Category: Software

“CASBAA looks forward to working with our new members in particular throughout 2007,” said CASBAA chairman Marcel Fenez. “With this type of sectoral and geographic support our effectiveness as a voice for the industry and as a networking organisation continues to grow.”

MUMBAI: US broadcaster MTV‘s college network mtvU has acquired RateMyProfessors.com, a rapidly growing online destination with more than 6.6 million user-generated ratings of over 900,000 college professors.

The Internet’s largest listing of collegiate professor ratings, the site reaches approximately 10 million total college students in the US each year, who use the free service to plan their class schedule, and rate professors on attributes such as helpfulness and clarity.

With the combination of RateMyProfessors.com, mtvU.com, and the recently acquired College Publisher network of over 500 online college newspapers, mtvU now claims the second most trafficked set of general interest college-focused websites – further solidifying its position as the largest multi-platform college network. RateMyProfessors.com the broadcaster says is a strong addition to its family of online brands, as the company continues to super-serve audiences with relevant and innovative content via engaging new platforms. Following MTVN‘s recent purchases of Y2M, Atom Entertainment, GameTrailers, Harmonix, IFilm, Neopets and Xfire, this acquisition demonstrates the company’s continued commitment to being a premier multi-platform media company across every screen consumers use.

MTV chairman and CEO Judy McGrath says, “This deal marks another step forward in our overall digital strategy and brings a large, active and engaged community of college students to our growing online portfolio. With sound acquisitions and organic growth, we’re constantly offering our audiences new ways to interact and express themselves, strengthening and deepening our connection with them in the process.” MTV president Christina Norman says, “This acquisition reflects MTV’s strategy of being everywhere our audience is and harnessing its creative firepower – in this case the millions of ratings generated by students on RateMyProfessors.com. This site is a perfect addition to mtvU’s multi-platform offering, further establishing the network as the definitive way to connect with college students on-air, online and on campus.mtvU GM Stephen Friedman says, “Choosing the best courses and professors is a rite of passage for every college student, and connecting with peers on RateMyProfessors.com has become a key way millions of students now navigate this process. We look forward to partnering with the site’s great staff and users, and expanding into new areas that will help students get much more from their college experience.”

MUMBAI: At a time when television revenue in the US is either flat or down, a panel discussion a few days ago at the television trade event Natpe proved that TV station Web sites can make money online.

The session, produced and moderated by WorldNow CEO Gary Gannaway, was called Who Wants to Be an Online Millionaire?. It featured convergence advertising models from three television executives whose web sites have raked in $1 million or more in annual revenue.Panellists included Christine DiStadio of The New York Times Broadcast Media Group, Paul King of Raycom Media, and Bob Singer of KOIN-TV in Portland, Oregon. Gannaway says, “The main message of this session is that online revenue is real and that it can work for advertisers. Our panellists illustrated this through recent advertising and sponsorship campaigns for such desired categories as auto, real estate, health and home improvement.DiStadio cited the example of WREG-TV in Memphis, which saw its national TV revenue drop from $10 million in 2000 to $8 million today. While the station‘s web revenue was zero in 2000, convergence revenue has taken the station revenue to more than $1 million today.She says, “There is a real market emerging under our feet right now. Use the power of the product you know best — broadcast television, your core business — to drive top line revenue through new business development with emerging media. It‘s the only way we are going to grow. The strongest weapon — TV — in your toolbox is the bridge to your future.”

She described the vital importance of incorporating video, multi-screen presence, and consumer engagement into a station‘s online strategy. “Broadband video is changing the way people discover and interact. According to a survey by comScore, the average consumer watches about 100 minutes of video on the web every month.

“Freshness and speed will trump high production values. Web video is different.” Paul King, who oversees 40 station
websites for Raycom Media, described the secret ingredients that helped generate $1.25 million in online revenue in 2006 — 9.6 per cent of the total ad sales for the station for WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina. Those ingredients include such daypart strategies as surround sessions and video streaming.

“Local TV broadcasters should now be selling dayparts in a new way: through online advertising. Those prime demos that advertisers want are all reachable during the day — they‘re just accessing the stations through their computers at work, rather than through their televisions at home.”

