CyberLink Live Premium: for a Truly Mobile Web 2.0

The revolution will be televised. And mobilized. And on demand.
During their keynote speeches on the first day of Computex 2008, executives from Microsoft and Intel delivered very compelling arguments for the need to “mobilize” all the technological platforms that enable Web 2.0, allowing remote access to local servers and to infinite amounts of knowledge and resources for the largest number of people, everywhere on the globe, and on-demand.

They focused on the new wave of truly portable “netbooks”, entry-level PCs that are light in weight and price; on the new energy-efficient, miniaturized processors used to power them (like the new Intel Atom series); they spoke of the necessity of working with common, compatible formats that allow full intercommunication between all digital devices, in the home and on the go.

They spent plenty of time covering the exciting new developments of the Wi-MAX standard—which, incidentally, is being championed right here in Taipei, Taiwan, through huge investments from the Taiwanese government and the many local technology powerhouses—a new way of thinking “wireless”, featuring blazing speeds and enabling, among other things, multiple streaming channels of live video in 720p HD resolution (trust us, it’s VERY impressive), and live tracking of (and intercommunication between) countless devices on detailed, interactive global maps.

Remote Media Access. Anytime, Anywhere
The future of Web 2.0, the future of portability, of true mobilization of our digital life, is knocking at our door. Here at CyberLink, we are well prepared, and eager to provide more innovative, leading solutions for the connected digital lifestyle.

Our new, improved, CyberLink Live Premium service stands out, because it provides full mobility AND access to multimedia resources at all times.

CyberLink Live Premium allows anytime, anywhere access to one’s data and multimedia. It’s a simple, yet powerful application that enables remote access to all the content—photos, videos, live and recorded TV programs, music, documents, live webcams—stored on and connected to a home (or office) PC, from any web-enabled device. Its Hosted Relay Service ensures high-bandwidth connectivity through firewalls, and its secure data encryption guarantees safe access.

CyberLink Live is inventive, it answers very simple needs in today’s digital world: the necessity to have on-demand access to documents and multimedia, wherever one may be, to be able to sync data across multiple devices (without countless, confusing copies of documents), to be allowed to share multimedia, files and comments with one’s own community of choice.

CyberLink Live does all this with the simplicity and user-friendliness of an intuitive interface, by transforming any desktop PC in the home or office where the program is installed into a personal Home Server: all files, documents, TV tuner cards and webcams therein are then made available securely through one’s account on the www.cyberlinklive.com website, accessible from any web-enabled device, all over the world and around the clock.

Think of it as being able to bring all your hard drives, all your favorite TV programs, all the live feeds from your webcam (including motion-detection recording and notifications!), on the road and wherever you may be, without any extra weight, portable drives, discs and without any worries.

Now that’s what we call mobilized!

CyberLink at Computex: Partnering with the Leaders of the Connected Digital Age

Another day of Computex 2008 is in the books, and what a day it was! The sheer quantity, quality, size and overall awesomeness of the new products showcased easily make one’s head spin.

CyberLink software solutions are featured prominently in the booths of some of the biggest players in the computer world, through our key partnerships with the likes of Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, Dolby, Kingston, Gigabyte and Shuttle, among (many) others.

Just today, Computex visitors were treated to an in-depth live presentation of our most popular software—PowerDVD 8, PowerDirector 7, CyberLink Live Premium—on Intel’s big stage (and to a very popular free software giveaway).

They also may have caught what amounts to a free cinema-like movie display in Intel’s home-theater lounge, or perhaps, if they walked just a few extra steps, witnessed the beauty of high-definition Blu-ray Disc movies on a huge HD plasma display, at the equally impressive AMD booth, which featured their brand-new Turion X2 Dual Core Ultra processors, one of the excellent new innovations that CyberLink software is optimized for.

While AMD and Intel may be fighting for world dominance in the chipset market—much to the delight of all of us consumers who enjoy the revolutionary processors born out of this healthy competitiveness—their choice for showing off stunning home-theater HD movies was a shared one: PowerDVD 8 Ultra.

Just a few booths away, Dolby and NVIDIA were showcasing PowerDVD and PowerCinema, respectively, to highlight the sheer purity of their HD surround sound and graphics capabilities. It was a beauty to the eyes and ears.

And our many TV-tuner card partners (K-World, Yuan and Prolink, among others) were taking full advantage of the live- and recorded-TV streaming capabilities of our CyberLink Live Premium service to display truly mobile (and “mobilized”) TV, on-demand and on the go. Think of it as bringing one’s TV—premium cable channels included—on the road, anywhere and anytime, directly on one’s notebook (or netbook, PDA, or any other web-enabled device), in high quality. And it’s just one of the many features for remote-access that CyberLink Live offers, because a truly connected digital lifestyle means ubiquitous access to everything a user needs, anytime.

