Synacor is a company that you’ve likely never heard of. But you’ve likely heard of their clients. Verizon, Charter, Toshiba just to name three rely on their products to deliver content and services to their consumers across multiple devices anytime, anywhere. Today, the company announced that they acquired Carbyn which gives Synacor a fully integrated HTML5 platform. Here’s what Ron Frankel, Synacor CEO had to say about this:
“Through our acquisition of Carbyn, Synacor is extending our platform to more devices and more screens than ever before. Now our customers can build apps once, yet have their consumers enjoy them across all connected devices,” said Ron Frankel, Synacor CEO. “Synacor is addressing our customer needs as their subscribers continue to use more connected devices in increasingly mobile ways and expect content to be accessible anywhere. In addition to laptop and desktop computers, we anticipate customer start pages, which offer email, news and TV Everywhere content, will appear on an even wider variety of connected devices. The Carbyn acquisition is a tremendous opportunity for Synacor, our customers, and their consumers.”
Why is this a big deal? Face it, the future is HTML5. It the best way to get content to be accessible on multiple devices without having to reinvent the wheel for each device. Anything that leverages HTML5 so that content providers can get their content to the world faster is a good thing. Thus this acquisition is a very good thing.
Elements and benefits of the platform include:
- A branded cloud app platform that is device and OS agnostic;
- Distribution opportunity for the burgeoning HTML5 developer community;
- Reduced costs of developing, deploying, and managing apps;
- New revenue opportunities from content publishing, apps, in-app transactions, storage and premium services;
- Enhanced monetization opportunities through paid search and advertising;
- The ability to continually update and launch new content and apps over-the-air (OTA) seamlessly to consumers; and
- Access to TV Everywhere content and services.
I’d keep an eye on this company as this acquisition is going to be something that will show up in your universe soon enough and change how you view the world.
Telemarketers To Foot The Bill For Do Not Call Registry
Posted in Commentary with tags Canada, CRTC, telemarketing on May 1, 2012 by itnerdFrequent readers will recall that a Do Not Call Registry was set up in Canada back in 2008 and Canadians signed up in droves to ensure that their dinners are not interrupted by telemarketers. Yesterday it was announced that the Federal Government is going to make the telemarketers pay for the registry:
The government wants telemarketers, not the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, to shoulder the full cost of the Do Not Call List, explained Alberta MP Mike Lake, parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister Christian Paradis.
“The program is working,” Mr. Lake said in an interview. “We want to make sure that system is sustainable in the long term.”
Mr. Lake would not say what options are on the table for recouping the cost of enforcement and investigating violators, adding that the funding mechanism would be determined in consultation with the industry.
Mr. Lake is right. It is working as the government has slapped those who ignore the registry very hard. Plus I have had little if no contact from telemarketers since I signed up for the service. With this move, it makes sure that this registry has stable funding and maybe give them another incentive to act responsibly.
We’ll see how telemarketers push back on this as I would imagine that they’re not happy campers right now.
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