Wednesday, July 4, 2012

YouView’s Catch-Up TV Service Comes to U.K. Later This Month for £299

YouView



It’s taken over two years to arrive, but YouView’s TV catch-up service is finally coming to the U.K. later this month. The £299 (approx. $468) set-top box brings together the streaming services from the U.K.’s biggest TV and broadband companies — including the BBC, BT, ITV, Five, and Channel 4.
It’s likely those partners will grow rapidly, too. YouView said at today’s launch event in the U.K. that over 300 content partners have expressed their interest in the service, and other catch-up services including Sky’s Now TV and STV are already in the pipeline. YouView is also encouraging other content providers to register their interest from today.
YouView will initially be available via a set-top box built by Humax, but a BT-branded alternative is expected to arrive later this year. There’s also a possibility that as the service grows, it will be integrated into Smart TVs — just like Freeview HD has.
As a Brit who has used many of these catch-up services at one time or another, I must say that YouView sounds like a great idea. But in reality, it could struggle to find success in today’s market. AsThe Next Web notes, YouView’s two-year wait has allowed the likes of Sky and Virgin Media to launch attractive catch-up services of their own, which can also be accessed via mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
There is also the issue of that £299 price tag, which will likely prove to be YouView’s biggest problem. With many of these catch-up services available for free on Internet-connected devices like computers, mobile devices, consoles, and Smart TVs, how many people or going to spend £299 for a box that simply puts them all in one place?

Facebook Adding “Want” button?


Facebook has entirely revolutionized the word LIKE,the next word possibly would be “want”.Noted developer  Tom Waddington located some code within the Facebook Javascript SDK that pointed to the development of a “want” button. So what is the use of this want button??

For Companies

Waddington speculates that Facebook could build a universal wishlist that could be queried by other apps through the Graph API.This new  option would  be helpful for Facebook’s ad partners. You add a product to your Facebook wishlist in your profile and the company that produces it or e-commerce websites could serve up discounts- or just keep tabs on interest or show the link to your friend on your birthday so that he can gift you that product.

For users

It ill be a added advantage for users as they need not go nuts selecting the gifts for birthday or another special occasion.This facility is like wishlist/wantlist available in leading e-commerce websites like eBay,you want or wish to buy something you can add it to the list,later whenever you have money you can review the list and get one.This will be really great feature when its implemented because other social networking sites like twitter or G+ doesn’t have this important feature like this.






When asked about the feature, a Facebook spokeswoman said “we’re always testing new Platform features, however we have nothing new to announce.”
Lets see when facebook reveals this button,
If you want to add a button what button will you add?? my choice would be hate button,leave your choice below