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Thursday, December 28, 2006

NASDAQ said it will close on Tuesday January 2nd

JUST IN: NASDAQ said it will close on Tuesday January 2nd to honor President Ford. No word from the NYSE yet.

posted by Lon @ 6:12 PM  

1 Comments:

  • At 1:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thursday, December 28, 2006
    On2 Technologies A must Own for 2007

    On2 Technologies Inc. (AMEX:ONT) $1.18 per share This is the Stock to own for 2007

    1).
    NEWS: New Analyst Rating: 12/28/06 ThinkEquity initiated On2 Technologies
    (AMEX:ONT) with a Buy rating and $1.40 fair value Target, Believes that On2 will capitalize on its continued success in Flash, also noting that Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) licenses the company video codec in its Flash player 8.

    2). RUMOR:
    Adobe to buy On2 Technology

    When Adobe Chief Executive Bruce Chizen picked up Flash developer Macromedia for $3.4 billion in stock last year, its latest version--Flash 8--was just launching. The update pledged much-higher-quality video than previous editions, thanks to a new movie-compression method from a small company called On2. What followed was a deluge of interest, pushing Flash ahead of video-streaming pioneers RealNetworks and QuickTime-developer Apple Computer.

    On2 Technology literally revolutionized video streaming on the web, providing the core technology of YouTube and other burgeoning video streaming services.
    Furthermore, On2 has serious potential. It can easily expand its license profit by applying the superior technology to VoIP, mobile movie service and other numerous services.

    3).
    FACTS:
    The Flash 8 platform has grown faster than any other software in history.

    According to Adobe-Macromedia figures, in less than one year Flash version 8 has been seamlessly installed onto nearly 90% of the 725 million personal computers worldwide. And Flash 8's new built-in video is such an improvement over earlier versions that Flash has quickly surpassed usage of both QuickTime and RealPlayer to become the fastest-growing video format on the web, "instant-on" and reliably easy to use. The Flash 8 player is operating-system independent (Windows/Vista, Macintosh, Linux) and has also recently eclipsed distribution of Microsoft's Windows Media Player. The upgraded Flash 8 video capabilities, built using the VP6 codec from On2 Technologies, achieve impressive advances in both picture quality and file size, giving both better video fidelity as well as lower bandwidth usage. Websites across the net (Yahoo!, MySpace, ABC, NBC, MTV, Nike, CNET, Comcast, to name a few) are moving quickly to adopt Flash 8 as their video format of choice. And now Flash version 9 is out, which supports the same video as Flash 8, but runs even faster and more securely.
    So what's the best way to get your video into Flash 8/9 format?

    There are two major options. The first is to buy Flash Professional 8 from Adobe. This product sells for $699 and includes not only the ability to encode video but also a sophisticated development environment for the entire Flash programming language. If you need to both create video plus develop Flash applications, then this is the industry standard and best all-around option. Ironically though, despite the price, Adobe's Flash Pro package doesn't produce the best-possible quality Flash 8 video. That's because it is only able to do "one-pass" encoding, where your video content is studied only once "on the fly" as it is being processed. There are also fewer available video controls and features generally, though the Flash programming side of the product is very complete.
    For video, a better choice on price, quality, and features - from the people who invented it.

    So what's the second option? Well On2, the company that owns the VP6 technology that powers Flash 8 video, offers its own line of easy-to-use "Flix" products that focus solely on producing the very best video possible for Flash. These applications do more than the encoder that Adobe has, yet cost a fraction of the price. Their most popular product is Flix Pro 8, which costs $249, supports both Windows and Mac, can generate both Flash 8/9 video as well as the older Flash MX/7 format, and can perform two-pass encoding for the best possible output, plus a host of other features and functions, including support for cropping, cue points, alpha channel, batch encoding, chroma key (greenscreen), filters, and automatic code and player creation. There is also a lower-priced Flix Standard edition with a minimal level of features for more rudimentary Flash video output and support, as well as the handy Flix Exporter plugin ($199) which allows you to edit video using your favorite QuickTime-enabled application - such as Apple Final Cut, Quicktime Pro, or Adobe After Effects - but then export the results directly to the highest-quality 2-pass Flash VP6 video. All Flix video plays on all platforms and browsers, works without a streaming server, and streams through firewalls.
    Is it "live" or is it...?

    All On2 Flix products will convert virtually all types of video, audio, and image files (e.g., wmv, avi, asf, mov, qt, mp4, mpeg, mpg, 3gp, dv, jpg, gif, png, bmp, mp3, wma, etc.) into Flash format (flv or swf). But what if you want to produce live Flash 8 video, instead of prerecorded? Long-anticipated by the Flash community, On2 has in fact just announced the only product of its kind that can accomplish this. Using On2 Flix Live in conjunction with Adobe's Flash Media Server 2, you can now encode and webcast live video to millions of viewers in high-quality VP6 for Flash. Flix Live will stream live video from webcams, DV cameras, and a variety of capture cards and devices, with nothing extra needed on the receiving end - 650 million users around the world can already instantly watch it. And, as with other Flix products, you'll be using up to 40% less bandwidth than with earlier versions of Flash video, and no Flash programming experience is required.
    How about if you want to integrate Flash 8 video encoding directly into your website or product?

    Well, the only way to do that is once again to turn to On2... You need one of their Flix Software Development Kits (SDKs). For Flash 8 video, there is no other place on earth you can buy these types of products. There are currently three of them:

    1. Flix Engine SDK - The server-based encoding workhorse for integration with most sites and systems, supporting many platforms and programming languages with a rich API.
    2. Flix SDK for DirectShow - Allows you to build Flash 8 video capabilities directly into your DirectShow-enabled Windows application. Also supports Live encoding and streaming.
    3. Flix Publisher SDK - Just out, this new toolkit gives users of your site the ability to easily encode and upload any video entirely within their browsers, with no transcoding servers required.

    (Note that these solutions are not available for online purchase; instead interested customers should contact On2 directly using one of the links above for the product of interest.)

    Customer Testimonials

    "On2 Flix Pro 8 makes adding high-quality video to your website or any digital application simple, quick, and affordable." -- 4.5 Star Review from Layers Magazine.

    "Flash 8's new video codec technology is nothing short of phenomenal." -- InformIT.com.

    "We're super excited to be using Flash 8 codec this year. We think it's an amazing upgrade to Flash video and we're extremely pleased with the results." -- Sundance Film Festival Online.

    2007 Expect XM Satellite Radio and On2 Technologies in-vehicle satellite video to rollout (This will be big for ONT) solutions designed to receive audio and video entertainment from XM. Video content can be either streamed live or stored for later playback.

    "Considering the Potential I'd say ONT is a Must own stock the upside could be 5X the current share price"

    Richard Watts CA press Bureau member.
    Private Investment Club Manager.

     

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