A US district Court has issued an injunction preventing RealNetworks from selling its RealDVD software. RealDVD is basically a DVD ripper, but unlike most applications that let you crack DVD copy protection and copy videos to your hard drive, RealDVD includes its own DRM scheme which prevents users from making multiple copies or watching ripped movies on another computer or portable device.

RealNetworks had been hoping that these restrictions would help the software survive against any legal claims. After all, the courts have a long history of deciding that you have a right to create backup copies of media you purchase for personal use. Unfortunately, the DCMA circumvents this right by declaring that you can't use technology that circumvents copy-protection.

The long and short of it is that the court ruled against the company because its software violates the DCMA. It's not clear whether RealNetworks will appeal the case. Honestly, I doubt there were throngs of people clamoring to buy copies of RealDVD at $30 a pop when there are plenty of free alternatives that don't restrict what you can do with ripped movies.

But RealNetworks had been hoping to launch a version of the software that could be included on set-top boxes like DVD players that would allow users to insert a disc and save the data to a hard drive so they could browse through their movie collections and watch videos without swapping discs. And that's a feature I could see people spending a few bucks for.

TinyChat is a nifty little service that lets you create multi-user chat rooms at a moment's notice. Last time we checked in on the service, TinyChat had just added the ability to do voice and video chat. Recently the company rolled out a handful of new features, including a few that give you more control over the chat rooms:

• Ability to control who can broadcast audio and video
• Give admin access to other users with the /oper command
• Push to talk feature that helps prevent audio feedback and the sound of people talking on top of one another
  
• Require Twitter mode, which requires users to login with their Twitter credentials (which can make it easier to track who is in the room).

The latest version also includes better video quality. TinyChat says the video quality of the free chat rooms is 4x better than it was.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

It wasn't that long ago that you had to go to ABC.com (or a shadier part of the internet) if you wanted to stream TV shows from ABC in your web browser. But recently ABC's parent company Disney signed a deal with Hulu to carry programs including Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Defying Gravity, Castle, and Desperate Housewives. And now ABC has signed a similar deal with Netflix.

Some shows, are available starting this week, and Netflix will roll out additional ABC/Disney shows in the following months. Of course, only paying Netflix subscribers can stream videos from the Netflix web site. For the rest of us (in the United States anyway), the Hulu deal is more exciting. But probably the most exciting thing is the fact that you can now watch ABC programming on two different web sites that lack the ABC.com video player's incredibly annoying interface.

[via NewTeeVee]

What do you get when you mix the new iPhone 3GS, the micro-video site 12Seconds.tv and Twitter? It's a free app called 12cast, and it's the fastest way to send 12-second video straight from your iPhone to Twitter. In case you're not familiar with 12Seconds.tv, it is to YouTube what Twitter was to blogs: a speedy, concise version of a good idea.

Using 12cast is almost ridiculously easy. You put in your Twitter login, turn the phone sideways, and video starts recording automatically. Like 12Seconds.tv, 12cast limits you to 12 seconds of video. When you're done, you can preview it, retake it, title it and send it to Twitter. You can also use 12cast to upload existing short videos that might already be on your phone.

Ever find yourself watching an hour-long web video of a Steve Jobs keynote and wish you could zip through the whole thing in 20 minutes without missing anything important? Enounce MySpeed is a Windows utility that lets you adjust the speed of Flash video in any web browser.

By default, you can play speed up to 3 times faster than normal, or as slow as 0.3% full speed. You can also adjust these settings, but to be honest, you probably won't be able to figure out what anyone is saying at 3 times the normal speed, let alone 4 or 5 times.

To give you an idea of how the program works, I recorded a short video, which you can see after the break. Sorry about the poor video quality, but the computer I used to create this demo isn't exactly a speed demon.

MySpeed is a commercial app which sells for $29.99. A 7 day free trial version is available.

[via CNet]

About two weeks after launching Miro 2.5 RC 1, the folks behind the open source internet media browser and player have taken off the release candidate label.

