Joost will compete to cable television but no to YouTube
Joost said it will be online sometime before this summer. Joost.com is meant to replicate the way viewers watch television at home, in a platform piracy-proof. It will stream for free programs in full-screen format in a TV-like experience. Users will be able to flip through channels everything from clips to entire episodes, while seeing links to websites and using a variety of applications as instant messaging, message boards, and news tickers. It won’t allow users to upload videos
“It’s not Web video; it’s TV, we are the world’s first broadcast-quality Internet television service,” one its founder said. Analysts say that Joost is not a competitor to YouTube but to cable television. They consider that Joost has the potential to change how consumers watch television on the Web.
Viacom programming (MTV, Comedy Central and VH1) will be available after the deal reached last month, and whose terms were not disclosed. The MTV dismissed to have clips on YouTube, and now is seeking to bring their websites up to Web 2.0 standards.
Joost will have content that is, for now, unavailable elsewhere on the Web.
More interactive opportunities in the redesigned USAToday.com
How would you design a web 2.0 newspaper? Take a look at the new redesigned USAToday.com, with more social functionalities than any newspaper. It is called networked journalism. “You're going to see USA TODAY journalists around the site: creating profiles, joining you in conversation, asking you for your thoughts and experiences around different stories, and looking to create connections that help build better journalism”, the newspaper says.
Users can create their own profiles, add friends and start their own blog, vote for stories, share and comment. Readers are also encouraged to upload photos. The most surprising feature is an aggregated list of the competitors’ headlines. There is a recommendation list on the home page, and most-commented stories are also ranked.
USA TODAY has integrated social-networking power from Pluck, an Austin-based technology start-up, and hand-crafted many other features. Video section is not very usable. And comments from readers have not been very encouraging. Main problem is the lack of compatibility with some versions of Firefox.
The Internet’s impact on journalism
What is the Internet’s impact on journalism? An extremely well-done examination of what’s happening to the news is conducted by PBS Frontline series, News Wars. From the turmoil at Tribune’s Los Angeles Times to the vanishing of old journalism boundaries thanks to the Internet media.
This is a mandatory viewing for Media industry, and it is online, for free.
Live TV service for Verizon mobile phones
The long-awaited next wave in cellular technology is coming. Verizon Wireless has launched a live TV service for mobile phones, featuring access to eight 24-hour channels:
CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go and Nickelodeon.
The $15 to $25/month service went live in 20 markets including Seattle, Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas and Denver. It requires a new handset capable of receiving the broadcast signal in addition to the regular cellular signal. The first dual-mode handset from Samsung costs $200.
At the same time, MobiTV of Sprint, which offers a similar service — although frequently at less quality — announced it had reached 2 million subscribers. Cingular/AT&T’s live TV service, MediaFlo, isn’t expected to launch until later this year.
The AP makes its video available to embed
The Associated Press has decided to allow people to embed its videos on their websites. The AP announced a deal with the syndication site TheNewsroom.com to distribute the clips on the web. The clips will be running pre-roll ads before their content.
In order to obtain the code necessary to embed videos users are required to provide a valid e-mail address to TheNewsroom.
TheNewsroom “provides a vehicle for AP to allow non-traditional customers to post individual stories, photos and video clips while maintaining control over its intellectual property,” said Jane Seagrave, VP and director of AP Digital in a prepared statement.
