Babel blog - random thoughts from the Babel team

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03

Oct

2011

Babel PR team at IBC 2011 conference

Written by Katharine Simon

Babel PR team at IBC 2011

It was just a flying visit to IBC for me this year, but despite not being there long it was clear multi-screen TV was the big theme again. Within that, the buzz seemed to centre on the following:

The connected home, specifically whole-home TV (how content can be shared around the home). Also the general feeling among those I spoke to seemed to be that it will be the operators who will be held responsible when a tablet (for example), stops streaming whether it is their fault or not, so bringing the cost of customer support down is a big worry for this sector.

Mammoth-sized screens. Multimedia content is available on phones, TVs and tablets so a regular, rectangular TV screen simply can't fit it all in. NDS seems to have recognised that we might want all that content on one window (with associated content too) and demoed its 'Surfaces' concept at the show. It's the one thing I wish I'd seen but didn't! 'Surfaces' was essentially a wall-sized video screen showing the different types of interactive content you might have on each of your devices in one place, controlled by a companion tablet device. NDS reckons it could be in all our living rooms in about five years' time because the advancements display technology and an accompanying revolution in the TV user interface will make it affordable! We'll have to see about that.

More importantly though, a trade show wouldn't be a trade show without some peculiar costumes and it's always a mission of ours to find the weirdest. This year, the Babel Award for the Most Peculiar Outfit seen at a Trade Show goes to miniCASTER (exhibiting at 1.A80) because everyone at the stand was dressed in camouflage!

Also, a visit to Amsterdam wouldn't be complete without at least one portion of Bitterballen J YUM. Finally, although I didn't spend much time there, the Park Hotel Amsterdam was rather lovely and very central as it's only a couple of minutes from Leidseplein, in the Museum district.