IBM Takes Rich Media Beyond Banners

IBM Corp. this week announced HotMedia 2.5, a
tool designed to make it easier for companies to create
interactive online business media.

This release of HotMedia enables
companies to easily integrate bandwidth-intelligent, high-volume multimedia
with their current online business processes.


IBM (IBM) HotMedia 2.5 allows developers to synchronize HotMedia streaming audio
with images for a more interactive Web-based presentation, slide show
and/or panorama. This release also includes a batch processing feature
which provides high-volume Web sites with the ability to automate the
production of large amounts of rich media content.


In addition to the new synchronization and batch processing enhancements,
HotMedia 2.5 includes:


  • Enhanced streaming audio with selectable quality that provide options
    to trade-off bandwidth and listening experiences
  • A new graphical user interface for Windows and Mac platforms for
    convenient copy/paste and other ease-of-use functions
  • Player Control Application Programming Interface for the
    JavaScript-based control of HotMedia to create customized navigation and
    playback controls
  • Image scrolling for advanced ticker effects
  • GIF transparency support for optimizing bandwidth and memory usage
  • Floating tool tips (hot spots) for enhanced interactivity in rich media
    experiences
  • User specified time interval for auto transition from thumbnail images
    for additional control of page download characteristics
  • Event triggers for creating rich media experiences, including
    mouse-over streaming audio or daisy-chained panoramas

IBM believes HotMedia is “the first rich media technology for the Web to
fully harness the power of Java.” The HotMedia player is actually composed
of tiny applets–typically less than 10 Kbytes in size–which are
downloaded to the user as they are needed. This
requires no plug-ins or special server requirements.


HotMedia’s new JavaScript player control API enables the tool to work with
other objects in a Web application. HotMedia objects (such as slide shows,
videos, panoramas and tours) can be controlled from within the user
interface without any plug-ins or special controls. The slideshow feature
works with content or presentation products that can generate HTML or
GIF/JPEG files.


For pricing or additional information about IBM HotMedia 2.5, visit the IBM
HotMedia Web site.

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