Top 10 Mobile TV Moment

MobiTV released an interesting list that sheds light on what kinds of live events drive people to watch television on their phones. Turns out it’s really not that different from what drives humanity in general.

Coverage of Michael Jackson’s death and memorial took spots 1 and 4, respectively. The United States vs. Algeria 2010 World Cup Soccer match was 2. Other notables: President Obama’s inauguration took a high spot, but the Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden debate beat out Obama vs. McCain. In the marriage vs. divorce category, Tiger Woods’ confessional press conference beat out last month’s Royal Wedding.

A spokesperson for Mobi said the rankings didn’t come with actual viewer numbers because phone companies generally don’t release that information. 

That Jackson’s 2009 death remains number 1, then, shows just how large of a news story that was — and what time of day it broke. For many people in the U.S., the news arrived during work or commute-home hours. On the other hand, the debates do not fit that model — they were held when most people are expected to be home. Maybe soccer moms and dads at games and practices drove up those Palin vs. Biden numbers.

More universally true is that information itself does not necessarily spark mobile television traffic — something specific has to be happening. Press conferences, debates, matches dominate the list.

Longer-developing stories — such as the Arab Spring and the financial meltdown — didn’t make the cut. There is not a singular moment in those stories. MobiTV’s blog post rightly makes the correlation between its list and the where-were-you-when effect. It could be that such memories will increasingly include breaking out the smartphone and tuning in.

Here is the complete list of Top 10 Mobile TV moment.

1. Michael Jackson's death (June 25, 2009)
2. United States vs Algeria World Cup 2010 Live Soccer match (June 23, 2010)
3. Presiden't Obama's inaguration (Jan 20, 2009)
4. Michael Jackson’s memorial service (July 7, 2009)
5. Japan earthquake and tsunami (April 11, 2011)
6. Sarah Palin/Joe Biden vice presidential debate (Oct. 2, 2008)
7. Tiger Woods’s press conference (April 5, 2010)
8. Barack Obama/John McCain presidential debate (Oct. 15, 2008)
9. Dallas Cowboys/New Orleans Saints Saturday Night Football (Dec. 19, 2009)
10. Will & Kate’s Royal Wedding (April 29, 2011)

Remembering  Obama's death, do you think why that moment don't include in the list? How about you?

Via Blog Forbes

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Being The Winner of 2011 Engine of the Year awards; The Quality of BMW is questionable

The results of the 13th international Engine of the Year (EOTY) awards were announced on Wednesday and BMW again sweeped most of the categories. However, CAR's technical editor and EOTY juror, Jake Venter, questions the validity of some of the results...

The awards were presented by Engine Technology International magazine, published by UKIP Media and Events Ltd. They’re based in Dorking, Surrey.

The judges were drawn from 36 countries, and 76 motoring journalists took part in the voting. Two journalists from RamsayMedia, Venter and Francois Rabe, and Mohamed Sheta from Egypt, were the only ones from Africa.

Any engine housed in a passenger car that was on sale in more than one country as of May 2011 is eligible. The winners in the various categories are:

New engine: Fiat 875 cm3 two-cylinder (Fiat 500)
Green engine: Fiat 875 cm3 two-cylinder (Fiat 500)
Performance engine: Ferrari 4,5-litre V8 (Ferrari 458 Italia)
Sub 1,0-litre: Fiat 875 cm3 two-cylinder (Fiat 500)
1,0 to 1,4-litre: Volkswagen 1,4-litre TSI Twincharger (Various VW, Skoda and Seat models)
1,4 to 1,8-litre: BMW 1,6-litre four-cylinder turbo (Various Mini models)
1,8 to 2,0-litre: BMW diesel 2,0-litre twin-turbo (BMW 123d, X1 xDrive23d)
2,0 to 2,5-litre: Audi 2,5-litre five-cylinder turbo (Audi TT RS, RS3)
2,5 to 3,0-litre: BMW 3,0-litre DI twin-turbo (Various BMW models)
3,0 to 4,0-litre: BMW 4,0-litre V8 (BMW M3)
Above 4,0-litre: Ferrari 4,5-litre V8 (Ferrari 458 Italia)
International Engine of the Year: Fiat 875 cm3 two-cylinder (Fiat 500)

Says Jake Venter: "BMW's engines are excellent, but there are other engines that are just as good. The latter seldom get mentioned because too many judges vote with their emotions instead of their brains, and BMW make very emotive engines. Furthermore, the little Fiat engine has won four classes, and yet in a recent Autocar roadtest the fuel consumption was nowhere near the claimed values. Why did so many judges vote for it? Perhaps it’s time to change the European fuel consumption measurement cycle to something a bit more realistic?"

