Category: Software

MUMBAI: Its all systems go on board Insat-4B, which was successfully launched early yesterday from Kourou, French Guiana, having now been placed in an intermediate orbit.

The first critical orbit-raising manoeuvre on the satellite was successfully conducted at 5:35 am this morning with the firing of the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (Lam) on board for 93 minutes by commanding the satellite from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka.

With this Lam operation, Insat-4B perigee has been raised to 14,244 km. The apogee is at 35,752 km and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 4.5 deg at the time of entering into orbit to its present 1.15 deg. The present orbital period is 15 hours 21 minutes.

All systems on board the satellite are functioning normally. The satellite went out of MCF radio visibility at 12:02 pm this afternoon. It will again come within MCF’s radio visibility at 6:11 am tomorrow. Further orbit raising maneuvers are planned over the next few days.

MUMBAI: World Cup cricket is making waves on the digital media as Webaroo launched two new webpacks – World Cup Cricket and Cricket News. The two free web packs are readily available for download on www.webaroo.com .

“Timed to cater to the World Cup fever, the webpacks offer daily updates on the matches, the players, statistics, interviews, the World Cup history and all crucial and relevant information that one would want to dig out about cricket.

“Cricket is a religion in this country and realizing the importance of the game, Webaroo has launched this exclusive webpack which includes the history around the World cup as well as the latest updates on scores and ratings for cricket fans who are on the move.” said Webaroo VP – India Operations, Chirag Jain.

Webaroo provides mobile web technology and its free software service allows users to download web content onto their mobile phones, PDAs and laptops.

MUMBAI: MSN India announced a new cricket channel www.msncricket.com for the coverage of World Cup. The online site will be accessible on the internet and on WAP supported mobile phones. MSN India aims to deliver exclusive content to cricket fans across the country and even those fans that are ‘on the move.‘

The website will have all the news and action from the Caribbean. It will also feature exclusive columns from Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, Graeme Smith and Mahela Jayawardene.

The site also consists of other features like World Cup schedule, team profiles, pitch reports, photo galleries, controversies, match previews, live scorecards, slideshows and an audio update of all the cricketing action.

“The World Cup is the Holy Grail of cricket and we are more than excited to be able to provide the followers of the game a holistic experience with our extended coverage. We are also giving our users all the action of the World Cup on their fingertips with a World Cup Cricket WAP portal!” said MSN India executive producer Krishna Prasad.

MSN India will also bring out a downloadable Windows Mobile World Cup application. Users with Windows Mobile platform phones can load the application to their phones and get live updates on the matches as it happens on GPRS without having to send an SMS every time.

Windows Vista Users can look forward to another attraction on their computers called the Vista World Cup Sidebar Gadget which provides constant live score updates and feedback on the desktop. MSN also has an exclusive with its WAP Portal. The features available on the WAP portal include top cricket stories, the World Cup schedule, live scorecards and a cricket trivia link.

Online games like MSN Clicket and Cricket Live are also on offer. Clicket is a predict and win game where users can choose their players for each match and earn points based on their accuracy of playing team predictions. Cricket – Live is an interactive multi player game built around a community of cricket fans and trade players to create a team for the World Cup. MSN‘s photographers will put up exclusive images on the MSN cricket channel.

MUMBAI: With the cricket World Cup around the corner, mobile2win, which provides value added services for the mobile has launched a series of mobile games.

Whether it‘s a ‘Classic table-top‘ game or a ‘Bookie cricket game‘, users have a variety to choose from. All the games are interactive and easy to play the company says.

Cricket Fever offers a real-life cricketing experience in a fun environment. Then there is Crickpedia wherein user can test their knowledge of the fascinating world of cricket.

mobile2win co- founder, country head Rajiv Hiranandani says,”We have rolled out Cricket games keeping in mind the excitement around The World Cup. These user-friendly games will keep all the cricket fans glued to their mobile and will take them to the fascinating world of cricket. Whether it is ‘Toy Cricket‘ or ‘Ticket Cricket‘, our games will surely enhance the user experience on a mobile platform”.

The World Cup Cricket games can be downloaded via GPRS and logging onto the service providers home page – games section.

MUMBAI: With cricket World Cup fever all set to explode search engine Google India has unveiled a cricket World Cup campaign.

