This week, we added approximately two hundred PBS episodes to Hulu Plus, including dozens of episodes from Ken Burns library, the first season of Masterpiece: Downton Abbey and episodes of PBS Kids series including Arthur, Dinosaur Train and Wild Kratts. We will also add hundreds more episodes over the coming weeks, including more kids’ favorites like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Superwhy, as well as additional episodes of NOVA, Masterpiece and American Experience – top-quality PBS series that Hulu users have already come to enjoy.

As a Downton Abbey skeptic, I can now say that all of the buzz surrounding the show is totally justified. Plus, who wouldn’t get excited about NOVA and Mister Rogers?

Some of this content, including Ken Burns docus and Masterpiece programming has been either entirely or partially available on rival Netflix for a while.

Hulu Plus is currently offering a free trial, and after that is $7.99 a month. It is available online, as well as on Xbox, PS3, and Android/iOS apps.

In response to the PBS documentary “WikiSecrets,” LulzSec launched an attack that involved the leaking of PBS press passwords on pastebin and the posting of a fake news story to their site. The story involved murdered rapper Tupac and the confirmation of a long-held rumor that he is still alive and well in New Zealand.

The Frontline documentary “WikiSecrets” detailed the leak of U.S. diplomatic cables on the site Wikileaks. LulzSec said that they felt the episode painted a negative picture of Wikileaks and Bradley Manning in particular. Manning is the U.S. soldier who allegedly leaked the documents to the site. He’s been in detention for a year. LulzSec said, “We hope our hacking gave Bradley Manning a smile.”

It looks like LulzSec’s main focus is now shifting to Sony, as this tweet from Sunday details. They are calling it #Sownage, and this announcement on Twitter hinted at the PBS hack:

They continued to tweet about the planned attack, post PBS hack:

Then this tweet came yesterday:

It looks to be an ongoing hack, as LulzSec taunted Sony fans:

Ever since the PlayStation Network was hacked in April and shut down for nearly a month, people have speculated as to who the attackers were. Although Sony hinted that Anonymous was behind the attacks, the group denied official involvement. Some still believe that although Anonymous didn’t officially organize the PSN hack, rogue members of the group may have orchestrated it.

LulzSec clears up any confusion by denying their involvement in the PSN attack:

Early last week, Sony’s BMG Music Service Greece was hacked and usernames and email addresses posted online. It seems like once or twice a week since the PSN hack, Sony falls victim to some sort of intrusion. We’ll have to wait and see what LulzSec does to Sony in the next few days.

The new PBS.org features member station and partner content along with national productions as part of the home page, topic pages, special features and series sites.

PBS.org is automatically localized so visitors can view video, TV schedule information and content that is specific to their community.

Other features of the new PBS.org include:

*A media bar across the top and bottom of every page, which is refreshed daily with upcoming programs and special promotional features.

*An expanded video section with access to full-length video on the site, including original programming.

*opic pages, including Arts & Entertainment, Culture & Society, Health, History, Home & How-To, News & Public Affairs, Parents, Science & Nature, and Technology.

The launch coincides with the release of PBS for iPad, and the upcoming introduction of the PBS App for the iPhone and iPod touch. PBS for iPad is available for free from the App Store. The PBS App for iPhone and iPod touch will be available in early November.

The YouTube Blog offers more details. "The PBS NewsHour channel on YouTube  will host nightly reports from the NewsHour television broadcast, posted the same night the broadcast airs on PBS."

The NewsHour will also create original web videos on its YouTube channel featuring its new online correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. The news segments will be archived on the NewsHour YouTube channel to allow users to find previous news stories.

On Monday PBS relaunched "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" shortening the title to just NewsHour. PBS has also merged its broadcast NewsHour staff with its online NewsHour staff.

"We welcome change and look forward to a new and enhanced NewsHour that better meets the demands of our audience, regardless of whether they come to us on-air or online,"said Jim Lehrer, executive editior of the NewsHour.

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Brightcove is an online video platform with over 200 partners.  The companies it has ties to include powerful ones like Adobe, AOL, comScore, Nielsen, and OgilvyInteractive.  Plus Google.

Anyway, Mark Glaser, the executive editor of PBS’s MediaShift, was the one to break the acquisition attempt news.  On Twitter, he wrote, "Source with knowledge of deal tells me video service Brightcove in talks with Google about buyout in $500m to $700m range."

In a follow-up tweet, Glaser then noted, "Brightcove deal for Google would give YouTube entree into paid video service with many traditional media co. clients."  And considering that Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube about three years ago and still can’t turn squeeze a profit from it, the idea of it spending a little more now isn’t hard to believe.

We’ll be sure to report any additional information about the situation as it becomes available.  It should be interesting to see if Google snatches at any more stuff over the next few days, too.

The online videos will cover all PBS genres along with content from local PBS stations. Eventually, PBS will include feature – length films and documentaries, as well as live performances and events. More content will be added on a weekly basis.

Programming that will be available on pbs.org/video includes the American Experience, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Masterpiece Theatre, and Julia Child Cooking with Master Chefs.  PBS said it is also planning on offering original content on its portal.

The video portal will allow users to search shows by theme, episode, host and date. In addition, local PBS stations now have access to programming for their websites, as well as the ability to share their own locally produced content with national audiences.

"This launch illustrates our commitment to deliver PBS’ signature programming to the widest possible market," said Jason Seiken, PBS senior vice president of Interactive.

"Our goal is to ensure that audiences have online access to the remarkable depth and breadth of PBS programming — in a format that puts the user in control."

