TV

I just got a very interesting demo from Adap.TV CEO Amir Ashkenazi. His company has built an online video-advertising technology that ignores one of the old maxims of advertising: that advertisements should be in the same medium as the content they are running in.

Adap.TV places text ads in videos. When a user clicks on one of these text come-ons, the video pauses and a new window opens on the ad's Web page.

It's a smart strategy, because there are a lot more text and Web ads for the system to chose from than there are … Read more

Apple today issued an update for its Apple TV device. The update fixes the mDNSResponder buffer overflow vulnerability, CVE-2007-2386. This vulnerability was patched last month in Security Update 2007-05 for desktop and laptop users of Apple Mac OS X 10.4 up to 10.4.9.

The Apple TV device will automatically pick up this update during its weekly schedule. Depending on the day that your Apple TV device checks for updates, this process may take up to a week to complete. Should you want the update sooner, it is also possible to force a manual update by using the … Read more

This morning, Apple announced that YouTube videos are currently available on the Apple TV and will also be on the upcoming iPhone when it's released. We fired up our Apple TV this morning, downloaded and installed the update, then took it for a spin.

The download itself took at least 5 minutes once we hit "Download Update" from the Settings menu. Once the download finished, it had to install the update and restart, which took another few minutes. Once the main menu screen loaded, the new "YouTube" option was available.

As you might expect, the interface is pretty slick.… Read more

We know you've been waiting for the moment when you could watch condensed episodes of The Partridge Family online. As expected, MySpace Video and Sony Pictures Television have collaborated on the "Minisode Network," a broadband video page featuring shortened versions of various Sony television shows available in a free, ad-supported form (the current sponsor is Honda) and which launched on Tuesday. MySpace members also have the option to embed 'minisodes' in their profiles.

You can think of it as TV on Cliff's Notes. Each 'minisode' is three to five minutes long, but Sony and MySpace have … Read more

Category: Media

uStream.TV lets almost anyone with the right equipment and some gusto put together a live broadcasting network. uStream combines live video broadcasting via a Webcam with live IRC chat. Content makers can create their own channels, complete with customized branding and show description.

uStream offers its users a range of ways to interact with show producers. They can rate and rank the show for promotion on uStream.TV's front page and add it to their list of favorites. uStream also makes it possible for them to embed it on blogs, Web sites, and social-networking profiles.

uStream … Read more

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Anyone who flipped through the ads in the Sunday Paper would have seen SO many gadgets being pushed for Dads & Grads. There was an underlying guilt that surged through me as i flipped through them over breakfast... I only got my dad a book... and a card. Was i supposed to have gotten him a new phone? laptop? digicam? TV? And then suddenly I was lost browsing the many options of 30-60" plasmas and lcds... 720p vs 1080p... so, I gave up and went and chatted with my … Read more

As expected, sales of liquid crystal display TVs declined from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007. The surprise was how much Royal Philips Electronics' sales of the flat-screen televisions slid.

The Dutch electronics giant posted the worst performance among the top five brands worldwide, according to a report from research firm iSuppli. Philips' shipments declined 26 percent. Overall, the market declined 8 percent, with shipments globally dropping from 15.2 million in the last three months of 2006 to 14 million in the first three months of this year. (If you ever wanted evidence of … Read more

If you go to Costco, you can see what's happening in the television market.

The warehouse store sells all the major brands--Samsung, Sony, Philips, Panasonic--but the one that seems to get the most traction is Vizio, the small plasma and LCD TV maker that got started a few years ago. (Disclaimer: I was actually in there to buy a pork loin, some tube socks and a bunch of cleaning products--the diversion into TVs happened by chance.)

At least half of the space dedicated to TVs in the store is dedicated to Vizio. The company, meanwhile, is undercutting the more … Read more

Bambi Francisco, formerly of MarketWatch, is taking the wraps off her own business tonight: Vator.tv. It's a YouTube for entrepreneurs, a place where people looking for funding or partners for their business ideas can display their "elevator pitch," and connect with those who can help them out. Other people in the entrepreneurial ecosystem can also post pitches. There are venture capitalists explaining what they want to invest in, for example, as well as service providers pitching their services.

The embedded video here is a sample from the site: A pitch from a company making emergency evacuation systems for skyscrapers.

There's nothing terribly complex about the site, but it could work very nicely for all parties involved. The site's focus makes it a better destination for people who are pitching businesses than either an undifferentiated video site like YouTube, or even a business-focused social network like LinkedIn.

The focus also reveals itself in a few pitch-centric functions and editorial features. For example, each idea pitch has a "pitch network" of people listed on it, and each of these people can have his or her own profile page on Vator.tv. These profile pages list affiliations with other pitches. This bare-bones social network helps the potential funder see who's behind a company or idea. Although Francisco told me she's trying to create a "network around ideas," not people, in truth the smart funder or investor only invests in people. Ideas are easy. Implementation and passion to follow through is the hard part.

Vator.tv will also run contests. For example, there's a Wine 2.0 competition run by Redpoint Ventures on the site right now. This VC firm is looking for wine-related businesses to fund, and entrepreneurs can add their pitches to this competition page. Vator.tv users can then vote on these pitches, which makes the business into a bit of a game.

Francisco will also contribute editorial features to the site in the News Room, where she also has commentary on some of the video pitches people have uploaded.

The site is free, and will carry advertising and sponsorships. (I think Vator.tv should also charge service providers to post their videos; Francisco said she'd consider this later.)

As a network of ideas and the people behind them, Vator.tv looks very promising. In addition to offering good functionality for entrepreneurs and their potential partners, the site is well organized and has good entertainment value. It's interesting to browse even if you are neither an entrepreneur yourself nor a venture capitalist with millions to invest. If you want to see great ideas (and bad ones) communicated directly by the people who are most passionate about them, spend some time looking through the site.

… Read more