IBM Corp. this week announced the upcoming release of HotMedia 2.0, a Java-based tool which enables developers to create rich media banner ads and Web sites. This release includes e-commerce features designed to attract, retain and track customer mouse clicks.
This release also offers support for third party Java applets, allowing partners to create Java players which can be incorporated into HotMedia. As a result, IBM and Interactive Pictures Corp. (IPIX) will support IPIX 360 degree images as objects in HotMedia files.
New features of version 2.0 of the HotMedia toolkit include:
- Authoring support for the Mac
- Java streaming audio
- Hotspots can now be added to 360 degree images
- Java 360 degree images
- New user interface for the HotMedia player, with user-driven actions such as animation, audio, zoom, 3D, audio controls, etc
- Advanced tracking, with hover-time and flexible tracking parameters
- TrackSelect, which allows content authors to “label” the media tracks with information such as target demographics and minimum required network speed
- Timing estimation, which provides estimated download times for the various objects in a HotMedia file
The HotMedia toolkit can be downloaded for free beginning June 1, 1999, from the IBM
HotMedia Web site.