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Both the Windows and Mac versions of Joost were updated to version 0.8 today. The Mac version had previously only been available to the first 200 Joost beta testers to download the file. Now it is generally available to all beta testers.

Unfortunately I can’t test it myself, it’s still only available for Intel Macs. The announcement mentions this:

The number one question that we’ve received throughout our beta period has been about when we’re going to make a Mac version available. We’re happy that we can finally say, that day has arrived! The Mac version looks a lot like the Windows version but behaves like a Mac application. Note this beta is still Intel only.

Which implies there might be a Universal binary for the Mac in future. Importantly new content is emerging all the time. Version 0.8 now introduces:

* Documentaries from National Geographic;
* Loud noise and fast cars from the Indy Racing League;
* Healthy living programming from Lime;
* A variety of reality series in the Lazy TV channel from Endemol;
* Cartoons like Rocky and Bullwinkle in Saturday Morning TV (Classic Media);
* A lineup of independent film makers from IndieFlix;
* More reality TV with the Bridezillas series from September Films;
* Video gaming tricks and reviews form Gamestar;
* Comical, irreverent and edgy programming from Bite TV
* And cool new Bollywood music videos from Savvn.

Joost, for me atleast, still looks to be the most polished solution in this area ahead of Viidoo and TVKoo. It is both the most visually appealing of the WebTV products, is definitely the smartest in the way it delivers a consistent stream of content, appears to have less bugs, is more stable and has the best resolution of videos. Keep it up!

Some additional details can be found here.

What more do you want from the oldest geek battle? Sweaters vs. turtle neck, swirly disc vs. spinning beachball, lightsabers, Explorer vs. Finder. Well you could have a guest appearance from the best selling home computer of all time!

Can you say “38911 Basic Bytes Free?”

Watch this splendid animated movie from Current TV.

The interest in Joost is quite exciting. Clearly those geeks that want to get TV on their home computers are keen to do so. But there are plenty other options if you can’t get on the Joost beta.

Viidoo is one. Sounding like it was named after a creature in the Mos Eisley cantina Viidoo works on a broadcast and subscribe system. The software fundamentally turns TV input into a Windows Media Player stream so that other Viidoo users can watch it. Currently the channels available on Viidoo are more spectacular than those on Joost. FOX and CBS are two US networks which you can watch on Viidoo. Apparently ABC used to be on there too but has subsequnetly been removed. Probably because the Internet would have ground to a halt from people outside of the US trying to watch Lost, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty before it appears on their screens.

Viidoo uses the TVUPlayer software, which is also available from TVUNetworks.com. When I tried the player I found it to be VERY slow. The picture quality was awful and delays were very long. Whatever the guys at Joost are doing they’re currently doing it better than Viidoo.

After just over three years of being my main PC (upgraded as far as running Vista) my Shuttle SB51G has now been replaced by a newer, shinier, younger, but larger model (picture of the case is on the left). Inside this new streamlined beast is an Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of Corsair RAM, A Western Digital Raptor Raptor SATA HDD sat on an ASUS P5LD2-VM Micro-ATX motherboard. Phew.

Compared to my old Shuttle it flies like doo-doo off a proverbial spade. I know that the Vista WEI (Windows Experience Index) is nothing really to go by in terms of real performance counters but to give you an indication:

The Shuttle-PC (P4 2.3Ghz, 1GB SDRAM, IDE HDD, ATI 9700 Pro)

And the new PC:

I’m also running Vista x64 which is proving to be.. err.. well I haven’t noticed any real difference yet.

Steve Jobs has presented his views on the current state of DRM and music downloads. It seems that Apple is trying to garner public support for lobbying the big 4 music industry producers, Sony, EMI, Warner and Universal to drop there requirements for DRM altogther. Steve argues that only about 10% of music is sold DRM protected (primarily via CD’s) and the rest is covered by solutions such as Apple’s Fairplay DRM.

It looks asthough Steve has been prompted into this by the recent European cases trying to get Apple to open up it’s DRM so that customers can a) play DRM protected songs downloaded from the iTunes store on MP3 players other than iPods and; b) play DRM tracks from stores other than ITunes on iPods. Clearly the pressure is building. Such DRM technical geekery is costing Apple money in both R&D and in the courtroom. Steve’s view is that it should be the consumers who target the big 4, not Apple.

The balance of power is shifting. Apple continue to be a target because of the success of the iTunes store and the iPod - something that Steve mentions about three times in his note. The big 4 are not necessarily playing ball and enforcing their rights as copyright holders - which they are entitled to do.

How would DRM scale? If everyone licensed Apple’s Fairplay system then the whole World could download and play songs on any player and the big 4 would be safe in the knowledge that their songs could not be copied and / or duplicated. Apple would be happy to because they’d get a license fee from those companies who would be using their technology. But is that likely to happen? I think not. This is all about competition, about money and about shareholders. It;s not about consumers.

Although Steve says:

 ”The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat.”

But what would Apple shareholders say? Apple’s statistics are fine when looking back on what has been sold, but will iPod and iTunes sales increase if DRM was abolished? Would droves of Windows Media Player users buy iPods? Would ITunes users buy a Zune? Would I buy more or less music?

What I think is that Steve is hinting at the fact that as long as CD’s are still sold in shops, DRM-free, there will always be pirated music. If downlading a song from an online store was the only way to get music then maybe DRM would make sense. Until there is either blanket coverage of a scalable, common DRM platform or none at all this half-way-house doesn’t make sense. I hear what Steve is saying. It’s clearly costing Apple money and maybe he’s worried about market share in those areas where iPods haven’t penetrated yet.

Perhaps the reality distortion field is waning in it’s effect. With this one I think Steve might be fighting a losing battle.