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Visual Radio Coming to India

morpheus83 writes "India continues to march towards becoming an IT and economic super power. The Indian capital of New-Delhi will become the the third city in the world to have a commercial Visual Radio service after Singapore and Helsinki (Finland). The technology developed by Nokia allows audiences to interact with the radio programs. The audio is received via a regular analog FM radio whereas graphics and text are streamed over a data connection. It will be available to Hutch and Airtel subscribers who have compatible Nokia handsets."

26 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. uh... by brickballs · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Visual Radio"

    Don't they normaly call that TV?

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    1. Re:uh... by Coneasfast · · Score: 4, Informative

      No. It's not. It's radio that allows you to get additional info about the song. I agree it's not the most advanced piece of technology, but you can't just simplify it as being 'TV'.

      It's also interactive, while TV is just streaming.

      Hint, hint: RTFA :)

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  2. wow by joe+155 · · Score: 5, Funny

    visual radio, I wonder what it would be like to have pictures along with audio... I can hardly imagine such a thing!

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  3. Explanation by friedo · · Score: 3, Funny

    No, no, no! You fellas have got it all wrong! It's just like radio, but with pictures!

  4. huh? by minus_273 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "India continues to march towards becoming an IT and economic super power. The Indian capital of New-Delhi will become the the third city in the world to have a commercial Visual Radio service after Singapore and Helsinki "

    Somehow i dont think the creation of visual radio (i thought it was called TV) will lead you to become a super power.

    Since the article has ZERO inso on what visual radio is here is a nokia link. To summarize, think proprietary TV with minimal interactivity from the creators of Ngage. You tune into a station and see a "web page" where you get more info and can provide feed back.

    Sounds like real superpower material to me.

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  5. Re:Visual Radio??? by justshawnf · · Score: 3, Informative

    FTA: "Visual radio offers the perfect way out by allowing users to download the song if they like it and also get additional information about the album / movie on the screen." Sounds similar to the display system that satellite radio already has. Show me the song and artist on the display while it's playing. This system is for your cell phone and allows more options.

  6. ewwww by phreakv6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    i am an indian.. i wouldnt succumb for hutch's marketing tactics.. i would listen radio because its free.. why would i want a visual radio and spend Rs. 6 per interaction??... already there are a tons of services on hutch that i dont use like wallpaper/ringtone/callertune/music download etc etc etc.. its not a technological marvel either since it hasnt invented something out of the ordinary.. for people who dont understand how crappy this is.. a single local call to another hutch fone costs something like Rs 0.3 for me.. why would i spend about Rs 6 for some crap? its for the teeny boppers and its stupid that its on /.
    slownewsday or blech ?

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  7. Also comming to india... by mrkitty · · Score: 2, Funny

    Horse carriages driven by motors!

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  8. This already exists.. minus graphics by jjthegreat · · Score: 2, Informative

    I forget the exact name of the protocol, but for years now, radio stations in my area have encoded a short message in the audiostream. It shows up on the receiver as a short message of a sort either advertising the station name and/or the current song that is playing. Quite handy at times.

    1. Re:This already exists.. minus graphics by displaced80 · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's RDS.

      It's been around here (the UK) for about 15 years if not more.

      It also provides services such as searching for stations based on genre, and automatic switch-over to channels when they broadcast travel news (road updates, etc). When the news about the travel finishes, the radio switches back to your previous station or (if you were listening to one) a CD -- all on standard FM. This is great for car radios, all of which have featured RDS for what seems like forever.

      I wonder if DAB Digital Radio has similar abilities?

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    2. Re:This already exists.. minus graphics by westlake · · Score: 2, Informative
      I wonder if DAB Digital Radio has similar abilities?

      It does: Digital Audio Broadcasting

  9. Another driving distraction by demental · · Score: 2, Funny

    So while im talking on my wireless phone, watching the directors cut of "silence of the Lambs" on a tiny LCD, scarfing down a burger and a large soda, i can now look over and see a picture of a random slutty popstar? Guess i got no time left for stop signs and crosswalks.

  10. Sounds like G4's Trek 2.0 by davidwr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This sounds like cable-tv-station G4's "Trek 2.0" with the main feed over traditional media and the enhanced content over alternative delivery.

    Some radio-talk-show hosts have been doing something like this for years:
    They have additional content, blogs, instant-messaging, incoming faxes, pager alerts, and other features that happen in sync with their talk show. "Today we are talking about the President's actions in Iraq. One of our viewers send me this video, we put it up on our web site. In 15 minutes I'll pick the best comments and air them right here. Remember, you can watch the antics in our broadcast booth live at http://www.narcissistictalkshowhosts.com/webcam/."

