Google has launched its turn-by-turn satellite navigation service in the UK.

Previously only available in the States, Google Maps Navigation comes free for Android users, providing they have version 1.6 or better of the OS.

The service will be voice driven, so you can say your destination to the phone, and it will plot a route.

In a Google Mobile blog post, the company commented: “With Google Maps Navigation, you can search by voice, and in plain English – just press the voice search button on your Android phone, say ‘navigate to Sainsbury’s,’ and Navigation will open automatically and guide you to the supermarket.”

Google Maps Navigation will pre-load the route, so there’s no need to worry if you drop connection along the way.

It will also have live traffic data, automatic re-routing, and provides a satellite map view to give you a better visualisation of your surroundings and landmarks.

One slight worry for the UK market is the range of thick accents we have over here making it tricky for the service to understand instructions.

Speaking very slowly is probably the order of the day (just pretend you’re abroad).

All this is, of course, another nail in the coffin of dedicated TomTom style sat-nav devices.

Particularly seeing as at the start of 2010, Nokia made a free turn-by-turn navigation offering available as well, Ovi Maps.

Read the original post:
Google Maps Navigation finds its way to UK

Blockbuster announces that BLOCKBUSTER On Demand will reach millions more homes across America through the latest models of Samsung connected HDTVs, Blu-ray players and Blu-ray integrated home theater systems. Consumers now have even more ways to enjoy the hottest new releases from BLOCKBUSTER.

BLOCKBUSTER On Demand is part of the newly-launched Samsung Apps, the first HDTV-based application store where users can download applications from select 2010 Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray players and home theater systems via the upgraded Internet@TV – Content Service

Source:
BLOCKBUSTER On Demand Coming to Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray Players and Home Theater Systems

On Demand Group disclosed that its expansion strategy has led to the creation of a TV transactional video-on-demand service offering designed for French-speaking markets. Further, the Company stated that it has already secured its first multiyear contract to provide end-to-end content management for a leading multiplatform telco video service provider.

See the original post here:
On Demand Group Signs Multiyear VoD Content Management Deal with French Telco

Modern
Times Group announces that Viasat Broadcasting will launch a subscription ‘video-on-demand’
service on its Viasat OnDemand internet portal in Sweden, Denmark and Norway on 2
February. The subscription service will make an unrivalled range of pay-TV content
available over the internet, including live sports events, hundreds of episodes of
hit TV series, and access to 200 feature films at any given time.

The content, which comes from major US studios, leading TV channels and premium sports
rights holders, is being made available to subscribers in a variety of thematic packages,
ranging in price from SEK 49 per month to SEK 199 per month for the Total package.
The Entertainment package offers around-the-clock, on-demand access to great drama,
comedy and sci-fi TV series such as Two and a Half Men, Friends, ER, Supernatural
and Smallville, whilst the Documentary package carries award-winning documentaries
from leading film makers. The Sports package includes live coverage of UEFA Champions
League football, ATP and Davis Cup tennis, the NHL and HockeyAllsvenskan ice hockey
leagues, and motor racing’s Formula One World Championship and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
The Movie package features current worldwide blockbusters such as Hancock, You Don’t
Mess with the Zohan and The Kite Runner, as well as modern classics such as Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ocean’s Eleven and Kill Bill. The Total package
provides unlimited access to all of the genre packages, as well as full parental control
functions for the protection of younger viewers.

The new subscription service will further consolidate ViasatOnDemand’s position as
the leading provider of online TV content in Scandinavia. The platform also includes
the catch-up TV services for Viasat’s own free-TV channels and leading third party
free-TV channels, and already enables viewers to pay-per-event for a wide range of
high profile live and recorded sports events, or pay-per-day for access to an extensive
list of current and library movie titles.

See original here:
Viasat Launches Subscription Online Video on Demand Service

Jilin
Cable Network has selected Espial MediaBase
to power their on-demand services. Jilin Cable Network is located in the central part
of northeast China and serves three million TV subscribers. Using Espial MediaBase,
they already offer Video-On-Demand, TV On-Demand, Network Personal Video Recorder
and Timeshift-TV services to hundreds of thousands of subscribers using more than
60 Time-Shift TV channel captures.

Jilin Cable Network is planning an aggressive expansion and will offer these on-demand
services to their entire base of 3 million subscribers over the next several years.
They believe the excellent user experience enabled by Espial MediaBase will be a key
differentiator for their subscribers. For example, Espial MediaBase can capture live
TV and make it available for almost instant viewing (for catch-up or look-back TV
services) after the broadcast begins.

As part of its selection process, Jilin Cable Network also required a VOD system that
could work with limited backbone network bandwidth. With Espial MediaBase, they were
able to address this requirement with its multi-tiered, multicast content delivery
networking features. As well, it was essential that the VOD system can be tailored
- both at the software and hardware layers – to the number of subscribers and viewing
habits of each region. With its flexible licensing model and by using commerical-off-the-shelf
servers and storage, Espial MediaBase easily met this requirement. This combination
of features allows Jilin Cable Network to reliably, cost-effectively and efficiently
distribute content and provide on-demand TV services to users in several cities including
Jilin, Yanji, and Changchun. A final important consideration was that the VOD system
works with their preferred system integrator – this was met as Espial MediaBase is
tightly integrated with Huawei’s Business Management Solution for Cable Operators.

Source:
Jilin Cable Network Launches On-Demand Services With Espial MediaBase