ITV

Tag: technology

  • bbcnews.com to hold mobile photo contest for South Asia

    bbcnews.com to hold mobile photo contest for South Asia

    MUMBAI: BBC News website has launched its first Mobile Photo Contest for South Asia.

    Themed My Changing World’, the contest will be open till 31 March 2007, with prizes to be won every week. Details of the contest are available on bbcnews.com/contest.

    BBC News Interactive head Steve Herrmann said, “The pictures we receive every day from our audience are changing the way we report the world. This contest is specifically for our South Asian audience. We think this will be a good way to engage with younger audiences across the region, and hope it will be fun to take part in.”

    The contest invites mobile photos from people across South Asia, and offers participants a chance to win BBC merchandise every week. This is in addition to prizes such as an iPod Video, Digital Camera, and Worldspace radio at the end of the contest. Every week, the website will feature some of the best and most interesting picture entries.

    The BBC News website offers a selection of news, entertainment, business, science, technology, and sport news.

    The BBC News website claims to receive over 900 million page impressions every month, and has around 40 million unique users a month.

  • India specific search engine ‘Guruji.com’ launched

    India specific search engine ‘Guruji.com’ launched

    BANGALORE: Using crawl search technology, two Indian technology aspirants Anurag Dod and Gaurav Mishra have launched an India specific search engine Guruji.com. The duo claims that their 40 US located servers have a data base of around 30 million India specific pages which he informs will double over the next few months.

    During a press conference in Bangalore, Dod said, “What sets us apart is our focus on the Indian market and the Indian consumer. When an Indian consumer types in search a keyword like ‘newspaper’, the results would show him websites of the top Indian newspapers rather than site not relevant to him.” According to data available with Guruji.com, 90% of the internet queries are local in nature. Further, around 30% of the internet users on India spend 20 hours per week on the internet and after e-mail, search is the largest second use.

    Guruji.com plans to create awareness about their search engine by events at colleges and through public relations. A budget of Rs 10 million has been earmarked for spends in 20 major Indian cities over the next five to six months. 

    Guriji.com has received funding commitment to the extent of US$7million from Sequoia Capital India a VC which manages three funds totaling US$ 750 million focused on investments in India across sectors.

  • BBC focusses on US mid terms elections with ‘USA Direct’

    BBC focusses on US mid terms elections with ‘USA Direct’

    MUMBAI: Next month in the lead-up to the mid-term elections in the US on 7 November, the BBC will have a USA Direct season.

    This will feature news coverage, interviews and documentaries looking at American society, culture, economics, and politics. In addition some of BBC World’s regular programmes such as flagship interview programme HARDtalk, technology weekly Click and the interactive multimedia discussion programme Have Your Say, will offer an assessment of ‘the state of the nation’, asking has the US reached its peak as the world’s only superpower?

    World Business Report will be reporting on the topical issue of immigration and the role of immigrants in the work force. A special It’s My Country Too airs on 21 October at 7:40 pm. It’s five years since 9/11, and the US is a changed country, especially for Muslims. Islam is one of the fastest-growing religions in the US, yet one in four Americans regard Muslims living among them with suspicion. As part of the USA Direct season, It’s My Country Too follows Salman Ahmed, the founding member of successful rock band Junoon, as he explores what it means to be an American Muslim. Salman talks to taxi drivers, students and law reform campaigners, including a mother whose desperate search for her Muslim son after 9/11 turned her into a political activist.

    The World Debate Advancing Sands: Deserts and Migration airs on 14 October at 5:40 pm. A dust bowl the size of the US threatens our world. The UN says that desertification is forcing 100 million people to leave their homes. Marking the UN Year Of Deserts and Desertification, The World Debate comes from the headquarters of the World Conservation Union in Switzerland. Six experts will take questions from viewers on the Internet on why so little has been done to halt the degradation of fertile lands and what can now be done to ensure that tens of millions more are not forced to leave their villages.

    Is A Free Media Essential For Development? airs on 28 October at 5:40 pm. ‘Communications for Development’ is a new and expanding field, which places the media at the heart of international development efforts. At its basic level it’s about using the media, for instance, to encourage people to wash their hands before eating or to use condoms – simple, non-controversial campaigns that can potentially save millions of lives. However increasingly the media’s role in promoting good governance is being recognised by donor countries, and not always welcomed by the governments of some developing countries. Many place restrictions on their domestic media, with actual or self-censorship rife.

  • CII workshop seeks to address copyright issues in the Indian entertainment sector

    CII workshop seeks to address copyright issues in the Indian entertainment sector

    MUMBAI: The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) will orgabnise the second edition of its legal workshop series Technology, Value Adds & The Law on 13 September 2006.

