A new Intel chip designed to provide interactivity features to television content has been backed by Disney. The chip aims to allow users to interact in certain ways with their favorite programs. “It has the potential to make TV viewing more functional and more fun,” Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney-ABC Television group said.
Sweeney said that viewers may be able to access complementary content during the series finale of the hit TV series “Lost”, through use of Intel’s new chip, which is designed to provide Internet applications on televisions. When present in a TV set, its on-board software lets networks, content creators and other developers to add their own applications and features.
“We know fans of Lost have a huge appetite for insight and information into the show,” Sweeney said. “Using the Intel Widget for the series finale could be a great way to give our fans an extraordinary viewing experience for the end of a truly iconic show.” ABC’s Good Morning America was also presented as a viable candidate, where users could cast votes or comment in real-time on stories being broadcast.
“It’s not just about great content and cool technology,” said Sweeney, adding that there are some legal concerns that need to be addressed before such features can be introduced.
Result for: television content
The UK-based company Velocix (formerly known as CacheLogic), has announced that beginning today it will be “offering live Streaming television content with a hybrid P2P live streaming client.”
So far live streaming has been a challenge to content providers as the audience for live streaming events are all trying to access the video simultaneously, putting a strain on resources.
The popular IPTV platform Joost recently made an attempt to live stream some NCAA “March Madness” basketball games via a partnership with CBS but “connections to CBS feeds were reported to have been dropped at inopportune periods.”
Velocix, on the other hand, offers a BitTorrent-compatible hybrid P2P client “which turns each viewer into a sort of peer host for additional viewers.” The streams are then available in Flash format or Windows Media format.
The company also says it has made deals with the BBC and Babelgum as well as Bollywood.tv, and Chic.tv.
Result for: television content
Panasonic has announced that it plans to incorporate brand new, miniature plasma displays in cellphones and other small media devices.
The low-voltage plasma technology will be used in phones using AT&T’s “Mobile TV” service which will “provide full-length television content and sporting events from major US channels, due to launch in May.”
At a press event in the States, Mark Balsama, national marketing manager for Panasonic said: “I have a very exciting announcement to make…”
“For nearly a decade, Panasonic’s engineers have been secretly working on a thin, lightweight low-voltage compact Plasma display … We will be able to incorporate miniature plasma displays into both consumer and business telephone products starting this fall. They will rival OLED displays for brightness, contrast and thinness, and can be manufactured for much less money.”
“We’ll be able to put plasma in Cell phones, business phones, consumer phones, corded phones, cordless phones, and even door intercom monitors and fax machines. We will revolutionise the consumer electronics business, as Panasonic has done many times before.”
Additionally, Robert A. Perry, the new senior VP of Panasonic added: “Our plasma expertise and our large-scale, efficient manufacturing will allow these new small Panasonic plasma screens to replace LCDs in many applications - gasoline pumps, automated teller machines, camera viewfinders, MP3 players, vending machines, automotive displays, digital photo frames, appliance touch screens and even the little pop-up screens on printers”.
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