Category: Software

MUMBAI: Expanding their global cooperation, Hewlett Packard (HP) and Nokia have joined hands with the radio brand Radio Mirchi to market the first service in India that enables mobile phone users to receive FM radio broadcasts synchronized with interactive visuals and text on the handsets.

Radio Mirchi listeners in Delhi can now have access to visual radio, a new music service on their Nokia mobile phones for Hutch subscribers, followed by other metros in the country.

With visual radio, the listeners can enjoy engaging and exciting content: visuals, information and entertainment of what‘s playing over the air, purchase ring tones and other mobile content of the artiste, participate in radio station promotions, polls, contests, and interact with RJs and special guests.

The customer would be charged at the regular PlanetHutch rate of 10 paise per 10 KB and regular download charges for downloading ring tones and many other features, informs an official release.

In 2003, Nokia had announced Visual Radio as an upcoming product for their new range of multi-media phones. In UK, Virgin Radio was the first station to make use of the interactive Visual Radio functionality.

Nokia and HP are pushing the visual radio concept in countries like Finland, Thailand, Singapore and some European countries as well. In Singapore MediaCorp Radio‘s music station Y.E.S. 93.3 FM is the first Chinese language radio station in the world to be made available on Visual Radio.

And in Finland, SBS Finland‘s Kiss FM became the first radio station in the world to begin visual radio broadcasts.

Visual radio is at present, available on Nokia NSeries devices (Nokia N70,  Nokia N71,  Nokia N72 Nokia  N80, Nokia  N91) and select Nokia phones (Nokia 3230,  Nokia 3250,  Nokia 6125,  Nokia 6131,  Nokia 6280 and Nokia 7370).

ENIL (Radio Mirchi) MD and CEO A.P. Parigi says, “Visual radio provides us an exciting opportunity to involve, engage and entertain this demanding generation. Visual radio not only enhances the listener‘s interaction with the station, it also provides advertisers a more dynamic platform to communicate their messages.”

The launch of visual radio in India demonstrates a revolution in interactive mobile communications and redefines the experience of traditional FM radio, not only for the users but also for broadcasters, advertisers and mobile operators.

This medium holds the opportunity to create new business models, which can offer access to interactive music discovery services and the ability to purchase merchandise directly from a mobile phone.

“Since introducing the visual radio service, HP has worked with industry leaders like Radio Mirchi and Hutch to deliver visual radio to listeners around the world,” HP India HP Services VP Kapil Jain says. “We look forward to working with our partners to make visual radio a great success in India.”

Adds Nokia India national operator and retail accounts director Vineet Taneja, “Visual radio will make listening to the radio via your mobile phone a truly multi-dimensional experience. This will offer a host of new rich music services to Nokia users allowing them to indulge their passion at the click of a button.”

“As part of this commitment, we have already launched more than 20 Nokia devices in India that are compatible with visual radio with still more to come in the future,” Taneja concludes.
 
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Radio Mirchi to launch visual radio in Delhi

NEW DELHI: MSOs are divided on the issue whether carriage fee is retained by them and the basic tier fee of cable channels by local cable operators.

While the Hinduja-owned IndusInd Media and Communications and Siti Cable (now renamed WWIL) opposed MSOs retaining carriage fee and LCOs keeping the basic tier fee, Rajan Raheja-controlled Hathway Datacom has supported such a model.

In their submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), both Siti Cable and IndusInd have said MSOs should also get a share of the basic tier fee, which is collected by LCOs.

Adding spice to the whole affair, the Cable Operators‘ Federation of India (COFI) has suggested all round sharing of basic tier fee and carriage fee between MSOs and LCOs.

All the three MSOs, responding to Trai‘s call for feedback on interconnect regulations, have said that distribution of signals to subscribers should only be through digital set-top boxes as analogue boxes lack credentials.

Trai had invited feedback from industry stakeholders on the proposed standard forms of interconnect agreements for CAS areas, draft regulation to mandate these standard forms and revenue sharing arrangements.

The specific issues that were raised were the following:

Should there be a uniform revenue share percentage between all broadcasters and MSOs and between MSOs and LCOs.

Should the revenue share percentages for different broadcasters prevailing in Chennai be adopted in other CAS notified areas?
Is there any other alternative method of arriving at the revenue share percentages amongst industry stakeholders.

