Biz Vision

YouTube is the combination of taking Hollywood, previously the only producer of video-entertainment, giving that ability to millions of people around the world and excellent timing.  By excellent timing I mean launching at a time when the Internet has become a necessity in most households and the bandwidth required for video streaming is no longer a limitation.  I find it fascinating and what Google can add to the combination can make it even more fascinating.  The following article talks about how Google may turn YouTube into a gigantic revenue making machine with the use of advertising...

Feed: Wired News: Top Stories
Title: The YouTube Effect

TV advertising is broken, putting $67 billion up for grabs. Which explains why Google spent a billion and change on an online video startup. By Bob Garfield from Wired magazine.

You would have thought that for a person working in interactive TV industry, I knew exactly what IPTV was all about. I knew a little but this article served as a good intro on the subject - An Introduction to IPTV

I'm not sure how mainstream payment via cell phones will ever become however I find the prospect of the following snippet becoming reality quite exciting:

"The NFC forum has recently come out with a standardized format for a so-called "smart poster" which will enable a handset user to obtain data such as a URL or a ringtone from a poster or other printed material. And downloading film promos and movie times is not far off, says Christophe Duverne, senior vice-president and general manager for identification at NXP Semiconductors, and chairman of NFC Forum. "

Feed: BusinessWeek Online --
Title: Contactless Payment Comes to Cell Phones

Flash your handset and buy. An industry group wants to bring that facility to the world. But is it secure? And who gets what share of the profits?

OTR claims to be a free online DVR service where the recordings are performed server side. I imagine you can then stream them using your PC. I'll have to check it out later: http://www.onlinetvrecorder.com

Feed: informitv news
Title: Online TV Recorder project seeks investment

OnlineTVRecorder is a free network-based video recorder project in Germany that claims to have reached nearly a quarter of a million users within three months. Its developers are now seeking further investor backing for the service, together with a peer-to-peer live network television system. They will be among a number of entrepreneurs pitching to investors at a Silicon Valley Open Doors conference.