The program lets you find, download, and view media from a number of sources. That covers RSS feeds for audio and video podcasts, BitTorrent downloads, and web video from sites like Hulu. Version 2.5 includes a ton of updates, including:

• Improved speed (Miro claims version 2.5 is 4 times faster than Miro 2.0)
• A new audio podcast section in the Miro Guide
• Better audio playback interface
• Easy download link for YouTube videos
• New keyboard shortcuts

Miro 2.5 is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Google's 20% self-directed time rule is a wonderful thing -- it brought us Gmail, Google News, and AdSense, to name just a few. The latest toy to come out of a Googler's one-day-a-week personal project time is 3D stereoscopic videos in YouTube.

The concept is simple; upload a video that contains both the left eye and right eye frames side-by-side. To make your video viewable as in 3D, tag it with "yt3d:enable=true" as well as "yt3d:aspect=3:4", setting this one to the actual aspect ratio of your video.

The YT3D tag will enable a drop-down menu under your video that gives the viewer the option to view it using various 3D technologies, from Red / Cyan glasses to simple Parallel or Cross-eyed modes that don't require special glasses to view. The video is manipulated for each of these various viewing modes on the fly, so you can switch between instantly.

It seems likely that as consumer electronics companies look for ways to differentiate their products, we'll likely see stereoscopic video cameras in the not-too-distant future. So, what do you think? Cool new YouTube mode, or is 3D simply not all it's cracked up to be? Let us know in the comments.

[via Googling Google]

Skype 2.8 Gold, the final version of Skype 2.8, is now available for Mac users to download. The list of impressive new features for the popular phone app includes screen sharing, improved audio and video quality, and Skype Access, which is a way to pay for wifi hotspot access with your Skype credit. There are a few cosmetic changes to the UI as well, which

Screen sharing has been in Skype Beta for a while, and it works pretty well. The ability to share just part of your screen is a nice touch, and could especially come in handy for presentations. Skype Access - which is currently only available for Mac users - gets you past the annoying signup process for many paid wifi hotspots. Instead of entering your information and your credit card number, you can just pay with your previously purchased Skype credit. Even better, you only pay for what you use, which means an end to paying for a full hour when you only need a 20-minute session.

If, like me, you're totally obsessed with all of the coverage of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing and walk on the moon, you're going to like Jason Kottke's latest project.

If you're not aware of the coverage I'm talking about, first of all check out We Choose The Moon, which is a project put together by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum to follow the Apollo 11 mission from lift-off to landing on the moon. The site contains CG graphics of the main (i.e. most interesting) stages of the trip, and there is full 24 hour a day coverage of the radio communications between mission control, the service and control module, and the lunar lander. Of course, to top it all off, you can follow mission control, the control module, and the lunar lander on Twitter.

I've been following We Choose the Moon all week, and though it's amazing to have coverage of all of the radio communications, I'm spoiled. I want video. Luckily, NASA knew that video coverage of the moon landing was imperative, and the mission was put together with a priority of having video coverage available and broadcast live to the public. Jason Kottke has delved into YouTube and either found or uploaded copies of Walter Cronkite's CBS News broadcasts of both the first ever moon landing, and the first ever moon walk, for a site he's put together called Apollo 11 Live TV Coverage. Kottke states that the site was inspired both by the anniversary of Apollo 11, and by the unfortunate recent passing of legendary news anchorman Walter Cronkite.

The site is set up with a late-60's era television framing YouTube, which Kottke hopes will help to emulate the experience people had 40 years ago of watching the live action on relatively small and low-resolution television screens. It's cleverly coded to show the video coverage at exactly the same times it was originally broadcast 40 years ago - this isn't typical web-based video where you can scrub backwards and forwards; this is appointment television viewing.

Hulu Desktop is a pretty nifty application that lets you find and watch Hulu video content on a home theater PC using a media center remote control without a keyboard. But if you already have a home theater PC connected to your TV, you may want to integrate Hulu Desktop with your other media center software. Here's a little trick that will add a Hulu icon to Windows Vista Media Center that makes it easy to launch Hulu Desktop. When you close the application, you'll also be returned to Windows Media Center.

Basically what you need to do is download and install Chad Dyess' modified Media Center Launcher Configuration Utility. This tool lets you add a shortcut for practically any program to Windows Media Center. Next, you'll want to make sure Hulu Desktop is installed. Finally, run the configuration utility and point it to the HuluDesktop.exe file.

