New Media - Paul Fleming - Paul Fleming - Flemo: Between Sydney, Philadelphia and the World Wide Web

OK so I think I may have almost convinced my wife that you can really watch TV on your computer. Her computer sucks, it’s no secret (it’s ACER people…cheap and nasty) but she keeps hearing me and others talk about using your computer to watch movies and tv shows (and not just DVD’s) online. I showed her YouTube…she wasn’t convinced…too much crap, people talking about themselves, only short clips etc. I showed her a few of the others, blip and revver and metacafe etc. ad infinitum. That’s right, there are a bunch of them. She still remained disillusioned. Again, just short clips and people talking about themselves (or annoying people more appropriately).

So I showed her PeekVid and something turned her. I don’t know if it was Gilmore Girls or Saved by the Bell that changed her mind but she was impressed. Then she saw that you could watch movies that hadn’t been released yet and it was all over, she’s a convert. It got me thinking though. PeekVid may do it for me and mine but what about you and yours….maybe there are others that will help convince them to explore this exciting medium further. Here’s my top 5.


1. PeekVid.com – As mentioned above, they have a decent resource of tv shows and movies for your viewing pleasure.
2. ChooseandWatch.com – cable tv stations available on your browser (can be a little sluggish at times tho) but has sucked a lot of my time. Recently updated their look. Also ChannelKing as a bonus in this realm.
3. Viewmy.tv – a slick interface separates this one out. The ability to sort by region and genre is a big plus.
4. TV-Video.net – if you missed an episode of one of your favorite shows like Prison Break or Heroes, here’s where you’ll find and be able to watch them.
5. Bleenks – offers a few unique shows that may not be available elsewhere. Can take a while to figure out how to find something.

I like the Bare Naked Ladies for various reasons. Quite a fan of their music..it’s catchy, fun. More importantly though, they publicly denounced other bands and record labels who insist on digital rights management schemes that severely limit what fans can do with music they have legitimately bought. And fair enough too.


They are also quick adopters of the Web, encouraging fans to upload clips to use in their video. The latest one, contains some of the big names in the YouTube community including Geriatric1927, Brookers and the Mentos/Diet Coke experimenters and so far has garnered them some 70,000 views, not to mention distribution throughout the blogosphere.

I’m a big fan of YouTube and it’s certainly had a big year but to be awarded Time Magazine’s Invention of the Year award seems a bit lame. I don’t even think it’s really an invention is it? There were video sharing sites before, YouTube just happened to be the most popular.

Seems more like a popularity contest that I’m afraid can’t be taken seriously. This is what they had to say about it.

“It’s been an interesting year in technology. Nintendo invented a game you control with a magic wand, A new kind of car traveled 3.145 miles on a single gallon of gas. A robot learned to ride a bike. Somebody came up with a nanofabric umbrella that doesn’t stay wet. But only YouTube created a new way for millions of people to entertain, educate, shock, rock and grok one another on a scale we’ve never seen before. That’s why it’s Time’s Invention of the Year for 2006.”

Yeah right, make sense to me.

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