Our guest today is Cameron McCaskill who is Vice President of Business Development at Intellon Corporation. His company designs semiconductor chips for Home Networks that utilize the existing electrical power lines as signal pathways. Companies such as Linksys and D-Link purchase the chips and sell adapters that are sold by popular electronics retailers such as BestBuy. As discussed in earlier podcasts, we believe that Third Generation Television which has Internet Access as its defining characteristic is at hand. Reliable and easily installed Home Networks are an essential enabling technology for the scenario.

First Generation Television began after World War II. It was broadcast by local TV stations and received by viewers at their homes via antennas. TV stations typically received programming by affiliating with a network like ABC, CBS, or NBC.

Second Generation Television began around 1980 when the CATV industry moved into urban markets. This led to the rise of cable networks like ESPN, Discovery, and Comedy Central, among others. Most viewers paid a monthly fee to a service provider for program delivery. Cable operators and satellite TV companies were the major conduits.

In the Third Generation, video resides within the Internet Cloud. Broadband ISPs provide access. Programming is available on-demand, searchable, and the Long-Tail stretches to near infinity.

Intellon believes that its power line technology will be a key enabler for Third Generation Television for three reasons.

First, installation of power line networks is reported to provide “plug-and-play” simplicity, particularly if the homeowner already has a router.

Second, the “Power Line AV” standard of adapter offers adequate bandwidth for video, including High Definition video.

Third, electrical power lines normally provide clear signal pathway throughout the home. In contrast, WiFi networks can be plagued by “dead spots” owing to interfering physical structures or RF attenuation.

Edward Lichty, Executive Vice President, Vudu

If you would like to learn about an appliance that permits users to access limited Internet Video content, including movie rentals, for viewing on the TV, this interview is for you.

Our guest today is Edward Lichty who is the Executive Vice President of Vudu. His company manufactures a $300 appliance enabling consumers to get limited Internet Video on their TVs. Although there are limitations on the content available, set-up is said to be relatively simple. While Vudu normally uses WiFi to access the Internet, dongles are provided that claim to offer “plug-and-play” simplicity. One attaches to the Vudu unit and the other to the router normally used in a home network. If the user does not already have a router, she will have to buy one in addition to the Vudu appliance. Compared to other appliances, Vudu is an attractive unit because it uses P2P technology, network optimization, and pre-caching of content in order to enable users to begin the viewing experience promptly. There is no requirement to wait for a long download.

Presently, the catalog of available content is heavily weighted toward movies which may be rented or purchased. Recently-released motion pictures are normally available for purchase at the time they are also released for DVD distribution. The waiting period for rentals is longer because the studios want to maximize revenues by first offering them for sale and later offering them as rentals.

Currently, Vudu has about 11,000 movies in its catalog. Rentals for standard definition are $4 while HD movies can be rented for $6. Purchased movies are $20.

In December the company announced two noteworthy initiatives. First, it now provides access to free Internet Video at YouTube. Second, the company launched a platform permitting developers to offer services via Vudu. It is much like the Apps Store at Apple for the iPhone. One, hypothetical, example of an app that could be attractive on Vudu would be access to the Internet Movie Database at www.imdb.com. Access to IMDB would permit Vudu users to investigate movies they might want to watch before making a selection.

The fundamental advantage of Vudu and other similar appliances is that they are (supposedly) “plug-and-play”. The disadvantage is that they provide only limited access to Internet Video. In our analysis, the “Walled Garden” of content provided by such appliance makers will ultimately be considered as a “Walled Prison” that consumers will eventually want to escape.

One way to escape the “Walled Prison” is to attach a laptop computer to an HD television and use the computer as a media controller. Most modern laptops have built-in WiFi and many have HDMI jacks that can plug directly into flat panel TVs. It is estimated that over one-third of U.S. households presently have at least one flat panel TV.

Suranga Chandratillake

If you would like to learn about a video search engine that “looks” within the content of Internet video files, as opposed to relying upon metadata like conventional search engines, this Interview is for you.

Our guest today is Suranga Chandratillake, who is the CEO of Blinkx.com. Although the company is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, it is headquartered in San Francisco. Blinkx operates a search engine dedicated to Internet Video. Unlike conventional search engines that can only “look” at the metadata of such files (e.g. the tags and titles); Blinkx actually inspects the text and phonetics. The company also recently launched a website that functions as an aggregating directory for TV shows that are legitimately available on the Internet, typically for free viewing.