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  11. Visual Radio = dead consept by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I live in Helsinki. Visual Radio has been available here about one year.

    There is only one radio channel that provides the service and not many Nokia cells that supports it.

    And yes, just like N-Gage, nobody actually use it. Even Nokia has started to move towards podcasting.

  12. Nice copy and paste job by Gothmolly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The submission is simply the first paragraph of the article. Is Slashdot now just an RSS aggregator?

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    1. Re:Nice copy and paste job by Jesus_666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, an RSS aggregator just collects feeds. Slashdot also repeats them, making it an RSS aggravator. ;)

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  13. I'd buy it... by docotron · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...if it allows me to electrocute the DJ every time they make a witty remark.

  14. Superpower checklist by xmpcray · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Nucelear weapons - check
    2. Launch satellites - check
    3. ICBM - check
    4. Supercomputers - check
    5. Visual Radio - check! ...and we are done...!

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  15. Lame... by Gorimek · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't think this will be much of a hit.

    If they could produce pictureless television, it would be a very different matter. But that will probably just remain a dream for many years.

  16. someone has to say it ... by 0WaitState · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wi nøt trei a høliday in India this yer?

        See the løveli lakes

        The wonderful visual radiø

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  17. just a guess , but... by zogger · · Score: 2

    ..maybe it is because India all by itself is a significant chunk of the entire world population? That they are more or less bypassing an entire generation of old technology and going into wireless everything rather than trying to duplicate a wired infrastructure that would cost quad zillions in today's money? That news and interesting stuff comes from there? That a lot of US and other western nation corporations are developing a presence there? Maybe we shouldn't ignore that? Maybe a lot of Slashdotters are there because of Indias push into high tech, and others are interested?

    Just guesses...

  18. Re:Visual Radio??? by LouisZepher · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Television + Marketing Drivel

    So, in other words, it is television? Or is the marketing drivel on television somehow different from the marketing drivel on radio?

  19. This is about try #4 for this concept by Animats · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is about try #4 for this concept. In the 1980s, there was "Silent Radio", which drove LED signs with text messages. These used to show up in bars and restaurants, so you could watch the news and sports scores scroll by. Then there was sending song info on FM subcarriers of broadcast stations, which many car radios understand. XM satellite radio has a fancier system for doing the same thing, as does the on-band-in-channel digital broadcast system.

    The main feature of this new system seems to be ads. Yawn.

  20. Re:TV != Visual Radio by Frankie70 · · Score: 2, Insightful


    I'm right in the epicenter of the whole radio revolution in India. My town just got FM radio that broadcasts the latest music for 'FREE!!'.


    Welcome to the 1960's.

  21. Indian capitalism: by OriginalArlen · · Score: 2, Informative
    Capitalism, with Indian characteristics.

    There was a very interesting piece on BBC Radio's "From Our Own Correspondent", by a journalist who lived in Beijing for four years, then found himself in Delhi for six months. At the end of the six months he's on a flight back to Beijing. The flight leaves at 3am, the ticket agent tells him "Yes, it really is 3am - the airport's too small, so many flights leave at night." Sure enough he arrives to find Delhi airport a heaving mass of people, with that implies in Indian cities. After takeoff he fell into conversation with the Indian passenger sitting next to him. "Have you been to Beijing before?" "Yes, I lived there for four years." "Great! So tell me, what can I expect?" "I think you can expect to be surprised."

    Sure enough, they arrive at the brand new, huge, ultramodern airport (OK, it may have been Shanghai...) and his Indian travelling companion's jaw hits the tarmac. No heaving crowds... no beggars,... picks up a car straightfowardly and soon finds himself on the zooming along 8 lane motorway back to town...

    It should still be up on bbc.co.uk/FOOC, let's look for a link.,.. Well wouldn't you know it, the full text is here and will expose my summary above as hopelessly inaccurate, but do check it out anyway, it's great :)

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  22. How's this different from Digital Radio Mondiale? by sdpinpdx · · Score: 2, Interesting

    See http://www.drm.org/ There's a GNU Radio module for it. Apparently there are no DRM stations in the US, but since it's already digital the bitstream (or stored segments of it) for some sources may be online.

    TFA is very light on data, so it's hard to say what exactly "interactive" means? Does it just send URLs, or is it a real two-way medium? The Nokia logo on the device is a hint this may just be a layer over a cellular network.

    DRM can send data or audio. The data might be video, a transcript of the story, or any other "text". That means it could include URLs, and meet some definitions of "interactive" (using the ISP of your choice).