Andy Plesser

Today, on Earth Day, as we look at ways to preserve the environment, video is surely a way to limit our carbon footprint via video teleconferencing, video chat, and other technologies.

LAS VEGAS — Founded by three ex-Googlers, Howcast is the New York-based video production and distributor of "how to" videos on a wide range of subjects. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The tablet computers, which provide a more engaging, extended interaction with content, akin to reading a book or magazine, could be a big boon to publishers, says Chris Anderson, editor in chief of WIRED and author.

Over 30 years ago, Nina and Tim Zagat, two Yale Law School-trained Wall Street lawyers, figured that while critics have important things to say about  food and wine, it would be a good plan to source the opinions of citizen experts and organize that data into a guide.

LAS VEGAS — Much has been said about the looming showdown over software dominance to run video on the Web between Adobe's Flash and HTML5, an "open source" solution which is gaining traction.  HTML5 is one of the emerging standards for the iPad and iPhone which don't use Flash.

KIT Digital, the big Pague-based video services company will be powering video on the Tribeca Film Festival site, which will feature several live events and clips from films from this and previous festivals.

Epix, the premium HD movie channel co-owned by Viacom and Lion's Gate, has a big distribution deal with Dish Networks which adds 14 million more subscribers, Reuters reports.

LAS VEGAS–Last week at NAB, Microsoft made a number of announcements for Silverlight, its rich Web plug-in technology.

LOS ANGELES, Calif  — Twenty years ago, when the YouTube founders were still in short pants, way before anyone used the term "user generated content," America's Funniest Home Videos came onto the scene and remains one of TV's  biggest success stories.

LAS VEGAS — Demand for bandwidth at Akamai reached a new, single-day peak of 3.45 Terabits per second (Tbps) of content served on Friday, April 9th, the company says. 

With a vast amount of international travel halted as a result of the volcanic ash coming from Iceland, video teleconferencing will rise in the days and weeks ahead.  

LAS VEGAS — The much anticipated release of Adobe's CS5, the suite of creative tools for graphics, web design, and video editing, includes some significant improvements in Premiere, the widely used video editing program. 

Los Angeles-based Demand Media, the fast-growing Web content company, has hired Goldman Sachs to explore an IPO, reports Ken Li of the Financial Times.  Li writes that the IPO could come as early as August.

Congrats to the team at Kyte for the Editor's Choice Award from StreamingMedia.com.   The San Francisco-based video services company was  recognized as the leading online video platform, quite a recognition in a highly competitive field.

LAS VEGAS — Tom Leighton, co-founder and chief scientist of Akamai, says that television content will delivered primarily over the Internet in rich, interactive forms.

LAS VEGAS — ScanScout, the online video ad network and technology platform, is finding that as advertisers shift more budget online, their demands are rising to assure that their ads show up in appropriate videos.

While a number of publishers and video service providers are scrambling to create a system to  insert and manage ads around video for the iPad, Kyte has a system in place, according to Gannon Hall, COO.

Zagat, which has one of the most popular paid iPhone apps, has launched an app for the iPad.  Subscribers to the popular iPhone app can use their guide on the iPad  at no additional cost.

Irdeto, the Netherlands-based provider of content authentication services to media companies and others,  made two big announcements at NAB this week.

NEW YORK — Today, CNN.com announced a number of developments around digital content, including full integration with Facebook Connect, a blog network across many verticals and expanded coverage of entertainment and technology.