04/24, 9:55am
Joost Selling Itself
Video site Joost is shopping itself around to cable and satellite TV providers as their possible hub for Internet streaming, sources claim. The company has been struggling to gain share in the face of competiton by Hulu and YouTube and is believed by CNET to be looking to a deal to save itself. While it's not certain how likely this may be, metered Internet advocate Time Warner Cable is unusually seen as one of those interested in buying Joost.
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03/12, 10:40am
Hulu adding social network
Online video site Hulu will add several social network-like features on Thursday meant to keep users coming back and thereby bring in more advertisers, according to the Wall Street Journal. To be called Hulu Friends, the addition is said to let users create personal online profiles and share videos with each other, while a Scorecard feature will let them track their activity. Unlike YouTube, though, users still can't their own videos and are limited to the official movies and TV shows published to the Fox- and NBC-run site.
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12/01, 4:10pm
Joost iPhone app
Onilne service Joost says it has published a native supporting application for iPhone and iPod touch owners. The app lets users view hosted video, which is normally restricted for Apple handhelds due to the latter's incompatibility with Flash. Joost claims to have over 400 TV shows and 1,200 movies on its network, as well as some 18,000 music videos. Content is divided into genres such as anime, comedy, drama and sports.
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11/26, 10:45am
Sling.com Launches
Sling Media today officially kicked off the public beta of Sling.com, its new video portal. The website is aimed at competing with sites hosting commercially produced content like Hulu or Joost and primarily syndicates content from about 90 major TV and online producers, including channels Hulu omits such as CBS as well as the very same Fox and NBC content. It also offers a similar range of full-length movies.
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09/05, 1:30pm
Joost quits desktop client
Joost will soon announce it will stop making its desktop client and focus instead on a browser-based player for delivering web videos, according to a Friday report from GigaOM. The move will not quite step down to the level of YouTube or Hulu, which are strictly web pages, as it will require a browser plug-in that promises to deliver better video quality through peer-to-peer technology than the competition's traditional approach. The current interface (pictured) was designed to provide a more TV-like experience to users, who so far haven't embraced the idea.
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