The days of the smartphone being just a mobile accessory to a desktop or laptop are pretty much over, if this how-to video is any indication. Gemalto CloudnShare signup is from the smartphone app, and although sharing via desktop is supported, that’s the platform that has become almost an afterthought.
365 Command for managing Office 365 subscriptions replaces command line and and scripting with an HTML5 GUI. Watch the video for a walkthrough:
ZOO Digital, a provider of workflow management software and services for creative media production, has launched its new Cloud-based platform, ZOOcore.
ZOOcore is a workflow and collaboration platform for creative and production businesses designed exclusively for the Cloud, enabling tailor-made workflow management systems to be configured and deployed very quickly at a fraction of the cost of bespoke software development. It is a centralized system to organize and control production information and brings significant efficiencies to project tracking, online review and approval which enable a reduction in email traffic and spreadsheet management.
ZOO has already deployed ZOOcore systems for a number of clients in diverse business areas including a major film studio for review and approval of artwork, a global TV network for co-ordination of advertising campaigns, a major US book publisher for preparation of eBooks, a post production facility for management of DVD, Blu-ray and digital product creation, a marketing agency for campaign management, and an international printer for job processing.
Such existing clients report that the use of the product eliminates many administrative overheads and enables robust and reliable collaboration, giving shorter time to market and lower operating costs. It is fully configurable and deployments of the ZOOcore Enterprise Edition can be tailor-made to support each client’s unique workflows. For smaller workgroups, ZOOcore is available in simplified pre-configured versions.
ZOO will be showcasing ZOOcore at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas between 8 – 11 April 2013at booth N-CP2.
Gordon Doran , President of ZOO, commented: “We have been delighted with the feedback from early adopters of ZOOcore, who are already reporting significantly reduced administrative overheads in creative and production workflows. We believe that this new platform will enable us to license and deploy workflow systems more quickly and widely than before, delivering highly cost-effective solutions to our clients.”
Ustream today unveiled its next-generation streaming technology. The core of the Ustream Cloud Platform centers around the company’s proprietary Ustream Content Delivery Network (UCDN), Ustream Media Server (UMS) and Ustream TCP Congestion Control Algorithm (UTCP). Together, this technology provides users with redundancy, resiliency, and reliability to broadcast quality live video streams.
Compared to most single-sourced CDN solutions, Ustream’s UCDN architecture aggregates the capacity of all major content delivery networks across the globe into one optimized network to guarantee the best viewer experience, from any location in the world. UMS controls the full lifecycle of live video streams and assures the ability to seamlessly scale to millions of concurrent viewers from any device; further, UTCP ensures smooth, non-buffered playthrough in adverse network conditions. Ustream’s first live video stream in 2007 engaged a small community in the hundreds; today, the most popular live video streams captivate millions concurrently. Earlier this year, Ustream powered two massively-scaled events within one week — NASA’s Russian meteor fly-by and Sony’s PlayStation 4 announcement — each reaching 8 million global viewers, with a peak of 1 million concurrent viewers. The Ustream Cloud Platform is the only global, live video streaming platform that can scale to this level and beyond.
“With the official release of the Ustream Cloud Platform, we are pushing the limits of what’s physically possible on today’s internet architecture,” said Gyula Feher, CTO of Ustream. “Since the founding of the company, our ambition has been to build the world’s most scalable and easiest to use live online video platform. With our APIs, we are inviting web and app developers to take Ustream Cloud to every mobile and web user.”
With Ustream APIs, software and hardware developers can create rich broadcasting and viewing applications that utilize the power of the Ustream Cloud Platform. Partner developers can easily create simple interfaces that connect consumer and professional streaming products to the largest live video streaming network with the click of a button; they can also expand their own network by creating and customizing channels on the fly via the API. The Ustream HTML5 player API and pre-configured libraries for iOS and Android enable interactive viewing experiences and social chat for desktop, mobile and tablets. Current users of Ustream’s Broadcasting APIs include Panasonic, Samsung, Logitech and Teradek; Sony’s new PlayStation 4 will also utilize Ustream APIs. Users of Ustream’s Viewing APIs include custom mobile apps from Mobile Roadie and Gyde.ly and custom event pages from clients such as Sony, Panasonic, Dell and Salesforce.
“We’ve designed and built a platform that will provide our user community with the highest quality streams, and we’re doing everything in our power to deliver this to viewers without buffering. The Ustream Cloud Platform automatically finds the best route to the end-user, avoiding congested paths, and uses an optimized TCP congestion control algorithm to serve content, even on lossy wireless networks, without buffering,” said Arpad Kun, Ustream’s director of network operations. “We hate the ‘spinning wheel’ as well, so we optimized the underlying protocol of RTMP and HTTP to deliver streams on-time, on-time, so users don’t have to wait for the player to fill up it’s buffer again. Our technology is unmatched and wherever we can, we are taking the single point of failure out of the equation.”
