OPENhulu rips off Hulu and passes the savings on to you
OPENhulu is the brain child of Matt Schlicht, and the concept is pretty simple. Since Hulu lets registered users embed videos on their own web sites, he figured he might as well grab all the content he could from Hulu (not every video sports an embed code) and post it on a Hulu clone site, then throw up some advertising to see if he could make a few bucks.
Technically, Hulu doesn't stand to lose anything beside brand loyalty and name recognition. Each video includes advertisements, which you'll see whether you watch at Hulu or OPENhulu. But somehow we still figure it's just a matter of time before Schlicht finds a cease and desist letter in his inbox.
[via last100]
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AndyF said 8:22PM on 12-11-2007
This is beautiful, but yes... he's posting advertising beside copyrighted materials, with nothing else -- and using the name "hulu". Some lawyer's assistant is typing up that email right now. Sad. This is how the web works. "They" just don't get it.
Reply
p-diddy said 11:14AM on 12-13-2007
Who is the "they" you are referring to: the lawyers or the people that do this? While I think you probably mean the former, as one of the former, I want to know why the latter doesn't "get it" either? I mean, would it kill people to play by the rules or just not play at all?
It's entertainment, people. You can do without it. Vote with your wallets or your mouse clicks and don't buy it if you don't like the way it's being offered. I'm just baffled why people keep doing an end-run around the system. You realize it just gives content owners ammunition when they petition Congress, right?
-p-
p-diddy said 1:33PM on 12-13-2007
for clarity's sake, I realize Hulu itself doesn't cost anything - my comments were addressed to the armies of people that persist in cracking every DRM scheme or way of preventing/limiting the sharing of content.
I realize the majority of people feel that content owners want too much control but the best form of protest is not to participate at all. When people infringe copyright, it just gives content owners a scapegoat for their problems.
-p-
Hunt said 8:35PM on 12-11-2007
Matt should be getting his cease and desist letter in the mail soon. This is a blatant violation of their terms of use. To top it off, he knows it. At the top of his page he writes "P.S. Please don't sue me". If that's not an admission of guilt, I don't know what is.
Hulu is not free, nor is their content. This is theft, plain and simple.
Reply
hn333 said 11:59PM on 12-11-2007
Hulu is free
Jonathan said 11:22PM on 12-11-2007
Wow, can they do this? I actually just got into the beta the other day. So far it's not bad. I just lack some content. As long as they release it like it is and don't start charging for it, it won't be so bad.
CounterAgent.com has an article I just posted the other day on my impressions on hulu: (it's okay if I link it here right?)
http://www.counteragent.com/2007/12/08/first-look-at-hulucom-to-hulu-or-not-to-hulu/
Reply
Raven88 said 10:05AM on 12-12-2007
apart from the blatant copy/paste thingie, it doesn't even work in my country...
anybody else being denied access bcuz of geographic location?
Reply
Margo said 11:34AM on 12-12-2007
Yup, no Family Guy in Estonia.
lob said 9:40AM on 12-14-2007
http://hulustuff.blogspot.com/
: )
Bill said 5:40PM on 12-12-2007
Still doesnt allow me to watch in Ireland. Why can't they make things simpler. Its so much easier to just download stuff, albeit illegally.
Reply
Mike Belgrove said 12:00AM on 1-03-2008
I'm not sure I see the purpose of this. Is it really that hard to get an invite to the beta. I don't think I waited that long for mine. And even if you can't get an invite is waiting not an option.
I'd be interested in seeing how much is earned from the ads placed by the videos on OpenHulu. Is it just for maintaining the site or for profit?
Reply
lob said 3:22PM on 1-05-2008
"I'm super sorry about the ads...
We need money for the site redesign. If you think you can help please click here." - That comment from the Openhulu site says it all.
But no there is a point. At the moment the videos don't stream too well from Hulu if you're outside the US and are using Hotspot Shield. That may change in the future if Hulu streams the videos better, or with increased data flows from Hotspot Shield, or a similar service. In the meantime it's pretty easy copying and pasting embedded videos from Hulu to a blog. Embedded videos stream (mostly) perfectly. I watched season 1, episode 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer last night with only one short pause (for buffering). If I tried watching at Hulu there would have been around 50 annoying pauses.
I just wish I had some volunteers with Hulu invites offering to help out...I can give you login details and you can maintain, or setup as many shows as you like. Currently I probably have only 1/8th of the content on Hulu although to be fair there are some good reasons why I haven't added a lot of shows, other than the fact I'm just plain lazy, (a) some shows only provide short clips (waste of time) and (b) Hulu, annoyingly, skip some episodes: For example they might have episode 1, then 4,5, and then 8. WTF? I can only guess they do this to lure you into buying the DVD or paying for download of the missing episodes. When will these people learn!] TV Paradise does have ALL content at the moment. Problem is, it's a very slick looking site, and if $$$$ is their underlying motive....it may go the same way as Openhulu which now seems to be dead. (Despite claims of a new site 1000 times better opening soon. Probably 1000 x more ads. Hehe.)
fish said 3:02PM on 1-17-2008
hi found an other website like hulu... in flash
http://www.eurohulu.com
Reply
fish said 3:02PM on 1-17-2008
an other site but in flash:
http://eurohulu.com
Reply