Category: Software

The move is an attempt to help the company gain an upper hand against rivals Blockbuster Inc.

The Los Gatos-based company will charge $16.99 per month for a plan that allows subscribers to keep up to three DVDs at a time, with no limit on how frequently the discs can be mailed back in return for another movie. On a similar plan that lets customers keep one DVD at a time, the price will fall to $8.99 per month.

The price cuts which take effect from Wednesday match the fees charged by Blockbuster for similar online-only services.

With this, Netflix has brought down its price for a second time this year, the earlier one being a $1 cut from two other plans that had previously cost $14.99 and $5.99 per month.

The latest price cuts are, however, expected to have a bigger impact on Netflix‘s finances because the price reductions are being made on the two plans that have over 6.8 million subscribers.

The company management is expected to quantify how much the price cuts will dent profits in an afternoon conference call scheduled to be held after the company releases its second-quarter earnings.

Netflix‘s stock price has dropped 24 per cent so far this year after competition offered from Blockbuster and video downloading services offered by Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

Apart from movie rentals, Netflix also offers more than 2,000 movies and TV shows that can be streamed over Internet-connected personal computers.

The new HD Everio GZ-HD3 follows the launch earlier this year of the HD Everio GZ-HD7, which combined the pristine image quality of high definition with the convenience and high capacity of recording to a built-in hard drive. With the new GZ-HD3, JVC brings these same benefits to a wider audience in a palm-sized camcorder that‘s easy to carry and offers
point-and-shoot simplicity.

The HD Everio GZ-HD3 uses a Konica Minolta HD lens that ensures optimum performance with JVC‘s 3-CCD and HD recording technologies. The zoom lens features an ultra-compact hybrid aspherical lens system using low dispersion glass that plays a role in reducing aberrations and captures HD images with colours and high resolution. The lens structure also contributes to the miniaturisation of the camera.

In addition to an SP mode that allows up to about seven hours of HD recording, the GZ-HD3 is also equipped with an XP mode that records at a higher bit rate for those extra special scenes. There‘s also a 1440CBR mode, which is convenient for those who wish to edit using HDV-compatible software.

JVC also equipped the GZ-HD3 with a wide range of interface terminals, including HDMI and component outputs so HD footage can be viewed on the latest HDTV displays. And standard AV-S terminals that output a down-converted SD signal provide connectivity to ordinary standard definition TVs. USB and i.Link connectors are included for transferring recordings to a personal computer for editing.

In recent years, the improvement in Taiwan and Hong Kong‘s local game development is obviously catching up with the international players. Meanwhile, China is also generating a revolutionary beginning in the creative games industry. The amount of mainland game consumers is increasing day by day, at a surprising pace.

As a liaising platform for Asia, and the greater China region, Hong Kong maintains an influential role in the game development industry.

Cyberport CEO Nicholas Yang says, “The creative game industry has now been developing for more than four decades. The industry has been developing at a surprisingly fast pace, whether in terms of technology or popularisation.

In addition, to advocate a healthy game-playing attitude, Cyberport will also organise a “Game Ambassador programme”, in partnership with Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) & Caritas Community Centre — Aberdeen. Young
people will be recruited as Game Ambassadors to promote and arouse the public‘s interest in the positive gaming message.

The Mega Power Show and a series of seminars and workshops held in August will also help reinforce positive attitudes in game playing.

Survey findings were announced at ITV Con — an Internet TV and interactive TV technologies conference in San Jose, California.

Orb Networks VP, GM television Herve Utheza says, “As content providers race to ramp up their digital offerings, the audience continues to see the true future of television more in terms of additional programming choices than better quality.”

— People valued programming choices over TV image quality (74 per cent to 26 per cent)

— Looking ahead, to a world where TV will soon be offered on a variety of screens from small, to mobile, to large, the percentage of respondents choosing programming choices jumps to 90 per cent against 10 per cent to image quality

— Programming choice preferences were highest for news (87 per cent), comedy (83 per cent) and general TV shows (77 per cent)

— TV image quality was cited as most important among movies (45 per cent) and sports events (31 per cent)

— Movie audiences are pretty much evenly split between choice and quality

— Sports is the only category where image quality is the clear winner, but 41 per cent of respondents also admit not being interested in sports.

