Tag: US

  • ‘The Good Road’ goes to Harvard University

    ‘The Good Road’ goes to Harvard University

    MUMBAI: Gujarati film The Good Road – India’s official submission for the foreign language film category at the 86th Academy Awards – will be screened at Harvard University’s Cambridge campus in Massachusetts, US.

     

    A production by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), the film will be showcased on 9 December at Harvard University’s South Asia Institute (SAI). The film’s director, Gyan Correa, will interact with the audience at the screening.

     

    It will be an academic event held for the Harvard faculty, students and affiliates who have an avid interest in films, said a statement from NFDC.

     

    The event will begin with Vikram Khanna, a professor at the Harvard Law School currently teaching a course on the Indian entertainment industry, sharing a quick introduction on the film followed by the screening. The event will conclude with an interactive question-and-answer session between Correa and the audience.

  • SES-8 launched successfully; DTH players to benefit

    SES-8 launched successfully; DTH players to benefit

    MUMBAI: When it lifted off with almost perfection from the Cape Canaveral station in Florida in the US, communications satellite SES-8 was a personal victory for the creator of the Tesla vehicle Elon Musk. It was Musk’s company SpaceX’s first successful commercial launch using a Falcon 9 launch vehicle and it helped him break into the duopolistic satellite launch market which is dominated by European firm Arianespace and Russia’s International Launch Services  (which mainly uses Proton rockets). SpaceX has priced its launches in the $55-60 million range.

    While it was a personal landmark for Musk, it was also a victory for the Luxembourg-based SES Satellite management that gleefully watched the $100 million plus 3.1 tonne satellite being hurtled 50,000 miles above the earth into geostationary orbit. Built on a GEO-Star bus by Orbital Sciences, SES-8 is to be co-located with the NSS-6 satellite at 95 degrees east.

    The satellite has 33 Ku-band transponders and is targeting both south Asian and south East Asian clients. “The new satellites will enable improved coverage in fast-growing economies in south Asia and Indo-China,” says a press release from the company.

    In south Asia, it is aimed at providing much needed transmission capacity to India’s DTH and VSat service providers and government. Sources indicated that considering its location at 95 degrees east, one of the potential customers could be India’s first DTH services provider, the Essel group’s Dish TV that is currently beaming off NSS-6 and is also owned by SES. But all the deals will be done through Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Antrix arm.

    SES also plans to launch SES-9 in 2015 at 108.2 degree East with extensive Ku-band capacity to give company to the existing SES-7 satellite in order to provide better DTH broadcasting services in South Asia along with north East Asia and Indonesia.

    Although, it was set for launch in early 2013, technical issues pushed the SES-8 to the end of the year.

  • India fourth in phishing attacks

    India fourth in phishing attacks

    NEW DELHI: India has ranked fourth in phishing attacks in the third quarter of 2013, said RSA, a division of EMC.

    India received three per cent of the total attack volume, said  RSA  in a statement.

    Other countries targeted by phishing attacks were US (53 per cent), Germany (17 per cent), UK (eight per cent) and South Africa (three per cent). In top countries by attacked brands’ India ranked third with seven per cent of the total phishing volume worldwide. The US with 27 per cent and UK with 12 per cent topped the chart.

    RSA identified 46,119 phishing attacks in September globally with a rise in 36 per cent increase as compared to the month of August (33, 861). Phishing attacks in the month of September also mark the highest number of attacks in this quarter while July 2013 saw 45,232 numbers of attacks. Top countries to host these phishing attacks include US (42 per cent), Canada (nine per cent), Germany (five per cent) and UK (four per cent).

    The total amount of losses incurred in third Quarter of 2013 was $1.66 billion.
    Brands in the US, UK, India, and Australia were targeted by almost 50 per cent of phishing attacks in Q3 2013.

    US remained the top country on the chart, targeted with 53 per cent of the total phishing volume in Q3 2013.

    US incurred a loss of over $882 million followed by Germany with $294 million and UK with $133 million.

    Meanwhile, cyber attack is likely to cost the average home user $418 in multimedia files, but a lot of this loss could be prevented if users purchase digital content after checking that the content is secure.

