Raja Jasti’s Blog - Renaissance Thinking

April 7, 2009

Boxee launches API

Filed under: Entertainment, Internet, Media — Tags: , , — Raja @ 8:13 am

Boxee, which makes software that lets you watch web videos on your TV, launches new API.

Free entertainment hub Boxee keeps on getting better and better. A couple of hours ago, the venture-backed startup released a full API that allows developers to build applications for the open-source platform using a set of API calls in Python and writing the GUI using XML. At the same time, the company is laying the groundwork for a richer App Box, which it refers to as an open application store where they are not the gatekeeper (like Apple for its iPhone App Store) but rather a facilitator.

Boxee is today also introducing a new test version of the Boxee alpha version for Mac and Apple TV (get it here for Intel Mac OS X 10.4+), adding two applications that were built using the brand new API. The new Boxee alpha comes with a lot of music goodness as it includes both Pandora, the popular music streaming service, and RadioTime, which enables their users to access over 100,000 traditional radio stations from across the globe.

It is good to see Boxee plugging away despite all the obstacles it ahs been facing from the studios and web video companies such as Hulu.

March 24, 2009

ZeeVee targets Boxee

Filed under: Entertainment, Internet, Media — Tags: , — Raja @ 8:38 am

ZeeVee, a web video TV set-top box maker, is changing tracks and now wants to power other boxes like Boxee.

zinc21

Today’s announcement was about an update to its Zinc browser (formerly known as the ZViewer), which is a graphical interface for watching video content. It’s a lot like, well almost exactly like Boxee in that it tries to aggregate a whole bunch of premium content sources into one location, and optimizes the experience for ten-foot viewing. Zinc strictly uses public RSS feeds, so it believes it can sidestep issues Boxee had like Hulu pulling its content from the service (though using RSS feeds still got Boxee into hot water with Hulu).

March 16, 2009

iphone as a remote control

Filed under: Media, Technology — Tags: , — Raja @ 7:44 pm

Boxee released an iphone remote control app.

Up until now, if you used Boxee with a remote, it was the simple little white Apple remote that comes with most Mac desktops and the AppleTV. It’s a decent, if simplistic remote, and rather limited in its ability to do complex interactions — especially those requiring keyboard input.

Well, the Boxee iPhone app was finally approved yesterday and though the wait was long, what was delivered is something special: a remote worthy of being paired with Boxee and the iPhone.

I see iphone apps that turns it into all kinds of things some silly and some not so silly. Remote control is not so silly.

Here is the video of boxee iphone remote app:

March 6, 2009

Boxee does Hulu via workaround

Filed under: Entertainment, Internet, Media — Tags: , — Raja @ 8:41 am

Boxee is again showing Hulu videos that are available as public feeds. The is a kind of a kluge but it will do for now. Boxee also announced appbox which like appstore for boxee.

February 21, 2009

Eventful week in online video world

Filed under: Internet, Media, Trends — Tags: , , , — Raja @ 11:12 am

It was a busy week in the world of online video.

First there is the battle brewing bewteen Hulu and TV.com. Hulu blocks their content from CBS backed TV.com and CBS claims that they have the right to strem Hulu’s content.

Then Hulu blocks Boxee from playing its content.

To cap off the week, we have the cable companies mulling an online video site that is behind a walled garden.

It seems like old media still has trouble digesting the truth. The inidcators are not encouraging.

The way I see it, they can make it easy on themselves and embrace frictionless syndication right now or do it the hard way by trying to prevent the inevitable.

February 18, 2009

Hulu to Boxee: No soup for you too!

Filed under: Internet, Media, Trends — Tags: , — Raja @ 9:00 pm

I guess it is difficult to teach old dogs new tricks. Web is not about controling distribution, but about frictionless syndication. This is the key to success in the new media world.

I said this earlier today in another post and then I read that Hulu is blocking out Boxee, a neat little app that lets you watch webvideo on your TV. In this case, Hulu seems to have been forced by the content owners. I understand that they are trying to not to cannibalize their cash cow. But they can’t stop the inevitable. Ultimately they need to figure out a way to monetize web videos played on the TV.

Update: Hulu CEO, Jason Kilar, who I think actually gets new media, says his hands are tied. Here is a blog post from Boxee and from fred, an investor in boxee who is one of my favorite VCs.

January 22, 2009

TV as a software platform

Filed under: Entertainment, Internet, Media, Technology, Trends — Tags: , , , , , , — Raja @ 10:41 am

I love watching web videos on my computer. But I would also like to be able to watch them on my TV when I am relaxing in my living room.

Of course, you can hook up a computer to your tv but naviagating through the web from your sofa is not that great. There is a company called boxee that offers a media center type interface on your computer that makes it easier to navigate the web videos on your TV. 

You can also hook up apple tv and watch some videos, but not all the web videos. You can now watch youtube videos on your wii, but again not all the web videos.

I would also like to watch my netflix movies on my TV without all the hassle of mail order DVDs. You can get some of the movies from netflix directly on to your computer and TV (if you have tivo or roku settop boxes). I would actually like to have a choice of movies from multiple online stores to directly watch them on TV.

I will be able to do all this in the near future. It should have happened by now. What is the problem? Is it technical or is it because the media industry’s fear of destroying existing revenue streams? I suspect it is more of the later.

You know what I would like to see happen?  TVs including a light weight software platform where we can run browsers and all types of applications (such as boxee) specifically designed for TV experience. This would make web TV be just TV (just like brodcast TV, cable TV, satellite TV etc).

I don’t know how long it would take for this to happen but that would be awesome.

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