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Wink Communication, creator of interactive TV applications and appliances, has partnered with Sony, Zenith and Pioneer to incorporate its technology into their products. iWink allows users to receive interactive TV content from shows and commercials that are enhanced with iWink technology. Sports updates, weather, trivia and play-along games can be accessed and products can be purchased directly from your TV. In order to access iWink’s enhancements, users must have TV, satellite receiver or cable box equipped with an iWink decoder. A flashing iWink symbol on the screen indicates that the iWink technology is made available by a particular show or commercial. iWink does not allow you to surf the Web but provides access to interactive programming by decoding information embedded in the broadcast signal. iWink technology is scheduled to be available over the next three years in Zenith’s multimedia TV line. Sony will integrate iWink in its next-generation DirecTV receivers. Pioneer will be incorporating iWink into Voyager digital set-top units running the Passport software platform. iWink is ATVEF-compliant. The Advanced Television Enhancement Forum is an alliance of the broadcast and cable networks, television, consumer electronics and PC industries that has defined protocols for enhanced television. One of iWinks competitors, OpenTV, has joined with Echostar to provide OpenTV technology. Also, more than 20 varieties of set-top boxes around the world currently use the OpenTV platform. Echostar has partnered with OpenTV to offer Dish Network customers an interactive digital receiver with a built-in hard drive. The new receiver, expected to be available during the fourth quarter of 2000, could also offer interactive television services developed by OpenTV, including a new electronic program guide, a local weather application and other innovative interactive applications.
Microsoft Announces Smart Gaming Appliance Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced at the annual Game Developers Conference that Microsoft Corporation is entering the video game world with the introduction of a future-generation dedicated video game console. Code-named X-Box, the device is designed to deliver intense, action packed games to the living room. X-Box is slated to launch in 2001. According to Microsoft, a custom designed graphics chip will deliver more than 300 million polygons per second giving the X-Box three times the graphics performance of current game consoles. Though X-Box will come with a DVD player, a hard drive, broadband Internet access (it will be able to support a modem as an add-on), and four game controller ports all standard, with a keyboard and mouse as optional peripherals. TeleCruz and Spiderdance Combine Resources
Under the agreement, TeleCruz and Spiderdance will co-develop a wide variety of interactive content that, according to both companies, promises to make the TV experience more compelling for interactive television viewers than standard broadcasting or Web browsing.
New Digital Home Entertainment System Indrema will be introducing the L600 Entertainment System later this year. The set-top box will deliver digital audio, video, Internet access and next-generation 3D games to your television. The L600 includes a wireless keyboard, 600MHz processor, composite and S-video in/out and an internal hard drive up to 50GB in size. If you have a cable modem or DSL Internet connection, Indrema’s 100-megabit port will take full advantage of the high speed service. Multiple Indrema consoles can be used, all using one Internet account. For the latest information on availability and price, visit the Web site at www.indrema.com.
New Partnerships for Wink and Open TV Promise Greater Interactivity
TeleCruz Technology, Inc., developers of cost-effective, open platforms for interactive television has announced partnership with Spiderdance, Inc. Spiderdance provides the resources to fully synchronize online content with on-air television programming.
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