    The aim is to address copyright issues in the Indian entertainment sector. The workshop will focus on copyright issues with respect to new technologies and value add services (Vas).

    At the workshop the CII-Lawquest legal paper Copyrights & Emerging Technologies will be released.

    There will also be a panel discussion. Today technology is evolving at great speed with it increasing the importance of electronic and digital media. At the same time, the innovators cannot foresee all its future uses, which calls for urgent attention of copyright owners towards electronic and digital rights issues.

    The session will be moderated by Tata Teleservices VP Vas Pankaj Sethi. The speakers are Star senior VP – interactive services Viren Popli, Hutchison Essar VP vas SP Narayanan, ,
    UTV VP international Ashoka Holla and Raj Tilak who is a consultant

  • Philips to help Suranaree University of Technology with its multimedia project

    Philips to help Suranaree University of Technology with its multimedia project

    Philips Digital Networks has announced that its organization within Philips Electronics (Thailand) Ltd has been awarded the contract to design, build and commission a multimedia production facility for Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) of Bangkok. The turnkey project is worth several million US dollars.

    Under the agreement, Philips will design and build a professional production and post-production facility comprising latest technology digital broadcast equipment. The facility will be used by SUT as a multi-media centre for research and education. The centre will contain a digital production/news studio with Philips’ state-of-the-art digital cameras and production switcher. In addition, it will include a non-linear editing suite, a computer graphics system and a digital surround sound editing and recording lab. The various rooms will be interconnected through an advanced networking system.

    The project will be implemented on a full turnkey basis, including the supervision of civil works. SUT has also asked Philips to provide operation management services for a number of years, during which skill transfer to SUT personnel will take place.

    When commissioned in mid 2001, SUT’s multimedia production facility will be the first of its kind in Thailand. It will provide students with the chance to produce audio, video and multimedia content using state-of-the-art TV, radio and computer graphics technology and advanced 2D and 3D animation tools. The centre will support the university’s vision of the ‘virtual campus’, where study and teaching are no longer restricted to classrooms and education can also be provided over the Internet.

  • Weston launches DTH ready TV ‘SAT 20’

    MUMBAI: Consumer electronics company Weston has launched SAT-20, a Direct to Home (DTH) ready colour television targeted at millions of Indian households having no cable or satellite connection.
     

    SAT 20 is a 51 cm TV having an inbuilt satellite receiver can help a consumer view free to air 37 TV Channels including 17 Doordarshan Channels and 17 Radio channels including two FM channels. SAT 20 is priced at Rs 7790. It carries two-year warranty and has 256 programme and also a child lock facility.

     

    The product is available across the length and Breadth of the country through Weston‘s strong 1700 dealer network. It is targeted at remote hill areas, rural India, defense establishments, remote schools and other educational institutes, states an official release.
     

    “SAT 20 is a relief from cable bills .The advantage of this CTV is that even at the remotest of the corners in the country a customer will have the advantage of accessing his/her favorite channels available on the free to air channels. A initiative which will keep the masses in tune with the latest programming in this World,” says Weston MD Sunil Vachani.

     

    “Weston‘s SAT 20 TV incorporates a DTH decoder with television hardware & developed a common software to enable the control of normal television and DTH function with the same remote and does not need a separate set top box,” adds Weston VP Marketing Sunil Sethi.

     

    “SAT 20 is yet another innovation from Weston that is aimed specifically towards millions of consumers in India who do not have access to cable and satellite networks, particularly in the non-metro and remote areas. Known for its technology innovation, Weston has developed this technology at its own R&D facility,” says Sethi.

  • ATI, Nokia in strategic partnership for mobile multimedia technology

    MUMBAI: Canada-headquartered 3D graphics and digital media silicon solutions provider ATI Technologies Inc. and Nokia have entered into a long-term strategic relationship to bring enhanced mobile multimedia experiences to Nokia customers.

    The companies are now working closely together to drive multimedia experiences such as music playback, 3D gaming, mobile TV, video and more for Nokia mobile device users worldwide.

    “Working with ATI underscores the commitment that Nokia has in providing unparalleled mobile multimedia experiences to consumers. With the mobile device now at the center of people‘s lives, we want people to have access to fantastic mobile content when and where they want. We are announcing our collaboration with ATI now, so that developers have the next 12 to 18 months to be innovative and create world class mobile multimedia experiences,” said Nokia senior vice president multimedia experiences Ilkka Raiskinen.

