video

Justin.TV relaunches, zzz... [Updated]

Editor's note: This post has been updated from first publish. See note below for more.

This morning Justin.TV has relaunched itself as a live video platform. The site is planning to enable video livecasters to build out their own video broadcasting page, complete with a custom URL, branding, and chat room. Unlike uStream.TV, which has made similar functionality available to anyone and everyone for several months now, the initial crop of broadcasters who want to use the platform will be handpicked by Justin Kan and crew. Eventually it will be opened up to anyone.

For viewers, Justin.… Read more

Joost partners with Creative Arts Agency

Joost has announced another partnership--but this one's a little different than the seemingly endless announcements of niche TV deals that the much-hyped Web video start-up has been rolling out over the past few months. This time, Joost will be partnering with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and several international locations. Through this deal, the CAA--which represents industries from TV to theater to video games to sports--will help Joost secure more content for distribution.

In other words, it's a partnership that will optimally lead to more … Read more

Will next arcade machines hit the jackpot?

The "Megatouch Elite Edge Ion" may sound like a Sharper Image air filter, but the prosaically named machine could make game arcades look like the floor of the Bellagio. (OK, maybe the Flamingo.)

Although it resembles those irritatingly chipper video slots that feature dozens of ways to empty your wallet with every spin, the Megatouch is designed to play all types of non-gambling games--102, to be exact--ranging from trivia to sports, according to Chip Chick. It even has a joystick to go along with its touch screen, something you won't find among the nickel slots in … Read more

The Pirate Bay sees buried treasure in streaming video

The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent file tracking site based in Sweden, hinted in a blog post on Friday that it has begun navigating the high seas of streaming video. The site had been hyping up a "surprise" in recent weeks, and still won't give much detail, but it has confirmed that it is indeed a video project. "As a treat I can tell you--YES--we're going to do a video streaming site," the blog post wrote. "It's true. It's in the works being done right now and as usual we put a … Read more

Dell confirms rumors, will build tablet PC

Dell confirmed Friday that it will sell a tablet PC before the end of year.

Jeff Clarke, senior vice president and general manager of Dell's business product group, made the announcement in a short video posted to the company's Direct2Dell blog.

"I'm here to end much speculation in the industry about our plans in the tablet marketplace," says a casually attired Clarke, while holding the tablet. The device will be a Latitude tablet PC designed specifically for the education, health care and corporate markets, he said.

On the video, Clarke gives a brief demo and … Read more

Game designer causes uproar with Virginia Tech game

Talk about whistling past the graveyard.

An Australian video game designer has caused a major uproar Down Under with his creation of a game based on the Virginia Tech massacre.

Called V-Tech Rampage, the game has several levels of "stealth and murder," reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

But what really is causing the kerfuffle--as if the game itself wasn't in bad enough taste--is that its designer, Ryan Lambourn, says he will take the game down from his Web site only if the public comes up with a $2,000 payoff.

For another grand, he'll apologize.

"… Read more

Sneak peak at Mogulus: new live blogging platform

I got to take a sneak peak at a new video broadcasting service that opened its doors to a select few this morning. Mogulus is a live video broadcasting service the likes of uStream.tv, but with a twist: Multiple people can work on live video feeds at the same time. Each user can create their own branded channel, and fill it up with video content either from their hard drives or pulled in from YouTube. Each contributor can also command the broadcast using their Web cam, complete with customizable over-the-shoulder graphic overlays and a scrolling CNN-style news ticker. The result is a live blogging experience that's visually stimulating to the viewer, and completely customizable for the amateur content producer.

Mogulus is giving its producers two ways to share content--either embedding the live feed, or linking to their own custom URL. All public channels go into a listing for live feeds a la Kyte.tv, so casual users looking to tune into things that are live or interesting will be able to browse through and find something they like.

Managing broadcasts in Mogulus is handled completely inside of a Flash-based application. Content is clumped together in small management units called "storyboards," which can be inserted into any broadcast almost like video playlists. Producers queue up content, mix and match the order of video clips, and can break in at any time to broadcast live from their Web cam. Power users have a lot to play with, as it actually feels like a professional video-editing app with a ton of options for tweaking and fine-tuning.

Mogulus plans to roll out its service with two models, one free and one paid. The free version requires inserting a short advertisement for every 10 minutes of broadcasting, while the pro version lets producers go ad-free in exchange for paying a fee for every gigabyte of bandwidth transferred. My hunch is that many casual users will be OK with the advertisement model, with what Mogulus is tentatively planning to keep at around 10 seconds per ad.

More on Mogulus as it leaves private beta. Until then you can sign up and check out an explanatory video here. More screenshots of the interface after the jump.

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Flaunt your fanboyishness in Nintendo's new video contest

Nintendo is giving fanboy filmmakers a chance to shine, with its Short Cuts Showcase contest. Grab a camcorder (or animation software) and produce a Nintendo-themed video, then submit it to the contest site by June 6. The three best videos will be screened at Rockefeller Center's film showcase, June 19-22. The creator of the top-rated video will receive $10,000 and a trip to New York City for the screening, a meeting Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Craig Haktoff, plus a Nintendo Wii, a DS Lite, and games for both systems. The second and third place winners will get a … Read more

MySpace launching branded video channels, possible Joost killer

MySpace will soon launch more than a dozen branded video channels, featuring content from big names like the National Geographic group, The New York Times, and Reuters. Users will be able to access the video content on branded content microsites similar to YouTube's partner channels with the BBC, NBC, and CBS. MySpace is allowing content providers to customize their content interface, with special backgrounds and color schemes. Expect something similar to Trailer Park, which MySpace launched last month.

The new service will tie in to MySpace's current videos platform, although there's no word yet on whether or … Read more

WordPress wizard talks to CNET's Webware

Matt Mullenweg is officially the CEO of Automattic. Please note the double "t"--as in "Matt." But he's really the guy who brought WordPress to the world and oxygen to the blogosphere.

You can see the first half of this Webware interview here. Matt explains why WordPress is open source but his antispam kismet isn't. He discloses the catalytic role his mother played in his software development. And he talks about blogging in places where the government is out to get you. The second part of the interview will be available online soon.