Mochila Adds Video

No, it’s not a new Starbucks flavor. Mochila is a multimedia syndication service that just launched its video player and video content today. It’s an interesting business model and I got a full briefing on it from the CEO earlier in the week. Unfortunately, time has been running shorter than usual and I haven’t had … Read more

Staten Island Residents Get PhotoShowTV

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Time Warner Cable quietly launched PhotoShowTV in Staten Island last week. I say quietly because it appears there was very little press coverage. Granted the service was already operating in Hawaii, but this is the first time PhotoShowTV has been available on the mainland, so to speak. And it’s a very cool service.

SimpleStar’s PhotoShow has been around for quite a while as a simple tool for creating photo slideshows with music, graphics and even some animations. (Comcast subscribers can download the Deluxe version on Comcast.net) The TV part comes in with the combination of PhotoShow and Time Warner’s VOD service. Staten Island TWC subscribers can now create PhotoShows online and then submit them for public viewing on a local VOD station. In other words, what you create in your living room can be watched on Grandma’s TV screen across town.

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Picasa Web Albums: A Big Hit?

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I’ve received two online photo albums today from different friends of mine and both used Picasa Web Albums. I hadn’t told either of them about Picasa (though I’ve told lots of other folks about Picasa!)

While there hasn’t been a lot of coverage of it, my guess is that Picasa Web Albums is slowly becoming a gorilla in the online photo sharing space because of the quality of the Picasa client and because of it’s tight integration with Picasa Web Albums. I don’t have any basis for this claim other than 1) I keep coming across more people using Picasa and 2) I’m involved in product development and I think I can recognize a ‘hit’ product when I see one.

Quiet ‘hits’ — as in successful products and companies that aren’t spotlight-seeking and maybe aren’t even that ’sexy’ — are often the most interesting ones.

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Slinging With CBS

In case you didn’t catch the news yesterday, CBS is expanding their online video presence. Instead of funneling folks onto a single video site, they’re taking a different approach by providing CBS content to a variety of online destinations. We at Sling Media (my employer) are psyched to expand our relationship with CBS (see Clip+Sling) … Read more

CBS Streams The Masters

Don’t have a Slingbox? (Tsk, tsk.) As they did with March Madness, CBS has you covered by streaming The Masters online. Kevin tells me he’s enjoyed it full screen on his UMPC and that the quality is good. Why anyone would want to watch golf is beyond me… Though some probably wonder why Jeremy and … Read more

Another BitTorrent Client Goes Legit (Yawn)

Following in the footsteps of BitTorrent, Azureus just launched Vuze with Showtime and the BBC onboard: Formerly code-named Zudeo, the site already attracts more than two million unique monthly visitors after only two months in existence. Vuze breaks new ground by offering a powerful tool set of enhanced features and functions that enable content providers … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs. Web Video and The Speed of Change: Connected Home 2 Go Networks in the CE Spotlight: Connected Home 2 Go Did MediaPortal steal WebGuide MCE code: Rakesh Agrawal Vyyo, How Cable Will Compete with Fiber: Connected Home 2 Go

Coming Soon: Xbox 360 Elite

The rumors are true… There is a black Xbox and it does offer HDMI (1.2). And unlike Apple TV, Microsoft kindly includes a HDMI cable. In lieu of of the Premium’s 20GB hard drive, the Xbox 360 “Elite” bundles a 120GB drive. While I see no reason (yet) to upgrade my Xbox (though my current … Read more