If the future (and even the present) is one of HD-everything and Wi-MAX-enabled Web 2.0 mobilization, it’s going to be a bright one for us at CyberLink, for our partners, and for all our users.

 
For more about the ubiquitous connected digital lifestyle, check back on these pages soon, visit our website at www.cyberlink.com and make sure to visit Computex 2008, to witness all that CyberLink and our partners have in store for you.

Computex 2008 – Web 2.0 needs Media 2.0

Yesterday afternoon, Sean Maloney, Intel’s Executive Vice President, addressed the crowd gathered at the Taipei International Conference Center for Computex 2008’s keynote speech. He was giddy with anticipation at what the future holds for the computer industry, at the potential for growth, and the unlimited possibilities that the new technologies offer.

Sean spoke at length about Web 2.0—the Internet used as a platform for the sharing of knowledge and the exchange of, well, virtually everything. He touched upon “the explosion” of video content, of its ever-growing, ubiquitous presence on the internet and on everybody’s hard drives, and of the current trend toward high definition: “HD everything” is coming, and will be everywhere soon.

(You can find Intel’s vision of the future, as presented by Sean, right here.)

He then talked about the infrastructure, hardware and software alike, that needs to be in place for Web 2.0 to be truly successful—Media 2.0, technologies, applications and logistical planning geared at making the most of the new connected digital world. He stressed the need for “mobilization” of all computer functions, for better accessibility, from anywhere and by everyone, as the true goal for all of us working in the IT industry. The new Intel Atom processors, geared toward ultra-portability, and the soon-to-be-everywhere WiMAX wireless networks are leading the way toward more mobility and accessibility, and everybody in the digital business is investing great resources into making this mobilization successful.

CyberLink is also at the forefront of this continuous evolution/revolution, in a position to deliver the best software for media management, creation and enjoyment. Our vision is one of a truly connected digital lifestyle, and it’s what’s at the core of all our software innovations, which combine powerful tools and ease of use, support the latest formats, and feature the best core programming technologies on the market.   

Creating the HD content to power Web 2.0
PowerDirector 7 (and PowerProducer 5), allows users to capture, edit and author high definition contents on Blu-ray Discs, or post them on YouTube for rapid blogging (or Vlogging, as those who are more connected may say).

People everywhere can watch HD movies on-the-go with their laptops equipped with PowerDVD 8, enjoy high-definition video and audio, then share their opinions and views on our online community dedicated to movie fans worldwide, MoovieLive.

Managing and accessing Media for the Digital Lifestyle
MediaShow 4 is the first media management software on the market to combine ease of use with video-editing capabilities, so that consumers may access and edit all their photos AND videos from one simple application, preserve their digital memories and share them, online and off.

 

CyberLink Live Premium, our web-based service for accessing multimedia, TV and documents remotely from any web-enabled device, puts everybody’s digital memories within reach, anytime and anywhere. It is perhaps the best example of Web 2.0 and Media 2.0 working together to enable live, digital connectivity for online accessing and sharing of multiple contents. It merits its own feature, and we’ll be covering it at length on these pages (very) soon.

Related Computex News
Intel is previewing its new Quad-core processors at their enormous Computex booth: a marvel of technology and miniaturization, and so powerful (with throughputs up to 50 GB/sec!), so efficient, so revolutionary, that they can make one’s head spin; a true marvel of engineering.

It’s a bit of a foregone conclusion, then, that the software Intel chose for showcasing what their G43/45 chipsets can do with Blu-ray movies is the video player with the best playback quality and most advanced core technology: PowerDVD 8 Ultra. If you’re in Taipei this week, check us out at the Intel booth. What you’ll see is worth the trip.

For more in-depth info and coverage on Computex:

• http://www.computextaipei.com.tw
• http://www.digitimes.com/index.asp

 

CyberLink at Computex 2008

Taipei, Taiwan. June 3^rd, 2008

It’s bigger. It’s better. And it’s definitely faster.

 

Yes, we’re talking about Computex 2008, the largest hardware expo in the world which kick-started today, with a speech by Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-Jiou, but we may as well be talking about CyberLink’s new products, including PowerDVD 8, which are leading the connected digital lifestyle.

Computex 2008 is here, with thousands of exhibitors, and absolutely countless hardware and software innovations, creating platforms that allow better and faster digital connectivity and interoperability across devices and across the world with Web 2.0.

Throughout the week we’ll provide a little bit of insight and commentary on the expo’s events and underlining market trends, and present the new technologies that we’ve been working hard to develop here at CyberLink: new versions of our award winning software-PowerDVD 8, PowerDirector 7, MediaShow 4, YouCam 2-, new technologies like TrueTheater^TM, and new and improved platforms for improved accessibility and sharing around the house and remotely, like CyberLink Live Premium, and CyberLink’s Digital Home Enabler (which includes Media Server and SoftDMA).

