June 6, 2007

AOL’s New Video Search Tools for Developers

With the acquisition of Truveo last year, AOL signaled clear intent to extend its capabilities in video search. For developers, the good news is that AOL has recently followed a successful industry trend by “giving away the good stuff” to build a following. One look at the Video Search Developer Center shows why so many developers have employed their tools. For example, AOL now provides XML, Ajax and Flash APIs which allow developers to add video search functionality to their web sites.

For video producers, AOL can support distribution via upload or by submitting feeds for videos already on the web for those with a free AOL Video Search Director Account. As a bonus, those with a Director Account also get status monitoring, error reporting and feed statistics.

Look for more advances from AOL in the video search space.

Posted by amandawatlington at 10:16 AM | Permalink

March 22, 2007

AOL, MSN, MySpace And Yahoo! Strike Deal for Video

News Corporation and NBC today announced the launch of an Internet video distribution network that will bring as soon as this summer television content to the Internet within hours of its first time distribution. AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! will be the new site’s initial distribution partners. It is also anticipated that the site will include consumer-generated video as well as thousands of hours of full-length television programming, videos and clips. This will include premium content from a dozen networks and major film studios.

This network will offer free long- and short-form video. Each of the distribution partners will show the content via a customized embedded player. The venture promises on-air and on-line advertising opportunities. Initial advertisers already lined up include Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco, Esurance, Intel and General Motors. This distribution network will provide advertisers and users a powerful alternative to YouTube. Is Google worried? According to reports in the LA Times Google executives disdain for the project and have nicknamed the consortium: Clown Co. It remains to be seen who will have the last laugh.

Posted by amandawatlington at 3:18 PM | Permalink

August 4, 2006

AOL Video Portal Is Live Today

There's lots of news coming out of AOL this week: free email, free phone numbers, layoffs . . . Earlier in the week the new AOL video portal was announced. Today it's live. It contains a mix of free and paid content. Video search is powered by AOL's Truveo and Singing Fish engines. It also claims to allow full-screen viewing without degrading resolution. According to Hitwise, AOL has the sixth most popular video destination online behind YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo! Video Search, MSN Video Search, Google Video.

Check it out and see how it compares.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 11:50 AM | Permalink

August 1, 2006

AOL Video To Launch New Video Portal

I received a press release yesterday from AOL, announcing the soon to launch new AOL Video portal at www.aolvideo.com, August 4th. What can you expect? More than "45 new video-on-demand content channels with thousands of hours of video programming from popular entertainment brands, organized and accessible via video search, browse or an interactive programming guide; free streaming content as well as the ability to purchase and download full-length content that can be viewed on multiple devices and PCs, online or offline; and access to millions of music videos, news clips, movie trailers, full length TV shows, and more."

Gary Price has a historical write up of AOL Video, check it out here.

Full Release:

AOL TO LAUNCH NEW VIDEO PORTAL

Includes More than 45 New Video Channels With Content >From Leading Entertainment Brands Including A&E Television Networks, MTV Networks, Turner Networks, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Many More

One-Stop Video Portal Has Innovative Programming Guide, Integrated Video Search and Browse, Easy Video Uploading and Sharing, Video Store and More

Open Platform Will Let AOL Extend AOL Video and Video Search to Multiple Platforms and Across the Web

DULLES, VA - July 31, 2006 - AOL, a leader in live and on-demand entertainment video programming and video search, today announced that it will preview a beta version of its new AOL Video portal later this week. Available for free to anyone on the Web at http://www.aolvideo.com, the new AOL Video is an all-in-one, high-quality entertainment destination to find, watch and share millions of the best videos across the Web.

New features on the AOL® Video portal include: over 45 new video-on-demand content channels with thousands of hours of video programming from popular entertainment brands, organized and accessible via video search, browse or an interactive programming guide; free streaming content as well as the ability to purchase and download full-length content that can be viewed on multiple devices and PCs, online or offline; and access to millions of music videos, news clips, movie trailers, full length TV shows, and more.

