The Sony PlayStation3 didn’t offer any real advantages over other gaming devices or set-top boxes until it got dibs on Hulu Plus, making the PS3 the first console able to stream Hulu to the TV. But what’s the user experience actually like? Read more »
The rising popularity of music videos online has made discovering classic viral videos tougher than it used to be. Which means that when you see something called Indian Pole Gymnastics climbing the viral video charts, you know you’re in for something special. Read more »
At last night’s Creative Arts ceremony for the 2010 Emmys, the Jimmy Fallon digital experience and the independently-produced Star Wars Uncut won awards for their interactivity. Neil Patrick Harris and The Man Your Man Could Smell Like also took home shiny gold statues. Read more »
By partnering with creators like The Yes Men, VODO founder Jamie King has had real success using BitTorrent as a legal distribution platform. Today, King discusses online privacy and how Vodo plans to turn fan donations into a sustainable support system for creators. Read more »
For web video old-timers, the premise and cast of the series FCU: Fact Checkers Unit may seem familiar — and that’s because there’s a strong chance they’ve seen it before. But the celeb-featuring show is still clever fun, even three years later, sans Bill Murray. Read more »
Today on the Internet: Blockbuster’s head of digital strategy talks smack about Netflix and Apple, Kyte makes a move for mobile with new Blackberry features and NBC U’s iVillage seeks out women to contribute blogs and vidoes to the site’s new UGC section. Read more »
Last night, AOL threw a party to celebrate their blogging network, under the guise of handing out so-called Geek Awards. But the event was a Blackberry-sponsored appropriation of the passion that fuels innovation online and off, ultimately doing a great disservice to real “geek” culture. Read more »
The Gregory Brothers continue making strides towards world domination. Their latest hit Auto-Tune the News single, Bed Intruder, debuted at number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 today, thanks solely to strong iTunes sales. And that’s not the only mainstream success they’ve had recently. Read more »
Heads up: If you a) were an impressionable youth in the 1990s or b) are an fan of 1990s animation, then it’s definitely worth taking an hour to sit down with the Nostalgia Critic’s tribute to the Steven Spielberg-produced Animaniacs. Read more »
Last year, former Vimeo developer Casey Pugh invited the Internet to help him remake Star Wars, one 15-second clip at a time. One Emmy nomination and 904 videos later, it’s now possible to see a whole new A New Hope, created entirely by fans. Read more »
Most of the people who have turned their YouTube accounts into thriving and profitable platforms for their content aren’t known for having much of a serious side. But director Tony E. Valenzuela may be changing that with the dramatic thriller Black Box TV. Read more »
The act of watching online video on one’s television might experience a serious boom in the next five years. According to In-Stat, by the year 2014 57 million US households will be watching online content on their TVs, with revenue potentially reaching $17 billion. Read more »
Where there’s an incredibly successful advertising campaign, there are the unavoidable imitators. Last month’s Old Spice social media domination meant that rip-offs of the Isaiah Mustafa ads were inevitable. And it’s a rare thing when the copy is as good as the original. Read more »
Today we have Nina Bargiel, the Streamy-winning mastermind behind the expansive social media world surrounding MTV’s college vampire drama Valemont. Below, she warns the world to not call her a social media guru and talks about the lessons learned during Valemont. Read more »
The success of last fall’s Paranormal Activity guaranteed that another horror project would try using Eventful’s Demand It to bring in audiences. The twist with the MTV-produced Savage County is that while it was originally a web series, fans may get it on TV. Read more »
Dr. Horrible collaborator Jed Whedon, in between writing for television and helping Felicia Day make music videos, has kept busy with his own projects. And his new self-published album, entitled History of Forgotten Things, represents a sincere effort to create compelling original music. Read more »
The web series Project Rant today released their newest video recreation of a rant, with a twist. YouTube Comments pays tribute to the hyperbolic and homophobic comments Rant episodes have been receiving on YouTube — comments that are kinda sorta NewTeeVee’s fault. Read more »
Hey, Quentin Tarantino, guess what? I found your new favorite web series. And it’s not just you who’s going to like it — any hardcore fan of classic exploitation movies will enjoy the detail-rich Missing Reel, which makes even offensive subjects palatable. Read more »
Live on video, the creators of My Damn Channel’s new therapy-satirizing web series, SUPEREGO discuss the series’ development with Fox Television’s 15 Gigs, the relationship with My Damn Channel and what the future might hold for the Charlie Knight character. Read more »
Maybe they both like that their brand names end in -ix? Netflix and the premium cable channel Epix are currently negotiating a potential deal that would give Netflix “exclusive online rights” to films by Epix equity partners Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and MGM. Read more »
