The acronym IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television. It is a system in which digital television service is delivered using the networks, equipment and “protocols” (a fancy word for “certain specified procedures”) that are used for computer networking over the Internet.
IPTV requires a broadband connection, whether cable, satellite or DSL (a telephone company’s Digital Subscriber Line). A savvy computer user can get IPTV in a number of ways, but the more technologically-challenged may need it to be simplified and packaged by a third party. Companies are being founded every day, it seems, to help bring IPTV to the masses.
IN “package deals,” IPTV can be provided (or “bundled”) along with VoD (Video on Demand) as well as standard Internet services including web access and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol, as used in digital phone services like Vonage or Skype). In the marketing language that is developing in and around this growing technology, the combination of Internet access, IPTV and VoIP is referred to as a “triple play.”
The “how” and the “who”
There are any number of websites that offer a way to get IPTV. Certain sites stream the programs themselves, and/or offer you optional links to other “content aggregators” based on what you’re looking for. There is a wealth of viewing material out there, but don’t look for the latest NBC series or an NFL game, as most of IPTV material is independently produced for now. However, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and all the other major high-tech “players” are watching this technology as it develops, and it should accelerate soon.
IPTV sites, like multiple choice “stations,” offer various programs. Some could be from the “public domain,” programs whose copyrights and other protections have expired. You might find old TV series and even some Hollywood movies this way. But the strength, and the future hope, of IPTV is that it will provide strong, creative and ultimately popular new offerings across a wide range of topics and tastes.
The “where” and the “when”
There are various public service, not-for-profit and educational websites that are designed to familiarize new IPTV users with the changing landscape of digital entertainment. Of course, there are many other for-profit sites that can be visited in order to gather information on how to watch IPTV. Sometimes you pay a fee, sometimes you don’t, and there is a lot to be worked out in the competing business models.
However, there is one particular website, ConnectTV.ca, that heralds IPTV as a “Future Tecnology” [sic] and exists to provide “Information and resources for IPTV services, solutions and technologies developed for IPTV.”
The site provides definitions, explanations of services, lists of links and a user forum where visitors can ask questions and get answers from IPTV boosters around the world. IPTV seems to be carving out its place in the entertainment industry, if the discussions (and rumors) at this site are any indication.
One thing is clear: IPTV is definitely the wave of the future, and with all of the major media companies backing it up a critical mass of interest and progress will build quickly. At the end of 2007 IPTV already had over fifteen million users, and It is predicted that by 2008, 20 million homes worldwide will subscribe to IPTV services. There is little doubt that the numbers will keep on climbing.
Into the future
You may a few important choices to make in the near future when it comes time to set up your IPTV. Some companies are going to go with the “set-top-box” model vs. a direct computer connection. In the set-top-box, you will receive your signal via a broadband data feed of some kind, which is then fed to the “box” to interpret the signals and provide the proper interface for the monitor.
Once that occurs, your TV can be configured to handle multiple inputs. This means you can use a TV tuner on the monitor to get (old-style) over the air broadcasts, a cable box to get cable TV and a new “IPTV box” to bring in this latest kind of digital programming. It will be a true all-in-one solution, and even your TV guide listings will be on-screen.
It’s hard to say what the future holds for IPTV. Perhaps one day it will converge with all the other incoming signals, and it will all arrive through one huge conduit or cable. This has the potential to change the way everyone views the world, as it will open up access to broadcasting to many more people and organizations, since the “cost of entry” will be dramatically reduced. One day, and perhaps not long from now, television, cable, IPTV, graphical web browsers, e-mail and VoD – separate entities today, entailing different interfaces, technologies and costs – just might end up being siblings in one, big, happy family.BestRussianTV.com is one of the Internet's best sources for Russian TV online. They provide a variety of programs in high quality and with fast connections. Visit them today for more information about IPTV and how it's making the world a smaller place.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
What a Company MUST Excel at to Thrive Today
“We’re All Customer Service People Now”
In September 2008, the Forbes 400 List of the richest Americans saw Warren Buffett and his bridge partner Bill Gates swap the number 1 and 2 spots again. But there are two new additions to the top 5, a couple of Sam Walton’s boys, S. Robson and Jim.
There are two other Walton sub-clans: Alice Walton, and the apparent familial holding company, “Christy Walton & family.” That is how it always appears, almost as if the ® sign were accidentally left off. At any rate, if Sam were still alive, with his fortune in one piece and his young’n’s still waiting for their inheritances, he would be as rich as Gates and Buffett combined.
The fact is, 2007 was the first year since 1989 that not a single Walton placed in the Top 10. Now they are almost 50% wealthier than a year ago while so many other gazillionaires are being downgraded to plain old zillionaires and the economy is tanking. It sends a clear message: When the going gets tough, the tough go to Wal-Mart.