AOL Video also includes AOL® Video Search, which is based on industry leading video search technology from Truveo™ and Singingfish, and a video player that can go full screen without losing picture quality and that supports AOL's exclusive Hi-Q™ video format to watch DVD-quality videos online. In addition, the portal includes AOL's new UnCut Video offering, which makes it easy to upload and share videos online by providing full device support, letting consumers upload and share videos directly from their camcorder, Webcam, video-enabled mobile phone, as well as their PC.

"AOL has long been a leader in online video and with the new AOL Video portal we have created the best and easiest place online for anyone on the Web to find, watch and share the videos they're looking for," said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of AOL. "From originally produced and licensed programming to branded online video-on-demand channels to user-created videos that people create, upload and share on the Web themselves, AOL Video is truly the first one-stop source that brings the best videos on the Web together in one place and gives consumers more choice. If a video is out there, you'll find it here on AOL Video.com." New Video-On-Demand Content Channels and Programming Guide

At the center of the AOL Video portal's main page will be one of the Web's first online interactive programming guides (IPG) that brings together free and download-to-own video content from across broadcast and cable television and the Web and organizes it into new, branded video-on-demand channels.

At launch, the AOL Video IPG will feature more than 45 video-on-demand channels, including many programmed by new video content partners, including: A&E Television Networks (including A&E® Network, The History Channel® and The Biography Channel®), Comedy Time, Endemol USA, Expo TV, LIME, MTV Networks (including COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, MTV2, The N, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Spike TV and VH1), National Lampoon, Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc., ¡SORPRESA!, South Coast Golf, TBS, TNT, TotalVid, TV Guide, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Wild America and WNBA.

In addition, AOL and its joint venture partners program a variety of additional channels including: In2TV™, TMZ.com™, Lat34.com, AOL Uncut Video, AOL Music, AOL News, AOL Coaches, AOL Television, AOL Viral Videos, KOL and Moviefone. New video channels and programming from additional partners will be added on an ongoing basis. A complete list and descriptions of channels available at launch is included at the end of the press release.

Powerful Video Search

AOL's video search engine will be prominently featured on the new portal. AOL Video Search returns results from all of the most active video sources on the Internet, including YouTube, Yahoo! (Yahoo Music, Yahoo News, Yahoo Movies, etc.), Google Video, iFilm, AtomFilms and more. Powered by AOL's Truveo and Singingfish technologies, the AOL Video Search engine is also able to crawl and index high-quality videos on the Web that traditional search engines are unable to find. AOL's unique "Visual Crawling" capability automatically discovers video files and related information on complex, dynamic web pages - a task that is a challenge for conventional crawling technologies.

AOL Video Search also has significantly greater reach than any other video search engine on the Web. Through its network of search properties - which includes AOL Search, InfoSpace, Real, and others - AOL Video Search, branded and white-labeled, is available to more users than any other video search product.

Multi-Faceted Distribution Strategy Extends the AOL Video Experience

AOL Video is built on an open technology platform and architecture that will enable AOL to extend the AOL Video experience across platforms and devices to make it easy for users to watch it on multiple screens, including desktops, laptops, large screens (plasma), and handheld devices.

Earlier this year AOL and Intel Corporation announced a joint effort to extend a tailored version of the AOL Video experience to consumers' living rooms via Intel Viiv technology-based PCs. The companies plan to launch this new "10-foot" experience in the coming weeks, making the content easily viewable on large screen TVs and other devices.

This fall, AOL plans to make available Open APIs that will enable developers to incorporate AOL's leading Video Search results into third-party user experiences, as well as other tools that will enable developers and consumers to incorporate features from the AOL Video portal for other websites. In addition, AOL is working with PC OEMs and broadband service providers to develop co-branded versions of the AOL Video portal.

