Cable Show 2012: Comcast announces X1 launch, demos "Project Dayview"

Tom Paine

The Cable Show 2012 has kicked off in Boston today, and Comcast has already made or has been involved in some key announcements.

As many had expected, Comcast said today it would launch its next generation, cloud-based X1 video platform in Boston in the "coming weeks". It will expand X1 to more markets later in the year. The platform, which had been tested over the past year under the name "Xcalibur" in Augusta, Ga, uses IP technology and cloud servers on Comcast's network to provide interactive, customized apps and social media features to Comcast subscribers. X1's user interface is intended to help users search, navigate and play both linear and on-demand video content. Comcast also emphasizes that X1's cloud-based architecture will enable it to deliver updates for the platform much more frequently than the traditional set-top box allowed. The service, which will be available at first only to Comcast triple play subscribers, also comes with a companion X1 remote control app for iPhones and iPod Touches.

See Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit demo X1:





Comcast also announced that it is developing an "advanced user interface" that provides a personal visual dashboard for Xfinity subscribers, under the name "Project Dayview". It is being demoed at The Cable Show. The idea is for users to see and manage information from all their Xfinity-related apps and devices in one place. Comcast says Dayview will be "integrated into Comcast's next-generation TV and connected TV products, as well as mobile devices and personal computers", beginning later this year.

Here Smit demos Dayview:





Also, five of the major cable operators (including Comcast), four of whom are part of the joint marketing arrangement with Verizon Wireless (do I see some type of connection here?) will provide cross access to each company's subscribers to all of their collective 50,000+ WiFi hotspots under the brand name "Cable WiFi".



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There’s a Map for That: AT&T Reveals Its NJ Upgrade

Esther Surden
Publisher & Editor, NJTechWeekly.com

In an effort to increase the visibility of its service upgrades in both the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, AT&T has introduced a microsite that includes maps of the upgrades it has completed since January 2011.

To find the maps, go to this website for New York or this one for Philadelphia. Activate the map by choosing a town from the pull-down menu on the left side of the screen. You can zoom in on the map to see in greater detail where the upgrades have been made.

NJTechWeekly.com looked at a North Jersey upgrades sample and noted the following:

• Hoboken has had 11 capacity upgrades (adding more traffic lanes to the cell site to reduce dropped calls and improve service quality) and 11 network connection upgrades (expanded network connections with fiber lines, allowing more traffic to flow back to the network faster.) Also, there are enabled 4G data speeds for compatible devices.


• In Basking Ridge, the company has made five capacity upgrades and five connection upgrades.


• Looking at Newark, we found 67 total upgrades with one new cell site, 35 capacity upgrades and 31 network connection upgrades.

In central N.J. and South Jersey:

• Camden has had a total of nine upgrades, four for capacity and five for network connections, while Haddonfield has received only two upgrades, one for capacity and one for network connections.


• The state capital, Trenton, has received one new cell site, five capacity upgrades and 18 network upgrades.

NJTechWeekly.com didn’t see Princeton or Atlantic City listed on either map.

In a release, AT&T said that in the greater New York region, from the beginning of 2011 through March 26, 2012, it has:

• Built more than 40 new cell sites, providing more bars in the area.


• Upgraded more than 45 cell sites, providing faster mobile internet speeds.


• Added more than 3,000 carriers to increase spectrum on area cell sites, providing extra capacity to reduce dropped calls and improve service quality at busy times.


• Expanded nearly 2,900 network connections with fiber lines at area cell sites, helping reduce dropped calls and enable 4G data speeds for compatible devices.

Esther Surden is Publisher and Editor of NJTechWeekly , and a contributor to Philly Tech News. This article originally appeared in NJTechWeekly.



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Daily Links 5/21/2012: SAP integrates Sybase; Motorola Mobility busy at Cable Show on eve of Google deal close

NetSuite and SAP: a tale of three development modalities (Dennis Howlett/ZDNet Blogs)

SAP Swallows Sybase, CEO John Chen's Role Uncertain (Information Week)

SAP Business ByDesign: an integral part of SAP’s Cloud portfolio (SAP on the Cloud)
by SuccessFactors CEO Lars Dalgaard,

VP of Palo Alto's SAP Arrested in LEGO Bar Code Scam (NBC Bay Area)


Motorola Mobility Says $12.5B Google Deal To Close Tuesday Or Wednesday. Layoffs Coming? (TechCrunch)
How will Motorola's Horsham operations be effected?

Motorola reinvents the TV interface with DreamGallery concept (video) (Engadget)
This is a big product for Motorola Mobility. Will it fit into Google's TV plans?

Cable Show 2012: Motorola's Moloney: 'We'll Still Be Here Tomorrow'
Exec Says Google Intends to Run Division as a Standalone Business (Multichannel News)

Fred Wilson: We invested in DuckDuckGo for the Reddit, Hacker News anarchists (VentureBeat)



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