Recently I attached a laptop to my HD television in order to access Internet Video on the TV. The television is a 42-inch LCD flat panel and the laptop connects to it via an HDMI cable. Unlike earlier connection technologies, HDMI carries both video and sound and the video can be High Definition. The laptop connects to the Internet via dot-11g WiFi. From the sofa, I use a remote mouse and keyboard to surf the Web and watch Internet Videos on the TV is a lean-back viewing experience about 16-feet from the screen.

It is fun to get Internet Video on the TV. I have logged my activities in order to understand how they may be changing my viewing practices. One of the most obvious changes has been heavy reliance upon search engines to find video of interest. This primarily reflects the “Long-Tail” characteristics of the Net that send me in search of content that I could never otherwise find on conventional TV. Thus, I believe that future mass-market consumers will also want to optimize the search function when they get their TVs jacked-into the Internet.

While the Blinkx search engine crawls the Net effectively, it will identify a single video multiple times if the video is posted in several places. For example, Inside Digital Media video podcasts are often posted at YouTube, Veoh, and Blip.tv as well as our own website. Blinkx finds each posting and lists them separately. This might confuse the inexperienced user.

Our guest today is Chris Chinnock who is the President of Insight Media. His company is a market research firm specializing in the information display industry.

It is increasingly common for executives to carry portable projectors along with them on business trips in order to make presentations to clients and prospects. Typically the presentations are composed of a PowerPoint deck, but the slides sometimes include embedded video. Furthermore, the YouTube culture has permeated the business environment as well, so their presentations might often include a bit of web-surfing and YouTube videos as well.

As with nearly everything electronic, projector technology has been regularly advancing. Device size has been shrinking, performance improving, and cost declining. In this interview we explore whether digital projectors might be used in conjunction with laptop computers to provide a lean-back viewing experience for Internet Video in the home environment. We ask whether TV shows and movies at websites like Hulu can be conveniently watched on a large screen at home with a compact and inexpensive projector attached to our laptops.

The answer is a qualified “Yes”, but there are tradeoffs in terms of cost and viewing experience. For example, inexpensive projectors with LED or solid state laser light sources wont provide a bright enough image in ambient light. To get a good viewing experience the consumer will have to darken the room. Projectors that can provide a good experience in ambient light cost around $1500 to $2000 and use lamps with limited life.

Our guest today is Geoff Ralston who is the CEO of lala.com. His website will let you (1) maintain your music library in the Internet Cloud, (2) add selections to your library at negligible cost, (3) try-out new music on-demand at little cost, and (3) avoid advertising.

One of the biggest problems facing the record label industry is the challenge of popularizing new releases. Traditionally they have relied upon broadcast radio, but the radio stations are losing influence as their audience moves to the Internet and portable devices. In response the labels have experimented with a variety of Internet initiatives ranging from Internet Radio to advertising-supported websites like MySpace Music that enable visitors to listen to tunes online for free in exchange for advertising revenues.

Lala.com is another initiative that provides the on-demand playback capability of MySpace Music, but avoids advertising. Lala users are permitted to choose 50 selections from the company’s catalog of over 6 million popular tracks and keep them in an online locker maintained in the Internet Cloud. Users may also put their own CD collection in the locker as well. Additional tracks (not among those in your CD collection which are free) may be placed in the locker for merely ten cents each. Users desiring to download tracks onto their portable devices or computers to keep forever are normally charged 89 cents per track.

Company management feels that ultimately consumers will be more comfortable in the browser than in any other software program. Furthermore, they believe that ever-increasing connectivity to the Net will lead consumers to a growing reliance upon Cloud Computing. Essentially the Internet will become something like a “hard drive in the sky” that is accessed only a little more slowly than the hard drive of a computer. However, the “hard drive in the sky” is more universally accessible wherever the user is likely to travel.

Our guest today is Will Richmond who is the editor and publisher of VideoNuze, an online publication for broadband video decision-makers. VideoNuze concentrates on the emerging Internet Video industry. Will has prior experience in the CATV industry thereby providing valuable perspective on how the sector reacts to developments. This is important because cable companies are the leading providers of broadband Internet access along with being the dominant networks delivering conventional television programs.

As noted in earlier podcasts, a number promising websites are emerging that host, or index, advertising-supported Internet Video of popular TV shows and movies. Examples include Hulu, Fancast, Veoh, TVGuide.com, and AOL Video.  They’re great for consumers because they are free to the viewer and completely legal.