The launch of the new AOL Video.com is another example of how AOL has been building upon its online video and video search strategy, including making key acquisitions. Over the last year, these initiatives have included:

- The record-breaking global broadcast online of the "Live 8" concerts; - Last year's launch of its innovative Video Hub destination on AOL.com; - The launch of high-quality video playback through AOL's exclusive Hi-Q™ video format -- AOL.com was the first major portal to offer high-/DVD-quality videos; - Landmark content and original programming agreements that exemplify how AOL is creating a new model for television distribution, such as the Warner Bros. "In2TV" offering, the first on-demand Broadband Television Network with the largest collection of free TV programming anywhere on the Web; - The launch of TMZ.com, the AOL-Telepictures new, on-demand entertainment news network; - AOL's acquisition of the two foremost video search companies; Truveo in December 2005, a complement to the acquisition of Singingfish in 2003; - A growing index of several million videos, including the most comprehensive coverage of some of the highest quality and most popular video on the Web; - AOL's investment in and partnership with Brightcove, a Web video distribution pioneer; and - AOL's acquisition of Lightningcast, a broadband video advertising innovator.

Availability

The enhanced AOL Video portal (http://www.aolvideo.com) will be available for beta testing starting later this week. For more information on the beta test and to sign up for an alert to be automatically notified when the beta test is available, please visit http://www.aolvideo.com, or AOL Beta Central at http://beta.aol.com.

About AOL

AOL and its subsidiaries operate a leading network of Web brands and the largest Internet access subscription service in the United States. Web brands include the AOL.com® website, AIM®, MapQuest® and Netscape®. AOL offers a range of digital services in the areas of education, safety and security, communications and music. The company also has operations in Europe and Canada. AOL LLC is a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. and is based in Dulles, Virginia.

Contact Information Jaymelina Esmele AOL (703) 265-7831

Note: For free video and additional information regarding AOL Video, please log onto www.thenewsmarket.com/aol to make requests. You can receive broadcast-standard video digitally or by tape from this site. Registration and video is free to the media.

=======================

AOLVideo.com New Content Partners & Video-On-Demand Channel Line-Up As of July 31, 2006, in alphabetical order The AOL Video portal will bring together free and download-to-own video programming from content partners across broadcast and cable television and the Web, organized it into new, branded video-on-demand channels

Channels Programmed by Leading Partners:

- A&E Television Networks - From A&E Television Networks' bouquet of channels, programming from A&E Network, The Biography Channel and The History Channel.

- A&E Network - Popular, full length programs real-life and lifestyle series such as “Inked,” “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” “Criss Angel Mindfreak” and “Flip This House.”

- The Biography Channel - Programs that showcase compelling stories about the world's most interesting people in categories including American Icons, Pop Culture & Entertainment, Notorious, Real West and Mysteries of the Bible.

- The History Channel - Documentaries, series and specials about everything from ancient history to military history, technology and more, including “Digging for the Truth,” “Modern Marvels” and “Decoding the Past.” - Comedy Time - Everything from stand-up comedy and man on the street segments to original, short-form programs. Stand-up categories include Urban, Latino, Observational, Relationship, Family and Alternative.

- Expo TV - Product reviews and demonstrations from experts and viewers on a variety of topics including cars, electronics, home and kitchen appliances, parenting gear and much more.

- LIME - Videos for those seeking a healthier, greener, more balanced lifestyle including videos from popular Lime television series and documentaries as well as extensive online content from lime.com.

- MTV Networks - MTV Networks’ full array of entertainment, comedy and music programming from its COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, MTV2, The N, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Spike TV and VH1 brands is available for paid download, including: - COMEDY CENTRAL – Cutting-edge comedy including full-length episodes of “Chappelle’s Show,” the Emmy-award winning “South Park,” “Reno 911!,” “Crank Yankers” and “Mind of Mencia.” - Logo – Original shows and specials for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) audience including “Noah’s Arc,” and “Open Bar,” as well as “Real Momentum” documentaries - The N –Award-winning and original TV shows reflecting the real-life issues teens face every day, including “Degrassi,” “South of Nowhere,” “O’Grady,” “Beyond the Break and Whistler.” - Nickelodeon – A vast library of shows from the number-one entertainment brand for kids including “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Zoey 101,” “The Fairly OddParents,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” and many more. - Nick Jr. – Full-length episodes of preschoolers’ favorites including “Dora the Explorer,” and “Blue’s Clues.”