The aim is to provide an interactive experience through the Internet.

The campaign will help users write, share, debate about and enjoy the Cricket World Cup through an integrated platform of Google products like Google Desktop, personalized homepage, Blogger and Orkut through a special landing page www.google. co.in/cricket . This would be a one-stop shop for all information related to the World Cup, allowing visitors to access regular updates, post individual comments and analysis and express their love for the game.

Google India sales head Sundaraman K said, “Google aims to constantly improve its users experience by designing products that make things easier and deliver better results than what was available before. Cricket is one of the key passions of users in India and this campaign is designed to bring people across communities together, offering them a unique cricket experience across different Google platforms.”

Google has teamed up with cricketer and commentator, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who will host an expert blog Cricket Zone with Krish Srikkanth at www.worldcup withkrish. blogspot .com. This blog will allow users to interact with cricket experts as well as other bloggers on the performance of the various teams and engage in match analysis and a host of other interactive sessions. Additionally to the blog, Krish will also bring expert content to an interactive social networking experience through Orkut Krishcricket community www.orkut.com/worldcupwithkrish

As a part of this initiative, Google is also hosting a blogging cricket contest, entries for which can be submitted at www.google.co.in/cricket/contest . This will include posts on anything from on-the-ground reporting from West Indies to viewers opinions on the progress of the various teams at the World Cup.

Both existing and new users will get an opportunity to participate in the contest. Google will also have a fully equipped Blogger vehicle that will visit Bhopal, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. It will educate people on the use of Internet and blogging for self-expression. This educational road show will begin on 19 March, 2007 from Chandigarh.

MUMBAI: US telecom major AT&T has announced a content agreement with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

This has resulted in the largest collection of mobile WWE content to date.

WWE says that its television programming reaching more than 15 million viewers per week in the US. These fans follow WWE across all media, including television, pay-per-view, online, DVDs, magazines, and theatrical films.

Now WWE will work jointly with AT&T, formerly Cingular Wireless, to make the mobile device the next extension of WWE, allowing fans to experience a new generation of mobile video and interactivity.

In the coming months, AT&T and WWE will be launching a number of wireless related services. Fans will have access to a custom-built, cutting edge mobile internet WWE portal that will provide access to a deep library of content, and will prove to be a model for a new generation of mobile connectivity.

There will be a collection of WWE-themed videos, ringtones, voice tones and graphics so fans can personalise their mobile experience. In addition, AT&T intends to use WWE content to explore text-based programmes that will offer AT&T‘s 61 million customers and WWE fans an interactive experience.

AT&T wireless VP marketing John Burbank says, “WWE fans love action — anytime and anyplace. Now, fans can carry the action with them wherever they go, just in time for WrestleMania.”

WWE executive VP, global media Shane McMahon says, “It‘s all about the WWE fans. Imagine something happens at RAW, SmackDown, or WrestleMania 23, and moments later, that moment in time is available on your AT&T handset.

“Because we own our intellectual property, we have the unparalleled ability to create this must-have content for our fans. In order to create the ideal fan-centric mobile experience, it was necessary to work exclusively with one partner who was an industry leader and that is why we teamed up with an innovator like AT&T.”

Headlining the debut of WWE in the mobile arena is an arsenal of video content. WWE Mobile will feature a basic package of short-form videos each month, as well as a premium package, providing a deeper view into WWE. Add this to a library of ringtone, voicetone, and wallpaper content, and AT&T‘s wireless customers now have on-the-go wireless access to the WWE brand.

NEW DELHI: The government hopes that in 2007, which has been christened as the ‘Year of Broadband’, a target of nine million connections will be reached by giving broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats, Higher Secondary Schools and Public Health Centres progressively by the next year.

There are plans envisaging provision of 20 million connections by the year 2010, according to Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran who said broadband service will provide the platform for various e-governance projects. Service providers will provide various value added services to suit the requirements of the consumers on commercial basis.

It was envisaged that the Department of Information Technology and Universal Service Obligation Fund will provide the necessary visibility gap funding for speedy rural Broadband Access rollout, Mr Maran said in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

GoM to study vacation plan for spectrum
The Government has appointed a committee consisting Group of Ministers to recommend the vacation plan for spectrum from Government and semi-Government agencies such as defence, space and paramilitary, etc. The Minister said the policy on spectrum for 3G services would take into account the recommendations of GoM, which are awaited.