In our analysis the emergence of such websites could prove to represent the “tipping point” at which consumers push hard enough to find ways to get Internet Video streams to display on their televisions. ABC, NBC, and CBS have all made popular shows available online. There are also hundreds of popular, or once popular, movies from major Hollywood studios available at the websites noted above.

As users get increasingly accustomed to sites like Hulu, they find that they like the convenience of on-demand viewing, personalization of selections, viral sharing of program recommendations, community commentary, email notifications of show postings, and the abundance of interesting programming. Intense users are even avoiding CATV or satellite service. For example, Will’s research concludes that most subscribers will cut CATV service before they cut ISP (Internet Service Provider) service. This is particularly relevant given the current economic downturn.

However, Will’s research also concludes that the cable networks, like ESPN, and AMC, will be reluctant to provide shows to websites like Hulu. He reasons that they will decline to put at risk the traditional fees they collect from CATV operators.

If you would like to learn how a successful college student produces movies and uses the Internet to organize his workforce, publicize the film release, and distribute the film itself, this interview is for you.

Our guest today is Jesse Newman who is a college senior at the University of South Florida. He is also a budding film director who has achieved notoriety on a national basis. For example, of the 750 films submitted in Florida to the national CampusMovieFest competition earlier this year, his was rated number one. The film moved on to become one of the top twenty in the United States. Owing to the film’s success, Jesse was chosen to intern at the Cannes Film Festival.

Jesse is a devoted Apple fanboy. He created his professional-looking website using the iWeb software that is included with all Apple computers. Jesse claims that iWeb is so easy to use that nearly anyone can create websites as professional-looking as www.jessenewmanfilms.com. His website and associated media files are hosted by the Apple Mobile Me service for which he pays $100 per year. In addition to being an incipient film director and full time college student, Jesse works 30-hours weeks in sales at the local Apple store where I met him.

For now, Jesse is focused on getting ready for his next CampusMovieFest competition. He needs to submit a new film in February. I found it fascinating to learn how Jesse is getting organized. (As a point of disclosure Campus Movie Fest is associated with Apple.)

One way was to invite his Facebook to join him in the project. He received over 200 responses for actors, actresses, cinematography and other specialists. None are expecting to get paid, but want to do the work for the experience and public exposure. Jesse also believes that Facebook is a good way to stimulate interest in his films and he has about 700 friends. 

To enhance distribution of his films, Jesse has his own channel at YouTube.com. Often he even uses the YouTube “embed code” to place his movies on his Mobile Me website thereby avoiding the need to host the media files at Apple. 

Length: This video interview is about 10 minutes long.

If you would like to learn how popular television programs and movies are increasingly provided as advertising-supported streams on the Internet, this video is for you. We demonstrate how to use three Websites (fancast.com, veoh.com, and tvguide.com) that index nearly all the legitimate TV shows and movies on the Net.

Gradually over this past year popular television programs and movies have been finding homes on the Internet at advertising-supported websites that permits viewers to watch them for free. Typically they are provided as streams, meaning that consumers generally have to watch them at their computers instead of their televisions – at least for now. Nonetheless, the amount of programming is getting to be abundant and may well have crossed a threshold whereby it will stimulate efforts to get Internet video to the television.

In this show we demonstrate three websites that aggregate indexes of nearly all of the television programs and movies that are legitimately hosted by, or downloadable from, authorized websites such as hulu.com and the iTunes Music store. The aggregators are (1) fancast.com, (2) veoh.com, and (3) TVguide.com.

TVGuide.com is the hardest of the three to use because the site is mostly a guide for conventional television. However, once you learn how to access the “Online Videos” tab, it’s less confusing. Even then one problem is that a fair percentage of the indexed shows require you to purchase them from iTunes.

It seems clear that the legitimate proliferation of conventional TV programs and movies on the Internet is a major development. For example, it is said that hulu.com is generating as much ad revenue as YouTube even though it only has a small fraction of the traffic as measured in number of items viewed.

The next step is to get Internet video to the television. To be fully successful, the methods used must accommodate both steams and downloads. It is likely that downloads will involve a fee (rental or purchase) whereas streams are more likely to be advertising-supported.

Length: This video interview is about 10 minutes long.

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If you would like to learn how to attract disparate talent from the Internet in order to form companies that can tackle revenue-producing projects as a temporary “syndicate”, or as a continuing business, this interview is for you.

Our guest today is Brent Britton who is an attorney with Squire, Sanders, & Dempsey. Earlier he was associated with the MIT Media Lab where he worked as a software engineer. I met Brent at the Third Annual Sarasota Design Summit where he made a presentation on “Company 2.0”. The Summit was sponsored by the Ringling College of Art & Design.