- Nick at Nite – “Fatherhood,” the animated comedy series based on Bill Cosby’s best-selling book of the same name, and “Hi-Jinks,” hit hidden-camera series where adults play good-natured pranks on kids of all ages. - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION – Hundreds of episodes including the hit series “Laguna Beach,” “Punk’d,” “My Super Sweet Sixteen,” “Viva La Bam,” “Wildboyz,” “Pimp My Ride,” “The Real World,” and many others. - MTV2 – Compelling and irreverent series such as “Andy Milonakis,” “Chico & Guapo,” “Celebrity Death Match” and “WonderShowzen.” - Spike TV – Series geared to helping men Get More Action, such as “Disorderly Conduct,” “TNA: iMPACT!” “Muscle Car” and others.

- TV Land – “Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg,” hosted by legendary comedian, producer and director David Steinberg, is a one-on-one comedy forum where celebrated performers including Larry David, Martin Short, Bob Newhart, Jon Lovitz and George Lopez open up about their personal lives. - VH1 – A wide array of VH1’s hit Celebreality series such as “Flavor of Love,” “Hogan Knows Best,” “The Surreal Life,” “Breaking Bonaduce,” “My Fair Brady” and others. - National Lampoon – An all-new Internet video channel from the biggest name in comedy. It's everything you expect from National Lampoon (AMEX:NLN) -- smart, edgy, funny, irreverent, impolite and definitely NOT PC -- and more! All original, all new and all created for the digital world. - Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc. - The company that put the “soap” in soap operas presents the P&G Classic Soaps channel, featuring episodes from “Another World,” “The Edge of Night,” “Search for Tomorrow” and “Texas,” including some available for the first time since they ended their successful runs. In addition, this channel offers original companion content for the contemporary classics “As The World Turns” and “Guiding Light.”

- ¡SORPRESA! - Spanish-language children's programming including "Tienda Mágica," "Cachureos," and "El Planeta de Remi."

- South Coast Golf - Golf lessons from "Hall of Fame" PGA Tour professionals including Dave Stockton, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and many others. - TBS – A collection of clips from TBS's top-notch line-up of comedy series, stand-up comedy from the Laugh Factory and the Aspen Comedy Festival, award-winning Department of Humor Analysis shorts and much more. - TNT – TNT original movies, plus special behind-the-scenes extras and interviews from TNT's hit original series "The Closer," "Saved" and "Nightmares and Dreamscapes: >From the Stories of Stephen King." - TotalVid.com – Video clips covering a variety of enthusiast, educational, and instructional categories, including alternative sports, cooking, home improvement, martial arts, outdoors, self defense, sports instruction and travel.

- TV Guide for Broadband – Videos that offer the inside track on entertainment information including celebrity interviews, music videos, and original programs like “InFANity,” which offers behind the scenes footage from TV’s top shows, and “Square Off,” an inside look at the TV industry with hosts Brian Lowry (Variety) and Andy Wallenstein (The Hollywood Reporter). - Warner Bros. Entertainment - Full length episodes of "Dukes of Hazzard," "Babylon 5," sketches from "MADtv" and animated shows including "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons." - Wild America - The world's largest film library covering the wildlife and nature of North America.

- WNBA - Coverage of the WNBA's best and brightest games and moments.

Channels Programmed by AOL:

- AOL UnCut Video - Home videos, comedic clips and other footage created by consumers.

- AOL Music - Thousands of music videos, exclusive intimate performances, live concerts and hours of artist interviews.

- AOL News - Hundreds of stories and live breaking news from the AP, Reuters, Extra, ABC, CNN and CBS.

- AOL Coaches - A digest of the best advice, tips, and tools from the leading experts in diet, fitness, wellness, romance, family and money.

- AOL Viral Videos - A collection of the funniest and most popular clips that everyone is sending around the Web.

