Meet Shelby, Your Personalized Channel For Web Video



There are plenty of videos on the Internet. YouTube users alone upload 8 years of video every day. What the web needs is a service that helps organize them.

Shelby.tv hopes to provide that service. The startup is launching a web video player Monday that collects content your friends share on your Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr into one stream.

Instead of watching video on a small square within a large YouTube page, which can be surrounded by less-than-tasteful comments from strangers, you watch it in full-screen mode and within the context of your friends’ recommendations. You can watch the stream consistently — like TV — without searching or clicking, or you can reorder and delete videos. If you like a video, you can save it to a personal favorites feed.

“I don’t watch TV unless a friend says, ‘You have to see this show,’” says cofounder Reece Pacheco. “We’re trying to bring the same strength as word of mouth to web video.”


The startup, a graduate of TechStars’ inaugural New York class, is also launching an iPhone and iPad app Monday. The app is similar to the browser version, but portable. Pacheco says that he, for instance, sometimes watches Shelby.tv on his iPad while he’s brushing his teeth.

Despite this habit, Pacheco says the goal of Shelby.tv is not to get people to watch more web video, but to help them more easily find relevant web video. Eventually, the company plans to add “smart video” features, recommendations based on friends’ favorites, email notifications that alert you when someone watches your video and feeds that reorder themselves based on your past behavior. The player already notes and removes duplicate videos.

Shelby.tv isn’t the only startup that has these goals. VHX is a similar social web video platform that, like Shelby.tv, has a bookmark that can be used to add video from all over the web. In addition to scoping out videos in social feeds, it has users follow each other directly on the platform in order to share videos. iPad app Plizy builds you a personalized video stream based on your behavior on Facebook and Twitter.

At this point, the most obvious difference between Shelby.tv and others who are attempting similar hands-free socially curated web video is the experience they’ve each created — a point that goes back to why the team decided to name their product “Shelby” in the first place. The name comes from a sports car called the “Shelby Cobra.”

“It’s fast, powerful, sexy, cool,” Pacheco says. “That’s us.”



More About: Shelby.tv, social video, trending, web video


Apple Television Set Prototypes Reportedly 'In the Works'


One of the major revelations pulled out of the new authorized Steve Jobs biography has been Jobs' disclosure that he "finally cracked" the problems standing in the way of an Apple television set.


Rumors of an Apple-branded television have been circulating for years, but have been gaining steam following the release of the iPad as observers look to Apple's "next big thing". One of the strongest proponents of an Apple television set has been Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who has issued a number of reports about Apple's prospect for such a device.

With Jobs' comments once again fanning the flames of speculation regarding an Apple television, Munster has weighed in (via Fortune) to claim that all evidence is pointing to a launch as soon as next year. Among the newly presented evidence from Munster is a claim that prototypes of the Apple television set are now "in the works".

- Based on Jan-11 meetings in Asia (not with component suppliers), we believe Apple is investing in manufacturing facilities and securing supply for LCD displays. These displays could range from 3.5" mobile displays to 50" television displays.

- More recently, in Sept-11 we met with a contact close to an Asian component supplier who indicated that prototypes of an Apple television are in the works.

Munster also points to several patents and patent applications filed by Apple addressing the company's work into television-related technologies as further evidence of the company's interest. And while Apple routinely files for patents on technologies that never appear in its products, it is clear that the company has been thinking about how it could make a bigger impact in the television-related market if it elected to go down that route.

While any specifications on an Apple TV remain unknown beyond Jobs' suggestion that it would integrate iCloud presumably with iTunes Store video content, Munster believes that Apple could sell 1.4 million television sets at an average selling price of $1800 in 2012, ramping up to 4.3 million units by 2014 as costs drop to an average selling price of $1400. Munster's estimates, which are of course essentially guesses informed by current market trends, put Apple's share of the connected TV market at 3% in 2014, with the company bringing in $6 billion in revenue from the segment.


Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
Siri Co-Founder Dag Kittlaus Leaves Apple
Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs Interview on 60 Minutes Tonight
Some Scenes In The Avengers [Not] Filmed On an iPhone [Updated]
T-Mobile: Apple's Decision When We Get the iPhone
Some iPhone 4 Cases May Not Work for iPhone 4S After Light Sensor Move

BostInno Approved: What to do this week 10/24/11


calendar

Like most weeks there are a plethora of networking and social events to go to. While some of these are certainly valuable most of them are not. When taking the time to attend an event you need to carefully weigh the opportunity costs. Could I get more out of doing ‘real’ work or rubbing elbows and drinking free beer? Sometimes the decision is not clear enough and that is where we come in. Here are the BostInno approved events this week, I promise they will be worth your time. You will also have your best shot at finding one of us at these events. We’ll also be doing a full Halloween weekend roundup later in the week, so stay tuned!

