Telefonica picks HP's Aurasma for augmented reality expansion

(Reuters) - Telefonica said it has picked HP's Aurasma technology to expand its mobile advertising offerings in one of the largest deals yet in the emerging market for augmented reality.
Augmented reality, or AR, overlays text or graphics on images viewed on smartphone, tablet and PC screens or through dedicated glasses, enabling features like image recognition.
The boom in smartphones led by Apple Inc's iPhone, which has location capabilities, cameras and sufficient processing power, has enabled people to try out AR technology for themselves.
The technology, which has been a feature of science fiction books and movies for decades, is expected to move into the mainstream in the coming years as chipset vendors have begun to incorporate it into products and large mobile firms like Telefonica pick it up.
Telefonica said it will use Aurasma's technology across its operations in some 25 countries, starting with Britain. The value of the deal was not revealed, but the companies said it was the largest-ever deal between an AR company and a telecom operator.
"We see this as a tipping point. This is the first time when a telco of its size is backing AR," Matt Mills, head of global partnerships at Aurasma, told Reuters.

from Reuters

Partnership with SNTV

Blinkx Plc

Partnership with SNTV

RNS Number : 0331M

Blinkx Plc

12 September 2012

 



blinkx Partners with SNTV for Captivating Sports Coverage

From pulse-pounding plays to insightful athlete interviews, the latest sports videos can be found at www.blinkx.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - September 12, 2012- blinkx, the world's largest and most advanced video search engine, today announced a partnership with SNTV, the world's leading television sports video news agency, to give blinkx users a front row seat to even more premium sports content. Leveraging its unique AdHoc platform, blinkx will place contextually relevant advertising against these videos and share resulting revenue with SNTV.

From cycling to soccer, SNTV has developed relationships with all of the major rights-holders, enabling in-depth coverage of the majority of the most prestigious sporting events around the globe. SNTV's crews are present at all major sporting events worldwide, covering stories at the scale and magnitude of the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, but also bringing consumers news of the novel and niche - competitions like wife-carrying and snail racing. blinkx and SNTV will deliver the best and broadest content in the most concise format, allowing casual viewers and sports fanatics to keep up with all the latest game-winning goals and record-breaking races.

"We're delighted to partner with SNTV, known for their high quality and immediate sports coverage, to bring videos of world famous and up-and-coming athletes alike to our audience," said Brian Mukherjee, CEO, blinkx. "SNTV got its reputation as the essential guide for sports fans for a reason, and we are very pleased to make their constantly growing library of sports footage fully searchable on blinkx.com."

"At SNTV we aim to provide the best, most relevant, comprehensive and fast sports news service there is, which means covering dozens of sports on a day-to-day basis," said Martin Kay, Managing Director, SNTV.  "By partnering with blinkx, with its vast video-viewing audience, the fans of these various athletic events will be able to search out and discover the best sports footage from around the world."

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to find rich media on the Web. The company has signed more than 800 partners and indexed over 35 million hours of video and audio content to date.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world's largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx's founders set out to solve a significant challenge - the growing amount of TV and user-generated content on the Web means keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx's patented search technologies listen to-and even see-video on the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world's most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

About SNTV

SNTV is the world's leading television sports video news agency whose mission is to deliver the most relevant sports news to its customers, in the most useful ways. SNTV is a partnership between IMG Media, the world's largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming, with more than 40 offices worldwide, and The Associated Press, the backbone of the world's information system

Press Contacts for blinkx

Tim Turpin
Sparkpr
+1 (415) 321 1894
tim.turpin@sparkpr.com

Nicole Love
Marlin PR
+44 207 869 8328
blinkx@marlinpr.com

Charles Lytle
Christopher Wren
Citigroup Global Markets Ltd
NOMAD and Broker for blinkx plc
+44 207 986 4000

Press Contacts for SNTV

Gary DoubleIMG
T: +44 20 8233 7425 gary.double@imgworld.com
McCormack House, Hogarth Business Park,
Burlington Lane, Chiswick,
London W4 2TH

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

 

END

 

Ten questions Blinkx management should be asked - and answer - at the AGM...

Blinkx has announced that its AGM will be on Friday 21st September, at 9am in Cambridge (a time, day of the week and location which seems in my opinion designed to minimise attendance by private investors).

I won't be going - I'm no longer remotely interested in what the jokers 'running' Blinkx have to say, only what they do. However, any shareholders who are attending and who feel like wasting their breath (or see the new CEO squirm by asking some awkward questions) might like to consider asking one (or more) of these.  Of course feel free to come up with some of your own…

1/ Does the CEO feel that Blinkx's current share price and market cap is a true reflection of the value of the company? If he doesn't, then why is the management team not buying shares in the open market to demonstrate their faith in the company and directly align their interests with those of shareholders? If he does think the current share price is a true reflection of the company's value, why did the company sell shares to institutional investors at 134p in November 2011?

