InsideGoogle

Google Opens Video Store For VOD

Google announced a service Friday that will let people rent or buy downloadable videos online, including classic and contemporary CBS television shows and NBA basketball games.

From News.com:

With Google Video Store, which the company said will be “available soon” at video.google.com consumers will pay $1.99 to download and view, for an unlimited time, episodes from last season’s “Survivor” series, as well as episodes of 300 older TV programs like “I Love Lucy,” said Peter Chane, senior business product manager for Google Video.

From [PCWorld]:

The service will act as a marketplace and lets the content providers decide in what capacity and for how much they want to sell their content, Page said. “Content producers are in charge, and they can decide if they want the videos for rental, download or other things,” he said.

From [BetaNews]

Customers would pay for their downloads via credit card through Google’s payment system. Half of the fee collected by Google would go to the companies providing the content, Google said. The search engine expects to have the service up and running soon from the current Google Video page.

NBA commentator Kenny Smith walks down the aisle interrupting “Hey hey, wait a minute here.”
Then he starts to say how cool it would’ve been when he, at his time, would’ve been able to download all NBA games only a day after they’ve been played. (See previous post with link to movie)

Full Coverage from [Engadget]: Loads of pictures

Important notes :

There was a project with VW AG to do a prototype Google dashboard. This sort of results in live footage for a GPS. “a quick demo of going from Las Vegas to the Strip … you can see restaurants and gas stations … you can also see a birds-eye view … this is all live ”

Larry demoed a phone version of Google Local Mobile. There should be a Blackberry version you can download now.
The Google Local for mobile service is available in beta form.

Something from the Q&A, regarding Google’s Video Store:

Q: Will it work with non-US credit cards?
Larry: “Maybe not right away, but eventually.”
- I can’t wait to try that out. Hopefully eventually is soon. [Coolz0r]

From the ‘About Google Video’ page:

Recent contributors to the Google Upload program include The Photography Channel, Metropole Filmworx, witness.org, UNICEF, CNET, Greenpeace, hurricanenow.com, Here! TV and many more. […]

Our mission is to give viewers complete access to public affairs programming and we are committed to use new technologies to enhance the value of our services. This partnership with Google further demonstrates how new technologies will expand our audience and make it easier to conduct online searches of our content for information most relevant to them. - Brian Lamb, C-SPAN Chairman and CEO.

If you’re a content owner:

New! Sign up for the Google Video Upload Program and upload your video for potential inclusion in our future version of Google Video.

So if you’re a producer of clips, you can make money together with Google. Seems like they’re starting to counter YouTube and Veoh, which both let users upload but don’t have any means to provide income for producers.

From [Yahoo News] : Google CEO Larry Page introduces a concept mini computer for children. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

There’s a $100 computer Google has been working on with MIT.
Larry: “I think it’s an important thing to get people greater access.”
Nathan wasn’t too far off course with his $200 prediction here, except he only predicted a 10% odd of this to happen. Google: 1 - Nathan: 0 - Some other predictions were closer to the truth, on the other hand. So no harm done here

The rumor of a Google PC was still denied, Page promoted the idea of the $100 notebook that is intended to be distributed to 100 million children worldwide. Larry didn’t take the speculations about a Google PC seriously and answered a question about it with “Is there a rumor?”

More insights at [Yahoo News]

Also check out the Google Pack page (Currently WinXP only). Nathan covered that already a few posts ago, but here’s a roundup from the Google Press Center :

“We’ve heard from countless new computer owners that it can take days or weeks to install all the software they need to make their computer useful,” said Marissa Mayer, VP of search products and user experience at Google. “We developed Google Pack to give users a way to painlessly install all the essential software they need - pre-configured in a sensible way - in a matter of minutes. Better yet, users don’t have to keep track of software updates or new programs – we maintain and update all the software for them.”

Google Pack offers programs that meets Google’s high software standards and are considered best in their class, including:

* Adobe Reader 7
* Ad-Aware SE Personal
* GalleryPlayer HD Images
* Google Desktop
* Google Earth
* Google Pack Screensaver
* Google Talk
* Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
* Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar
* Norton AntiVirus 2005 Special Edition
* Picasa
* RealPlayer
* Trillian

Google Pack also includes Google Updater, a new tool that intelligently downloads, installs and maintains all the software in the Google Pack. Google Updater alerts users when updates and new programs become available and ensures each program is always up-to-date. Google Updater can also be used to monitor the status of installation, run software that’s been installed, or easily uninstall software.

Other sites covering the keynote :

* Ars Technica
* TG Daily
* SearchEngineJournal

Closely related to this :

Motorola plans to put Google’s Internet search technology into the software that runs its mobile phones and work with Kodak to make on-the-go Web surfing and photo swapping easier, the companies said on Thursday. Nathan caught that story already, but it seems to turn out that Google will be the default search page. So I thought I’d mention it again.

DivX, the video technology provider, announces plans to help make Google Video available on consumer electronics. [Still looking for more sources to confirm this]

Stay Tuned.

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January 7th, 2006 Posted by Coolz0r | Google Local, Toolbar, Consumer Products, Google Video, Google Maps, Products, Tools, Search, Picasa, Services, General | 2 comments