ADOBE FLASH POWERS CCTV.COM'S BEIJING OLYMPICS’ INTERNET COVERAGE

In China, CCTV International Networks Co, Ltd. has teamed up with Adobe to bring Olympics online video to mainland China. CCTV.com owns the online video rights to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games for mainland China and Macau.

Choosing Adobe as a partner is a indication that Chinese Internet viewers and sports fans can expect a rich, immersive interactive Web experience. CCTV.com's Olympic Network TV Station, through Adobe technologies, including Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex, will bring the drama and excitement of the games to the Web.

CCTVOlympics.com, will deliver viewers with:

• An unprecedented Web experience created with Adobe Flex and delivered via Adobe Flash technology, which includes Olympic results, statistics, comprehensive bios, rules and expert analysis from CCTV's Olympic media team. Unlike NBC though, CCTV is not eschewing commentators and replacing them with bloggers, although, it also will be diving into the social web via "social networking features that will enable fans to share aspects of their Olympic experience with friends."
• 5,000 hours of on-demand protected streamed video content (3,800 hours of worldwide broadcast Olympic Games video and 1,200 hours of CCTV’s own video) including full event replays, highlights, features, interviews and encore packages.

Over the past year, CCTV International Networks Co, Ltd. has developed new media platforms based on the most advanced Internet technologies. By teaming up with Adobe, CCTV.com can provide sports fans and consumers an engaging online experience for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and beyond. Adobe was chosen as the partner because Adobe technologies enable the TV network to deliver a compelling Web 2.0 experience consistently to people across platforms.

Besides the Olympic Games, CCTV.com and Adobe will pursue other initiatives to develop new media based applications leveraging CCTV.com's brand and content and Adobe's advanced technology platform.

Online Olympics Streaming Videos via YouTube

YouTube is receiving a slice of the Olympic pie. The Google Inc. unit is providing about three hours a day of exclusive content from the IOC's Olympic Broadcasting Services on a dedicated channel during the Games. The content, including highlight reels and daily wrap-ups but not live coverage, now extends to 77 territories -- South Korea, India and Nigeria among them -- that aren't officially covered by Olympic sponsors.

Users in the U.S. and other markets where the IOC has vended digital video-on-demand rights on an exclusive basis are barred from watching the footage.

This is the first time in Olympic history that a comprehensive global online coverage is made available. The scheme provides Olympic footage to the "young generations of sports fans" who are already going online for entertainment. IOC supplies and uploads the content -- an estimated 500 to 800 segments over the course of the Games.

YouTube, on the other hand, will be able to sell ads around its Olympics channel, but only to Olympic sponsors. The tight timing and the exclusion of the U.S., where the online-ad market is far more mature than most other countries, means the financial advantage will be marginal. The arrangement is really more about the accessibility. YouTube anticipates snatching more sponsorship opportunities by extending the partnership with the IOC in the future.

The content is expected to reach only about 200 million people, because the territories covered have relatively small numbers of online-video viewers. By comparison, China -- which isn't allowing the YouTube broadcast -- has an estimated 180 million people who watch online video; they will be able to watch Olympics content from CCTV.com, the online arm of China Central Television, and its partners.

The growing number of people watching video online has been a challenge for Olympics organizers. While new media conduits, from blogging to online video sharing, could swell viewership of the Games, they also make it more intricate for organizers to control exclusive content, for which sponsors pay millions of dollars.

ONLINE VIDEO COVERAGE: Viewing Olympic games as never before!

The Beijing Olympics 2008, the world's largest sports event, has begun placing on litmus test currently available Web technologies with online video coverage. The cyber-pipeline infrastructure has been effectively set up to allow viewers to download any event to watch on their personal computers for free. That’s any event on their personal computers . . . for free. Wow!

The sole U.S. broadcaster for the 2008 Summer Olympics Games in Beijing, NBC has teamed up with Microsoft for 3,600 hours (17 days) of live streaming coverage on NBCOlympics.com. With USA Network, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, and Telemundo to the mix, as well as high-definition coverage on USA HD and Universal HD, the prospect of quality viewing entertainment has become clear. NBC will make use of the Internet to "send out mass quantities of video in high resolution". NBC's online coverage will be powered by Microsoft Silverlight and Windows Media Player. Limelight Networks is being used to route the video streams to Internet service providers.

The only down-pull is that the coverage will only be accessible to users in the US, since that's where the Web technologies are installed to support such extensive online video coverage, and it’s where NBC has rights to broadcast the Olympics. Despite the geographical restrictions, NBC is promising loads of 'new media' features in its Web coverage. These include:

• The ability of users to watch whatever sport they want and when they want to, unlike on TV where they get what the broadcaster dishes up. They can choose from the all the available live and background footage, and watch whenever it's convenient with the enhanced Silverlight Player.
• Getting the best and brightest Web video experience around with amazing, clear, crisp video no matter what the bandwidth is. Silverlight makes the most of your internet connection without the exasperating wait for what you want.
• 3,600 hours of "on-demand encores of full events and highlights". That means NBC will be covering 28 sports, 302 events, and will be broadcasting seemingly 24/7.
• · Switching between up to 4 live streams. Yes, sports fans can view 4 events simultaneously with picture-in-picture controls. They can customize the media player to capture their favorite events!
• Seeing the standard world feed that is sent to all broadcasters, so there will be no network TV commentators. Instead, the NBC expects to see bloggers "serve as play-by-play voices and analysts".
• Access to statistics, biographies and other information. Viewers can get expert commentary, dynamic statistics, play-by-play captioning and athlete profiles...all at their fingertips.

