The Blog Council, an organization formed to “identify and promote best practices in corporate blogging”, officially launched today. The Council is intended to be a tool for companies to share tactics, offer advice based on past experience and develop standards.

Founding members include:

• AccuQuote
• Cisco Systems
• The Coca-Cola Company
• Dell
• Gemstar-TV Guide
• General Motors
• Kaiser Permanente
• Microsoft
• Nokia
• SAP
• Wells Fargo

“Major corporations use blogs differently while abiding by the same rules and etiquette,” said Blog Council CEO Andy Sernovitz. “We have to speak for a corporation, but never sound ‘corporate.’ And we have to learn to do it live, and in real-time.”

Topics that are already on the Councils agenda include:

• How do global brands manage blogs in more than one language?
• What do you do when 2000 employees have personal blogs?
• What is the role of the corporate brand in a media landscape increasingly geared toward consumer-generated media?
• What is the correct way to engage and respond to bloggers who write about your company?

Corporations Don’t Understand Blogs

From all appearances, it looks like the Blog Council was created because big companies know that blogging, podcasting and other new media are growing in importance, but they’re clueless on how they should deal with that fact.

They as much as state this in their press release:

“Every major corporation is struggling with the question of how to use blogs and engage the blogosphere the right way,” said Sean O’Driscoll, General Manager, Community Support Services for Microsoft.

Blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick posted yesterday about how important it is becoming for companies to engage bloggers. “If you can engage and win over bloggers with honest communication, then you’ll become the darling of the blogosphere.”

Companies have to engage the blogosphere proactively, though, in order to be effective. If a company waits on the sidelines, it may not even know when bloggers or podcasters are talking about it. Even more important, though, the company won’t have any attention in the blogosphere when they need to respond to criticism.

Need to convince your company to get into video podcasting, an advertiser to experiment with Internet video ads, or just a reason to get vlogging?

Here’s a reason: everybody is doing it.

Horowitz Associates’ Broadband Content and Services 2007 report offers an up-to-date set of stats on the use of broadband video among adult Internet users.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Six out of ten (61%) high speed Internet users watch/download online video content at least once a week;
• Nearly 9 out of 10 (86%) high speed Internet users watch/download online video content at least once a month; and
• News and user-generated, non-professional content are the most often viewed genres, followed by movie previews/trailers, music videos, and previews/segments of TV shows;
• Weekly viewing of full episodes of television shows doubled from last year;
• Television is still the preferred platform for traditional TV content. The vast majority (70%) of Internet users who watch TV online say do so because they missed the episode on TV.
• One out of ten (13%) Internet users who watch TV shows online say they watch them directly online, and not on regular TV.
• Over one quarter (27%) of Internet users have a cell, iPod/MP3 player, or PDA with video capability, and an additional 23% do not have this capability but are interested in getting it.
• Among those with video-enabled handheld devices, one-third (35%) watch video on their devices at least weekly and 62% do so at least monthly, translating to eighteen percent (18%) of Internet users overall who watch video content on a handheld device at least monthly. This figure is up from 8% just one year ago.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the SAFE Act, a bill saying that anyone offering a Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including “obscene” cartoons and drawings–or face fines of up to $300,000.

The bill covers individuals, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, government agencies, social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers, and may require that a complete record of a user’s activity be recorded and saved.

In other words, the bill gives companies like Starbucks and your ISP a financial incentive to spy on you.

What the SAFE Act requires:

Anyone providing an “electronic communication service” or “remote computing service” to the public who learns about the transmission or storage of information about certain illegal activities or an illegal image must

• register their name, mailing address, phone number, and fax number with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s “CyberTipline” and
• “make a report” to the CyberTipline that
• must include any information about the person or Internet address behind the suspect activity and
• the illegal images themselves.

The Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act, or SAFE Act, is designed to “ensure better reporting, investigation, and prosecution of those who use the Internet to distribute images of illegal child pornography.”

