WWWorld.ru · Темы дня · Разделы дня · Интересы дня · 2012 · Свежие новости

Usain Bolt could be defending his Olympic 200-meter title on a Thursday afternoon in the United States. Fans will be able to watch the race live online for the first time during this summer's London Games, but what they'll see is very different from the tape-delayed, prime-time package that will still air a few hours later. NBC executives decided to shift from their longtime philosophy and make every event available as it happens, convinced that the plan will build interest in the Olympics and not siphon off viewership from the traditional nightly broadcasts. That means the Internet streams will be fairly minimalistic, a move aimed at tempting fans to re-watch the competition in a more stylized presentation on the network that evening. "You'll be able to live the moment," said Rick Cordella, the vice president and general manager for NBC Sports Digital. The online coverage will use the world feed instead of NBC camera angles. That's what viewers in many smaller countries see on their local networks, so the production is high quality, if less specialized than Americans are used to for the Olympics. There will be basic graphics and, for some popular sports, announcers from the Olympic Broadcasting Services. Cordella said he didn't know yet which commentators would call high-profile events like track, swimming and gymnastics for the OBS. And if Bolt wins in another world record, fans will have to wait until prime time to see a post-race interview. "It's not infringing upon prime time," Cordella said. NBCOlympics.com streamed many smaller sports live during the 2008 Beijing Olympics for a total of 2,200 hours, but the big-ticket events were held back. This year, more than 3,500 hours will be shown on the Web site. For the top sports, replays will not be available online until after the event airs in prime time. The service will include extra... newsfactor.com »

Хабы: Game Development GameInformer сообщает, что первые детали о грядущей ММО мира TES ждут нас уже в июньском номере журнала. Читать дальше → habrahabr.ru »

Moving digital files between your work and home computers can be a pain. Add smartphones and tablet computers to the mix, and you've got yourself a giant headache. Google Inc. unveiled its solution to the problem last week, while two other companies, Dropbox Inc. and Microsoft Corp., improved their existing offerings. The idea is to leave your files on their computers, so that you can access them from any Internet-connected device, wherever you are. That means you can stop emailing big files to yourself, and you can stop carrying those USB thumb drives that fill up quickly, especially when transferring photos and video. These services also make it easier to share documents with others. The three services I tried are free, though you'll have to pay if you need more than your allotted storage. Google Drive, Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive share many core features. You can store just about any type of file -- photos, videos, songs, spreadsheets and more -- on distant servers operated by those companies. All you need is a Web browser and an Internet connection. To upload a file to the online storage service, you simply move the file's icon to the browser window. The original file remains on your computer. To access a file from another computer, you simply go to the service's Web site and log in. You can make changes on that computer and move the file back online. You can create Web links to entire folders or specific files for sharing. You can install free software to simplify these transfers. The software creates a special folder on your computer for that particular service. Anything you add to it will automatically get transferred to your online storage. If you or colleagues make changes from another computer, the original version gets automatically updated. A subset of features is also available through apps... newsfactor.com »

In the heyday of television, networks and advertisers craved the hottest TV shows, those capable of producing "water cooler" conversation the next morning. My, how times have changed in the digital era. "The water cooler used to be the next day, now it's while the show is going on," says Greg Kahn, executive vice president of ad-buying firm Optimedia. For a small but very influential segment of the TV audience, the notion of passive viewing has changed dramatically. Now, as the networks prepare to unveil their fall lineups and make ad deals for the coming season, "social" TV viewing is a key component of what they will be touting. (NBC and Fox will be the first to present to advertisers, on May 14.) Posting comments about TV shows on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms grew 146% from April 2011 to April 2012, says Mark Ghuneim, CEO of Trendrr, which tracks social-media trends in television. "If you had to hire a marketing company to get 1 million people to talk about your show, I don't know what it would cost," he says. "Here it happens organically." Rick Haskins, executive vice president of the CW network, says fans don't tweet during the commercials. "They jump when there's an OMG (oh my God) moment, when something happens on the show. That's when we see the spikes." Kahn says he'd much rather have his ads in a show with 2 million active online followers, vs. a show with little online social interaction. "If they're more engaged with the show, they'll be more engaged with the advertisement," he says. The most discussed shows online tend to be the live events -- such as Fox's American Idol, ABC's Dancing with the Stars, NBC's The Voice and sports and award shows. Scripted series gear toward animated favorites such as Fox's The Simpsons and Family... newsfactor.com »