- KOL - Original animated shows including "Princess Natasha" and "Pilar's Adventures" as well as "KOL's Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party on CBS" show clips, Radio KOL videos and KOL Celebrity Videos.

- Moviefone - Thousands of movie trailers, extended film clips, and "Unscripted," Moviefone.com's original Web series in which today's biggest stars and filmmakers interview each other using their own questions and those submitted by fans.

Channels Programmed by AOL and Its Joint Venture Partners:

- In2TV - The following In2TV channels feature hundreds of full length episodes of popular television series including: - Dramarama TV - Great dramatic series like "Eight is Enough," "Falcon Crest," "Sisters," "Spenser: for Hire," and "Scarecrow and Mrs. King." - Get Real TV - Favorite game show, courtroom and relationship shows such as "Elimidate," "Change of Heart," "The People's Court," "The Moral Court," and "The Will." - Gone But Not Forgotten TV - Critically acclaimed, but prematurely canceled series like "Against the Grain," "Presidio Med," "Wanda at Large," "The George Carlin Show," "Max Headroom," and "Jesse." - Heroes & Horror TV - Sci-fi and horror series including "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," "Babylon 5," "Freddy's Nightmares" and "The Adventures of Wonder Woman." - In2TV en Espanol - This Spanish language version of In2TV features over two dozen popular television series in Spanish that have previously only been seen in their original English broadcast format. - LOL TV - Laugh out loud with comedy favorites like "Welcome Back Kotter," "Chico and the Man," "Perfect Strangers," "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper," and "Head of the Class." - Superman TV - The Man of Steel soars throughout this channel in a documentary film, comic book animation, and television series including the original "The Adventures of Superman," "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," and "Superboy." - Toontopia TV - Top-rated animation comes to life with "Pinky and the Brain," "Beetlejuice," "Freakazoid," "Histeria!," and "The New Adventures of Batman." - Vintage TV - Classics like "Growing Pains," "Alice," "F Troop," "Maverick," and "The F.B.I." - What a Rush TV - Action-adventure favorites such as "Kung Fu," "La Femme Nikita," "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.," "The Fugitive," "Dark Justice," and more. - Lat34.com - Dynamic and timely video coverage of action sports wherever they occur.

- TMZ.com - Exclusive breaking news and video from the world of entertainment and celebrities.

# # #

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:10 AM | Permalink

May 26, 2006

AOL Video Gets Google Video Promotion

Way back when Google and AOL cut their partnership deal, AOL was to get promotion on Google Video. What, big flashing neon AOL banners? Actually, Google said it would be low-key. And that's pretty much what's been delivered. Gary Price noted earlier this week that a small AOL Video link had been added to the reverse bar of the Featured section of Google Video. Look over there on the right-hand side. You can't -- well, you can -- miss it.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:20 AM | Permalink

March 7, 2006

AOL Launches In2TV Beta; Free Access to Classic TV Shows

Gary Price reports in AOL Launches Access to Vintage TV Programming that TV classics are available at AOL In2TV Beta for free. All you need is a free username and password (your AIM login should work). The shows include many popular classics including; Growing Pains, Babylon 5 and Beetlejuice. For a full list of episodes currently available, click here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:24 AM | Permalink

February 20, 2006

Updated AOL Video Coming; Free Classic TV Shows Come Later

Sometime this week, AOL Video is to begin making use of the Truveo video search engine that AOL purchased in December and offer "AOL Hi-Q Videos," content which is said to be of DVD quality. USA Today also reports that next month, some classic Warner Bros. TV shows such as Welcome Back Kotter, Kung Fu and Battlestar Galactica (TOS - The Old Series) will be available for free. Looking today, AOL Video doesn't appear to have shifted over. Here's what AOL says to expect"

The key features of the new AOL Video Search will include a more streamlined presentation of search results, the inclusion of AOL Hi-Q Videos (DVD-quality) in the video index, and the integration of video search technology from Truveo, a company AOL acquired in December 2005. We're also continuing to refine the relevancy and recency of results and will make enhancements on an on-going basis.

