PA Sport acquires iKnowledge.

NEW YORK -- Following the announcement of the acquisition of SportsTicker by PA Sport Ltd, the company has secured another major takeover deal. PA Sport Ltd has agreed to acquire sports media technology company iKnowledge Ltd in a deal that will see the extensive PA Sport portfolio expanded to include data-driven graphical solutions for broadcasters and Internet sites.

Since its inception six years ago, iKnowledge's automated graphics systems have become recognized as the next step forward in technologies to attract and engage TV and web audiences. The iKnowledge portfolio will have particular resonance in the United States as PA SportsTicker looks to add to its product offering across the broadcast and Internet markets.

The acquisition of iKnowledge will allow PA Sport to provide a full service of end-to-end data and graphics solutions for broadcast platforms, whether TV or PC based, and a wide range of sports-based websites. By combining research and development resources, PA Sport will be able to deliver faster and more flexible data services to broadcast and web customers.

Chris Buckley, Chief Executive Officer, PA Sport said "We are delighted to announce the acquisition of iKnowledge. The company is a perfect fit for the global ambitions of our sport information business. iKnowledge is already a byword for innovation in the UK broadcasting sector. With the resources of PA Sport behind it we can now take their cutting edge solutions into new territories and the new markets to serve the growing digital audience".

Jim Morganthaler, Head of Sport, PA SportsTicker said "This acquisition once again demonstrates PA Sport's commitment to assembling best-of-breed services and offering them to a global audience. We look forward to leveraging iKnowledge's applications and services to better serve our clients."

Nick Bryan and Kevan Moretti, Founders, iKnowledge commented "It's a great combination; PA Sport has a global reach and scale to accelerate both the domestic and international expansion of the iKnowledge business. It's been an undeniably attractive match for both companies and our customers. We believe we have a partner in PA Sport that is committed in sharing our ambition to develop new products and to promote the adoption of our services into new markets"

Note to Editors:

About PA Sport

PA Sport supplies data, editorial and pictures from over 40 major sports in over 200 countries worldwide. PA Sport is the world's leading sports news and information provider and is part of the PA Group of information companies. At the heart of the PA Group is the Press Association, the national news agency for the UK and Ireland, which was founded in 1868.

Using its network of more than 1500 reporters based across the world and its 250 staff at its UK headquarters, PA Sport gathers, processes and delivers high quality, comprehensive sports editorial, data, sound and pictures on more than 40 major sports around the world, much of it in real time.

This information is delivered to a wide range of global customers across all media platforms and in different languages. Customers include newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, websites, telecommunications companies and the betting industry.

With its reputation for speed, accuracy and integrity PA Sport is also the partner of choice for many sport federations and governing bodies, including the English Premier League.

PA Sport is based in the UK and has offices in the United States, Hong Kong, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand and China, with representatives in Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

For more information visit: www.pa-sport.com

About iKnowledge

iKnowledge Ltd was founded in 2000 by Nick Bryan and Kevan Moretti. The company delivers data-driven TV graphics systems, sports analytics, games and media content for broadcasters, bookmakers, venues, governing authorities and publishers.

iKnowledge's customer list features many at the forefront of content and systems innovation and includes Attheraces, SIS (Satellite Information Services), Pokerzone TV, BBC Sport, Channel 854, Ladbrokes, William Hills, Coral-Eurobet, the Irish Greyhound Board, the British Greyhound Racing Board.

For more information visit: http://www.iknowledge.co.uk/

About PA SportsTicker

PA SportsTicker is America's leading real-time sports news information service provider, covering all major professional, collegiate and minor league sports.

Formed from the acquisition of SportsTicker by PA Sport, the world's leading sports news and information provider, it is the natural successor to Western Union's original Baseball Ticker, established in 1909. Today PA SportsTicker's sports news heritage is honored in a permanent exhibit at Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

For more information visit www.pa-sportsticker.com

MarketResearch.com: "Search Engines and Portals - US" by Mintel International Group Ltd. May 2005.