Utheza adds, “People want their HD movies or sports on the big screen TV in their living rooms, but they also want to see YouTube videos, Johnny‘s baseball game, and their favorite Internet TV program on the big TV.

“The Holy Grail for the television industry is creating systems that harness this demand for ‘new media‘ by making it as simple and easy to consume on the TV screen, as today‘s TV content. This is where IP delivered TV truly unleashes the promise of tomorrow‘s television: a hybrid world of pay TV, personal and ‘over the top‘ content where the consumer makes the choice of what they want among branded and ‘long tail‘ programming.”

Recognising the increasing power and importance of the 20s and 30s urban career women market, SPE Networks – Asia is launching Sony Entertainment Television (SET) – a brand new 24/7 English entertainment channel dedicated to females.

The broadcaster notes that women today are independent and financially-able, better educated, sophisticated and well-travelled. They are indulgent, in a positive sense, have discerning taste and expect chic entertainment that complements their lifestyle.

While television programmes have long catered to women across all ages, SET meets the entertainment needs of the urban career woman by delivering the smartest, trendiest shows all in one channel, in their medium of choice – English language entertainment.

Hosted on the all-new SingTel mioTV platform, SET‘s programming is smart entertainment for the modern woman who fast tracks in a pacy mobile lifestyle. The channel claims that it is ahead of the pack in delivering programmes wrapped around fashion, lifestyle, drama and comedy, all with a distinct characteristic of having strong female leads and/or female-driven content that have great affinity with these trendsetting women and opinion leaders.

SPE Networks – Asia GM Ricky Ow says, “We have dedicated ourselves to understanding the Asia TV entertainment market, and our success with AXN and Animax speaks volume of our commitment to providing the best for Asian viewers. The birth of Sony Entertainment Television specifically targeted at the all-important PMEB female population marks another milestone in our 10-year history. It certainly complements SPE Networks – Asia‘s current offering to the colourful and vibrant entertainment market in Singapore.”

Ow adds, “We have not forgotten the movie fans and whether they are blockbuster and all-time popular movie fans or non-stop action seekers, they will be spoilt for choice with Pix and Pix Thriller, our latest introduction in video-on-demand channels.”

Online video services will account for about one-half of that total, while online gaming will become a $4 billion business in the US alone. The opportunities in these markets are tremendous, and success will come from providing unique user experiences.

Keeping this in mind, Parks Associates, market research and consulting company specialising in emerging consumer technology products and services, will host The Digital Lifestyle: Services, Applications, Content, and the Consumer. This will be a one-day executive seminar featuring data, forecasts and expert analysis on advanced online and connected entertainment technologies and services.

The event takes place on 3 October 2007 in California.

— Broadband Update: Changing Dynamics in a Maturing Market
— Television 2.0: The Impact of IPTV on the Digital Lifestyle
— Digital Media around the Globe
— Console and Online Gaming Trends
— Home Networking: Beyond Infrastructure
— Social Media and Web 2.0
— Online Video: The Industry and the Consumer

Microsoft chief privacy strategist Peter Cullen said, “We think we as an industry ought to take a look at ways to further enhance privacy protections. We are trying to make sure that people have the ability to have a trusted experience.”

He said that these steps are part of an effort to create an industry consensus on privacy practices.

Specifically, Microsoft would make all Web search query data anonymous after 18 months on its ‘Live Search‘ service, unless it receives user consent to store it longer.

Microsoft plans to store customer search data separately from data tied to people, e-mail addresses or phone numbers and take steps to assure no unauthorized correlation of these types of data can be made.

It also will permanently remove “cookie” user identification data, Web address or other identifiers.

Last week Ask.com unveiled Askeraser, a service that will allow Ask.com users to change their privacy preferences at any time.