    Kaspersky Lab in a statement that users can lose files in a number of different ways: losing a device, having a device stolen, or falling victim to malicious users.

    According to the B2B International survey, 27 per cent of respondents encountered a cyber attack in the last one year. At the same time, over 60 per cent of users who were victims of malware that either damaged or destroyed data admitted that they had not been able to fully restore their files. During the same period, approximately 14 per cent of users dealt with the loss, theft or crash of their device.

    Respondents in the 16-24 age group would face an average loss of $670, while those in the 25-34 group would incur an average loss of $455; users aged 45 and older would lose an average of $227.

    Residents of China and Russia were likely to incur the highest average losses at $816 and $807 per user, respectively. This figure is considerably lower in Europe ($378) and North America ($342).

    In order to protect digital assets, users not only need to back up their data on a regular basis – they also need to secure their personal devices against malicious attacks designed to steal or extort data. Smartphones and tablets should also have additional tools to help locate a lost device or to mitigate the potential damages of device theft.

  • Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom enjoys success in South Africa

    Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom enjoys success in South Africa

    Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom has got really good reviews on the home turf. The film has won rave reviews from South Africans who flocked to its opening night. Directed by Justin Chadwick and the script written by William Nicholson, the film has managed to make Mandela’s life story a highly watchable film.

    The fact that it is faithful to history is making it even more popular, even in the US, where it had a limited. The film that stars Elba as the South African revolutionary and Naomie Harris as Mandela’s wife, Winnie, an activist in her own right, has grossed $73,000 within two days.

  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire collects $307.7 million in the opening weekend

    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire collects $307.7 million in the opening weekend

    MUMBAI: The Jennifer Lawrence starrer The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has set a new record after topping the weekend movie charts, setting the US and Canadian record for November ticket sales and hauling in a huge $ 307.7 million around the world. Catching Fire collected an estimated $ 161.1 million from Thursday night through Sunday in the United States and Canada, a first for the month of November.

     

    Playing in 65 markets around the world, the sequel to the hit The Hunger Games also grabbed $ 146.6 million in foreign sales through Sunday, reports distributor Lions Gate Entertainment.

     

    Fans of the franchise poured in large numbers to watch Jennifer Lawrence portray the heroine Katniss Everdeen, of Suzanne Collins’ young adult series, the skilled archer who becomes a symbol of hope for the oppressed citizen of the fictional country of Panem.

     

    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins with Katniss returning home after winning the 74th Hunger Games along with Peeta. However, it’s not over for them as the devious Capitol prepares for the 75th Annual Hunger Games – The Quarter Quell. As the victors get ready to participate in the Capitol’s latest shenanigans, elsewhere in the districts a rebellion is brewing – the inhabitants are growing more agitated everyday with the absolute tyranny of the Capitol.

     

    The first film of the series The Hunger Games earned $ 691.2 million worldwide in 2012.

     

    After the critical success worldwide, the movie is all set to release in India on 6 December, 2013 in more than 600 screens nationwide in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
     

  • Twitter, Facebook are popular news sources in the US: Pew study

    Twitter, Facebook are popular news sources in the US: Pew study

    MUMBAI: With the world slowly transitioning into digital, modes of consumption are also witnessing a change. According to the latest study by the Pew research centre conducted on people above 18 years of age, it was observed that 30 per cent of Facebook users use it for news while eight per cent of Twitter users consume news from it.

     

    Most of this consumption is coming from mobile devices with Twitter outpacing Facebook by 21 per cent with 85 per cent consumption from mobile devices. At the same time, Twitter users are turning out to be young audiences between 18 to 29 years. The study also showed that 84 per cent of US adults are not using Twitter.

     

    Twitter news consumers also tend to be more educated with nearly 40 per cent holding a bachelors degree while Facebook news consumers are 30 per cent.

