MTV smacks YouTube, posts almost every music video ever

Do you sometimes find yourself wishing that there was a place you could go to just watch music videos? Back in the 80s, MTV served that purpose. These days, MTV and its sibling MTV2 are hardly channels anyone would watch in order to get a music video fix. MTV is looking to redeem itself in the music video department, however, by launching a new site Tuesday called MTV Music that opens up the company's massive video archive and puts it on the web for free.

MTV Music expands upon the music video offerings already posted to MTV.com by offering an entire back catalogue of videos that go all the way to when music videos were born. The library includes more than 16,000 videos, sprinkled with "exclusive" MTV concert footage and MTV "Unplugged" performances that used to be all the rage. And that's just the beginning. According to a blog post on MTV's Splash Page, more videos are being added by the day, so even if your favorite Paula Abdul selections haven't been posted yet, they probably will make it up eventually.

In addition to the consumer-facing side of MTV Music, the company has also launched an API that allows developers to build applications that make use of MTV Networks Content. The examples provided include creating a video gallery, a MySpace or Facebook app to send music video dedications to friends, the "music application of your dreams" made up of your favorite videos, or a blog plug-in to pull in various videos.

MTV Music may not seem like a big deal to some, but it's pretty major when you consider what's going on behind the scenes. YouTube originally stated in 2006 that its goal was to host "every single music video ever created"—an ambitious goal that the company hoped to accomplish within 6 to 18 months. That obviously hasn't happened, quite yet, and now MTV Music is way ahead of YouTube in the music video department. Ice burn.

Why hasn't YouTube caught up, even with a two-plus year head start? MTV is owned by Viacom, the company that filed a $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for "brazen" copyright infringement in 2007 (the suit is still pending). Among other things, Viacom wanted to have full control over any of its content that gets posted—something that YouTube could not provide.

MTV Music is also differentiating itself from YouTube by being light on the ads. All 16,000+ videos lack any form of advertising except for banner ads at the top of the page, while Google is currently testing video ads on some of its videos in order to monetize the massive (and otherwise un-monetizable) amount of content on the site.

Like YouTube, MTV Music allows users to not only watch videos on the site, but to also leave comment, give ratings, and embed the videos on their blogs or personal websites. [via arstechnica]

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Google Now Lets You Text Message from Gmail

Because we can't get enough new Gmail features, Google today rolled out a Gmail Labs feature that lets you send text messages from your Gmail chat window.

I got a hands-on demo of this simple, but useful feature from Gmail Product Manager Keith Coleman a half hour ago, when he had me send a text message to his iPhone from my Gmail account.

I simply entered his 10-digit area code and phone number in the chat window, and it offered me the option to send an SMS. I clicked on it, entered "Keith" as my contact, entered "This feature is cool" (like a geek) and hit Enter. I'm in Connecticut; Coleman is in Mountain View, Calif. He received my message in 3 seconds.

Coleman was a brand-new contact for me, so I had to enter his number to begin the SMS process. Users can SMS their existing Gmail chat contacts by opening a chat window and selecting the option to send an SMS.

Once you enter their phone numbers, it will save the digits in your contact entries. This means that when those contacts go offline, the chat window will give you the option to switch to SMS. Coleman said:

"This basically came from people saying, 'It's frustrating that when my friend goes offline, I can't chat with them,' so we decided to build something to address it."

There's more to the efficiency quotient. Usually, when you send an SMS from your computer to a phone, it shows up on the phone as a short code, or a super long number that changes all of the time.

When you send an SMS from Google chat, you get assigned a unique phone number for every pair of Gmail user and phone contact. That means that every time you SMS a contact, that contact will see the same number. That means the contact can add that to their contact lists on their phone. Coleman explained it thus:

"Let's say a month down the road, I'm at an airport and I know you're in front of your computer and I want to have you look up my flight information. I can just text you at that number, and it will show up right in your Gmail account."

Note, this Gmail Labs feature applies to U.S. phone numbers only. Now word yet on when it will be available internationally.