Increasingly it appears that Digital Media companies are getting proposal requests from clients on projects where they (the media providers) may have only 70% - 80% of the required skills. Thus, they must find sub-contractors to do the balance of the work. However, owing to the rapid pace of technological innovation in Digital Media, it can often be difficult to find sub-contractors with the required skills.

Brent’s “Company 2.0” concept is an evolutionary bi-product of Web 2.0. It envisions an Internet marketplace where prime contractors can form alliances with subcontractors, possessing the skills missing by the primes, to undertake complex client proposals. The primes could form a syndicate with subcontractors on a project-by-project basis, or they might combine to form a continuing company to seek similar proposals in the future.

Since Brent is a lawyer he is pursuing a couple of Company 2.0 ideas in the legal field. One, called Lextrovert, would provide continuing education credits for lawyers at lower cost. By way of background, lawyers are required to continue their education periodically in order to stay up-to-date with the law. Typically they do so by attending conferences and listening to lectures, or by getting DVDs of the lectures. The lectures are typically provided by other lawyers.

The Lextrovert concept empowers the lecturing attorney to present his “class” as a recording done at his computer with nothing more complex than a WebCam and a PowerPoint. Continuing Education credits would be earned by those attorneys who pay to watch the recordings and complete whatever additional requirements may be applicable. Lextrovert will share the fees paid by the viewing lawyers with those attorneys who prepare and record the lectures.

Another example is a 2.0 Company that will provide legal services. For example, it can be expensive to get patents, trademarks, and copyrights. However, a law firm whose clients come mainly from the Internet can sharply reduce such costs via the economies-of-scale provided by the reach of the Net. Since they do not have to maintain offices in more than one location, their per-unit fixed costs can be much lower than is common for a traditional law firm. Brent’s (conceptual) law firm would use computer automation to automatically check for conflicts-of-interest before accepting new clients.

Length: This video interview is about 14 minutes long.

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If you would like to learn about how young adults can prepare themselves for a career in computerized art, design, and animation, this interview is for you.

Our guest today is Lance Burchett who is the Vice President for Advancement at the Ringling College of Art and Design. I met Lance at the 3rd Sarasota International Design Summit in Sarasota, Florida last month. The Summit is sponsored by the Ringling College.

As media becomes increasingly computer-and-Internet-centric, there is a growing need for those skilled in fine arts to adopt the technology. They may well be the kinds of people who will develop the interface and media paradigms of the future. A good place to get an idea of what they are thinking is at the Sarasota International Design Summit. While admittedly the Summit covers a lot of terrestrial concepts, such as how to design an office (which I found rather boring), there is an increasing focus on the future of interactivity and design, as they relate to Websites, video games and other electronic media.

The Ringling College of Art & Design appears to be a place where young adults can be trained to adapt native artistic and design aptitudes into skills that are applicable to computer and electronic media environments. It offers four-year curriculums in Broadcast Design/Motion Graphics, Computer Animation, Digital Film, Game Art & Design, Graphic & Interactive Communications, and Photography and Digital Imaging, among others.

Given the all-inclusive cost of about $45,000 a year, the school is expensive. But as a consequence, the student body is thought to be focused and serious about its work.  This is evidenced by the number of prominent Hollywood and creative arts companies recruiting at the school. Among them are Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar, Disney, Lucas Arts Entertainment, DreamWorks, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Electronic Arts, and Midway Games, among others.

Our guest today is Phillip Thune who is the CEO of HireMeNow.com. His website is a temporary help agency for office workers. It is a cyberspace version of Kelly Services or Manpower, Inc. There are two basic advantages to using HireMeNow.com instead of terrestrial temporary worker agencies.

First, since HireMeNow.com is on the Internet the company has much lower physical overhead costs and they pass the savings along to the customer.

Second, employers are permitted to inspect the resumes, applications, and backgrounds of a great many candidates online before deciding which ones they want to interview. The online inspection also can include a short video prepared by the candidate to explain their qualifications and interests. Such video resumes give the employers something of a “feel” for the candidate’s personality and ability to express themselves.

While HireMeNow.com may have the potential to transform the temporary office help industry like Expedia changed the travel agency business, their biggest challenge is building a critical mass of candidates and employers in numerous common geographic areas. For example, an employer in St. Louis does not care who is available in Boston.

If you are an employer looking for a way to cut your costs in hiring temporary workers, you might be especially interested in the interview because HireMeNow is offering a special bonus to our audience.