Source: Slate
Amazon AWS has released a public beta of a new tool to analyze and troubleshoot problems with Windows Server instances.
SPIRIT DSP announced today a new version of its multipoint web videoconferencing software, VideoMost 2.5. The new version allows 50 simultaneous interactive videoconferencing participants in one conference room, and additional broadcasting of the conference to up to 500 people who can view and listen to the discussion in real-time or recorded. VideoMost 2.5 enables telcos and service providers to launch SaaS multipoint videoconferencing under their own brand and billing in a matter of days, allowing them to quickly build new revenue streams and customer loyalty against OTT videoconferencing providers such as Microsoft and Webex.
“VideoMost 2.5 allows for massively multipoint, interactive speakers’ participation and real-time conversation with up to 50 people participating in a roundtable discussion, and each person can speak at any time ? while our global competitors only offer a maximum of nine interactive video participants,” said Andrew Sviridenko, SPIRIT DSP Chairman. “VideoMost 2.5 includes the added ability to broadcast, allowing 500 other people to view and listen to the discussion in real time or recorded. It’s a great tool for collaboration engagements, such as interactive virtual sales meetings or product training for up to 50 professionals that can also be viewed by 500 additional remote employees or partners. The number of conference rooms is limited only by the service providers’ hardware server farm capacity.”
VideoMost 2.5 multipoint videoconferences are designed for enterprise collaboration, social enterprise networks, round table discussions, interactive educational workshops, and other activities that involve active participation of speakers. VideoMost 2.5 reveals opportunities for remote broadcasting to a wide audience and conference recording ? features highly demanded by today’s businesses and government organizations.
VideoMost software server supports an unprecedented 1000 concurrent video channels per each $4000 PC hardware server, dramatically cutting down service providers’ costs for a hardware video server infrastructure. VideoMost is targeted at enterprise customers in partnership with telcos and service providers as a SAAS under the telcos’ own brand and billing.
VideoMost 2.5 will be demonstrated at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, Feb. 25–28 SPIRIT’s booth #6F87 in Hall 6.
Amazon has announced a new service designed to make transcoding video for use on multiple devices a snap, without having to deal with an EC2 instance or transcoding software. Controlled via the Management Console and using S3 buckets, or via APIs for developer use, Elaastic Transcoder uses presets to eliminate trial-and-error and guesswork.
“Amazon Elastic Transcoder manages all aspects of the transcoding process for you transparently and automatically. There’s no need to administer software, scale hardware, tune performance, or otherwise manage transcoding infrastructure. You simply create a transcoding “job” specifying the location of your source video and how you want it transcoded. Amazon Elastic Transcoder also provides transcoding presets for popular output formats, which means that you don’t need to guess about which settings work best on particular devices. All these features are available via service APIs and the AWS Management Console.”
Amazon Elastic Transcoder supports transcoding into H.264 video and AAC audio in an MP4 container, and supports most common media formats for input including H.264, AAC, MP4, MPEG-2, FLV, 3GP and AVI.
Full details available at the AWS Blog.
FlixMaster, the platform for Enterprise Online Video, today announced it has secured $1.125 million in additional funding from a syndicate of investors led by New York-based investment firm Golden Seeds.
The company said the investment would be used principally to expand sales and marketing efforts, particularly in the corporate enterprise markets. The company also announced it was launching new industry modules for its video editing and deployment platform designed for online retailing, corporate customer service and media markets.
FlixMaster is addressing the growing need for more creative uses of video by corporations and media properties alike. To date, Enterprise Video technology has been primarily focused on video distribution and content management, but as those technology challenges fade, creative professionals are looking for platforms that improve content quality and increase viewer engagement.
“The promise of Enterprise Video has been high engagement that converts interaction into action,” said Erika Trautman, co-founder and CEO of FlixMaster, a Boulder, CO-based graduate of the prestigious TechStars program. “The problem is, most videos simply transfer a conventional TV-like experience to the web, and even though most viewers go to the video first, they’re gone in a matter of seconds.”
“Brands need to produce interactive video experiences that draw viewers in and keep them there. And companies need to be able to produce those experiences at scale and at a reasonable cost. That’s what FlixMaster offers,” she continued.
The company was recently engaged by HBO to develop an interactive online experience for the newly launched Cinemax series, “Banshee”, that incorporates FlixMaster video technology and makes heavy use of the Player API. The online destination, Banshee Origins, provides audiences with an enhanced viewing experience, driven through interaction with the video player itself, and gives them an opportunity to explore the show and interact with its characters and themes. Last summer, FlixMaster’s technology powered an acclaimed web experience for the USA Network show, “Covert Affairs.”
“The Cloud, Explained by Kids” is Rackspace’s version of that old Art Linkletter standby: