Mediaboss Marketing

01-May-12, 5:09 PM | Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo, Special to InterAksyon.com

CNN's 'Eye On' series focuses on the Philippines until mid-May. The Philippine branding campaign, 'It's More Fun in the Philippines', rolled out its first TV commercial in time for the special series.

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InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5

MANILA, Philippines - Close to $1.5 million or P63 million will be spent by the Aquino administration to support the Department of Tourism's current advertising effort on CNN.

DOT assistant secretary for tourism planning and promotions Domingo Ramon Enerio III, said many agencies participated in the funding requirement for the TV ads currently running on CNN.

These agencies, he said, include the Departments of Budget and Management, Finance, Trade and Industry and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

He declined to reveal the total budget outlay for the TV commercials, but said the ads "will run [on CNN] all the way up to August in the USA, Asia Pacific, and Europe/Middle East. But the concentration will be for this week in time with the ADB meeting and up to next week."

Informed government sources told InterAksyon.com, however, that each agency has yet to be informed of the exact amount they will have cough up. But they were told the total budget is "around $1-1.5 million."

Said advertising amount still pales in comparison with the budgets spent by the country's neighbors in Asia. Malaysia for instance, is spending $74.3 million on advertising alone, while Thailands total tourism budget for 2012 is over $270 million. Last November, Indonesia announced it was aiming to spend $1 billion this year to boost its arrivals.

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Aquino admininistration to spend P63M for CNN ads

Cord cutters and web TV users could be heard issuing a collective groan yesterday as rumors surfaced that popular online video service Hulu may soon begin requiring its users to prove they have cable or satellite subscription. Sure, distribution models have changed, but well still make you pay regardless, the old guard seems to be saying.

Of course, its never been cheaper or easier to distribute TV, thanks to the convergence of broadband and broadcast television, and startups like Aereo have rushed to capitalize on the TV Everywhere movement, drawing the ire of broadcasters. Though measured compared to mobile devices, connected TV adoption is growing fast, especially with names like Google and Apple in the mix.

Apple TV, for one, is using AirPlay to let users turn their laptops, phones, and tablets into remote controls, wirelessly beaming streaming content to their connected TVs. Whats more, its leveraging its smart chip technology to make this experience compatible with high def, hardware that will continue to improve alongside advances in mobile OSes and technologies.

Some believe that Apple may begin licensing AirPlay to connected TV manufacturers, because, as Redux CEO David McIntosh recently pointed out, the Holy Grail for networks, studios, and cable companies is to be able to offer a consistent, global TV experience that isnt interrupted by regional restrictions and supports hundreds of devices and OSes.

While Apples AirPlay offers a terrific, seamless experience, users are still locked into the Apple ecosystem, and to really win the day, one has to be adaptable and multiplatform. Fragmentation is the norm. On the connected TV side, broadcast TV, set top boxes, IPTVs, DVRs and PVRs are going the way of the Dodo, and todays connected TVs have to be able to take advantage of the same smart processors and dynamic OS tech that powers smart consumer mobile devices today.

This is the thinking being employed by a Silicon Valley-based startup called CrestaTech, which has been quietly designing a portfolio of programmable hardware and software technologies that enable universal TV reception for all manners of smart devices, TVs, tablets, and PCs.

On the hardware side, CrestaTech has developed tuners that reduce the cost and make it easier for manufacturers to develop flat and light TVs that are in tune with global reception standards, and on the software side, its created multi-standard demodulation technology and an easy-to-use interface that allows PCs to receive and digitize TV signals anywhere in the world. In short, the startup is on a mission to make TVs not only smart, but global and maybe a little dynamic, too.

And thats just it: TV manufacturers are challenged with creating an easy to use product that is globally capable; not regionally constrained, and adaptable to supporting the quick-evolving feature sets provided in mobile, connected devices. So, CrestaTech is looking to bridge the gap, allowing OEMs to create products that boast a single, dynamic design, cloud services, and connectivity anywhere at a price that doesnt make consumers faint.