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 If you would like to learn about the potential interactive capabilities of television in the future, this video is for you.

Today’s video features Permissiontv.com which is a company that enables clients to create interactive videos for Internet distribution. The capability provides a glimpse of what the television might look like in the future. First is a demonstration of some interactive videos created on the Permissontv.com platform. Second is an interview with Matt Kaplan who is the Chief Strategy Officer.

Permissiontv.com is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) dedicated to Internet video and to that extent is similar to Brightcove.com and blip.tv. However, Permissiontv.com is distinguished in three ways.

First, its focus is on enabling clients to create interactive videos.

Second, because of the interactivity, Permissiontv.com does not limit its marketing activities merely to media companies but also targets companies (generally with strong brands) that want to use Internet video to interact directly with their own customers. 

Third, owing to the technical requirements of building such video applications, Permissiontv.com targets sophisticated users. Typically clients have access to a skilled staff of Flash and XML programmers, either at their own company, or via their advertising agency or web design vendor.

In our analysis, Permissiontv.com is an early manifestation of the smart video of the future. Such videos will adapt to the needs of viewers as they interact with the screen. The Permissiontv.com experience underscores the axiom, “The future has already arrived; it’s just not evenly distributed.”

Length: This video interview is about 13 minutes long.

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If you would like to learn how to convert website visitors into customers, this interview is for you.

Our guest today is Benoy Tamang who is the Founder of Sapha. First, we demonstrate one of Sapha’s tools termed a “Hook Tour”. This is followed by an interview with Benoy about the tracking statistics that accompany the tool. Hook Tours are short customized interactive videos that Sapha prepares to explain your website and trigger visitors to register for more information or buy merchandise. 

Many of us put considerable effort in trying to maximize website visitors, but we’re only converting one – two percent into clients. One way to do a better job of conversion is to provide a three-minute animation that explains our products and services and concludes with a prompt to get the viewer to “sign-up” for more information, or even trigger a transaction. The Hook Tour is designed to accomplish just such a result.

Websites contract with Hook Tour to have them prepare the video animation. The video is customized to the product or service of the underlying website. Hook Tour customers do not have to create it themselves, but have the authority to require changes until they agree that the video is satisfactory to be posted to their website.

Not only does Hook Tour host the animation as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), but it also provides detailed tracking data about the viewers who watched. That way the customer can tell how long the viewer looked at the video, which ancillary items (e.g. associated white papers, etc.) he downloaded, and his contact information.

Websites contracting with Hook Tour may choose from two pricing models. One includes a set-up fee and a monthly SaaS charge for the tracking data and video streaming. The second has a smaller set-up charge, but collects a fee on each “visitor conversion” that is above the baseline rate of the website prior to engaging Hook Tour.

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If you would like to learn about an appliance the size of a shoe box that provides most of the production and multi-camera input capabilities of a TV truck, this interview is for you.

The product is the Tricaster from San Antonio-based NewTek. Our interview is with Philip Nelson who is the Senior Vice President for Strategic Development and the appliance is demonstrated by Jim Plant who is the CEO. Tricaster prices range from $5,000 to $12,000.While most of our video podcasts at Inside Digital Media include several video recordings, they are recorded separately and tied together into a cohesive show by use of editing software. For example, there is typically an introduction, interview, concluding remarks, and finally a tip for podcasters or a lead for venture capitalists and investment bankers.  Everything is prerecorded.

More sophisticated techniques are typically used in television. For example, there might be several cameras “shooting” the show from three different angles. The producer can switch from one camera to another with the flick of a switch. Moreover, news and sports are often broadcast live. As anyone who has attended a college football game knows, the TV broadcast crews bring their own truck that contains the required production equipment.

Significantly, NewTek’s Tricaster is capable of doing most of the jobs of a TV truck but, as noted, the appliance is as small as a shoe box and priced at $5,000 - $12,000. The capabilities and low price mean that video podcasters can consider shooting shows that they might never have previously considered. For example, a school play could be shot from several angles and streamed over the Net live and recorded for later playback. The same applies to high school athletics.

While the incremental value of a Tricaster cannot yet be justified for the types of podcasts that I do, I can see the unit adding significant value to those who want to provide live video from multiple inputs with sophisticated techniques such as green screen.