While Coleman claimed Google has no master plan regarding this incredible swath of Gmail features that have rolled out from Labs or via default in 2008, it's no secret Gmail is becoming a rich communications and collaboration tool.

Even better, most of these features will appeal to consumers and business users alike. This duality should make Gmail an attractive Web mail product for users looking to defect from Microsoft or Yahoo Web mail. [via googlewatch]

UPDATE: Google has rolled back the SMS feature in Gmail due to a glitch. It will be available again in about 2 weeks. See the official word from Google.

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Five Best Sites to Stream TV

With or without the cooperation of television networks, your favorite TV shows have moved to the internet in a big way. On Tuesday we asked you to share the best sites to stream TV, and now we're back with the five most popular answers. Keep reading for a breakdown of the best places on the web to find and watch the shows you love on-demand from the convenience of your browser.

Hulu

Hulu streams high-resolution, ad-supported videos of both television shows and movies. More specifically, the site distributes content by NBC-Universal, Fox, and a handful of their subsidiaries. Popular shows hosted by Hulu include The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Battlestar Galactica, The Simpsons, The Office, and Saturday Night Live. The biggest complaint leveled against Hulu is its US-only restrictions, though many of you are using previously mentioned Hotspot Shield to access Hulu from outside the US. Hulu isn't entirely US-only, though—the first show Hulu made available to the world at large was Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, with Lifehacker favorite Felicia Day.

SurfTheChannel

SurfTheChannel aggregates video from all over the internet—including sites like YouTube, MetaCafe, and Hulu (along with much more obscure sites)—then makes all of those videos available through a simple, searchable interface. It's not always pretty, but the selection is huge. The downside: According to the STC homepage, the site will shut down on October 1st.

SideReel

SideReel is a video aggregation site similar to SurfTheChannel, providing links to streaming video from all over the internet. It's an attractive site, but if you're there to find video it can be difficult to navigate to begin with. If video is what you're looking for, just navigate to the Links section of a show's page and click on the episode you want.

Straight from the Source

Apart from the sites dedicated to streaming content, more and more networks are building their own on-site tools for streaming content from the source. For example, the big three networks all have streaming sites: the ABC Full Episode Player, the NBC Video Library, and CBS Video. If you missed a show you're dying to catch online, be sure to check the web site of the network it aired on to see if it's available.

BBC iPlayer

The BBC iPlayer streams content from up to 250 programs from the British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC iPlayer restricts streaming to the UK-only, but like Hulu, setting up a proxy with an application like previously mentioned Hotspot Shield has worked for many people looking to get around these restrictions. [via lifehacker]

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Feature films coming to YouTube

YouTube will begin offering feature films produced by at least one of the biggest Hollywood movie studios possibly as early as next month, according to an executive with a major entertainment company.

For months, Google, YouTube's parent company, has been talking to the major film companies about launching an ad-supported, streaming movie service, two execs with knowledge of the negotiations told CNET News. "It's not imminent," said one of the executives. "But it's going to happen. I would say you can expect to see it, if all goes well, sometime within the next 30 to 90 days."

To be sure, not all the studios are prepared to give YouTube full-length movies. Canadian film company Lionsgate agreed in July to give YouTube access to only short movie clips. At least one other studio is trying to cut a similar deal for short-form content with Google, said a separate high-level industry insider.

There's skepticism in some circles about whether enough ads can be placed into a streaming movie to make it profitable without also overloading viewers with commercials. Another sticking point with some of the film companies is Google's insistence on using a specific ad format for feature films, according to two studio sources. They declined to specify which ad unit Google prefers--whether it's prerolls or postrolls or something else--but said some of the studios want the final say on how to advertise to viewers.

Google declined to discuss specifics, but a company spokeswoman issued this statement: "We are in negotiations with a variety of entertainment companies. Our goal is to offer maximum choice for our users, partners, and advertisers."

