Headlines

Cisco Virtualizes the Network, the Data Center

At the VMWorld Show, Cisco took the first concrete steps to establishing a monopoly in the enterprise data centers with the announcement of a new software switch (Nexus 1000) that would allow networking of individual virtual machines (along with their security and management.)

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YouTube Recommends Nexicon to Content Providers

Nexicon (s NXCO) announced this week it has partnered with YouTube to offer copyright management tools to content providers. Basically, content owners can hire Nexicon to monitor videos that get flagged by YouTube’s Video ID video fingerprinting system, and Nexicon will help decide whether to have the video removed or to claim it and place advertising against it.

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Apple Disputes NBC’s Variable Pricing Spin

One thing’s for sure: each time Apple and NBC’s relationship spills out in public, they both claim they’ve won the latest battle. Only with two fierce negotiators like these, that’s never really the case.

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YouTube to Add “Hot Spot” Tracking

YouTube will add a new analytics service called Hot Spots this week or next, aimed to help video creators drill down into their videos to see what parts are most popular. As we understand it, the service would tell you things like when people drop off (a.k.a. your video is too long) and when people rewatch a certain portion over and over (a.k.a. you should have put that in slow-mo).

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Ashton Kutcher’s Web Video Show: Blah Girls

I’m at the TechCrunch50 conference right now, where Ashton Kutcher is presenting his web startup. Not only is this one a celebrity-driven startup, but it’s about celebrities. It’s an animated web video show with interactive elements called Blah Girls.

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Xcel Energy: Did We Say Profit? Not When We Count Carbon

Xcel Energy will disclose in SEC filings the risks of future climate change regulation and legislation, climate-change related litigation and physical impacts of climate change. The company estimates that carbon emission would have cost $603 million last year, more than its 2007 profits.

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Who Will Be the FriendFeed of Video?

We’re definitely getting ahead of ourselves to ask who will be the FriendFeed of video, considering that company is brand new and has a small (though no doubt devout!) following. But more than one startup is trying to aggregate video consumption activity in the same way FriendFeed brings together its users’ participation in the various social services from around the web. And hey, maybe the focused opportunity is there, since FriendFeed’s broader focus means only three of its 43 services are video-related: Seesmic, Vimeo, and YouTube.

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lonelygirl15‘s Second Incarnation: The Resistance

There may never be another lonelygirl15, especially given its origin as a hoax and as one of the first experiments in what episodic web content could be. But now that it’s finally over, more than 500 episodes later, its creators are wiping the slate clean while applying the lessons they’ve learned over the last two years. The new show, to be called LG15: The Resistance (see trailer below), will premiere Sept. 20.

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MacFarlane’s Cavalcade Launches Sept. 10

Seth MacFarlane’s advertorial series, Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, is gearing up for its launch September 10. A trailer was just posted on sethcomedy.com. That site also promises cast interviews and a MacFarlane blog starting September 10 as well. We’re also told exclusive content will be posted on show sponsor Burger King’s soon-to-launch YouTube channel, youtube.com/bk.

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Conviva Raises $20M for Live Video

Tuning into live online video is often an exercise in frustration. So even though Conviva is being somewhat secretive about what it’s doing, I’m inclined to give the startup — which simply says it’s building a live video platform — a pass for the time being, in the hopes it will some day prevent me from tearing my hair out. Conviva is announcing today it has raised $20 million in second round funding. The investment came from UV Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and Foundation Capital, and brings Conviva’s total funding to $29 million since being founded in November 2006.

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Singapore’s Unwired Dream

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the country’s “Wireless@SG initiative” this week, which is a plan to cover the island nation…

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