BSNL upgrading broadband connectivity
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Dr. Shakeel Ahmad informed the Rajya Sabha that with effect from January one this year, all broadband customers of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), except those with unlimited plan, have been upgraded from the minimum speed of 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps at existing tariff, subject to technical feasibility. The present broadband customer base of BSNL across the country is 8.77 lakhs, he added.

The BSNL has ambitious plans to proliferate broadband in both urban and rural areas across the country in a progressive manner for which it has decided to invest about Rs. 2000 crore, he added.

100,000 common service centres soon
Dr Ahmed told the Lok Sabha that the government had recently approved a scheme for providing support for establishing 100,000 broadband, Internet-enabled, Common Service Centres in rural areas of the country. These centres would be opened in the ratio of one CSC for every six census villages in a State, and provide a mix of government and private services in rural areas. The scheme is to be implemented in a public private partnership.

The CSC is a private entity loosely analogous to a franchiser which would operate, manage and build the VLE network and business.

Major growth in IT exports
In another reply, the MoS said according to NASSCOM, the Indian IT-ITES sector (including the domestic and export segments) is expected to exceed US$ 47.8 billion in annual revenue in Financial Year 2007, an increase of nearly 28 per cent in the current fiscal year.

Dr Ahmed stated that according to the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), export of electronics hardware has registered a growth of 41.18 per cent in rupee terms (38.89 per cent in US$ terms) during the period April 2006 to December 2006 over the corresponding period in the previous financial year. The target set for total export of electronics hardware is Rs. 11500 crore (US$ 2556 million) for the current financial year. The target set for export of electronic hardware the current financial year was achieved by 83.48 per cent as on December 2006

Goverment working towards wireless access
He said the Government is in the process of taking necessary action to provide support for provision of infrastructure for mobile services including Wireless Access Services like Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) using Fixed/Mobile terminals in rural and remote areas of the country. The infrastructure shall be created in those specified areas where no fixed wireless or mobile coverage exists.

Dr. Ahmad further stated that a total of 7,871 towers would be set up in rural and remote areas of the country in 500 districts spread over 27 states. The details of the district/village-wise location of these towers are available on DoT website www.dot.gov.in. For this, he said, tenders have been invited from the existing Basic Service Operators (BSO), Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS) providers, Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) and Shortlisted Infrastructure Providers Category-I (IP-I) comprising of both private and public sector operators. Bids have been received to set up these towers.

Unique identification for monitoring IT programmes
He told the Rajya Sabha that the Planning Commission had requested the Department of Information Technology to coordinate an initiative to provide a Unique Identification which could be used for monitoring various schemes and programmes. The project is at an initial stage and currently a study is being conducted to recommend the processes in this regard. Simultaneously work has also been initiated for making ready the data base which would be needed for the generation of the Unique Identification.

MUMBAI: A new report from IABM, the association for media and broadcast technology suppliers, suggests that the overall value of the market in the Middle East is currently $ 11.6 billion, with recorded market growth per annum of almost 11 per cent.

IABM‘s forecast is that broadcast and media technology market will be worth $ 17.5 billion by 2010.

One major trend underlined by the report – and further demonstrated by this year‘s recently concluded Cabsat trade event in Dubai – is convergence, as telecommunication, broadcast, and information technologies integrate, bringing together previously separate forms of media.

Held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition from the 6-8 March 2007, there were over 400 leading suppliers from 50 countries as well as new launches and demonstrations. The event also enabled industry professionals to meet with peers in a number of industry conferences and symposia, providing them with an opportunity to discuss the major changes occurring across the industry.

Convergence, the organisers of Cabsat note, is changing the supply chain within the broadcasting and communication industries, creating major opportunities for innovative organisations to grow and develop. New methods for delivering content in a variety of formats are emerging all the time, which is a powerful incentive for companies to network and understand new trends in the market.

Example of such convergence technologies is Mobile TV technology using DVB-H and T-DMB standards. Companies that are demonstrating this at the Show include DMT Systems Spa, E-Vision, GloCom, Grass Valley, Harris Corporation, Newtec Productions NV and Rohde & Schwarz Emirates LLC.

