Business News Holding

Tag: hardware-and-technology

  • Canon Upgrades High-End HD Camcorders


    Canon is to launch a pair of updates to its pro HDV tape camcorders in December.

    The XH A1S and XH G1S have had their 20X zoom lenses upgraded, with improvements to focus, irising and zoom.

    They are also to get upgraded camera firmware that allows users to adjust the zooming speed during pull-in or pull-out shots.

    Audio has also been improved overall, including two XLR inputs at varying sensitivity and the ability to record with external and built-in mics at the same time.

    The two cameras continue to share long-range optical image stabilization, an SDHC card slot for sharing footage, extreme customization of white balance and other settings to generate particular effects.

    There is also the option of shooting in film-grade 24FPS progressive, 30FPS or a 60FPS interlaced mode. An optional hard drive connection allows for longer shooting than normally possible on HDV tape.

    Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon USA, said HDV tape format continues to be the most cost-effective medium for high-quality high definition video capture and storage.

    "With the new XH A1S and XH G1S HD camcorders, professional user-requested refinements have been incorporated to provide even easier on-camera usability and operation," he said.

    The XH A1S is designed for serious amateurs or entry-level professionals who need only standard input and output and should be available in late December for USD $3,999.

    The G1S, which will go on sales at USD $6,999, adds HD- and SD-SDI output, timecode input and output, as well as Genlock sync input for multi-camera shooting.

  • JAJAH Available For T-Mobile G1


    JAJAH has confirmed the availability of its service for owners of the newly released T-Mobile G1 Google Android phone.

    The announcement came as the IP communications company was named in the annual FierceVoIP "Fierce 15" list.

    Compiled by the editors of FierceVoIP, the list identifies the best-performing companies in the sector, following a review of hundreds of organizations.

    JAJAH has continued increasing its consumer business this year, while rolling out its JAJAH Managed Services platform for cable, telco and Internet companies.

    Earlier this year the company released its data-only EM-ONE ultra mobile device released in Japan, and JAJAH Babel, the world’s first free, real-time, English-Chinese translation phone-in service.

    Daniel Mattes, JAJAH’s co-founder, said its platform drives its own consumer business as well as many of the world’s most popular VoIP services, such as Yahoo! and Gizmo5.

    JAJAH’s is offering users of the G1 phone have a number of options for making a JAJAH call:

    • Option 1) JAJAH Mobile Web: On your mobile browser go to mobile.jajah.com, then type in the number you want to call or select the number in your JAJAH address book and your call will be connected. No WiFi or broadband connection required.
    • Option 2) JAJAH Direct: JAJAH provides a local number for each of your international contacts. Save these numbers to your G1 address book and dial them directly.

  • Future SIM Cards Capable of Mass Audio and Video Storage


    Infineon Technologies and Micron Technology have announced a joint-venture to develop high-density subscriber identity module (HD-SIM) cards with a capacity greater than 128MB.

    HD-SIMs combine high density with improved security functionality, which the firms say enables operators to offer graphically-rich, value-added services such as mobile banking and contactless mobile ticketing.

    Operators are also able to securely update or delete applications through their wireless network while new applications, services and settings can be downloaded or pushed to the HD-SIM at any time.

    Working in close technical collaboration, both companies are leveraging their respective expertise to architect modular chip solutions that combine an Infineon security microcontroller with Micron’s NAND flash memory with features designed specifically for HD-SIM applications.

    Micron will manufacture the NAND on 50-nanometer (nm) and 34-nm process technology.

    Dr. Helmut Gassel, vice president and general manager of the Chip Card and Security division at Infineon Technologies, said: "Infineon envisions a new role of future SIM cards that will be capable of audio and video mass content storage and even Flash card replacement."

    Prototypes are expected to be available in the autumn of 2009 and will be sold in die form or in a chip card IC package.

  • Service Offers Camcorder Storage Solution


    The Photo Archival Company has launched a new archiving service that stores digital camcorder footage to Blu-ray Disc or DVD.

    Charles Laughlin, president and founder of The Photo Archival Company, said it would unlock millions of hours of video trapped inside today’s generation of no-tape camcorders that record to internal hard drive, external USB hard drive or flash memory.

    He said video footage could be preserved to produce long-lasting DVDs or Blu-ray Discs.

