Spike Ferensten‘s take on the end of days for analog TV.

Mobile video platform Qik today launched its live mobile video service for mass market mobile phones.

With Qik, you can stream video live to the Internet from a mobile phone. Qik’s service is now ready for use on more than a dozen Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets. 

Qik is initially launching in alpha on the following handsets: Nokia 5300, Nokia 6300, Nokia 6500 (classic and slide), Nokia 6555, Nokia 8800 Arte/Carbon Arte, Sony Ericsson G502, Sony Ericsson K660i, Sony Ericsson K850i, Sony Ericsson K858c, Sony Ericsson W890i, Sony Ericsson W908c, Sony Ericsson W910i, and Sony Ericsson Z750i.

Here’s a demo:

 

Tuesday, we noted something that didn’t get a lot of attention in the hype surrounding Apple’s introduction of new MacBooks: Apple is killing off FireWire.

Apple’s decision to eliminate FireWire connections in its MacBook lineup has angered legions of Apple fans that use Mac laptops for creating music, videos and new media. The lack of FireWire connectors means that many Mac users won’t be able to use their audio interfaces, audio mixers and video cameras with Apple’s latest notebook computers. 

There are now hundreds of posts in Apple’s Discussion Forums criticizing the move. Here’s a taste of the feedback Apple is getting on the move:

• “Apple really screwed up with no firewire port” – Russ Tolman
• “I’ve been waiting months for a MacBook Pro for myself and a MacBook for my daughter. I won’t use a Glossy Screen. She wants it for video and won’t buy a new camera. Apple just lost two very long time customers with these decisions.” – Bud Kuenzli
• “I cannot believe that I would ever say this, but I am seriously considering buying a cheap Dell, and creating a Hackintosh.” – Scott 14o
• “Weak Apple, very weak. A colossal blunder that will come back to haunt you, mark my words. Also, nice job on changing the display adapter AGAIN, so that all of our connection peripherals are rendered useless yet again. I am always impressed and amazed by Apple’s ability to nickle & dime their most loyal customers to death.” – Ric Perrot
• “Sorry, Apple, but it’s the truth. Your most hardcore, avid supporters, the ones who evangelize the Mac to the unwashed masses, are very upset about this. That can’t be good for business.” – srjmac

Playboy CEO Christie Hefner announced yesterday plans to shut down its DVD business and focus on Internet video:

It is unavoidable that we reduce our cost structure to reflect current economic realities even as we continue to invest in our growth businesses.

We will also respond to changes in how consumers access content and advertisers use media.  Thus, we will continue to deliver more of our content digitally, using our assets across multiple distribution platforms and adding more a la carte offerings. Given the declines in the DVD market, we will exit that business in phases over a few months to concentrate on selling that content online.

Some of these cost savings will come from changing how we do business.  This includes capitalizing on technology in ways that include doing our own magazine pre-production work and building a more robust digital asset management system. 

Expect to see a lot more companies dumping traditional formats for Internet video in the near future.

Apple today announced that all four of the major networks are offering primetime programs in high definition on the iTunes Store.

Apple still provides no ad-supported streaming offering, which has opened the door for Hulu and others to target the huge audience for free streaming Internet television.

The list of HD programs now available on the iTunes Store includes ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Eli Stone,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Life on Mars,” “Lost,” “Private Practice,” “Samantha Who?” and “Ugly Betty.” CBS programming includes “CSI,” “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: New York,” “NCIS” and “Numb3rs.” FOX shows include “Bones,” “House,” “Prison Break” and “Sons of Anarchy,” which airs on FX. NBC shows include “30 Rock,” “Heroes,” “Kath & Kim,” “Knight Rider,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Life,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “My Own Worst Enemy” and “The Office,” and SCI FI Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica” and “Eureka,” and USA Network’s “In Plain Sight,” “Monk,” “Psych” and “The Starter Wife.”

Standard definition television shows on the iTunes Store are $1.99 per episode, while HD programs from ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX are $2.99 per episode. Many series offer a season pass option which allows customers to purchase entire seasons at a discounted price.

“We’ve got an incredible Fall 2008 TV lineup with over 70 primetime comedies and dramas, including many of the most popular shows on TV in stunning HD,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “With over 200 million episodes sold, iTunes customers have proven they love watching television on their computer, iPod, iPhone and TV with Apple TV.”

YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley spoke yesterday at MIPCOM, an international media conference.

Highlights of his speech:

There was a time when a centralized distribution model was relevant and effective. But if you listen to your audience; if you hear what they are telling you; you will understand that the days of the centralized distribution hub are ending.

Your audience – today’s consumers – want access to content on PCs, TVs, mobile phones and social networking pages. And contrary to what some believe, the internet doesn’t take viewers away from traditional broadcast. As the President of NBC Research told the New York Times a few months back: “The Internet hardly cannibalizes; it actually fuels interest.”

In fact, reacting to a recent Forrester study focused on engaged viewers of online video, executives from ABC, CBS and MTV all agreed that online video was adding to their total viewership rather than taking away from it.

