This is an unsubstantiated rumor – but at least it’s an interesting one. 

CNet’s Nate Lanxon reports, via Jason Calacanis, that Apple is working on a networked television.

The rumored Apple Television will be fully networked LCD HDTVs, with the ability to stream all your iTunes content from your Mac or PC. In a nutshell,the Apple Television will be a HDTV with a built-in Apple TV box. 

“Apple already produces a stunning 30-inch display for the Mac,” notes Lanxon. “So picture that — only thinner — in a bedroom, streaming iTunes movie rentals over 802.11n, controlled with the Remote app on an iPod touch or iPhone.”

While the Lanxon/Calacanis rumor is an interesting one – their concept of an Apple Television isn’t that compelling. An Apple Television based on the company’s current Apple TV technology would be very expensive for a television, but also a very closed system that doesn’t do many of the things that first adopters want to do. 

There are clear advantages to having a separate Apple TV-style networking box, too. Most people that buy a giant HDTV will expect to use it for 10 years, but in the rapidly changing world of Internet television, any Apple TV-style networking features are likely to be dated within just a few years. 

Much more important to the future of the Apple TV platform is for Apple to figure out how to open it up and make it a compelling content platform. Many of the major networks are now streaming HDTV versions of their shows, yet none of this content is available on Apple TV. 

Until Apple can close that gap, the Apple HDTV Television idea is a dead-end.

Tough times. Tough decisions.also read my blog post http://www.loiclemeur.com/english/2008/10/tough-times-tou.html

Seesmic’s Loic Le Meur today announced layoffs at video social network startup Seesmic.

“As a company, we have felt the need to get Seesmic ready for what most are anticipating to be a bleak economic outlook for the considerable time going forward,” says Le Meur. “In order to prepare the company and ensure it has as strong a position until we reach to the other side, we have had to make some tough decisions around expenditure – the biggest impact being that we will be cutting 7 positions within the company.”

“The longevity of the company is obviously of significant importance – and thus we must reduce costs now in order to establish Seesmic as a solid business and pursue success of the company for years to come,” add Le Meur.

Google today announced that it was shifting gears and testing full-length programming on YouTube. 

This is a result of the problem we identified earlier this year: 97% of YouTube’s content is deadweight, financially, and Hulu is close to overtaking the site, as a result. 

Four CBS shows will be available in the full-episode mode on YouYube:

• Beverly Hills 90210
• StarTrek: The Original Series
• The Young and the Restless
• MacGyver.

Here’s the text of YouTube’s announcement:

Eugene zMastaa Agyeman’s ZuneStats is a WordPress plugin that lets you get social, Microsoft Zune style. 

ZuneStats displays your Zune Stats in a sidebar widget, including

• Recently Played Tracks,
• Most Played Artists
• Favourite Tracks

Internet advertising revenues (U.S.) for the first six months of 2008 were $11.5 billion, a half-year record that represents a 15.2 percent increase over the first half of 2007.

The numbers come from the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report (pdf), covering the first six months and the second quarter of 2008.

Search and Display-related advertising continue to set records.

Search revenues totaled almost $5.1 billion for the first six months of 2008, up 24 percent from the $4.1 billion for the same period in 2007.

Display-related advertising totaled close to $3.8 billion for first six months of 2008, compared to the $3.2 billion reported for the same period in 2007, showing about a 19% increase. Display-related advertising includes Display Banner ads, Rich Media, Digital Video, and Sponsorship.

The following data highlights key first six-month revenue data breakouts; dollar figures are rounded. ($ millions if not indicated):

PBS has announced that it will launch a broad selection of full-length PBS television shows for download on Xbox LIVE, the online games and entertainment network for the Xbox 360.

Included on Xbox LIVE are:

• WIRED SCIENCE
• CARRIER
• SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS
• NOVA
• Ken Burns’ Jazz
• Ken Burns’ America
• Ken Burns’ American Lives

“Our commitment is to be wherever consumers are accessing media,” said Andrew Russell, Senior Vice President, PBS Ventures. “Xbox is a leading source for downloadable video, and we are excited to be offering our high-quality programming to its young and vibrant user base.”

 

I Want My Three Minutes Back is a new documentary film from Chuck Potter that looks into the world of online video.

The film examines the phenomenon of online video through the stories of YouTube video creators, from Tay Zonday and his viral hit “Chocolate Rain”, to Judson Laipply’s “Evolution Of Dance”, the most viewed video on YouTube.

Other creators featured in the film are Michael Buckley (“What The Buck Show”), Phillip DeFranco (“sxePhil”), Christine Gambito (“Happy Slip”), Terry Roth (“Zipster”), Katie Graham (“K80Blog”), Paul Robinette (“Renetto”) and Travis and Jonathan (“Jackie and Dunlap of Red State Update”).

The film follows the lives of three YouTube video creators.

