We've started taking an initial look at building out some of our services for mobile devices. Spent some time last week evaluating iPhone application development, and though it supports web standards apps, the really nice apps are going to require customized development with a real Cocoa-based SDK (last word is that it won't be shipping until Spring 2008). It seems that iPhone as a development environment is already encumbered by Apple's insistence on being proprietary and somewhat close-minded.

Google's newly announced Android OS, on the other hand, is a true open source project, and they've even gone so far as to develop their own virtual machine in order to circumvent Sun's restrictions on applications developed with the JME. It also supports the latest whiz-bang mobile media and networking features right out of the box, and has improved on Sun's original Java mobile class implementation.

So I guess the real question for us is, will developers out there adapt Android over iPhone? It certainly seems likely that they will, given Google's track record and the fact that open software leads to open innovation.

Founder of revolutionary social music service (iLike) sets sights on socially personalized on-demand video from multiple sources

NewTeeVee Live, San Francisco – 7:30AM PST, November 14, 2007

Recently funded San Francisco startup, ffwd (pronounced “fast forward”), started accepting applications today from potential beta users. The beta program will begin on November 30th, 2007 with 2,500 users and last for at least 6 months. The announcement was made at NewTeeVee Live and the instructions for applicants were posted at www.ffwd.com.

All beta users will have access to a full-featured version of the service and will be invited to give feedback on the following components of the product roadmap:
• Online, cable and broadcast content syndication (millions of channels)
• Tracking favorite videos of friends across multiple social networks
• Pushing recommendations to your TV or mobile device
Select users will also be invited to preview features “in the labs” and participate in the product planning process.

Patrick Koppula, former co-founder/COO of iLike & GarageBand.com and now CEO of ffwd, will be available throughout the day at NewTeeVee Live to discuss the program. Please email press@ffwd.com or call 415.873.3881 to schedule an interview.

About ffwd
ffwd was funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and founded by veterans from iLike & CNET Entertainment. The team, which also includes veterans from Eveo and Rock You, will deliver a service (previewed at www.ffwd.com) to relieve the information overload caused by the on-demand video content explosion.

About NewTeeVee Live
Presented by the GigaOM Network, NewTeeVee Live is a the premier, one-day event showcasing the online video industry's hottest topics, most talented video producers, promising technologies, leading innovators and top funding executives. NewTeeVee Live is also the culmination of NewTeeVee.com’s highly popular summer Pier Screenings series. The conference will bring together 500 of the most influential executives in the emerging online video industry on November 14, 2007 in San Francisco. The full conference website is available at http://live.newteevee.com.

About NewTeeVee
NewTeeVee is the leading chronicler of the reinvention of television. The site points readers to hot online video technology and startups and traces the talent, money, code, and data across the network. It combines the signature GigaOM skepticism with a healthy sense of wonder for all the rapidly changing developments in the online video industry. Daily web video industry coverage is available at http://www.newteevee.com

About the GigaOM Network
GigaOmniMedia’s network of sites provide one of the leading daily online news reads for the key influencers in the emerging technology market place. We deliver technology news, analysis and opinions on topics ranging from broadband and online games to Web 2.0. Founded in 2006, we now serve a monthly global audience of 1.5 million consumers and professionals interested in the latest news in the world of high-tech. Built by experienced journalists, the GigaOM team spots the trends and applies a professional journalistic perspective to provide the reader with a definite point of view. GigaOM reports the news and makes the audience smarter through informed analysis. GigaOmniMedia’s network of sites have received multiple accolades from BusinessWeek, CNET, Forbes, PC Magazine, Technorati and Hitwise. More information is available at http://www.gigaom.com.

Keywords
ffwd, NewTeeVee, video, iLike, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, beta, cable, broadcast, recommendations, Patrick Koppula

Despite our need for taking a short break during Halloween and letting loose with our candy addiction, we were able to push a new update to the site today. The Beta 1.6 release includes some nice new functionality under the hood, as well as some UI improvements:

• A newly revised home page! We've improved the look and feel of the home page by including some captivating shots of our site UI, as well as quick links to our blog and job postings.
• Private video sharing! If you send a video recommendation to somebody and you want to keep it between just you and your friend, you now have the option of selecting a privacy box on the share form before you send it.
• Bookmark sharing buttons! If you want to share our site on Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, or Del.ico.us, go right ahead, who's stopping you now?
• We've introduced a new rev of our video import system which will make it much easier in the future for us to be able to add support for new sites and services.
• We've made it easier for you to give us feedback by linking our feedback form directly into our Trac system. That means bugs that are reported by you automatically generate a ticket now for our engineering team. We can now also track site feedback and feature requests this way.

Our focus over the next several weeks will be to continue to improve the video recommendations and personalization engine.  We'll be introducing some new features that will make your video lives much better. In the meantime, enjoy the new build and keep sharing those vids.