Project Title : AliveOrganisation : Times Mobile Limited
Country : INDIA
Website : http://aliveapp.in/home.aspx
Alive is a mobile-augmented reality software that allows readers of a newspaper to interact using editorials, images, text, symbol and get access to rich media content, such as videos and photos. It has been used for more than 50 brand campaigns, till date.
Alive delivers news and content to the consumers on their mobile. the readers get access to rich media content just by scanning the print editorial/advertorial content through their mobile devices. the rich media content could be anything from a simple web-link, video play, audio play or any other way of engagement. It puts the end-user at an advantageous position in case if he is in a rush. the end-user is not required scan every page of the newspaper for AR-enabled articles.
Alive uses Augmented Reality technology. Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. it uses the camera in Smartphone/tablet to recognize images that can be scanned and return a response in the form of video, game, webredirection; generate call, SmS, e-mail and share on social media.
Each day certain number of content is AR-enabled in times of india print publication that the users can augment with application. they can watch the relevant video and can even save it and watch it any other time directly, i.e., without even using the markers again. the catalog button of the app contains the list of articles that have been AR-enabled in different editions across india.
Other resources
Project Title : Samudaay Vaani
Organisation : Bell Labs and RadioActive CR 90.4 MHz
Country : INDIA
Website : http://tinyurl.com/c88w6dg
The Samudaay Vaani or Community Web is a mobile app that makes audio-based web services accessible to the masses, who may not own smartphones. This solution can work on low-end feature phones with a standard GPRS connection. Samudaay Vaani is a great example of FM radio, mobile and web integration.
CommunityWeb is a way to access the Community Radio (CR) content anytime and anywhere. it is a way of distributing CR content to the grassroots audience using mobile web. the solution manages the memory resources and succeeds in providing seamless audio streaming on the low cost mobile phones.
The product, a J2mE mobile application, is installed on the users’ phone which helps to stream the CR audio programs, listen to the past programmes ondemand, allows to interact with the Radio Jockeys, and give feedback on the programs. For the CR station, the solution generates precise analytics about the user behaviour (e.g. favourite programs, time of listening, total listeners) – which can help them in bringing advertisement revenue, and make the CRs self-sustaining in the long run.
How to Use
After you have the phone ready, follow these steps: 1) transfer both WebApp.jar and WebApp.jad files onto the memory card of your phone. 2) Enable the internet connection on the phone. 3) Go to the location where WebApp files are copied. Click on any one of the file and it will start the installation of the app. 4) once the app is installed, open the app. on opening the app, it will ask you for your name. then, you will be asked to select a program category, a RJ, and a program. After this selection, the program will start streaming.
Other resources
Project Title : NewsHuntOrganisation : Verse Innovation Private Ltd.
Country : India
Website : http://www.newshunt.com
NewsHunt is an online all-languages newspaper mobile app. It has a monthly active user-base of 25 million, who consume more than half a billion page-views, each month. The product works on all mobile platforms and currently works with 85+ newspapers in 11 languages.
NewsHunt helps get their local language news on their mobile devices. NewsHunt provides a mobile publishing product and platform that gives regional language publishers capability to display their language content on mobile phones – from low end features phones to high end smartphones and tablets.
It does encoding, packaging and publishing of their content on various mobile devices. to end users, it provides regional language newspapers with full text and image stories on mobile devices. the newspapers are mobile formatted with ability to be presented even on devices that do not have those regional fonts installed.
Lack of indian regional language support on phones and strong news consumption culture in india that was growing mobile and online revolution were the catalysts in building a platform to render regional language news on phones. NewsHunt has also helped migrant population get closer to their community by reading their hometown news in their local language.
Other resources
Project Title : Bangi News (Special Mention)
Organisation : Bangi News
Country : UK
Website : www.banginews.com
Bangi News is a mobile app that allows the reader to read all major Bangla and English newspapers, blogs and magazines from Bangladesh as well as from Indian news sources. It is available on Android platform. Bangi News app also offers ‘Audio Comments’ feature that allows readers into peer discussions.
Bangi News brings the latest news including audio and video to the reader in a way which is convenient to use. this app makes reading news not only accessible but enjoyable as well as it turns reader into “active readers” through discussion with other readers and allowing them to publish their own views in speech form. Reading Bangla content on android devices is not easy due to limitations of Bangla Unicode support. Bangi News solved this problem by providing innovative rendering techniques. Users do not need to install any fonts and it works for both Unicode and non-Unicode news content.
User can cache news content when they are online and read later when they are offline. User can publish their own view about any particular matter which helps to grow awareness among people. Users get points as reward for their talks and also get penalty for inappropriate comments. this encourage to being a good citizen in Bangi News platform.
Currently Bangi News is available on Android Platform which is downloadable from Google Play. Native android framework has been used for client side and Google app engine for server side development. the target audience of this service is Bangladeshi and indian people who can read and speak Bengali. This app is free; users can download it without any charge.