The organisers says that the success of Cabsat has been driven in part by its ability to stay ahead of new developments in the industry, and to provide a unique platform for local, regional and international groups to come together to discuss them”.

The recently concluded editon of Cabsat supported a number of industry discussions to help companies understand the changes occurring in the communications and broadcast sectors.

It examined the theme of “digitalisation,” explored the new convergent technologies that are relevant to the broadcast, satellite and telecom industries.

MUMBAI: Consumers in the Asia-Pacific region will increasingly opt for higher-end set-top boxes that support personal video recorder (PVR) and high-definition features, according to a new study from ABI Research.

This trend will be driven to a large degree by China, which will see the region‘s largest increase in subscriber numbers.

The study notes that the Asia-Pacific pay-TV industry still has considerable room for growth, especially in countries like China and India, where the base of potential customers is huge but there is still relatively low pay-TV and digital penetration. For instance, in the digital cable TV and telco TV arenas, China is expected to take the lead in terms of actual shipment counts, with approximately 75 million and 9 million box shipments, respectively, by 2012.

China will also lead in subscriber growth rates, fueled by growing affluence and increased consumer spending on TV and video services. Chinese consumers will also invest in technologically more advanced set-top boxes in order to view digital broadcasts over their traditional analogue TV sets.

ABI Research‘s latest study on the Asia-Pacific set-top box market focuses on five main markets in the region — Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and India — a mix of mature, maturing, and developing markets in the pay-TV and digital penetration arena.

The study addresses market conditions and set-top box equipment deployment for the four video platforms, cable TV (CATV), direct broadcast satellite (DBS), digital terrestrial (DTT), and telco TV (IPTV). It also examines operator—vendor relationships which tend to vary among these four platforms. For some, it is a fairly closed system where operators usually keep to one or a handful of set-top box vendors for support; for others, there is greater openness where consumers are allowed to purchase set-top boxes independent of operators.

MUMBAI: With a few days to go for the start of the cricket World Cup Indya.com which is hosting the official website has announced the launch of the song for the event.

It can be heard at www.cricketworldcup.com.

The song has been conceptualised and performed by a trio of Caribbean artistes who have fused their talents to produce the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Official Song.

The song called The Game of Love and Unity has the voices of Jamaican-born Shaggy, Barbadian entertainer Rupee and Trinidadian Faye-Ann Lyons.

ICC CWC 2007 marketing manager Damon Leon says, “The Official Song has had the input of a number of Caribbean and CWC stakeholders and I think the Event and the region will have a song of which they can be proud,”.

The regional agreement for digital services has been reached in the frequency bands 174 – 230 MHz and 470 – 862 MHz. It marks the beginning of the end of analogue broadcasting.

The Conference agreed that the transition period from analogue to digital broadcasting, which begins at 0001 UTC 17 June 2006, should end on 17 June 2015, but some countries preferred an additional five-year extension for the VHF band (174-230 MHz).

“We have been looking forward to launching the song to the world and embracing it as part of the spirit and identity of ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. The release of the song will herald a burst of promotional activity as we move towards the tournament.”

Rupee said, “It is a pleasure working on such a magnificent project. We are going to showcase the best of the Caribbean to the world, including our diverse creative talent and our hospitality when we host the tournament.”

A host of executives from the music and recording industry, CWC stakeholders, officials from the Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana Local Organising Committees (LOC), sponsor and media representatives attended the song launch in Trinidad. The evening Indiya.com says was an indication that the World Cup would not only bring sporting action to the world but also a display of Caribbean creativity as well. Guests were afforded the opportunity to mingle prior to the start of the launch, which comprised a live performance of The Game of Love and Unity, several speeches and a fashion segment showcasing Official ICC CWC 2007 merchandise.

Rupee is the lead composer of the ICC CWC 2007 Official Song. Driven by his unique musical style which has created hits such as Jump and Tempted to Touch, the popular composer and performer brings a blend of urban-influenced Caribbean music to this historic track.

Shaggy is best known for his hit singles Oh Carolina, It wasn‘t me, Angel and many others. Shaggy has been one of the biggest crossover successes in dancehall reggae and brings his inimitable, distinctive style to the Cricket World Cup‘s Official Song.

Faye-Ann Lyons had a Trinidad and Tobago Road March winning song Display.