M2 PRESSWIRE-25 May 2005-MarketResearch.com: MarketResearch.com: "Search Engines and Portals - US" by Mintel International Group Ltd. May 2005(C)1994-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:24052005

MarketResearch.com announces the addition of a new report titled "Search Engines and Portals - US" (http://www.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?productid=1095865) to its website.

The advent of search engine technology grew alongside the rapid expansion of the Internet from the 1990s onward. The number of residential Internet connections in the US will have quadrupled from 21.8 million in 1997 to an estimated 90+ million in 2005. By 2005, the proportion of those with broadband access compared to those with dial-up connections, will have grown to roughly one in three connections-and that proportion is expanding rapidly.

Faster connections mean that consumers stay connected longer and do more with the Internet. And, as the size of the Internet itself expands exponentially, the need for search engines will only increase. According to Mintel's exclusive consumer research conducted in December 2004, nearly all Internet user respondents use search engines at least occasionally and 43% of respondents claim that their current search engine usage is more frequent even than last year.

Four major search engines have emerged as leaders by offering comprehensive yet simple search tools and by promoting themselves effectively on the Internet. These leaders include Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask Jeeves. InterActive Corp announced its acquisition of Ask Jeeves for $1.85 billion in stock in March 2005, demonstrating the highly dynamic nature of the marketplace. The market also includes dozens of smaller players. Google dominates; it is the leading search engine according to a variety of metrics including web traffic measures, brand recognition, consumer opinion and more-a position it strongly tries to maintain, with added pressure following the company's initial public offering in 2004. Google has become a household name to the point of becoming a verb-to "Google" something means to look up information about it on the Internet.

The four leading search engine providers have all invested in their own search technology, which basically "crawls" the web looking for content to index into their results databases. Both Google and Ask Jeeves are focused on search only, while Yahoo and MSN search engines are part of larger websites called portals, or gateways to the internet complete with big directories pointing the way to various topics such as weather, business, real estate, and many more. After a period of revitalization and beta testing (code named Sandbox), MSN launched an overhauled version of its search engine to kick off 2005. MSN also launched its own paid search technology in March 2005. However, Google continues to expand its services, including the launch of a beta email service in 2004 called Gmail. Countless smaller search providers, called meta-search engines, compete with the larger players by searching other search engines' databases for results, and promising to deliver results from multiple engines.

Search engine providers must weigh satisfying consumers-through delivering relevant results-against making money through paid placement advertisements. These sponsored results sometimes are placed ahead of other search results that may be more relevant to the consumer's search. As a result, consumers' expectations in terms of the validity of search results has driven the perception that relevant search results are difficult to obtain. Search engine providers innovate to seek ways to balance search result relevance against profit.

Competitors continuously battle to keep up with each other's technology. With massive internal research and development efforts, providers also have gained access to innovative capabilities and content through acquisition. As of March 2005, the most recent innovations have been in the area of multimedia searches and desktop search that uses the search engine to find files in one's own computer. Search engine providers have also acquired smaller companies in order to offer niche search capabilities in order to enhance their overall search offerings.

For full report details visit: http://www.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?productid=1095865.

((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data prepared by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com)).

Recording industry sues 4 students over file-swapping.

Byline: Dawn C. Chmielewski

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The recording industry filed copyright infringement lawsuits Thursday against four college students, accusing them of setting up Napsterlike file-swapping services on their campus networks.

The civil suits claim the students exploited academic resources to illicitly trade as many as a million songs without permission from record labels or artists. Then, they publicly bragged about their exploits.

"This is a particularly flagrant way to illegally distribute millions of copyrighted works over the Internet," said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, the industry's trade association. The students operated "a sophisticated network designed to enable widespread thievery," he said.

The recording industry telegraphed its campus crackdown last October putting 2,300 university administrators on notice to curb student behavior _ or face legal consequences.