    "The recurring theme from a typical customer is that it is impractical for them to archive their digital footage first hand," he said.

    "For the average household, it can be a daunting task to spend the necessary time to tend to the successful creation of several DVDs or Blu-ray Discs just to continue filming."

  • DIGITALK Now Certified "XConnect-Ready"


    XConnect, the world’s largest provider of VoIP federation peering services, has announced that the DIGITALK SIP Application Server has been certified XConnect-Ready.

    To obtain the certification the server had to complete interoperability testing based on SIP signaling and ENUM queries with XConnect Federations.

    Eli Katz, XConnect CEO, said the impact for customers would be to make VoIP federation-based routing quick, simple and easy.

    He said the certification ensures DIGITALK customers, such as Telfort, BT, and Cable & Wireless, will be able to rapidly connect to XConnect

    Peering Federations to reduce the costs of terminating VoIP calls to millions of telephone numbers in the XConnect registry.

    It will also protect their networks from spam-over-Internet-telephony (SPIT) attacks and reliably deliver new IP communications services across disparate and often separate mobile, wireline and IP based telephony networks.

    Justin Norris, managing director of DIGITALK, said the XConnect Ready certification is another way of ensuring that DIGITALK solutions enable integrated capabilities for the future.

    "The voice industry is moving towards Peering Federations that integrate peering and ENUM registry services to increase the efficiency of interconnection and routing, leverage new approaches to LNP, and deliver enhanced IP Communications services on more calls to their customers," he said.

    XConnect enables multi-media communication, reduces capex and opex and enhances call quality for service providers via its multi-lateral XConnect Alliance, DirectRoute and Private Federations services.

    XConnect Federations are carrier-neutral peering environments that deliver complete signaling interoperability, intelligent ENUM Registry services, and VoIP security for the interconnection of XConnect Members.

    These include voice over broadband providers, MSOs, and PTTs. The XConnect Ready Partner Program is an ecosystem of vendors and solution providers dedicated to facilitate service provider peering.

  • AudioCodes Announces HD VoIP Strategy


    AudioCodes has launched new high definition VoIP technology – VoIPerfectHD – that it believes delivers higher voice clarity, better intelligibility and richer sound.

    The company says that it also significantly improves a user’s experience by doubling the audible voice spectrum.

    It expects the introduction of HD VoIP to extend its reach to both enterprises and service providers, allowing entry into new market segments which will benefit from enhanced clarity and better speech intelligibility.

    Among key segments expected to benefit from this new introduction are banks, government, military, health, telemedicine and education.

    AudioCodes’ HD VoIP is designed to enable enterprises to improve worker collaboration resulting in higher productivity and enhanced customer service quality.

    Service providers are expected to benefit from differentiating their VoIP offering and services by increasing call length and having a higher Average Revenue per User.

    In addition, application providers and ISVs are capable of effortlessly enhancing their solutions in order to meet stringent voice quality standards.

    AudioCodes plans to embed HD VoIP across its product portfolio throughout 2009.

    AudioCodes says its new product is aimed at what it believes is VoIP’s general failed to deliver ‘better-than-PSTN’ quality mainly due to its 3.4 kHz bandwidth limitation connected with the use of legacy narrowband speech codecs in VoIP networks.

    A statement from the company said that, with the advent and growing spread of IP broadband networks, wideband speech codecs which encode 7.1 kHz of the voice spectrum can now be effectively deployed to double the bandwidth and improve everyday voice communication quality to a level similar to that of conference room quality and/or FM radio.

    "AudioCodes has been working over the past few years and increasingly in 2008 to implement a group of standards-based wideband speech codecs including G.722, AMR-WB, Microsoft RTAudio and others for use in wireline, wireless, cable, enterprise and internet applications with the goal of leading the transition towards increased use of HD VoIP in evolving voice communication networks," the statement said.

    AudioCodes VoIPerfectHD implementation of HD VoIP relies primarily on AudioCodes leadership in DSP, voice coding and voice processing technologies, and their application to VoIP communications and conferencing.

    It implementation as a unified infrastructure for all AudioCodes’ products allows the offering of HD VoIP capabilities and benefits across all of its products ranging from Multi-Service Business Gateways, Media Servers, Media Gateways and DSP chips to IP Phones.

  • Will Apple Challenge iPhone Clone?


