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Dyyno Uses P2P To Stream Videos For Free

October 30, 2009

Dyyno thinks it's proprietary peer-to-peer technology can beat established video streaming companies like YouTube or Ustream

Dyyno CEO Raj Jaswa claims his proprietary peer-to-peer technology can beat established video streaming companies like YouTube or Ustream

Dyyno claims it can disrupt the video streaming world using the tried and true, but also controversial and unreliable, peer-to-peer technology.

“Dyyno came along with a breakthrough technology developed by 8 to 10 PhD students at Stanford Multimedia Labs working on a project to bring video distribution cost to zero, the same way text distribution is zero,” says Dyyno CEO Raj Jaswa who I met at the SDForum event on Collaboration 2.0 today.

Using its own P2P technology, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup vies to beat more established Internet video streaming companies like YouTube, Ustream and Justin.tv. “The question is can you really do peer-to-peer in the Internet world which is uncontrolled peers, bandwith, processing point… and can you really do it live. And that’s the research the PhDs did and solved pretty much all the problems,” adds Jaswa.

The 20-employees company also sees another advantage to its solution: users get to keep control of their content.”With all our competitors you loose control of your content,” and all the advertising dollars that go with it.

Dyyno’s business model relies 100% on advertising!

“The company is built on using the free ressources of the Internet which is uplink of the viewers, and the broadcaster has enough horsepower in order to do the streaming. So essentially by eliminating cost we ended up with the ability to distribute video for pretty much free. Which means that our business model is actually advertising.”

But Dyyno’s software as service solution is still very much in its infancy. I tried unsuccessfully to access the channel part of Dyyno’s site to view a broadcast but the site kept on crashing. A new version of Dyyno’s service is expected later this month, and hopefully will solve most of the bugs and problems.

Follows a video excerpt of our interview with Dyyno CEO Raj Jaswa:

2 Comments | news, web 2.0 | Tagged: dyyno, jaswa, justin.tv, SDForum, ustream, youtube | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360

Vudu Goes 100% Cloud, Adds Rotten Tomatoes (video)

October 13, 2009

At a press conference last night, Vudu unveiled its new “streamed” user interface (UI) “living in the cloud” with movie recommendation service Rotten Tomatoes.

Vudu downplays own set-top box

Last August, the HD streaming video service, which directly competes with Amazon HD, resurfaced as a 100% “cloud” service, with both the UI and the video content being streamed over the Internet. “We launched our streaming service on Aug 31st and this will be the third update of the service since then… versus having to update the firmware [of the set-top box or TV] every time you want to change a font or tweak the UI,” said Vudu executive vice president of strategy Ed Lichty.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup is now licensing its technology to “high-volume” consumer electronics makers such as LG and Mitsubishi – which embed Vudu in their flat-screen TVs and Blu-Ray players – and has mostly given up trying selling its own set-top box for $150.

“When we launched originally (in 2007) the UI and everything was resident on the box… We still sell it [the box], we still support it, they’re very important customers for us, but the future for sure is in this embedded world,” explained Lichty to me.

Largest HD movie selection on the Web, “buy to own”

Vudu claims to provide “a-la carte” nearly all the latest DVD movies available (over 16,000 now) – while Netflix is focused on older content – and to be the only one streaming 1080p HD content (2,200 titles) with its HDX technology (which does require a minimum bandwidth of 4.5Mbps), when Amazon is still limited to 780p.

That’s in part due to Vudu’s proprietary compression technology and its use of content delivery networks (CDN).

At this point, only a handful of online HD movies are available for sale (buy to own), from Disney and some independent movie studios. “That’s a big area we’re pushing for in our studio relationships right now… if they [movie studios] want people to buy and own digital content, it really needs to be in HD.”

No Web channel support yet

However, Vudu’s new cloud service does not support Internet services yet – but the set-top box does – like YouTube, Pandora, Flickr or Picasa, but promised it will be added soon. “We understand there’s real demand for it and we do plan to expand to include these services at some point,” added Lichty.

No Hulu on TVs

Finally, Lichty confided that he doesn’t see the Hulu content coming to set-top boxes or other consumer electronics devices like TVs or Blu-Ray players anytime soon because it will compete head-to-head with the studio relationships with their cable partners.

Follows is my conversation with Lichty,

… as well as Lichty formal presentation of the new service at the Dolby theatre.

Finally, is a short video of Dolby marketing director John Griffin, giving a tour of the company’s “reference” theatre, which is a very quiet “box in a box,” ideal to showcase movie premieres:

3 Comments | news, web 2.0 | Tagged: Amazon, Flickr, hulu, lichty, netflix, Pandora, picasa, vudu, youtube | Permalink
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The Short Sweet Life Of Online Video

August 12, 2009

Post a video on You Tube or another Web site and theoretically it remains online forever. But in many ways it is a perishable commodity.

