BT to Launch Interactive TV Services
British Telecom to Use Microsoft Technology to Launch Interactive
Television Services
NEW YORK (AP) -- Britain's biggest phone company will use Microsoft
Corp.'s technology to launch interactive TV services, joining a
crowd of telephone companies around the globe who've allied with the
software maker in a bid to compete with cable TV.
The announcement Tuesday by BT Group PLC is a boost for Microsoft's
so-called IPTV platform after some prominent setbacks and
unconfirmed reports of possible glitches and delays.
The Microsoft product will be used by BT to deliver video-on-demand
and interactive features such as online chat, voting, gambling and
video games. But unlike other phone companies such as SBC
Communications Inc., BT is not planning to use the IPTV platform to
deliver the regular lineup of cable TV channels.
Instead, it will be integrating the technology with a free digital
broadcast platform introduced by the BBC in 2001, BT said.
The deal with BT marks the latest in a series of big customer wins
for Microsoft's TV technology among phone companies looking to
compete with cable, including three of the four regional Bells in
the United States.
But the announcement also comes at an opportune time for Microsoft,
which has seen IPTV trials with customers in Switzerland and
Australia stumble over the past month.
In May, Swisscom AG announced it won't launch its IPTV service -- IP
stands for Internet Protocol -- during the second half of 2005 as
planned. And last week, Telstra Corp. of Australia revealed it will
not be conducting market trials with the software.
Microsoft has said both developments are related to factors other
than its software.
Higher and higher: HDTV resolution
Just when you thought your home theater was up to snuff, even higher definition TV sets are arriving.
Mitsubishi on Thursday unveils the first consumer HDTVs to come to market capable of displaying a
format called 1080 progressive — 1080p — considered the high-definition holy grail because it provides
twice the resolution of most current sets.The first model available, a 52-inch wide-screen rear projection
set at $3,699, will arrive in stores nationally in the next two weeks. A few specialty 1080p products have
already hit the market, but this new set and Mitsubishi's other 62-inch and 73-inch models due in the
coming weeks — starting at $4,200 and $5,500, respectively — are aimed at the mass market.
Each uses Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing imaging technology and has a built-in tuner that
converts current video signals to the higher 1080p standard. "It gives more than twice the resolution and
clearer, sharper pictures," says Frank DeMartin, vice president of marketing for Mitsubishi Digital
Electronics America. "It's quite affordable and a pretty big leap in performance. Just as the first HDTVs in
1998 initially had little, if any, high-definition content to display, these sets have no "native" 1080p content.
However, the sets will convert DVD video and all current TV and HDTV signals. And new high-definition
video players and movie discs could arrive later this year; studios and electronics firms are trying to hash
out a compromise from the proposed HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats. "What's going to sell these sets is that
everything looks better on it, especially DVD. The DVDs you have in your collection right now just pop out like
you've never seen before," says Tom Campbell, corporate director of Los Angeles-based Ken Crane's Home
Entertainment, which gets an exclusive head start in selling the 52-inch set today. About 15% of U.S. homes
have HDTVs, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. Many potential buyers long for flat-panel
displays, which are dropping in price. But this higher-quality imaging feature, which is easier for
manufacturers to incorporate into rear-projection TVs, could make the larger sets more palatable. At slightly
more than 18 inches deep and 121 pounds, the 52-inch set can be considered a tabletop model.
Amateur Radio Begins Podcasting
Podcasting- in which broadcasts are downloaded from the internet for later playback on Ipods- has been
much in the news recently. You won't be surprised to hear that there Is now an amateur radio podcast.
If you have a broadband Internet connection, you may want to give it a try. Type www.podcast.net in your
web-browser, and type 'Amateur Radio' in the search field and you will see a list of the latest 'This Week
in Amateur Radio International' bulletins. Click on the links and make sure your speakers are turned on.
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