(US,) PC World has a review of the Premium HD for DirecTV, they write "In fact, the only problem I experienced was sluggish performance of the on-screen guide and TiVo menu (DirecTV says it is aware of the problem and that it is working on improvements). Also, the box isn’t particularly attractive, but that’s just nitpicking at this point."
avinfo.co.uk writes on the subscription base SKY has for his HD service, they note "the satellite broadcaster said that 38,000 people had HD installed by the end of June, and that it expects to have the 90,000 bookings equipped by this coming September. Sky currently claims to have the broadest range of HD programming, including high definition versions of Sky Sports, Sky One, Sky Box Office, Sky Movies, National Geographic, Discovery and Artsworld." (more…)
Zone Thriller ( launched 3rd July 2006) launched on the EPG channel 333 on SKY Digital and shows thrillers (surprise surprise). The channel currently broadcasts for only three hours a day!
Tags: Zone Thriller
The Guardian Unlimited website, looks at a move Sky is making, by diversifying its product offering to retain customers and gain new ones, they write "Launching broadband has become de rigueur among media and communications companies trying to cope with maturing markets. With more and more people signed up to digital TV or mobile phone services, companies such as Sky, NTL/Telewest, Orange and Vodafone are moving away from a customer landgrab and instead are trying to make more out of their customers by providing extra products. Offering broadband - or in the case of cable, mobile services - is seen as a way of reducing customer "churn"." (more…)
Sharecast is reporting on the increase in revenue of BSKYB they write "For the year June, revenue increased by 8% to £4.1bn with pre-tax profits rising marginally to £798m from £787m previously.
The group said 77,000 customers signed up in the final quarter, ahead of expectations, taking the year total to 389,000. Overall number of direct-to-home (DTH) digital satellite subscribers in the UK and Ireland is now 8.17m."
Enn Reports on the increased demand for SKY Digital in the Republic of Ireland ( BSkyB added 64,000 new customers in Ireland in the past 12 months) they write " in recent months, Sky has added a number of new options for its customers, including Sky Mobile, HDTV, and Sky by Broadband, which allows customers to download films directly to their PC. It also offers a new Remote Record service to Sky+ customers which allows them to set their set-top box to record by mobile phone." (more…)
From Press Release:
The Sky+ 160 is the first box in the Sky+ family to offer increased storage capacity via the use of a 160 Gigabyte hard drive, delivering an average of 80 hours recording capacity. It also features USB 2.0 connectivity for future applications and is based on xTV, the DVR and extended conditional access system from NDS. The DVR functionality will be identical to that of the existing leading Sky+ product line.
Brian Sullivan, Director, New Product Development and Sales at BSkyB said, "The manufacturing agreement with Thomson underlines Sky’s determination to remain at the forefront of digital broadcasting. Sky+ has already revolutionised the way that the UK watches television; Sky+ 160 will allow BSkyB to offer even more flexibility, choice and control for our growing customer base. This is an important product for BSkyB and we are delighted to have the support of Thomson as developer and manufacturer." (more…)
Hi there!
We have decided to have a re-launch of Digital Orbit.
We have a new site with some interesting new content for you. Keep an eye out!
COMING SOON…
Daily Tech is reporting today on the release of another interim build of its Vista Windows system. This build offers some improvements over the 5456 build.
Vista in its beta form is pretty taxing on the system. It’s slow and a little non-responsive. That piece of software is now about nine weeks old and that may not sound like a lot but at this stage, that’s an old version in software terms. You’ll see a huge difference [in performance],” said Microsoft corporate VP of Windows client marketing Mike Sievert.
Source
vista Google Checkout has been launched. But sadly enough, it is not yet available to the UK & Ireland. “At this time, only merchants with a U.S. address and bank account can process transactions through Google Checkout. We look forward to offering more options in the future.”
Here is an extract from the google blog. Heres hoping they give PayPal something to worry about, and cause a bit of a price reduction war. Although the fact the PayPal is owned by eBay, means things will be that much tougher on the playground.
Google Checkout. It’s an easy way to identify fast, secure places to shop when you search. And after you’ve placed your order, Google Checkout provides a purchase history where you can track your orders and shipping information in one place.
Because we see big benefits for shoppers as the service grows, our immediate priority is to help more online stores join Jockey, Starbucks Store, Levi’s, Dockers, Buy.com, Timberland, Zales, and others to offer Checkout on their sites. To keep website integration simple, we’ve built a range of integration alternatives such as cut and paste buy buttons, pre-integrated ecommerce partner offerings, and an API that supports more advanced integration.
If you are a user of Google pages, you will be happy to know or may already know that you can now include your adsense code on those pages! Although I am not a user of the Google Pages service, I have heard it is better than geocities, Yahoos offering! Thanks to problogger.net for the info
We’re happy to let you know that Google Page Creator is now compatible with AdSense. Please feel free to add the AdSense code to your Page Creator web pages. If you don’t know how to implement the AdSense code with Google Page Creator, please follow the instructions below:
1. Log into your AdSense accoun t at www.google.com/adsense
2. From the AdSense Setup tab, customize and generate your AdSense code
3. Copy the generated code from the ‘Your AdSense code’ box
4. Log into your Google Page Creator account
5. Select the web page you’d like to dis play AdSense ads
6. Select the field where you’d like the ads to appear
7. Click ‘Edit HTML’
8. Paste the AdSense code in the HTML source code of the page
9. Save your updated web page
10. Publish your web page
After taking the steps above, your ads should appear shortly. If you have trouble implementing the Ad Sense code onto your web page, please feel free to respond to this email.
Good luck,
The Google AdSense Team
google adsense Vic Gundotra a former general manager for platform evangelism has left Microsoft and will be joining the Google team
“Mr. Gundotra has resigned from Microsoft and entered into an agreement with Google,” Google said in a statement. “Though the financial arrangements are confidential, he will not be a Google employee for one year and intends to spend that time on philanthropic pursuits. We are uncertain what precise role he will play when he begins working for Google, but he has a broad range of skills and experience which we believe will be valuable to Google.”
“We certainly appreciate Vic’s contributions here and wish him well,” said Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla.
The financial elements of the deal are being kept hush hush, however Vic will not be join google for a year as he will be taking time out to do philanthropy
In China country officials say that blogs and search engines will “undergo strict supervision of the government”. The Register website reports on Friday: Cai Wu, director of the Information Office of the State Council, said: “As more and more illegal and unhealthy information spreads through the blog and search engine, we will take effective measures to put the BBS (bulletin board system), blog and search engine under control.”
This comes as another move by the country to prevent its culture being damaged by outside influences.
china, search engine 