Major universities, including Stanford University and Pennsylvania State University, responded with tough new computer use policies, treating music and movie downloads with the same seriousness as other intellectual property crimes, such as plagiarism. Last November, the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., went so far as to seize the computers of 100 midshipmen accused of possessing pirated music.

Thursday's lawsuits, filed against Jesse Jordan and Aaron Sherman of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Daniel Peng of Princeton University and Joseph Nievelt of Michigan Technological University, represent a new, and more aggressive chapter in the industry's fight against campus piracy.

The suits seek not merely to halt the illegal music trading, but to slap each student with a maximum penalty of $150,000 per song.

The RIAA charges that each student, in a calculated attempt to evade university restrictions on illegal music copying, used software known as Flatlan, Phynd or Direct Connect, to create their own underground file-swapping services on their campus networks.

Like Napster, this software scours the networks for song files, creates a central index _ often without the knowledge of individuals whose computer files were being shared _ and processes search requests.

The lawsuits portray one student, Peng, as openly disdainful of Princeton University's efforts to curb illegal downloading. His site is touted as a source of free MP3 music files in an online publication called "The Princeton Pauper," and was the subject of an article in the university newspaper, "The Daily Princetonian."

Some in the academic community applauded the recording industry for placing blame for alleged acts of copyright infringement where it belongs _ individual students. Others, however, criticized the labels for creating an object lesson instead of working with universities to curb the problem that exploits campus resources and infringes copyrights.

"I'm sympathetic with their concerns," said John Vaughn, executive vice president of the Association of American Universities. "But I hope that, as a general practice, a lawsuit would be a course of last resort _ that you would first contact the university or first contact the student. My understanding was that was not the case here."

Phil Leigh, digital media analyst for Raymond James & Assoc. in St. Petersburg, Fla., said the student lawsuits are a sign of growing frustration with the continued popularity of underground services, and two years of eroding CD sales.

"This is just another step in the direction of demonstrating to the public that there will be penalties for what they consider to be copyright violations," said Leigh. "I think they're attempting to take a carrot and a stick approach here. They're whacking a few people with a stick now. And the carrot is the more liberal rules relating to label-backed subscription online services."

Leigh and others also worry that ruinous court judgments aren't the most seductive methods for wooing potential subscribers.

"It does not seem wise to sue your most important customers, because you're alienating the very people you want to keep as customers," said James Burger, whose law firm Dow, Lohnes & Albertson represents technology clients like Intel and Microsoft.

___

(c) 2003, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).

Visit Mercury Center, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

BBC First Content Major To Put All TV Archives on the Net.

The BBC last week came to the historic decision to make its archives available as a digital video-on-demand download, but instead of using it to refinance the corporation, the BBC, bless 'em, appears to be planning to make it free to everyone in the world over the Internet. The decision comes from none other than Greg Dyke, the director general of the BBC, speaking at the Edinburgh TV festival.

The decision could single-handedly trigger a massive shift to broadband in order to view the archive globally, instead of paying for premium content from elsewhere. The BBC currently gathers something like $5 billion a year from the British television audience in TV licenses under a government mandate, and uses this money to make programs and provide two core analogue TV channels to which it has recently added many new digital channels.

Dyke didn't specify a timeframe for the IP delivery, but said it would include radio programs and be called the BBC Creative Archive. He said it would be free to everyone so long as they didn't use the material commercially. But he never specifically said that it would be available outside the UK. Faultline has pushed hard to see the BBC give its programs free-of-charge to those that have funded it, but believes that it must sell VoD services to people outside the UK. As far as we can see this has not been ruled out.

The BBC has one of the best television archives in the world, and although the decision is both brave and a breakthrough for IP TV in the future, it will have many obstacles before it can be approved. First off much of the BBC archive is not yet in digital form, but the BBC has set itself up as a service provider to help other organizations digitize their work, so it should have the capacity to accelerate the transition to digital. Having launched its own digital channels the BBC is already committed to digitizing much of its archive.

