Fly A Kyte - Kyte.tv

A new online TV channel service with a twist, Kyte.tv (in beta, of course) from San Francisco (where else..?) lets you manage your own TV channels online or on a cell-phone.

To see how it flies, I set up our own channel, iTV21. If you bother to check it, you will find no content in it. Yet. I will have a posting when it goes live. Scout's honor. (I was a Young Pioneer under communism in Hungary.) In the meantime, you can watch an interview with Howard Hartenbaum, a Kyte investor. From communism to unbridled capitalism. Sweet irony!



Okay. Back to business. Kyte was launched last month. Some 3,000 users have since downloaded the player, according to it's CEO, Graf. Their first round funding came from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Richards, and Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom. That's interesting, especially if you consider Zennstrom's involvement with Joost....

So what's in it for you? Besides the by now "standard" features, you have Live Chat in the control panel. I think that's pretty cool. Once you become a member, you can really take advantage of it and talk to other people logged in, or someone from the company who monitors/moderates the unruly masses. (That's me.)

Broadcast credit: Kyte.tv

The Funny or Die Landlord

What took YouTube to do in six months, Funny or Die did in six days. Its traffic exploded after the release of its first 2-minute clip,





The Landlord, starring Will Ferrell. The video drew almost 24 million views. This would be in YouTube’s top three of all time.

So what is Funny or Die you ask? (In beta, which seems to be another way of saying we are not responsible for either our success or worse....) Imagine a site just like YouTube, except that the people posting videos are successful comedians and actors. Specifically, Will Ferrell and writers Adam McKay (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby), and Chris Henchy (Entourage) to start with.

Their take is that there are only so many stupid human tricks people will watch and the future of online video isn’t clips of TV shows or movies. It is talented writers and well known actors producing videos for the online environment. Audiences will flock to their content and sites versus the vast majority of what's endearingly known as "long tail plays" on YouTube. So far they are right on the money. Literally. Comments, anyone?

P.S. Their videos are NOT embeddable. A drag and stupid too, in my view.

Embed Not Our Video Says YouTube, Veoh, and Blip.tv

Talking about being pissed off! The Wallstrip video you see in the previous post is streamed from vSocial, BECAUSE the embed code provided by YouTube, Veoh, and Blip.tv didn't work!!! Must have spent 20-30 minutes on a job that should've taken a few. Hey big guys! Why do you make life miserable for people who might even spread a few good words for you? Are you too BIG for your own good???

WallStrip Does It ... In 6 Months

WallStrip, the daily web show devoted to irreverent stock news
see my previous post about it here, announced yesterday morning:






CBS is buying us and we WON'T tell you for how much!

The six-month-old program has been on YouTube, Veoh, Blip.tv, iTunes, Yahoo! Podcasts, Google Finance, TheStreet.com, AOL Uncut, vSocial and Revver. And from now on CBS....

Much of its success is credited to host Lindsay Campbell. She is often compared to former Rocketboom host Amanda Congdon, who was picked up last year by ABC News. Lindsay will stay on as host. WallStrip's producers Adam Elend and Jeff Marks will produce original web video for CBS. Creator Howard Lindzon will become a consultant for the network. When the shooting gets hot, the hot go corporate ... or something like that. Never mind the sour grapes from me - congratulations WallStrip!

Broadcast credit: vSocial

A Swarm of Internet Movie Angels

Here is a concept, combining film making with a million dollar - actually UK pounds opportunity! Matt Hanson, a filmmaker from the UK, has come up with the idea of mixing "crowdsourcing" with film making in a move that some call "cinema 2.0."

A Swarm of Angels is a collaborative film project that not only raises its funds via its "Angel" investors, but also relies on them as the movie's collaborators and distributors. A subscription fee of BPS 25/US $50 makes you an Angel. Never knew that's all it took! Anyway, as an Angel you will have a say in various parts of the process from script to screen, and in some cases you could even will become a crew or cast member. Talking about working for your own money....