In the heyday of television, networks and advertisers craved the hottest TV shows, those capable of producing "water cooler" conversation the next morning. My, how times have changed in the digital era. "The water cooler used to be the next day, now it's while the show is going on," says Greg Kahn, executive vice president of ad-buying firm Optimedia. For a small but very influential segment of the TV audience, the notion of passive viewing has changed dramatically. Now, as the networks prepare to unveil their fall lineups and make ad deals for the coming season, "social" TV viewing is a key component of what they will be touting. (NBC and Fox will be the first to present to advertisers, on May 14.) Posting comments about TV shows on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms grew 146% from April 2011 to April 2012, says Mark Ghuneim, CEO of Trendrr, which tracks social-media trends in television. "If you had to hire a marketing company to get 1 million people to talk about your show, I don't know what it would cost," he says. "Here it happens organically." Rick Haskins, executive vice president of the CW network, says fans don't tweet during the commercials. "They jump when there's an OMG (oh my God) moment, when something happens on the show. That's when we see the spikes." Kahn says he'd much rather have his ads in a show with 2 million active online followers, vs. a show with little online social interaction. "If they're more engaged with the show, they'll be more engaged with the advertisement," he says. The most discussed shows online tend to be the live events -- such as Fox's American Idol, ABC's Dancing with the Stars, NBC's The Voice and sports and award shows. Scripted series gear toward animated favorites such as Fox's The Simpsons and Family... newsfactor.com »

Microsoft said Thursday that the Windows Media Center available as part of its next-generation Windows 8 operating system will no longer provide playback support for DVDs and Blu-ray discs or broadcast TV. "Globally, DVD sales have declined significantly year over year and Blu-ray on PCs is losing momentum as well," noted Bernardo Caldas and Linda Averett, who are members of Microsoft's Windows Business Group and Developer Experience team, respectively. Whether measuring unique users, minutes, percentage of sources or other parameters, DVD and broadcast TV consumption are in sharp decline in comparison to where they stood when Microsoft launched Windows 7, Caldas and Averett wrote in a blog post Thursday. "Our telemetry data and user research shows us that the vast majority of video consumption on the PC and other mobile devices is coming from online sources," they said. The New Age of Online Delivery According to a recent study by IHS iSuppli, paid consumption of movies online will reach 3.4 billion views or transactions in the United States this year. By contrast, U.S. consumption of video delivered on physical media is only forecast to reach 2.4 billion views. The growth in online consumption is part of a broader trend, noted Dan Cryan, a senior principal analyst at IHS. The total number of movies consumed from services that are traditionally considered 'home entertainment' grew "by 40 percent between 2007 and 2011 -- even as the number of movies viewed on physical formats has declined," Cryan said in March. The driving force behind the rapidly changing U.S. media landscape is the unlimited online media delivery plans being offered to subscribers by companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, which accounted for 94 percent of all paid online movie consumption in the United States last year. "The year 2012 will be the final nail to the coffin on the... newsfactor.com »

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - It took decades for music delivery to evolve from vinyl records to CDs and years to go from CDs to MP3 players. Reuters: Internet News »

Facebook, the company that turned the social Web into a cultural and business phenomenon, is worth as much as $95 billion, according to the price range for its upcoming initial public offering of stock. Facebook's IPO, expected in a couple of weeks, would be the biggest ever for an Internet company. Facebook disclosed the price range of $28 to $35 per share in a regulatory filing Thursday. At the high end, Facebook and its current shareholders could raise as much as $13.58 billion -- far more than the $1.9 billion raised in the 2004 offering for current Internet IPO record-holder Google Inc. The IPO valued the company at $23 billion. Google is now worth about $200 billion. Facebook Inc.'s IPO has been highly anticipated, not just because of how much money it will raise but because Facebook itself is so popular. The world's largest online social network has more than 900 million users. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who turns 28 this month, has emerged as a wunderkind leader who's guided Facebook through unprecedented growth from its scrappy start as an online hangout for Harvard students. Facebook's offering values the company at $76 billion to $95 billion, based on the expected number of Facebook shares following the IPO. That's about 2.74 billion, according to Renaissance Capital, an IPO investment adviser. The value is set by multiplying the number of shares by the expected stock price. Facebook's next step is an "IPO road show," where executives talk to potential investors about why they should invest in the stock. On Thursday, Facebook posted a version of its road show online, with appearances from Zuckerberg; Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg; finance chief David Ebersman and other executives. The company said that putting the road show online was consistent with its focus on "authentic, engaging information." "We think people's lives will be better... newsfactor.com »