As part of the launch, the premiere epeisode of Time Team America will debut today on PBS.org before its national broadcast in July. The new series focuses on the most interesting archaeological dig sites in the U.S.
 

The complete results:

30. Anti retroviral treatment for AIDS [Health Care]
29. SRAM flash memory [Electronics]
28. Stents Health [Care]
27. ATMs [Finance]
26. Bar codes and scanners [Retail]
25. Bio fuels [Biotechnology]
24. Genetically modified plants [Biotechnology]
23. RFID and applications (e.g. EZpass) [Electronics]
22. Digital photography/videography [Electronics]
21. Graphic user interface (GUI) [Computer Science]
20. Social networking via internet [Media]
19. Large scale wind turbines [Energy]
18. Photovoltaic Solar Energy [Energy]
17. Microfinance [Finance]
16. Media file compression (e.g., jpeg, mpeg, mp3) [Computer Science]
15. Online shopping/ecommerce/auctions (e.g., eBay) [Information Technology]
14. GPS Systems [Electronics]
13. Liquid Crystal Displays [Electronics]
12. Light emitting diodes (first real devices in 1960s; in products in mid-70s) [Electronics]
11. Open source software and services (e.g., Linux, Wikipedia) [Media]
10. Non-invasive laser/robotic surgery (laparoscopy) [Health Care]
9. Office software (Spreadsheets, word processors) [Computer Science]
8. Fiber optics [Telecommunications]
7. Microprocessors [Computer Science]
6. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [Biotechnology]
5. DNA testing and sequencing/Human genome mapping [Biotechnology]
4. E-mail [Computer Science]
3. Mobile phones [Telecommunications]
2. PC/laptop computers [Computer Science]
1. Internet/broadband/WWW (browser and HTML) [Telecommunications]

Comments

From neighborhood homeowners to professional football players, no one gets a free pass from the grifting scum who live to take advantage of others. Until the happy day arrives when these creeps receive a one-time appointment with a greased and sharpened guillotine blade, people must rely on themselves to thwart these scamsters.

(For those of you horrified at the prospect of beheading career criminals, pretend it’s a rubber blade that’ll bounce on impact and give onlookers a hearty chuckle. Everyone else, feel free to suggest which content network should host the streaming vids of the punishment being meted out.)

To help people recognize when someone besides the oil companies and the taxman may be robbing them of hard-earned wages, a new video series on MSN Money offers help. Hosted by the PBS MoneyTrack duo of investing pro Pam Krueger and TV personality Jack Gallagher, the ‘Scam Alert’ series already has a few videos available for viewing.

Chris Jolley, group manager of the Financial Products Group at Microsoft, called the addition of ‘Scam Alert’ a further expansion of a growing collection of high-quality multimedia for MSN Money. “Pam and Jack have years of experience helping millions of people become more aware of their finances, and we are thrilled to bring them on board,” Jolley said in a statement.

MSN Money has quietly grown into a solid property for Microsoft’s web endeavors. We talked with Jolley in December 2007 about MSN Money’s aims for multimedia and other topics; find that discussion on WebProNews.

Pretty soon they’ll demand their own laptops and want money to spend on their own music and web sites.

PBS has launched a site that’s currently in beta, called PBS Kids Play. It’s geared for children ages 3 to 6. There are educational games and activities to teach math, science, literacy and language development.

The site won’t have ads (although there will be messages from sponsors) but will have subscription-based portion.

The site will have a pre-school and kindergarten curriculum and feature popular PBS characters including Curious George and Bob the Builder. You can sign up for a free trial though it’s unclear how long the trial lasts. A subscription will cost $9.95 a month, or $79 a year. There won’t be chat or interaction between kids.

They have progress reports, and thankfully, parents can limit how long children can access the site.

PBS Kids Play joins other sites aimed at kids. They replace the educational CDs that you can get in the mail. Disney has a site called Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online that you can get free for seven days, after that it’s $10 a month or $50 a year. Another site is called JumpStart World and it’s priced by the download.

Comments

Yahoo, The Huffington Post and Slate have announced plans to host two online debates during the 2008 campaign.

Presidential Debates Move Online

The presidential debates are scheduled to take place after Labor Day and will be hosted by PBS’s Charlie Rose.

"We intend for these debates to be a groundbreaking mix of old and new traditions in politics," said Charlie Rose.

"2008 will be a momentous year for the electoral process in America, thanks in large part to technology and politics connecting like never before. I am proud to host the first ever online only presidential debate, which will reach and engage the voting audience in a whole new way."

There will be one online debate for Democrats and one for Republicans, with invitations given to candidates who have officially announced their candidacies.

Candidates will be able to participate from the location of their choice, while voters will be able to ask questions in real-time and blog on how well they think a particular candidate is responding.

"The 2008 campaign is going to unfold on the Web in a way no previous election ever has," said Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate.

"We hope these first online debates will be a breakthrough, both in terms of technology and political communication. The candidates will be able to have a real discussion in real time — but without having to be in the same place. We think the Internet can bring the same kind of immediacy to presidential debates that it has to other aspects of the political process."

" With presidential candidates announcing online and with campaign ads and fundraising increasingly online, presidential campaigns are moving to the Internet at breakneck speed. Online debates are the inevitable next step," said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.

"We are thrilled to be joining with Internet pioneers Yahoo! and Slate to host the first online presidential debates, and to have Charlie Rose as our moderator. These debates represent a further merging of new media technology and politics, and are a great opportunity to bring more people into the political process, and engage the new generation of young voters who spend so much of their time – and get so much of their information – online."