TimeTube Takes You Back in Video Time

YouTube search webapp TimeTube creates a timeline of video clips for a certain search. Searching for instance for "Barack Obama" and you'll get back a timeline (or "tubeline") of video clips.

[via LifeHacker ]

NBC Streaming Full Episodes of 30 Rock and the Office to iPhones

NBC is streaming full episodes of 30 Rock and The Office to iPhones (and touches) in Quicktime, for free, with no ads.

[via Gizmodo ]

Entertainment Industry Wins a Round on Piracy

In what was seen as a victory for entertainment companies, a federal judge in Los Angeles issued damages totaling $111 million against an Internet company that helped users find copyright material free. The Wall Street Journal reports.

"The defendant, Valence Media LLC's TorrentSpy , was one of the Web's largest "torrent trackers," meaning it helped people find movies and other material they might want to download. TorrentSpy closed in March, telling users on its site the legal climate was "simply too hostile." It didn't store the video files on its own site but directed users to other locations.

The dollar value of the award -- which Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said she calculated by assigning a value of $30,000 to each of the 3,699 infringements shown -- should get the attention of people running similar sites. But they are largely based overseas and out of reach of U.S. law.

It is unlikely the movie companies that sued will get nearly the total damages. Valence Media's principals have declared bankruptcy. Valence is based in Nevis, a Caribbean island, and has filed for bankruptcy protection. The defendants plan to appeal, their lawyer, Ira Rothken, said."

Related Links

Coolspotters

Coolspotters , a new site from Connecticut based startup Fanzter , will launch later today. TechCrunch reports.

"It’s an eye-candy celebrity-focused site that shows users the products celebrities are wearing in various photos. Users can then talk about and, of course, purchase those items.

Users can track celebrities, products, brands, shows (TV, Movies, etc.), places, events, and more.

Other services such as SeenOn show clothing and other items used by celebrities in TV shows, which can then be purchased. But Coolspotters is the first collaborative site that gets users to do most of the work. It’s essentially a structured data wiki. The end result is a ton of highly structured, highly valuable information."

Related: - Shopisodes enable you to Dress Like Your Favorite TV Character

In praise of ... TED

Those who sneer at YouTube as a haven for bored teenagers, sneezing pandas and the terminally extroverted are behind the times, writes The Guardian .

"YouTube is not the only picture house in town; TED - nominated for three of the Webby awards that will be announced today - is proof of the appetite for knowledge and debate that confounds cynics who dismiss video-sharing as a spiral of aggression and idiocy.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) began life as an annual conference in California 24 years ago. It challenges 50 participants each to deliver "the talk of their lives" in 18 minutes. The best are now made available on ted.com , and an extraordinary assortment they are: from an 11-year-old Taiwanese violinist to James Watson talking about the discovery of the structure of DNA and Al Gore's thoughts on climate change (though politicians are generally, and perhaps rightly, absent).

What emerges is a spirit of inquiry and optimism that is American in the best sense.

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