    With mobile devices becoming ever more powerful and complex, ATI and Nokia are working to drive the complexity out of multimedia development by promoting open standards and providing integrated hardware, software and tools. In this way, developers need only create content once for consumers to enjoy on a range of devices. Specifically, ATI aims to provide a dedicated tools chain and software development kit (SDK) for developers in the fall of 2006. ATI and Nokia will also hold a series of joint workshops in the second half of this year to showcase the environment to key developers, states an official release.

     

    “Our role is to enable all content, from ultra-high quality music playback to 3D gaming, and we‘ll jointly guide and support the members of the content development community as they focus on creating amazing user experiences. With a shared vision of how multimedia impacts the mobile market, Nokia and ATI are providing much needed direction and a framework to move the whole industry forward,” said ATI vice president and general manager handheld products Paul Dal Santo.
  • BBC’s broadband learning service for children begins a storytelling trial

    BBC’s broadband learning service for children begins a storytelling trial

    MUMBAI: BBC jam (bbc.co.uk/jam) the UK pubcaster’s new broadband learning service for 5 to 16 year olds, has begun a three-month Augmented Reality (AR) storytelling trial.

    AR is a concept which allows users to interact with virtual 3D objects in real time, by using their own hands, rather than a mouse or a keyboard.

    The trial will enable users to see themselves on a computer screen, holding and moving the 3D characters as they explore the specially-created story (bbc.co.uk/jam/trial/ar).

    AR works by mixing the live video from a digital camera with animated 3D models, which are made to appear in the hands of the user.

    This is achieved by special software which tracks patterns, printed on paper, in each video image. AR technology allows learners to literally pick objects off the page and explore them in a highly rewarding way.

    The animated characters are able to interact with other objects and each other; they are even able to walk off the page.

    Building on technology developments that have led to BBC using AR in the broadcast of BBC News and BBC Sport, the BBC is now able to bring the same technologies to the homes and classrooms of the public.

    To be involved in the first trial all users will need is a standard PC, a webcam and a broadband internet connection. Free software access will be provided and users will be asked to fill in two short feedback forms during the three-month pilot.

    This first trial uses a brand-new story by the award-winning children’s author, Rob Lewis. Written especially for five to seven year olds, it supports shared reading, at home or at school.

    During the trials there will be user guides, teacher notes, tutorials and technical support available and a space to share personal experiences with other participants.

    The BBC has been working with the collaboration of an open source community called AR Toolkit, to explore the use of the technology in broadcasting. They would now like to see it used in classroom and homes.

    The team has recently carried out two projects with teachers and pupils in the BBC’s 21st Century Classroom (21CC) – a digital learning centre in central London, dedicated to exploring creative and cutting-edge uses of technology in teaching and learning; they are now looking to gauge the general public’s reaction.

    If the trial is successful then the BBC hopes to launch further subjects for different ages to explore, learn and create. The pubcaster believes that AR has the potential beyond purely learning as a fun and initiative way of interacting with digital content in collaborative ways for both children and adults.

  • US conference to focus on IPTV broadcast technology

    US conference to focus on IPTV broadcast technology

    MUMBAI: American firm IQPC will host a conference focussed on the IPTV industry in the US. IPTV and Beyond: The Future of Broadcast Technology will take place from 18 to 20 April in San Diego, California and will feature best practices from companies that have actually completed successful IPTV deployments.

    The conference aims to help attendees capitalise on IPTV by showing them how to implement it, how to identify the potential for their organization, how to develop a content strategy for their services, and how to understand the economic benefits and challenges related to IPTV.

    Companies that will participate include Accord Media Group, ACN, Advanced Media Strategies, Alcatel, HBO Latin America Group, Motorola, MTV Attendees will learn about the economic benefits of delivering IPTV over RF in FTTP networks as well as how to differentiate IPTV from standard TV to customers.

    Speakers will dwell on the significant platform and technology trends affecting IPTV carriers going forward as well as why content protection is so important and how it can protect revenue for the service provider.

    A report from Infonetics says that IPTV is set to skyrocket to 53.7 million subscribers, $44B in service revenue by 2009. In 2004, service providers worldwide spent $304 million on IPTV-related services infrastructure, growing to almost $4.5 billion in 2009.

    The number of IPTV subscribers worldwide will grow to 53.7 million in 2009. The number of IPTV subscribers in North America will increase 12,985 per cent between 2004 and 2009. According to IP Television Magazine in the 1st quarter 2005 there were: 2.1 million IPTV users worldwide, 150 million broadband users worldwide, more than 240 carriers providing IPTV services, and more than 25 manufacturers producing IP set top boxes.