Will Amazon undercut its own Prime video service?
Amazon was said back in March to be working on a free streaming service, though the bookseller staunchly denied it at the time.
Now those rumors have been reignited thanks to a new report from the New York Post.
The site says Amazon will launch a free, ad-supported video streaming service early in 2015.
The service will reportedly be completely separate from Amazon Prime.
The Post spoke with "ad sources" who are allegedly in talks with Amazon about the service, one of whom said it will be designed to ultimately "lure" users into paying for Prime subscriptions.
And unlike when Amazon was reportedly considering this move in March, it's now "a definite go," the site says.
For now Amazon is remaining mum on this one, so it sounds like we'll probably have to wait until next year to find out for sure.
View the original article here
Showing posts with label service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label service. Show all posts
Hands-on review: Nvidia Grid game-streaming service
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Page 1 of 2Introduction and game library
Nvidia is in a privileged position. Whether the team there believes it or not, every innovation that comes out of its research and development department will show up sooner or later in hundreds of mainstream titles and technologies.
Don’t believe me? Look at the GPU.
Twenty years ago the concept of a discrete graphics processing unit wasn’t something that consumers had much interest in. But, come 1999, that story changed when Nvidia launched its 256 card. In the time since its launch, Nvidia has produced dozens of cards, each improving on that early model. The point here is that the original wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t matter. It was innovative and, in the end, that’s what made it ubiquitous with gamers.
When trying out Grid, Nvidia’s game-streaming service that’s 10-years in the making, this is exactly how I feel: It may not be perfect but, along with its console counterpart PlayStation Now, it’s the beginning of something big in a way that services like OnLive never were.
Before we can dig in with comparisons of how Grid performs under real-world conditions, we should review what Grid is, how it works and what you’ll need to try it out for yourself.
Grid, like PlayStation Now, is a cloud game-streaming service. Using remote, proprietary servers, Nvidia performs the graphics-heavy processing needed to play AAA titles and then streams the results to your Shield Tablet or Portable. It’s constantly doing this dozens of times per second, as well as taking input from your controller and sending it back to the server.
As you can imagine, you need a pretty fast wifi connection to make this all happen. Nvidia recommends connection speeds of at least 10Mbps for 60fps, though, you won’t see really smooth, console-like quality gameplay until around 30Mbps. So long as you have an 802.11n or 802.11ac “game stream-ready” router and a mid-level Internet service package you should be fine. However, anything less than that, and the quality of your stream will completely detract from the gaming experience. Here at TechRadar HQ, we had around the 30Mbps connection speed, and at home could muster around 25Mbps down and 7Mbps up - but neither of these two connections were through game-stream ready routers, which is important to note for the performance section coming later in the review.
Lastly, before we continue, the service only works on Shield Tablet or Shield Portable and is limited for the time-being to North America, though there are plans in place to roll it out globally over the next few months starting with the rest of North America and Western Europe and ending with Asia Pacific.
While it may sound irksome to wait a few months for service, I can promise you that when it does come to your territory you’ll be getting an even better experience than the one here in the US. Nvidia plans on adding several games every month to reach “a PlayStation Now-sized library of over 100 games by this time next year.”
However, that doesn’t mean US gamers will be left out in the cold until then. There’s about twenty games on the Shield Hub available right now. They include: Alan Wake: American Nightmare, Astebreed, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Brutal Legend, Darksiders, Darksiders 2, Dead Island, Dirt 2, LEGO Batman 2, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, Race Driver Grid, Saints Row: The Third, Street Fighter x Tekken, Strike Suit Zero, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Trine 2 and Ultra Street Fighter IV. This is the initial launch lineup in its entirety, though I was told to expect the Tim Schafer sleeper hit Psychonauts to be along sometime in the next month or so.
Nvidia is clearly leveraging its relationship with publishers to get AAA games on here from the very beginning. Yes, the point can be made that a few too many of these are from 2010, but it’s impressive that the service is launching with many of the games we’re still waiting for on PlayStation Now. What’s going to push the platform moving forward the most, however, are consistent updates that bring more recent and popular games to the Hub page.
Page 1 of 2Introduction and game librarySalesforce’s Service Cloud 1 Is A Wearable Technology Trojan Horse
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Editor’s note: Justin Foster is the West U.S. GM at Mobiquity leading the firm’s Western operations from sales through client delivery and advises a range of clients on how to adopt new technologies.
Imagine a scenario in which an oil rig worker suddenly hears an alarm sound from somewhere on the rig. The adrenaline rush begins and the worker knows he has to move fast. The sound of the siren is not a clear signal as to where the trouble is, but the smartwatch on his wrist indicates exactly where to go and what needs to be done to fix the problem. As he works to fix it, each step is photographed with his heads-up display for documentation and organizational learning.
If you’re thinking this scenario is far off in the future, think again. It’s actually a lot closer than you might think. At the Dreamforce conference earlier this month, Salesforce rolled out an updated version of Service Cloud 1 — its wearables “Trojan Horse” — which I believe is about to take over as the industry leader in wearable technologies.