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ZTE; The ruler of Cloud Computing at China

ZTE Corporation, a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has claimed occupiyng the first rank of cloud computing in China with 107 of its patent application. So that was launched in ZTE official statement on Thursday (05/19/2011).

Not only that, five new proposals from ZTE on the infrastructure, architecture, and ecological system of cloud computing have been approved by ITU-T at the 5th FG Cloud Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

ZTE has begun its investment in patent applications in cloud computing since 2006. According to 2010 statistics from China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), ZTE is ranked no. 1 in terms of cloud computing patents applications in China with 107 patent applications, followed by Huawei (94), Tsinghua University (52), the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (44), Huazhong University Sci & Tech (41), Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics (33), and Zhejiang University (30).

For its leading position in and long-term commitment to cloud computing, ZTE was appointed to the position of vice-chairman of FG Cloud as well as three of the principal author positions at the same time. FG Cloud is a research and development affiliate of ITU that was founded in June 2010 and is engaged in developing the ecological system, architecture, infrastructure and other aspects of cloud computing. With these appointments, ZTE will be in a leading role to influence and shape the direction and development of cloud computing. 

Currently, the competition between various vendors on new technologies such as LTE and cloud computing has been heating up. ZTE sees competitive advantages in such new technologies for the future of the company and has made significant progress in both fields.

In 2010, ZTE was ranked second among all companies in the world in terms of PCT patent applications. In the same year, the major patent applications in the field of LTE, ZTE reached 7 percent of the entire industry.

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iPhone 5 will be launched on november 21st

Latest speculation surrounding the presence of the iPhone 5 sticking again. This time, the fifth generation of Apple's smart phone is claimed to be release on November 21st.

The UK news site T3 Online reports that according to a sales rep. for Brit iPhone reseller Phones4U, the iPhone 5 is expected to be released across the UK on November 21st, the source cited commenting that “iPhone 5 has been delayed until November following an issue with the handset’s software.”

While he was at it, the chatty sales person also said that Apple’s next generation phone, will be pretty much the same as the iPhone 4 but with with new software (presumably the anticipated iOS 5). He’s still calling it iPhone 5, but if his information is accurate, my deduction would be that it lends more credence to the market analyst rumor we reported on last weekend that the next iPhone refresh will be called iPhone 4S, and it doesn’t sound promising for a 4 inch display on the fall release should it materialize (although see the report on a purported new iPhone 5 case design below for a possible contrarian argument).

Now note that the Brit source is calling for a November consumer release in the UK in November, which would not preclude the new model’s unveiling in September after production ramping up as early as July for a somewhat earlier consumer release in the U.S., since stateside customers frequently get first crack at new Apple hardware. Apple’s 2012 fiscal year also starts in October, which could tie into such a hypothetical timeline as well.

Another feature that’s unlikely to show on the new iPhone is probably an RFID near-field communications chip that would let the phone function as a sort of digital credit card. Appleinsider and Business Insider among others are reporting that based on highlights from a highlights from a Bloomberg news feed, Wall Street research firm Bernstein in a Monday note to investors is predicting that Apple will not be including an NFC chip in The iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, or what ever the next iPhone release ends up being called.

On a more positive note, there is a smidge of new evidence of a significant iPhone case redesign, although don’t bet the farm or anything else of value on its accuracy),in the form of a Guangdong, China based iPhone peripherals trading site called AliBaba posting images, specifications and prices for a product it claims is a new design crystal case for iPhone 5G.

This case, which will come in blue, green, yellow,r ed, black,and white, is pitched to wholesale customers, with the minimum order quantity being 1000 units, and the pictures (which are obviously art renderings and not photographs) suggest a larger, edge-to-edge touchscreen display, and the the flash moved from directly beside the rear camera lens to the corner on the other side, which could conceivably be in aid of diminishing the dreaded red-eye effect in snapshots, long known to be exacerbated by close proximity between a camera lens and its flash lens.

However, given the narrow breadth of the iPhone case, it would be unlikely to make a big difference, and the move may just be part of a positional shuffling of internal components.

 

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