This is how it's meant to work. Hanson already created two rough outlines for scripts. The community is to flesh out the concepts and vote on which ones to develop into a full script. Once the script is finished, the collaboration will continue through various phases of pre-actual-post production. When the film is completed, this "swarm of Angels" will assist in distributing the movie via the internet, using peer-to-peer networks, and other forms of internet delivery. I say Hanson is one smart fellow if he can pull it off. Looks like he is - as of today, May 20, there are over 900 Angels according to his website.

Don't want to be left out? Swarm away here.

iTV From The Other Side of the Atlantic

By Steven Vass, Media Correspondent, The Sunday Herald, UK .

"Will the click of a mouse bring TV to its knees?

Faster broadband connections, greater availability of programmes and films on the web and the arrival of video search engines look set to unleash a viewing revolution.

JUST WHEN you thought you could head for the hills with your Freeview box, television seems set to completely change again.

We are no longer talking about extra channels, however. The idea of rival packages will be painfully passé. What is now on the horizon is the chance to watch any programme or film, whenever you like, most likely at no charge.

Welcome to the world of internet television. Whether you want vintage episodes of The Tube or the original print of The Man Who Knew Too Much or Friday night's EastEnders, it will never be more than a few clicks away.

Last week, there were two more signs that these delights could soon be upon us, both in announcements from companies that are far from being household names. The first came from Tioti, or Tape It Off the Internet, a London and Seattle-based venture aiming to provide a searchable database of all television programmes and films on the net. Having been trialling to 16,000 early adopters for the past few months, it is committed to a full launch in June.

Then it emerged that Blinkx, a more general video search engine, is to demerge from its Cambridge-based parent, technology firm Autonomy, and seek a listing on the alternative investment market next month. See my take on them here.

With video searching far more difficult than text searching because of the lack of words for the program to latch on to, Blinkx is reckoned to be as close as anybody to making it work, including Google.

If there is finally a buzz around companies offering video search methods, it is because the content is finally arriving online in a big way. Pirated versions of the latest Hollywood blockbusters or hit shows might have been available online for a number of years, but average broadband speeds are now such that big media is finally wading in...."

You Know How To Love ...

Yes. I do. Take my wife's song video for it:





Wow. Wow. And wow. I'm truly and deeply touched. How many of you have had your wife or girlfriend write a song and perform it too for you? However, this is not a session in personal cult building or waxing eloquent. Rather, I'm trying out this song video with Adbrite's new video player.

Adbrite calls itself the Internet's ad marketplace. Their new AdFlicks video service allows you to make money (monetize, in Internet marketin parlance) with your videos. How are they different from Google's video ads? Let's see the features:

* Fully customizable video player, easy-to-use, and 100% free - TRUE
* Brand your videos with your own custom logo "watermark" - ALTHOUGH HARD TO SEE, OUR iTV21 LOGO IS DISPLAYED
* "Split-screen" ads engage users without interrupting viewing experience - DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT...
* Sharing features promote your site when your videos get "viral" - WILL SEE ABOUT THAT...
* Earn money from your videos, even when they're embedded into other peoples' Web sites - DITTO

While this is all well and good, you must have your video in Flash FLV format and host it on your own. Just the video. No player. So you can't use your favorite video sharing site. Most people don't know how to convert video into Flash format and don't care. Why would they, when YouTube and most everybody else does it for them? Seems to me a big disadvantage vs. Google. We'll see.

I'll report back on the real stuff (read earnings) and Google's offering too.

Broadcast credit: iTV21

$1.4 million for a 1,000 horse Bugatti anyone?

This beauty's quad-turbo 16-cylinder engine produces 1000 bhp, and has a $1.4 million dollar price tag. So says Road and Track, your favorite car magazine. You don't have to hold back on the throttle either to watch the video in their new channel on VEOH.




If this car is pocket change for you, you're probably not watching but driving it already. For this money I'd get a plane. Why drive when you can fly?