That's pretty much all there is to it. You can also create a graphic for the program icon if you want and select which section of Windows Media Center the shortcut will appear in. You can find a more detailed set of instructions at tech-recipes.

Microsoft is so excited about Office 2010 that it's putting out an action movie based on the product. OK, that's not true. But the company has hired Dennis Liu to create a trailer for a non-existent, action-packed and kind of funny movie called Office 2010.

In addition to the trailer, there's an official movie page, complete with a cast blog, backstage interviews, and a link to register for the Office 2010 technical preview which could actually net you an invite to try the real product before it's released.

[via Gizmodo]

Miro is an open source media application for Windows, Linux, and OS X that lets you download and manage video podcasts, watch web video, or movies stored on your desktop. This week the Miro team launched the first release candidate for version 2.5. It's available for Windows or OS X, and the source code is also available for anyone interested in compiling it for Linux.

The latest version is designed to be faster than Miro 2.0 while using less memory. There don't appear to be a ton of new features, but Miro 2.5 RC1 does have a tantalizing section marked "Miro Audio Guide" which would seem to imply that Miro plans to add links to audio podcasts soon. That would be a welcome addition, particularly since my favorite podcatcher, Juice, hasn't been updated in ages.

[via gHacks]

Screenjelly is a quick and easy screencasting tool that works totally in the browser. It records what's on your screen, plus the audio from your computer mic so you can explain what you're doing as you do it. Recordings are limited to 3 minutes, and the service lets you share your recordings via Twitter. It's a lot like Twitpic or Yfrog, but for screencasts instead of photos.

Screenjelly fills the gap between screenshots and full-on scheduled videoconferences. If you're having a computer problem, or fixing one for a friend, sometimes a screenshot can't fully explain the unusual behavior you're trying to deal with. A short video can do the trick. Similarly, if you want to show off a cool move in game you're playing - and there are TONS of videos like this under three minutes on YouTube - you can have it blasted out to Twitter within moments of recording it.

If you aren't one of the thousands of fans who got passes to Michael Jackson's funeral at the Staples Center, you can still watch it via several media outlets. If you are at home, get comfy on the couch and tune in to any major news station and you'll find coverage but if a TV isn't available, there are places online you can find some coverage.

Keep in mind, news of MJ's death almost crashed the Internet itself so finding a site streaming the funeral doesn't guarantee you'll be able to see it but, here are some options to try. Some estimates are saying 70 million people will be watching online funeral coverage.

CNN has an entire Live page devoted to coverage of Michael Jackson's funeral events. Funeral coverage has already started. If you can't get in now, try for the replays at 4 pm and 7pm Eastern time.

CBS Evening News has all the news coverage of Jackson's death so far in one place and presumably will be posting up funeral coverage as it happens.

There are numerous videos available on Hulu of Michael Jackson remembrance shows, interviews with those going to the funeral, details of funeral plans and more. It's a good place to hang out if you need information but can't get through to live coverage. As soon as live coverage is up, Hulu will be a good place to look for it.

WebTVHub has 15 options of where to watch the funeral online and even has a cell phone viewing link.

You can find USA Today coverage on LiveStream, as well as some smaller news outlets. There's even an MJLive station, but so far, it is loading extremely slowly and it's only a view of Havenhurst Avenue in Encino where Michael lived at some point in his youth.

If you want to remember Michael Jackson, without watching the funeral - or just see something kinda funny - check out the Eternal Moonwalk, where fans all over the world show off Jackson's signature dance move.

If you've found a great place to watch, share it in the comments so everyone that wants a front row seat can have one.

VLC is an open source, cross-platform media layer for Windows, OS X, and Linux. It's been around for years, and it's earned a reputation as a media workhorse that can handle pretty much any video codec you can throw at it. So it's hard to believe that it's just today that VLC finally hit version 1.0.

VLC 1.0 includes a number of new features including new HD video codecs, finer speed controls, instant pausing, frame-by-frame playback, and a ton of bug fixes and minor GUI enhancements.

You can read the complete list of updates in the changelog.

[via The Open H]