Over the past two years, Truveo has pioneered a new technology called "Visual Crawling" for finding video on the Web. With this technology, our search engine can now find and index all of the great high-quality video on the Web that traditional search engines have never been able to find. The 1.8 million videos indexed through Truveo, expand our existing archive of 20,000+ original and licensed videos, and the 2.5 million videos from the Web indexed through Singingfish.

We believe the integration of Truveo's powerful technology will firmly establish AOL Video Search as the go-to destination to find and discover online video content. As the amount of video content available on the Web explodes and as users continue to consume online videos at a record pace, AOL Video Search will continually evolve to meet the growing needs of online consumers.

Postscript by Barry Schwartz: Gary Price posted an entry back in November named AOL High Quality Video Downloads, AOL Triton IM Gets Search Box & Sharing MSNBC Articles Via MSN Messenger which is highly related to Danny's update above.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 2:59 PM | Permalink

January 10, 2006

AOL Acquires Truveo Video Search and Crawling Technology For Undisclosed Sum

News from AOL this morning that they've acquired video search engine and video crawling technology, Truveo, for an undisclosed sum. The deal was formally signed on December 21st and is being made public today.

Truveo first went launched in beta last summer and we blogged about it here. Truveo technology crawls the open web for video files using a technology they developed called "visual crawling."

From the Truveo site: For video to be searchable, it is also necessary to collect meaningful text metadata to associate with each video file. Of course, we rely on standard techniques, such as mining closed-caption transcripts and importing RSS feeds. The vast majority of video on the web, however, does not have any closed-caption or RSS metadata available...Whenever our visual crawlers find a new video on the web, they can also "visually" examine the context of the surrounding web application. In most cases, this examination reveals a bounty of rich and detailed metadata related to every video.

A quick search using Truveo's advanced search interface last night found up content from numerous sources including Reuters, CNN, BBC News, Fox Sports, and MSNBC.

So, as of today AOL owns both Truveo and Singingfish multimedia search sites and their crawling technology. Seattle-based Singingfish was acquired by AOL in 2003 and still maintains a standalone site along with a presence on the AOL Video Search site. It will be worth watching how AOL uses each technology.

According to AOL, look for the Truveo technology to begin appearing on AOL Video in the next few months.

As I've pointed out before, AOL continues to develop into a major player in the video/multimedia search scene. 2005 was a big year for AOL Video Search that included:

Finally, a few weeks ago we learned that video search is a part of the new Google/AOL deal. The announcement says that both companies will collaborate in, "video search and showcasing AOL's premium video service within Google Video." What this means is still to be determined. Where will AOL video results appear on Google Video results pages? How many results will be shown? Will they be separated into their own section or merged with Google results? Will both companies eventually negotiate together for new content? As they say, especially in the world of video, stay tuned.

Posted by Gary Price at 9:01 AM | Permalink

December 5, 2005

AOL Video Search Adds Slew of New Content from MTV and Many Other Cable Networks

There is no doubt about it, AOL is playing hardball in the video search and the web video-on-demand business.

Over the weekend I noticed a print ad for the service (I can't remember the publication) and it seems like they're constantly adding new content.

Today is one of those days. Word from Dulles, VA that AOL Video and MTV Networks (part of Viacom, also owners of CBS) are anouncing a partnership that will make video material available via AOL Video Search (beta) from numerous cable services. Content will be delivered to the AOL Video Search database via RSS feeds and will not be keyword or transcript searchable.

MTV Networks consists of some very well-known content providers including MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Comedy Central (yes, Daily Show clips), Nickelodeon and others. MTV content will also be available on AOL's "other" multimedia search engine, SingingFish.

I've posted the complete news release here.

In the past, I've blogged some positive comments about AOL Video and their video search service. Recently, I pointed out AOL's new high-quality video delivery trial and just today mentioned that podcast search powered by Podscope will be added soon to AOL's podcast service.

