Andy Plesser

SAN FRANCISCO — Ashton Kutcher was in San Francisco yesterday at the TechCrunch 50 conference to debut his new animated video celebrity site Blah Girls.  Liz Gannes from NewTeeVee was on the scene with with her video camera and got this interview the Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. — Andy Plesser, Executive Producer P.S. Thanks […]

SAN DIEGO — Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, co-executive producers of All Things Digital, are at DEMO in San Diego.  I’ve posted a video of Kara’s first day at the conference including an interview with conference director Chris Shipley.

The anticipated news that will presented at the TechCrunch 50 conference in a couple of hours has just been released.  Google is organizing archives and feeds of newspapers around the globle. This new data will be served up on Google News and Google News Archives. The first phase is U.S. newspapers which have been offline […]

SAN DIEGO, CA — Later this morning at DEMO, RealNetworks will introduce a $30 software program which will allow users to save theatrical DVD’s to their PC or detachable drive.  They use the program to save DVD’s to up to five PC’s.

For the past several weeks, we have been uploading hundreds of our videos to CrunchBase, the TechCrunch database of the 6000 or more companies the influential tech blog follows.  There is no financial arrangement here, and this is not an exclusive arrangement by any means, but it is an extremely valuable way to expand attention […]

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CA — A Delta 2 rocket carrying a GeoEye satellite lifted off at 11:50 a.m.  PDT today.  The imaging satellite will provide mapping exclusively to Google.  The Google logo is seen on the logo of the rocket in the photo taken this morning.  (See below.) Reuters reports that Google co-founders Larry […]

We are impressed this morning with the way live video feeds of tropical storm Hanna have been integrated by Gannett’s USA Today and other Gannett television properties.  The video interface is from Mogulus, the Manhattan start-up which was recently funded by Gannett.

Getting digital content from multiple home computers and servers to the television is the goal of HP, Apple, Microsoft and others.  Earlier this summer HP introduced Media Smart Connect, a $349 device which pulls content from various PC’s, Macs and servers via WiFi to a television set.

Congratulations to Walt Mossberg, veteran Wall Street Journal reporter, who was just named by Vanity Fair as one of the top most powerful people in the world.  He comes in at number 100; Vladmir Putin comes in at number 1. 

Viewing of live online video streams of Hurricane Gustav has reached a record 1.4 million  streams since midnight, as of 4 p.m. EDT, a CNN spokesperson has told Beet.TV.  This sets a record for the most live video streams in one day at CNN.

For small and big publishers, the key to successful search optimization is “compelling, original content,” says Adam Lasnik, Google’s Search Evangelist.  Having the tools to share and filter high quality editorial links is essential, he says in this interview.

The Washington Post has begun streaming live video via mobile phones to the newspaper’s site using Comet Technologies.  The first implementation has come from Ed O’Keefe, reporting live from the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Blog coverage of the DNC is high with a record 120 blogs credentialed to cover the convention. CNET reporter Kara Tsuboi goes behind the scene in the “Big Tent,” a sort of giant blogger lounge sponsored by Google, YouTube and Digg.  I’ve posted Kara’s report here.

Although the Olympics ended this weekend, much of the online material from the Games will continue to be available through December 31 on NBCOlympics.com, a site hosted by Microsoft’s MSN, Beet.TV has learned.

Netscape founder and prolific entrepreneur Mark Andreesen and his long time business partner Ben Horowitz are making an investment in Qik, the Foster City-based mobile video streaming platform.  Terms of the investment have not been disclosed.

Not surprising that Microsoft will be a strategic investor in Move Networks, the small Utah startup which has introduced a new way to stream high quality online video through a process called adaptive streaming.

Fora.tv, the San Francisco-based, high-brow content site, has an agreement with Georgetown University to host and distribute speeches and conferences from the University. This adds to Fora’s alliances with The Aspen Institute, The New Republic, The Brookings Institution and others.

With 72 million video streams of NBCOlympics.com viewed through Saturday, developers at Microsoft have reason to celebrate. 

We think the success of online advertising will result from user interaction.  Beyond just watching a video or seeing some snazzy Flash ad, users who opt-in to explore an ad will be more likely to establish brand loyalty…and buy stuff.

In what we consider a milestone in the syndication of live online video news, CNN has introduced a widget for its live streaming service.