InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

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Intel and FunMail Show Prototype of Next-Generation Interactive Rich



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CANNES, France, Feb 13, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Ready to create your
own full- motion cartoon on your phone, complete with music and sound? If you
can enter a message, you can create your own animated message, then tweak the
character, background to customize and personalize it before sending.

FunMail and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) are previewing a new service that will enable
users to create their own customized cartoons on a mobile device, based on the
text of a short message. If a user enters a message saying "Let's get dinner
later," they might get an animation of Garfield munching a burger. The user can
then customize the animation, such as modifying the background, character or
props. FunMail's real-time animation rendering engine then creates a unique
animation, which is streamed to the PCA device in Macromedia Flash format.

"FunMail on PCA can work on the networks the operators are building today, and
create an entirely new generation of animated services such as animated
messaging, daily animated horoscopes, animated alerts -- just about anything,"
said FunMail CEO Adam Lavine. "This gives mobile operators the opportunity for
an entirely new revenue stream, without requiring major new infrastructure
investment."

"Services like FunMail show what can be done with the advanced processing power
of PCA on a PDA or Smartphone," said Jeff Krisa of Intel's Wireless Computing
and Communications Group. "The combination of FunMail's real-time rendering
engine and the Intel PCA chipset create an extremely compelling and unique user
experience. And the solution is scalable, so as the user upgrades to newer
devices the experience becomes increasingly richer."

The FunMail Animated Rendering Engine, which is the result of over 20 man- years
of development, enables animated content to be generated in real-time for a
variety of devices and formats. It is device-independent, can generate content
for SMS, MMS and rich-media devices. The Rendering Engine is up and running on
NTT DoCoMo's i-mode network, allowing i-mode users to create customized animated
messages by choosing background, character and props from a set of menus.

"This is a classic example of a powerful client with a thin media stream," said
FunMail CEO Adam Lavine. "Unlike video, animation can produce a very powerful
user experience, with a small amount of bandwidth. Sending 30k to 50k of data to
an Intel XDA device can result in a fantastic animated experience with the
FunMail solution. Our rendering engine is real-time, and the XDA is powerful
enough to display full-motion animation, so the only delay really is in the
streaming of the content, which requires a very small amount of bandwidth,
especially for GPRS or 3G."

About FunMail

FunMail Inc. unique patent-pending technology enables any text message to be
instantly converted into a visual graphic or animation. FunMail-powered systems
have been launched for Vodafone, Globe Telecom, Smart Communications, o2, MSN
Mobile, and RTL, one of Germany's largest media companies. Content properties
available in the FunMail system include Peanuts, Dilbert, Garfield and South
Park. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Pleasanton, California, FunMail
combines carrier-grade unified visual messaging technology, real-time animation
rendering capabilities, and a talented team of professional animators. For more
information, please visit http://www.funmail.com or write [e-mail]

SOURCE FunMail Inc.


CONTACT: Aiko Nomura of FunMail Inc., [phone] or
[e-mail]

URL: http://www.funmail.com
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Copyright (C) 2003 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.

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