Opanga Offers Store-and-Forward Video Delivery

Opanga's "NetRover Mobile" offers a way for mobile service providers to optimize the delivery of video content in non-real time (essentially store and forward) to alleviate the strain streaming places on mobile network bandwidth.

The solution allows operators to cache content on a device, in order to avoid service degradation during busy times on the network, and to avoid adding to network congestion.

If you think about a consumer digital video recorder as a device that captures real-time video for non-real-time viewing, Opanga is a way of capturing non-real-time video for real-time viewing.

It would also seem to be using a "bandwidth management" technique that does not obviously run afoul of potential network neutrality regulations that would prohibit any bit prioritization. Using the Opanga approach, there is no "prioritization," simply delivery at times when the network is lightly used.

Opanga likely will encounter the typical issues that have limited the use of "store and forward" approaches historically. By definition, it doesn't help with real-time or on-demand video. The concept requires some amount of local storage, probably limiting the use of most phones, and even most smartphones.

That said, Netflix historically has proven that non-real-time video delivery can be successful.

AT&T LTE Coming Mid-2011

AT&T today said it will launch its fourth-generation Long Term Evolution network by the middle of next year, and it will cover 70 to 75 million people by the end of 2011.

AT&T Apparently Realized It Needs to Get Moving on LTE

Time Warner Cable Won't Carry Epix: Netflix Streaming is the Reason, Apparently

Time Warner Cable subscribers won’t be able to watch premium cable services from Epix on its service anytime soon, as the cable provider has decided not to carry the network or its broadband and video on demand services.

And at the heart of that decision is a recent deal by Epix to make its film catalog available through Netflix’s broadband streaming service, according to multiple reports.

It's probably asking too much for companies to help their competitors, isn't it?

Time Warner Cable Really Hates Online Video

Did iPad Cannibalize Half of Best Buy's PC Sales?

Apple's iPad might have cannibalized as much as 50 percent of Best Buy's PC sales over the last quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports. If that keeps up, notebook and netbook sales could plummet.

'It's a very different environment now,' said Stephen Baker, the chief electronics analyst for market researcher NPD Group Inc. "The real cool stuff now will be the tablets, e-readers and probably the higher-end digital cameras."

Sirius XM Promises Satellite Radio 2.0

The fourth quarter of 2011 might be the time Sirius XM introduces the ability to customize audio feeds delivered over the Sirius XM service, but possibly also content captured from HD Radio, WiFi, and possibly terrestrial radio broadcasts as well.

"Satellite Radio 2.0" is expected to offer "significantly more choices for the consumer and contain functionality that does not exist today in our radios," says Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin.

Users might be able to customize their own channels using a “like” or “dislike” style button.

Sirius XM might analyze each song that was streaming through the Sirius XM spectrum, and then capture specific songs that met the listener’s preferences. The software could then cache that live content onto a new storage chip on the radio for playback at later times.

This caching could happen at any time that the radio was active, and not just while the user was listening to their personally designed channel.

All the while, the program could insert new content into the playlist that may potentially match the listener’s preferences and allows for music discovery over every single one of Sirius XM’s channels.
The same features might also be used for overall content discovery including news, sports, talk, and comedy programming as well.

Users might be able to save their favorite songs for instant playback at any time.

detail on Satellite Radio 2.0

webcast

ABC And Nielsen Partner On iPad App That ‘Syncs’ TV And Mobile Viewing

The ABC Television Group and The Nielsen Company have developed an iPad app for one of the network’s new primetime dramas in hopes of seeing how much of a connection there is between iPad viewing and regular TV watching.

The app is built on Nielsen’s Media-Sync Platform, which allows mobile apps to automatically detect and synchronize with TV programming using audio watermarks. That means users can watch, leave and come back again right where they left off.

The free My Generation Sync iPad app was available in iTunes’ App Store. In addition to promoting the show, "My Generation," the app also is also designed to help draw interest to Apple’s new $0.99 “TV show rental” offer with Apple.

ABC And Nielsen Partner On iPad App That ‘Syncs’ TV And Mobile Viewing

More Evidence Android Will Blow Past RIM And Apple To Become The Biggest Smartphone Platform

Android is eating the lunch of every major smartphone platform, according to new data from comScore.
While everyone else lost at least 1 percentage point of market share, Android gained 5 percentage points of share in the second quarter of this year.

More Evidence Android Will Blow Past RIM And Apple To Become The Biggest Smartphone Platform