Webmania: Small screen Olympics
Updated: Sun Feb. 12 2006 1:24:11 PM
CTV.ca News Staff
While television networks are focused on high-definition broadcasts of the Winter Olympics for very big screens, other companies see a bright future broadcasting tiny pictures on mobile devices.
Big event on a small screen
Television is coming to a cellular telephone near you in the near future. And Bell is trying to make it happen sooner by providing daily Olympic content from Turin through the Internet and video-enabled cell phones.
"(It is) the ability to hone in on the sport that most interests you," Bell's Brad Fisher says.
Through the Sympatico MSN website subscribers can connect to live coverage of the games and on-demand content from the games such as interviews with medal winners.
Bell Mobility customers get other exclusives like hourly video highlight packages 18 times a day. Subscribers with MobiTV will even be able to view broadcast coverage on their phones.
Mobile revolution
Five wireless and entertainment companies are doing their best to make the live mobile video revolution happen sooner.
The Mobile DTV Alliance is a group of heavyweight tech companies who are joining forces to promote standards for broadcast television on mobile devices.
The group includes:
The alliance is developing, what they call, DVB-H, or Digital Video Broadcast Handheld. It is a standard for delivering video that is currently being used by 50 companies.
Expanding blogosphere
The Blog monitoring giant Technorati says the blogosphere is growing at an astounding rate.
The organization's website says it is "currently tracking 27.6 million blog sites and 2 billion links." That is nearly 8 million more than October's total.
To put it in perspective, Technorati says a new blog is created every second and 75,000 new sites appear every day.
More maps
Need to find a map? The Internet now has another on-line choice for finding directions and even seeing detailed aerial photos.
Microsoft's Live Local was formerly known as Virtual Earth. The new beta version is an enhancement that "includes an incredible amount of new images, enhanced features, and new way to find what you're looking for," the website says.
Live Local is Microsoft's answer to the already popular.
However, Live Local only covers the U.S. There is not much Canadian detail available yet.
Wiring solutions
A Canadian invention is tackling the tangled mess of wires found behind most computers.
The Safe Cord Cabinet organizes power cords, USB and network cables and more in one stylish cabinet.