But if the archive was made available just days after original programs were screened, then UK viewers might feel that it was not worth buying a TV license to view the programs and as UK law currently sits, programs that are not broadcast would not need a TV license. And if it was made available internationally, then it would cause uproar from viewers - why should they pay to fund original programming year upon year, just to have that programming given free to the world.

Dyke said, "I believe that we are about to move into a second phase of the digital revolution, a phase which will be more about public than private value; about free, not pay services; about inclusivity, not exclusion. In particular, it will be about how public money can be combined with new digital technologies to transform everyone's lives."

This move from a progressive technology-literate content organization is going to cause a huge upheaval among its competitors and the BBC's experiment with broadband will become a focal point of digital broadcasting for some time to come. Clearly as details of the strategy emerge, it will become obvious that the BBC will either not deliver over IP outside the UK, or it will charge for such delivery through its BBC Worldwide service, which sells BBC programs abroad to other broadcasters.

Either way Faultline has always said that the BBC has a unique position among the world's broadcasters to embrace broadband without jeopardizing any advertising or other revenues. Now that it has shown that it is brave enough grasp that nettle, the world will never be the same again.

Thanks to our European partner Rethink Research for permission to include the above from its Faultline report. Subscription information is at http://www.rethinkresearch.biz.

Mass marketinng is no longer a long-term strategy: Gartner.

Adam Sarner, research director at Gartner

A digital marketing approach and its associated channels are critical for overcoming the declining effectiveness of mass marketing, according to Gartner. Although marketers have been using digital channels as part of their campaign management strategies for more than 10 years, most are using them for traditional push, mass-marketed, interruption-type execution of campaigns rather than a two-way engagement approach.

"Mass marketing is no longer a long-term strategy. Mass-marketing campaigns have a 2% response rate and are on the decline, whereas by 2015, digital strategies, such as social and mobile marketing, will influence at least 80% of consumers' discretionary spending," said Adam Sarner, research director at Gartner. "Marketers still need to shift their traditional campaign management strategy around executing campaigns to a customer and move toward a digital marketing, two-way engagement approach."

Gartner analysts said that this evolving customer-focused strategy harnesses digital techniques and channels that will increase engagement, response and conversion rates.

"The Internet was built on the idea of users collaborating. Once the Internet was commercialised, collaboration was overshadowed by transactional commerce and push-type marketing techniques that focused on one-directional hard sells," said Sarner. "Today, activity on the Internet has shifted back to its roots in interaction and participation. The hard sell isn't working in this new environment, and successful campaign management strategies have shifted from interruptive push, toward two-way conversations and addressing mutually beneficial approaches to customers' wants and needs, which a digital marketing approach can provide."

The online environment continues to expand, and marketing organisations have more opportunities to be effective. By 2014, 6.7 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. Mobile marketing in the U.S. reached $877.2 million in 2010, up 138% from the $368 million spent in 2009. The developing social CRM application market reached $600 million in 2010, and it is expected to reach $1 billion by 2013.

"For marketers and campaign management to use digital channels effectively, these channels can't be just a port for traditional campaign methods," said Sarner. "Although most marketers are using more than one digital channel, their approach is often no different from a spam model, where success is driven by high volumes and attempting to make a profit from nearly everyone who accepts the offer. Just using digital channels is not the answer."

Gartner's operational definition of digital marketing includes addressable branding/advertising, contextual, marketing, social marketing and transactional marketing. Digital marketing extends the marketing process through channels such as the web, e-mail, video, mobile applications and social applications, point-of-sale terminals, interactive television, digital signage and kiosks.

"Digital marketing represents a shift in strategy and approach, not just in channels," said Sarner. "Although traditional campaign management thinking involves executing campaigns directly to the customer, successful digital marketing must act more as a mutually beneficial journey aimed at satisfying customers' wants and needs. This is a customer-focused strategy approach that will profoundly shift traditional campaign management strategy."