Monday

Food Day – Today marks the first annual Food Day, a nationwide event aimed at promoting healthy, affordable and sustainable food. Mayor Menino will kick off the day with a lecture at Tufts School of Nutrition and several restaurants, food trucks and universities are hosting events to celebrate. Check out our full article on Food Day events here.

MassChallenge Awards Ceremony – 6pm – 9pm – Boston Convention & Exhibition Center – The event we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. The top 26 MassChallenge startups will pitch their companies and compete for $1,000,000 in cash.

Tuesday

Boston Beta: Launch Event – 6pm – 9pm – Microsoft NERD Center – Boston Beta is the newest chapter of Silicon Valley’s largest and longest-running startup mixer, SF Beta. Join more than 300 founders, developers, students, professors and practitioners for a night of networking and drinks.

Horror Movie Night at Area Four – 7:30pm – Area Four – Area Four restaurant in Kendall Square is joining forces with Brattle Theater to celebrate Halloween early this year. Presenting 100 Years of Chills: A Vincent Price Centennial Tribute, a night of horror flicks and theatre-inspired snacks like bacon & caramel kettle corn, spiced candied nuts, baked pretzel “nugz” with pimiento cheese dip and candied apples.

Wednesday

DartBoston’s MassTLC unConference Pre-Party – 7pm – 1am – Storyville – Missing DB Tech Prom already? Head down to Storyville on Wednesday for a night of Live Band Karaoke with Tom Boates Everybody! in preparation for unConference on Friday.

Thursday

Lean Startup Circle Boston October Meetup6:30pm – 8:30pm – NERD Center – Learn about the basics of customer development and the learn startup methodology. Guest speaker is Jeff Gothelf, director of UX at TheLadders.com.

Friday

MassTLC Innovation 2011 unConference – 8am – 4:30pm – Hynes Convention Center – This is not your typical entrepreneurship conference. There are no podiums, no stages and the agenda is created by attendees. The day consists of small interactive sessions about innovation and how to drive the success of your company.

Saturday

Vegetarian Food Festival – 11am – 6pm – Reggie Lewis Athletic Center – You don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy this awesome day of eating. The 16th annual Vegetarian Food Festival features renowned chefs, food producers and educators for a free day of sampling and learning about vegetarian eating. The fest continues into Sunday as well from 10am – 4pm.

Boston Ballet’s Night of Stars – 7:30pm – Boston Opera House – The Boston Ballet kicks off their season with the annual Night of Stars performance, featuring the entire company from seasoned vets to fresh-faced newcomers.

Sunday

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure – 10am – Joe Moakley Park – The MA Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure hosts the 19th Annual Race for the Cure in South Boston on Sunday. The race is a 5K co-ed run/walk and over 7,000 participants are expected.

Jobs bio fosters resurgence in Apple-branded TV rumors


The Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs has just been officially released and now everyone from TUAW readers to Wall Street analyst Gene Munster is reading between the lines to see what Apple's "next big thing" will be. The biggest rumor? That Apple will be coming out with a branded HDTV that will revolutionize the television-watching experience.

A lot of us don't expect this to happen -- in a recent TUAW poll, about 57% of readers thought it was unlikely that Apple would every make a TV. But based on a statement in the biography, Munster is even more convinced that Apple is going that way -- and he's even starting to forecast revenues for an Apple HDTV line.

Munster has been "certain" of an Apple-branded TV since 2009, and according to Apple 2.0's Philip Elmer-Dewitt, he keyed on a particular section of the book where Jobs said "I'd like to create an integrated television set. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud... It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

Munster thinks that the "code" that Jobs "cracked" is combining live TV with shows that were previously captured and stored on iCloud. The Piper-Jaffray analyst also believes that Apple could add Siri support "to bolster its TV offering and simplify the chore of inputting information like show titles, or actor names, into a TV."

There are a number of meetings with suppliers and patent filings (including the one noted by Patently Apple in the screenshot above) that Munster cites as more evidence of an upcoming Apple TV. He goes on to show that the device, if released in 2012, could add as much as US$6 billion to Apple's bottom line in calendar year 2014.