  

You can read more about our exciting new product and technology news for Computex 2008 here.

CyberLink Digital Home Software Gets Certified

A bit of a technology update for connectivity fans: two applications from CyberLink’s Digital Home Solution line—CyberLink Media Server and CyberLink SoftDMA—have passed DLNA tests and are among the first DLNA Certified™ devices that are compliant with the DLNA Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines v1.5.

DLNA stands for the Digital Living Network Alliance.

What’s more, both Media Server and SoftDMA have been selected as reference devices for interoperability tests as part of the DLNA certification program.

CyberLink has been doing a lot recently in the area of the Digital Home. The field requires all kinds of industry players to join to build an interoperable framework of wired and wireless network devices. The DLNA plays an important role in enabling leading computer, consumer electronics, and mobile device manufacturers to work together in building a Digital Home ecosystem.”

Media Server and SoftDMA are both “Digital Home enablers” and allow the streaming and sharing of content such as video and audio files, or photos, within a DLNA home network.

To see what these products are all about, you can check out the retail download site for CyberLink’s Digital Home Enable Kit.

Enjoy Premium Content Troughout Your Digital Home with CyberLink SoftDMA

CyberLink participated in this year’s CEATEC Japan, Asia’s largest international exhibition for the technology and information sector, to demo its total solutions for the digital lifestyle. One of the products showcased was CyberLink’s DLNA certified client software CyberLink SoftDMA.

The software offers anywhere access of personal media files and TV content throughout the UPnP/DTCP-IP network with other DLNA certified devices.
UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) is combining several computer network protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP and HTTP to ensure seamless integration of networks and devices.
DTCP-IP (Digital Transmission Content Protection over Internet Protocol) enables safe distribution of protected content within a home network, but not over the Internet. By providing a save environment for the distribution of premium content, users are able to enjoy their digital media content from everywhere in their digital home.

Read more here:
CyberLink news release about CEATEC Japan 2007

More about CyberLink’s Solutions for the Digital Home (including SoftDMA)

SoftDMA product page (included into Digital Home Enabler Kit)

Toshiba Qosmio Q40 notebooks for the Japanese Market (Japanese news release)

High Tech Demystification – Part 2

Alright, now that you know more on disc formats, you may be interested in understanding what it means when they say what you can do on the discs: 

DVD authoring
DVD authoring is the name of the process of creating a DVD that can be played on a DVD player. Depending on how advanced a DVD authoring software is, it will grant users with more or less choice on the layout and functions available in their DVD menus. Click here to check out how to author DVDs with CyberLink PowerProducer, and find out what Wikipedia has to say.

DVD menu
A DVD menu is the interface through which viewers can choose the content they want to see on a DVD. It is usually the first thing you will see when you insert a DVD in your player.

Capturing
Video capture means digitizing analog video to a computer from an outside source, such as a VCR or TV signal, or transferring digital content (say from a digital TV card or camcorder) to a file format. Capturing is one of two first step necessary to create a personal movie, the other option being importing existing video files from your PC’s hard drive. CyberLink’s PowerProducer and PowerDirector offer video capture, as well as more features for video editing enthusiasts.

For more details, you can also read Wikipedia’s entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_capture

High Tech Demystification – Part 1

When I joined CyberLink a few weeks ago I knew there would be a lot of nodding on my part at things uttered to me which I did not understand, and that my first serious task would lie in becoming less of a dummy in multimedia technology.

After a bit of investigation I have found out more and it felt good, but better yet was that it didn’t even require much time or effort to understand what it all was.

So for all the people out there who just bought a great computer with a bunch of applications that talk about “authoring” on “BD” or “HD DVD” – fret not, for you too shall know what these things mean. And the best part is, you’ll be able to make cool stuff in no time! But once you get hooked, your friends may not understand the things you say anymore!

So please, read on, find out what these words/names/acronyms mean, and, above all, have fun!

Next Generation Discs

Several formats are likely to become the successors of the DVD format, among which:
 
· Blu-ray Discs are capable of storing larger quantities of data than DVDs, thanks to the shorter wavelength of the laser that reads / writes this type of disc. The name Blu-ray is derived from the color of the laser that reads/writes (hint: it’s red for DVDs). A single layer Blu-ray Disc can store 25 GB, and 50 GB for a dual layer.

· HD DVD stores 15 GB on single layer and 30 GB on dual layer. The latest news I found at the DVD Forum (they’re big people) talk about a single-sided triple-layer disc storing 51 GB. The large capacities are also due to the short wavelength of the laser used to read / write the discs. The letters stand for High-Definition Digital Versatile Disc.

To learn more on these two formats, please read
http://www.cyberlink.com/english/support/bdhd_support/index.jsp