Meanwhile, Singer discussed the revenue growth enjoyed in a short amount of time by Koin-TV, which is virtually brand-new to the online game. In one year, Koin expects to reach its goal of more than $1 million in online revenue — proving that it does not take years to develop a successful Internet strategy and monetise locally if you put the right resources behind your advertising sales team.

“I‘m just an average general manager in an average TV market. I figured I could accept our fate based on our somewhat average ratings position in the marketplace or I could look for creative new ways to boost our revenue. I‘m glad I decided to do the latter.”

All three panellists addressed the issue of internal versus external online resources: Should stations try to control the
development of their Web sites by utilising internal staff resources or hiring new staff for the job — or should they rely on the expertise of an outside company that specialises in the online arena?

King says, “I‘ve done it both ways. And I‘m here to tell you that the internal staff needs to stay focussed on the core business, which is still broadcast television of course. Find a seasoned partner with strong technology and proven ad-sales experience to handle this burgeoning business for you.”

MUMBAI: IBM in collaboration with Lotus unit introduces a set of social networking services that functions like a MySpace for office workers in a renewed challenge to Microsoft Corp.

The Lotus pioneered software is a service called Connections that features the latest ways for users to share information via the Web, while giving businesses controls over who sees what data.Lotus Connections offers the business equivalent of Web meeting places like MySpace.com or Yahoo‘s Facebook‘s bookmark sharing site del.icio.us and blog search tools like Technorati.com — stitched together in one package. Burton Group‘s collaboration software expert Peter O‘Kelly said the new software from IBM Lotus promises to shake up a market dominated by Microsoft.

IBM officials see a shift in focus from the quest for personal productivity that characterized computer advances of the 1990s to the “team productivity” which Web-based collaborative tools have begun to enable in recent years.Connections combines five components: member profiles, activities, blogs, communities and “dogear” — IBM‘s word for how users identify and share Web bookmarks with colleagues.
Connections uses the popular Web navigation technique of “tagging” to help users track popular discussion topics and figure out who may have expertise on any subject. The software provides a way for individuals to quickly set-up ad hoc groups to collaborate on projects, storing relevant documents, e-mails and Web sites together. Each user can publish blogs to share ideas with colleagues.
“What Web 2.0 has demonstrated is that self-defining communities often do a better job of locating relevant information,” IBM software chief Steve Mills said. “This helps with the rapid identification of expertise and experts.” Lotus Connections will be available in the first half of 2007 although pricing hasn‘t been disclosed. O‘Kelly said IBM‘s Web software could cause many corporate buyers who stopped considering Lotus Notes a decade ago to reconsider their reliance on Microsoft‘s rival software suite.Revenue in the Lotus division grew 30 percent during the latest quarter compared with the final quarter of 2005, IBM reported last week. The company will demonstrate the service at its annual Lotusphere customer conference in Orlando, Florida.

MUMBAI: The Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1) that was launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR Sriharikota on 10 January, was successfully recovered today after being maneuvered to reenter the earth‘s atmosphere and descend over Bay of Bengal about 140 km East of Sriharikota.

Since its launch, SRE-1 was going round the earth in a circular polar orbit at an altitude of 637 km. In preparation for its reentry, SRE-1 was put into an elliptical orbit with a perigee (nearest point to earth) of 485 km and an apogee (farthest point to earth) of 639 km by issuing commands from the Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) of ISTRAC at Bangalore on January 19, 2007. The critical de-boost operations were executed from SCC, Bangalore supported by a network of ground stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Mauritius, Sriharikota, Biak in Indonesia, Saskatoon in Canada, Svalbard in Norway besides shipborne and airborne terminals.

During its stay in orbit for the last 12 days, the two experiments on board SRE-1 were successfully conducted under micro gravity conditions. One of the experiments was related to study of metal melting and crystallizations under micro gravity conditions. The second experiment, designed by National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, was intended to study the synthesis of nano-crystals under micro gravity conditions. This experiment can help in designing better biomaterials having closest proximity with natural biological products. The experimental results will be analysed in due
course by the principal scientific investigators of the two experiments.