The vision is a big one, and today CrestaTech received further financial validation for its endeavor, announcing that it has closed a $13 million Series B round of investment. The round was led by Bechtolsheim Ventures, Benhamou Global Ventures, Sofinnova Ventures and AVM Capital LP, and adds to the $5 million Series A the startup raised back in 2008, as well as early funding from Sun Microsystems founder Andy Bechtolsheim, bringing total funding to just under $20 million.

With its new investment, CrestaTech plans to continue developing its next-gen smart TV platform, and plans a series of product releases later this year, along with expansion into smart devices, like smartphones, tablets and media players. As McIntosh pointed out, margins on TVs have decreased over time, and manufacturers want to integrate connected TVs into an ecosystem of higher-margin tablets and phones.

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Smarter TV: CrestaTech Grabs $13M To Bring Region-Free TV Reception To Any Device

The Department of Tourism (DOT) said the number of tourists arriving in the Philippines is at an all-time high: nearly 800,000 in the first two months of this year alone.

In an interview with GMA News Online, Evelyn Macayayong, DOTs marketing communications officer, said772,989 tourists arrived in the country during the first two months of 2012.

The figure is an all-time high.

According to Macayayong, January was the first time the country reached the 400,000 mark for any given month.

During the same period last year, DOT datashowed thatthere were only 668,625 tourists who came to the country.

On Friday, in an interview on GMA News TV's "News To Go,"Assistant Secretary Benito Bengzon said the tourist influx into the country during the months of January and February increased by about 15 percent from the same period last year

He said the improvement is partly a result of the new tourism campaign Its more fun in the Philippines! launched in January this year.

The campaign helped in creating awareness. It created buzz.Maraming naging interesado sa mga in-o-offernatin, Bengzon said.

Continued here:
DOT: Record number of tourists arriving in PHL

01-05-2012 05:03 Rickard Falkvinge, founder of the Swedish Pirate party on internet copyright and the unique democratising power of the internet

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Rickard Falkvinge interview - the Guardian - Video

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - April 29, 2012) - Symantec Corp.(NASDAQ: SYMC - News) today announced the findings of its Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 17, which shows that while the number of vulnerabilities decreased by 20 percent, the number of malicious attacks continued to skyrocket by 81 percent.In addition, the report highlights that advanced targeted attacks are spreading to organizations of all sizes and variety of personnel, data breaches are increasing, and that attackers are focusing on mobile threats.

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The 2011 Internet Security Threat Report - There Is No Panacea to Protect Against All Attacks Keep Your SMB Safe from Internet-Based Threats

Malicious Attacks Continue to Grow Rapidly

Symantec blocked more than 5.5 billion malicious attacks in 2011, an increase of 81 percent over the previous year.In addition, the number of unique malware variants increased to 403 million and the number of Web attacks blocked per day increased by 36 percent.

At the same time, spam levels fell considerably and new vulnerabilities discovered decreased by 20 percent.These statistics, compared to the continued growth in malware, paint an interesting picture.Attackers have embraced easy to use attack toolkits to efficiently leverage existing vulnerabilities.Moving beyond spam, cyber criminals are then turning to social networks to launch their attacks.The very nature of these networks makes users incorrectly assume they are not at risk and attackers are using these sites to target new victims.Due to social engineering techniques and the viral nature of social networks, it's much easier for threats to spread from one person to the next.

Advanced Targeted Attacks Spread to Organizations of All Sizes

Targeted attacks are growing, with the number of daily targeted attacks increasing from 77 per day to 82 per day by the end of 2011.Targeted attacks use social engineering and customized malware to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information.These advanced attacks have traditionally focused on public sector and government; however, in 2011, targeted attacks diversified.

Targeted attacks are no longer limited to large organizations.More than 50 percent of such attacks target organizations with fewer than 2,500 employees, and almost 18 percent target companies with fewer than 250 employees.These organizations may be targeted because they are in the supply chain or partner ecosystem of a larger company and because they are less well-defended.Furthermore, 58 percent of attacks target non-execs, employees in roles such as human resources, public relations, and sales.Individuals in these jobs may not have direct access to information, but they can serve as a direct link into the company.They are also easy for attackers to identify online and are used to getting proactive inquiries and attachments from unknown sources.

Rise of Data Breaches, Lost Devices Concern for the Future

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Annual Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Reveals 81 Percent Increase in Malicious Attacks