Jobs bio fosters resurgence in Apple-branded TV rumors originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

AmtrakConnect WiFi now available on at least one Northeast Regional train


Okay, so it's a little later than expected, but we're happy to report that at least some Northeast Regional trains have now been augmented by AmtrakConnect. This (free) WiFi has been available on Acela trains for some time now, and in a few lucky Regional trains in the Northwest. Amtrak still hasn't confirmed the existence of this connectivity, so we can't say for sure just how many of its trains have been suitably augmented, but we know that at least number 69, the Adirondack, has it, because we're using it right now. Connectivity is a little rough and speeds are decidedly low -- problems that can certainly be applied to this particular railway relic as a whole.

AmtrakConnect WiFi now available on at least one Northeast Regional train originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

DirecTV shows off its new HD UI with a website and trailer, still no release date


That slick, speedy new interface DirecTV recently pushed out to beta testers is officially getting hyped with a new landing page and (unfortunately not embeddable) video trailer. It advertises all the features we'd heard about, including the facelifted HD graphics, "lightning fast" scrolling, visual browsing experience and personalized recommendations. The HD UI is still without a release date however, and while we'd probably put it it ahead of the DirecTiVo on the company's current priority list, let's not forget who we're dealing with here. Hit the source link for the orientation materials, there will be a quiz later.

[Thanks, Stuart & cypherstream]

DirecTV shows off its new HD UI with a website and trailer, still no release date originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Oct 2011 16:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceDirecTV  | Email this | Comments

Americans Are Watching More Video Online — and Everywhere Else



Americans are watching more video than ever before — not just online and on mobile devices, but on traditional TV sets as well.

According to a Nielsen report, roughly half (48%) of Americans watch video online. One in 10 play video on their mobile devices — up 26% over the same period a year ago — and a full 97% watch TV.

Traditional viewing increased 2 hours and 43 minutes per month on average compared to last year.

Much of that TV consumption is now timeshifted. Timeshifted TV viewing — whether via DVR, video on-demand or DVD playback — has increased by 11% since last year, which Nielsen attributes largely to increased DVR penetration. The firm estimates 39% of TV households now have DVRs.

The study also found Americans are spending more time with their video game consoles, watching TV rather than just to playing games. Average daily time spent was up 14% compared to a year ago, and the number of TV households with consoles grew by 4% in the same period.

Do you think the rise of timeshifted TV viewing accounts for the jump in overall TV viewing? Let us know your habits by taking this poll.


Where do you watch most of your TV?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, CostinT

More About: Nielsen, ONLINE VIDEO, TV

For more Entertainment coverage:

How Google Ventures Chooses Which Startups Get Its $200 Million



Google Ventures, the search giant’s venture capital arm, will invest more than $200 million in more than 100 companies over the next year.

Bill Maris and Graham Spencer of Google Ventures discussed the VC firm’s investment philosophy at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco Tuesday. Maris explained that Google Ventures combines quantitative analysis of each startup along with traditional venture capital signals and gut instincts.

“We want to use our analytics to try to figure out … to get a better sense of whether we should invest,” Maris said as he explained how Google Ventures would choose the companies that would receive funding from the firm. The New York Times reported Google would spend $200 million in venture capital investments earlier this year.

Maris and Spencer said one thing that doesn’t affect the firm’s investment decisions is whether or not a company could be a strategic asset to Google. Like traditional VC firms, Google Ventures makes its investment decisions solely on the potential financial return to the firm and its partners.

When Federated Media’s John Battelle told Maris and Spencer they don’t act like normal VCs, Spencer responded with a simple quip. “Who at Google acts normally? It’s not something we’re trying to achieve.”

More About: Google, Google Ventures, Startups, Web 2.0 Summit

For more Business coverage:

9 Twitter Accounts Every Startup Investor Should Follow


Bill Clark is the CEO of Microventures, a startup fundraising platform that uses crowdfunding to allow investors to invest between $1,000 to $10,000 in startups. He also manages the venture capital firm MicroAngel Capital Partners. You can follow him on Twitter @austinbillc.

When I wanted to learn about becoming an angel investor, I targeted the best VCs out there. By following these investors on Twitter, I came to understand the investments they made and the technology that interested them. Their startup investment advice has helped advance my venture capital education, and continues to keep me up-to-speed on a daily basis.

The nine VCs below are essential follows for anyone looking to better understand the industry. If you have any additional suggestions, please share them in the comments below.


1. @fredwilson


Mashable!