Audio and video

Microsoft is hiring staff "to help us bring Skype experience on to the Web," a move that could help people use the Internet-based video and audio chat service more broadly.

Skype's VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service today requires a native app to run on various operating systems. A browser-based version, though, could bring the service to OSes that aren't supported, such as Google's Chrome OS; make it easier for people to use Skype on a machine for which they don't have installation privileges; and potentially integrate with other Web-based services.

Microsoft revealed the … Read more

YouTube last year allowed video creators to convert their clips to 3D. Now, they're giving ordinary viewers the chance to do so.

The online video site today announced that when users access certain 1080p 3D videos from the site, they'll be given a 3D option under the Quality settings pane. Upon clicking it, the video is automatically converted to 3D, which will require users to don their favorite 3D glasses to view it.

In order to get the 3D effect to work, YouTube analyzes a host of video components, including "color, spatial layout, and motion to estimate … Read more

HTC has added streaming video to its recent lineup of investments.

In an effort to expand its mobile offerings for consumers, the handset maker has bought a 20 percent chunk of SyncTV, a unit owned by Intertrust. SyncTV is a cloud-based service that can stream video over the Internet to a variety of platforms, such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Xbox, and Internet-enabled TVs.

As part of the deal, HTC has also licensed several of Intertrust's patents, mostly in the area of digital rights management. SyncTV uses an open-source DRM called Marlin that lets manufacturers include the service in … Read more

YouTube has launched a new feature to help those of us who don't have the time to edit videos before we pop them onto the Web.

Upon uploading a video to YouTube, users will find a notification bar that will ask them if they want to allow the video site to auto-correct their clip. If the user chooses to fix the video, YouTube will automatically tweak the video's color and shakiness.

"Sometimes videos suffer from symptoms like 'shaky-camera-itis' or 'augmented-darkness-levels' that keep viewers from seeing just how awesome your video really is," YouTube software engineer John … Read more

Rumors have cropped up over the last few months suggesting that Apple is working on a streaming-video service to compete with Netflix. But according to a new report, it might have hit some snags.

Citing sources, the New York Post reported yesterday that Apple is having trouble selling media companies on its streaming-video service. One media executive who asked not to be named told the Post that Apple is looking for "everything for nothing." Another said that the iPhone maker wants to decide what content will be offered and at what price.

Nearly a year ago, CNET reported, … Read more

Apple may be tuning up a new streaming-audio format that handle varying degrees of quality.

Citing an anonymous source, U.K. news site The Guardian reported yesterday that the format would offer "adaptive streaming" to iCloud users, automatically choosing between low-quality and high-quality sound based on the bandwidth and amount of local storage.

Users with lots of bandwidth could listen to a studio-quality recording, while those with minimal bandwidth would get more standard digital quality.

The source reportedly told The Guardian that Apple has reached out to a music studio in London to create audio files to tap … Read more

Although advertising has been the most-desired way for YouTube to generate revenue, the company is reportedly considering another way to rake in cash.

Speaking at the D: Dive Into Media conference last night, YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar said his company is considering allowing content providers to create their own, unique subscription-based video service on the site, according to GigaOm, which attended the event in Dana Point, Calif. That said, Kamangar reportedly cautioned that YouTube has yet to decide if it will, in fact, launch such a service and hasn't even gotten to the point of determining how it could … Read more

A teaser video showing actor Matthew Broderick seemingly reprising his role as the iconic "Ferris Bueller" became an Internet sensation last week. But it appears now that all the excitement surrounding it might be short-lived.

Honda today confirmed that the teaser video, which was viewed over 4 million times after going viral, was part of a two-and-a-half-minute commercial it plans to air during the Super Bowl on Sunday to promote its 2012 CR-V automobile.

"To celebrate the launch of the all-new 2012 CR-V, Honda brought 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' back in a big game commercial," … Read more

Google has released "Duclair," the new version 1.0.0 of its VP8 technology that the company says does a better job encoding video and faster job decoding it.

And it's a good thing, too, because VP8 is taking on not only the incumbent H.264, but also a sequel called High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) from the same group that's well under development.

VP8 and H.264 are codecs, technology for compressing video for more compact storage or for more efficient transmission over a network. But the two come from very different backgrounds. Google hopes … Read more