The successful launch, in-orbit operation of the on board experiments and reentry and recovery of SRE-1 has demonstrated India‘s capability in important technologies like aero-thermo structures, deceleration and flotation systems, navigation, guidance and control. SRE-1 is an important
beginning for providing a low cost platform for micro-gravity experiments in space science and technology and return specimen from space.

MUMBAI: The Warner Bros. Television Group in the US and The CW Network have teamed up with mobile firm Sprint for a new shortform animated wireless series based upon the drama Smallville. In India Smallville airs on Star World.

Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles is a six-episode animated wireless series created for the mobile and broadband environment. It premiered a few days ago on the Sprint TV mobile video service.

A new episode will launch every Thursday and remain exclusive to Sprint for the six-week duration of the series. After Sprint‘s exclusive window, the entire wireless animated series will be available for streaming at www.CWTV.com, the online home of The CW Network from 22 February 2007.

The initiative marks the first time Warner Bros. and The CW have created original animated content as a marketing platform to help drive tune-in for the Smallville television series.

Warner Bros. Television Group executive VP, worldwide marketing Lisa Gregorian says, “Our goal at Warner Bros. Television is to look for unique, innovative ways to entertain and engage our fans, resulting in a deeper connection to our shows and providing value to our broadcast partners.

The producers of Smallville recently introduced the new character of Oliver Queen, who arrives in Smallville to continue his covert quest for justice in the guise of the super hero Green Arrow. Possessing phenomenal skills with a high-tech bow and arrow, Queen learns Clark has super powers and tries to recruit him in his current mission against Lex Luthor, Queen‘s former schoolmate. It is the fascinating back story to this new plotline that unfolds in the animated wireless series Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles. Viewers will go on a journey back in time to experience the pivotal events that led to a young Oliver Queen becoming Green Arrow.

MUMBAI: Deloitte‘s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) industry group has predicted that this year expanding social networks will create a greater need for security and copyright protection technologies

Meanwhile, user-generated content (UGC) from blogs, amateur filmmakers and others will both complement and threaten traditional media outlets.

With global internet traffic reaching capacity, investment in laying new cable or lighting existing fiber may be needed — but may be stifled by continuing declines in wholesale capacity prices.

Predictions 2007 is a series of three reports examining emerging developments and how they will shape the TMT market. They were written by the Deloitte TMT industry group with input from industry analysts and executives. Each report includes recommendations on how to best take advantage of these trends.

— Social Networking Evolves — Social networks will continue to expand, creating a need for identification improvements, the ability to remove copyrighted material quickly, and making downloads as instantaneous as possible.

— Digital Storage Expansion Driven by Laws — Digital storage needs will be impacted by companies‘ legal obligations to keep years and petabytes worth of data, with costs passed onto the user.

— Internet Capacity Woes — With the Internet reaching capacity, investment in laying new cable or lighting existing fiber may be needed

— but may be stifled by continuing declines in wholesale capacity prices. Solutions will be found when Web surfers rebel after quality of service declines.

— The Next Killer Application — Mobile TV may be the next killer application, taking video content off the phone and onto a device with a better screen.

— Reinvention of TV — IPTV is poised to launch as a reinvention of television, rather than a pale imitation of current services. Operators could position the service as an affordable way for all content providers to deliver niche media to a growing mass audience, without the commission costs of broadcast-network middlemen.

— The Consumer as the Media Mogul — UGC is increasing. Blogs, amateur filmmakers and others are creating content that complements — or perhaps threatens — traditional media outlets. Smart media companies will serve up user-generated content as a powerful promotional vehicle and use it as an
effective medium for scouting talent.

— It‘s a New Media World After All — New media metrics are taking over, with old media metrics becoming a thing of the past. Development of comparable statistics will emerge, enabling companies, their customers and their investors to more accurately gauge performance.

— DVD versus Vod: No Clear Winner in Sight — Simultaneous availability of movies on DVD and Vod will make them closer competitors.

MUMBAI: Rajshri.com, broadband entertainment platform for Indian video content, has announced the online premiere of classic TV shows Malgudi Days and Fauji.