Teen drama web series Anyone But Me has raised $16,950 from its substantial fanbase over the last two weeks, thanks to a fundraising campaign kicked off two weeks ago by a three-day web-a-thon. 379 people so far have donated to the cause. Read more »
My Damn Channel, the home of web series classics like Wainy Days and You Suck at Photoshop, has closed $4.4 million in Series B financing. The investment is lead by Intuitive Venture Partners, with some original Series A investors also chipping in. Read more »
Last Friday, YouTube announced a bunch of new features and upgrades to make our video viewing and uploading lives easier. Which of these new features do you think has the most value for YouTube users? And what are you still waiting to see? Read more »
Today we spotlight Jim Lanzone, who, prior to founding Clicker.com, was CEO of Ask.com and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Redpoint Ventures. Below, he submits the phrase “nanocasting” for approval, sings the praises of Double Rainbow and explains why using Clicker.com is better than having a brain hemorrhage. Read more »
The film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World appears to be faithful to the source material’s emphasis on 8-bit nostalgia. But while the latest bit of promotion embraces that love of retro technology, it’s also the very forefront of modern video interactivity. Read more »
Oh boy, oh boy, it’s a big day for Fred fans — the trailer for Fred the Movie, which will air on cable channel Nickelodeon this September, is finally online. But something seems different about the pre-teen sensation… Read more »
If you’ve been eagerly awaiting the first entry in Vevo’s live concert series, then your waiting stops very soon. At 10 PM ET/7PM PT tonight, the Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire will kick off the “Unstaged” live music series. Read more »
Next New Networks’ newest film-focused web series isn’t anywhere to be found on nextnewnetworks.com — or YouTube, or any of the site’s many other distribution partners. Instead, MSN Film Fan, hosted by Maribel Arber, is running exclusively on MSN.com. Read more »
Dan 3.0, Revision3 and YouTuber Dan Brown’s daily experiment in crowd-sourcing content ideas, has gotten off to a solid start this week. Revision3.com site traffic doubled on Monday when the show launched, and over 5,000 suggestions have been made for activities. Read more »
The International Association of Web Television today announced the five new members of the Board of Directors, chosen in a special election after five of the original board members — Brady Brim-Deforest, Josh Cohen, Marc Hustvedt, Mo Koyfman and Jamison Tilsner — stepped down. Read more »
A filmic adaptation of a poem by Canadian poet/songwriter/spoken word artist Tanya Davis and shot, animated and edited by filmmaker Andrea Dorfman (also Canadian), How to Be Alone blends together drawings and live-action to create a treatise on solitude, self-awareness and creativity. Read more »
This year in San Diego, we got some face time with Red vs. Blue creators Geoff Ramsey and Gustavo Sorola, who were attending for their seventh straight year, manning a booth stocked with DVDs and merchandise for their ground-breaking machinima comedy series. Read more »
I think the 3-D apocalypse might be coming. And here is one of the four horsemen: According to Deadline.com, Paramount Pictures will be telling the tale of teen star Justin Bieber’s life story on the big screen in 3-D. Read more »
This interactive YouTube adventure (with zombies) isn’t exactly a triumph of originality. But as branded content for the New Zealand pizza company Hell Pizza, Deliver Me to Hell is a surprisingly engaging experience — one that offers actual rewards to those who play the game. Read more »
Since 2007, CEO and co-founder Jason Liebman has overseen tremendous growth at Howcast, one of the leading how-to providers online, which streams tens of millions of videos every month. Today, he dishes about “viral video,” the lack of standards and Howcast’s approaching profitability. Read more »
You don’t necessarily need to be familiar with the subject matter of a spoof, if the execution of said spoof is good enough. Which is to say that even if you’re not a raging video game nerd,Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’ is a delight. Read more »
The Discovery Channel’s Shark Week has been a tradition of the cable broadcaster, first running a week of specials devoted to selachimorpha in 1987. On August 1, seven glorious days of shark-related programming begins — but what are your online viewing options? Read more »
While The Onion News Network, delivering the Onion’s skewed POV on news, is typically free to watch, this month the network is experimenting with a premium offering available for $1.99. The justification for charging is this: This news broadcast comes from the future. Read more »
So I’m putting Shows About Craigslist into the Online Video Vault of Overdoneness. The only reason I feel comfortable calling it a day on this genre, though, is that the reality series Craigslist TV might be as good as it’s going to get. Read more »
Sometimes people ask when online video is going to get its Lost — a creative, well-produced, buzzworthy series that offers enough intrigue to keep audiences engaged. I’ve heard some people answer that question with “Never.” But that was before Ark premiered on Hulu. Read more »
