Microsoft Targets Older People for Web Via TV
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For people trying to get their aging  parents on the Web so they can read e-mail and get digital  photos of the family, Microsoft Corp. has a message: Don't give  up.
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SBC and Microsoft plan to launch an Internet television service in about a year. With IP technology, video, voice, data and other broadband services will be integrated and delivered over a
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New technologies from Microsoft will help advertisers better target ads to content in search, video, on Web pages and public kiosks.
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(InfoWorld) - There could be some competition in the market for Internet-based television technology after all. The hope of MicrosoftÂ to establish its software as the de factoÂ standard for the emerging IPTVÂ (Internet Protocol television) market has dwindled after one of its major allies, the former Alcatel, decided to push its own technology -- again -- and as other industry giants, including Cisco Systems, enter the fray. Alcatel, which made the first U-turn in its IPTV strategy in May 2005 when the French manufacturer decided to align with Microsoft, is now in the process of making yet another. In November, AlcatelÂ filed lawsuits against MicrosoftÂ for several alleged patent infringements, including three related to IPTV. Since then, the French manufacturer hasÂ merged with Lucent Technologies, another player in the IPTV market. And now the newly merged Alcatel-LucentÂ is talking about its own technology again. Why? Maybe because the French-U.S. telecom giant believes it now has enough technology -- and clout -- to carve out its own chunk of what could be a huge market for IPTV systems and services. "Today, video accounts for only around 5 percent of the traffic on IP networks," John Giere, chief marketing officer at Alcatel-Lucent, said in an interview at last week's Telecom World conference and exhibition in Hong Kong. "But according to research conducted by our own Bell Labs, that figure could reach 40 percent by 2010." Alcatel-Lucent, which delivers not only core IP technology to manage video but also software to enable video services, such as IPTV, video mail and video conferencing, says it focuses on open standards, which it sees as a key differentiator to Microsoft. "Our technology is open with open interfaces," Giere said. "Many operators don't want to be overly dependent on Microsoft, which offers a proprietary system." Alcatel-Lucent is developing open APIs (application protocol interfaces), Giere said. "The idea is to have Java-based client software that you can enable across multiple devices." The company is working with several standards bodies to help establish standards for IPTV-related technology, according to Giere. It has also developed personalization features, allowing users, for instance, to upload their own videos to the network and create their own personal TV channel. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to improve its IPTV software platform and sign up carriers for field trials and, increasingly, commercial services. And, at least for now, the company isn't calling Alcatel-Lucent a competitor. Last week, Singapore TelecommunicationsÂ (SingTel) became the 16th company to agree to use Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software through a deal orchestrated by Alcatel-Lucent. "When we came to the IPTV market, we decided to take a slightly different approach," said Ed Graczyk, director of marketing in the Microsoft TV unit. "Our platform was developed with direct input from carriers that had joined our early adopter program. Some of the features in our platform resulted from the unique requirements of these carriers." If the first wave of technology developed in the Microsoft IPTV platform aimed at creating "a better user experience for viewing TV," the second wave will focus on adding enhancements, such as rapid search functionality for both TV and VOD (video on demand) content and personalization, according to Graczyk. "User-generated content is a big issue," he said. A big development along the way has been the move by chip makers to embed simultaneous multi-stream, multi-codec video decoding functionality into a chip, a functionality that was previously handled by software, according to Graczyk. "This system-on-chip approach will help substantially reduce costs," he said. Not only that, system-on-chip technology could help Microsoft embed its IPTV software into all types of devices, including PCs and gaming devices, so that consumers wouldn't necessarily have to buy a set-top box, according to Graczyk. "Carriers choose us because they know that we will be able to connect all types of devices running on our operating systems," he said. And what if the carrier is a big fan of the open source Linux operating system? "I don't think you'll see our IPTV software running on Linux systems," he said. "But you'll see IPTV software running on other systems." A growing number of competitors hope to achieve just that. In addition to Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, IBM, and Siemens are a few of the big names seeking to carve out a slice of the budding market for IPTV services. Â
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Wood paneling and chrome made your dad&#39;s station wagon look like a million bucks, and they might also be just the ticket for Microsoft&#39;s fledgling effort to put a Media Center PC in every living room.
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Eons, a tiny two-year-old company based in Boston, is one of several contestants aiming to become the pre-eminent Web destination for boomers.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O is making a renewed push this week to get its software into living rooms with the launch of a new version of its Windows XP Media Center, a personal
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Elder Care expert Marion Somers talks about easy ways to use technology to help take care of aging relatives.
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Microsoft&#39;s (Quote, Chart) newest digital entertainment campaign got some play today, as the company announced its latest move into your home on the back of Windows XP Media Center 2005.
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Internet security may be priceless, but people who want a safer web browser with their older versions of Windows will pay $239. Until last month, the software giant&#39;s security-challenged Internet
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LOS ANGELES - The Internet may be a young person's medium, but the retired and those nearing retirement have found that they can work the Web. In return for placing its ads on websites and blogs, Google pays Web publishers every time one of its ads are clicked. With that, "Gray Googlers" can live a richer, more financially rewarding life than when they were supposedly working.
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Microsoft has turned to a Swiss telecommunication operator for the first commercial trial of its system that delivers television signals to consumers over a broadband telecommunications network, it announced this week.
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Buying a new television used to straightforward: It was simply a matter of deciding how large you wanted the screen to be. Today, however, the purchase process has become much more complex as the 107-year-old
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With technology booming, consumers are starting to stray away  from traditional movie and TV watching. Their personal viewing  experience now includes their computer, portable video devices,  and even cell phones.
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By Doris Hajewski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  Dec. 18--MIDDLETON -- In a memorable TV ad from the heyday of the dot-com era, a small business launches a Web site, and the owners watch the traffic counter go crazy as customers start hitting on the site.
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SBC Communications Inc. will use a Microsoft Corp. software system to transmit television over high-speed Internet connections like the ones SBC will offer after replacing the local arteries
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The device lets users save videos downloaded onto a personal computer and move them to a traditional television.