Kevin Nalty (“Nalts”) is a 37 year-old marketing professional, father of four, who is obsessed with online video.

Nick James (“Nickynik”) is a 47 year-old struggling filmmaker, father, surfer who despite having some connections in the Hollywood scene, still struggles with trying to make it in the film business.

Cory Williams (“Mr. Safety”) from a small town in California’s central valley, moves to Los Angeles to see if he can make the transition from online video fame to traditional media success.

The film marks the debut of first time filmmaker Chuck Potter.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev kicked off his video blog earlier this week with a discussion about his upcoming address to the World Policy Conference in Evian.

43 year old Medvedev has been one the Internet since 1996, so it’s only natural he would follow the lead of other world leaders, like Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel.  

“Putin is a post-Soviet leader. Medvedev is a post-post Soviet leader,” said Sergei Markov, a member of the pro-government United Russia party. “He is very advanced at using hi-tec technologies. Among G8 leaders he is the most advanced.”

“For him to use the Internet and video is not something extraordinary. It’s normal,” added Markov. “Medvedev is very comfortable with the Internet in the same way that Putin is comfortable when he’s in church. Medvedev is now addressing the advanced part of the elite.”

Here’s a transcript of his post:

The Wall Street Journal reports that people are starting to drop their cable subscriptions for Internet video:

“I’m saving a lot of money,” says Tony Leach, a product manager at an online stock brokerage firm in the Bay Area. Mr. Leach canceled his $60-a-month cable subscription two years ago and has watched all of his favorite television shows on the Internet ever since.

Complete episodes of about 90% of prime-time network television shows and roughly 20% of cable shows are now available online, according to Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. There are still notable holdouts, such as Fox’s “American Idol” and current seasons of HBO series like “Entourage.”

This isn’t just anecdotal assumption – hard numbers are emerging to capture the emergent switch to Internet television:

Research firm Nielsen Online estimates that in June, 3.2 million Internet users watched more than 106 million video streams on Hulu.com, a site that wasn’t available to the public until March. Walt Disney Co.’s ABC.com delivered nearly 27 million streams to 2.9 million viewers that same month, according to Nielsen. The data include everything from behind-the-scenes clips and segments of shows to complete episodes.

Other research indicates that online video-watching is cannibalizing television audiences. According to a spring survey by Integrated Media Measurement Inc., a research firm that tracks media consumption, more than 20% of viewers in the firm’s 3,200-person panel watched some prime-time network television online, up from roughly 6% in the fall. Half of those online viewers said they were no longer watching those shows on television.

“What this study is showing is that the long-vaunted convergence of the TV and the computer is happening faster than anybody thought it was happening,” says Tom Zito, Integrated Media’s company’s CEO.

The biggest stumbling block at this point isn’t content, it’s the complexity of getting Internet video to your television.

While first-adopters may be comfortable with kludges like Apple TV and sneakernet video, mainstream users are limited to watching Internet video on their computers, which is not a great way to watch longer videos. Viewing habits are likely to change dramatically, though, as Internet media extenders get standardized and offer access to all Internet media.

According to Microsoft Zune guru Rob Greenlee, there’s been “a huge jump in podcast interest in the Zune Podcast Marketplace Software.”

“This is an annual rite of passage, that summer is the time when podcast usage dips and then it comes stampeding back in the Fall and Winter,” explains Greenlee. “This year is no exception and we have seen a 30% or more jump in new podcast subscriptions from August to September.”

The Top 25 most subscribed to podcasts in the past week (Sept 21-28, 2008):

1. FOXCAST: Family Guy (audio)
2. Best Of YouTube (video)
3. HBO’s Stand Up Comedy (video)
4. Zune Insider (video & audio)
5. Strong Bad Emails (video)
6. Xbox 360 Only Game Trailers (video)
7. Discovery Channel (video)
8. Discovery Dirty Jobs (video)
9. Dane Cook Podcast (audio)
10. GameTrailers.Com – Xbox 360 (video)
11. Happy Tree Friends (video)
12. NBC Nightly News (video)
13. Onion News Network (video)
14. G4 Attack Of The Show (video)
15. Dilbert Animated Cartoons (video)
16. Comedy Central: Standup (video)
17. Real Time With Bill Maher (audio)
18. Lewis Black’s Root Of All Evil (video)
19. G4 TV X-Play’s Gaming Update (video)
20. 60 Minutes Podcast – Full Episode (audio)
21. Xbox Live’s Major Nelson Radio (audio)
22. G4 TV Around The Net (video)
23. HBO’s The Life & Times Of Tim (video)
24. CNBC’s Mad Money W/Jim Cramer (video)
25. G4 TV Street Fury Video Podcast (video)

Podcasters – are you seeing a bump in subscriptions from Zune users?

Note: These links go to the Zune Podcast Marketplace - media player software. You can download the desktop player here.