If you're a gamer, there's no better time than now!
Video search specialists Blinkx will roll out a web search tool today that aggregates all the British TV shows legally available free online. Blinkx Remote indexes all the current shows from the broadband catch-up services including the BBC iPlayer, Channel 4's 4OD, ITV.com and Demand Five, allowing users to sort by genre and title or through a search field.
Suranga Chandratillake, the Blinkx chief executive, said the service was plugging a gap between universal search and the rapid growth of web TV services.
"We constantly monitor video on the web to see what content people are finding and indexing, and what content people are looking for on a daily basis," Chandratillake said.
"One trend we spotted in both the UK and US is the growth of free online, full-length TV shows - in the UK that is driven by the iPlayer and in the US by Hulu.
"With normal search the results would be mixed up with clips, or videos people had made about shows and put on YouTube," he added.
Chandratillake said that Blinkx wanted to keep its Remote search tool as simple as possible to use and so it will only index streamed content rather than downloads or subscription services with complex sign-up procedures.
Blinkx does not have partnerships deals with broadcasters to operate the service, but uses publicly available programme data in the same way Google News indexes information from news sites.
The service indexes around 1,000 UK shows and between 300 and 400 from the US, although some US broadcasters, including CBS, allow their programmes to be viewed online in the UK. "There is only going to be more and more TV on the web, but people don't often know what it out there," Chandratillake said. He added that he would not rule out introducing a second tier of paid-for services at a later stage, adding that Blinkx wanted to introduce a widget version of Remote so that users can customise listings around their favourite programmes and embed listings on their own site or social network profile.
Mobile and online social networking portal Indyarocks.com has announced an online short film festival which amongst other categories, would include an animation and mobile content category as well.
The festival will commence on 18 October 2007 and will conclude on 15 December 2007. Nikhil Acharya, a well known and upcoming short film maker, will be the festival director.
The award categories are divided into two sections, namely, The Viewers choice Awards and The Jury Awards. "In order to to nominate a particular film for the viewer‘s Choice Awards, those interested can log onto Indyarocks and vote for the films that have been uploaded. following the ballot system, the movie which garners the highest number of votes would be crowned as the winner," shared Manyam. "While on the other hand for the Jury Awards, the entries would be judged by the jury members, whose names are yet to be announced," added Manyam.
Dr. Vishnu, Head of Strategy, Indyarocks, said "There is a huge amount of digital content created in the offline world and it usually never gets the kind of audience it deserves. This film festival will give an opportunity to everyone to display their creativity not only to their family and friends but to a whole new audience across the world."
Founded in June ‘07 by Kalyan Manyam and Dr. Vishnu, Indyarocks is a product of PhoneLinx Communications, a new age Mobile Lifestyle solutions company based out of San Jose, California and Hyderabad.
Festival Rules
- The Film should be 1-10 minutes in duration.
- The Film can be shot on any format, including mobile phones.
- You can submit more than one short film for the IFEST.
- The Film must be uploaded on Indyarocks or sent on DVD by November 18th, 07 to the address below.
Nikhil Acharya, IFEST Director
186, Road no: 8,
Dhanalaksmi Colony, Mahendra Hills,
Secunderabad-500026, INDIA.
nikhil@indyarocks.com
* Please note, before sending your creation by DVD you must create an Indyarocks account and mention the login ID on your DVD.
- If the film is not in English, it MUST have English subtitles.
- All copyrights must be owned by the Producer. Indyarocks is not liable for any copyright violations.
- The Film must not contain any obscene language, hate content and nudity.
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), announced on 18 July ‘07 the redesigned company web site, www.station.com, will host more than twenty free games, a new look and improved functionality. Station.com is the user-friendly main portal for SOE’s games, communities and information. The newly revamped site will host free trials of the majority of SOE’s MMOs; casual games such as PopCap’s Bejeweled® 2, Jeopardy! ® and Wheel of Fortune®; and mobile games such as Q*Bert™, Snoop Dogg Cruisin’, and the recently released God of War™: Betrayal. In addition, the Station Pass has transitioned into a free online game service available to all players.
“As SOE continues to grow its business and acquire a wider variety of titles, it was only appropriate that the Station.com website be redesigned to offer a more user-friendly and immersive experience to our diverse player base,” said Torrie Dorrell, SVP Global Sales & Marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. “Players from around the world will be able to obtain news and information surrounding upcoming and live games, visit community sites, download a casual game or two and even check out SOE’s latest offerings for the PLAYSTATION® Store. The site is launching simultaneously in English, French, German and Japanese, with plans to role out more languages, services and games in the coming months.”
Players can obtain a Station.com account for free by simply registering on the homepage. From there they will have access to free online games and trials of SOE’s live games in addition to access to community discussion forums, podcasts and more.
Simultaneously, the Station Pass games have become free. The Station Pass consisted of the full versions of the three casual, online action-based strategy games: Tanarus®, Cosmic Rift™ Online and Infantry Online™. Each of these games has consistently maintained a steady fanbase for the more than five years they have been live, and this transition to a free service will allow new and current players to experience these titles.
