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.