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BBC iPlayer central to 2012 Olympics

By Dean • Feb 24th, 2011 • Category: Industry News
BBC iPlayer Nokia N95
Photo: Neil Boothman / Flickr

The BBC has revealed that it plans to use the iPlayer in conjunction with television broadcasts so that as much of the Olympics as possible is covered. The broadcaster has said that with the thousands of hours of footage over the games, there’ll be certain events that won’t be televised at all, but will make their way to the iPlayer for viewing from your PC, TV and supported mobile devices.

Daniel Danker

BBC’s general manger of future media and technology, Daniel Danker, revealed the 2012 Olympic iPlayer plans when he was speaking at Samsung’s European Forum, held in Budapest. He prefaced the iPlayer plans, saying: ‘the world of applications gets exciting when you combine them with TV.’

He continued, saying: ‘The 2012 Olympics will mean that we will have more content available than we can broadcast. So, the combination of on demand and TV is the only way we will be able to get all the content to consumers’.

Leave no one out

This means those of you who love fringe Olympic Sports like bowls and archery won’t be left out. You’ll get to see all your content on your iPlayer. Danker realises this, saying that 2012 Olympics iPlayer hookup will allow folks to control their own Olympic viewing experience.

A few relevant thoughts

Considering Daniel Danker was speaking at a Samsung event, it should come as no surprise that he referenced the technology – televisions – that the broadcaster relies on to reach consumers. He says that the broadcaster is exciting about new-age television, saying: ‘Smart TV is a liberating platform and we are now building to HTML, so we can express our programmes in new ways’. He further noted that: ‘This brings together the iPlayer and TV which is liberating’.

We’re excited about the 2012 Olympics iPlayer strategy the BBC is pursuing. What’s the value in building such a brilliant platform if you are not going to leverage it, and clearly this is the attitude the BBC itself shares.

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HTC Touch Viva: The Successful Touch Model Continued

By Jenny • Sep 29th, 2008 • Category: HTC

HTC remains one of the major heavyweights in the smartphone sector, and the HTC Touch series has played a major role in this success. Never content to rest on their laurels, the company continues to churn out new and more advanced versions of the HTC Touch; the latest of which is the HTC Touch Viva. This smartphone offers only marginal design and specifications changes from its predecessor, although the mobile’s entire interface has been completely redone.

The Via was introduced by the company to the world along with two other newbies, the HTC Touch 3G and HTC Touch HD; and the mobile shares many similarities with its two contemporaries. For instance, the Viva supports GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 networks, GPRS, EDGE, WLAN and Bluetooth with A2DP. However, the Viva is less powerful than the Touch HD the with its 201 MHz TI OMAP 850 processor, 128MB RAM and 256MB ROM; but still on par with smartphones like the HTC Touch P3450. The Viva is also rather compact with dimensions of 104.5 x 59 x 15.8 mm and a weight of only 110 grams. Ergonomically the Viva is also an excellent handheld gadget with its easy navigation and firm hold.

Like all HTC Touch models, the Viva offers a stunning TFT touch screen. The decent sized 2.8 inch (240 x 320 pixels) display offers stunning images and in-depth clarity. Just like other HTC Touch smartphones, the Viva is optimised for managing both business and entertainment on the go. It comes bundled with lots of essential applications such as Email, Instant Messaging, text messaging, HTML (PocketIE) browser, the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system, games, TouchFLO finger swipe navigation, Handwriting recognition, 5-way navigation, Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF viewer), Java MIDP 2.0, Voice memo and more. Not to forget, the Viva is also capable of playing MP3s for entertainment purposes should one desire a break from they busy work schedule. Furthermore, the smartphone comes equipped with a 2 megapixels integrated camera to allow you to capture those happy moments with utmost clarity in no time.

Tags for this article: touch, smartphone




The Versatile and Multi-talented HTC P4550

By Alexis • Sep 1st, 2008 • Category: HTC

HTC has long been a major player in the smartphone market and consistently produces models that are at the technological forefront. Now it is time to move your eyes towards the HTC P4550, which fits the company’s blueprint of success perfectly.

This smartphone is an amazing communication device offering a wide array of functions, without taking anything away from style. Ideal for high quality image capturers, this mobile has a built-in 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus technology, thereby delivering crisp and clear photographs. Also known as the HTC TyTNII, another one of the device’s notable attributes is the support for both 2G (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and 3G (HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100) networks. Its high resolution TFT screen ensures you will have a clear and vibrant display with vivid colours.

At its core, the HTC P4550 is powered by Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. To offer you a smooth and uninterrupted browsing experience, a Qualcomm MSM7200 400 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM have all been embedded into the device’s logic board. Other essential features include support for text messages, email, Instant Messaging, Internet surfing via WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (PocketIE) mobile web browser. Aside from these numerous communication mediums, the smartphone also comes with assorted extras, ranging from a GPS receiver to ensure you never get lost, to handwriting recognition technology to allow you to turn your written notes into digital text. Indeed, the HTC P4550 is every bit the perfect smartphone for handling a wide variety of tasks.

Tags for this article: mobile, smartphone, microsoft