java

Burbank, Calif.-based Blu-ray technology company, Dreamer, announced Tuesday that it will be presenting a session entitled "How to 'BluTube': Broadcasting over Broadband to a Blu-ray Player" (4:10PM, June 3rd, in the Moscone Center's North 124 conference room) at next month's JavaOne conference in San Francisco. According to the company, the session will focus on how to create and deploy private broadcasting channels that deliver audio, video and interactive applications to TV's, using Dreamer's Java-based "BIDDLE" technology for Blu-ray.

According to a report in the Hollywood Reporter Monday, Warner Home Video will shortly announce a plan to integrate Facebook friend networks with the BD-Live interactive community-screening features on its Blu-ray discs, starting with the Blu-ray release (scheduled for late July) of "Watchmen: Director's Cut." As a result of a new partnership between Warner and Facebook (which, according to the Hollywood reporter, involved "no money changing hands between the parties"), the existing BD-Live community-screening functionality will be expanded so that consumers can exchange comments with their Facebook friends, via Facebook "status updates," while watching Warner Home Video Blu-ray titles.

OEDN.net (note: the name is an acronym for "OCAP/EBIF Developer Network), an organization which is attempting to drive application development efforts using the US cable industry's OCAP/tru2way and EBIF middleware standards and whose backers include Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Charter and Bright House, said Tuesday that it is now hosting its first free OCAP/tru2way sample application, a simple stopwatch app.

Hamburg-based Blu-ray Disc production studio, Enteractive, has developed a service that allows consumers to transform their BD-Live-enabled Blu-ray player into a VOD rental platform, according to a report last week by European DVD industry trade publication, DVD Intelligence. Dubbed Videociety, the new service was unveiled at the MediaTech trade show last month.

ICT Results, an editorial service created by the European Commission to showcase European Union-funded research in information and communications technology (ICT), published a report, Wednesday, on an EU-funded project called Enhanced Learning Unlimited (ELU), that was established to develop methodologies and tools for enabling learning via interactive TV ("t-learning").

Interactive TV software company, Osmosys (note: the company, which, together with Vidiom and set-top box vendor ADB, is part of the ADB Group, specializes in Java-based ITV solutions, such as MHP and OCAP), last month announced the launch of its MHP 1.2 software, which it bills as allowing operators to provide "next-generation" TV services and as helping bridge the worlds of broadcast and IP video. According to the company, the new software is compatible with terrestrial, satellite, cable and IPTV services, and supports advanced features on networks with always-on Ethernet connections.

--The Interactive TV Month in Review

In this recorded episode of [itvt]'s new talk radio show, "The TV of Tomorrow Show with Tracy Swedlow," Ashwin Navin, co-founder and president of peer-to-peer technology provider, BitTorrent, discusses that company's recently announced agreement with Comcast, which calls for them to work together to address infrastructural issues raised by the growing popularity of video and other rich media on the Internet.