Here are some interesting stats released by TubeMogul at the Search Engine Strategies conference.

*Video views generally peak in four days. After 14 days, a video will have received 50 percent of its lifetime audience.

*Ten percent of a clip’s audience will watch only 10 seconds. A much greater share is gone before 60 seconds.

Part of the reason for the lack of attention is the glut of online video content. The number of viewers is growing by 35 percent while the amount of video online is expanding by 75 percent.

In most instances, posting a video on You Tube will bring a publisher 3,000 more views than posting it on another site.

Almost 50 percent of videos are found through an online search. The remaining referrals come from a long tail of sites such as blogs and can give a video extended life.

Leave a Comment » | news | Tagged: Online Video, youtube | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet

Google Sees YouTube Striding Toward Profits

July 17, 2009

Google’s says its second-quarter financial results show the online advertising market is slowly stabilizing from the swoons of the global downturn.

But the online search giant fell over itself to highlight the fast growing strength in YouTube, the come-one, come-all video site it bought for $1.65 billion two years ago.

The YouTube home page is selling out, says Google's Nikesh Arora

YouTube has been something of a laggard in its ability to carry and sell advertising. But Google says this is changing and that profits may not be far away.

“YouTube is on a trajectory we are very please with,” said CEO Eric Schmidt.

Ad showings more than tripled in the past year to the point where billions of ad views are recorded each month, the company said.

And the success is not only apparent on YouTube’s home page, where “we are seeing significant sell through in major markets,” according to global sales President Nikesh Arora, but on search pages and with “pre-roll” ads that appear at the start of videos.

YouTube is starting to show a lot of pre-roll advertising tied to clips of partners, such as Disney, says Arora. “I think the next phase of YouTube is going to be (with) pre-roll views on short clips and long-form video.” Over time, brand advertising also will expand.

So far, there has been little customer drop off from the pre-rolls.

Google wouldn’t be specific on its expectations for profits. But in the “not too long distant future we actually see a very profitable and good business for us,” says CFO Patrick Pichette.

Watch out Hulu. Google may have figured this business out.

Leave a Comment » | news | Tagged: Google, hulu, youtube | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet

Why Buy A Netbook When Full-Size Notebooks Cost $300

July 1, 2009

Fry's bargain du jour was this eMachines full size notebook for $299

Although, it’s common now to find most electronics retail stores stocked with Intel Atom-based netbooks selling below $300 and sometimes below $200, it’s definitely unusual to see a full size notebook like the eMachines eMD625 for a mere $300.

So when Fry’s Electronics advertised it yesterday for $299 (plus tax and CA recycling fee) – a $70 off from its regular price – I rushed to its Sunnyvale, CA store location to pick up the bargain “du jour” to try it out!

The laptop – built by Taiwanese-maker Acer - specifications look quite good for the price:

15.6″ WXGA LCD screen, Wi-Fi, USB, 5-in-1 memory card reader but no webcam
AMD Athlon 64 TF-20 1.6GHz (single core), 2GB Ram Memory, ATI Radeon Xpress 1200 Graphics
250GB SATA hard disk
DVD player
a full-size keyboard plus numerical pad
and Windows Vista Home Basic

After taxes and the CA recycling fee, I end up paying $343 for the $299 laptop

Yet more powerful, larger (and heavier!) than the HP mini-note or Acer Aspire One that were placed next to it on Fry’s shelves, the eMachines eMD625 laptop is certainly not a powerhouse despite ATI’s integrated graphics chip: 2 videos running simultaneously (YouTube, ESPN360, Hulu, DVD) are un-watchable. Of course, you could question the need for that too. Although I haven’t tried watching an HD movie on it but my guess is that it won’t work well either.

But some of the overall slow performance could be caused by Windows Vista, which should be a thing of the past as soon as I install Xandros’ Presto on it and Windows 7 (keep fingers crossed).

All in all, the eMachines eMD625 is a decent full-size laptop for the price, good for office, Web and light multimedia (video, imaging, music/iTunes).

Of course, not everybody looking for a thin and light netbook will be happy with this 6 pounds notebook. But I’m sure my Mom wouldn’t mind swapping her old PC with this laptop

6 Comments | computers, hardware, Price Watch, review | Tagged: AMD, ati, emachines, emd625, espn360, hulu, presto, radeon, vista, windows, Xandros, Xpress 1200, youtube | Permalink
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Q&A With Google Search Chief Marissa Mayer On Twitter, Design vs. Data, Beyond Keyword Search And More

May 13, 2009

Google's search chief Marissa Mayer still thinks data-driven design should prevail

Yesterday, at Google’s Searchology press event, I caught up with Marissa Mayer, the company’s search goddess.