Upholding the rights of cable operators that it represents, COFI has suggested that franchisees of MSOs could be given a commission ranging between 5-10 per cent for selling set-top-boxes and other equipment to subscribers.

The complete gist of comments of Hathway, Siti Cable, IndusInd and COFI on interconnect agreement is available on the regulator‘s website at ww.trai.gov.in.

MUMBAI: The second edition of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Digital Radio Convention will be held in Kuala Lumpur from 14 to 17 August.

The speakers at the convention will speak to radio broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region on when to make the complete digital transition.

The speakers lined-up for the convention include: KBS-BTRT director Shinil Chung, Factum Electronics / WorldDAB Forum MD Kenneth Lundgren, Broadcast Systems, STRL, NHK principal research engineer Koichiro Imamura, International Broadcast Business Development Ibiquity Digital Corp director Perry Priestley, Broadcast Electronics Chuck Kelly, AMP Radio GM Michael Blackburn, Dalet director of marketing Nicolas Hans and NPR Labs VP CTO and executive director Mike Starling.

The four day convention and workshops not only provide updates on digital radio developments, but concentrates on the implementation and application issues – the myriad of decisions on business factors, content production facilities, transmission standards/systems, receiver developments, consumer take-up and switch-over issues.

According to an official release, around 40 experts from Asia and around the world will contribute to the event by way of presentations, panel discussions and facilitating the in-depth, interactive workshops.

Sponsors and exhibitors of the ABU Digital Radio Convention brings in big names, which include: principal sponsor Harris; AMP, Broadcast Electronics, Broadcast Australia, iBiquity Digital Corporation, Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia AG, Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), Commercial Radio Australia, THL Australia Pty Limited, Go-Mobile Pte Ltd, WorldSpace, VT Communications, Klotz Digital, Digital Integrated System Sdn Bhd (DIS), on and DMB.

“We are delighted to be supporting this major convention which keeps broadcasters in tune with the developments in digital radio,” says Harris Broadcast Communications director, Radio Products & Strategy Rich Redmond.

“The ABU Digital Radio Convention is the key venue for broadcasters, manufacturers and others who want the full picture of the region‘s burgeoning digital future. DRM is excited to play an active role in this year‘s convention, and we look forward to meeting the participants in Kuala Lumpur. The ABU is a long-time member of the DRM consortium, and we are proud of its leadership in promoting digital solutions to its own members,” Deutsche Welle director and DRM chairman Peter Senger adds.

“An increasing number of radio broadcasters in the region are embracing the transition to digital transmission. This convention will provide an excellent platform for broadcasters and industry players to network and understand the business issues as well as new technical developments. We would particularly like to address those issues that seem to be holding up the wide scale adoption of digital radio technologies in the Asia-Pacific,” points out ABU secretary general David Astley.

MUMBAI: Motorola and portal Yahoo have announced a new multi-year agreement to distribute Yahoo! Go for Mobile on tens of millions of new Motorola mobile devices.

TThe deal brings an integrated suite of Yahoo!’s services including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Address Book and Yahoo! Local into a single application that connects consumers to their personalized Internet experience through their mobile device.

As part of the agreement, Motorola will pre-load and prominently feature Yahoo! Go for Mobile on optimised handsets worldwide starting in the first half of 2007, giving consumers quick and easy access to their Internet content and services. The devices will be available to consumers in a number of markets across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Motorola corporate VP product and Xperience invention, mobile devices Scott Durchslag says, “This agreement is an important next step in showing the world the best of what can happen when Motorola’s Seamless Mobility meets Yahoo!’s Connected Life services,” said “Our collaboration with Yahoo! on exciting future versions of Yahoo! Go for Mobile will ensure that our customers and consumers get the most optimized Yahoo! experience possible on the coolest mobile devices.”

Yahoo senior VP connected life Marco Boerries, “Consumers are no longer tethered to just accessing Internet on their desktop computer, so we are bringing the best of Yahoo!’s services to the device they always have with them and use multiple times every day – their mobile phone.

“Together, Yahoo! and Motorola are making it easier than ever before for consumers to seamlessly access their favorite web services, information and content across both their personal computer and mobile phone.”

