DreamWorks partners with Fuhu to launch tablet for children

 DreamWorks Animation first captivated children in movie theaters. Then it branched into TV, piping cartoons based on hits like " Madagascar" and " How to Train Your Dragon" into homes through outlets like Nickelodeon and Netflix. 

Now DreamWorks has partnered with a technology company, Fuhu, on an even more immediate way to reach itty-bitty eyeballs, a highly coveted audience: a tablet computer for children that the studio will be able to program much like a cable channel. "We could push out a new character moment every day of the year," said Jim Mainard, head of digital strategy and new business development for DreamWorks.

DreamWorks and Fuhu, which makes the popular Nabi line of children's tablets, plan to introduce the product, called the DreamTab, at the International Consumer Electronics Show, which starts Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The tablets will be sold with a range of DreamWorks-branded accessories, including headphones, protective bumpers and carrying cases. An 8-inch version of the DreamTab will arrive in stores in the spring. Pricing is still being determined but it will be less than $300, a Fuhu spokesman said. A 12-inch version is also planned. 

The partnership is a convergence of two business trends. With children as young as 2 or 3 now routinely using their parents' iPads or smartphones - if the toddlers don't have their own - technology companies are racing to introduce gadgets made for smaller and smaller hands. Fuhu itself sold more than 2 million Nabis in 2013, and its tablets, which are primarily designed for children 6 to 11, now collectively deliver more than 20 million video streams a week.

Entertainment companies have been surprised at how speedily children have taken to tablets, sometimes forgoing TV sets altogether. As a result, DreamWorks, Disney and their competitors are searching for ways to make it easier for users to find their characters on portable devices.

Fuhu's strategic goal with the DreamTab is differentiation - coming up with a way to persuade parents to buy its product over a competing one. DreamWorks is hoping to find a new way into the home, deepening its reputation as an innovative content creator and funneling more viewers to its programs and movies and selling more merchandise. 

"By teaming with DreamWorks to create a device that will have original content - original content that is automatically and frequently updated - we are not following consumers, we are getting ahead of them," said Jim Mitchell, Fuhu's chief executive. 

There are all sorts of branded tablets, of course. Fuhu in October introduced a special-edition Disney Nabi and Nickelodeon Nabi. But neither of those offered original and exclusive programming like the DreamTab will. Unlike some other tablets, the DreamTab will not lock children into a DreamWorks-only world. The studio's video content and games are the most prominent, but users can also stream shows from Nickelodeon, Disney and Cartoon Network.

Nancy Bernstein, a movie producer who is in charge of creating what she calls "character moments" for the DreamTab, insists that the effort is not simply an advertising opportunity for the studio. Turn on the tablet, for instance, and penguins from the "Madagascar" franchise might greet you with a silly dance. Depending on how parents have set the timing controls, "Shrek" characters might appear in a skit to announce that it is time to power down. 

"All of this animation was custom-created," Bernstein said in a demonstration at DreamWorks' headquarters here.

 

Some parents might disagree with her definition of advertising. Will dancing penguins make DreamTab users more interested in seeing "The Penguins of Madagascar" when it arrives in theaters next year? The studio, led by Jeffrey Katzenberg, would be naive not to hope the answer is yes.

The DreamTab will also have technology that allows it to communicate wirelessly with DreamWorks-made toys. For instance, a "How to Train Your Dragon" action figure might be used to unlock games and educational experiences on the tablet. (The studio's "How to Train Your Dragon 2" arrives in June.)

The companies will try to woo parents by including educational elements. In addition to original animation, DreamWorks will supply what it calls "educational artistic experiences"; some of the studio's top animators will appear in videos to teach users how to draw characters like Po the panda or Toothless the dragon. To allow children to draw on the screens, each DreamTab will come with the same stylus technology that DreamWorks artists use to make movies.

"We want to transform the way kids play, learn and grow through technology," said Mitchell of Fuhu, which is based in El Segundo, Calif.

The DreamTab's technology is quite hefty. The devices will enable children to send instant messages and emails to their parents' smartphones, for instance. Mitchell emphasized that his company had gone to "incredible lengths" to make the DreamTab compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law that restricts the ways companies collect information on children younger than 13.

The DreamTab is not a toy. Switched into parent mode, it provides roughly the same computing power as an iPad, the companies said.

"If you give a kid less, they will spot it immediately as less, and they won't like it," said Mainard of DreamWorks. "We wanted to give more."