In the demonstrations of the new ServiceCloud 1, Honeywell showed off its Lyric Thermostat; the company is banking that homeowners will move from paying for “security monitoring” to paying for a broader set of “home monitoring.” Are these advances in Service Cloud 1 and the mobile development platforms a Trojan Horse for mobile, wearables and the Internet of Things in customer and field service?
While wearables represent a quickly growing category of devices from a variety of vendors – and across a variety of industries – they’re still looking for a long-term home.
In case you’re keeping score, wearables today are struggling a bit in the consumer world. The density and complexity of the fitness tracker space specifically is massive. There are a growing number of smartwatches like the Moto 360 and the upcoming – and much anticipated – Apple Watch, and even new hybrid, all-in-one wearables like will.i.am’s recently announced Puls. Then there are the fashionably awkward heads-up display (HUDs) devices to choose from, including Google Glass and Oculus Rift. And just this month, we started talking about “hearables.” I suspect this is just the beginning.
Certainly, these devices are designed to attract consumers, particularly early adopters like myself. Depending on the situation, these wearables can come in handy. For example, smartwatches have notification features that help me avoid getting distracted by my smartphone. On the other end of the spectrum, wearable HUD technology remains largely unused because there are no “killer apps” that make them must-have tools. These devices look silly, and people ultimately know they are providing the wearer no real value.
Why invest in a wearable that can’t leave the house? Not to mention, vendors have not yet married the fashion and technology elements; in order to be worn by the mainstream consumer audience, wearables have to look good.
I believe the breakthrough and mass adoption opportunity for HUDs and other wearables lies in the customer and field-service world. There are hundreds of examples of where this emerging technology of wearables could quickly come into play across many industries and applications:
Airlines checking in customers with HUDs upon arrival and then delivering seat-back ordered food and drinks (no more carts in aisles).Field service reps scheduling and rerouting to high priority jobs. Will your next plumber or repairman be dispatched via wearable technology and have access to the specifications of your particular equipment via a heads-up display?Healthcare workers improving patient care and accuracy through proper identification and medication dosage.High-risk workers in manufacturing and engineering roles monitoring safety and best practices through exactly location based wearables.The use of real productivity tools for field-service workers is the next logical step, and by introducing tools around wearables and mobile enablement, Salesforce will soon be infiltrating the world of customer service with wearable technologies. After all, hundreds of thousands of Salesforce customers across each of these verticals and many others are already using their ServiceCloud 1 technology.
So it seems no small coincidence that the company is pushing hard on wearables through marketing, innovation and new development tool sets. This Trojan Horse is about to burst open, and it will change the entire industry in a very positive way.
Featured Image: Bryce DurbinRunning a video streaming service: the changes and challenges
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Ahead of his keynote slot at this year's Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam in October, we caught up with Dr. Gyula Feher, founder and CTO of Ustream, to hear about the challenges facing a video streaming company in the current internet age.
Ustream's founders identified a need for live streaming when friends who were posted in Iraq during the war had difficulties communicating with their families at home. While there is still a focus on Ustream for personal use, the opportunities for enterprise have far eclipsed the original user case and the majority of traffic and revenue seen by the live video streaming service are now derived from business customers.
In his Q&A with us, Dr. Feher discusses why Twitter presents a greater risk to corporate reputation than live streaming, his take on net neutrality, how the company is working with global operators to manage the impact that increasing levels of video traffic have on the network and where Ustream is headed to in the future.
TechRadar Pro: How did the concept for UStream begin?
Dr. Gyula Feher: We launched our beta service in March 2007. My co-founders, John Ham and Brad Hunstable, had noticed that friends who were posted in Iraq during the war had difficulties communicating with their families at home. From here we identified a need for live streaming, initially for individuals but the majority of our traffic now comes from enterprise clients.
TRP: What is the best example you have seen of a company or individual using UStream?
GF: Businesses are getting really creative with how video can optimise reach and generate value and not just in the B2C sector. Companies are using video to communicate with business and internal audiences too, for example to run training events in a more cost effective and engaging way.
We have moved into a new phase where live video isn't just being used as a passive instrument. Savvy and creative marketers recognise that it can be the linchpin of a fully integrated campaign and we've seen some great examples on our platform
One of the most memorable campaigns for me has been a company called Honest Tea. They set up pop-up kiosks in cities across the US that vended its drink based on customers adhering to the 'honour system' of payment.
Using a live video feed, the company assessed which city was the most honest and, subsequent to the video aspect of the campaign, had set up a fun 'honesty index' that assesses individuals' honesty profiles based on location, appearance and gender. Viewers could watch who was approaching the kiosk and decided whether that person would be honest and pay for their drink or choose not to.
TRP: Are there any risks for businesses using live streaming? How did you learn from the issues that you had around the streaming of the Hugo Awards in 2012?
GF: That was a big learning experience for us. We respect the intellectual property rights of others. We've made some refinements and also added in an additional layer of human approval, which adds more sanity to what we block and allow through.
In my experience Twitter presents a far greater risk to enterprises concerned about reputation management. For businesses new to video streaming, or those working on sensitive projects, we can offer the option of time shift so that they can be sure that whatever goes out live is okay - but there are some trade-offs on aspects such as interactivity.
TRP: UStream launched in 2007 – how have you seen the use of live video streams change over the last seven years and how do you ensure you keep ahead of the industry?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