Democrats rushed the SAFE Act to the floor under a procedure that’s normally reserved for noncontroversial legislation. The act has never received a hearing or committee vote. As a result, Internet providers and others affected did not have time to raise questions or oppose the Act.

The Act is unlikely to meet much political opposition. While the Act effectively encourages companies to spy on you, politicians want to oppose child pornography and exploitation laws about as much as they wanted to vote against the PATRIOT act.

USATODAY reports that, starting immediately, AT&T customers can use any wireless phone, device and software application from any maker, without having to sign a contract.

“You can use any handset on our network you want,” says Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T’s wireless business. “We don’t prohibit it, or even police it.”

AT&T’s move comes after Verizon announced plans to open their network in 2008, and after Google announced its intent to bid on wireless spectrum.
Everything that Google has promised to bring to the wireless market a year from now AT&T is doing today, de la Vega says. “We are the most open wireless company in the industry.”

Device Explosion

Network openness is likely to lead to an explosion of device development, as it did in the analog phone industry. A 1968 FCC decision opened up the analog phone network to third-party devices, which led to the development of answering machines, faxes, cordless phones and even the dial-up Internet.

Expect to see a similar boon in new mobile device development in the next few years as developers create entire new classes of mobile devices.

We’ll be looking for new devices that offer sophisticated content publishing capabilities, turning cell phones into mobile media platforms.

Update: techdirt has an opposing, snarky view, saying “AT&T Does Nothing, Convinces Reporter It Has Now ‘Opened’ Its Network”.

Nielsen announced today that it has developed a new service that will let media companies police the distribution of video content on sites like YouTube.

The new service combines digital watermarking and fingerprinting to help producers track where their content resides on the Internet.

“We are in a unique position to a offer a comprehensive, practical solution,” said Nielsen’s Dave Harkness. “The problem that other companies have is that they need the content ahead of time [to implement their tracking]. For Nielsen, that’s no problem at all.”

Nielsen automatically accesses the majority of TV content before it airs, and already implements both fingerprinting and watermarking to allow for content tracking.

Adobe Systems today announced the immediate availability of Adobe Flash Player 9, which adds H.264 standard video support, the same standard deployed in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD high definition video players, and High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio capabilities.

The update also features hardware accelerated, multi-core enhanced, full-screen video playback for high-resolution viewing across major operating systems and browsers.

Because of Flash’s ubiquitous reach, Flash 9 is likely to become a de facto standard for delivering HD Web video. Internet startup Hulu already has a Flash-based HD Web video offering in beta testing. We’ve tested it out, and found the image quality to be excellent, and the streaming rate to be smooth, but not flawless.

You can download the Flash update from the Adobe site.

Ninjas everywhere are celebrating the International Day of the Ninja, an annual Dec 5th event popularized by the Ninja of Ask a Ninja.

If you haven’t noticed ninjas celebrating the day yet, well, it’s because they are ninjas. And if you have been lucky to see ninjas celebrating, they’re probably nonjas.

If you’re a non-ninja and you’d like to celebrate the Day of the Ninja like the French do (Le Chaos s’empare de nous), you’re encouraged to plague your co-workers with ninja-ness, post photographs and videos of ninjas/nonjas in action, and most of all, to tag your content “NinjaDay2007”.

And if you want to learn more about ninja ways, check out our interview with the creators of Ask a Ninja and find out secret ninja tips on creating viral video, too.

Update: The Ask A Ninja guys will also be hosting a Ninja Day party.

Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine will host the official “International Day of the Ninja” party at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.

In addition to the Ask A Ninja.com “Ninja” answering questions from the crowd, there will be special guest performances by geek-cult comedian Patton Oswalt and musical funnymen Hard ‘n Phirm.

“Many have compared International Day of the Ninja to International Talk Like a Pirate Day,” they note. “There is no comparison. Pirates are silly, drunken fops compared to the incredible and masterful Ninjas.”