2/ On the Blinkx web site it states that Blinkx "Powers video search for 3 of the top 5 search providers" (http://www.blinkx.com/about). Which three? And if this is true why does Blinkx not make more of it for PR purposes?

3/ Why does Blinkx not conduct any advertising whatsoever to promote its services and drive traffic to its site? Why has nobody shareholders talk to ever heard of Blinkx?

4/  Can the CEO give some colour on the company's app strategy? Why has its Android app only been downloaded 5,000-10,000 times when Android has an installed base numbered in the hundreds of millions of units? Why is there no app for iOS? What is the strategy to drive uptake of its apps on various platforms?

5/ If Blinkx is truly world-leading technology, why is that technology not being built into various operating systems and platforms (Android, iOS, Samsung, to name only a few)? Why does it need to bother making rarely-used apps at all?

6/ Why has the company given no guidance for revenues/profits for the financial year 2013?

7/ What is Blinkx's involvement with YouView? Has Blinkx technology been integrated into YouView, or has it just created yet another app nobody will use for yet another platform?

8/ What happened to Transaction Hijacking? What happened to Cheep? With the internet and technology space moving as fast as they are, does the CEO think it acceptable to have a product (Cheep) in beta for 2 years before it vanishes without trace? Does he think it acceptable to not communicate to shareholders what happened to that product?

9/ Why is Blinkx so appalling at managing newsflow and PR/IR? Is he aware that the first RNS released since he became CEO of the company stated that the CEO was still Chandratillake? Does he appreciate that to shareholders and the markets this makes Blinkx look completely amateur?

10/ What reassurance can he give to shareholders that the management of Blinkx over the next five years will deliver greater shareholder value than over the past five? Five years after float the company's share price is barely above the IPO price. Does he think this is acceptable?

Apple on the move in cable/TV sector?

Apple Said to Talk With Cable Industry About Set-Top Box

Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company, is in talks with at least one of the largest U.S. cable companies about building a set-top box that would carry live television and other content, a person with knowledge of the discussions said.

 Consumers would be able to purchase the device instead of paying a monthly leasing fee to cable companies, said the person, who requested anonymity because the talks are private.

 A deal would mark the iPhone maker’s biggest foray into TV after years of calling it a “hobby.” The company’s $99 Apple TV product doesn’t carry live network broadcasting and is mainly used for downloading movies and TV shows from the iTunes media store or streaming content from such services as Netflix Inc. and Google Inc.’s YouTube

from BloombergBusinessWeek

Amazon moves engineering hub to east London

"Amazon is entering the video rental business in a big way. But rather than receiving DVDs through the post, its customers will be watching films and TV series online.

The US group has acquired LoveFilm, whose British boss, Simon Calver, has now moved on, and its engineering team has been merged with Byrne's.

Together they will create the websites and apps that distribute Amazon's vast library of films and television shows to every shape and size of screen."

from The Guardian

--------------------------------

Should be a natural target for Blinkx to try and partner with, no? The pitch would be that you could add value to the Amazon offering (or indeeed Netflix or similar) by offering a library of 135m hours of long-form video to subscribers - and by tracking what they watch you could better profile them and then cross-sell paid-for videos based on that profile.

But then what do I know? I'm not running the "world's leading video search company" which has just crawled back above its IPO price five years after float...

YouTube app wrenched from next Apple iPhones, iPads

YouTube has been unceremoniously dumped from iOS 6, the latest beta version of Apple's mobile operating system reveals.

The Google-owned video website's native app for iPhones and iPads is bundled with Cupertino's shiny gadgets, and pops up to play video on behalf of other applications, but this cosy relationship is coming to an end - quite possibly a casualty of Apple and Google's ongoing thermonuclear war in the mobile sector.

Fanbois will eventually be able to download an app capable of playing YouTube videos - Google is working on one right now - but it won't be integrated into Apple's iThings.

Google's YouTube app follows Google Maps, also tossed out of the iOS party, revealing the increasing rift between the two tech titans.

Apple has its own native video app, called er Video, for stuff bought off iTunes, or synced from other devices over iCloud, but it is obviously no match for YouTube in terms content - there are plenty of things to watch besides cats and warbling hipsters.

Some speculate that Google engineered the app pull-out, preferring to have complete control over its app so it can have unique access to ad revenues from video playback. The advertising giant did not respond to The Reg's request for comment.

