video

Now on YouTube: Politician-generated video

It's already clear that user-generated video sites are being used to shape the upcoming presidential race, but has Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) spearheaded a new trend of on-the-fly, politician-generated flicks?

In an unusual--unprecedented, even--move at a Thursday morning hearing entitled "The Future of Internet Video," the veteran congressman pulled out a digital video camera and shot some footage of the participants, complete with cues to wave and a bit of narration.

Now, as promised, the 85-second footage is on his dedicated YouTube page for all to see.

The feature opens with a close-up shot of Markey delivering … Read more

Download.com Music video report

What are the cool kids spinning? Not that we at Download.com Music are all that "cool." OK, well, maybe we are a little. Whatever you want to call us, you can't deny the music in our latest Download.com crew video report--produced by our good friends at CNET TV--is rather tasty. Bjork chimes in wth a brand-new track, along with former Pulp maestro Jarvis Cocker, rising hip-hop star Phat Kat, and the crazy dance rhythms of Bonde Do Role.

Joost gets $45 million in financing

Online video network Joost has received $45 million in funding from a group led by Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Also investing were: Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings; Viacom; and CBS. The two media companies also are providing content to the site.

The money will be used to "accelerate product development, global expansion, localization and service offerings," according to a statement from Joost. The company was launched by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the founders of Skype and Kazaa.

Electronic Arts announces 'Simpsons' game

Electronic Arts on Wednesday announced that it will release this fall a new Simpsons video game.

The announcement, by the world's-largest video game publisher, came just minutes before an invite-only press event in San Francisco where it was expected to make a "special announcement." It's not yet clear if the two announcements are one and the same.

The game, which is expected to be released this fall in conjunction with Gracie Films and Twentieth Century Fox, will feature the familiar Simpsons characters, and presumably, the storyline. It will also feature the voice actors from the TV … Read more

Three music video search tools

With this morning's news of Last.fm launching a video service, we thought it would be worth mentioning a few resources that are out there for finding free music videos.

MusicTonic is a very slick search tool that mashes up various pieces of artist information like photos, album art, news stories, and a video playlist. It ties into a few online services like Flickr, YouTube, Last.fm, and MyStrands, among others. It's a lot like Foxytunes Planet, which we looked at in January, although there's no integration with any jukebox players.

Middio is a simplified music-video search … Read more

New Pioneer Blu-ray player: Not so Elite

Pioneer announced its new Elite BDP-94HD Blu-ray player today, following up on its first generation BDP-HD1. Besides the new model name, there doesn't look to be much of a change from last year's model. The biggest addition we can see is onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD, which means it should be able to decode Dolby TrueHD soundtracks and send uncompressed PCM soundtracks to a compatible receiver via HDMI. Pioneer is also claiming to have revamped its Home Media Gallery feature, which allows for some basic network media streaming using the Ethernet port and supposedly the capability to download … Read more

New stars in new media: Is cute the killer app on YouTube?

Forget copyrighted comedy ripped off from some cable channel. Even forget the made-for-YouTube teen fantasy. This is real video of a real-life couple, laid bare before all the world. And the world, as reflected by YouTube, seems to love it.

You may be the last person on earth who hasn't already seen the hand-holding otters. The video is years old, but it wasn't posted until March. In less than two months, nearly 6 million viewings have been recorded.

Canadian TV reports the two otters have become big celebrities thanks to the video. Here you can learn the two … Read more

Coming soon: Natalie Portman as Web portal?

Can Justin.TV compete with Queen Amidala?

ValleyWag is reporting that actress Natalie Portman is shopping a project to broadcast a continuous video feed of her work and personal life. The actress reportedly met with venture capitalists in Silicon Valley to seek funding for the project.

Portman isn't alone in looking for new online outlets. Dave Networks, for instance, is building Web sites for stars--said to include Will Smith and Jessica Alba--that that would let them own, distribute and "monetize" their own content.

Many celebrities have documented their lives on television and in movies; and unofficial … Read more

Mash up audio and video with MXPlay

There are a number of great digital-music players already on CNET Download.com--iTunes rules the roost because of its compatibility with iPods; MediaMonkey is fantastic for free music management and playlist creation; JetAudio Basic is packed with features for burning and broadcasting via JetCast; the classic free player Winamp now provides Internet TV and music videos; and Quintessential Player, my personal favorite player, is the perfect size for those who prefer a light system footprint.

A new digital-music player called MXPlay focuses primarily on one facet that most of the current software doesn't even mention: sound quality. Designed mostly for streaming audio, MXPlay augments even the lowest-quality 96kbps music streams to provide a more full-bodied sound for your favorite tunes. Also, a unique graphical interface lets you position your virtual speakers and audience to tweak the sound of your songs to your heart's content, and a built-in browser lets you both surf the Web and add photos and videos to create your own music mashups.… Read more