LONDON, MAY 8 - Bwin.party digital, the world's largest listed online gaming company, said it had prepared the ground for a possible relaxation of U.S. internet betting laws by signing a deal with a Native American tribe which operates gambling in California. Reuters: Internet News »

WatchESPN, the online and mobile version of Disney's popular sports TV network, was activated Tuesday for most of Comcast's 22 million video subscribers. It's one of the perks being offered to cable subscribers to convince them to keep paying for TV. Getting online or mobile access to shows you already pay for is known in the industry as "TV Everywhere." The new offering results from a 10-year deal between Comcast Corp. and The Walt Disney Co. that was announced in January. It doubles the number of customers able to access WatchESPN to about 40 million. "We think that's a fantastic start for only being at this a year and a half," said Matt Murphy, ESPN's senior vice president of digital video distribution. WatchESPN offers live feeds of four pay TV networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU. It also offers on-the-go access to feeds of ESPN Goal Line when college football is underway or ESPN Buzzer Beater during college basketball season. Its predecessor, ESPN Broadband, later renamed ESPN 360 and then ESPN3, was a separate channel started up in 2001. ESPN3 was only available online and offered streams of games that were a bit off the beaten path. WatchESPN gives users access to the regular ESPN channel, including shows like Monday Night Football, and its spinoffs. Customers of Time Warner Cable Inc., Bright House Networks, and Verizon FiOS also have access to WatchESPN. Its app, available on iPads and iPhones, has been downloaded about 8 million times. For now, the online and mobile versions come with few or no ads as the Disney subsidiary experiments with interactive advertising. During TV commercials, the online version often puts up a message that says "Commercial break. We'll be right back." "It's not a television platform, it's an (Internet protocol) based platform," said Murphy. "There are different and engaging things and we wanted... newsfactor.com »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Whether it is photos, personal status or unwanted comments, most Americans think people 'overshare' personal information online and a third admit not everything they post is true. Reuters: Internet News »

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc unveiled a new hub for consumers to find games and other apps on the social network, including its first storefront for selling paid apps, in the company's latest effort to expand the ways it makes money from its massive audience. Reuters: Internet News »

(Reuters) - Online music storage firm MP3tunes Inc filed for bankruptcy in a U.S. court, following its prolonged run-in with music publishing giant EMI Group over copyright issues, court filings showed. Reuters: Internet News »

АМКУ разрешил компании United Online Ventures Ltd, Лимасол, Кипр) приобрести долю в уставном капитале ООО «Диджитал венчез» (Digital Ventures).
Антимонопольный комитет Украины разрешил компании «Юнайтед онлайн венчез лимитед» (United Online Ventures Ltd, Лимасол, Кипр) приобрести долю в уставном капитале ООО «Диджитал венчез» (Digital Ventures). Об этом «proIT» сообщили в АМКУ. По данным комитета, приобр it.siteua.org »

Moms are 61 percent more likely to visit social pin-board site Pinterest, 38 percent more likely to become a fan or follow a brand online, and 27 percent more likely to visit Blogger than the average American. So says a new report from Nielsen. "Moms are at the center of their family's offline life, so it's little surprise that they're also at the center of many of the biggest trends online as well," Nielsen wrote in its report. "Whether to look up the latest product reviews or to connect with friends, families and even brands through social networks, American moms are particularly active and influential online." Pinterest Reigns American moms are clearly showing favorites when it comes to family and lifestyle sites. In a ranking of the top five sites in this category, 4.9 million moms choose Pinterest, 4.8 million choose Disney Online, 4.4 million go to iVillage Network, 4.2 million opt for WebMD, and 3.8 million go to Everyday Health. What about the top five social networks and blogs for moms? No big surprises here, but Nielsen did quantify it. More than 72 percent of moms in Nielsen's survey rank Facebook first (27.9 million). Three out of four American moms visited Facebook in March 2012. Facebook is followed by 24.3 percent who listed Blogger. Twitter, WordPress and Tumblr round out the top-five list. About one in three bloggers are moms and 52 percent of those bloggers are parents with kids under 18 in the household. Another 50 percent of moms actively participate in social-media access platforms via social-media devices. That compares with 37 percent of the overall general population. Implications for Advertisers "Moms who blog are more than twice as likely to follow brands and celebrities compared to the online average," Nielsen reported. "To help save time and money, many moms shop online; moms are 35... newsfactor.com »