Additions to iOS 6 include an app for sharing things over Bluetooth, which will make it easier for two iPhone users to pass around files. This could tie into new iOS 6 app Passbook, which contains boarding passes and gig tickets. 

And fanbois will be thrilled by a high-resolution 3D map of Birmingham in their next iPhone: Brum and Manchester are two British cities outside London that will feature in super-detail. Only an handful of European burghs qualify for the honour. The 3D maps are built using technology that Apple acquired when it bought Swedish image makers C3 last year.

from The Register

---------------------

"Apple has its own native video app, called er Video, for stuff bought off iTunes, or synced from other devices over iCloud, but it is obviously no match for YouTube in terms content"

Hmmmm. We know a video search company with a huge index of content (in fact around 35m hours of it), don't we boys and girls?

 

Oops!!!!

Blinkx Plc

Partnership with Kiplinger

RNS Number : 9690I

Blinkx Plc

01 August 2012



blinkx Partners with Kiplinger for Personal Finance Wisdom

From your 401k to family finance, find expert advice and information at www.blinkx.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - August 1, 2012- blinkx, the world's largest and most advanced video search engine, today announced a partnership with Kiplinger, the award winning publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice, to give blinkx users access to informative videos on everything from stock tips to smart saving suggestions. Leveraging its unique AdHoc platform, blinkx will place contextually relevant advertising against these videos and share resulting revenue with Kiplinger.

Publisher of Kiplinger's Personal Finance, the first magazine to offer money management advice to the American people, Kiplinger has been providing personal money management expertise since 1920. blinkx and Kiplinger will bring that same personal finance coverage to economically inquisitive video viewers, offering useful clips on investing, retirement planning, taxes, insurance, real estate, buying and leasing a car, health care, travel, financing college and more.

"We're delighted to offer Kiplinger's library of sound, unbiased personal finance reporting to our audience," said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx. "Kiplinger's is one of the most trusted and well-respected sources for consumers seeking financial advice, and we're very pleased that this content will now be easily searchable on blinkx.com."

"Whether you're a recent graduate coping with student loans and credit card debt, or a parent looking for tips on tax breaks and coupon-free grocery savings, our video library has helpful personal finance advice for you," said Doug Harbrecht, New Media Director at Kiplinger.  "We're pleased to partner with blinkx to increase our exposure to new audiences and to make our video reports easily searchable for consumers around the world."

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to find rich media on the Web. The company has signed more than 800 partners and indexed over 35 million hours of video and audio content to date.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world's largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx's founders set out to solve a significant challenge - the growing amount of TV and user-generated content on the Web means keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx's patented search technologies listen to-and even see-video on the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world's most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

About Kiplinger

For nine decades, the Kiplinger organization has led the way in personal finance and business forecasting. Founded in 1920 by W.M. Kiplinger, the company developed one of the nation's first successful newsletters in modern times. The Kiplinger Letter, launched in 1923, remains the longest continuously published newsletter in the United States. In 1947, Kiplinger created the nation's first personal finance magazine. Kiplinger.com is the fastest growing Web site in the personal finance space. Located in the heart of our nation's capital, the Kiplinger editors remain dedicated to delivering sound, unbiased advice for your family and your business in clear, concise language. Become a fan of Kiplinger on Facebook or Kiplinger.com and follow Kiplinger on Tumblr and Twitter.

Press Contacts for blinkx

Tim Turpin

Sparkpr

+1 (415) 321 1894

tim.turpin@sparkpr.com

Nicole Love

Marlin PR

+44 207 869 8328

blinkx@marlinpr.com

Charles Lytle

Christopher Wren

Citigroup Global Markets Ltd

NOMAD and Broker for blinkx plc

+44 207 986 4000

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

___________________________

 ""We're delighted to offer Kiplinger's library of sound, unbiased personal finance reporting to our audience," said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx. "Kiplinger's is one of the most trusted and well-respected sources for consumers seeking financial advice, and we're very pleased that this content will now be easily searchable on blinkx.com.""

Um, Chandratillake isn't the CEO of Blinkx any more? Mukherjee is?

So nearly two weeks after BM took over from the utterly hapless Chandratillake we get the first news on his watch - and instead of some grand vision piece reviewing Blinkx's product portfolio, its position in the market and outlining his direction for the company and how he's going to get there, it's yet another mickey mouse deal with a company nobody (in the UK at least) has ever heard of, and contains a howling factual error.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

The retard is dead - long live the retard...!

Blinkx - never knowingly missing an opportunity to fuck up...