It's also interesting to note that recently Les Moonves, head of CBS, and another company owned by Viacom said his company was talking to Google and Yahoo about providing content to their video search services. You've got to wonder if they've also chatted (or will talk) with AOL since one part of Viacom now has a relationship with AOL.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:39 AM | Permalink

November 26, 2005

AOL High Quality Video Downloads, AOL Triton IM Gets Search Box & Sharing MSNBC Articles Via MSN Messenger

AOL is running an new trial of "high quality" video you can download, AOL's Triton IM tool has a new search box and MSNBC news articles can now be shared via MSN Messenger. More below on these features:

+ AOL Hi-Q Video Video Trial First, a new beta from AOL that I've been using for about a week without running into any problems or concerns. It uses a Windows client (sorry Mac users) that downloads "High Quality" video content (in terms of video quality) directly to your computer. They're calling it the AOL Hi-Q Video Trial. Videos can be viewed on-demand or downloaded automatically in the background when your system is idle. You can even subscribe to certain content types and have the files delivered/downloaded automatically. Presently, the available content consists of movie previews, celebrity interviews, music videos, games tips and original AOL programming but I would be willing to bet will see much more content delivered using this approach in the future. This just might be the way (at least in concept) that will see (no pun intended) high quality video content will be delivered to computers in the future.

+ AOL IM AOL IM Triton Released Along with a bunch of new features, the new AOL Triton IM release has a search box built into the IM box. MSN Messenger offers a shared search option (along with a search box in the client) while Yahoo Instant Messenger also provides a search box built into the IM client.

+ MSNBC News Articles via IM Most MSNBC news posts now have a link at the bottom of each article that allow you to share the item via MSN Messenger. You'll need to use IE. More in this blog post.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:59 PM | Permalink

June 30, 2005

AOL Begins Rolling Out New Video Search Engine

Today, AOL begins rolling out their new, improved, and free video search service (beta) and so far, pardon the pun, I like what I see.

The new AOL Video search provides access to two databases of multimedia content.

First, you'll find more than 15,000 licensed and originally produced video assets that come from various AOL services, other Time Warner properties (CNN for example), and many content partners like the Associated Press. I've already come across news clips, movie trailers, music videos, and television programs. This material is labeled "Featured Videos" on a search results page.

Second, an AOL Video Search results page also includes listings of open-web video files. This content comes from SingingFish, a multimedia engine that's owned by AOL. This material is labeled as "Video Results from the Web" on a results page.

AOL Video Search offers several new features including:

  • Inline Playback of Video Clips via the AOL Video Player
    • Presently, the AOL Video Player will not work with Firefox 1.0.1+. However, AOL is putting the "finishing touches" on a version that will work with new versions of Firefox. The player does work with Firefox 1.0, Netscape 7.1+, and Internet Explorer. From the AOL Video Player you can search the database, browse content by category, and toggle the player into "full screen" mode.

  • A New Relevancy Algorithm

  • Dynamic Clustering of Video Search Results
    • It's likely that this technology comes from Vivisimo. AOL and Vivisimo announced a partnership earlier this year.

  • Ability to Sort by Results by Relevance, Video Quality, Duration, and Release Date

  • Preview Video Clips With Animated Thumbnails

  • Search Every Word Spoken in a Video Clip (Transcript Search)
    • This service is available for some "featured" video content. Results that come from the SingingFish database are found using metadata search.

  • User Created Playlists
    • As you review results, you can build a playlist of clips and then view all of their selection back to back

    Some video content requires a free AOL Network login to view. If you use AOL Instant Messenger, you're login and password should work here.

    Finally, another feature for AOL Network members allows you to have AOL Video Search recommend video clips you might find interesting in a box on the video search homepage. I've noticed that most of the recommendations I've been given today are movie trailiers. This makes sense since I clicked the "Improve these Recommedations" link at the bottom of the box and was asked to complete a very short survey (three questions) from MovieFone, another Time Warner service.

    More about AOL Video Search when I have more time to test it out.

    The full text of the AOL Video Search announcement is available here.

    Posted by Gary Price at 10:59 AM | Permalink