Bombermine Online — результат последних двух недель тестирования и подготовки движка для большого кол-ва игроков онлайн. Движок написан на Java + Jetty (бекэнд). Фронтэнд — HAProxy + Nginx + Node.js. Клиентсайд — GWT, который транслируется в HTML5/canvas + javascript + websockets. Хостится всё в облаке. На данный момент рекорд — 50 игроков онлайн. Настроен весь необходимый софт для мониторинга нагрузки. После хабраэффекта обещаем выложить отчёт. Ждём гостей. Ну а под катом: видео геймплея и немного предыстории создания движка habrahabr.ru »

Когда я еще не работала в DPE (расшифровывается название департамента как Developer and Platform Evangelism), задумывалась о том, когда же технические евангелисты успевают писать код? Теперь я на своем опыте я поняла, что код пишется, и пишется его не мало: при подготовке статей, демонстраций для докладов или открытия конференций (это наиболее «challenging», т.к. требуется, чтобы ни разу код не вылетел в отладчик) и, конечно, при общении с компаниями-разработчиками, которые используют технологии и продукты Microsoft в своих решениях, и т.п. Вебинар «Пошаговая настройка службы BCS в SharePoint Online» как раз проводится «по мотивам» демонстрации, подготовленной для конференции Microsoft Innovation Day 2012 и статьи SharePoint Online, BCS и Windows Azure: реализация безопасного канала взаимодействия с внешней системой. Cлужба Business Connectivity Services (BCS) позволяет орагнизовать взаимодействие SharePoint Online со внешними системами и базами данных. Подробнее habrahabr.ru »

If you're feeling nostalgic about the days when you drank Pabst Blue Ribbon beer because it was cheap, not trendy, a new online tool from the Social Security Administration will take you on a walk down memory lane. On May 1, Social Security launched a feature on its Web site, www.socialsecurity.gov, that allows workers to view an online version of their Social Security earnings and benefits statements. The program also allows you to estimate your retirement, disability and survivors benefits. You can use this tool to show your kids how little you made when you started working (after you've reminded them that you walked 5 miles to get to school, without an iPod or cellphone). But more important, it can help you receive all of the benefits you're due, and make smart decisions about when to claim them. Social Security used to mail workers an annual earnings statement, but suspended those mailings last year to save money. Starting in February, Social Security resumed mailing paper statements to workers 60 and older who aren't already receiving benefits. Later this year, it will mail paper statements to workers in the year they turn 25. Before you can review your online earnings statement, you must go to www.ssa.gov/mystatement and create an account. The program will ask you a bunch of personal questions for security reasons, so be prepared to give up the name of your first pet and answer some multiple-choice questions about your finances. Social Security contracted with credit bureau Experian to provide information for verification purposes. Once you've established your identity, you can create an account with a user name and password. Social Security recommends reviewing it annually. Here's what you can learn from the online earnings statement: Whether your earnings have been reported correctly. It's a lot of fun to reminisce about the year you earned a... newsfactor.com »

For every high school senior who received one of those "we're not that into you" letters from the admissions office of an Ivy League university, there is finally a second chance to learn from the best and brightest professors. The latest trend among an increasing number of prominent colleges is to offer online classes to the masses. This month, Harvard became the next college to jump on the online education bandwagon, announcing it would be teaming up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to launch a new program of online classes -- edX. Another company, Coursera, is carrying online classes from other top-notch universities, including Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. A third, Udacity, was launched earlier this year after Stanford professor Sebastian Thrun was inspired by his experience of teaching an online class on artificial intelligence. Cost Savings to Students Right now, these classes aren't a substitute for getting a college degree, although students can gain credit for them. But in the future, more and more students might decide to swap the campus for the computer. And colleges should be encouraging them to explore that option. Costs at colleges have skyrocketed: Since 1985, college tuition rates and fees have grown by an astronomical 559%, according to a New York Times analysis. Online classes, whether constituting all or some of the courses a student takes, could help halt -- or even reverse -- the upward cost trend. For instance, online classes enable one professor to teach tens of thousands of students. Thrun's online artificial intelligence class drew 160,000 students. Imagine the savings if class sizes like that became as normal as students chugging espressos the night before a final. For students attending Harvard in the fall, the upcoming school year will set them back $54,000. In contrast, edX classes will be free, and... newsfactor.com »