Facebook faces suit for data mining 'private' messages

Facebook has been hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging the social networking behemoth gleans data from purportedly private messages, in violation of users'rights.

Two plaintiffs claim the site scans private correspondence between users for links to third-party websites, sharing that information with the likes of "advertisers, marketers and other data aggregators."

The suit accuses Facebook of violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California privacy laws.

Facebook has "systematically violated consumers' privacy by reading its users' personal, private Facebook messages without their consent," said the complaint, filed December 30 in the US District Court for Northern California.

"Representing to users that the content of Facebook messages is 'private' creates an especially profitable opportunity for Facebook, because users who believe they are communicating on a service free from surveillance are likely to reveal facts about themselves that they would not reveal had they known the content was being monitored," it said.

The suit was brought forth by two Facebook users from different US states, Matthew Campbellof Arkansas and Michael Hurley of Oregon.

It was filed on behalf of all US Facebook members who have used the site to send or receive a message that includes a link.

"Facebook scanned plaintiffs' messages and searched the website identified in the URL for purposes including but not limited to data mining and user profiling," the suit said.

According to the suit, Facebook earned $2.7 billion from targeted advertising sales in 2011.

The suit also said that while Facebook hides the extent of its data mining from users, it is clear on the subject in its technical guidance for web developers.

The case is similar to a lawsuit against Google, which is accused of violating user privacy by scanning the contents of Gmail messages.

Facebook has faced a slew of complaints and court actions on privacy, and last year settled a class action suit over the use of user names and images in so-called "sponsored stories."

A study by the Pew Research Center released earlier this week revealed that Facebook is the preferred social network in America, used by 71 percent of online adults, or 57 percent of all American adults.

Lenovo launches Vibe Z, its first 4G phablet

Chinese handset maker Lenovo has globally launched its new phablet, Vibe Z, at a price point of $549. The device was earlier launched in the Chinese market.
The Lenovo Vibe Z will be available starting February in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.

Equipped with a 5.5-inch Full HD (1080x1920pixels, 400ppi) IPS display, the phablet is Lenovo's first 4G-capable device. It is powered by a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

Lenovo is highlighting the sleek form factor of the handset; the Vibe Z is 7.9mm thick and weighs 147gram. The phone sports a 13MP rear camera with f1.8 aperture lens for low light situations and a 5MP front camera equipped with an 84-degree lens for wide-angle shots.

The Vibe Z comes with 16GB internal storage expandable via a microSD card. It runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and has a 3,000 mAh battery with talk time of up to 33 hours and standby time of up to 27 days.

The phablet also offers Lenovo-specific software supporting motion and gestures allowing users to swipe down on the screen to access notifications, slide up to display settings and double tap for custom commands.

Online training courses for entrepreneurs

Koenig Solutions, an information technology services trainer, is introducing a new course to help entrepreneurs sharpen their internet skills and capabilities.

The New Delhi-based firm was recently in the news for providing software training in 2010 to Edward Snowden, who exposed the large-scale global surveillance by the United States government. The company expects a number of web-entrepreneurs to choose this new course that will be delivered from its Delhi and Dubai offices.

"Despite IT training being a mature industry, we are discovering that there are many unmet needs especially of non-IT people," said Rohit Aggarwal, CEO and founder, Koenig Solutions. At a time when two startups are founded everyday in India, institutions are seeing an opportunity to train budding entrepreneurs.

Bangalore-based coworking space Jaaga will soon launch a one-year formal course called Jaaga Study to add required technical skill sets to entrepreneurs, for a fee of 1.2 lakh.

Launched earlier this week, Koenig's course costs $5,900 (Rs 3.65 lakh) and will cover fundamentals of web designing, Adobe Photoshop, and web marketing concepts such as Search Engine Optimisation and Pay-per-click, the company said.

As a part of the course, the entrepreneur can host the website on Koenig server and create a $500 Google AdWords account, the company said.

Nepal to become a free Wi-Fi zone

The Nepal government has announced a unique and ambitious plan to turn the Himalayan country into a free Wi-Fi zone, government officials said.

Due to lack of resources and absence of necessary infrastructure necessary for the purpose, the plan has surprised many, Xinhua reported.

To prepare basic foundations, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC), which introduced the plan, formed a task force last Wednesday to hold a feasibility study on implementing the plan.

"This is the very first step towards making Nepal a free Wi-Fi zone,"Umakant Parajuli, spokesperson at the MoIC said, adding that the ministry would soon confirm if the plan could be implemented or not, once the task force submits its study report.