Well, does these sound too good to be true? Oddly, “NBC Olympics on the Go” is considered to be only available for the Microsoft Vista operating system and then in just two editions — Home Premium and Ultimate. This somehow implies that millions of XP users, not to mention Mac and Linux folks, might be left on the sideline. Maybe the Vista thing has something to do with Wavexpress, an Internet video distributor whose media platform, TVTonic, will be used to distribute the Olympics video online. TVTonic already provides 350 media channels through Vista.

You could check this out for yourself.

Where to Get Olympics 2008 Live Streams and On-Demand Highlights

Sports aficionados can now watch and/or download online videos and event highlights of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The following sites could provide just what you desire to watch based on your location and web-tech capabilities:

• NBC Olympics. Media giant NBC has exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics in the United States, and will serve up four live streams and 3,600 hours of on-demand video online.
• TV Tonic. NBC paired with Wavexpress to offer event highlights on demand via a download service similar to iTunes. For Windows Vista users only.
• YouTube. Starting Wednesday, Google will provide approximately three hours of content each day from the Olympics Broadcasting Service on a channel dedicated to the games. The content will include highlight reels and daily wrap-ups, but no live coverage. The footage will be available in 77 territories, including South Korea, India and Nigeria, that aren't officially covered by Olympic sponsors.
• CCTVOlympics.com. CCTV will be supplying more than 5,000 hours of Olympic Games coverage for mainland China and Macau.
• BBC Sports. The U.K.'s official Olympics broadcaster will offer six streaming channels showing coverage from BBC TV and BBC News Interactive. Channels will focus on on-demand daily highlights and athlete interviews.
• Yahoo7. Australia's official Olympics online portal offers live streams, video coverage on-demand and behind-the-scenes interviews, specials and features.
• CBC Olympics. Canadians can tune into the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation online for supplemental live streams, video coverage on-demand and behind-the-scenes interviews, specials and features.

GUIDE TO STARTING AN ONLINE GAMING CLAN (TEAM)

Computers or PC’s are definitely the best online gaming platform, but a good number people don’t use these gaming machines to their full potential. It could be quite thrilling to drop into a random server all by yourself, but that way really doesn’t lead to the best gaming experience. The secret to both enjoying and gaining superiority at online play is joining a contingent of like-minded individuals – in other words, a clan. Many people are repulsed by the notion of forming or joining a geek circle, but this is essentially a well-coordinated group of friends, having quality entertainment. Online reputation or notoriety may come with time, but what’s more important is that you’re playing strategically with people you know and trust, rather than being at the caprice of whatever vagabonds are lynching around a public server.

Starting a gaming clan requires the setting up of both a website and a forum. These are the key elements for both promoting the name of your clan in the online gaming neighborhood and improving your game. Manage your forum so certain matters are off limits to non-clan members and newbies whose performance you’re evaluating. The public area is good for chatting about clan activities as this will generate interest from potential recruits and rivals, but you’ll need someplace to scheme the defeat of your rivals. Make sure you’ve got a calendar there too, so everyone can see when forthcoming matches will come about.

A gamers’ clan should be run like a business. Do not impose roles to members or slag people off before the team – manage them considerately. Discuss with them their strengths and weaknesses and what classes, weapons and positions they’re best suited to. Hopefully you can agree mutually on roles, or work together to perk up someone’s abilities. Select players to look after the design and maintenance of your clan website and forum, get others to look after recruitment or managing existing players, allowing the clan leader to arrange matches and promote the clan. Here are some easily identifiable pitfalls that a lot of clans fall into:

• Too many leaders – Just have you and a Co-leader.
• Inactivity – Ensure you have regular practices and matches.
• In fighting between members – Remove members who cause problems immediately.
• Members not feeling part of the team – Share around responsibility and listen to your team or clan.
• Bad reputation in matches – Remove members who don’t listen or constantly cheat.
• Poor sportsmanship – Ensure your members do not bad mouth other teams, even if your clan or team is being abused.
• Immaturity of members – Avoid younger players who tend to not work as a team.
• Lazy Co –leader – install another member if you feel you are not being supported.
• No Practices – All clans or teams need practice. Practice can be as simple as making time to just play friendlies a few times a week.

Primarily, the need for practice and getting organized should be well decided. A fuzzy YM conversation about possibly working out something next week really doesn’t score. You need a strict routine, getting together to play specific maps on repeat at set times every week. If someone in your clan customarily doesn’t turn up for practice, you’ll have to consider replacing them with someone more committed. The key to success is playing together as a team, not just being good with the sniper rifle.

