The first FCC digital TV workshop of 2008 will focus on rural and tribal land residents. It will be Jan. 31 at FCC headquarters. A Feb. 28 event will deal with people with disabilities and the transition.
The first FCC digital TV workshop of 2008 will focus on rural and tribal land residents. It will be Jan. 31 at FCC headquarters. A Feb. 28 event will deal with people with disabilities and the transition.
PC game technology company DISCover is confident it will land deals with major publishers for the “1-Click Buy-N-Play” concept it’s introducing at CES, it said Thursday, not naming prospective partners. DISCover is working with 30-plus publishers, including Codemasters, Disney, Eidos, Encore, Her Interactive, NCsoft and Strategy First, plus others it can’t name, a spokesman said. The 1-Click Buy-N-Play technology allows PC gamers to buy, install, and play PC games with “just one click of the mouse, making it the easiest and most convenient way to purchase PC game downloads,” it said. The technology works with DISCover’s Hardcore White-Label Gaming System platform that powers game downloads by core gamers, InstaPlay desktop client software installed on “millions” of Alienware, HP and Sony PCs, and DISCover’s catalog of “more than 1,700 PC titles,” the company said. A beta of the new technology was expected to launch this month, with full launch expected in January, DISCover CEO David Ferrigno recently told us. Initial response from DISCover partners has been enthusiastic, Ferrigno said. The “biggest response was from a large retailer of digital content” that he wouldn’t identify. DISCover, which exhibited at CES before, is among game companies taking part in the show this time, along with Sony Online Entertainment, Vivendi Games Mobile and Namco Bandai Games.
PC game technology company DISCover is confident it will land deals with major publishers for the “1-Click Buy-N-Play” concept it’s introducing at CES, it said Thursday, not naming prospective partners. DISCover is working with 30-plus publishers, including Codemasters, Disney, Eidos, Encore, Her Interactive, NCsoft and Strategy First, plus others it can’t name, a spokesman said. The 1-Click Buy-N-Play technology allows PC gamers to buy, install, and play PC games with “just one click of the mouse, making it the easiest and most convenient way to purchase PC game downloads,” it said. The technology works with DISCover’s Hardcore White-Label Gaming System platform that powers game downloads by core gamers, InstaPlay desktop client software installed on “millions” of Alienware, HP and Sony PCs, and DISCover’s catalog of “more than 1,700 PC titles,” the company said. A beta of the new technology was expected to launch this month, with full launch expected in January, DISCover CEO David Ferrigno recently told Consumer Electronics Daily. Initial response from DISCover partners has been enthusiastic, Ferrigno said. The “biggest response was from a large retailer of digital content” that he wouldn’t identify. DISCover, which exhibited at CES before, is among game companies taking part in the show this time, along with Sony Online Entertainment, Vivendi Games Mobile and Namco Bandai Games. PC game peripheral maker Saitek, which Mad Catz said last month it’s buying for $30 million (CED Nov 15 p5), plans to showcase its new Cyborg gaming line. Several smaller game peripheral companies plan to exhibit at the show. Sony Computer Entertainment America again will showcase its products at the Sony Electronics booth, but SCEA told us no executives will be on hand. The largest videogame presence at CES is again likely to be Microsoft, which will have Xbox executives on hand to tout the console, with Chairman Bill Gates again giving the keynote on the show’s eve. Microsoft and executives from other game companies are on various game conference panels. But Nintendo again is expected to be a no-show. - - JB
The NTIA plans around Jan. 3 to release details of the “live pilot” test it will run next month of coupon distributions and redemptions under an “operational capability demonstration” (OCD) phase already under way, an agency spokesman said. Federal employees in at least two markets -- Wichita, Kan., and Washington, D.C. -- will participate in the tests, said a spokeswoman for CLC Services, the NTIA subcontractor that’s handling retailer certification and coupon redemption. CLC itself is based in Wichita.
The NTIA plans around Jan. 3 to release details of the “live pilot” test it will run next month of coupon distributions and redemptions under an “operational capability demonstration” (OCD) phase already under way (CED Dec 12 p1), an agency spokesman said. Federal employees in at least two markets -- Wichita, Kan., and Washington, D.C. - - will participate in the tests, said a spokeswoman for CLC Services, the NTIA subcontractor that’s handling retailer certification and coupon redemption. CLC itself is based in Wichita.
Europe’s planned Global Monitoring for Environment and Security earth observation system received a 48 million euro award from the European Commission and European Space Agency Tuesday. The money will be used to coordinate space-based observation data for GMES’s preoperational phase, 2008 to 2010, the EC said. GMES, whose services could include such things as detection of oil spills and ozone monitoring, will be based on data from earth observation satellites and ground-based information. The program is being built gradually and will start with preoperational “fast-track” services for emergency responses, land monitoring and marine, the EC said. There will also be pilot efforts in security and atmosphere monitoring, it said. The grant signed Wednesday will allow GMES services to receive required space data free of charge from existing European Earth observation satellites, but in the future the space-based infrastructure will include satellites dedicated to GMES, the EC said.
Pat Mitchell, who stepped down in June 2006 as CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, made $751,489 in FY 2006, vastly out-earning other national public broadcasting organization heads, according to the latest Form 990 filings with the IRS. Mitchell’s remuneration included a $48,868 employee benefit program payment and “some end of contract items,” PBS said, declining to give a breakdown. Mitchell left PBS to head the Museum of TV & Radio.
The Department of Homeland Security has posted a fact sheet to its Web site on State-issued Enhanced Driver's Licenses (EDLs), which DHS is pursuing as an alternative document (to passports, etc.) in order to meet Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requirements at land and sea ports of entry.
GENEVA -- An ITU framework for emergency cooperation links telecom operators and better regulatory practices to cut costs and mortality in disasters, officials said Monday at an ITU Global Forum on Effective Use of Telecommunications/ICT for Disaster Management.