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Yahoo! JAPAN licenses Mediabolic software for next-gen consumer web-media products

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PRESS RELEASE


Yahoo! JAPAN Licenses Mediabolic Software for Several Next-generation Consumer Web Media Products Under Development

Yahoo! JAPAN Demonstrates New ‘Yahoo! Digital Home Engine’ Technology at CEATEC, Designed to Deliver Internet Search, Auctions, Photos Directly to the Television

TOKYO – CEATEC JAPAN – October 3, 2006 – Mediabolic, a leading developer of entertainment networking software, today announced that it has signed a multi-year software licensing agreement with Tokyo-based Yahoo! JAPAN, the leading Internet brand and one of the most frequently visited Web destinations in Japan. Under terms of the agreement, Yahoo! JAPAN will license Mediabolic’s software to develop the “Yahoo! Digital Home Engine,” a technology that can be embedded into consumer electronics devices so that they can access media from the Yahoo! JAPAN website through or even without a PC.

Yahoo! JAPAN is showcasing Yahoo! Digital Home Engine-enabled products at the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) exhibit, Hall #3, Booth 3A96 at CEATEC, October 3-7, 2006, in Chiba, Japan.

The Yahoo! Digital Home Engine is a software module that can be added to a device on the home network, such as a PC or a network-attached storage (NAS) product. The Yahoo! Digital Home Engine-enabled device can then provide access to Internet media from the Yahoo! JAPAN Web servers directly to any number of DLNA CERTIFIED™ media players on the home network. Content appears on the television screen as a separate content directory, providing consumers access to Yahoo! JAPAN services such as Search, Auctions, Photos, and more (plans for the rollout of this service are to be determined). Once selected via a remote control, the content is delivered directly to the television.


Yahoo! Digital Home Engine

“Yahoo! JAPAN prides itself on its ability to deliver a wide range of content to any user, any time, on any PC,” said Hiroyuki Bando, vice president, digital home at Yahoo! JAPAN. “Our new Digital Home Engine extends this promise by bringing Yahoo! JAPAN content to DLNA-enabled consumer electronics products. This technology enables embedded and PC products to access our service content directly. We decided to work with Mediabolic due to their flexible software architecture, which fits our design philosophy.”

Buffalo, Inc., Japan’s largest provider of consumer networking and digital media solutions, is now working to add Yahoo! Digital Home Engine functionality onto LinkStation Home Servers. The LinkStation is a NAS device that provides centralized media storage and distribution to multiple entertainment products on the home network and gives users access to their media collections even when their PCs are turned off. In the past year, Buffalo and Mediabolic have teamed up to launch four separate digital home product families, including the LinkStation Home Server. Yahoo! JAPAN and Buffalo are jointly demonstrating the prototype Yahoo! Digital Home Engine-enabled LinkStation at CEATEC.

Mediabolic’s Media Player and Media Server software enables connected entertainment products to work together seamlessly, regardless of brand or device type. The company licenses its Source Code SDK, a robust package of software development tools, to manufacturers and content providers like Yahoo! JAPAN so that they can add media playback functionality to their products. “One of the most frustrating things about digital media is our inability to free it from our PCs so that we can enjoy it on our big-screen TVs,” said Daniel Putterman, president and CEO at Mediabolic. “Our software has always been focused on making personal music, photo, and video files available to devices throughout the home. Yahoo! JAPAN’s Digital Home Engine takes that vision to the next level by delivering Web video content and other media directly to the television. This solution provides a perfect way for consumers to share and enjoy not just DLNA content, but Web content, at the touch of a remote control.”

About Mediabolic
Mediabolic, Inc. is a leading developer of entertainment networking software that enables manufacturers to create cutting-edge digital home products. The company’s technologies can be embedded in products like televisions, set-top boxes, NAS devices, mobile phones, and digital cameras so that consumer electronics and PC manufacturers can extend and differentiate their product lines. Using a standards-based, open architecture Mediabolic has enabled its customers to ship award-winning solutions across diverse platforms to the consumer market. Founded in 1999, Mediabolic is located in San Mateo, Calif. For more information, please visit http://www.mediabolic.com.

[Bob Crabtree of HEXUS.net adds - to find out more about DLNA, be sure to check out our IFA report, DLNA - the key building block of your digital life?]



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