The Microsoft iniative follows last week‘s announcement by Google on cutting down on cookie storage. Both the internet giants face scrutiny from European and U.S giants over their plans to merge with major players in the online advertising industry.

“We are in discussions with some of the largest telecom players in the US and UK. This would provide a new platform for us to widen our audience base,” says Digital Media Convergence Ltd (DMCL) CEO Ishwar Jha.

DMCL is creating a footprint in India and has exclusively tied up with state-owned telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for this. “We are not looking at other telecom players in India for our digital content on mobile platforms. We found that BSNL is equipped with good infrastructure and bandwidth to give us a pan India presence,” says Jha.

DMCL, promoted by the Essel Group, recently announced launch of the mobile TV application platform ‘Isee‘ in north India in collaboration with BSNL.

The company claims to have tied up 2500 subscribers within a week of Isee‘s launch. The service comes free for the first 30 days, but consumers will be subsequently charged Rs 150 per month.

Isee users have unlimited access to content which is currently under the labels of Isee TV, Isee Zee, Taaza and Masti. The application has been developed by Czezh Republic based technology firm U-Turn Media Group.

DMCL is planning for a national roll out in the next three months. “We are currently in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir. We are currently trying to get feedback from our subscribers on the quality of service and transmission. We will have a nationwide presence within three months,” says Jha.

Having only introduced Hindi content, DMCL will be offering on the mobile platform regional language shows from the Zee network.

The company is also looking at sourcing content outside the Zee network to offer to the mobile operators. “Our mobile platform is open to other content providers and the revenue model will be advertisement driven. We are basically trying to create a content mall running on advertising,” Jha says.

MUMBAI: Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group‘s Bluemagic will use Measat-3 satellite and is planning to launch its direct-to-home (DTH) service in the last quarter of this year.

Reliance has signed a deal with the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for using the foreign satellite from the Astro Group, a source close to the company says. Measat had made its Ku-band transponders available and Isro was studying it technically to make an internal evaluation.

Isro has in principle agreed to allow Measat offer its Ku-band transponders to Indian DTH operators, the source confirms. Reliance wants Measat‘s eight Ku-band transponders, he adds.

When contacted, Isro contract management and legal services director SB Iyer refused to comment. He had, however, told Indiantelevision earlier that the coordination with Measat was in the final stages and Isro would take a decision after a month.

Reliance‘s Bluemagic will be using MPEG-4 compression technology which will allow it to pack in more channels per transponder. While Kalanithi Maran‘s Sun Direct has gone in for the same technology, existing DTH operators Dish TV and Tata Sky have gone in for MPEG-2 compression.

Bluemagic will be using Nagravision‘s conditional access solutions and the set-top boxes (STBs) will be from multiple vendors, the source adds. Nagravision, part of the Switzerland-based Kudelski Group, is a leading player in the field of conditional access for digital TV and broadband internet.

Bluemagic is also tying up with US-based OpenTV, the provider of enabling technologies for advanced digital television services. Zee Group‘s Dish TV has also entered into a multi-year license agreement with OpenTV which enables it to deliver a variety of advanced interactive television services, including PVRs (personal video recorders), to its subscriber base.

CGS offers players the chance to become professional gamers and win cash prize money through a series of online competitions, regional qualifying events in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia and an international World Championship final in the US.

In Asia, CGS will host a series of qualifying events in China, South Korea, Australia and Dubai prior to the CGS Regional Championship to be held in October. Four teams of ten players will be selected to represent Asia at the CGS World Championship in Los Angeles in November.

Star will produce content for the Asian series and will have access to footage from global CGS events. It will broadcast the League on its channels, which have a reach of over 300 million viewers across Asia.

CGS commissioner Andy Reif said, “With a large and fast growing portion of the world’s gamers residing in Asia, this region will be pivotal for the growth and development of CGS. We very much look forward to developing the popularity of this sport and we are confident that with its vast resources across the region, Star will play an integral part in the launch and ongoing success of the league.”