices and we are thrilled to receive this accolade from consumer electronics magazines across Europe.

“This award is an endorsement of the strategy behind Nokia Nseries – to bring to people‘s hands high performance multimedia computers which make digital convergence a reality.”

EISA is a consumer technology awards association, and comprises of nearly 50 prominent photo, video, audio, home theater and mobile electronics magazines from 18 European countries.

Chutani will be responsible for growing and establishing Buongiorno’s presence in the media space in India. He would be heading Buongiorno‘s operation of all media accounts – including television channels, mobile media, music labels, internet amongst others.

Chutani was earlier working with Television Eighteen India Ltd. as head – technology vertical sales where he was responsible for building up the technology vertical practice (all IT / Office / Automation / Telecom clients) and sustaining a steady revenue stream from unconventional formats of electronic media (non-display advertising).

Prior to this he has been with the Times of India and Cyber Media. Harsh has 12 years of experience in sales and marketing in the media industry to his credit.

Buongiorno (Hong Kong) Ltd CEO/COO Simone Ranucci Brandimarte said, “We are delighted that the Indian team is growing in terms of senior industry leaders joining the senior management team at this exciting stage of exponential growth of Buongiorno in India.”

Buongiorno (Hong Kong) Ltd India co-CEO and country manager Milind Pathak said, “Chutani has spent a large part of his professional career within the media space in India. His in-depth understanding of the content requirements in the publishing/broadcasting business as well as the IT business will certainly prove to be asset for us.”

Commenting on his appointment, Chutani said, “I am pleased to join this innovative company focusing on digital convergence on media, mobile, internet and TV. Our immediate priority would be to develop a strong and stable existing business and embark an expansion plan in additional revenue and business lines.”

Buongiorno in India is a part of Buongiorno (Hong Kong) Limited, a subsidiary of Buongiorno. The objective of the company is to provide and distribute digital value-added services, into emerging and fast growing Asian and Russian (CIS) markets.

Globally, end-user generated revenues from social networking, dating and personal content delivery services will increase from $572 million in 2007 to more than $5.7 billion in 2012, with social networking accounting for 50 per cent of the total by the end of the forecast period.

According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “Even though social networking sites are in their infancy, the exponential growth experienced by a number of mobile service providers – in some cases achieved primarily through viral marketing – would seem to affirm that there is huge potential in this area. The key challenge now is for those providers to monetise that interest.”

Holden added that, in the medium term, the highest levels of growth could well be experienced in developing markets with limited fixed broadband access.

“In these markets, the mobile phone is becoming the predominant means by which people access the internet. Hence, the overwhelming majority of online social networking will be conducted via the handset rather than the PC.”

Juniper Research assesses the current and future status of mobile user-generated content based on interviews, case studies and analysis from representatives of some of the leading organisations in the growing mobile user-generated content industry.

Other findings from the report include:
• The number of active users of mobile social networking sites is expected to rise from 14 million in 2007 to nearly 600 million in 2012.

• Mobile dating and chatroom services currently account for 57 per cent of user-generated revenues, although this proportion will fall to 21 per cent by 2012 as other UGC services increase in popularity

• The volume of downloads from mobile personal content delivery sites such as SeeMeTV are expected to rise from less than 200m in 2007 to more than nine billion in 2012.

• Off-portal social networking sites will increasingly opt for free-to-consumer, ad-funded business models to gain visibility and market presence.

• High data charges remain a key hurdle to mass service adoption.