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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
ReplayTV exits the PVR business
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsBroadcom is buying in while ReplayTV gets out. The digital video recorder manufacturer has instead decided to license its technology to cable providers and other TV related companies. Those companies can then use the technology to offer digital video recording and VOD services. ReplayTV said it is facing intense competition from other PVR makers, like TiVo and Microsoft's Ultimate TV.
Comcast eyes Wink
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsWink has been cherry-picked by Comcast, the third largest cable operator, to deliver Wink Enhanced Broadcasting to all of Comcast's 1.5 million digital households over the next three years. Comcast customers will also use the Wink Response Network. Wink iTV lets subscribers interact with programming and ads while they continue to watch TV.
Reuters provides content for OpenTV
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsOpenTV has signed Reuters to provide original news content for OpenTV's iTV applications. OpenTV customers will receive Reuter's Online Reports featuring national, international, entertainment, business and sports news. The reports will also link to pictures and graphics and be delivered as a multimedia package in NewsML via the Internet.
One touch does it all
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsInterlink Electronics and PowerTV have hooked up at the Western Show, Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, to demo Interlinks IntuiTouch broadband remote interface technologies - in other words, a new breed of remote control. The technology features a pad centric user interface that enables one touch programming control for guides and on-screen menus, gesture control of entertainment devices and text entry ...
Exploring S-A's interactive experience
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsScientific-Atlantas Explorer set-tops have been expanded and will be showcased live at the Western Show, Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, booth 1639. The set-tops are customized for all tiers of digital TV, including the ability to operate from a single-based digital network. This gives cable ops the advantage of deploying a variety of set-tops in a single system and delivering various levels of iTV ser...
TI sees huge jump in its modem chip market share
November 26, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsIn less than a year and a half in the cable modem business, Texas Instruments has cornered 30 percent of the market for data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) chips. TI estimates it will deliver three million of the nearly 10 million total units expected to ship this year, increasing TI's market share by 600 percent from 1999.
Why wait? iTV is already here.
November 26, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsLiberty Livewire, ACTV, Motorola, OpenTV and Universal Electronics have joined forces to demonstrate existing technology that marries television and the Internet into an interactive television experience. The existing technology means that consumers can enjoy the benefits now without waiting for the deployment of advanced technology.
Agilent buys its own OSS company
November 26, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsAgilent is on a roll. After beating analyst forecasts for fourth quarter earnings, the company has snapped up operations-support-system (OSS) software maker Objective Systems Integrators for about $665 million. Shares in Agilent, a spin-off from Hewlett-Packard Co., closed Friday's shortened session up to $50.
Have a Coke and a smi…polar bear
November 21, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsWhile the family is gathered around the TV this holiday season, watching the REAL Grinch, keep an eye out for the cheery Coke commercials with the amiable polar bear twins. Subscribers with a standards-based iTV enhanced set-top box will be able to interact with the advertising campaign and order a free polar bear stuffed animal from Coke, while supplies last.
Ordering HBO online
November 21, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsSubscribers/surfers/hermits in Memphis just got lucky. Now they can order all their HBO programming online, see it delivered within minutes and never have to talk to anyone. Subscribers log onto the HBO or Time Warner Cable of Memphis sites and enter their zip codes. They then plug in their choices and can even choose to upgrade their HBO service package.
S-A launches upgrade
November 21, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsRelease 1.4 is here! Maybe not as highly anticipated as Sony Play Station 2, but full of promise, Scientific-Atlanta 's Transmission Network Control System 1.4 software will give cable operators iTV support and monitor the systems that can increase subscriber satisfaction and operator revenues. Operators will be able to recognize, troubleshoot and correct problems in their cable networks, possi...
VNI goes glam
November 21, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsVideo Networks (VNI) is shedding its old image for a new Hollywood persona. The digital media applications provider has opened an L.A. office and will be changing its name to Pathfire. The company has opened this office close to the entertainment industry to create digital syndication and digital cinema.
Have a Coke and a smi…polar bear(2)
November 21, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsWhile the family is gathered around the TV this holiday season, watching the REAL Grinch, keep an eye out for the cheery Coke commercials with the amiable polar bear twins. Subscribers with a standards-based iTV enhanced set-top box will be able to interact with the advertising campaign and order a free polar bear stuffed animal from Coke, while supplies last.
It's a dirty job…
November 20, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | Comments…make the robot do it. Yet another plus of modern technology: when it comes time to lay fiber-optic cable in big city sewers, send in a machine without a nose, nor enhanced by iSmell. Canadian-based Stream Intelligent Networks has developed a specialized robotic technology, called STAR, (Sewage Telecommunications Access by Robot), to install high-speed fiber-optic networks in both storm s...
PPV time-shift
November 20, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsConcurrent Computer 's personal video technology (PVC) has delivered the first pay-per-view events as VOD. Time Warner's Hawaii-based Oceanic Cable subs tuned in two championship boxing fights whenever they wanted, not when the network dictated they would be shown. A real plus for the time zone the islands are in.