    Meizu is planning to launch its M8 smartphone in various markets around the world before Christmas.

    The Chinese-made touchscreen handset bears a striking resemblance to the iPhone.

    Quite what Apple’s response will be is uncertain.

    So far, the US company hasn’t acted against perceived copyright violations in China.

    It has, however, frequently filed lawsuits and tried to prevent sales of companies with imitative designs in countries with stricter copyright laws.

    Meizu is now saying it will launch its device in China before the end of the month before rolling it out to India and then Europe, Hong Kong and the US, possibly by Christmas.

    According to Meizu CEO, J.Wong, the company is waiting for a license for the phone from the Chinese government but will release a test version to users there even if the license isn’t issued by the end of the month.

    The M8 is based on a heavily modified Windows Mobile interface with numerous references to Apple’s cellphone, including a Safari-like web browser front end, an iPod-like media player and a similar overall look.

    Where it differs is the three-megapixel camera and FM radio at the expense of 3G data, using EDGE instead when away from Wi-Fi.

    Prices for the M8 have been reported as USD $348 for an 8GB version without subsidies and USD $421 for a 16GB model.

  • Handshake App Simplifies iPhone Contact Passing


    Passing your contact entry to other iPhone users just got a whole lot easier thanks to a new app called Handshake.

    The free app, which also runs on the iPod Touch, allows contact information and photos to be exchanged with another user nearby.

    Handshake works by using Core Location coupled with other technologies to send address book cards over the air.

    Straightforward to use, Handshake sends data over WiFi, 3G, and EDGE connections.

    The iPhones don’t connect directly to each other – instead the connection goes via Handshake’s server, so it only works on the iPod Touch when there’s good Wi-Fi.

    When first launched, it will look for the address book card – or the user to specify a card if that can’t be located.

    Handshake then connects to its servers and the user’s card, contact’s card or a picture can be sent by selecting one of the main three buttons.

    The app also allows the default card to be changed by choosing the wrench in the top-right corner of the application and hitting the blue arrow under "My Card".

    Available from the iTunes Store it comes in two versions: free or the ad-free paid option. An updated version is due out any day.

  • WD Brings Simplicity To Streaming


    Storage expert Western Digital has launched a standalone media box that streams content from your USB drive.

    Rather than hooking your computer to your HDTV and streaming video and other multimedia files, the WD TV HD Media Player accepts content from a separate WD portable backup drive.

    The media player has two USB ports that will also connect to flash drives and flip video players, and connects to your HDTV via an HDMI cable.

    It can playback virtually any type of multimedia file including most picture formats and H.264, DivX, and MPEG-2 video in 1080p resolution.

    The media player costs USD$129, but compatible storage devices are sold separately.

    As friendly to use as it is, WD’s new product is entering a market which is attracting increasing attention.

    Various companies are focussing on consumers’ living rooms, including Netflix which is working alongside Microsoft, Roku, and several Blu-ray manufacturers to make its streaming service more widely available in the living room.

    The WD TV HD Media Player’s basic features:

    • Compatible with My Passport portable hard drives and other USB storage devices
    • Full HD 1080p video playback and navigation
    • Dock-and-play convenience
    • Provides access to 2 USB drives simultaneously
    • HDMI and composite video interfaces for easy connection to a TV
    • Ultracompact design for easy portability
    • Includes My Passport hard drive stand, compact remote with batteries, composite A/V cable, AC adapter, media converter software and owner’s manual

  • VoIP Call Quality Boost With New Vonage Patent


    A new patent which reduces the likelihood of dropped and incomplete calls has been added to Vonage’s portfolio.

    Louis Mamakos, Vonage’s CTO and executive vice president, said the patent reflected the depth of talent and creativity at the company.

    According to Vonage, the invention, which was filed for patent in 2003, makes it "less likely for customers to encounter dropped calls, incomplete attempted calls or other communication problems resulting from typical router function and behavior".

    “This is an exciting moment for Vonage as we continue to expand our patent portfolio to help create a more reliable calling experience for our customers,” said Mamakos.

    The patent relates to improvements in Internet telephony where Network Address Translation (NAT) is required.

    The patent addresses the issue of a router losing an outbound port during an Internet telephone connection.

    To avoid the router timing out and closing the outbound port, the patent causes the media terminal adapter to send an outbound message to the Internet telephony regional data center.