What is certain is that YouTube's original hope of building a behemoth business exclusively around short, homemade videos is, to this point at least, a bust. The company captured the world's imagination by showcasing 10-minute long user-generated videos but the strategy hasn't yielded much in the way of profits. Three years later, the company is turning to professionally made content.

YouTube vs. Hulu
By choosing this route, YouTube must go head-to-head against the Web's reigning king of streaming long-form video: Hulu.

A showdown between Hulu and the 3-year-old YouTube was inevitable. Consider that Hulu, the joint video venture formed by NBC Universal and News Corp., attracts only a fraction of the 80 million people who visit YouTube each month, but Hulu still managed to generate nearly the same revenue in its first year in business, according to reports.

Over the past year, Hulu's advantages over YouTube have become clear. Hulu attracts more ad revenue because advertisers are more comfortable with full-length TV shows and films more than they are with user-generated fare. Something else Hulu has going for it is a superior viewing experience. Hulu's player offers some of the clearest images found on the Web.

YouTube's new wide-screen player presents video in a less pixilated 16:9 format than the site's standard player, but it falls short of providing Hulu-esque quality.

But here's what YouTube offers that Hulu can't: 80 million monthly visitors. No other video site comes close to reaching an audience of that size.

"We'd love to have our long-form content in front of that audience," said an executive with a studio close to reaching an agreement with YouTube.

YouTube's move to join the growing number of competitors trying to deliver movies over the Internet isn't entirely unexpected. Last month, CBS, parent company of CNET News, announced it had agreed to post full-length TV shows on YouTube. That same month, Google rolled out a new wide-screen video player built to display long-form content.

In addition, Google has lamented publicly YouTube's inability to generate significant income. Some people, including me, predicted it was only a matter of time before Google began obtaining rights to TV shows and films.

But I didn't believe Google could manage to shore up relations with Hollywood as quickly as it did.

Kinder, gentler relations?
YouTube was supposed to be despised by the entertainment industry. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman last summer called YouTube a "rogue company." YouTube became the Web's No. 1 video site and amassed an enormous following, partly by becoming a favorite place for people to post pirated clips of TV shows and movies. YouTube got rich on the backs of filmmakers, or so it seemed to many content owners.

It didn't help that Google often took a hard line in negotiations with the studios, according to multiple sources. Things got hostile enough for Viacom, parent company of Paramount Pictures, to file a $1 billion copyright lawsuit against Google last year. That case continues to play out in the courts.

But then Google's approach to Hollywood changed. Google actually began wooing the studios. The search company, which has said often that it doesn't want to be a media company, won over many a bitter studio suit by developing systems that help them either thwart piracy or profit from it. Google representatives also became more flexible about sharing ad revenue, according to insiders.

How far the relationship between Hollywood and Google will go is anybody's guess. It's going to be hard for YouTube to land Universal or 20th Century Fox because each has a parent company that owns a stake in Hulu.

"Will (Google) try to get into the same space as Hulu, of course," said one studio executive. "Lots of people will."

Google also wants to deliver all the ads and this is problematic because some other companies do a better job, according to one of the executives. He singled out Auditude, which enables a content owner to insert ads into clips wherever they might appear on the Web. This means that if someone posts a pirated copy to some blog or message board, Auditude can slip an ad within the player and allow the rightful owner to turn a buck.

The one thing that Google and YouTube should be encouraged about is that a growing number of Hollywood executives who believe there are plenty of people interested for viewing films on PCs.

"Our movies are consumed frequently and for long periods of time on the net," said the exec whose company is in talks with Google. "We're big believers in long-form feature film content on new media platforms."[via cnet]

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How To Send Email To Any Cell Phone (for Free)

Want to send a short email to a friend and get it delivered to his/her cell phone as SMS? If you know your friends’ phone numbers and the carrier they are on then you can easily send emails to their cell phones directly from your email program.

Here is how it works:

Most of mobile carriers offer free Email To SMS gateways which can be used to forward simple text emails to a mobile phones. And the good news, majority of those gateways are free and available to the general public.