  • Oogwave Brings Zero Email Initiative to India

    Oogwave Brings Zero Email Initiative to India

    MUMBAI: Thierry Breton, Chief Executive of Atos, launched the ‘zero email initiative’ in 2011. He advocated reducing internal emails by using improved communication applications and social media tools. Similarly, Ryan Holmes, chief executive of HootSuite, a social media management toolset described emails as “new pony express” and “an unproductively tool”. There is growing concern about emails reducing workplace productivity and Oogwave aims to finally address this problem in India.

    Oogwave, an innovative new startup has taken up the mantle of eradicating the old world method of corporate emails. They have created a cloud based platform for businesses to share and communicate without emails. It helps you organize, create and share data with colleagues and clients. The data is universally accessible across all devices and the Oogwave app is available on iOS and android.

    It has been estimated that managers spend between 5 to 20 hours a week just reading and writing emails. Some of the major productivity issues with emails are:-

    · E-mails frequently lead to information overload

     

    · Employees spend unnecessary time on routine communications like filtering incoming information and correspondence

     

    · Email storage is a nightmare for CIOs/IT managers, who need to invest in additional storage capacity and reduplication technology

    Commenting on the platform, Mr. Gaurav Jain, CEO, Oogwave said – “In the last 10 years, there’s been a dramatic shift in the way companies do business. All our business information is digitalized – easy to store, share and update. We work in a knowledge economy with a social media literate workforce. The young knowledge workers want to do meaningful work. We at Oogwave understand the change and believe that enterprise social networks are a far better way of encouraging collaboration and freeing businesses from the restraints of overflowing inboxes.”

    The platform has already seen huge adoption in the US, the UK, Eastern Europe and South Africa, among other countries. Over 3,400 companies are using Oogwave globally. Oogwave is expecting 3 fold growth in its customer base over 10,000 in next 15 months.

    About users of the platform, 72 per cent of customers are from professional services — knowledge-based companies where content and information is the inventory. Most of the customers use Oogwave for internal communication and to store and share content while around 22 per cent are using team task management too.

    The company has attracted funding from TLab, a division of Times Internet Ltd. It is planning to go for another round of fund raising in the next eight months to fuel growth plans.

  • John Oliver to host International Emmy Awards gala in New York

    John Oliver to host International Emmy Awards gala in New York

    MUMBAI: The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has got comedian/writer John Oliver on board to host the 41st International Emmy Awards Gala, on 25 November at the Hilton New York Hotel.

     

    The man who made his mark as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and sat in for him in the hosting chair over the summer, will host the event for the first time.

     

    “We’re delighted to have John Oliver and his unique comedic talent headlining our Gala this year,” said International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences president and CEO Bruce L. Paisner. “We are delighted John is following up his very successful hosting of the Daily Show with the International Emmys.”

     

    After being a writer and correspondent for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart since 2006, Oliver filled in Stewart’s seat as guest host this summer for two months. Oliver has been nominated as a writer for both Emmys and Writers Guild Awards and has won the Breakout Award at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. His most recent credits also include hosting four seasons of his own stand up series for Comedy Central, John Oliver’s New York Stand Up Show. Along with Andy Zaltzman, he also writes and hosts the weekly podcast The Bugle.

     

    Over 1,000 international media and entertainment executives convene on New York each year for the International Emmy Awards Gala. In addition to the presentation of Emmy Awards for programming, the Academy will present two special awards.

     

    Film and television creator/writer/director J.J. Abrams will come to New York to receive the 2013 International Emmy Founders Award. RTL Group Co-CEO and RTL CEO Germany Anke Schäferkordt will receive the 2013 International Emmy Directorate Award.

     

    This year’s Gala partners are: Phoenix Satellite Television, TV Globo, Microsoft, Dori Media Group, Ernst & Young, Deluxe, Mipcom, Sofitel Luxury Hotels and Variety.

  • Twitter: Strong IPO, followed by even stronger opening

    Twitter: Strong IPO, followed by even stronger opening

    MUMBAI: It began with a tweet on its twitter handle which stated: “We just priced our IPO.” Attached with the tweet was a screen shot of the offering announcement.

