joost Archive

I had to install a new beta of Joost today. It is called the "Friends Edition." Everything worked fine with the download and the install but you must accept the terms which seemed fine except for one line that I have never seen before. It states:

"… you know that the Joost software will:

• deliver shows and TV-like advertising to me,
• use my computer and some of my bandwidth to deliver content to me and to other users, and
• operate when minimized, unless I fully exit the software."

I didn't realize that my bandwidth would be helping Joost to provide their service. Anyone else hear of this prior to today? Here is a screencapture of the terms:

If you want an invite, check the details here.

We have unlimited Joost invites to give away. So here is how this will work. I have turned comments OFF on this post because having you post your email address in public is not for me. I have witnessed too many issues with this in the past.

So please send me an email on ads@centernetworks.com and include a reason why you like CenterNetworks or something we can improve on and I will send you an invite. Your email will then be deleted and will never be used again.

Corsin reviewed Joost back in December so if you have no idea what Joost is, check out his review! And check out our other Joost coverage. And our feed will keep you up-to-date.

So far over 100+ invites are on their way! And remember, the comments can be criticism too, they don't all have to be happy :)

Startup Meme (via ClickZ) is reporting that Joost has signed a trial three-month advertising deal with some of the largest companies in the world including Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Nike, General Motors and Visa. Joost believes (and I agree) that the 30-second ad spot is not dead and if used correctly online, could provide major benefits to the advertisers.

One of the side benefits of this ad deal I believe is that Joost is now taking a step towards mainstream. These companies have the ability to generate buzz for their ad deals and therefore draw eyes to Joost. I also like that Joost is doing this trial during their beta period.

Check out our previous coverage of Joost including Corsin's review of the product when it was still named "Venice Project."

Joost has launched their first commercial (inside). My friend Matt Harwood believes Joost will remove the beta label next week. I have been playing with Joost (and Venice Project) since the beginning and overall I like the app. It is fluid, video quality is good and there are some social community elements which are promising.

I would not put Joost in the same category as YouTube because I still see YT as user-generated clips and Joost as a potential TV replacement. Here are my comments on their commercial:

• I think they need to be careful of continuing to call it TV. The word TV still means same-old, same-old and Joost is not that.
• To say "what you want to watch, when you want to watch it" is a bit misleading. I want to watch Big Brother UK right now. I can't on Joost. It's really, "what you want to watch that we offer, when you want to watch it"
• The name may be an issue worldwide. I thought it was pronounced "Yew-st" but it appears it is pronounced "Jew-st"
• The key will be to sign major names/lablels/shows. Imagine being able to watch the new episode of Lost an hour early on Joost (the same time worldwide perhaps)
• How will they deal with copyright? I am not 100% sure in this particular area what their terms are.

I am excited to see where Joost goes next. Frankly, I still want to see my video system demands list met by someone! This is really such an exciting time for media, it is great to be a (tiny) part of it. Check out our previous coverage of Joost.

Sure seems like we have the tokens that people want!

I have 2 more Joost tokens (beta accounts) to give away. It's simple, post a meaningful message on the new CN Forums, and you get one. Simple. Better be quick!

Check out our previous coverage of Joost.

All gone - but I do have one more - grab the RSS FEED to know when we get more!

(thanks anon… looks like someone is selling tokens for $65 on eBay!)

Jeremy Peters at the NY Times has a good writeup today about Joost (formerly The Venice Project). I have believed for a while now that YouTube won't be the answer for television online. YouTube should remain as a user-generated media site. That's where the $1.5B value comes from.

The creators of Joost come from a pretty strong background. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis initally started Kazaa, then moved into leadership roles with Skype (where they remain today).

From the Times article:

Joost (pronounced “juiced”) (allen note: I thought it was pronounced yooste) said last week it had reached what amounts to the mother lode of television programming: agreements to broadcast programs from Viacom networks like MTV, Comedy Central and VH1. While the deal’s terms were not disclosed, Viacom and Joost will share advertising revenue.

"We are very happy with the Viacom deal because it spans all their big properties," Mr. Friis said. “It has content from their biggest properties — MTV, Comedy Central — that are very good for our demographic." (Mr. Zennstrom was on vacation and unavailable to comment, a Joost spokeswoman said.)

While I am not sure if Joost will be the winner in this market, their application (which I check out daily) is pretty strong and the video quality is decent too. I look forward to checking out the Viacom clips once they are integrated.

joost (formerly The Venice Project) has updated their beta test. Here is the information about the update:

Today we have good news, and we have great news. In addition to the 0.8 release which includes new CoreAVC Video decoder, which significantly improves the quality of the video, we also have an Intel Mac beta version.

In checking out the improved video quality, we also hope you'll notice that we've added quite a lot of content and quite a few channels. These include:

* Documentaries from National Geographic;
* Loud noise and fast cars from the Indy Racing League;
* Healthy living programming from Lime;
* A variety of reality series in the Lazy TV channel from Endemol;
* Cartoons like Rocky and Bullwinkle in Saturday Morning TV (Classic Media);
* A lineup of independent film makers from IndieFlix;
* More reality TV with the Bridezillas series from September Films;
* Video gaming tricks and reviews form Gamestar;
* Comical, irreverent and edgy programming from Bite TV
* And cool new Bollywood music videos from Savvn.

I really like the quality of the video in joost. I have enjoyed watching the World's Strongest Man competitions. Who knew you could carry a fridge 2 miles on your back!?!