Here we go, Episode 35 of Bleach, embed test:

Notes to Joost developers: I had to resize the size of the embedded object, by default it was 640×360, but this is too wide for the standard blog, which usually has a 2 column layout.

It’d recommend 400×225 as the default size for most bloggers to copy and paste without further editing.

This should probably the standard embed code you should have for your users to embrace this:

<object width="400" height="225"><param name="movie" value="http://www.joost.com/embed/37aigyt"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowNetworking" value="all"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.joost.com/embed/37aigyt" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" width="400" height="225"></embed></object>


Hat tip to the Joost team for allowing embedding, I was waiting for this to start recommending content properly.

Well over a year ago I asked a Joost executive why not use some of that money they recently had gotten in funding into going for the living room via Xbox or PS3. I got a politically correct answer about yes, we’ll do it eventually, but that’s not our focus right now.

In the meantime, Hulu was building their platform for the web, and 4 months later it was king of the hill. Joost then had to rethink their distribution and ditched their p2p client for an all Flash streaming based approach, which seems to start picking up traffic but the differences in the audience sizes are ridiculous. A tip for your current approach, and it has to be done a month ago: Allow non-signed users to watch your some of your content (short-clips), and allow for embedding, worked wonders for YouTube, it’d be awesome for all that niche oriented content you have. (Update Nov 22 2008: Joost has just released video embedding!)

But even though Hulu has almost 10 times more traffic now than Joost, it’s earnings are still a joke compared to the advertising earnings of Broadcast and Cable, it’s just peanuts. With Ad Spending going down, it would make sense to me as an advertiser to somehow stay in the living room, with cheaper CPM, and better targeting. Hulu & Joost on the Xbox could do that for me, if only they were available in the living room.

Netflix on the other hand, monetizes month to month, and they also saw the opportunity of getting to your living room in different ways. They’ve tried with their own $100 box, but I find the most interesting and convenient way to get an audience of at least 15 million people that spend hours and hours wasting their time in front of their TV playing video games (with barely any ads) in the Xbox console.
They give me as an Xbox Live customer yet another option to keep my Xbox Live subscription and think twice about getting the PS3 and ditching the Xbox live payments since my Netflix subscription gains added value cause I don’t have to plug my laptop anymore to the tv. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have all those Hulu and Joost shows there too?

Netflix has released their stream service this week via Xbox, and it’s exactly the way I suggested to Joost, make it a free download, negotiate with Microsoft an ad revenue agreement, I can think up so many business models from this partnership… I wish I had super powers.

In any case, pictures speak louder than words some times. I hope bizdevs at Hulu & Joost take a look at this and remotely consider this as a probably great channel for content distribution. This could be your chance to grow your audience several orders of magnite, just become a Microsoft Live developer and port your technology (wish it was as easily done as said, I know), Internet Video needs to compete in the living room, forget about mobile for now, the living room is here now.

See More pictures of my Xbox Live update experience.

This week finally Joost launched their new web based version of the P2P Free TV platform. Since their last launch they’ve added loads and loads of new content. I happened to stumble across one of my favorite anime mini series Death Note yesterday. I had to pay for this content around february when I bought the DVDs on ebay (shipped from Japan), now everyone is lucky enough to view all the episodes for free on Joost.

Hats off to the Joost team for a re-launch that went way better than I expected. Thanks for listening to all the suggestions, I know I’ve been a pest.

About Death Note

From Wikipedia

Death Note is a Japanese manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. The series centers on Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook dropped on Earth by Ryuk, a shinigami (”death god”), that allows Light to kill anyone by writing the victim’s name in the notebook. The story follows Light’s attempt to create and rule a world cleansed of evil using the notebook, and the complex conflict between him and his opponents.

I’ve noticed Joost tends to not refresh the content of their channel Line up unless it resets its User Profile.
I’m not sure if this trick works on Windows, but it certainly does work for Mac. (Please leave a comment if it works the same way on windows, I don’t see why not, all they have to do is check for the alt-key modifier as the application starts up, should be the same thing)

1. Close Joost if it’s open
2. Hold the ‘Alt’ key and Click on the Joost Icon
3. You should now see a dialog to reset your profile

Having done this, all the newest Channels and existing channel lineups should be refreshed.
Enjoy

About Joost
Joost (pronounced /j ooːst/ “Juiced”) is a system for distributing TV shows and other forms of video over the Web using peer-to-peer TV technology, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis (founders of Skype and Kazaa).

Joost began development in 2006. Working under the code name “The Venice Project”, Zennström and Friis assembled teams of some 150 software developers in about six cities around the world, including New York, London, Leiden and Toulouse. According to Zennström at a 25 July 2007 press conference about Skype held in Tallinn, Estonia, Joost has signed up more than a million beta testers and is on track for an end-of-year launch.[1]

The teams are currently in negotiations with FOX networks. It has signed up with Warner Music, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Productions (Indianapolis 500, IndyCar Series) and production company Endemol for the beta.[2] In February 2007, Viacom entered into a deal with the company to distribute content from its media properties, including MTV Networks, BET and film studio Paramount Pictures.

Source: wikipedia.org

A new Joost Client has just been made available.

I write about it because this version makes available to the public a new feature that’s pretty interesting…

LIVE STREAMS!

Let’s all give it a try and see how good it is, how many simulataneous users it can hold, and if it will really do p2p relay of the live stream to other users. I’m personally very curious to see if this will work or not.

Other features of Joost 1.1 include:

• Invitation System included inside the client
• Joost Link Sharing
• It’s more resistant to poor connections
• Redesign of the User Interface (Explore, Search Improvements)

You can read in detail each of these new features on the Joost Release Notes page.

This is an interesting move, specially after hearing YouTube speaking about live streaming coming out soon. Some especulate youtube might purchase the streaming technology from another company

Maybe Joost still has a chance, all they gotta do is keep adding more good content, and think hard on how to make their content exploration better, as it is, nothing looks appealing enough.

I found out this past weekend they added 2 shows I love, and I’ve been on a Joost marathon during this holiday.

The first show that had me like a potato couch is The Twilight Zone

It’s been added as yet another “CBS Channel”, they might as well let you browse the content by Shows > Seasons , it’d make more sense to the Video on demand user, I honestly don’t think the “Channel” metaphor works.

The other show that can get you hooked is Married… With Children, this one by a channel called Funnybone. However, it’s a bit of a mess, its not organized by season, it’s just a bunch of episodes here and there.

Let’s see if things look up for Joost, otherwise they’ll end up out of the game by the end of the year, many other competitors are joining and doing lots of awesome things.