The task force was formed under the leadership of Mahesh Adhikary, member of Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA), the government-owned telecom regulatory body of Nepal, and has been asked to submit the report along with recommendations to the ministry within 30 days.

The task force also includes representatives from Prime Minister's Office, National Planning Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology and experts from Tribhuvan University, among others.

Now, taste your favourite food online

Bored of 24X7 online viewing, listening and chatting? It's time to satiate your palate in the virtual world now.

If we believe scientists, a digital device can actually recreate the taste of virtual food and drinks by non-invasive electrical and thermal stimulation of the tongue.

A team led by Nimesha Ranasinghe, an engineer of Sri Lankan origin at the Keio-NUS Cute Centre in Singapore, has invented a simulator that can let you taste your favourite food online. For free, literally.

"This simulator generates signals transmitted through a silver electrode, touching the tip of the tongue, to produce salty, sweet, sour and bitter sensations. By combining different levels of electrical currents and varying the temperature of the electrode, simulation of the tastes can be reproduced," said Ranasinghe in a press release issued by National University of Singapore.

The research team has developed taste-over-Internet protocol for taste messaging - a data format that facilitates the delivery of information on recreating the different tastes via electrode.

However, the four major tastes form only part of the flavour equation. Smell and texture play key roles which the researchers want to add on for the full tasting experience, the release added.

To achieve this feat, scientists reported sour, salty and bitter sensations from electrical stimulation while minty, spicy and sweet sensations were reported through thermal stimulation on two separate group of individuals.

The group that has thermal stimulation represented minor sensations, requiring further work to intensify the tastes.

"This work has three novel aspects - the studying of the electronic simulation and control of taste sensations achievable through Digital Taste Interface against the properties of current and change in temperature; the method of actuating taste sensations by electrical and thermal stimulation methods, either individually or in combination; and the aim of introducing a practical solution to implement virtual taste interactions in interactive computing systems," said the release.

The simulator can also work for those having health problems. For instance, diabetics could use the device for a taste of sweetness without affecting their blood sugar levels.

Cancer patients may be able to improve their dulled sense of taste during chemotherapy with the electrode, concluded the study.

Kapil Sibal calls for global pact on cyber security

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today warned that till the time the global community join hands for a secured cyber space, it will remain prone to attacks which can bring down interconnectivity.

"We need a global pact on issue of security. That's fundamental to this interconnected world being a successful story in this 21st century," he said.

He said communication technology can revolutionise the way people live in this world. It can connect people across globe, share information, research and facilitate medical treatment.

"But there are people who can destroy this accord. We are interconnected, our economic system because of WTO were interconnected. Why are we not global citizen because otherwise we are otherwise we are not interconnected. The 21st century will help us interconnect with each other but there is one problem that we need to confront. That's the problem of security," he said.

He was speaking at a seminar here on the subject 'one world one people'.

He said the danger in inter-connected world during 21st century is that it is difficult to know who is going to attack and from where.

"When armies attack, nations attack it cannot be by single person. But the whole interconnected world can be attacked by one person," he noted.

Sibal said that as global citizens there is need to work for a global compact that inter-connected systems need to be kept secure.

He said that while forming the global pact, people need to ensure that it does not meet the same fate as talks on climate change.

"I believe in individual privacy. But we do need a global accord on cyber security," he said. 

Lenovo launches Vibe Z, its first 4G phablet

Chinese handset maker Lenovo has globally launched its new phablet, Vibe Z, at a price point of $549. The device was earlier launched in the Chinese market.
The Lenovo Vibe Z will be available starting February in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.

Equipped with a 5.5-inch Full HD (1080x1920pixels, 400ppi) IPS display, the phablet is Lenovo's first 4G-capable device. It is powered by a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

Lenovo is highlighting the sleek form factor of the handset; the Vibe Z is 7.9mm thick and weighs 147gram. The phone sports a 13MP rear camera with f1.8 aperture lens for low light situations and a 5MP front camera equipped with an 84-degree lens for wide-angle shots.

The Vibe Z comes with 16GB internal storage expandable via a microSD card. It runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and has a 3,000 mAh battery with talk time of up to 33 hours and standby time of up to 27 days.

The phablet also offers Lenovo-specific software supporting motion and gestures allowing users to swipe down on the screen to access notifications, slide up to display settings and double tap for custom commands.