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Tag: yahoo

  • JAJAH Connects One Billionth Call, Promises "Genuine" UC


    JAJAH has announced that it has just connected its one billionth call – a 29-year-old woman in San Francisco who was calling her mother in India.

    Not bad going for a company that launched just three years ago as a web-based consumer VoIP service and now has has over 25 million users and partnerships with the likes of Intel, Microsoft and Yahoo!

    In announcing it billionth call, JAHAH said it was particularly special because it came via one of its partners – in this case Yahoo! – which uses the JAJAH platform to operate its Yahoo! Voice service.

    Earlier this month JAJAH CEO Trevor Healy said there is a "sea change" currently taking place in the communications industry – and that has resulted in JAJAH itself evolving from a consumer VoIP focus to become a global IP communications platform provider.

    The company is currently preparing a new "in the cloud" Unified Communications Platform able to manage any form of data communication.

    It claims this will open up a new phase of genuinely unified communications – something that has been hampered by issues with interoperability and integration.

  • Yahoo Widget Engine Gets HDTV Makers' Backing


    Yahoo has agreed deals with a host of big-name HDTV makers, including Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio, that will result in their sets supporting Yahoo’s online service.

    The alliances put Yahoo firmly at the forefront of the drive towards the convergence of the Internet and TV.

    The new TVs will be available from as early as the spring and will support widgets – small Internet applications – that operate alongside broadcast TV content.

    After making the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Yahoo said the applications can be used for a variety of Web activities.

    These include YouTube, MySpace, tracking stocks and sports teams, buying and selling on eBay, messaging friends using Twitter, or using Flickr.

    The widgets give viewers more interaction with the programs they’re watching.

    There will also be applications based on Yahoo-branded services such as Yahoo Finance.

    Yahoo will use the technology as a means to to sell advertising.

    The technology also allows outsiders to write TV applications for the platform.

  • Blu-ray Growing In Popularity – Except With Yahoo


    It’s fitting that after a roller-coaster year for Blu-ray the high-def format should end 2009 on a high AND a low.

    With sales in the US encouraging, a poll by Zogby International shows that Blu-ray players are one of the most wanted holiday gifts this season for HDTV owners.

    The players are only beaten by consumers looking for a second HDTV.

    Overall, Blu-ray players received 30 per cent of the vote, beating other popular gifts such as GPS systems, Nintendo Wii, and MP3 players.

    On a low note was the decision by Yahoo to put Blu-ray at number three in its year-end Best and Worst Tech Products list.

    A key complaint about the format was the continued high price of discs despite the plumetting cost of players.

    Yahoo also wasn’t happy with the slowness of the technology, including its lengthy boot-up time.

    The Zogby results were part of an online poll conducted between December 2-4 which polled 1,726 HDTV owners asking them which gift they would like to receive this holiday season.

    Of those who responded, 66 per cent indicated they would be purchasing titles for themselves.

    More than half the respondents (55 per cent) said they would be purchasing titles for friends and family who owned Blu-ray Disc players.

    Not surprisngly given its early sales figures, the poll also found that The Dark Knight is the most anticipated title this holiday season, followed by
    Mamma Mia, Wall-E, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Hancock.

    Reports suggest that sales of Blu-ray titles in the US and UK are picking up well.

    Figures for the UK show that sales reached 462,500 units in November, an increase of 165 per cent over the previous month.

    While final December numbers aren’t available until January, initial sales are encouraging – helped considerably by the success of The Dark Knight.

    A total of 6.5 Million units have been sold in Europe to date (up 320 per cent), with the market share expected to double next year to 6 per cent.

    So far, roughly 800,000 stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players have been sold in Europe, but that number is expected to triple for next year, up to 2.5 Million
    .

  • Yahoo and Intel aim for internet on HDTVs

    Yahoo and Intel launch project to build the internet into HDTVs

    A new partnership to create what has been called the “Widget Channel” has been announced by Yahoo and Intel.

    The pair want to build support into HDTVs that embed Web-enabled “channels” that run alongside TV shows.

    Unveiled at the recent Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, the initiative will offer a television application framework developers can use to deploy Internet-based applications designed to be viewed alongside television content.

    Powered by Yahoo’s Widget Engine, and run on Intel’s new C3100 chips, which are due in the first half of 2009, the project is specifically aimed at consumer electronics devices.

    There are currently no shipping products implementing the hardware and software stack demonstrated in San Francisco.

    However, Yahoo and Intel expect consumer electronics-related companies to evaluate the stack over the next year for possible inclusion in products shipping next decade. Those currently backing the Widget Channel include cable operator Comcast.

    Eric Kim, senior VP of Intel’s digital home group, said TV would fundamentally change how viewers talk about, imagine, and experience the Internet.

    “No longer just a passive experience unless the viewer wants it that way, Intel and Yahoo are proposing a way where the TV and Internet are as interactive, and seamless, as possible,” he said.

    Developers will be able to tap into HTML, Flash, XML and JavaScript to create their applications, which will appear in a corner of the screen much like a picture-in-picture frame.

    The companies say the Widget Channel will also feature a Widget Gallery that will enable developers to publish their Widgets to both Widget Channel-enabled televisions and other consumer electronics devices.

    Intel and Yahoo propose widgets that enable users to tap into existing Internet services like email, eBay, Yahoo Sports, and video rental services, as well as social networking services like Twitter.

    What would you like to see appearing on the Widget Channel? And what are the implications for issues such as the spread of viruses to TVs from Yahoo’s announcement? Please send us your comments.