Our final Pier Screenings event with NewTeeVee was a smash success last Wednesday, as we had a very nice turnout discussing citizen news with Sue Kwon of CBS, Andrew Fitzgerald of Current TV, and Josh Wolf. The six citizen news videos we screened were all very strong, but ultimately the audience selected Alive in Baghdad’s “Sectarian Violence is a Daily Experience” as its favorite. As always, the top three videos will receive hard drives from Fabrik and will be featured on the Metacafe homepage.
See more at NewTeeVee.com.
In what many are calling a bewildering move, NBC Universal has decided to pull its TV shows from Apple’s iTunes video store, citing concerns over piracy and a lack of flexibility in bundling its programming together. NBC reportedly wanted to double the wholesale price of TV episodes, which would have resulted in a retail price increase from $1.99 to $4.99 an episode. While the move is strange, considering that NBC shows were very successful on iTunes, it makes more sense given that the network plans to offer programming via Hulu.com sometime later this year. NBC will officially end its iTunes partnership in December.
See more at Cinematech.
P2P TV client Joost’s latest release opens up its API to allow for third-party widgets to be created and installed within the program. Until now, Joost’s set of widgets was relatively simple, including such basics as clock and chat applications. The API site has already begun to beef up Joost’s offerings with a number of sample widgets. Of particular interest are a “What’s Similar” widget that offers recommendations for clips similar to the one you’re watching at the moment and a Joostmarks widget that lets you bookmark single scenes within a show or video and jump to them automatically.
See more at NewTeeVee.com.
You may want to think twice the next time you decide to post incriminating videos of yourself committing illegal acts on Metacafe. A teenager was arrested last week on suspicion of having posted a video of himself online driving a Ford Escort at speeds of more than 140 mph on a single-carriageway road in southwest Scotland. Please folks, save the excessive speeding for the NASCAR tracks – where it belongs.
See more at PC Magazine.
Congratulations! It’s a…Hulu? Yes, that’s right folks, after ten months of head scratching and brow furrowing, the folks at NBC and News Corp. have finally come up with a name for their upcoming video site – Hulu. So what exactly is Hulu? According to CEO Jason Kilar, Hulu is “an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we're building.” Fun, maybe, but as for the spirit, something doesn’t quite carry over in a few parts of the world. According to TechCrunch, Hulu means “butt” in Indonesian and Malay and both “cease” and “desist” in Swahili. Hulu plans to launch some time this fall and is currently open for beta testing.
See more at TechCrunch.com.
US presidential hopefuls, slow to embrace web video at the outset, have caught on quickly in recent months. The latest web-based campaign move comes from Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who has announced a video contest on Jumpcut.com to create his campaign’s new official TV advertisement. The contest guidelines state that “your ad can have practically any theme you choose as long as you support the campaign creatively and responsibly.”
See more at NewTeeVee.com.
If you want to experience web video as it’s meant to be experienced, go east young man. According to the Washington Post, broadband Internet service is eight to thirty times as fast in Japan as it is in the US, not to mention cheaper. The major disparity allows the Japanese to watch broadcast-quality, full-screen video online and host HD tele-conference calls with coworkers.
See more at the Washington Post.
Netflix’s movie streaming service has significantly picked up the pace as far as viewership recently, doubling its viewings to 10 million over the past six weeks. The company, known primarily for its DVD rentals, is gradually transitioning to online viewing. Netflix attributes its recent success to greater awareness among subscribers and the influx of new titles like Letters from Iwo Jima and Pan’s Labyrinth.
See more at Yahoo.com.
Libraries are getting cool again – or rather, for the first time. Local US libraries have long offered movies and self-help videos on VHS and DVD, but new services are helping them to offer their catalog digitally via the web, 24/7. Companies like Recorded Books and OverDrive have created systems for library members to download movies securely either onsite or over the Internet. The services, which license films from independent film companies as well as major studios, protect content owners by preventing disc burning and automatically eliminating downloads from a patron’s hard drive once the lending period has expired.
See more at Video Business.