Motorola and Yahoo! had announced their global alliance in July 2005 and have worked closely over the past year to deliver on their commitment to make it easy for consumers to access and use Internet services on Motorola devices. The companies will jointly market the Motorola devices with Yahoo! Go for Mobile pre-installed through their online networks, device packaging and other targeted channels.

MUMBAI: The Guardian Media Group (GMG) in the UK has signed a search deal – across 36 of its regional newspaper sites – with Web and mobile search company InfoSpace.

The agreement, which includes sites such as Manchester Evening News and the Surrey Advertiser will allow GMG Regional Newspapers’ website users to query all of the major search engines in one click via InfoSpace’s unique metasearch technology. Additionally, InfoSpace will provide a range of associated search applications including contextual advertising and the company’s media toolbar.

InfoSpace Europe, VP web search Dominic Trigg explains, “With InfoSpace, GMG Regional Newspapers can offer its audience the best results from the most popular search engines – Ask, Google, MSN, Yahoo! and more – all in one place. The service is private-labelled and therefore enhances the newspapers’ own look and feel. In addition they will receive a search product with an excellent track record of customer support and reliability.”

GMG Regional Newspapers COO David Benjamin says, “We were looking for a provider that could deliver top-of-the-range search solutions with solid support to match. InfoSpace’s metasearch technology creates a platform for us to generate more relevant search results for our audience, whilst driving greater revenues across all of our sites. Furthermore, the InfoSpace team has added outstanding value through its creative approach and understanding of our audience and internal objectives”.

MUMBAI: Phillips Electronics India has launched the GoGear Portable Digital Audio MP3 Players range.

Phillips says that its GoGear jukeboxes provide the easiest way to access and enjoy infotainment by giving the user ‘ultimate control‘ over playback and browsing.  Your Music, Your Data on the go – everyday

Philips has launched the GoGear Portable Audio MP3 Players range in an effort to deliver on its recently launched Brand Promise of “Sense and Simplicity”. The Philips GoGear MP3 Players range offers great benefits such as providing convenient wire-free USB transfer, adequate memory storage in the range of 512 Mega Byte -1Giga Byte, voice recording facility, a battery life of 8 hrs, audio playability of MP3, WMA and WAV.

Phillips India dierctor entertainment solutions Gunjan Srivastava said, “Through the launch of the Phillips Go Gear Portable Digital Audio MP3 Players, Phillips aims to make this segment affordable to a broader base of Indian consumers, who are young at heart and enjoy the music experience. Phillips has always worked towards bringing cutting edge technologies and providing ‘value for money’ to the consumers.

“Phillips GoGear jukeboxes provide the easiest way to access and enjoy infotainment by giving you “ultimate control” over playback and browsing.”

The Phillips GoGear Portable Digital Audio MP3 Players range is available at select multi-brand Consumer Electronics outlets and Mobile phones counters in addition to the Arenas- network of exclusive Phillips Brand shops, in key cities, spread across the country.

In conjunction with the Go Gear MP3 Players launch, Phillips in partnership with Radio City has sannounced a contest for Bangalore consumers called The Phillips GoGear Contest, that allowed music enthusiasts to create a play list of their favourite songs and send it to Radio City. The contest attracted a large number of participants and many of them got a chance to win Philips GoGears, invites to the special launch party and one mega prize of being a ‘DJ for a night‘.

At a press conference, Neema Shariff, the participant with the best play list, was declared as the winner of the contest. Followed by the Press Conference, the winner got a chance to be the DJ for a Night and play her song list along with the famous DJ Chico at a party specially organised by Philips to celebrate the launch at Club Noir, Le Meridien – one of the most happening pubs of Bangalore.

MUMBAI: US broadcaster Discovery has enhanced its Discovery News service to include daily video webcasts, featuring breaking news in areas of increasing concern for consumers.

As the first major feature of these video webcasts, Discovery News has broken a story from Montana, where Jack Horner, renowned paleontologist and chief curator of the Museum of the Rockies discovered the fossil of a baby triceratops skull, only the sixth ever found.

Horner says, “Over the years people have been out here in the Hell Creek formation collecting dinosaurs and almost all that‘s been collected are adults. The best thing about this little triceratops is that it is actually a baby. This is probably one of the best baby triceratops skulls ever found.” Horner says that the baby triceratops discovery is significant as younger fossils can answer many questions about the growth and development of triceratops

The broadcaster says that the discovery reflects the type of subjects to be explored on the new Discovery News webcast. The news service will provide consumers fast, in-depth and relevant information in the areas of science, nature, health, travel, all things about planet earth and current affairs.