Despite the short time I had with Mayer, she managed to talk about tons of topics (yes, she speaks that fast!); and I’m glad I had my camera with me, and it’s all on tape now… I mean YouTube, for your enjoyment

So let’s start rolling.

Google and Twitter

Google is looking to index Twitter traffic, because that’s also information and because Tweets don’t lie! Mayer thinks that Twitter searches could be particularly “powerful” (she likes that word) and useful; and is an important “signal” that she liked to include in Google’s search engine the collective wisdom of the real-time Tweets.

Data-driven design vs. Pure design

Some designers have left Google because of the data-driven, engineering mentality. This is the first time Mayer openly defends Google’s data-driven culture in making design decisions. Basically, she tells designers to swallow their pride and follow the flow: data wins!

Google moves beyond keyword searches

The new “Search Options” is an example of how Google wants to simplify search and even make it fun to do. For Mayer, search is not anymore, put a keyword in the box and wait for Google to return a URL. “It’s not just URL anymore. Videos matter. Maps matter,” says Mayer. Now with richer results thanks to Google’s Universal Search, it’s even more important to filter that multi-dimensional information. “That’s a different search now,” she adds. And the good thing is that you don’t need to be a search expert to do those complicated queries. Google will do it for you!

New Search Options feature could become the default

“There are few obvious ways that Search Options will expand over time. One is that we will apply to more and more genres. So for example today, the Search Options panel is launching on Web and on Image search but it makes sense to also have a Search Options panel on Google News, Products, Books and some of other properties to help users slice and dice the results on those properties. On other ways it could expand, you could imagine for some searches that panel may be particularly useful. So it may be decided over time that for a particular set of queries we want it open by default. Or for particular type of searches, we actually want the settings already set to what we think Google users will likely set them to. And I think those elements are really powerful”, explains Mayer.

Google, a dominant player?

That’s interesting to hear Mayer talk about this quite sensitive topic that could trigger a lot of attention from the regulators. Mayer denies that Google is a dominant player or force, but admits it’s an important player. How is that different? With over 80%, it’s a monopoly, right? And it’s ok to be a monopoly as long as you don’t abuse your position.

1 Comment | news, web 2.0 | Tagged: Google, marissa, mayer, youtube | Permalink
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MotherApp Turns Web Sites Into Native Apps For iPhone, Google Android, Windows Mobile

April 15, 2009

MotherApp generates a native mobile phone application from a Web site

MotherApp creates native mobile phone applications from Web sites

Looking for a recession proof business? Try mobile applications, and more specifically for the Apple iPhone.

In just a little more than 9 months, Apple will serve the one-billionth iPhone application from its App Store.

A gold rush that left many companies on the starting blocks, incapable of building their own application, either because of a lack of expertise in Objective-C – the computer language used to develop iPhone applications – or of available iPhone developers.

And that’s where MotherApp comes in handy.

The Hong-Kong base 7-people startup offers a an automated service that will take any Web application and turn it into a native app for the iPhone, Google Android and/or Windows Mobile devices.

Support for the Blackberry is coming in July and in September for Symbian/Nokia.

All you need is a web site to build a iPhone app!

“MotherApp is a kind of compiler and it’s a 2 step process. First you develop a Web site using our HTML standard that includes some proprietary extensions to access the mobile phones special hardware, like the GPS radio or the camera. Then send us a link to the Web site and a day or two later, we send back the native application for any or all of the supported mobile platforms,” explains Ken Law, one of the three co-founders and an ex-Googler (pre-IPO) that I first met earlier this month at the Web 2.0 Expo conference.

A MotherApp application costs $1,000 per mobile platform.

The biggest stumbling block in MotherApp service is that customers have not access to the native mobile application source code. “But they can modify it as much as they want for 6-months for free and we are thinking of a business model where companies would pay a $99 a month subscription for example which will let them change their applications as much a they want,” responds Ken.

The other limitation of MotherApp’s technology is the kind of applications that MotherApp can actually “compile.”

“We are focused on client-server applications, like the Facebook, Youtube or LinkedIn apps. And they can be pretty complex like OpenRice, the Yelp of Hong-Kong. But we can not handle “fancy” applications like video games,” confides Law.

Although MotherApp raised an Angel round from Googlers, the startup is mostly self-funded by the 4 wealthy ex-Googlers co-founders and is already profitable.