Here are the details:

Ask A Ninja Live
Wednesday December 5th, 2007
@ The El Rey Theater
5515 Wishire Blvd.
Tickets are $10 Advance and $15 at the door
Advanced Ticketing Available via http://TicketMaster.com

Internet video startup Hulu today announced the beta of a new high-definition video service:

Today we’re excited to launch an HD Gallery featuring a selection of High Definition video clips at 1280 x 720 resolution. Those of you with a fast internet connection of 2,400 Kbps or higher, the latest build of Adobe Flash Player 9, and a fast computer (check out our system requirements) can stream these High Definition clips and preview the future. We realize the requirements are still fairly hefty, but we know and empathize with those of you who like to stay on the cutting edge and wanted to give you a sneak peek of streaming high definition video.We’ve limited the bitrates on these HD streams to allow as many users as possible to sample high definition streaming. Even so, we think you’ll agree that the results are a huge step up from what we’re used to seeing on the web. We look forward to a day when this becomes the baseline for video quality on the web, and we plan to play our part in making that a reality.

Hulu’s announcement shows how quickly things are moving in Internet video. Broadcast television is going HD in 2009, but a lot of people will already be getting their HD via the Internet by then.

In a post on his blog entitled “TeXtra – Now Hiring,” Podshow cofounder Adam Curry talks about the departure of comely commentator Natali Del Conte from the technology podcast:

All of us at PodShow couldn’t be more proud to see her meteoric rise. She leaves us with a very strong program and international format in TeXtra and I personally wish her much continued success.

And Del Conte explains her departure from TeXtra for the greener pastures of a job at CNET, where she will also file occasional reports at Fox News:

“I want to make it clear that my departure from Podshow is not an indication of the state of things at Podshow. This is just the next logical step for me and I owe a lot of it to Podshow. I was not a proven success story when Adam “discovered” me on an episode of Cranky Geeks. He took a huge chance and made a huge investment in me and I will never forget that. Adam took me to Spruce in Lauren Heights last week and he offered to continue to be a mentor to me and I am surely going to take him up on that offer. Podshow will continue to do big things, with or without TeXtra.”

If you haven’t seen Yo Gabba Gabba yet, sorry if we just ruined the rest of your week. This stuff is insanely catchy, more than a bit weird and you’re probably going to be singing “there’s a party in my tummy” for days.

You have our apologies.

But the real blame goes on NickJr. They’ve figured out how to make kids shows that are popular on TV – but even more popular online. Here’s what Ad Age has to say about the show:

Since premiering in June, it’s become a modest hit for Nick Jr., with 4.4 million total viewers tuning to see the first five episodes, according to Nielsen. But on NickJr.com, clips of the show have been bringing “Lazy Sunday” levels of viral buzz, with 17.8 million streams on the Nick Jr. video player since June 25, according to Nielsen’s Omniture SiteCatalyst.

The online popularity of the show is not accident. It reflects the fact that Nick is giving equal attention to online viewers:

“Kids are multitasking and experiencing their entertainment on multiple platforms, so convergence is key when it comes to our programming,” says Nickelodeon’s Steve Youngwood. “It’s a natural part of our strategy to dually program big TV events.”

While the shows are for kids, they are equally designed to appeal to adults:

“What we try to do with all our shows is create a dual appeal and entertain the parents,” says Nick Chief Marketing Officer Pam Kaufman, “but there were a lot of blog entries about bands like the Aquabats or the Shins being on the show. And these are people who are single, not parents, and aware that it’s a preschool show.”

In addition to appealing to hip music bloggers to get some viral love, NickJr is appealing to the Make DIY set by offering craft projects, like this Muno pillow:

We’d like to see Nick Jr offer Yo Gabba Gabba as a video podcast, too. They’re getting kids (and our) attention on TV and online. Why not extend that onto iPods, iPhones, Zunes and other portable media players?