Customer as king
Wal-Mart’s down home success, occurring at the same time that those New York sophisticates Stearns and Lehman are getting bailed out or going broke, is a ringing endorsement of several working class principles. The first, of course, is having “the low price, always.” But close on its heels is, “Customer is king.”
While Buffett lost $12 billion and Gates took a beating, the Walton family surged ahead on the strength of, to put it simply, being a little bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll. Hip enough to bring in teens’ all-important entertainment-related brands (from iPods to fashion), the store took early stands against certain magazines and “gangsta” rappers, earning them points from parents.
But the thing that put Wal-Mart over the top? The greeters. Believe it or not, the greeters at the door are second only to “low price,” and way ahead of “quality,” in the internal customer polls conducted by the company for four decades. A key marketing insight gleaned from the polls was that people don’t do business with companies. They do business with other people. Commerce is really quite personal.
Service at every step
We believe in the customer service model. After the great eruption of advertising sophistication (some would say manipulation) in the postwar era, and the rise of The Salesman, many companies took on a new mantra of sorts. “We’re all sales people now,” they would intone. Every clerk, every janitor, every accountant was expected to sing the company’s praises and cultivate business with their relatives, neighbors and PTA-mates.
As they say, that was then and this is now. The fact is, we’re all customer service people now. And we should be. Our customers, in fact, pay our salaries, so it only makes sense to excel on their behalf. From the first contact through a continuing relationship, we have a single overriding concern, which is making sure our customers get all the facts, understand all the features, have a few options and learn enough to set up and operate their new equipment.
It may be a simple Cube duplicator, or we may tailor a duplication/printing system to your precise needs, with any of several kinds of disc printers. Some printers employ the bright and clear inkjet technology, others the rich and smudge-resistant thermal printing that literally “heat bonds” the dyes to the disc surface.
New solutions: cleaner, greener
Then there are the new LightScribe CD/DVD recorders, internal and external, for personal use without the expense of ink of any kind – flip the special disc over after burning your media, and the lasers will “etch” a crisp, monochromatic label. A variety of graphics programs can manipulate typefaces and images for many kinds of unique, artistic “virtual labels.”
These new solutions are not just cleaner, but they’re also greener. Since there is no paper or plastic being printed and pasted, there is no shredding or sticking to foul up the drive. The drive thus lasts longer, and during its long, productive life it will neither drink ink nor eat paper. That’s quite “eco-beneficial,” and a unique selling point. Lightscribe is simple, smart and safe.
And that pretty much describes our attitude right there: We stay up on the latest and greatest so we can offer you the most possible alternatives, and we keep things simple to understand. We help you make the smart moves, and help you navigate the technological territory if it’s new to you. With our expert assistance, you will be safe, the solution will be sound and you will know exactly what is going on. We will not “geek you out” but we will explode the myth that doing your own CD/DVD duplication requires a degree in electronics or engineering.
Stop paying the duplication and replication companies’ bloated prices. Take control of your own media, your own manufacturing, your own distribution, your own QC and your own marketing. If you are spending into four figures for these services, you need to become an owner, not a renter. Ask us any question you have, even about a duplication job you’re doing or a certain piece of equipment. We won’t charge you for advice and we won’t pressure you into a purchase.
After all, we’re all customer service people now.
Vin Power Digital.com provides a CD, DVD and blu-ray duplicator by Xerox that makes exact digital copies of your media for any size project. Featuring LightScribe Disc Duplicators as seen in Tradeshows and has offered office solutions to business around the world.
In September 2008, the Forbes 400 List of the richest Americans saw Warren Buffett and his bridge partner Bill Gates swap the number 1 and 2 spots again. But there are two new additions to the top 5, a couple of Sam Walton’s boys, S. Robson and Jim.
There are two other Walton sub-clans: Alice Walton, and the apparent familial holding company, “Christy Walton & family.” That is how it always appears, almost as if the ® sign were accidentally left off. At any rate, if Sam were still alive, with his fortune in one piece and his young’n’s still waiting for their inheritances, he would be as rich as Gates and Buffett combined.
The fact is, 2007 was the first year since 1989 that not a single Walton placed in the Top 10. Now they are almost 50% wealthier than a year ago while so many other gazillionaires are being downgraded to plain old zillionaires and the economy is tanking. It sends a clear message: When the going gets tough, the tough go to Wal-Mart.
Customer as king
Wal-Mart’s down home success, occurring at the same time that those New York sophisticates Stearns and Lehman are getting bailed out or going broke, is a ringing endorsement of several working class principles. The first, of course, is having “the low price, always.” But close on its heels is, “Customer is king.”
While Buffett lost $12 billion and Gates took a beating, the Walton family surged ahead on the strength of, to put it simply, being a little bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll. Hip enough to bring in teens’ all-important entertainment-related brands (from iPods to fashion), the store took early stands against certain magazines and “gangsta” rappers, earning them points from parents.