Broadcast credit: VEOH

We've Got Joost Invites

Yes, they want us to spread the word. After learning from their forum that the PPC Mac client version is in the works, I'm inclined to comply. Here is the link for all of you impatient people...





Watch till you drop - MUCH cheaper than the shopping equivalent. Don't forget - we are not responsible for the content of any program, whether good, bad or just plain lousy. With this off my chest, I retire for the day. Joost on!

Joost Invents Semi-beta, Semi-commercial Internet TV

Joost, labeled as the world's first broadcast-quality Internet television service, was commercially launched Tuesday, May 01, 2007 09:00 AM PDT - while still in beta mode.

The brainchild of Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, Joost has been available to beta testers since earlier this year. I was admitted into the ranks on April 5 and sent a link to download the player. I did right away, not reading the fine print ... it only worked on Intel Macs! NOT COOL! I fired away a request for a universal version, so far without success.

Now anyone can use the Internet television service, IF they have a beta tester friend. (Translation: be nice to me.). That means I can invite friends and colleagues using the 'Invite Friends' tools in the "My Joost" zone. As long as they have Intel Mac-s or PC-s.

On the bright side, over 150 channels are already online. Some you will definitely recognize:

Beauty TV
Best of National Geographic
BoomChicago
Brazilian Music Channel
Bridezillas
Chat the Planet
Comedy Central
GameStar
Guinness World Records TV
IndieFlix Premier Hits
IndyCar Series
Intimate & Interactive
Lime
MTV
Music Nation
Red Bull
Reuters
Spike TV
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit on Demand
The Hobby Channel
The Horror Channel
The Recipe Channel
The Silent Movies Channel
The Soccer Channel
Travelistic
Warner Bros. Records
Etc...

Also, more than 30 global advertisers -- including the usual suspects like Coca-Cola, HP, Intel, and Nike -- have signed up to fund the project. Adverts are due to appear on Joost broadcasts later this month. Can't wait!!!

Here is our official beta tester banner:





and Joost's video promotion:





This is a QuickTime movie. Download the player if you don't have it yet - this video is worth it. Click here to watch it!

Broadcast credit: Joost

I'm a Mogger

MOG TV, which came out of beta at the end of March, claims to represent the next generation of social networking sites. It is created around music recommendations. However, instead of simply meeting other people with similar musical taste, MOG TV recommends music videos for you based on the songs in your computer's music library. It's "Pandora.com meets YouTube," with all kinds of music-infused word of mouth possibilities.

You download their MOG-O-MATIC application, which tracks everything you listen to on your computer and iPod. It then automatically posts this information to your profile page on MOG, enabling anyone in the community to instantly see what you're listening to. After crunching this information for a few minutes, MOG connects you to other users it "thinks" you are most musically compatible with. You can start conversations, get, and spread recommendations, or just plain listen to your and your new friends' faves, like RadioHead's "Where I end and you begin" piece:



I set up my page with a few clicks. Let's hear those compatible notes from my soul (music) mates ... don't leave my MOG Meter's Status at "Below the Radar!"

Broadcast credit: YouTube

JumpCut.com Beta Doesn't Cut it on Mac Safari

I'm quoting verbatim from the home page: "Be good to your video. The easiest way to edit, create, remix, and share your video and photos." Could be, and hopefully will be soon. I just checked it out, trying to get the embed code of "The Camera Race," a funny chase through a semi-dark kitchen, living room, and who-knows-what else. (I didn't watch the whole thing, but you can see the starting frame here.)





Someone gave it that love heart; however neither the "Post," "Share," nor the "Grab" features worked in my Mac’s Safari browser, so that wasn't me.

I trust the JumpCut folks check postings through Technorati, Diggs, or others and fix these issues post beta. Yes, free is good! Freedom to choose amongst online video editing services, like JumpCut, MotionBox, and EyeSpot is even better! Make it so for us Macophiles too....

And yes, reports on MotionBox, and EyeSpot will follow as I get to them.