Discovery senior executive VP for strategy and development Don Baer says, “Expanding Discovery News into broadband video taps into the public‘s confidence in our ability to bring them trusted and timely factual information about some of the most important topics in the world.

“To have landed an exclusive story of the magnitude of Jack Horner‘s find, and right in the sweet spot of our core DNA of content
strength demonstrates Discovery‘s ability to cover breaking real-world news while expanding ways consumers count on Discovery to bring them the whole world.”

Discovery News Broadband and Narrowband Features Updated daily with original short-form video that is searchable for consumers at any time, Discovery News says that it offers cutting-edge perspective and commentary from multiple video sources. The company is tapping an in-house development and editorial team.

It has also announced an agreement for video content from Associated Press Television News. Other news organisation partnerships, as well as the cultivation of new journalists and personalities, will be announced in the coming weeks. Stories running on the video player include a segment on the recent flooding of the National Archives and the road to reopening its doors.

In conjunction with the launch of the daily video news webcast, Discovery says that it has has more than doubled the amount of coverage of text-based news on its narrowband site discoverychannelnews.com, which now features 10 genre-specific subject pages across the company‘s core content areas.

Stories currently on the Discovery News text website that reflect topics of particular interest to Discovery viewers include a report on a new study related to global warming and a piece about a species of shark in danger of
extinction, among many others.

MUMBAI: Radio Disney in the US has joined forces with MobiTV, which works in the area for television and digital radio services for cellular, WiFi and broadband enabled devices.

The two companies will launch a Radio Disney mobile channel to be broadcast via MobiTV‘s MobiRadio service.

Radio Disney‘s base of millions of listeners can turn on to new technology with MobiRadio, and they can now use their mobile phones to access their favorite Radio Disney content.

The MobiRadio service offers cellular subscribers immediate and live access to music, news, sports, weather and entertainment from the top artists and brands in talk radio.

Radio Disney executive director of brand marketing Michael Peterson says, “The Radio Disney MobiRadio channel will reach our extended audience of kids, tweens and their families; they trust our programming, content, and most of all, they love the hit music.

“Our audiences appreciate that Radio Disney continues to evolve with the newest technologies, because the various platforms provide them with the ability to listen anywhere, any how and any time they want.”

MobiTV senior director of business development and programming Erik Smith says, “With more than a million subscribers on our mobile TV and radio services, we know that consumers enjoy the thrill of getting their media on their mobile device. Radio Disney offers more great branded content for our loyal subscribers and their kids.”

Radio Disney president, GM Jean-Paul Colaco says, “Forging new paths for Radio Disney has proven to be quite successful. Radio Disney‘s union with MobiRadio is another growth strategy to keep Radio Disney connected with kids and family, whenever and wherever they are.”

This recent venture with MobiRadio complements Radio Disney‘s most recent launch on mSpot, another mobile phone multimedia service. Radio Disney is celebrating 10 years on the airwaves. It caters to kids, tweens and families on the radio. Radio Disney has full national coverage in the US through 50 plus terrestrial stations, XM and Sirius satellite radio (channel 115), digital cable (MUSIC CHOICE), XM/DIRECTV (channel 867) and via streaming on RadioDisney.com. Radio Disney offers hit music, inspired programming and superstar promotions.

MUMBAI: US internet service provider AOL is testing closed captions for streaming news content from CNN that will enhance the online media experience for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Captioned CNN video content will be available throughout the AOL network, including the AOL service, the free AOL.com Web portal and the AOL Video portal.

AOL says that it is the first consumer Internet service to provide captioned online videos, has offered closed captioning since 2003 for select content on its KOL service for kids aged 6 to 12, including Princess Natasha the original cartoon series created exclusively for KOL. AOL also offered synchronized text transcripts for CNN news updates that were limited to the text of a news anchor‘s script.

Now, content from CNN, including videos for the day‘s headlines, current events, new stories, entertainment and more, will be manually captioned to ensure all of the audio in a video stream is completely accessible. AOL plans to provide closed captioning for additional video content over the coming months.

