The way you, the consumer, access your favourite TV programming in future, could be determid by something called "placeshifting" technologies. And companies like Slingbox and Sony are working overtime to perfect the technologies, both hardware and increasingly software.
But, first, what’s Slingbox? It’s a little devices that sits on your TV set and it is this device that enables you to watch and control your living room television programming from anywhere by turning any Internet-connected laptop, desktop, PDA, or smartphone into a personal television. Whoa! According to Slingbox, the gadget placeshifts the television signal from your source device to your PC — located at home or 3,000 miles away, via the Internet. "The SlingPlayer software works hand-in-hand with the hardware in the Slingbox to allow you to watch and control your TV on your computer. So while your TV and Slingbox sit at home, you can be out and about with SlingPlayer," the company says. Which could prove to be inconvenient for wireless carriers.
"The ability to stream pay TV from a set-top box and digital content from a home PC over the Internet to a variety of devices has the potential to disrupt new content services being delivered by mobile operators," says a new report by ABI Research. "New digital distribution technologies typically meet the stiffest resistance from content owners such as movie studios," says the market research firm.
"With placeshifting, we believe the biggest opponents will be mobile operators who see these solutions as rogue network applications that could potentially paralyse their cellular networks, as well as keeping consumers from paying for mobile video offerings being offered over new mobile video networks."
ABI Research has forecast a bright future for placeshifting as consumer awareness of hardware, software, and embedded solutions grows. "While today’s placeshifting market is largely hardware-based, as adopters use the Slingbox or Sony’s LF-PK1, a growing number of consumers will also adopt software solutions such as that from Orb Networks and SageTV or embedded solutions such as placeshifting enabled set-top boxes," it says.
"As the overall placeshifting market grows from less than $22 million in 2005 to nearly $740 million by 2011, much of the growth will come as placeshifting technology moves into existing devices," it says. "Hardware vendors such as Sling and Sony, while still seeing strong growth from device sales, will work with other system OEMs to integrate placeshifting into both server and client devices.
New tech to affect how you control television
May 12, 2006, 10:01 amIdentify weakness & address it to boost results
May 12, 2006, 9:58 am
Harvard Business School Publishing
Virtually every company has its Achilles heel: a weakness that, if not addressed, could undermine all the high performance happening elsewhere in the organisation. Is it in operations? Technology? Sales? Wherever it is, you need to be aware of it. And you need to address it.
It sounds obvious, but think about the last time you asked, "What is our greatest weakness, and how should we address it?" If answering this question hasn’t been a serious priority lately, here are a few suggestions for how to go about doing so:
Ask the front line. Through both casual conversations and systematic feedback mechanisms (such as surveys), ask your salespeople, customer service representatives, procurement staff and others who have regular contact with customers and partners what they’ve heard — and ask them to express their own opinions as well.
Talk to your customers and partners directly. Asking your front line won’t provide the complete picture, so also ask customers and partners how they view the company. Consider taking an approach similar to one you’d take with frontline workers: a mix of one-to-one conversations and a more systematic approach such as surveys or, perhaps even better, focus groups.
Ask your team. Address this topic at your next team meeting. Ask your staff to think about it beforehand and come ready to discuss their opinions, or simply throw it out for discussion for more candid feedback. The key is to make sure people feel comfortable talking about company problems. If you sense that they are holding back, allow them to talk to you about it offline.
Poll other managers. Invite the head of a dep-artment you don’t work with regularly to lunch and ask for her observations. Don’t just do this once with one manager; make a regular habit of dining with colleagues with whom you would not otherwise cross paths.
Look for common themes. Does innovation surface regularly as an area of concern? Manufacturing quality? Customer care? Recognising your weakness is a mixture of art and science. What does your own intuition say? Could the most common theme(s) have an adverse impact on the company if not addressed? If so, what are you going to do about it?
Virtually every company has its Achilles heel: a weakness that, if not addressed, could undermine all the high performance happening elsewhere in the organisation. Is it in operations? Technology? Sales? Wherever it is, you need to be aware of it. And you need to address it.
It sounds obvious, but think about the last time you asked, "What is our greatest weakness, and how should we address it?" If answering this question hasn’t been a serious priority lately, here are a few suggestions for how to go about doing so:
Ask the front line. Through both casual conversations and systematic feedback mechanisms (such as surveys), ask your salespeople, customer service representatives, procurement staff and others who have regular contact with customers and partners what they’ve heard — and ask them to express their own opinions as well.
Talk to your customers and partners directly. Asking your front line won’t provide the complete picture, so also ask customers and partners how they view the company. Consider taking an approach similar to one you’d take with frontline workers: a mix of one-to-one conversations and a more systematic approach such as surveys or, perhaps even better, focus groups.
Ask your team. Address this topic at your next team meeting. Ask your staff to think about it beforehand and come ready to discuss their opinions, or simply throw it out for discussion for more candid feedback. The key is to make sure people feel comfortable talking about company problems. If you sense that they are holding back, allow them to talk to you about it offline.
Poll other managers. Invite the head of a dep-artment you don’t work with regularly to lunch and ask for her observations. Don’t just do this once with one manager; make a regular habit of dining with colleagues with whom you would not otherwise cross paths.
Look for common themes. Does innovation surface regularly as an area of concern? Manufacturing quality? Customer care? Recognising your weakness is a mixture of art and science. What does your own intuition say? Could the most common theme(s) have an adverse impact on the company if not addressed? If so, what are you going to do about it?
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