No one can seem to agree on anything when it comes to standards. It tends to be either my way or the highway at times and HTML 5 is in the middle of it.

Ian Hendrickson has dropped support of the video codec Ogg Theora due to Apple’s issues with the codec. H.264 (which so happens to be Apple’s codec) is being opposed by other browser vendors, namely Firefox due to licensing issues.

So where does that leave the codec for the video tag in HTML 5, it has basically become a “screw it” and let the market decide.

Eventually one of the two formats have to win out and will gain mass adoption over the other. Much like the MP3 format rose above all other audio formats for mainstream users. It will be interesting to see who supports which codec, the Video Bay currently uses the Ogg Theora Codec and is arguably the number one initiative with HTML 5 and video.

Round One: Tie

Some evidence has come to light today which strongly suggests that the Cupertino Hivemind which runs Apple has decided that the next big thing for the iPod is a camera. Fact one is some leaked case designs for next version of the iPod Touch, which is to feature a hole in the back for a camera. Fact two is a source close to Michael Arrington of Techcrunch who claims that Apple has placed an order for cameras which could only possibly be used in iPods.

This could be very bad news for companies who make their bread and butter from non-enthusiast cameras. I’m not talking about the big guys which take beautiful pictures and 1080P video, but the little cameras that are meant for the small pockets of consumers. Now that the iPhone 3GS has a 3.2 megapixel camera, I know that I don’t carry around my old Nikon anymore. It’s an issue of convenience: if you can have on your person one gadget that functions well enough for you to feel like you don’t need the extra weight of another, you’re going to end up leaving the dedicated camera at …

We all have something called a “BS meter.” It is what starts ringing when you hear something that you know is malarkey. Mine went off today in response to a report that was published by Nielsen about video consumption. The important numbers can be found here. I’ll summarize the findings: only 1% of all watched video is online. Now, gut reaction, does that sound right? Or course not! Let’s take a look.

Most of the report (the full PDF is here), is filled with tidbits on television viewing, which is at an all time high of 153 hours a month average. I never watch TV, so I cannot comment on that, but it  seems consistent with what I have heard a dozen times. Whatever. The internet numbers are what we need to focus on. That one percent breaks down into 131 million people watching three hours of video a month. Sounds innocuous enough, until you begin to question where they received their data from. Do you think that they have any data for pirated content? I bet not, and that alone makes the statistic bogus.

In 2004, P2P accounted for an …

I love Hulu, it is my number one destination for televisions shows and movies and if it had music videos Youtube would be out of my browser history in a matter of days. It is one of the only major streaming video companies that is not floundering or loosing money at massive rates and is quickly approaching the number two spot right under Youtube. All of this with the approval of the labels, an incredible feat to say the least. Still, with this great content at our fingertips people insist on complaining about Hulu’s restrictions which is to say the least, ridiculous.

What people don’t seem to realize is that Hulu’s business hangs at the mercy of the labels which are very wary of putting their content online and rightfully so. People for some odd reason expect everything on the web to be free of charge, some even think it should be free of charge with no advertisements and be paid for distributing it.  A fascinatingly ridiculous thought to say the least, and it doesn’t help any when we choose to defy the labels instead of work with them.

Lately Hulu has been criticicized for …

We have long hated iTunes here over at TechGeist. The large, buggy, ponderous, creaking iTunes is the epitome if bloatware. We never use major sections of functionality, and iTunes just grows and grows. It seems every other day Apple is pushing a new update out.  Now, good news abounds. You heard yesterday that Disney had taken a large share in Hulu, and that its content advantage was growing at an alarming rate. With that, we need to talk about free. Music and video fans biggest beef with iTunes has been its pricing scheme: inflexible and too high. And it never seems to give any money back to the artists, but more on that on a different day. With Hulu, I doubt that I will ever buy another video from iTunes, why bother?

If you are dying to see the latest Office episode, pay a few bucks, or watch a few ads? It puts a direct price on the ads, three dollars or three minutes of ads, etc. My prediction: people are going to take the free option. By the bucketful. Why pay for something when you can just mute the sound and get a new beer coke in …