hulu

Hulu sharpens focus on hi-def content

Right now I think the No. 1 thing worth watching on Hulu is the stellar Season 2 premiere of AMC's Mad Men--regrettably, the NBC-News Corp. joint venture hasn't been able to secure the rights to any other episodes of the ad-industry drama.

But there's more that's new on Hulu, the company said in an e-mail statement Tuesday. It's revamping its high-definition offerings in a new release of its "HD Gallery" section, with episodes of current NBC shows like 24, 30 Rock, Heroes, and The Office. As part of a special promotion, they're … Read more

Red Lasso closes video search after being sued

RedLasso has suspended access to its video search-and-clipping site two days after NBC Universal and Fox filed a copyright suit against the company.

File this one under inevitable.

RedLasso, which announced the closure in a statement on Friday, recorded TV shows and then indexed clips so users could find, pull, and embed them on other Web sites. They did so without permission. The company had suggested that it was in talks to obtain licenses. RedLasso will keep operating its Radio To Web service, which allows radio stations to search and upload their content to their own Web site.

In May, … Read more

CNET Live - Episode 64

Eric Feng from Hulu chats with Molly Wood about the site that brings network TV shows to your desktop.

Watch the show on CNET TV.

Things we Crave

Fujitsu emergency degausser

Cowon P5

British motor show

Brian Cooley reports from the British International Motor Show.

Download of the week

Truecrypt 6.

Insider Secrets

Convert DVD to Web video

Best of the Web

Crime reports

Your calls

How to back up the iPhone.

Should you buy an iPod? Check MacRumours buying guide.

Why does my Buffalo router continuously disconnect?

Use your iPhone with the Jaguar XF.

SnapzPro saves anything visible on … Read more

Report: Lionsgate cranks open for YouTube

The common wisdom might be that the film industry loathes Google's YouTube, but that might be changing.

Lions Gate Entertainment, the studio responsible for classics like Dirty Dancing and recent TV hits like Weeds, has signed a revenue-sharing deal with the video hub.

It was alluded to by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the Madison & Vine conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, subsequently confirmed by Lionsgate.

It's not clear how extensive this deal will be. Presumably, it means that Lionsgate would create a branded "channel" on YouTube, and serve … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 751: No big black hole deal

Black holes from the Large Hadron Collider? No worries. Mac OS X Trojan in the wild? Minor worries. Total top-level domain overhaul? Worries deferred until we see it in action. EFF attacks the entire foundation for the RIAA's lawsuits against alleged pirates and specifically their troublesome "making available" claim? RIAA shouldn't worry, even though we wish they would. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 751

Why the LHC Won’t Destroy the World http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/06/23/134251.shtml

Mac OS X Trojan reported in the wild http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9973703-57.html … Read more

Could YouTube become hub for feature films and TV shows?

For a long time, I've said that YouTube could become the Web's supreme ruler of short-form and long-form video should it ever offer feature films and TV shows.

The Web's top video-sharing site now appears to be preparing to make such a move. YouTube has begun experimenting with delivering longer videos than the typical 10-minute clips allowed on the site, Fortune magazine reported Wednesday. On YouTube now are several full-length documentaries and TV shows. (See one of those videos, Howard Buttelman, Daredevil Stuntman, embedded below.)

The question is whether Google is making the move too late.

Long-form … Read more

Mark Cuban: Hulu revenues will surpass YouTube's in 2009

Mark Cuban sounds almost giddy in a blog about Google CEO Eric Schmidt's acknowledgment that the company hasn't figured out how to make YouTube profitable.

Cuban, the founder of Broadcast.com and owner of high-def cable channel HDNet all but said "I told you so."

"It is coming up on two years (since I posted) my declaration that only a moron would buy YouTube," Cuban wrote, "and that Google was crazy for actually going through with it...YouTube has become the poster child for the old saying "we are losing money on … Read more

What's in a (concocted) name?

I work for frog design, and frequently at conferences and parties, people ask me about the name: What does it mean? Where does it come from? While some suspect it symbolizes the agility of that animal species, the truth is that our German founder, Hartmut Esslinger, coined it as an acronym for "federal republic of germany" -- the lower case spelling of "frog" referencing the egalitarian tradition of Marxist semantics, back then in the 60s when frog was born.

Sam Birger, the founder of Nomenon, a renowned naming firm, whom I met in NY last week, … Read more

'Buffy' and 'Gilmore Girls' to get video site play

As part of a comeback attempt by the WB Network, Warner Bros. Television Group has cut deals to distribute TV shows to TiVo, Veoh Networks, and other Web video sites.

The WB is the network made famous by such teen fare as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls. The network shut down in 2006, when Warner Bros. partnered with CBS to launch the CW Television Network.

Warner Bros. said in April that it would relaunch the network as an online-only play. The company said in a statement on Thursday that in September, Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo, and Veoh … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 742: iPhone hangover day

In the great cycle of technology, today is the day-after-Jobs-keynote when we are bummed about the morsels that were dished out the day before. Witness: iPhone activation, lockdown, and data plan woes. Also, ISPs take one big step down the slippery slope, the SUV takes a nosedive, and Stewart and Colbert hit Hulu. Rejoice!

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 742

Apple may soon be free from AT&T http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-9964695-17.html

iPhone 3G: AT&T memo to retail managers shows iPhone 3G policy http://gizmodo.com/5014909/att-memo-to-retail-managers-shows-iphone-3g-policy http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/06/09/3g_iphone_to_be_in_store_activated_free_upgrade_for_recent_buyers.html … Read more