By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE–Imagine TV sets talking to one another. In the case of IPTV, Ericsson’s technology incorporates instant messaging. So you and your buddy can rave about your favorite characters while watching “Heroes.”

In this demo, the guys are showing how the technology can link up to an Internet-connected mobile phone and command the IPTV set-up box to record a show or block another user from watching a program.

That’s as on-demand as IPTV can get.

The set-up boxes come in either the one on the left that has a built-in hard drive (thus, more expensive) and the smaller one beside it that looks like an access point, which just routes content onto your TV set — granted of course, content is hosted the carrier’s network. And that’s the Kaiser Chiefs performing live; check them out as they’re one of the hottest UK bands around.

There are an estimated five million IPTV subscribers but that is expected to grow once broadband becomes faster. No wonder Ericsson just acquired this company called Tandberg that aggregates content specifically for IPTV. And yes, it recently announced a deal to host content from Turner Networks (which runs CNN, among other channels).

The only question really is whether the kind of broadband you‘re getting in your home is good enough to keep from buffering the moment Sylar makes another kill.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE–A Philippine software developer has bagged a deal to develop an instant messaging and short messaging system (SMS) service for Microsoft, executives told INQUIRER.net.

Wilfredo dela Cruz, president of D3 Systems, said a visit by a Microsoft executive from Redmond, Washington has blossomed into a sweet deal for the company that has been attracting partners from the region.

“We’ve developed a system for Microsoft,” said Dela Cruz in an interview here. D3 Systems Inc. was among the local companies that joined the CommunicAsia 2007, the biggest telecommunications event in Asia Pacific.

Early this month, Microsoft said it was looking at forging deals with local software companies that are using open-source technologies to develop applications for the Windows platform.

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SINGAPORE–Nokia shows Asian media a real-time mobile TV application during its Nokia Connect 2007 event in Singapore.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Erwin Oliva on June 18 at Raffles Plaza.

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE–From a technology perspective, talk is cheap already — if you take communications to mean literally voice alone.

Unified communications, as a concept, basically means more than just voice, but spicing it up with other means like instant messaging or other PC-based applications like Skype. As a concept, though, it would depend on how which vendor is selling it — Microsoft sees it from a software perspective, HP more on integration of these various applications.

Ericsson, meanwhile, is taking it from a mobility perspective. Or in simpler terms, UC makes sense if you can do all these things outside of the office.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPOREAN music peripheral maker Creative Technology launched in the Philippines its cheapest MP3 player called the Zen Stone, which will also compete with the new clip-on Apple iPod Shuffle.

The Creative Zen Stone, so named for its curved pebble-like design, nearly has the same design concepts as Apple’s new iPod Shuffle, including the 1 gigabyte model and different color schemes, form factor and even the operational controls.

However, its main come-on is its price, which is $39 or roughly P2,000, less than half the price of the iPod Shuffle.

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