However, Sarner insisted that campaign management and digital marketing do need each other. Although digital marketing represents an opportunity for two-way engagement, digital channels, access to a customer view and precise attribution metrics, campaign management represents multiple processes and channels, online and offline integration, and a complete customer record. Going forward, marketers will need to consider campaign management as a way to orchestrate the complexity of a complete online and offline marketing strategy, while incorporating the evolving customer approach of digital marketing.

Copyright 2011 IDG Middle East. All rights reserved.

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

Milanoo.com Announces Massive 80% Off Sale to Celebrate International Women's Day 2011.

Milanoo.com has announced a massive 80% off sale to coincide with the celebration of Women's Day 2011. For a limited time, shoppers will be able to take advantage of fantastic discounts on some of Milanoo.com's most popular items - including jewelry, women's fashion apparel, men's wear and shoes.

CHENGDU, China, March 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Milanoo.com, one of the Internet's premier sources for wholesale fashion, recently announced a special promotion to coincide with International Women's Day on March 8th, 2011. Beginning on March 7th, for three days only Milanoo.com will be taking up to an additional 80% off of their every day low price on select items. These markdowns are already reflected in the prices posted on the website and the savings will be noted at checkout. No special coupon or code is needed in order for customers to take advantage of this super savings deal.

All of Milanoo.com's products are eligible for this special offer, including select items from Milanoo.com's extensive inventory of wholesale diamond and pearl jewelry. To help women all over the world celebrate their special day in style, Milanoo.com will offer select items from their expansive line of women's fashion in the promotion, including accessories, shoes and handbags. Even though the promotion is in celebration of International Women's Day, this promotion is site-wide and will also include Milanoo.com's extensive selection of men's wear. Select men's accessories such as hats, ties and scarves along with select men's clothing like outerwear, jeans and suits will also be eligible for the discount during the promotional period.

This promotion is not valid on previous purchases nor in conjunction with any other promotional offer or discounts. The promotion will end at 11:59pm EST on March 9th, 2011.

Milanoo.com offers shoppers a variety of convenient payment options for their customers, such as PayPal, Western Union and wire transfers. Milanoo.com ships to worldwide destinations through reliable parcel delivery companies, such as DHL and UPS. Tracking numbers are always provided so that customers can follow their shipment online from the warehouse to their door. Milanoo.com offers insurance on their shipments for a nominal fee, which can safeguard against lost or damaged packages. To ensure customer satisfaction, Milanoo.com representatives are available 24 hours a day via live chat on the website.

About Milanoo.com

Milanoo.com is one of the Internet's premier merchants of wholesale fashion apparel. Milanoo.com is a leading supplier of Cosplay costumes and wigs as well as women's lingerie, formal wear, wedding attire, shoes and handbags. Milanoo.com's inventory also includes men's fashion and accessories, jewelry, bedding, kids' clothing and toys, housewares and yoga essentials. Customers choose Milanoo because of their history of providing fast delivery, professional service, and low-priced high-quality products.

Milanoo.com offers a variety of convenient payment options such as PayPal, Western Union and wire transfers. Milanoo.com ships to worldwide destinations through reliable parcel delivery companies, such as DHL and UPS. Tracking numbers are always provided so that customers can follow their shipment online from the warehouse to their door. To ensure customer satisfaction, Milanoo.com representatives are available 24 hours a day via live chat on the website.

For more information about Milanoo.com, their products, services or promotions, log on to the website located at www.milanoo.com .

SOURCE Milanoo.com

AIS Releases a Line of Web-Enabled Touch Screen Operator Interface Panels which are InduSoft Certified Hardware to run InduSoft SCADA Software.

IRVINE, Calif. -- American Industrial Systems, Inc. (AIS) is an ISO 9001:2008 certified supplier and manufacturer of touch screen Panel PC's designed for manufacturing, process control, industrial and machine automation. AIS' HMI operator interface terminal lines are available in 5.7", 7", 10.1", 10.4", 12.1", 15", 17" and 19" and are approved InduSoft certified hardware to run the industry-standard InduSoft Web Studio HMI/ SCADA software. All operator terminals feature windows-based & pc-based high performance system processors, memory, and storage, USB, RS232, RS422/485, and Ethernet ports. AIS' partnership with InduSoft provides innovative tools and complete solutions to rapidly build operator interface, SCADA, HMI or embedded applications and deploy across a wide range of industries including building automation, detention systems, packaging, oil and gas, water treatment, solar, semiconductor and wind power.