But the thing that put Wal-Mart over the top? The greeters. Believe it or not, the greeters at the door are second only to “low price,” and way ahead of “quality,” in the internal customer polls conducted by the company for four decades. A key marketing insight gleaned from the polls was that people don’t do business with companies. They do business with other people. Commerce is really quite personal.
Service at every step
We believe in the customer service model. After the great eruption of advertising sophistication (some would say manipulation) in the postwar era, and the rise of The Salesman, many companies took on a new mantra of sorts. “We’re all sales people now,” they would intone. Every clerk, every janitor, every accountant was expected to sing the company’s praises and cultivate business with their relatives, neighbors and PTA-mates.
As they say, that was then and this is now. The fact is, we’re all customer service people now. And we should be. Our customers, in fact, pay our salaries, so it only makes sense to excel on their behalf. From the first contact through a continuing relationship, we have a single overriding concern, which is making sure our customers get all the facts, understand all the features, have a few options and learn enough to set up and operate their new equipment.
It may be a simple Cube duplicator, or we may tailor a duplication/printing system to your precise needs, with any of several kinds of disc printers. Some printers employ the bright and clear inkjet technology, others the rich and smudge-resistant thermal printing that literally “heat bonds” the dyes to the disc surface.
New solutions: cleaner, greener
Then there are the new LightScribe CD/DVD recorders, internal and external, for personal use without the expense of ink of any kind – flip the special disc over after burning your media, and the lasers will “etch” a crisp, monochromatic label. A variety of graphics programs can manipulate typefaces and images for many kinds of unique, artistic “virtual labels.”
These new solutions are not just cleaner, but they’re also greener. Since there is no paper or plastic being printed and pasted, there is no shredding or sticking to foul up the drive. The drive thus lasts longer, and during its long, productive life it will neither drink ink nor eat paper. That’s quite “eco-beneficial,” and a unique selling point. Lightscribe is simple, smart and safe.
And that pretty much describes our attitude right there: We stay up on the latest and greatest so we can offer you the most possible alternatives, and we keep things simple to understand. We help you make the smart moves, and help you navigate the technological territory if it’s new to you. With our expert assistance, you will be safe, the solution will be sound and you will know exactly what is going on. We will not “geek you out” but we will explode the myth that doing your own CD/DVD duplication requires a degree in electronics or engineering.
Stop paying the duplication and replication companies’ bloated prices. Take control of your own media, your own manufacturing, your own distribution, your own QC and your own marketing. If you are spending into four figures for these services, you need to become an owner, not a renter. Ask us any question you have, even about a duplication job you’re doing or a certain piece of equipment. We won’t charge you for advice and we won’t pressure you into a purchase.
After all, we’re all customer service people now.
Vin Power Digital.com provides a CD, DVD and blu-ray duplicator by Xerox that makes exact digital copies of your media for any size project. Featuring LightScribe Disc Duplicators as seen in Tradeshows and has offered office solutions to business around the world.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Adding banners to your sites
Most popular web sites today have rotating advertisement on their pages. Why not your site too? With the Ad Rotator component it is easy to add advertisement rotation to your pages. However, the functionality you get is very basic only – if you are really serious about making money with banners, you must get a full - blown banner management software.
The Ad Rotator component automates the rotation of a preset group of advertisements on a page (or group of pages). The component automatically place a new image on the page every time the page is opened or reloaded. The information about which ad to present – and therefore which image and link – is taken from the Rotation Schedule file.
Adding Ad rotation to a page is very simple. Besides the line for creating an instance of the Ad Rotator object, there is only one line you must add to the script code of your page, which is the second line.
Set adrot = server . createobject (“mswc.adrotator”)
Response . write (adrot.getadvertisement (“adrotfile.txt”)
The method getadvitisment inserts the image for the ad and the hyperlink. Therefore, the definition for this stuff must be in the rotation schedule file. Although this is correct, I am showing off the three properties that can be used for the Ad Rotator component prior to presenting the syntax for the rotator Schedule file.
The Ad Rotator component automates the rotation of a preset group of advertisements on a page (or group of pages). The component automatically place a new image on the page every time the page is opened or reloaded. The information about which ad to present – and therefore which image and link – is taken from the Rotation Schedule file.
Adding Ad rotation to a page is very simple. Besides the line for creating an instance of the Ad Rotator object, there is only one line you must add to the script code of your page, which is the second line.
Set adrot = server . createobject (“mswc.adrotator”)
Response . write (adrot.getadvertisement (“adrotfile.txt”)
The method getadvitisment inserts the image for the ad and the hyperlink. Therefore, the definition for this stuff must be in the rotation schedule file. Although this is correct, I am showing off the three properties that can be used for the Ad Rotator component prior to presenting the syntax for the rotator Schedule file.
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