AOL has been working on this initiative with WGBH‘s Media Access Group, the organisation behind the development of technologies and services that make all forms of media accessible to the 36 million Americans who rely on captioning or video descriptions. This work was also supported by a grant to WGBH from NEC Foundation of America, which supports programmes with national reach and impact in assistive technology for people with disabilities.

AOL says that its captioning initiative is an extension of AOL‘s Accessibility Policy, a company wide priority that aims to address and meet the technology needs of people with disabilities.

AOL adds thast closed captions for streaming videos builds upon its leadership position as one of the best online destinations for video. AOL delivers an array of products and services that together provide a complete video experience, including compelling video programming, best-in-class video search and a high-quality video playback experience for all Internet consumers.

MUMBAI: The California-headquartered Silicon Image, Inc., a global player in semiconductors for the secure storage, distribution and presentation of high-definition content, has announced a landmark agreement with the China Video Industry Association (CVIA) under which CVIA will promote and support the use of High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) by the consumer electronics industry in China.

The agreement with CVIA positions China to play a major role developing next-generation digital consumer electronics technology.

As part of the agreement, Silicon Image and CVIA have agreed to work together to promote HDMI adoption among domestic Chinese electronics manufacturers, co-develop new technology applicable to HDMI, and collaborate on establishing testing and interoperability certification labs that complement the capabilities of the HDMI Authorized Testing Centers established by Silicon Image, states an official release.

In addition, Silicon Image will support the China Digital Interface Industry Alliance (CDIA), an industry alliance consisting of major Chinese electronics manufacturers that CVIA is establishing. CDIA will work to promote the use of HDMI in consumer electronic products, promote communications among manufacturers in China and abroad, and strengthen coordination between hardware manufacturers and content providers, the release adds.

In a related announcement, HDMI Licensing, LLC, announced a global reduction in the annual administration fee charged to HDMI adopters. The fee reduction was made possible by HDMI‘s growing success in the marketplace; more than 400 makers of consumer electronics and PC products worldwide have adopted HDMI, including 82 companies in China.

Based in Beijing, the China Video Industry Association (CVIA) is China‘s industry association for manufacturers of digital television, digital movie/broadcasting, high definition optical disc, set-top box and information technology equipment and components, and is focused on promoting China‘s digital consumer electronics industry.

In 2005, China manufactured 82 million televisions and 140 million DVD or VCD players, according to CVIA. Sales of plasma and LCD TVs are forecast to grow 105 percent this year to $5.5 billion, and are estimated to reach $10.5 billion in 2008, according to IDC.

“Today China is taking a major step forward in promoting the development of its digital consumer electronics industry,” says Department of Broadcasting and Television, Ministry of Information Industry director Bai Weimin. “CVIA‘s agreement to partner with Silicon Image to develop new digital interface technology will further the development of China‘s electronics manufacturers as leaders in creating advanced digital technologies.”

“Under this agreement, China‘s companies will not only embrace the global HDMI standard but will partner with Silicon Image to participate in future technology development for HDMI,” says CVIA vice secretary-general Hao Yabin. “This agreement will help China develop its own intellectual property, protect the interests of China‘s digital consumer electronics industry, and improve the cooperation and mutual benefit of the domestic and international high definition technology industries.”

“Silicon Image will work closely with China‘s digital consumer electronics industry to help create innovative, cutting edge products and technologies,” says Silicon Image president and CEO Steve Tirado. “This agreement represents an important expansion of the HDMI standard into the world‘s largest consumer market, and strongly re-affirms HDMI as the worldwide standard for high-definition digital devices.”

New Testing Labs

As part of the agreement, Silicon Image and CVIA will cooperate in establishing testing and interoperability certification labs. Silicon Image will continue to operate HDMI Authorized Testing Centers (ATCs) and Simplay HD Testing Centers in China. In addition, Silicon Image, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Simplay Labs, LLC, and CVIA will work together to establish testing and interoperability certification labs that complement the capabilities of the HDMI ATCs.

Silicon Image today also announced the opening of China‘s second combined HDMI ATC / Simplay HD Testing Center in Shanghai, and with the support of CVIA plans to open a third such facility in China at a location to be determined.

The Simplay HDTM Testing Program consists of branding, compatibility testing, and education for consumers to provide them with a consistent “plug and play” user experience and to maximize their access to premium high definition (HD) content.