AIS Micro Touch Panels:

AIS' 5.7" and 7" micro touch panels are designed for web and client HMI applications, allowing users to obtain or send real-time information to or from factory-floor equipment via the Inter/Intranet. AIS recommends InduSoft CEView HMI & SCADA software for complete supervisory control, process monitoring and operator interface software available for the Microsoft Windows CE platform.

AIS Express Touch Panels:

AIS' line of 7" to 15" express touch panels are designed for machine-level, site-level or mid-level HMI applications utilizing touch functionality that provides interfaces between processes and people for data trending, data logging, operating and monitoring in every automation segment. AIS recommends InduSoft EmbeddedView[TM], a small footprint, comprehensive SCADA and HMI software specifically designed for Microsoft Windows Embedded platforms. Designed to include everything needed for a complete application, InduSoft EmbeddedView fully takes advantage of the embedded hardware and operating system environments.

AIS Express II Touch Panels:

AIS' line of 10.4" to 17" express touch panel pc's are designed for mid-level and supervisory level HMI applications include touch functionality. The windows-based touch terminals are suited for plant monitoring, industrial automation, process control and complete system data logging. The AIS Express II touch panels offer an additional PCI expansion slot and 9-36V DC wide voltage input for expansion and flexible deployment applications. AIS recommends InduSoft EmbeddedView[TM] or InduSoft Web Studio[TM], a powerful HMI, SCADA and OEE/Dashboard development software designed for deployment anywhere.

AIS Intelligent Touch Panels:

The 15" to 19" high performance AIS intelligent touch panels are powered by the Intel[R] Core[TM] 2 Duo 2.0 GHz Processors with enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST), Intel 64, and iAMT2 (Intel Active Management) technology for industrial embedded applications. A sealed stainless steel bezel is affixed to the front of the HMI, offering ingress protection from water, dust, and resistance to chemicals; ideal for food, beverage, and pharmaceutical environments.

InduSoft Web Studio[TM] is a powerful collection of automation tools that provide all the automation building blocks to develop HMIs, SCADA systems and embedded instrumentation solutions. Utilize InduSoft integrated Web technologies to take advantage of Internet/intranet connectivity.

* Save Time - View your process from your desk or web-enabled mobile phone using a standard browser (Internet/intranet including XML support)

* Clear Information - Multi-language (UNICODE) so operators understand immediately

* Save Money - Develop once and deploy on any Microsoft supported platform including Windows CE , Mobile, XP Embedded, and Server editions

* Flexibility - Support for your PLC or controller, more than 200 drivers, OPC (client and server), and TCP/IP

* Fix Problems Fast - Understand alarms quickly, visually on-screen, or via E-mail, PDA, mobile phones or web browsers

* Enterprise Integration - Easily tie into ERP and "back-office" systems using built-in relational database connectivity

* Reduce Downtime - Use open technologies (ActiveX, .NET) to visualize documentation, repair videos or audio messages

* The information you need for Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

* Worldwide Trust - Since 1997 InduSoft has issued more than 125,000 licenses

About American Industrial Systems, Inc.

AIS is a ISO 9001:2008 certified leading global designer and manufacturer of specialty industrial panel pc, industrial display, digital signage, and rugged tablet pc solutions for customers in the industrial automation, military & aerospace, medical, transportation and power & energy markets. AIS specializes in designing and manufacturing cost-effective LCD and embedded computing products for the industrial market, as well as ODM/OEM applications worldwide. For additional information on AIS products and services, please call AIS toll-free at (888) 485-6688 or visit: www.aispro.com