The company is looking to expand in Silicon Valley, seeking to partner with Web developers with expertise in developing Web sites and gadgets/widgets and looking to offer mobile apps as well, and Web 2.0 companies wanting to turn their web site into native mobile applications.

For Law, MotherApp’s main competitor is open source development tool PhoneGap.

“The PhoneGap is embedding a browser inside the native application. So instead of learning Objective-C, you can use Web standards like AJAX and CSS. But it’s not a true iPhone app and you can not use the camera or access the device’s file-system for example,” warns Law.

Here’s a video excerpt of my conversation with Law in a Mountain View, Calif.-cafe:

16 Comments | Interviews, news, software, web 2.0, wireless | Tagged: android, Apple, blackberry, Facebook, Google, iPhone, LinkedIn, Microsoft, mobile, nokia, openrice, rim, symbian, windows, Yelp, youtube | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360

Hit “Reply All” By Accident? Gmail Now Has Undo Send

March 20, 2009

undo_send

I can not count the times I had this immediate sense of panic when an email went out too early; because of a typo, the wrong recipent or worse, a “reply to all” instead of a simple “reply.”

However, I know I’m not the only one!

According to a recent survey, 87 percent of executives reported they have mistakenly sent or received an email or other electronic message. Plus all the emails that I’m not supposed to receive; and no, these are not spams!

Google’s Undo Send is no Recall

Anyway, Google is trying to help us all by rolling out an experimental feature in Gmail Labs called “Undo Send.”

This new feature gives you a five-second window to make sure the email goes out the way you wanted it to. Just hit “Undo”and your message will return to draft form, allowing you to correct typos, add in forgotten info, or set the right distribution list.

However, this is not to be confused with recalling an email. “Undo Send” holds – just holds – back your message for the brief moment when you’re most likely to notice a mistake.

But wait, there’s more. The Gmail Labs team has more of these “rapid-fire experimental rollouts,” including a “Preview” feature for YouTube, Picasa and Flickr photos and videos attached to an email. Full details on “Preview” here and “Undo Send” here.

1 Comment | news, web 2.0 | Tagged: Flickr, Gmail, Google, picasa, youtube | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360

Google To Launch Targeted Ads, Analyzes Users Internet Behaviors

March 11, 2009

Google is unveiling today its first foray in the controversial behavioral advertising market with its “interest-based” advertising service; leveraging its $3.1 billion acquisition of display advertising company DoubleClick.

Currently in beta and open to select advertisers as well as YouTube, the new ad service creates a specific Internet browser cookie which stores the user’s personal information related to the:

the types of sites they visit and the pages viewed;
and the previous interactions they had with an advertiser’s ad.

“To date, we have shown ads based mainly on what your interests are at a specific moment. So if you search for [digital camera] on Google, you’ll get ads related to digital cameras,” explains Google’s vice president of product management, Susan Wojcicki in a blog post.

“We think we can make online advertising even more relevant and useful by using additional information about the websites people visit.”

Users can opt-out from Google’s targeted ads program

To dispel users’ concerns about privacy, Google took the unusual step to give users control over the service:

through a tool called Ads Preferences Manager, which lets users view, delete, or add interest categories associated with their browser ;
and allowing users to opt out from the new behavioral program here; effectively clearing the Google cookie from the user’s personal information. However, to make sure that your opt-out decision is respected (and isn’t deleted if you clear the cookies from your browser), Google requires to install a browser plug-in that maintains the opt-out choice.

“Keyword advertising has been so successful because it’s useful to users, advertisers and publishers — everyone’s interests are aligned. We believe that interest-based ads will create the same virtuous cycle, by giving users more relevant ads, while generating higher returns for advertisers and publishers,” ads Wojcicki.

Here’s one more thing Google knows about us.

1 Comment | news, web 2.0 | Tagged: advertising, DoubleClick, Wojcicki, youtube | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360

TechPulse 360

Dyyno Uses P2P To Stream Videos For Free

Vudu Goes 100% Cloud, Adds Rotten Tomatoes (video)

The Short Sweet Life Of Online Video

Google Sees YouTube Striding Toward Profits

Why Buy A Netbook When Full-Size Notebooks Cost $300

Q&A With Google Search Chief Marissa Mayer On Twitter, Design vs. Data, Beyond Keyword Search And More

MotherApp Turns Web Sites Into Native Apps For iPhone, Google Android, Windows Mobile

Hit “Reply All” By Accident? Gmail Now Has Undo Send

Google To Launch Targeted Ads, Analyzes Users Internet Behaviors

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