Your clan should get away with turning up on a public server and trying to play on the same team. Auto balance will make getting all your pals on the same side a headache, though, and you’ll be at the mercy of the server settings. Soon, you’ll need to rent a private clan server from somewhere.

Free Online Games

Games are a very addictive form of entertainment, especially electronic games. They offer hours of playability and can be enjoyed by the majority of gamers, regardless of gender and maturity. Games developers have gone a stride further in making electronic games a lot more enjoyable. By utilizing the Internet, game developers have launched a new genre of games, online games. Here is some information on how to play online games for free.

Simply type the phrase “Free online games” into popular search engines and you’ll be able to come across a selection online games for your preference. Due to the gush in popularity of online games, a lot of new online gaming services suddenly emerged. Gaming trends have undoubtedly had a very observable effect on the online gaming industry, as more and more gamers favor playing and going online to enjoy their games. Playing games on the internet was once an imaginary expression. But because of thousands of user-friendly and easy-to-operate games on the Internet (dubbed as massive multiplayer online games), gamers have seen their dreams come true.

The most obvious reason why people have turned to playing free online games is to free themselves, even for just a couple of hours, from their droning or hectic daily routines. With the availability of online games, almost anyone can take a little breather by experiencing the excitement that these games bring. Many people may choose to play these games for the thrill, while others just want to relax and have some fun at the end of each day. All gamers will agree that there are so many online games to play that you will never get bored playing.

Casinos, Are They Right for You?

Casinos definitely serve as great venues of excitement and enjoyment. These public edifices can be effective alternatives for spending leisure time or for achieving relaxation from the daily pressures of life by aiding gambling activities to customers. All major hotels, restaurants and shopping centers often provide arrangement for casinos in order to propose amusement to entice more consumers. They offer gorgeous packages which are appealing to most players. During the festive season or special occasions, hotels, eateries and retail shops flood their consumers with remarkable opportunities to earn handsome amount by gambling in their casinos. Such special offers also enable the players to earn at times more money than the amount invested. One of the reasons behind offering such grand bids is to make sure that these consumers visit these locations again which would prove to be profitable for the restaurants and hotels.

As a prevalent means of increasing income on the part of the casino owners, casino operation can contribute immensely in the economic prosperity of a region as most locations in the world have their own gaming authorities which preside over casinos and gambling activities. This is particularly true for the various hotels, restaurants and even retail outlets which offer facilities for gambling in their casinos. In case of the retail shops, the existence of casinos allows them to provide recreational opportunities which are like add-ons to the shopping experience. This factor thus aids in increasing the final profit revenue of the outlet. Most restaurants provide facilities for gambling in casinos and its economic impact can be manifold. Restaurants are traditionally eateries and are joints where individuals from all walks of life assemble. Often times, many revelers prefer to indulge into a bit of harmless gambling in casinos aside from the eating experience. The primary purpose of hotels who offer casino gambling is to attract more tourists by providing them not only the opportunity to gamble in the casinos but at the same time they often offer attractive offers or packages to lure their residents into indulging in casino gambling which on their part will provide magnificent revenues and income.

Technological development and the introduction of the internet have greatly revolutionized communication thus allowing casinos to spread their activity online as well. The online casinos are also often referred to as internet casinos or virtual casinos. Online casino gambling is at present a very lucrative source of making money. It allows the gamblers to play casino games via the internet and indulge in gambling while at home making such arrangement extremely favorable for many. While it is true that some of these casinos require software downloads for gambling, most of the websites offer minimum signup bonuses to new players against their first deposits.

On the basis of their interface, online casinos can be of three major kinds by means of which gambling activities can be carried out. These are download-based online casinos, web-based online casinos and live-based online casinos.

For download-based online casinos, as the very name suggests, online gambling becomes possible after having downloaded the required software formats in order to gain access to the multitudes of casino games offered online. In this case, the casino service provider and the online casino software work in cooperation with each other and while the initial download is a time consuming process, the download-based online casinos function faster than the web-based online casinos. Some of the prominent casino software manufacturing companies include Gaming, Microgaming etc.

In case of web-based online casinos, users are required to log in to the websites in order to indulge in gambling but here no software tools are necessary to be downloaded. The various plug-ins like Java, Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Shockwave are responsible for signifying the different casino games with suitable assistance from the browsers.

Live casinos are the latest innovations with reference to online casino gambling by means of which the users are able to freely interact with casino dealers online in an authentic casino environment. This recently introduced facility of live casinos is also quite fascinating.

One of the primary reasons behind the success of online casino gambling is the fact that similar to traditional casinos, they also offer similar payback amounts in case of online gambling. Moreover, signup bonuses are also prevalently offered by most online casinos for gambling. Baccarat, online slot games and poker are some of the famous online casino games.

With the technological innovations advancing with the progress of time and the inception of online casinos, it also provides great prospects of increasing economic growth as a certain amount of money has to be deposited in case of participating in the initial gaming procedure online apart from the internet usage charges.

However while it is true that proper marketing can greatly upsurge economic growth of a region, a note of caution should always be borne in mind that overindulgence can spell disaster.