     

    And by the time Wednesday 6 November ended, the social networking site that has become a phenomenon across the globe had managed to raise $2.09 billion from its IPO, making it the seventh-largest US tech IPO ever, just ahead of Google, which raised $1.92 billion in its 2004 stock market debut, according to some estimates.

     

    But there was more in store for stockmarket observers and investors as trading began on Thursday morning. The Twitter share – under the TWTR ticker – spurted 90 plus per cent in value as it soared to $45 per share during early trades and then to a high of $50. This took up the valuation of the firm to $25 billion or 32 billion or so, at the time of writing.

     

    Yesterday’s $26 price valued the microblogging service at $18.34 billion, on a fully diluted basis. That is 16 to 17 times forecast 2014 sales, a premium to rivals including Facebook, LinkedIn and Yelp, according to some analysts.

     

    Twitter set an early price range of $17 to $20 for its IPO, which was considered cautious. But there was strong interest from investors, and the company was selling just 70 million of its 545 million shares, leaving an imbalance between supply and demand. That allowed the company and its bankers, led by Goldman Sachs’ Anthony Noto, to raise the range to $23 to $25 and then pick a final price above that.

     

    Analysts felt that the price should have been in the $21 range but the final pricing zipped past that. Other analyst and stock watchers had predicted that the share would go past the $40 market during day one’s trading. The IPO was as much as 30 times over-subscribed.

     

    While Twitter has a broad and powerful influence, its service is sometimes tricky to understand and use, which has reportedly limited the company’s growth. Twitter has about 230 million users, including heads of state and celebrities, while Facebook has more than one billion.

     

    However, Twitter lost $65 million in the latest quarter.

     

    Twitter is expected to generate $1.24 billion in sales in 2015, according to some projections. Its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margins will be roughly 6.5 per cent this year and 8.4 per cent in 2014, according to IPO underwriter forecasts that were shared with investors. In 2015, margins may jump to about 16 per cent, the estimates suggest.

     

    During an interview given to CNBC, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is believed to have said that investors should not be concerned about the company’s current lack of profits, since its part of a plan to invest for the long term.

     

    It looks like the investment community and public is buying his story for now – at least.

  • FremantleMedia acquires majority stake in Miso Film

    FremantleMedia acquires majority stake in Miso Film

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia has signed a deal to acquire a majority stake in Miso Film, a leading Danish scripted production company. Under the deal – financial terms of which are not disclosed – FremantleMedia will have a 51 per cent holding with the opportunity to acquire the remaining shareholding in the future.

    Founded in 2004 by the producer team Jonas Allen and Peter Bose, Miso Film has established itself as a preeminent Scandinavian production company focused on high end prime-time TV series and films for the Scandinavian and larger European markets.

    FremantleMedia CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz commented: “This is an important milestone in building our prime time script business and strengthening our position in the Scandinavian market. Jonas and Peter’s talent and strong track record in producing high end drama, together with their current slate, makes Miso Film a perfect fit for FremantleMedia and complements our existing high end scripted business in the US, Germany and Australia.”

    Miso Film founders Jonas Allen and Peter Bose said: “Partnering with FremantleMedia is an important step forward in Miso Film’s growth strategy. We strongly believe that FremantleMedia will be a key driver in Miso Film’s further expansion in the Scandinavian market and release the full potential of the company’s productions internationally.”

    Miso Film has had incredible success with its prime-time scripted series across Scandinavia, most recently launching Dicte on TV2 Denmark, TV4 Sweden and TV2 Norway to great ratings success, with a second season of the series already in production. In addition, crime thriller Those Who Kill has been picked up by A&E Networks for a US remake. Miso Film is currently producing the epic war drama TV series and film 1864, which is the largest production ever in Denmark with co-production support from some of the largest Scandinavian broadcasters including Denmarks Radio, TV2 Norge and TV4 Sweden.

    On the big screen, Miso Film has produced the feature-length Danish thriller The Candidate; co-produced the Norwegian World War II resistance drama Max Manus – the biggest box-office success ever in Norway with 1.2 million admissions – and the English language feature film Ginger and Rosa. Their latest feature film Danny’s Doomsday is currently in post-production and will be ready for theatrical release in fall 2014.