ie8 fix

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The CNET TV blog goes live!

We did some user testing on CNET TV a while back and we brought in this 19 year old kid who was kicking around the country taking a year off before he went to school. He came in, got comfortable and we asked him to look at a new potential interface. "Cool." He says. He played with it for a while and we asked him if he would come back. He says, "Yeah, I would...I don't really like to read." I loved this guy. CNET TV is definitely for him, this blog -- maybe … Read more

SI.com to launch 'deep-tagged' video feature for NFL draft

Football-loving couch potatoes rejoice: here's a new way for you to get your NFL fix on during the tragically long off-season. SI.com, the online arm of Sports Illustrated, will be launching a new video portal, NFL Draft FilmRoom, so that you'll have access to video highlights of each of the college football players who have been selected to the NFL's 2007 draft. (If you're not a football fan, FYI, this is a huge deal.)

The picks for the '07 NFL Draft will be announced on April 28 and 29 in NYC.

The power behind this … Read more

ABC.com makes watching TV at work better

Among the networks, ABC.com has been one of the most aggressive in terms of streaming full versions of its shows online after they've aired on TV. During those quieter moments at work--some call them smoking breaks without the smoking--you can watch episodes of Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, and more, right on your computer screen. Until a few days ago, however, the picture was rather small. Now ABC.com has launched a new full-screen "HD-quality" video player, and the "broadcast" looks shockingly good.

Meanwhile, NBC also has spruced up its online video player, … Read more

Joost commercial isn't quite ready for the Super Bowl

Most well-funded Web 2.0 start-ups spend their extra capital on logo T-shirts, Frisbees, or beer mugs. But if you're the ever-classy Joost, the hush-hush online video start-up, you make a commercial to explain your product. I'm not sure whether this will actually be shown on televisions in one country or another, or if it'll stay on the Web. Ironically, it's being distributed via YouTube, which is certainly going to be one of its foremost rivals.

I think the commercial is a little dull. It could use some Diet Coke and Mentos.

(Adverblog via PSFK)

Take me out to the iTunes Store

Well, the NCAA tournament is winding to a close, which means that it must be just about time for baseball season. And because Steve Jobs is eager to take over your whole life, including your sports-watching experiences, you're going to be able to get your MLB fix at the iTunes Store this season. Apple will be selling 25-minute daily recaps of the season for $1.99 (or $7.99 for a month's worth) and two featured full-length games each week, also for $1.99 (or $19.99 for a "season pass"). A selection of "classic&… Read more

Bubble Guru: Video pop-ups reimagined

We got the tip today about a brand new service called Bubble Guru. Its goal is simple: to give your blog or Web site visitors a short pop-up video message that runs and closes without any user interaction required. You can also record and send message to friends via e-mail. For viewers, there's no escape--the talking bubble will follow them as they scroll down the page.

The service is by no means a full-fledged video blogging tool; it falls into a strange subcategory between video messaging and a pop-up advertisement. It's also a little early in development, offering no way to save and track the messages you've created. For now the service is free, but a paid subscription version is on the way for about $10 a month.

We thought long and hard about the usefulness of this for the casual user. In truth, video embedding services from YouTube or Viddler is much more user friendly. Users can turn those videos on and off at their discretion and pass any interesting ones along to a friend. That, however, isn't the point of Bubble Guru. This service is all about grabbing your attention, which it does very well. We've embedded one for you: to see what it looks like, click "read more" below.… Read more

Mog sheds beta status, launches Mog TV

Mog, the music recommendation tool and social network left beta this morning and launched a new video channel called Mog TV. The video service scans your music library and offers YouTube music videos that it thinks you'll like. There's also a kitschy feature called "The Magic Button" that can randomly bring up content related to your musical tastes. The button has been placed site-wide, and can be found on user profiles, Mog TV, and artist pages. The only bummer here is the need to install the Mog-o-matic software on your machine for access to personalized recommendations, … Read more

Hands-on with YouTube's remixing and real-time chat tools

YouTube went offline last night for updating. The new version is live now. Features include the capability to customize the colors and content on your personal profile page, and a new Google Labs-like feature, TestTube, where you can experiment with new YouTube features. The TestTube projects are the interesting thing here.

For example, TestTube has the new Audio Swap feature (previous coverage), which lets you replace your video's audio with a music track from one of several artists that YouTube has made arrangements with. The interface to make the swap is easy, and the selection of musical themes is … Read more

News Roundup: Original Signal, Google Mobile, eJamming

Original Signal rolls out meme tracker. The single-page aggregation service has added a new front page to their Web section. The page displays the top 10 most popular stories at any given time. The new service uses an algorithm that decides when a story is worthy of being on the front page without any additional user interaction required beyond browsing the site. Something similar was done with Spotplex, which we checked out last month.

eJamming launches. The virtual garage for musicians to 'jam' in different geographical locations launched their AUDiiO service this morning. The app has versions for both Windows … Read more