You just need to know the number and the carrier of the recipient to start emailing them to mobile phone. Below we put together a table listing free email to SMS gateways for different carriers. You can use as quick reference both for US and international mobile numbers.

Free Email To SMS Gateways (Major US Carriers)

Carrier	Email to SMS Gateway
Alltel	[10-digit phone number]@message.alltel.com Example: 1234567890@message.alltel.com
AT&T (formerly Cingular)	[10-digit phone number]@txt.att.net [10-digit phone number]@mms.att.net (MMS) [10-digit phone number]@cingularme.com Example: 1234567890@txt.att.net
Boost Mobile	[10-digit phone number]@myboostmobile.com Example: 1234567890@myboostmobile.com
Nextel (now Sprint Nextel)	[10-digit telephone number]@messaging.nextel.com Example: 1234567890@messaging.nextel.com
Sprint PCS (now Sprint Nextel)	[10-digit phone number]@messaging.sprintpcs.com [10-digit phone number]@pm.sprint.com (MMS) Example: 1234567890@messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile	[10-digit phone number]@tmomail.net Example: 1234567890@tmomail.net
US Cellular	[10-digit phone number]email.uscc.net (SMS) [10-digit phone number]@mms.uscc.net (MMS) Example: 1234567890@email.uscc.net
Verizon	[10-digit phone number]@vtext.com [10-digit phone number]@vzwpix.com (MMS) Example: 1234567890@vtext.com
Virgin Mobile USA	[10-digit phone number]@vmobl.com Example: 1234567890@vmobl.com

Free Email To SMS Gateways (International + Smaller US)

These are all I could find from Wikipedia and other sources. If you’re aware of any other ones please share them in comments and I’ll add them to the list.

Carrier	Email to SMS Gateway
7-11 Speakout (USA GSM)	number@cingularme.com
Airtel (Karnataka, India)	number@airtelkk.com
Airtel Wireless (Montana, USA)	number@sms.airtelmontana.com
Alaska Communications Systems	number@msg.acsalaska.com
Aql	number@text.aql.com
AT&T Enterprise Paging	number@page.att.net
BigRedGiant Mobile Solutions	number@tachyonsms.co.uk
Bell Mobility & Solo Mobile (Canada)	number@txt.bell.ca
BPL Mobile (Mumbai, India)	number@bplmobile.com
Cellular One (Dobson)	number@mobile.celloneusa.com
Cingular (Postpaid)	number@cingularme.com
Centennial Wireless	number@cwemail.com
Cingular (GoPhone prepaid)	number@cingularme.com (SMS)
Claro (Brasil)	number@clarotorpedo.com.br
Claro (Nicaragua)	number@ideasclaro-ca.com
Comcel	number@comcel.com.co
Cricket	number@sms.mycricket.com (SMS)
CTI	number@sms.ctimovil.com.ar
Emtel (Mauritius)	number@emtelworld.net
Fido (Canada)	number@fido.ca
General Communications Inc.	number@msg.gci.net
Globalstar (satellite)	number@msg.globalstarusa.com
Helio	number@myhelio.com
Illinois Valley Cellular	number@ivctext.com
Iridium (satellite)	number@msg.iridium.com
i wireless	number.iws@iwspcs.net
Koodo Mobile (Canada)	number@msg.koodomobile.com
Meteor (Ireland)	number@sms.mymeteor.ie
Mero Mobile (Nepal)	977number@sms.spicenepal.com
MetroPCS	number@mymetropcs.com
Movicom	number@movimensaje.com.ar
Mobitel (Sri Lanka)	number@sms.mobitel.lk
Movistar (Colombia)	number@movistar.com.co
MTN (South Africa)	number@sms.co.za
MTS (Canada)	number@text.mtsmobility.com
Nextel (United States)	number@messaging.nextel.com
Nextel (Argentina)	TwoWay.11number@nextel.net.ar
Orange Polska (Poland)	9digit@orange.pl
Personal (Argentina)	number@alertas.personal.com.ar
Plus GSM (Poland)	+48number@text.plusgsm.pl
President’s Choice (Canada)	number@txt.bell.ca
Qwest	number@qwestmp.com
Rogers (Canada)	number@pcs.rogers.com
SL Interactive (Australia)	number@slinteractive.com.au
Sasktel (Canada)	number@sms.sasktel.com
Setar Mobile email (Aruba)	297+number@mas.aw
Suncom	number@tms.suncom.com
T-Mobile (Austria)	number@sms.t-mobile.at
T-Mobile (UK)	number@t-mobile.uk.net
Telus Mobility (Canada)	number@msg.telus.com
Thumb Cellular	number@sms.thumbcellular.com
Tigo (Formerly Ola)	number@sms.tigo.com.co
Tracfone (prepaid)	number@mmst5.tracfone.com
Unicel	number@utext.com
Virgin Mobile (Canada)	number@vmobile.ca
Vodacom (South Africa)	number@voda.co.za
YCC	number@sms.ycc.ru
MobiPCS (Hawaii only)	number@mobipcs.net