So the question before you today is: do you circle ranks and push back against the surge of change? Or, do you open yourselves to the promise and possibilities of globalized content everywhere at anytime on any device?

Hurley also shared some interesting facts:

 

• Around 10 billion videos are viewed monthly online in the U.S. alone
• On YouTube 13 hours of content are uploaded every minute
• The number of people consuming video on their PCs is higher than ever before
• In France over 120 million hours of video content is watched per month while over 3 million mobile phone subscribers use their phone to view a video
• The online video advertising market is set to be worth over a billion dollars by 2010, will reach over $3 billion by 2012, and over $5 billion by 2013

While Hurley’s speech targets mainstream media content creators, he makes a compelling case that Internet video is where television was in 1941 – the nascent future of media. 

via TechCrunch

YouTube has partnered with PBS to ask Americans to share their Election Day voting experiences on a new YouTube video channel, Video Your Vote.

The initiative hopes to educate voters on the entire process and a wide array of issues associated with voting in America, while enabling the world to watch pivotal moments in this election as they unfold. In the first presidential election since YouTube’s inception, this program aims to gather massive amounts of polling place video, with the Channel serving as an online library for Election Day footage.

“Voters have documented each step of the 2008 election on YouTube and this phenomenon will culminate on November 4 as people head to the polls to determine the forty-fourth President of the United States,” said Steve Grove, YouTube’s head of news and politics. “This partnership with PBS, an organization known for offering rich perspectives, will help voters examine all aspects of voting from the registration processes, to reforms, to technology and election administration, to the actual casting of ballots.”

Starting today, voters can share their voting experiences via the Video Your Vote YouTube Channel. On November 4, the Channel offer an online destination for up-to-the-minute coverage from voters contributing videos straight from thousands of precincts across the country.

Some of the best videos will be showcased on PBS television, as part of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer‘s Election Day broadcast. They may also be used throughout PBS’ election coverage, both on-air and online.

There’s something very important missing from the new line of MacBooks that Apple introduced today: FireWire ports.

Here’s the port lineup for the new MacBooks:

• MagSafe power port
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
• Mini DisplayPort
• Audio line in
• Audio line out
• Kensington lock slot

Yep – if you’ve bought a FireWire audio interfaces or FireWire mixers, or if you use FireWire to import videos from your video camera, the new MacBook line is not for you.

This is a very disruptive move on Apple’s part, and could lead some people in new media to skip this generation of MacBooks and see how the future of FireWire pans out.

If you need a new Mac laptop now and you’ve got an investment in some pricy FireWire gear, plan on dropping 2 grand or more on a MacBook Pro, or scooping up one of the great deals on refurbished MacBook Pros.

The McCain/Palin campaign has found itself caught in a DMCA/Fair Use YouTube battle, after having campaign videos pulled from the site because of their use of copyrighted material.

The campaign’s letter, embedded above, makes a great against the over-zealous enforcement of DMCA claims.

Let’s hope that politicians getting ensnared in the DMCA/Fair Use battle will lead to a future where moms don’t have to go to court because there’s a Prince song playing in the background of their baby videos.

Update: YouTube has rejected the McCain/Palin campaign’s request, saying that they did not want to give the campaign preferential treatment:

Here’s a portion of YouTube Chief Counsel Zahavah Levine’s response:

While we agree with you that the U.S. presidential election-related content is invaluable and worthy of the highest level of protection, there is a lot of other content on our global site that our users around the world find to be equally important, including, by way of example only, political campaigns from around the globe at all levels of government, human rights movements, and other important voices. We try to be careful not to favor one category of content on our site over others, and to treat all of our users fairly, regardless of whether they are an individual, a large corporation or a candidate for public office.

The real problem here is individuals and entities that abuse the DMCA takedown process. You and our other content uploaders can play a critical role in helping us to address this difficult problem…You can file counter-notifications. You can seek retractions of abusive takedown notices. You can hold abusive claimants publicly accountable for their actions by publicizing their actions…

We look forward to working with Senator (or President) McCain on ways to combat abuse of the DMCA takedown process on YouTube, including by way of example, strengthening the fair use doctrine…

via Lessig

A still skeletal Steve Jobs today made a bunch of ho-hum MacBook introductions, most notable for killing off Firewire and introducing a new manufacturing process. 

Along the way, though, he said something interesting about Blu-Ray HD DVDs:

“Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt,” said Jobs. “It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.”

In 2007, we suggested that HD video via the Internet was going to beat both HD DVD and Blu-Ray:

Internet TV is plagued by the same problems as Blu-Ray and HD DVD: limited content, complex setup and high cost for hardware. Nevertheless, Internet TV is already good enough to make users realize that high definition video discs are a tangent to the real future of video delivery – Internet TV.

It looks like Steve Jobs & Apple are betting on Internet HD TV delivery. 

“We have the best HD movie and TV options in iTunes,” noted Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller. 

I currently regularly watch several television shows and podcasts via the Internet in HD video. The image quality is not perfect, but good enough enough for most people, and will only get better. 

At this point, does Blu-Ray even matter?