Pick up the remote, turn on the television and watch YouTube.

The blurring of the television and the computer, envisioned by technology enthusiasts for years, advanced another step on Wednesday when TiVo, the popular maker of digital video recorders, announced an agreement with YouTube that will deliver millions of Web videos directly to users’ TV screens.

“TiVo’s strategy is to bridge the gap between Web video and television and make as much content available as possible for our subscribers,” said Tara Maitra, TiVo’s vice president and general manager for content services.

TiVo is the latest entrant into the marketplace for porting Internet videos to television. Apple has introduced a version of Apple TV with similar features. Although several companies are trying to merge online content with the big screen in the living room, no one product dominates the market.

“Leaning forward at my computer screen, I’ve got this giant amount of content,” said Dmitry Shapiro, the founder of Veoh, one such company. “But as soon as I want to relax in my living room with friends, I’m stuck with what’s on my TV.”

TiVo pioneered the digital video recorder technology that enabled television viewers to time-shift their favorite shows, and its set-top boxes are increasingly acting like digital video retrievers and receivers as well. The company already makes video from about 40 partners available through its box.

Just as users can sign up for a season pass to record “Desperate Housewives” on ABC, they will be able to subscribe to CNet video clips, CBS episode recaps and other segments and have the content downloaded to their hard drives. The YouTube clips, however, will be streamed by broadband Internet connection.

When it is introduced this year (the exact time has not been specified), the YouTube service will be available only to TiVo users who have up-to-date hardware — a Series 3 or HD set-top box — and a broadband connection.

Of the four million TiVo users nationwide, more than half get their set-top box from a cable operator. Of the 1.7 million who bought their box directly from TiVo, only about 800,000 have the necessary broadband connection.

Users will be able to log into their accounts and gain access to playlists on the video-sharing site directly from their televisions. The company also plans to let users subscribe to video feeds from across the Internet by using software called an R.S.S. reader.

“TiVo should be the best experience for all video options, whether it’s coming from cable, satellite or off of a server,” Ms. Maitra said.

The integration of Web video and TiVo was a result of YouTube’s decision, announced last August and made public Wednesday, to open the YouTube platform for outside developers. The platform promises to make it easier for other sites to upload and manage videos.
[Via: NYTimes]

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Labels: tv, youtube

In an effort to stay competitive with revenue sharing viral video sites like Revver, Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, said that his site will start sharing profits with its millions of users. The announcement was made during Hurley's speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland this past Saturday. Many active YouTube users have started removing their videos and reposting them on Revver so they can make some money off their hard work. Revver started sharing profits with their users back in October of 2005.

"We are getting an audience large enough where we have an opportunity to support creativity, to foster creativity through sharing revenue with our users... So in the coming months we are going to be opening that up" Hurley said.

How much will popular YouTube posters like The Wine Kone or Adam Wade start making off their videos? It's still unknown. Hurley didn't go into any payment details during his speech.

About 70 million videos are viewed daily on YouTube, which was sold to Google for $1.65 billion last year.

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Labels: youtube

Apparently Steve Jobs was holding back at last week's Macworld Expo. Apple's new iPhone can do a lot more than just play music, movies and make phone calls.

As you can see from this video, the research staff at Late Night with Conan O'Brien were able to uncover all of the iPhone's features including camera, movie player, remote control, electric razor…



If you want to copy this video off of YouTube and save it on your hard drive, then check out this tutorial: Copy Videos Off YouTube.

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Labels: iphone, youtube

American Idol judge Paula Abdul canceled a string of media interviews last Friday when an online video emerged of her slurring and gesticulating her way through a TV interview.




By the way, Abdul just announced her new reality show, Hey Paula, last week. The show will air on Bravo and will provide viewers with an "insider perspective" into Abdul's daily life as an American Idol judge, movie producer (Bratz), and purveyor of perfume, jewelry and clothing. If she's drunk the whole time I guess the show will be all the more interesting. I can't wait.

You might want to copy the video off YouTube before her publicist has it pulled. Here's a tutorial on have to save videos off YouTube and convert them for your Video iPod. Enjoy.

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Labels: youtube

A "wardrobe malfunction" during a New Year's Eve broadcast apparently exposed the Japanese public to a little more than they were expecting. Several showgirl-style dancers performing with DJ Ozma went "topless" about 2 minutes and 20 seconds into his song "Bounce With Me."

The performance was part of a New Year's Eve special on the Japanese television network NHK. According to a Reuters report, NHK TV was flooded with viewer complaints after the broadcast and had to issue an official apology.

But hold on. Were the girls really topless? According to the website Japancast, the dancers were all just wearing flesh-colored body suits with exposed breasts painted on them. Is it a lie? Is NHK just trying to cover its ass? Maybe you should watch the DJ Ozma New Year's performance and decide for yourself.



Here's a link to the "topless" clip but NHK keeps complaining and having YouTube take the video down. You can also try searching for "DJ Ozma" on YouTube. As soon as you find the video, try to download it to your computer. It shouldn't be too hard to find the clip. People are reposting it faster than YouTube can pull it down.

Tutorial: How to Download Videos Off YouTube and Convert Them for Your Video iPod

Labels: youtube