If you are aware of any other free sms to email gateways please add it in comments. Also let us know whether you tried any of the above and your experience with it. [via make use of]

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Five Best CD and DVD Burning Tools

The internet has made it easier than ever to share media and data with friends, family, and co-workers, but that doesn't mean burning your own CDs and DVDs is a thing of the past. Blank optical discs are dirt cheap, they work virtually everywhere, and if you bought your computer sometime in the last 5 years, chances are you've got the necessary hardware to quickly burn anything you want to a disc in just a few minutes. Now all you need is the right authoring tools. Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite CD and DVD burning tools, and today we're back with the five most popular answers. Keep reading for a closer look at your favorites, then cast a vote for the burning tool you like best. Photo by the trial.

InfraRecorder (Windows)

InfraRecorder is a free, open-source CD and DVD burning application for Windows. InfraRecorder covers almost any of your optical needs, including support for burning disc images, copying discs, creating quick audio CDs, writing video DVDs, erasing discs, and more. InfraRecorder is lightweight and decidedly bloat-free, and it's even available as a portable app you can carry on your thumb drive to satisfy your burning needs no matter where you are.

ImgBurn (Windows/Linux)

ImgBurn is a free CD and DVD Swiss Army knife for Windows (it also runs on Linux under Wine). ImgBurn can write data from a variety of formats, burns audio CDs, ISOs, and video DVDs, including regular DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray DVD. As an added bonus, ImgBurn can read a disc to an image on your hard drive and build a disc image from files on your computer. It's fast, easy to use, and doesn't cost a penny. Incidentally, this app is still actively developed by the same developer who built the once very popular DVD Decrypter.

K3b (Linux)

K3b (which stands for KDE Burn Baby Burn) is an open-source burning application for Linux. Like the rest, K3b supports common tasks like burning audio CDs, data discs, disc images and disc copying. For movie lovers, K3b can even rip your DVDs to your hard drive in either of the popular DivX or Xvid formats. If you're running Linux, K3b is easily one of the most popular options for burning anything to your optical discs.

CDBurnerXP (Windows)

CDBurnerXP is a free authoring software for Windows. Despite its name, CDBurnerXP works with Windows Vista, 2000, 2003 Server, and XP; it also burns to CD and DVD, including HD and Blu-ray. It's got a small footprint, and like most of the other options, burns data discs, audio CDs, and ISOs without a hitch. CDBurnerXP is light, fast, and free, requires .NET 3.5.

Nero (Windows/Linux)

Nero 9 is a shareware optical media authoring tool for Windows that's long been the go-to favorite for robust, user-friendly CD and DVD burning for a price. Detractors complain that Nero is slow and bloated (and the 370MB download, 2GB free space requirement, and long install time doesn't inspire confidence to the contrary), but fans argue that you can install only what you need from Nero and that its simplicity more than makes up for the bloat. Nero 9 is an $80 shareware (grab the trial here), Windows only, requires .NET 3.0. Linux users can give Nero Linux a go for $25. [via life hacker]

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