Our guest today is Greg Scholl who is the CEO of The Orchard which is a publicly-owned distributor of music for independent record labels, including one that it owns named TVT. The company also distributes over 3,000 hours of video and TV shows for clients who are the rights holders. Most of the files are distributed digitally to stores like iTunes, Amazon.com, and eMusic. The Orchard recently agreed to participate with the major record labels in an initiative from MySpace that will provide advertising-supported streams of music on-demand. The new music.myspace.com page will enable visitors to choose the songs they want and listen to them for free. The experience will be much like the subscriptions services of Rhapsody and Napster, except that there will be no charge for the MySpace variation when consumers are listening at their computers. Individuals wishing to buy any of the tracks (e.g. to put on their iPods) will be directed to online stores such as Amazon.com.

Gregg believes that such advertising-supported businesses will ultimately become the major source of revenues for the recorded music business.  Recently the music publishers and the record labels came to an agreement that will enable such businesses to pay royalties as a percent of revenue generated as opposed requiring a fixed fee per stream.

In our analysis, advertising-supported websites may eventually replace radio as the primary means for popularizing new releases for two reasons. First, radio is losing audience to the Internet. Second, such websites can take advantage of the social media aspects of the Net that enable friends to share music thereby spreading the popularity to the tracks they choose to share.

If you would like to learn how to become a podcaster, this video is for you.

Podcasting essentially enables you to have your own radio or television station. The programs will be automatically delivered to your audience and received by most any Internet-connected multimedia device including computers, iPods, and iPhones. Even televisions can receive your shows if they are connected via a LAN to a computer.  Finally, the programs can be heard, or viewed, anytime after they are released. There is no need for the audience to “tune in” at a scheduled time or risk missing the show. Today’s video demonstrates at least two ways that podcasting can augment corporate communications.

First, consider those of you who are using regular text-based newsletters to communicate with clients and prospects. It is a time proven way maintaining steady contact with them. When you provide useful information the newsletter is a powerful form of advertising that the user does not recognize as advertising in the traditional obtrusive sense.

However, if you add audio to the text you are able to convey a sense of personality that is much harder to impart in the written word. Moreover, you can explain more complex ideas in a conversational way. Finally, with video podcasting you can take advantage of the concept that a picture is worth a thousand words. Videos enable you to demonstrate products and services that are difficult to explain with words alone.

The second example is the corporate press release. Regrettably, text-based press releases for technology companies are far too often incomprehensible because they are so jargon-filled. But if a marketing executive were able to sit down with the recipient, he could likely explain the message in plain English. Simply embedding audio or video discussions and demonstrations within the press release itself will make it easy for the recipient to click on a link ato hear, or watch a presentation, for a better understanding. If he is a regular recipient of your press releases, he may as well get it as a podcast anyway so that the audio or video explanation is automatically delivered.  

In the rest of the video we explain the equipment, software, and services you will need to become a podcaster. Although we include specific recommendations we cannot cover everything in the allotted ten minutes. Therefore, contact me if you would like to learn more about how Inside Digital Media, Inc. can make you a podcaster too.

If you would like to learn how to get Internet video to your television by using TiVo and/or Amazon.com, this show is for you. 

It is increasingly evident that there is a huge latent demand for getting Internet video to the television. It has been an elusive goal for the past eight years, or so. Now it appears as if significant progress is being made. It’s not from a single major product introduction, but instead from a number of innovations from a variety of manufactures and websites. Examples include Netflix, Sony Bravia, Amazon.com, Apple TV, and TiVo. In this video we demonstrate how it is done with TiVo and Amazon.com.First, if you own a TiVo you can display any Internet video on your television by using TiVo Desktop Software given two conditions. One is that you must have a LAN connection, such as WiFi, from your computer to your TiVo. The other is that you must be able to download an authorized file from the Net. That means you cannot take streams from sites like Hulu.com and display them on your television via TiVo. It also means that DRM’ed files will not play unless you have the right to play them, which you can often via rental or purchase.

In our first demonstration we download a video from Apple’s iTunes Store and play it on our television via TiVo.

Second, Amazon.com’s Video-on-Demand service will work with TiVo. Significantly, the consumer is empowered to purchase, and rent, movies directly from the comfort of his sofa using the TiVo remote. There is no need to sit at his computer to first download the movie. Additionally, if he chooses to buy the movie, Amazon.com will keep the file on their servers in a personal library associated with the buyer. That means the consumer does not have to keep the movie on his TiVo, but can instead re-acquire it anytime at no charge from his Amazon.com library. This is convenient because otherwise multiple purchases from Amazon would fill up the TiVo hard drive.

In our second demonstration we show how to buy, or rent, a movie with the TiVo remote and also how to watch them on your computer as well as the television.