COMMUNITY
JAVA TECH
Jargon’s Srikanth,
Mockenhaupt
(center), and Nathan
Epstein, COO, test
out a new interactive
program.
chosen images, and then add text and stickers
from an onboard content library.
BD-Live is a Blu-ray platform for network
connectivity. It uses Java ME Connected
Device Configuration/Personal Basis Profile
(CDC/PBP) network APIs to enable BD-J
applications to utilize internet connectivity
for interactive experiences such as multi-player games as well as to provide additional
content for a particular disc. In this case, it
lets Rio viewers send the postcards directly to
their home printer and access them on their
PC, Mac, tablet, and mobile phone.
Like Blu and Jewel, the title characters
in the movie, Jargon was moving through
uncharted territory, which presented a series
of technical hurdles. The first one involved
figuring out how to encode the completed
postcards to a file for local storage. The
second entailed sending the file to a printer
on the viewer’s home network. And the third
required figuring out how to share the postcard with other wireless devices, such as
tablets and mobile phones.
GETTING ENGAGED
The completed postcards can be accessed
on any device, such as a smartphone, tablet,
or PC, on the home network. In Hollywood
parlance, this capability is known as second
screen, referring to an independent device
that displays interactive content related to
the program being watched on the main
screen and permits the user to become an
active agent in the program. Jargon Talk is
gaining traction as an ideal way to facilitate
these interactions.
“We call our technology ‘second screen and
beyond’ because we are extending the experience not just to a second device, but also
to multiple devices throughout the home,”
Srikanth says. “Thanks to Java, we have an
unlimited set of deployment platforms,
including devices like printers that don’t even
have an operating system.”
The potential extends beyond the entertainment industry to include applications in
medicine, event planning, telecommunications—just about any domain that requires
multifaceted mobile communication.
“As a platform, Java is very flexible and
adaptable,” sums up Srikanth. “We were
able to marry very divergent technologies like
NetBIOS and UPnP and the HTTP protocols
to make a Blu-ray player do something that it
wasn’t designed to do, resulting in a unique
interactive experience. Java is the ideal platform for our needs. It’s powerful. It resides
in every conceivable electronic device. Java is
everywhere.” </article>
ABOUT US
blog
David Baum is a freelance business, technology, and
lifestyle writer in Santa Barbara, California. .
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