Additionally, the website will also celebrate Republic Day with an exclusive collection of Republic Day videos, wallpapers and ringtones to foster the spirit of Patriotism. One new episode of both Malgudi Days, which is based on R. K. Narayan‘s short stories and Fauji, which marks Shahrukh Khan‘s debut on screen, will be unveiled everyday on the portal. Viewers will have the option to view streaming episodes for free or also download them at USD 1.99 per episode, informs an official release.

Besides the regular Hindi version of Fauji, an English subtitled version is also being offered. The TV show Mahabharat, premiered on Rajshri.com a month ago and a new episode continues to be unveiled everyday. In order to increase the consumer base of Mahabharat, Rajshri.com plans to offer the epic with Spanish and French subtitles.

Rajshri Media managing director Rajjat A. Barjatya said, “We are delighted to give our viewers the opportunity to enjoy classics like Malgudi Days and Fauji online on-demand. Both are cult TV shows and given the success of Mahabharat, we believe there will be tremendous interest among consumers to watch both shows online.

MUMBAI: Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS) industry is fast growing in India. “VAS is taking a wider view to content providers and expanding the demographic segments”, said Mr. Pankaj Thaker – CEO, Cellcast at The India Digital Summit 2007 hosted by Internet & Mobile Association of India in New Delhi. Advocating the use of VAS in India, he added that 80% of the participation in China is via VAS.

Chief Guest Shri Dayanidhi Maran, Hon‘ble Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said that today telecom companies in India are receiving global attention. He added “It is only a matter of time that Digital offerings will be across products and services. The content and services will become the unique selling point. His vision for digital India comprises of the country being connected with a network of communication technologies spanning optic fiber and wireless, interacting in all the 22 languages and cross lingual information access facilities.”Mobile VAS is slowly becoming a critical source of information and interactivity. MVAS market is pegged at 2200- 3000 crores. Commenting on VAS, Mr. Rajiv Hiranandani said that India is lagging behind China as the latter has been using VAS for the past 4 years while India is still an infant. The role of VAS is very critical to the growth of the industry in India.

Eminent speakers / leading industry experts like Neville Taraporewalla, MD & CEO – Connecturf, Arvind Chawla, Advisor TDSAT, RK Arnold, Secretary – TRAI, Pankaj Thaker, CEO- Cellcast,Rajiv Hiranandani, Mariam Mathew – CEO, Malayalam Manorama among others presented an insight on convergence, communication, content and commerce.

Speaking at the summit, the distinguished panelists highlighted that rural Indian market plays a pivotal role in the growth of internet and mobile sector. Rajiv Hiranandani added that 50% of the internet subscribers are from rural India. Mobile phones have permeated to smaller towns, cities and villages expanding the opportunity for adoption and use of value added services. Expansion of mobile subscriber‘s base beyond cities presents a great opportunity to the MVAS industry to grow. However, the challenge is the role of entertainment in adoption, pricing, packaging and local content.The India Digital Summit 2007, IAMAI‘s flagship annual event, had set a tough agenda for itself this year and though there were some tricky questions, each panelist provided a “view” of the future. The Summit this year focused on two distinct areas: internet and related issues of current and future policies, communications tools and commerce; and mobile devices and connected issues of mobile value added services over two days.

The families claim that their daughters were sexually assaulted by adults they first met on the site.

The suits, media reports state, have demanded unspecified millions of dollars in damages from MySpace and News Corp for “negligence, recklessness, fraud” and misrepresentation.

MySpace.com has also announced that it would start to offer free parental notification software in a bid to appease critics who worry that the site makes it easy for children to provide too much personal information, making them easy prey for sex offenders.

Parents will be able to use the software, named “Zephyr,” to find out what name, age and location their children use to represent themselves on MySpace, but it won’t allow parents to read their children‘s e-mail or see their profile pages.

Each of the girls was allegedly lured into meetings with men who had chatted them up on MySpace then plied them with drugs or alcohol and sexually abused them, according to the suits.

Reports state that one of the men accused in the assaults was serving a 10-year prison sentence and the others were awaiting trials, according to lawyers for the girls.