You never thought it was Microsoft and Adobe competing for customers. PC vs Mac is now old and Microsoft needs to pick on somebody else which happens to be another heavyweight and they are butting heads in Adobe's territory. Adobe Flash has long been the choice for websites when playing videos. Now Microsoft comes onto the scene with Silverlight, a movie streamer for high quality videos. FOX, Netflix, and MLB.com are among the big companies prepping to use Silverlight for there heavy-video services. You can already download a release candidate at PC World. With no buffering delays, at least on MLB, Silverlight is poised to make a huge splash when it's finally released and should move and shake platforms for many websites. Netflix and FOX Movies are using similar movie players that are interactive with DVD clone controls and use Silverlight with very clear and great quality picture. Check out a trailer at Silverlight.
A no-name site called Skinkers, a London based technology group that's has a beta of a peer to peer live video streaming platform by the name of LiveStation where the basis of it is...Silverlight. The great thing about this service is that it cuts down the buffer time on online video and since it's P2P it cuts bandwidth. LiveStation opens in a new window outside of your browser which makes it easier to surf and you are able to switch stations like live TV. 
Adobe is coming back at Microsoft with it's own version of Windows Media Player with Adobe Media Player which will be available for download by the end of this year. It will let you play flash movies outside your browser and manage a library of your favourites much like iTunes. It was developed using Apollo, an application that lets web developers build media rich internet software. Adobe Media Player features full screen playback, a favourites utility that will automatically download new episodes of your favourite podcasts or TV shows, and a one click viewer rating. Adobe and Microsoft should each challenge the other making for healthy competition and a much easier and better life for the consumer. Note:If you have a LiveStation invitation, please contact me as that would be much appreciated.
Ever bought a major product and never took advantage of the 14 day price guarantee? I sure have and now there is a free web service that will help you look for a better price from the product you just bought within a scheduled amount of time. Some retailers guarantee that there price will be better than other retailers to. So all you do is go to Price Protectr, enter the url of the product(s) you just bought from that retailer and click 'look it up'. That's it, your done! Price Protectr will then remind you via email if the price has changed. You though have to enter other retailers that sell that product if the place you bought it from offers a price guarantee for all retailers selling that product. Overall it's a great service and you should check it out when you next buy a product over $100.
Youtube has long been the king of online video sharing which is why Google bought it this year but that's becauase most of the other video sharing sites have never gotten enough publicity. There are 8 different sites that are competing with Youtube and most of them have been rated better when it comes to performance, features, and specifications. Blip.tv was the best because the audio quality is great and the video is pretty good, but much better than Youtube. The reason why this site has such good video quality is that it lets users upload the original high-quality file as well as Divx Stage 6. Youtube uses the old Flash 7. Many of these sites that I will tell you about share the revenue of the advertising to it's uploaders and people who link videos to there blogs. Check out Rocket Boom news. It adds spice and comdey to the news. Blip.tv also allows you to download videos on the site for ideal playback on an iPod or cellphone. This is not a huge site yet, as in it doesn't get much viewers so stick to Youtube if you want to get a huge audience for now.
Blip.tv, Brightcove, Metacafe, Revver, and Veoh will all split advertising revenue with you right down the middle. Youtube does none of these. Revver has an extra feature that will make non-video uploaders smile. They let you earn 20% of the revenue from videos you've decided to share on the Revver page or your blog/website. The remaining 80% is split between Revver and the uploader.
For Sprint and AT&T users there is a great service available to you and I am green with envy because of it. The service is called TellMe. You now have three choices to recieve various pieces of information from them. You can text, 83556, call, 800 555 8355, or once finished downloading the required application you will be able use voice. They provide weather updates, sports, news, taxi, airlines, or driving directions.
If you want to send a text message to a whole bunch of friends but don't have the time then call up Jott at 877 568 8486 and say what you want to say to them and then they convert your voice to text and sends it to all the email addresses and mobile phones that you've selected. They even save that message for future reference.
I know my mom would definitly love this and so I believe any woman would also love this service. Have you ever been in somewhere and didn't find a good washroom, or you just couldn't find one? We'll this service, MizPee, is here to help. First text where you are (city and state, possible province) to 415/3502290 or the hard and more expenisve way by accessing your browser and heading to www.mizpee.com.
This new DVD player can be taken into the bathroom with no worries. I am not totally sure though if it is soakproof but my highly educated guess is that it isn't. Splash proof is fine for today because why would you want to watch a movie underwater when it could be played much clearer above. For me it's the fact for security and safety. What happens if you do accidently drop it in the water while playing a movie? Would it explode or electrute you? The statistics though is it can play from an SD card or a DVD and can support mp3 and mpeg4 formats. It has an LCD monitor, weighs only 1.3kg, and has a screeen size of 290x180x62mm. Don't even try going to Twinbirds website because it doesn't even list this product on it. I just thought I'd mention it because it is pretty cool and doesn't look plasticy, bulky, or splashproof for that matter.
Wi-Fi is in the future for an American airliner called Alaska Airlines. Honestly it's the least expected airline to be associated with a term like Wi-Fi. But they are and are planning to use Westlake Village's technology on one of it's Boeing 737 jet this spring. If the experiment works, and we all hope it does, they will put it on the rest of there 114 aircraft. Obviously you know what WiFi is but how will it work on a fast moving jet? There will be a dome-shaped objecet on top of the plane will house a powerful antenna that will receive and transmit satellite signals. Currently they are looking over different price ranges and I'm scared to think about the cost considering that a cookie costs over $2 on a flight. There is a general guideline though. A year ago, Boeing pulled it's program after not enough carriers would sign on. Connexion was planned to cost $10 an hour or $27 for 24 hours with a satellite connection. Started in 2000, prices should be a little bit cheaper because as technology gets more used it gets cheaper. But then 9/11 happened and that made everything more expenisve. Hopefully this new Wi-Fi service will lift off the ground on top of each aircraft.